Paul Wiens, conductor
Roger Hale, assistant conductor
Regina Roper, accompanist
Eternal Father, Strong to Save
John B. Dykes
Mid-Winter Songs (1983)
Morten Lauridsen
(sung as a set without interruption)
I: Lament for Pasiphaë
(Robert Graves)
Dying sun, shine warm a little longer!
My eye, dazzled with tears, shall dazzle yours,
Conjuring you to shine and not to move,
You, sun, and I all afternoon have laboured
Beneath a dewless and oppressive cloud—
A fleece now gilded with our common grief
That this must be a night without a moon.
Faithless she was not: she was very woman,
Smiling with dire impartiality,
Sovereign, with heart unmatched, adored of men,
Until Spring’s cuckoo with bedraggled plumes
Tempted her pity and her truth betrayed.
Then she who shone for all resigned her being,
And this must be a night without a moon.
Dying sun, shine warm a little longer!
II. Like Snow
She, then, like snow in a dark night,
Fell secretly, And the world waked
With dazzling of the drowsy eye,
So that some muttered ‘Too much light,’
And drew the curtains close.
Like snow, warmer than fingers feared,
And to soil friendly;
Holding the histories of the night
In yet unmelted tracks.
III. She Tells Her Love While Half Asleep
She tells her love while half asleep,
In the dark hours,
With half-words whispered low:
As Earth stirs in her winter sleep
And puts out grass and flowers
Despite the snow,
Despite the falling snow.
IV. Mid-Winter Waking
Stirring suddenly from long hibernation
I knew myself once more a poet
Guarded by timeless principalities
Against the worm of death, this hillside haunting;
And presently dared open both my eyes.
O gracious, lofty, shone against from under,
Back-of-the-mind-far clouds like towers;
And you, sudden warm airs that blow
Before the expected season of new blossom,
While sheep still gnaw at roots and lambless go—
Be witness that on waking, this mid-winter,
I found her hand in mine laid closely
Who shall watch out the Spring with me.
We stared in silence all around us
But found no winter anywhere to see.
V. Intercession in Late October
How hard the year dies: no frost yet.
On drifts of yellow sand Midas reclines,
Fearless of moaning reed or sullen wave.
Firm and fragrant still the brambleberries.
On ivy-bloom butterflies wag.
Spare him a little longer, Crone,
For his clean hands and love-submissive heart.
Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal (2011)
Paul Mealor
(sung as a set without interruption)
No. I: Now sleeps the crimson petal
(Alfred Tennyson)
Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;
Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;
Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font:
The firefly wakens: waken thou with me.
Now droops the milk-white peacock like a ghost,
And like a ghost she glimmers on to me.
Now lies the Earth all Danaë to the stars,
And all thy heart lies open unto me.
Now slides the silent meteor on, and leaves
A shining furrow, as thy thoughts in me.
Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,
And slips into the bosom of the lake:
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom and be lost in me.
No. II: Lady, when I behold the roses sprouting
(anonymous)
Lady, when I behold the roses sprouting,
Which clad in damask mantles deck the arbours,
And then behold your lips, where sweet love harbours,
My eyes present me with a double doubting.
For, viewing both alike, hardly my mind supposes
Whether the roses be your lips, or your lips the roses.
No. III: Upon a bank with roses set about
(John Ward)
Upon a bank with roses set about,
Where pretty turtles, joining bill to bill,
And gentle springs steal softly murmuring out,
Washing the foot of pleasure’s sacred hill;
There little Love sore wounded lies,
His bow and arrows broken,
Bedewed with tears from Venus’ eyes,
O grievous to be spoken.
No. IV: A Spotless Rose
(anonymous)
A spotless Rose is blowing
Sprung from a tender root
Of ancient seers’ foreshowing
Of Jesse promis’dfruit;
Its fairest bud unfolds to light
Amid the cold, cold winter
And in the dark midnight
The Rose which I am singing
Whereof Isaiah said
Is from its sweet root springing
In Mary, purest Maid;
For through our God’s great love and might
The Blessed Babe she bare us
In a cold, cold winter’s night
Fürchte dich nicht (1723-1734)
Johann Sebastian Bach
(sung in German)
So do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
–Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)
But now, this is what the Lord says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”
–Isaiah 43:1 (NIV)
(Chorale tune in soprano during fugue)
Chorale: Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me?
(Paul Gerhardt, 1653)
4 Lord, my Shepherd, take me to thee.
Thou art mine;
I was thine,
even ere I knew thee.
I am thine, for thou hast bought me;
lost I stood,
but thy blood
free salvation brought me.
5 Thou art mine; I love and own thee.
Light of joy,
ne’er;er shall I
from my heart dethrone thee.
Savior, let me soon behold thee
face to face;
may thy grace
evermore enfold me.
WHY WE SING BACH
Mass (1922)
Frank Martin
(sung in Latin)
(sung as a set without interruption)
Kyrie
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy,
Lord have mercy.
Gloria
Glory be to God in the highest.
And in earth peace
to men of good will.
We praise Thee; we bless Thee;
we worship Thee; we glorify Thee.
We give thanks to Thee
for Thy great glory.
O Lord God, Heavenly King,
God the Father Almighty.
O Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son.
Lord God, Lamb of God,
Son of the Father.
Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Thou that takest away the sins of the world,receive our prayer.
Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father,
have mercy upon us.
For thou only art holy,
thou only art the Lord,
thou only art the most high, Jesus Christ.
Together with the Holy Ghost
in the glory of God the Father.
Amen.
WHY WE SING MARTIN
Three American Songs (2012)
Shawn Kirchner
Unclouded Day
(J.K. Alwood)
Verse One:
O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,
O they tell me of a home far away;
O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise;
O they tell me of an uncloudy day.
Refrain:
O the land of cloudless day,
O the land of an unclouded sky,
O they tell me of a home where no storm-clouds rise:
O they tell me of an unclouded day.
Verse Two:
O they tell me of a home where my friends have gone,
O they tell me of that land far away,
Where the tree of life in eternal bloom
Sheds its fragrance through the unclouded day. [Refrain]
Verse Three:
O they tell me of a King in His beauty there,
And they tell me that mine eyes shall behold
Where He sits on the throne that is bright as the sun,
In the city that is made of gold! [Refrain]
Angel Band
(Jefferson Hascall)
Verse One:
The latest sun is sinking fast,
my race is nearly run.
My strongest trials now are past,
my triumph has begun.
Refrain:
Oh come, angel band
Come and around me stand
O bear me away on your snow-white wings
to my immortal home.
Verse Two:
I know I’m near the holy ranks
of friend and kindred dear:
I’ve brushed the dew on Jordan’s banks,
the crossing must be near. [Refrain]
Verse Three:
I’ve almost gained my heavenly home -my spirit loudly sings.
The holy ones, behold, they come -I hear the sound of wings. [Refrain]
Hallelujah
(Charles Wesley)
Verse One:
And let this feeble body fail,
And let it faint or die,
My soul shall quit this mournful vale,
And soar to worlds on high.
Chorus:
And I’ll sing hallelujah,
And you’ll sing hallelujah,
And we’ll all sing hallelujah
When we arrive at home.
Verse Two:
O what are all my sufferings here,
If, Lord, Thou count me meet
With that enraptured host to appear,
And worship at Thy feet!
Verse Three:
Give joy or grief, give ease or pain,
Take life or friends away,
But let me find them all again
In that eternal day.
BIOS OF OUR SINGERS
Paul Wiens, conductor, Wheaton College Professor Emeritus, conducted choirs at the college/university level for forty-four years. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Iowa where he studied with Don V. Moses. Wiens sang in the Atlanta Symphony Chamber Choir under the legendary Robert Shaw, and later taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Robert Fountain. During a 31-year tenure at Wheaton Conservatory of Music, his Concert Choir appeared in numerous ACDA conventions: National, Central Division, State of Illinois. The pinnacle of his choral career was conducting Bach’s B-minor Mass with the Wheaton College Concert Choir and the Metropolis Chamber Orchestra in 2012. As Artistic Director and Conductor of the West Suburban Choral Union from 1983-2006, Wiens conducted most of the large works from the choral/orchestral repertoire. In 2005, he published Expressive Conducting: the first multi-media resource for conducting.
Regina Roper, pianist, built her career in the Silicon Valley of Northern California before semi-retiring to Southwest Utah. Prior to moving to Ivins in 2015, she had spent the previous 36 years teaching, evaluating,
accompanying, performing, and presenting pedagogy workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance and Music Theory, with graduate studies under the tutelage of harpsichord virtuoso, the late Fernando Valenti. As a graduate assistant accompanist at San Jose State University in the 1970’s, she was engaged to play for the University Choir, the SJSU Choraliers, SJ Opera rehearsals, various studio vocal and instrumental lessons on campus, as well as the city of San Jose’s Children’s Musical Theater productions.
