by Brian Hathaway

CARNEGIE HALL  
June 16 at 2:00 pm
Located at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan

The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay has received a prestigious invitation to perform Poulenc's "Gloria" at the famous Carnegie Hall on June 16th under the baton of Dr. James K. Bass, former Master Chorale Artistic Director (2010-2016). We could not be more thrilled to accept this invitation and close out our 40th Anniversary Season with this unforgettable experience!  Carnegie Hall Tickets  

Also on the program, and performed by other artists, will be Dan Forrest's "Requiem for the Living," Mark Hayes "Te Deum," and Brahms' "Schicksalslied."

​
​CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE 
June 13 at 6:00 pm
1047 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY

Members of The Master Chorale will also present a beautiful performance conducted by Artistic Director, Brett Karlin, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City on the evening of June 13th. Info about the Cathedral of St. John the Divine

This concert will include excerpts from our "Awake and Sing" repertoire including: 

• "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana, 
• excerpts from Poulenc's "Gloria," 
• Rachmaninoff's "Bogorôditse Dêvo" from All Night Vigil,
• Brahms' “Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen” from Ein Deutsches Requiem,
• Dominick DiOrio's "We Reply," and
• Master Chorale commissions
  • Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre and
  • "We Can Mend the Sky" by Jake Runestad.

This performance will occur directly after the evening prayer service at approximately 6 pm. We recommend arriving by 5:30 pm to enjoy our free performance. 

by Brian Hathaway

Most recently during the fall of 2018, the Master Chorale visited elementary schools in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties and are currently between two day-time concert presentations titled "Going to the Show."  On Tuesday, February 5th, excited students came to Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg for our first of two “Going to the Show” events that we have planned this season.  This concert program is now part of Mahaffey Theater's Class Acts presentations, which offers a wonderful array of cultural initiatives for children. We are thrilled to be partnered with Mahaffey Theater and Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts and most grateful for their co-production on this special program.

​“Going to the Show” addressed six different standards for music education set by the State of Florida.  This was done by presenting a concert program with a focus on interaction between the singers and the students in the audience.  Songs presented by the Chorale's Education and Outreach Ensemble offered examples of four-part harmony through songs such as Lloyd Pfautsch’s “Consecrate the Place and Day”, Tim Osiek’s “Like a River in My Soul”, and Carly Simon’s “Let the River Run” as arranged by Craig Hella Johnson, which ended in an energetic hand-clapping recapitulation of the main theme.

For the concert finish, Master Chorale's Artistic Director Brett Karlin led the Education and Outreach Ensemble, combined with the Honor Chorus and the Baby Grands to create a combined choir for a rousing performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing”.  The high energy finale was Edwin Hawkins’ “Oh, Happy Day” with Master Chorale Soprano Sherry Fagan Martin belting out the solo line.

We look forward to presenting this program again to elementary students in Hillsborough County at the Tampa Theatre in March. 

​Even though singing as an adult has brought me tremendous joy, I still recall those magic moments when my elementary school music teacher, Miss Passenger, brought out my love of music and an appreciation of the beauty that music can bring.  The children who attended this event may have experienced a similar moment, either at Mahaffey or perhaps at the hands of their own music teacher.  To be a part of creating one of those moments is a special honor.

The performance at Mahaffey Theater was co-produced by Mahaffey Theater and the Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts, and the Youth Initiative program is made possible through the generosity of Cynthia and Peter Zinober, donors of The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, and sponsored in part by the Tampa Bay Times (official media sponsor of The Master Chorale), the City of St. Petersburg, and by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, The Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay is proud to announce the 2018 Christmas Carol Competition.
 
Instrumentation for 2018 Competition: Choir & Piano.
 
Voicing: SATB, 150-voice auditioned chorus, medium to difficult level (may voice up to SSAATTBB divisi) & Piano.
 
Text: English or Latin text only, sacred or secular, medieval to present, appropriate for concert setting; proof of public domain or author’s written permission for use of text is required. (Please note: most modern translations of the Bible are protected by copyright). The music for this Carol should be original - not an arrangement of an existing carol.
 
 
Duration: no longer than 4 minutes. 
Prize: $750 will be awarded to the composer of the winning composition
 
Performance: The winning composition will premiere in Tampa Bay early December 7 - 9, 2018. If possible, the winner of the contest shall arrange to be present at the premiere. Additionally, The Master Chorale reserves the right to the premiere commercial recording of the winner.
 
Originality: The work must be an original unpublished composition with no prior public performances. Arrangements of compositions that have received a public performance will not be accepted. Any public performance before December 7, 2018, whether it is by students, faculty, amateurs, professionals (paid or unpaid), and whether it was in a private, public, or academic venue, disqualifies the composition from the competition. A ‘public performance’ also includes formally attended public reading sessions, broadcast, or any recording that has been commercially released.
 
Deadline: Score and application materials must be received on or before October 12, 2018. Results will be announced on October 29, 2018. The winner of the Christmas Carol Competition shall provide final performance score on or before November 2, 2018.
 
Age restriction: The competition is open to any United States resident, age 18 and above.
 
How to apply: All scores & recordings must be anonymous and marked only with a pseudonym of the composer’s choice. Materials that have not had all identifiable markings removed will not be accepted. The composer’s pseudonym and the title of the composition must be marked on each score and recording.
 
 
Submit:

1. Four copies of full score
2. Recordings will be accepted (and highly appreciated), but are not required. If a recording is included, please either include ONE flash drive or email a MIDI or rehearsal recording in the format of an MP3 – do not send cassettes, CDs, or data discs.
3. A copy of driver’s license or passport
4. The application form (page 2 in this document, also available for download at www.masterchorale.com)
5. Document giving permission or status for use of text

 
 
Mail materials to this address: Master Chorale of Tampa Bay Attn: Christmas Carol Competition 30382 USF Holly Drive
Tampa, FL 33620-3038

by Brian Hathaway

​The performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem by The Florida Orchestra and The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay are only about a month away on the weekend of April 20-22.  As part of The Florida Orchestra’s Masterwork Series, Verdi’s Requiem is one of the most dramatic Requiems in the choral repertoire. 
 
When I prepare for a Masterwork Concert, there are several components to my preparation, including score study, individual practice, and rehearsal with my Master Chorale colleagues.  To further enhance my understanding of the music, I research the history of the music, so I can better appreciate what the composer was trying to achieve in composing and performing it.  During my research for this concert series, I uncovered several facts about Verdi and his Requiem.  Some of these facts are very well known, while others may qualify as trivial or little-known facts.  I would like to share the facts I uncovered.

At the time of Rossini's death, Verdi called him "one of the glories of Italy," asking, "When the other one who still lives is no more, what will we have left?" The other one was Alessandro Manzoni, a celebrated poet, and the author of the landmark nineteenth-century novel, “I Promessi Sposi” (The Betrothed), a book Verdi himself had read when he was sixteen.  When Manzoni died on May 22, 1873, Verdi returned to the idea of a requiem.
 
When poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni died, Verdi was too grief-stricken to attend his funeral, and the entire country mourned the loss of one of its leading cultural icons.  Verdi shared the same national aspirations that Manzoni had, and Manzoni’s literature helped fuel an Italian national identity.  Verdi also supported Italian unification, and his last name was used as an acronym for support of unification under Sardinian King Victor Emanuel: Vittorio Emanuel, Rei di Italia (Victor Emanuel, King of Italy).  Following unification in 1860, Verdi served as a Senator.

​Verdi went to the mayor of Milan and proposed composing a memorial in the form of a requiem to honor the memory of Manzoni. Verdi reworked the existing Libera me from the “Messe per Rossini” and incorporated thematic material from it in the other movements. While he was quite sincere in his desire to memorialize Manzoni, Verdi, a successful businessman, was also aware of the commercial possibilities for the Requiem. While he was negotiating with the city of Milan to underwrite the premiere and with the Church to allow women singers to appear, he was also arranging publication and performance royalties.  As part of the arrangement with the city of Milan, Verdi offered to pay for the score printing himself on the condition that Milan assume responsibility for the cost of the performances.
 
The premiere took place in May 22, 1874, at the Church of San Marco as part of a liturgy so no applause was allowed. Women (Soprano Theresa Stolz and Mezzo Maria Waldmann, soloists who performed in Verdi’s European premiere of Aida four years earlier) were given a special exemption to perform by the local Archbishop on the condition that they must be veiled in black and hidden behind a grating.  Verdi also arranged three concert performances at La Scala a few days later which were greeted with great enthusiasm. In the year following the premiere, it was performed all over Italy, in Paris, London, Vienna and even in America. The Requiem had become one of Verdi's most popular compositions.

​Verdi composed his Requiem with Soprano Theresa Stolz and Mezzo Maria Waldmann in mind as the female soloists.  Soprano Stolz has been described as "the Verdian dramatic soprano par excellence, powerful, passionate in utterance, but dignified in manner and secure in tone and control” and premiered many of Verdi’s Operas.  Verdi hired Mezzo Waldmann for the mezzo-soprano role in his Requiem, for which he wrote the Liber Scriptus with her voice in mind. Verdi particularly valued her for the rich, dark color of her lower, contralto register.  For a Paris performance, Verdi revised the Liber Scriptus to allow Maria Waldmann a further solo for future performances.  Previously, the movement had been set for a choral fugue in a classical Baroque style. With its premiere at the Royal Albert Hall performance in May 1875, this revision became the definitive edition.
 
When German conductor, composer, and virtuoso pianist Hans von Bülow, a close friend of Verdi’s rival Richard Wagner, stole a look at the Requiem score just days before the Milan premiere, he offered his famous snap judgment, "Verdi's latest opera, though in ecclesiastical robes," and decided not to attend the concert. When he finally heard it, at a parish performance eighteen years later, he was moved to tears. Bülow wrote to Verdi to apologize, and Verdi replied, with typical generosity, that Bülow might have been right the first time. By then, Verdi had grown accustomed to critical disdain, especially from the followers of Richard Wagner. And he knew that Bülow, who once switched his allegiance from Wagner to Brahms, wasn't the last listener who would change his mind about this music as well.

​Playwright and music critic George Bernard Shaw had a different opinion.  Attending the London premiere, Verdi’s Requiem captivated him.  His first impression stayed with him, as he had the “Libera me” performed at his funeral in 1950. 
 
In January 1901, while staying in Milan, Verdi suffered a stroke. He died a few days later. Arturo Toscanini conducted the vast forces of combined orchestras and choirs composed of musicians from throughout Italy at his funeral service in Milan. To date, it remains the largest public assembly of any event in the history of Italy.

The Nazis tried to make Terezin a model village as an example of how they were treating Jews humanely.  Part of the façade was to create an active cultural environment in the ghetto, so shortly after arriving, Schacter was given the task of assembling a choir of 150 to perform Verdi’s Requiem.  Not having enough scores for all the singers, he taught them the music by rote.  The first performance took place in January 1942. 

It is interesting to note that this Requiem for the dead premiered in January 1942, the same month that SS General Rheinhard Heydrich led the Wannsee Conference that approved the “final solution” to the Jewish question.  Immediately following the premiere, about half the chorus members were loaded on a train bound for Auschwitz.  Rafael Schachter was forced to reconstitute the chorus for the fifteen subsequent concerts as chorus members were either taken away or died in Terezin.  The final concert was performed for members of the International Red Cross, who were visiting the camp at the invitation of the Nazi SS.  Rafael Schachter was finally taken by train to Auschwitz in October 1944, subsequently dying while a prisoner. ​

​Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem has been loved by audiences and performers since its premiere in 1874.  It is recognized as one of the most frequently performed masterworks in the choral repertoire.  For me, I will have a completely different emotional connection to the Requiem because of the research I completed for this blog post. 
 
Foremost in my mind will be the unknown victims who created a work of drama and beauty in the face of death and terror.  I am drawn to recall the opera “Nabucco” by Verdi, where in The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, they sang “let the Lord inspire you a harmony of voices which may instill virtue to suffering.”  For the prisoners of Terezin, the closing “Libera me” (Deliver me) was their most fervent plea for deliverance. 
 
Even if you have listened to recordings of Verdi’s Requiem, the beauty and drama of the music is best experienced during a live performance.  Please consider attending one of our concerts to experience it yourself.