PROGRAM NOTES

Be Like the Bird was composed in 2009, just after I completed cancer treatment for the second time. My parents and I sent it out as our Christmas card that year which continued a tradition started in 1922 by my greatgrandfather, Rev. Bates G. Burt, who then passed it to his son, my great-uncle Alfred Burt, now famous for carols like "Caroling, Caroling" and "Some Children See Him." This particular canon, inspired by my own struggle, is dedicated to High Rocks for Girls, an innovative school for middle and high school girls founded by Susan Burt in the mountains of rural West Virginia. May High Rocks continue to educate, empower, and inspire each student to know that "she hath wings." –

Abbie Betinis

Text by Victor Hugo

Be like the that, pausing in her flight awhile On boughs too slight, Feels them give way beneath her, And sings knowing she hath wings.

Dawn and Dusk (Fajar dan Senja) is inspired by this short poem that I wrote:

It was a quiet night - When a glimpse of light slowly gazed upon the sky

Awakening the sleeping souls - Joyfully singing - Dancing in the ray of light - And slowly It will descend again from its mighty throne

This piece is an exploration of sounds with the human voice. I intended to capture the magical moments as expressed by the poem itself through the variety colors of vocal quality produced by the ensemble. Based on the Indonesian exotic Melayu scale, the music portrays the folk life atmosphere in a vibrant sound experience. The words have no exact meaning, rather they are just playful syllables to bring the poem to life.

Ken Steven

The text of Jacques Arcadelt’s Il bianco e dolce cigno plays on the adage that the swan, silent throughout its life, only sings in the final moments before its death. Using the euphemism of death for orgasm, the speaker of the text compares the swan’s actual death against his euphemistic one. Although the expression “swansong” only came into being in the eighteenth century, the legend of the mute swan dates back to antiquity. Despite being completely untrue, as a poetic image it is certainly very powerful and has remained so to the present day.

Texturally, all the voices move more or less together in all but two significant places. First, on the word “beato;” the break in the texture adds a flourish to emphasize the word “blessed.” Then, at the end, the voices all sing in their own time, imitating each other to emphasize the repetition of “mille mort’ il di ” (a thousand times a day). Overall, the music and its harmonies are simple and allow the words to speak for themselves. This proved popular and the madrigal was a favorite of the sixteenth century. – Joseph Knowles

Text by Giovanni Giudiccioni

Il bianco e dolce cigno cantando more, ed io piangendo giung' al fin del viver mio. Stran' e diversa sorte, ch'ei more sconsolato ed io moro beato. Morte che nel morire m'empie di gioia tutto e di desire. Se nel morir, altro dolor non sento, di mille mort' il di sarei contento.

The white and sweet swan dies singing, and I, weeping, reach the end of my life. Strange and different fate, that he dies disconsolate and I die a blessed death, which in dying fills me full of joy and desire. If in dying, were I to feel no other pain, I would be content to die a thousand deaths a day.

In “ The Birds’ Lullaby,” inspired by the text of poet E. Pauline Johnson, Sarah Quartel has created an energetic and fun piece with playful, swinging syncopations and melodic elements and counter melodies shared between the voices in a conversational style. This piece was commissioned by Andrew Potter as a gift for his wife, Jan Spooner Swabey, and her choir “JuSSt Voices” in 2020.