Program Notes: A Sea Symphony

SPOTLIGHT 2023/24

A SEA SYMPHONY WITH THE COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS

PERFORMED BY YOUR COLORADO SYMPHONY

PETER OUNDJIAN, conductor

COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS, DUAIN WOLFE, director

KARINA GAUVIN, soprano

JARRETT OTT, baritone

Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 7:30pm

Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 1:00pm Boettcher Concert Hall

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21

I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio

II. Andante cantabile con moto

III. Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace

IV. Finale: Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace

— INTERMISSION —

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 1, “A Sea Symphony”

I. A Song for All Seas, All Ships

II. On the Beach at Night Alone

III. Scherzo: The Waves

IV. The Explorers

CONCERT RUN TIME IS APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR AND 35 MINUTES. INCLUDING A 20 MINUTE INTERMISSION.

FIRST TIME TO THE SYMPHONY? SEE PAGE 19 OF THIS PROGRAM FOR FAQ’S TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE GREAT!

The custom Allen Digital Computer Organ is provided by Mervine Music, LLC.

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY

SPOTLIGHT BIOGRAPHIES

PETER OUNDJIAN, conductor

Recognized as a masterful and dynamic presence in the conducting world, Peter Oundjian has developed a multi-faceted portfolio as a conductor, violinist, professor and artistic advisor. He has been celebrated for his musicality, an eye towards collaboration, innovative programming, leadership and training with students and an engaging personality. Strengthening his ties to Colorado, Oundjian is now Principal Conductor of the Colorado Symphony in addition to Music Director of the Colorado Music Festival, which successfully pivoted to a virtual format during the pandemic summers of 2020 and 2021.

Now carrying the title Conductor Emeritus, Oundjian’s fourteen-year tenure as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony served as a major creative force for the city of Toronto and was marked by a reimagining of the TSO’s programming, international stature, audience development, touring and a number of outstanding recordings, garnering a Grammy nomination in 2018 and a Juno award for Vaughan Williams’ Orchestral Works in 2019. He led the orchestra on several international tours to Europe and the USA, conducting the first performance by a North American orchestra at Reykjavik’s Harpa Hall in 2014.

From 2012-2018, Oundjian served as Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra during which time he implemented the kind of collaborative programming that has become a staple of his directorship. Oundjian led the RSNO on several international tours, including North America, China, and a European festival tour with performances at the Bregenz Festival, the Dresden Festival as well as in Innsbruck, Bergamo, Ljubljana, and others. His final appearance with the orchestra as their Music Director was at the 2018 BBC Proms where he conducted Britten’s epic War Requiem.

Highlights of past seasons include appearances with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Iceland Symphony, the Detroit, Atlanta, Saint Louis, Baltimore, Dallas, Seattle, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. With the onset of world-wide concert cancellations, support for students at Yale and Juilliard became a priority. In the 2022/2023 season, Oundjian conducted the opening weekend of Atlanta Symphony, followed by return engagements with Baltimore, Indianapolis, Dallas, Colorado and Toronto symphonies, as well as a visit to New World Symphony.

Oundjian has been a visiting professor at Yale University’s School of Music since 1981, and in 2013 was awarded the school’s Sanford Medal for Distinguished Service to Music. A dedicated educator, Oundjian regularly conducts the Yale, Juilliard, Curtis and New World symphony orchestras.

An outstanding violinist, Oundjian spent fourteen years as the first violinist for the renowned Tokyo String Quartet before he turned his energy towards conducting.

PHOTO:

DALE

SPOTLIGHT BIOGRAPHIES

DUAIN WOLFE, founder and director, Colorado Symphony Chorus

Three-time Grammy winner for Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Recording, and Best Opera Performance, Duain Wolfe is Founder and Director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus.

This year marks Wolfe’s 40th season with the Colorado Symphony Chorus. The Chorus has been featured at the Aspen Music Festival for nearly three decades. Wolfe recently retired as Director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus after 28 years. He has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, and Sir George Solti on numerous recordings including Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, which won the 1998 GRAMMY® for Best Opera Recording. Wolfe’s extensive musical accomplishments have resulted in numerous awards, including the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Denver, the Bonfils Stanton Award in the Arts and Humanities, the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline, and the Michael Korn Award for the Development of the Professional Choral Art. Wolfe is Founder of the Colorado Children’s Chorale, from which he retired in 1999 after 25 years. For 20 years, Wolfe also worked with the Central City Opera Festival as chorus director and conductor, founding and directing the company’s young artist residence program, as well as its education and outreach programs. Wolfe’s other accomplishments include directing and preparing choruses for Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the Bravo! Vail Festival, the Berkshire Choral Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. He has worked with Pinchas Zuckerman and Alexander Shelly as Chorus Director for the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra for the past 20 years.

COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS

The 2023/24 Colorado Symphony concert season marks the 40th season of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Founded in 1984 by Duain Wolfe at the request of Gaetano Delogu, then the Music Director of the Symphony, the chorus has grown into a nationally respected ensemble. This outstanding chorus of volunteers joins the Colorado Symphony for numerous performances each year, to repeated critical acclaim.

The Chorus has performed at noted music festivals in the Rocky Mountain region, including the Colorado Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, where it has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony, under conductors Alan Gilbert, Hans Graf, Jaap van Zweden, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Fabio Luisi. For over twenty five years, the Chorus was featured at the world-renowned Aspen Music Festival, performing many great masterworks under the baton of conductors Lawrence Foster, James Levine, Murry Sidlin, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, and Robert Spano.

Among the eight recordings the Colorado Symphony Chorus has made is a NAXOS release of Roy Harris’s Symphony No. 4. The Chorus is also featured on a Hyperion release of the Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem and Stephen Hough’s Missa Mirabilis. Most recently, the Colorado Symphony and Chorus released a world-premiere recording of William Hill’s The Raven

In 2009, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the chorus, Duain Wolfe conducted the chorus on a three-country, two-week concert tour of Europe, presenting the Verdi Requiem in Budapest, Vienna, Litomysl and Prague; in 2016 the chorus returned to Europe for concerts in Paris, Strasbourg and Munich featuring the Fauré Requiem. In the summer of 2022, the Chorus toured Austria, performing to great acclaim in Vienna, Graz and Salzburg. Colorado Symphony

SPOTLIGHT BIOGRAPHIES

COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS

Duain Wolfe, Founding Director and Conductor

Mary Louise Burke, Principal Associate Director and Conductor

Taylor Martin, Associate Director and Conductor

Jared Joseph, Conducting Intern

Hsiao-Ling Lin and ShaoChun Tsai, pianists

Eric Israelson, Chorus Manager

Barbara Porter, Associate Chorus Manager

SOPRANO

Andrews, Lottie

Ascani, Lori

Atchison, René

Black, Kimberly

Blum, Jude

Bowen, Alex

Brauchli, Margot

Burns, Jeremy

Burr, Emily

Causey, Denelda

Coberly, Ruth

Coberly, Sarah

Collins, Elizabeth

Collins, Suzanne

Collums, Angie

Cote, Kerry

Dakkouri, Claudia

Day, April

Dobreff, Mary

Eck, Emily

Emerich, Kate

Ewert, Gracie

Gaskill, Andria

Gile, Jenifer

Gill, Lori

Glazier, Taylor

Graber, Susan

Harston, Rachel

Headrick, Alaina

Hittle, Erin

Jones, Kaitlyn

Jorden, Cameron

Kennedy, Lauren

Kermgard, Lindsey

Kinnischtzke, Meghan

Kraft, Lisa

Kushnir, Marina

Lang, Leanne

Look, Cathy

Linder, Dana

Machusko, Rebecca

Mattingly, Isabella

Maupin, Anne

Montigne, Erin

Moraskie, Wendy

O’Nan, Jeannette

Peterson, Jodie

Pflug, Kim

Porter, Barbara

Rae, Donneve

Ropa, Lori

Ruff, Mahli

Sladovnik, Roberta

Stegink, Nicole

Tate, Judy

Timme, Sydney

Von Roedern, Sue

Walker, Marcia

Wall, Alison

Wise, Rebecca

Wuertz, Karen

Young, Cara

Zisler, Joan

ALTO

Adams, Priscilla

Arthur, Liz

Berganza, Brenda

Chatfield, Cass

Clauson, Clair

Conrad, Jayne

Cox, Martha

Darone, Janie

Davies, Debbie

Deck, Barbara

Dobson, Kezia

Dutcher, Valerie

Fairchild, Raleigh

Friedman, Anna

Gayley, Sharon

Golden, Daniela

Groom, Gabriella

Guittar, Pat

Haxton, Sheri

Hoopes, Kaia

Hoskins, Hansi

Isaac, Olivia

Jackson, Brandy

Janasko, Ellen

Kaminske, Christine

Kern, Charlotte

Kim, Annette

Kolstad, Annie

LeBaron, Andrea

Levy, Juliet

London, Carole

Long, Tinsley

Maltzahn, Joanna

McWaters, Susan

Nordenholz, Kristen

Nyholm, Christine

Owens, Sheri

Parsons, Jill

Pringle, Jennifer

Rehme, Leanne

Rudolph, Kathi

Scarselli, Elizabeth

Schnell, Wendy

Stevenson, Melanie

Thaler, Deanna

Thayer, Mary

Tiggelaar, Clara

Trubetskoy, Kimberly

Virtue, Pat

Wandel, Benita

Worthington, Evin

York, Beth

TENOR

Babcock, Gary

Bowman, Ryan

Carlson, James

Davies, Dusty

Dinkel, Jack

Fuehrer, Roger

Gale, John

Gordon, Frank

Guittar, Forrest

Hodel, David

Ibrahim, Sami

Johnson, Trey

Jordan, Curt

Kolm, Kenneth

Milligan, Tom

Moraskie, Richard

Muesing, Garvis

Nicholas, Timothy

Rangel, Miguel

Richardson, Tyler

Roach, Eugene

Rosen, David

Ruth, Ronald

Seamans, Andrew

Shaw, Kyle

Sims, Jerry

Stohlmann, Phillip

Thompson, Hannis

Waller, Ryan

Witherspoon, Max

Zimmerman, Kenneth

BASS

Adams, John

Brown, Sean

Carlton, Grant

Friedlander, Robert

Glauner, Dave

Gray, Matthew

Grossman, Chris

Griffin, Tim

Hammerberg, Nic

Hesse, Douglas

Highbaugh, David

Hume, Donald

Hunt, Leonard

Israelson, Eric

Jackson, Terry

Jirak, Thomas

Johnson, Matthew

Jones, John

Joseph, Jared

Lingenfelter, Paul

McDaniel, Jakson

Mehta, Nalin

Molberg, Matthew

Morrison, Greg

Nuccio, Gene

Phillips, John

Pilcher, Ben

Potter, Tom

Pullen, Jacob

Quarles, Kenneth

Richards, Joshua

Scoville, Adam

Skillings, Russell

Smedberg, Matthew

Steele, Matt

Struthers, David

Swanson, Wil

Virtue, Tom

West, Mike

Zax, Jeffrey

SPOTLIGHT BIOGRAPHIES

KARINA GAUVIN, soprano

Recognized for her work in the baroque repertoire, Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin sings Mahler, Britten and the music of the late 20th and 21st centuries with equal success. She has received prestigious distinctions, including the title of “Soloist of the Year” awarded by the Communauté internationale des radios publiques de langue française, first prize in the CBC Radio competition for young performers, and the Virginia Parker Prize and Maggie Teyte Memorial Prize in London. Her 2022-23 season included performances with the Houston Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Quebec Symphony, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy.

Recently, Ms. Gauvin made appearances in the United States and Canada as soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with Les Violons du Roy, and in Messiah with the Philadelphia Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. She also toured widely in Europe, giving concerts and recitals in Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and Britain, including a performance at Wigmore Hall.

Ms. Gauvin has sung with the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Rotterdam Philharmonic, as well as baroque orchestras such as the English Concert, Les Talens Lyriques, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Accademia Bizantina, Il Complesso Barocco, the Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy. She has performed under the direction of maestros, Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Matthew Halls, Bernard Labadie, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Roger Norrington, Masaaki Suzuki, Helmuth Rilling, Christophe Rousset, and Michael Tilson Thomas. In addition, she has sung in recital with pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Michael McMahon, and Roger Vignoles.

Notable opera successes include Vitellia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; Vénus in Rameau’s Dardanus with Opéra National de Bordeaux; L’Eternità/ Giunone in La Calisto with the Bayerische Staatsoper; the title role in Armide with De Nederlandse Opera; Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Glyndbourne Festival; the title role of Handel’s Alcina with Les Talens Lyriques; and Ariadne in Georg Conradi’s Die Schöne und getreue Ariadne for the Boston Early Music Festival. She performed in Vivaldi’s Tito Manlio in Brussels and at the Barbican in London; Fulvio in Handel’s Ezio in Paris and Vienna; the title role in Giulio Cesare in Paris and Vienna; and the title role in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans with Andrea Marcon at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She has also sung Seleuce in Handel’s Tolomeo with Alan Curtis, with whom she recorded Handel operas on ARCHIV/Deutsche Grammophon, Virgin and Naïve labels, among others. Her recorded performances with the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra have earned her two nominations from the Grammy Awards.

SPOTLIGHT BIOGRAPHIES

On the concert stage, memorable performances include the Princess in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Bach’s St. John Passion and Handel’s Solomon with Les Violons du Roy; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Debussy’s The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Karina Gauvin has an extensive discography – over 30 titles – and she has won numerous awards, including a Chamber Music America Award for Fête Galante, with pianist Marc-André Hamelin, and several Opus Prizes. Other recording projects include a European tour and a recording of Handel’s Ariodante for EMI Virgin Classics; a European tour and a recording of Giulio Cesare for the Naïve House, both with Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco; and Britten’s Les Illuminations with Les Violons du Roy, under the direction of Jean-Marie Zeitouni. In addition, she has completed an album in honor of Anna Maria Strada del Po, with Alexander Weimann and the Arion Ensemble.

JARRETT OTT, baritone

American baritone Jarrett Ott, one of Opera News’ twenty-five “Rising Stars,” and called “a man who is seemingly incapable of an unmusical phrase,” is enjoying an international career at the age of 36. In the 2023/24 season, Mr. Ott will sing the title role in a world-premiere work with Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the title role in Pascal Dusapin’s Macbeth Underworld with Opéra Comique, Colonel Álvaro Gómez in a new production by Calixto Bieito’s of The Exterminating Angel by Thomas Adès with Opéra national de Paris, and Don Pedro de Alvarado in Purcell’s The Indian Queen with Teodor Currentzis and the Salzburg Festival. In concert, Jarrett joins the Colorado Symphony and Oregon Bach Festival for Vaughan-Williams’ A Sea Symphony, the US Naval Academy in Annapolis for Messiah and Symphoria in Syracuse, NY for an evening of opera favorites.

In the 2022-23 season, Jarrett Ott made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu as Lescaut in Manon, the Opéra Comique as Jan Nyman in Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves, Dandini in La Cenerentola with Staatstheater Stuttgart, the prisoner in David Lang’s prisoner of the state with Malmö Opera and Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, and Maximilian in Candide with the Hamburg Symphoniker at the Lausitz Festival. In the US, he performed Conte in Le nozze di Figaro with Pittsburgh Opera, reprised the role of John Seward for a performance and recording of The Lord of Cries with Odyssey Opera, and joined colleagues for the inaugural Sag Harbor Song Festival on Long Island.

In the 2021-22 season, Mr. Ott debuted at Opéra national de Paris as Oreste in Iphigenie en Tauride, the Bayerische Staatsoper for a debut as Dandini in La Cenerentola, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas with The Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, conducted by Emmauelle Haïm, and performed Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and Faust in Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust

SPOTLIGHT BIOGRAPHIES

with Staatstheater Stuttgart. He was also a featured soloist with Emmauelle Haïm and Le Concert d’Astrée for a gala event at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, which was later released on Warner Classics/Erato.

On the operatic stage, recent work has included W.P. Inman in the East Coast premiere of Cold Mountain as well as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Philadelphia, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos, Maximilian in Candide and Masetto in Don Giovanni with The Santa Fe Opera, Figaro with Lyric Opera Kansas City and Dayton Opera, Jupiter in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld with New Orleans Opera, Curly in Oklahoma! with Glimmerglass Festival, Zurga in The Pearl Fishers with North Carolina Opera, and Charlie in Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers with Opera Memphis. He made his European operatic debut at Deutsche Oper Berlin singing the role of the Angel in Andrea Scartazzini’s world premiere work Edward II, directed by Christof Loy. Other role debuts included The Count in Strauss’ Capriccio, a co-production with Opera Philadelphia and Curtis Opera Theatre and Kenneth Fuchs’ Falling Man at Symphony Space and the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City. A former member of the Staatstheater Stuttgart Ensemble, he has performed Conte, Marcello in La bohème, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Dandini, Oreste in Iphigénie en Tauride and Chou En-lai in Nixon in China

On the concert stage, Jarrett Ott has performed the title role in David Lang’s world-premiere prisoner of the state with Jaap van Zweden and the New York Philharmonic, Stephano with Susanna Mälkki in Sibelius’ The Tempest and in Weimar Nightfall: The Seven Deadly Sins, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, both at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has performed Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Seattle Symphony and Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Brahms’ Requiem with the Columbus Symphony and a holiday concert with the Lexington Philharmonic. A favorite of the New York Choral Society, he has appeared as soloist in Stanford’s Songs of the Fleet, Handel’s Israel in Egypt, both at Carnegie Hall, and The Hyland Mass, a world-premiere at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He made his European concert debut with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris, performing pieces by Vito Zuraj and Bach, conducted by Matthias Pintscher and also embarked on a European tour with Perm Opera, Teodor Currentzis and MusicAeterna as Don Pedro de Alvorado in concerts of Purcell’s Indian Queen, with stops in Geneva, Köln, Bremen and Dortmund.

A native of Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, Jarrett Ott is based in New York and received his master’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music.

SPOTLIGHT PROGRAM NOTES

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)

Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21

Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn, and died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna. He composed the Symphony No. 1 mostly in 1799-1800, with some sketches for the finale dating from 1795. The composer conducted the premiere at Vienna’s Hoftheater on April 2, 1800. The score calls for woodwinds, horns and trumpets in pairs, timpani, and strings. Duration is about 26 minutes. The orchestra last performed this piece February 28-March 3, 2022, with conductor Andre Ridder.

The year of the First Symphony — 1800 — was a crucial time in Beethoven’s development. By then, he had achieved a success good enough to write to his friend Franz Wegeler in Bonn, “My compositions bring me in a good deal, and may I say that I am offered more commissions than it is possible for me to carry out. People no longer come to an arrangement with me. I state my price and they pay.” At the time of this gratifying recognition of his talents, however, the first signs of his fateful deafness appeared, and he began the titanic struggle that became one of the gravitational poles of his life. Within two years, driven from the social contact on which he had flourished by the fear of discovery of his malady, he penned the “Heiligenstadt Testament,” his cri de coeur against this wicked trick of the gods. The C major Symphony stands on the brink of that great crisis in Beethoven’s life.

The First Symphony begins with a most unusual slow introduction. The opening chord is a dissonance, a harmony that seems to lead away from the main tonality, which is normally established immediately at the beginning of a Classical work. Though not unprecedented (the well-known and influential C.P.E. Bach consistently took even more daring harmonic flights), it does reinforce the sense of striving, of constantly moving toward resolution that underlies all Beethoven’s works. The sonata form proper begins with the quickening of the tempo and the presentation of the main theme by the strings. More instruments enter, tension accumulates, and the music arrives at the second theme following a brief silence — a technique he derived from Mozart to emphasize this important formal junction. The development section deals exclusively with the main theme. The recapitulation follows the events of the exposition, but presents them in heightened settings.

The Andante, another sonata form, has a canonic main theme and an airy secondary melody. The development employs the melodic leaps of the subordinate theme; the recapitulation is enriched by the addition of contrapuntal accompanying lines. Though the third movement is labeled “Menuetto” it is really one of those whirlwind packets of rhythmic energy that, beginning with the Second Symphony, Beethoven labeled “scherzo.” Its tripartite form (minuet–trio–minuet) follows the Classical model, with strings dominant in the outer sections and winds in the central portion. The finale begins with a short introduction comprising halting scale fragments that preview the vivacious main theme. Yet another excursion in sonata form, this bustling movement, indebted to the sparkling style of Haydn, ends with ribbons of scales rising through the orchestra and emphatic cadential gestures.

SPOTLIGHT PROGRAM NOTES

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)

A Sea Symphony (Symphony No. 1) for Soprano and Baritone Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra

Ralph Vaughan Williams was born on October 12, 1872 in Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, and died on August 26, 1958 in London. A Sea Symphony was composed in 1903-1909, and premiered on October 12, 1910 in Leeds, conducted by the composer. The score calls for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, E-flat clarinet, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, organ, two harps and strings. Duration is about 63 minutes. The last time the orchestra performed this piece was May 12-13, 2012. Thomas Dausgaard was the conductor at that performance.

It was while Vaughan Williams was an undergraduate at Cambridge in the 1890s that he was introduced to the poetry of Walt Whitman by his fellow student Bertrand Russell. Whitman’s verses were enjoying a considerable vogue in England at that time, and Vaughan Williams was not immune to the lure of the American poet’s daring topics and experimental poetic structures, nor to his themes of mysticism, human dignity, love and freedom. The budding musician acquired several editions of Leaves of Grass, including one small selection that he carried around in his pocket.

As early as 1903 — the year in which Delius brought out his Whitman-based Sea Drift — Vaughan Williams was considering a work for chorus and orchestra using the words of the American writer. As the basis of that proposed work, tentatively titled “Songs of the Sea,” he chose passages from Leaves of Grass that philosophically likened an ocean voyage to the individual’s journey of life. Both the topic and its musical realization were imposing artistic challenges for Vaughan Williams, who, at age 31, had written only some songs, chamber pieces and small works for orchestra. He sketched a few preliminary ideas for the new work, but did not feel that his technique had developed sufficiently to make a success of it, and he was unable to bring the piece to completion.

A year later, Vaughan Williams turned his attention to another Whitman poem, Whispers of Heavenly Death, and set a passage from it as “A Song for Chorus and Orchestra” titled Toward the Unknown Region. The work was presented at the 1907 Leeds Festival with enough success to encourage him to return to his earlier and larger Whitman piece, by then re-christened “Ocean Symphony.” Things did not go smoothly. The music went through much rejection and rewriting; at one stage he scrapped an entire movement. He consulted friends for their advice, particularly seeking recommendations for a teacher who could help him expand his musical language to encompass the large task he had set for himself. He decided that his music was “lumpy and stodgy ... and that a little French polish would be of use,” so his first thought was to study in Paris with the distinguished composer and pedagogue Vincent d’Indy. The eminent music writer M.D. Calvocoressi, however, advised him to seek out a young composer (three years younger than Vaughan Williams, in fact) who was little known in England at the time but, Calvocoressi was convinced, full of the brightest promise — Maurice Ravel. Calvocoressi arranged the introductions and invitations, and Vaughan Williams left for France early in 1908 for three months study with Ravel.

Vaughan Williams recounted his initial meeting with Ravel: “He was much puzzled at our first interview. When I had shown him some of my work he said that for my first lessons I had better

SPOTLIGHT PROGRAM NOTES

‘écrire un petit menuet dans le style de Mozart.’ I saw at once that it was time to act promptly, so I said in my best French, ‘Look here, I have given up my time, my work, my friends and my career to come here and learn from you, and I am not going to write a petit menuet dans le style de Mozart.’ After that, we became great friends and I learned much from him.” Vaughan Williams worked intensely in Paris, meeting with Ravel four or five times a week and benefiting greatly from the lessons. “The man is exactly what I was looking for,” he wrote to Calvocoressi. “I practice chiefly orchestration with him.... He showed me how to orchestrate in points of colour rather than in lines.” Ravel was pleased with his student (“a pupil of whom I am proud,” he boasted), and their mutual respect grew into friendship. Ravel visited Vaughan Williams at his home in Cheyne Walk, London during spring 1909, and enjoyed himself immensely. In his note of thanks to Adeline, the English composer’s wife, Ravel wrote, “Here I am ... a Parisian, home-sick for London. I have never before really missed another country.”

Ravel’s influence on his British colleague was entirely beneficial. Not only did the overseas study strengthen Vaughan Williams’ compositional technique, but, even more significantly, it bolstered his self-confidence so that he was able to resume work with enthusiasm on the languishing Whitman piece. Charles Villiers Stanford, Vaughan Williams’ teacher at the Royal College of Music and an exemplar among Victorian composers, arranged to have the composition, finally called A Sea Symphony, performed at the 1910 Leeds Festival. The score was finished just in time for rehearsals (though Ralph continued to tinker with it for the next fourteen years) and the composer conducted. The panoramic new work, one of the most important contributions in years to the revered English choral tradition, was a rousing success at its premiere, and was the first composition to carry Vaughan Williams’ name to a wide public.

The four movements of A Sea Symphony approximate the traditional symphonic structure, though the form of each is, perforce, adapted to the requirements of Whitman’s poems. In his study of the composer’s symphonies, Hugh Ottaway wrote, “In Vaughan Williams’ selection, only the words of the scherzo are descriptive; the remainder view the sea as a symbol of human endeavor or a challenge to the mind and spirit. The tone is optimistic and Whitman’s emphasis on the brotherhood of man and the unity of being comes through clearly.” More than a simple musical seascape, this Symphony concerns itself with some of the basic questions of existence that Whitman voiced with such force and grandeur. “In the Sea Symphony,” noted Vaughan Williams’ biographer James Day, “the sea itself is a symbol — of the innermost self that man can and must discover and explore, just as he explores the sea.”

The sung word dominates the Symphony from beginning to end, with the orchestra playing an accompanimental role to the vocalists throughout. (The work is among the most demanding in the choral repertory.) The emphasis on singing arose from Vaughan Williams’ native inclination toward the human voice, which, the composer wrote in his book National Music (1934), “is the oldest musical instrument and through the ages it remains what it was, unchanged; the most primitive and at the same time the most modern, because it is the most intimate form of human expression.” A Sea Symphony occupied Vaughan Williams for nearly six years. It shows evidence of many of the musical influences that played upon his thoughts as a young composer — Parry, Elgar, Stanford, Ravel, Purcell — and does not maintain throughout its large whole an equal inspiration. (Other than the operas, this is his longest work.) “Yet in the end,” concluded Cecil Gray, “after tremendous efforts and an almost heroic tenacity, there emerges ... a real and lovable personality, unassuming, modest and almost apologetic.” With A Sea Symphony, one of music’s

SPOTLIGHT PROGRAM NOTES

greatest modern masters was first revealed in all his genius.

The forms of the individual movements of A Sea Symphony are indebted to the poetic structures and moods of Whitman’s words. There are traces in the opening movement (A Song for All Seas, All Ships) of traditional sonata form in the return and development of themes, but it is the text that gives shape and character to the music. A motif is presented in the opening measures that recurs later in the Symphony as a means of unifying the work’s structure: the harmonic progression occurring with the words “Behold the sea” (B-flat minor to D major). The baritone soloist and semi-chorus are entrusted with the slow second movement, On the Beach at Night, Alone. It is a three-part form (A–B–A) whose outer sections are solemn and almost mysterious, while the central portion (commencing with “A vast similitude”) is more animated in character. The harmonies that begin the first and third sections recall the “Behold the sea” progression from the opening movement.

The Scherzo (The Waves), the most pictorial movement in the Symphony, begins with a variation of the “Behold” harmonies. The bracing rhythms, the inclusion of two sea shanties as melodic material (The Golden Vanity and The Bold Princess Royal) and the sweeping glissandos in the harp lend this music an invigorating nautical air. The central trio (“Where the great vessel sailing”) is a broad hymn tune in the best tradition of the grand English processional.

In the finale (The Explorers), Vaughan Williams posed himself the formidable task of setting not only a poem longer than the rest of the Symphony’s texts combined, but one in which Whitman, noted Hugh Ottaway, “is at his most giddily metaphysical.” The success of the movement comes not from its form — which episodically follows the structure of the text — but rather from the composer’s melodic gift, harmonic boldness, orchestral ingenuity and complete sincerity of expression. It is a fitting conclusion to this grand musical voyage.

A SONG FOR ALL SEAS, ALL SHIPS

(Baritone, Soprano, Chorus)

Behold, the sea itself,

And on its limitless, heaving breast, the ships; See, where their white sails, bellying in the wind, speckle the green and blue, See, the steamers coming and going, steaming in or out of port, See, dusky and undulating, the long pennants of smoke.

Behold, the sea itself,

And on its limitless, heaving breast, the ships.

©2024 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

SPOTLIGHT PROGRAM NOTES

(Baritone)

Today a rude brief recitative, Of ships sailing the seas, each with its special flag or ship-signal, Of unnamed heroes in the ships — of waves spreading and spreading far as the eye can reach, Of dashing spray, and the winds piping and blowing, And out of these a chant for the sailors of all nations, Fitful, like a surge.

Of sea-captains young or old, and the mates, and of all intrepid sailors, Of the few, very choice, taciturn, whom fate can never surprise nor death dismay, Picked sparingly without noise by thee old ocean, chosen by thee, Thou sea that pickest and cullest the race in time, and unitest the nations, Suckled by thee, old husky nurse, embodying thee, Indomitable, untamed as thee.

(Soprano)

Flaunt out, O sea, your separate flags of nations! Flaunt out visible as ever the various flags and ship-signals!

But do you reserve especially for yourself and for the soul of man one flag above all the rest, A spiritual woven signal for all nations, emblem of man elate above death, Token of all brave captains and of all intrepid sailors and mates, And all that went down doing their duty, Reminiscent of them, twined from all intrepid captains young or old,

(Baritone)

A pennant universal, subtly waving all time, o’er all brave sailors, All seas, all ships.

ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT, ALONE

(Baritone, Chorus)

On the beach at night, alone,

As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song, As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clef of the universes and of the future. A vast similitude interlocks all, All distances of space however wide, All distances of time,

All souls, all living bodies though they be ever so different, All nations, all identities that have existed or may exist, All lives and deaths, all of the past, present, future, This vast similitude spans them, and always has spanned, And shall forever span them and shall compactly hold and enclose them.

SPOTLIGHT PROGRAM NOTES

THE WAVES

(Chorus)

After the sea-ship, after the whistling winds, After the white-gray sails taut to their spars and ropes, Below, a myriad, myriad waves hastening, lifting up their necks, Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship, Waves of the ocean bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying, Waves, undulating waves, liquid, uneven, emulous waves, Toward that whirling current, laughing and buoyant with curves, Where the great vessel sailing and tacking displaced the surface, Larger and smaller waves in the spread of the ocean yearnfully flowing, The wake of the sea-ship after she passes, flashing and frolicsome under the sun, A motley procession with many a fleck of foam and many fragments, Following the stately and rapid ship, in the wake following.

THE EXPLORERS

(Baritone, Soprano, Chorus)

O vast Rondure [globe], swimming in space, Covered all over with visible power and beauty, Alternate light and day and the teeming spiritual darkness, Unspeakable high processions of sun and moon and countless stars above, Below, the manifold grass and waters, With inscrutable purpose, some hidden prophetic intention, Now first it seems my thought begins to span thee.

Down from the gardens of Asia descending, Adam and Eve appear, then their myriad progeny after them, Wandering, yearning, with restless explorations, with questionings, baffled, formless, feverish, with never-happy hearts, with that sad incessant refrain, — “Wherefore unsatisfied soul? Whither O mocking life?”

Ah who shall soothe these feverish children?

Who justify these restless explorations?

Who speak the secret of the impassive earth?

Yet soul be sure the first intent remains, and shall be carried out, Perhaps even now the time has arrived.

After the seas are all crossed, After the great captains have accomplished their work, After the noble inventors, Finally shall come the poet worthy of that name, The true son of God shall come singing his songs.

SPOTLIGHT PROGRAM NOTES

O we can wait no longer, We too take ship O Soul, Joyous we too launch out on trackless seas, Fearless for unknown shores on waves of ecstasy to sail, Amid the wafting winds (thou pressing me to thee, I thee to me, O Soul), Caroling free, singing our song of God, Chanting our chant of pleasant exploration.

O Soul thou pleasest me, I thee, Sailing these seas or on the hills, or waking in the night, Thoughts, silent thoughts, of Time and Space and Death, like water flowing, Bear me indeed as through regions infinite, Whose air I breathe, whose ripples hear, lave me all over, Bathe me, O God, in thee, mounting to thee, I and my soul to range in range of thee.

O thou transcendent, Nameless, the fiber and the breath, Light of the light, shedding forth universes, thou centre of them. Swiftly I shrivel at the thought of God, At Nature and its wonders, Time and Space and Death, But that I, turning, call to thee O Soul, thou actual me, And lo, thou gently masterest the orbs, Thou matest Time, smilest content at Death, And fillest, swellest full the vastnesses of Space.

Greater than stars or suns, Bounding O Soul thou journeyest forth;

Away O Soul! hoist instantly the anchor!

Cut the hawsers — haul out — shake out every sail!

O Soul, reckless, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me, Sail forth, steer for the deep waters only, For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go, And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

O my brave Soul!

O farther, farther sail!

O daring joy, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?

O farther, farther, farther sail!