Academy High School, Erie PA Music Concerts
1938-1940
Contributed by Pete Smith
Pete writes: "My Mom played Violin in her High school orchestra here are some related Concert Programs , I am sending the scans of ads that go with the "Music Week Concerts " as they appear in the program. I thought they would be kinda important as a sorta local business history deal. I should have scanned them one page at a time,in the future I'll try to remember.
Just for trivia's sake she also played cello and organ / keyboard. While going through all of this stuff I am struck at the academic load kids carried without the benifit of computers ,cell phones,and other technological devises. "
MUSIC WEEK CONCERTS
ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL
Tuesday Evening, May 3, 1938 - Wendsday Evening, May 4, 1938
at 8:30 P. M.
Academy Singers
Strong Vincent High School A Capella Chorus
Chorus of University of Pittsburg, Erie Center
O.L. Grender, Conductor
Orchestera of the Erie Philharmonic Society
John L. Metcalf, Conductor
PROGRAM
ORCHESTRA OF THE ERIE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY
Symphonic Peom, "Findlandia", Op. 26, No.7 ............................ Sibelius
Invitation to the Dance ............................................................. von Weber
Spanish Caprice ........................................................................... Rimsky - Korsakov
COMBINED CHORUSES
Unaccompanied
We Offer Song ............................................................................... Grender
Emmitte Spiritum Tuum .............................................................. Schuetky
Calm Be They Sleep ...................................................................... Cain
Windy Night .................................................................................. Cain
COMBINED CHORUSES
and Orchestras
Land - sighting ................................................................................. Grieg "Olaf Trygvasson", Cantata for Soli,
Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 50 .............................................. Grieg
High Priest, Baritone ....................................................... Selden Marsh
A Woman, Merzzo - Soprano
The Voelva, Contralto ...................................................... Jane Fiest
Bring This Program With You to the Concert
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PROGRAM NOTES
SYMPHONIC POEM, "FINLANDIA", OP. 26, NO. 7 ...............................................................................................................................JEAN JULIUS CHRISTIAN SIBELIUS
Born in Tavastehus, Finland, December 8, 1865 ; now living in Jarvenpaa, Finland
Compose in 1899. Publishedby Brietkopf & Hartel, Liepzig, in !899. IT'S FIRST PERFORMANCE IN THE UNITED STATES was given in New York by the Metropolitian Opera House orchestra at the Metropolitian, December 24, 1905, conducted by Arturo Vigna. The Russian Symphony Society under Modest Altschuler played it December 30 and 31 of the same year in New York.
SCORED FOR two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, two tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, tympani, bass drum ,cymbals, triangle and strings.
FINLAND is a land of stern rocky hills and desolate moorlands and plateaux, of countless lakes and rushing torrents; every where are vast, somber forests of towering pines; it's coasts are jagged with fjords cutting deep into lowering cliffs. It reaches up to the northern most reaches of Europe. It's brief summers are warm and verdant, but for nearly half of the year it must endure bitter and merciless winter, through part of which in it's norhtern regions there is no daylight, and where correspondlingly for part of every summer the wan light of the low northern sun banishes all darkness. Every bit of cultivated soil and every comfort of life have been won and are held only by strennous effort against adverse conditions and forces of nature.
Over many centuries the FINNS have striven and grown and matured in this rugged, beautiful country. Being a hardy and industrious and courageous people they have not only survived there, but this land and thier struggles have been bred into them a sturdy self reliance and passionate love of freedom, - and at the same time a reasonableness, earnestness, and idealism, sympathy and tenderness, gravity and restrained melancholy. They are highly enlightened, sober, deep feeling, intensley patriotic,a home - and nature - loving people.
We approach THE MUSIC OF SIBELIUS, perhaps as adequately and logically as in any other way, by thus simply setting down the salient characteristics of the Finnish temperament and of the land wherein it is rooted and nourished and thrives; for in his music his saliencies are all absolutely inherient, - and when one comes to really know it, one by one they disclose themselves until eventually all are clearly revealed. The music comes less and less to be felt as the personal expressions of it's creator, more and more fundamentally and essentially and completely a music of a nation; and more than that, for we come to feel it as elemental and ancestral, reaching far back into the earliest origins of this land and this people. The conviction grows that the whole panarama of Finland, the racial soul and personality of the Finns, and thier rich hertiage of mythology and tradition are concentrated and distilled into a composite musical incarnation of them all through the splendidly virile and deeply sensitive and precipient creative genius of Sibelius.
The composer himself is authority for the statement that niether "Findlanda" nor any other composition eithers includes or is base on any actual folk tunes. To Mrs. Rosa Newmarch, the eminent English musicologist and writer on musical subjects, he has put it in these words:
"There is a mistaken impression among press abroad that my themes are often folk - melodies.
So far I have nevr used a theme that was not my own invention. Thus the thematic material of
' Finlandia' and 'En Saga' is entirely my own."
But so throughly imbued with the spirit and character of his race is Sibelius that in his music he instinctively creates an atmosphere absolutely, unmistakeably and thoroughly racial.
FINLANDIA has no explanatory or descriptive subtitle or legend, but "seems to set forth the national spirit and life" of the Finnish people, of perhaps " the impression of an exile, returning homeafter a lond absence". It is said during the political strife between Russia and Finland prior to 1905( Finland was then a Russian Provence) it would arouse the Finns to such a pitch of patriotic fervor that it's performance was forbidden.
THE MUSIC. Brasses solemnly intone the Introduction (Andante sostenuto, 2-2 time). A grave and powerful theme follows in woodwinds, then is taken by strings, soon supplemented by woods, and then also by brasses - characterizing, perhaps perhaps the earnestness and reliability and fortitude of the Finns, Even under servest trials
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and provocations. At length comes a quickening of the tempo (Allegro moderato, 4-4 time) with a low ominous rumbling, stabbed through with with short nrevous exclamations of brasses, to which strings recall the inductory theme. Then the pace becomes even more lively. A five note motive (all the low instruments) at once ushers in a new theme, which rises to a climax, subsides and is repeated. Another short climax follows, on no theme. Then woods and strings bring a new melody, peaceful, hymn like and fervent, but restrained. Strings carry it on, The precedeing theme returns, this time mounting twice to a climax. Other motives are briefly recalled, and finally (2-2 time) all the wind instruments chant the hymn to a thrilling conclusion.
INVITATION TO ...................................................................................................................... CARL MARIA, FRIEDRICH ERNST
THE DANCE ................................................................................................................................... FREIHERR (BARON) VON WEBER
Arranged for orchestra by Paul Felix Weingartner
Weber: Born at Eutrin, Oldenburg, Germany, December 18, 1786 ; Died London, England, June 5, 1826
Weingarten: Born at Zara, Dalmatia, June 2, 1863: now living in Germany
This "rondo brilliant for the piano " as Weber tells us, was " fully sketched July 23 1819 and completed on the 28th", at Hosternitz, a little country place near Pillnitz, in the vicinity of dresden. It was one of several piano pieceswhich afforded him from his labors on the Opera,"Der Freischutz". He played it first for his wife, to whom it is dedicated , - commenting, according to her own story, as he played"First approached the dancer; evasive reply of the lady; his more urgent invitation; her present acceptance of his proposal; now they talk together - he begins, she answers; he with more passionate expression, she still more warmly agreeing; now there's dancing! his direct address with reference to it, her answer, the coming together; they take thier position; awaiting the begining of the dance; the dance; finale; her thanks, his answer, thier retirement, stillness". (Cellos are the gentlemen, violins and woodwinds the lady.)
Many have written about this all together charming work: in it have been found all that is poetic, chivalric, tender and agreeable spirited; it "symbolizes the dance as a poetic idea"; it set the example that raised the whole character of German dance to a high level of beauty never before dreamed of; it became a model for countless idealizations of the waltz that have followed it, and it is today a splended specimen of the concert waltz.
There have been many arrangements of this piece. In 1841 Berlioz became the first to orchestrate it, for a scene de ballet, which - much to his disgust - the Director of the Paris Opera Interpolated into "Der Freischutz" when it was revived in that year. Berlioz as an exact orchestral transciption of it, and of it's piano idom as he could, but Weingarten concieved his on a much broader plan, which most interestingly explains in a preface to his score:
"He who translates a poets work into a foriegn language, merely transfers it, word for word, into the other idom, will at most remain true to to the sense , but will destroy the poetic spirit of the original.
" He who arranges an instrumental work for another instrument, or group of instruments and merely copies notes of one part into another, will do something superflous; for the original will always be far better than the transcription, and the latter therefore purposeless.
" In both cases the transcription must be so done that it can itself lay claim to the worth and character of the original, and also find it's complete reason of being independently of the latter. In a word , it will be necessary to translate poetically the original work in manner corresponding to the new word language or tone language. Brilliant examples in point are Franz Liszt's transcriptions and arrangements of all kinds.
"When I was studing the score of Berloiz's instrumentation of the "Invitation to the Dance" for purposes of performance, it struck me at once that the great master of instrumentation had greatly undervalued the excutive capacity of his orchestra in every direction. First, he transposes the whole piece from the distinguished tonality of D flat to D natural, which key sounds in this insistence dull and common place. The reason is easy to precieve. Some of Weber's pianoforte passages are difficult for the orchestra in D flat, but easy and convient to play in D natural. But Weber wrote these passages for the pianoforte, and not for the orchestra; they must therefore, not be copied of note for note, if an orchestration of them is undertaken, but must be so transformed that they can be well played by the respective instruments in the original key; and the new passages must likewise appear bas well adapted to the nature of the orchestra as the corresponding ones in Weber's original are to that of the pianoforte.
"Moreover, Berloiz has written the piece for orchestra simply as it stands, without any alteration; that is, has achived the possibility of nothing more than a mere
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sonorous interpretation than the pianoforte can compass. The manifoldly complex and expressive apparatus of the orchestra, however , directly challenges us to bring Webers themes, which stand side by side over and over again, into a more intimate relation to one another in to let the seperate motives 'invite' one another 'to the dance' until they all whirl together in an artistically graceful measure; that is to treat Weber's entirely homophonic piece polyphonically, while comepletely preserving the melody, and work it up to a climax in a combination of all it's motives.
"The bewitching themeatic relation of the first and second themes (he means the fifth) - in contrapuntal combination - forced itself at once upon my notice while I was reading the Berloiz score. But herewith came also the necessity and justification of re - orchestrating Weber's pianoforte piece on completely different principles from those that guided Berloiz. By retaining and further developing this and other combinations, the broadening out at the close for the sake of presenting all the themes simultaneously, and the filling - out of the pauses before the postlude, and the slight harmonic changes, are completely justified.
"The cadenza, before before the Allegro are my addition. Listz always played a cadenza at this place, as he himself told me. Tausig has published one in print. Whoever sees nothing more than sacrilege against Weber in the few measures which, to a certain extent, lift the veil which still hides from us the shining picture of the ensuing movement, let me most kindly leave it to him to erase them."
THE MUSIC. The introduction - the dialouge between the gallant and unquestionably handsome petitioner, and the lovely , shy flattered young lady - is all delightfully obvious.
The various themes and sections are set forth in order -
a. FIRST THEME. Allega vivace : full orchestra, melody in woodwinds
b. SECOND THEME. Dolce (softly) : first violins, accompanied by strings, harp and some woodwinds.
c. THIRD THEME. Brilliante e grazioso : rising and falling motives in woods, pizzicato accompaniment on strings.
d. FORTH THEME. Begun by low strings and bassoons, rising rapidly up through the full orchestra.
e. FIRST THEME, repeated.
f. FIFTH THEME. Strings and clarinets , softly, a most graceful and and enchanting melody, which then repeats in the first contrapuntal expostion of that "bewitching thematic relation" of the first and fifth themes, the former in bassoons, the latter in woodwinds and first violins.
g. first theme varied, in dialouge between violins and cellos.
h. FIRST AND FIFTH THEMES again , the former in woods and first violins pizzicati, the latter in second violins violas, and cellos, to which later other woods add the THIRD THEME.
i. SIXTH THEME. in woods, to sweeping triple - stopped chords in strings: then an asending scale motive for woods and strings answered by harp: then the SIXTH THEME again, working out to an interlude base on the motives of the preceding themes.
j. SECOND THEME for violons , aided by certain woods together with a variant of the fifth theme sung by low strings, which is somewhat extended.
k. FIRST THEME, as first presented.
l. THIRD THEME as at first, then repeated with a new pizzicato obbligato in violins, which works out into embellishments for violins and leads to
m. A combination of FIRST (strings) ,SECOND (woods), and FIFTH (brasses), THEMES with the THIRD later added momentarily (piccolo, flutes and clarinets).
n. The real coda of the waltz (beginning where strings tremolo), leading to the dancers parting remarks.
The brilliant and throughly engaging remarks of Weingatners treatment of WEber's piano piece completely justify hie philosphy it and his excution of it. It was first preformed January 30, 1896 by the then Royal Orchestra of Berlin, to which it is dedicated. The score calls for a rather formidable orchestra of piccolo, 2 flutes, 3 oboes, E - flat clarinet, 2 B - flat clarinets, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, tympani, bells, triangle, cymbals, tamborine, casatagnets, harp, and strings.
SPANISH CAPRICE , Op. 34 ............................................................... NICHOLAS ANDSREJEVITCH RIMSKY - KORSAKOV
Born at Tikhvin, Province of Novgrod, Russia, March 18, 1844; died at (then) S. Petersburg, June 21 1908
This piece the composer sketched out as a fantasia on Spanish themes for violin and orchestra. Later he decided to make it an orchestral composition, and began work on it in this form in 1886. The following November the score was submitted to Tchaikovsky, who wrote on the 11th to the composer, " I must add that your Spanish Caprice is a COLOSSAL MATERPIECE OF INSTRUMENTATION, and you
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may regard yourself as the greatest master of the present day". Quite a compliment from the greatest Russian of them all!
IT WAS FIRST PREFORMED at a concert of the Russian Symphony Society in St. Petersburg, (now Lenningrad), October 31, 1887, with the composer conducting. He writes of it in his " Chronicle of My Musical Life" as follows -
" At one of the later concerts my Spanish Capriccio was preformed . At the first rehearsal the first section (in A major, 2-4 time) had scarcely been finished when the whole orchestra began to applaud . Similiar enthausium followed all the other sections and wherever the pauses permitted. I asked the orchestra for the privilage of dedicating the work to them. There was general delight at this. The Capriccio went off without a hitch and sounded brilliant. At the concert itself it was preformed with such perfection of excution and such enthusiasm as never was given to it later, even when Nikisch himself conducted it. Despite it's length, the work called forth an insisent repetition. The opinion formed by both the critics and the public, that the Capriccio is a magnificent piece of orchestration, is incorrect. The Capriccio is merely a brilliant composition for the orchestra. The change of colors , the happy selection of melodic designs and figurations, exactly adapted to each kind of instrument , the brief virtuoso cadenzas for solo instruments, the rythm of the precussion ionstruments , etc., all constitute the very ESSENCE of the composition , and not it's garb or orchestration. The Spanish themes of dance character supplied me with rich material for use of varied gated orchestral effects. Taking it as a whole, the Capriccio is clearly a purely external work, but sparkling brilliant for all that. I was a little less successful in it's third section ( Alborada, B - flat major), where the brass instruments rather submerge the melodic design of the woodwinds; but it would be easy to remedy this if the conductor would moderate the indictations of NUANCE in the brass instruments, by replacing the FORTISSMO by a simple FORTE."
It is dedicated to the players of the orchestra of the Imperial Russian Opera House in St. Petersburg, whose names - all sixty seven of them - are inscribed on the title page of the score.
THE MUSIC is divided into five sections -
I. Alborada, "morning piece" or "morning serenade" . Vivo e strepitoso. A major, 2-4 time. The theme alternates between full orchestra and solo clarinet; at the end solo violin takes it up.
II. Variations . Andante con moto, F major, 3-8 time. Low strings accompany the first statement of the theme by horns. After several variations a flute trill leads to the return of the
III. Alborada, which this time has slightly different figuration and quite different scoring and is in B - flat major.
IV. Scene and Gypsy Song. Allegretto, D minor , 6-8 time. Five cadenzas usher this section. It is as though Gypsies were gathered about in the camp clearing, and various groups and individuals come forward in turn to dom thier stunt; trumpeters and horn players, next a violinist; then a moments respite while a clarinet, suggest a song of accompaniment of percussion and violins; now a flute solo, then a clarinet, and lastly the harp. Then comes the song. As it gathers volume and abandon, surely the young men and women must take up the dance: even in a concert one can scarcely resist. At length, wioth somw upward suurges comes a vowedly a dance, the
V. Fandango of the Astruians, A ,major, 3-4 time. Trombones begin it, woodwinds carry it on. The soloists take it up together. Gradually more join in. The gypsy song returns, and lastly the Alborada.
The score calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes ( 1 interchanable with english horn), 2 clarinets, 2 tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, tympani, triangle, castagnets, tamborine, small drum, bass drum, cymbals, harp, and strings.
"LAND - SIGHTING," FOR CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA ............................................................................EDVARD HAGERUP GRIEG
Born in Bergen, Norway, June 15, 1843 ; died there September 4, 1907
Although Olf Trygvasson, the great Norwegian hero of the middle ages , is in the sense the principal character of this stirring song, the song in no way refers to any incident, historical or otherwise. It is a sort of allegorical hymn, in which is drawn the parallel between the elation felt by a mariner making his landfall as he approaches an especially beautiful shore, and one who is swept up in the estacy of a great religious or spiritual experence - perhaps a conversion to Christianity, such as Olaf himself under went . For he was converted from paganism to Christianity in England, brought his new found faith to Norway, and Christianized his people : thus Grieg happily chose him as the personification of the idea underlying this song.
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"OLAF TRYGVASSON" - CANTATA FOR SOLI , CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA ............................................................... GRIEG
Text adapted from the unfinished drama of Bjoernstjerne Bjoernson
NORWAY, until the end of the ninth century, was was divided into several small kingdoms, each ruled overn by a petty king, called a jarl. Such a fuedalistic system could not fail to foster rivalries, distrust, jealousies and antagonisms between these rulers; it could to breed in those who from time to time waxed strong the temptation to sieze the land and wealth and authority of weaker neighbors, and thus promote ever shifting alliances, both defensive and offensive, designed to benifit the contracting kings. The alliances would fall apart as new rivalries and antagonisms arose within them , and the cycle would repeat itself. Add to all this the seemingly natural predatory instinct of the early Norwegians, and the sanguinary result was that they were constantly involved in dissension and warfare.
Halfdan the Black, in his turn, waxed strong, and began his conquest of the jarls, to bring all of Norway under one ruler: his son Harald Haarfager (meaning the "fair haired") - Harald the First (860 - 933) completed the conquest his father had begun, and thus became the first king of all Norway. Upon his death, however, he gave to each of twenty of his sons the title of jarl and a portion of his kingdom he had created , thus re- consigning Norway to it's former fuedalism and completely nullifying and destroying the unification that he had accomplished. The son of one of these new kings (thus a grandson of Harald I) was the jarl Trygve, whose lands were in the Vik country (southeastern Norway, around Christiana fjord), and was slain by a rival jarl. Trygve's wife , Astrid, fled into Russia, and in this land
OLAF TRYGVASSON, the son of Trygve and Astrid, was born in 956 - at the court of the Grand Prince Vladimir in Novogrod, where Astrid had been welcomed and found refuge. And here Olaf, at birth an exile from his native country, was splendidly educated. While still a youth, under the Wendish king Burislav, he fought in the army of the Roman Emperor Otto III, who had been made King of Germany in 961. He married Burislav's daughter. After her early death - and impelled it would seem, by irresistable hereditary influences - he embarked upon the plundering career of a Viking, making frequent raids on the French, British, and Irish coasts. On one of these ravaging expeditions to the Scilly Isles (off the coast of Cornwall, England) a
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ermit converted him to Christianity. A short while later, in England, he married Gyda, sister of King Olaf Kvaran of Dublin. And then, foreswearing of these people whom through religious and conjunical ties, he had become allied, he adopted peaceful pursuits and devoted himself largely to administering his wife's properties in England and Ireland.
In the third generation after Haarfger his great-grandson, Haakon, called the Bad, had again succeeded in bringing Norway under his single sway. (Haakon was decended from Haarfger through another of his twenty sons than Olaf, and was therefore Olafs second cousin.) Olaf fired by the reports of unpopularity of Haakon and inspired to convert his own race to Christianity, set sail from Norway with a Christian force, arriving in the Drotheim (now New Trondhjem) Fjord in the fall of 995 and landing near the site of the present day city of that name. At the approach of Olaf, Haakon hid in a cave with one of his thralls, who treacherously killed him. Olaf was at once accecpted as king without opposition and entered upon his brief but brilliant reign. He lost no time in setting about the Christisanizing of his people, not withsatnding the the obstinate resistance of many to his missionary efforts. He brought over a bishop and priests from England, - and the firm and secure, though considerably enforced, conversion of the Norwegians was the greatest achivement of his career. And he undoubtedly dreamed of and planned a united and Christian Scandinavia, and to that he made overtures of marriage to Sigrid , Queen of Sweden, and began the building up of his fleet to pursue his proposed conquests. But Sigrid would not forsake her heathenism; the marriage negotiations where therefore broken off, and instead of winning Sigfrid for a bride, Olaf won her bitter hatred. He then married Thrye, sister of King Sveyn of Denmark, and in so doing incurred the wrath of Sveyn : for to marry Olaf , Thrye had defied Sveyn's admonition to her to remain faithful to her husband and had deserted him, who was Burislav - under whom Olaf had foughtyears before and whose daughter was Olaf's first wife.
His Wendish and Irish wives had brought him wealth and good fortune, but his union with Thyre was to be his undoing. Sneyn and Sigrid combined against him . In 1000 he set out to wrest Thrye's lands from Burislav. But off the Island of Svoeld near Ruegen Island in the Baltic Sea (on the coast of German Pomerania) his ships were attacked by the combined fleets of Sigrid and Sveyn, to which force had been added ships and men sent by the sons of Haakon and by certain disaffected jarls who resented Olaf's attempts to impose his Christian faith upon them and thier followers. According to legend and historical account, this battle was heroic and terrible. Olaf's fleet was annihilated. On his great ship, "Long Serpent", the mightiest in the northland, Olaf fought to the very end of the fray - and at last lept overboard and " was no more seen."
After his death he became the great hero of his people. They could not accecpt the fact of his deathj and whispered that he was yet alive, and watched eagerly and hopefully for his return. "But however that may be," goes the old story, "Olaf Trygvasson never came back to his kingdom of Norway."
Norway was partitioned off among the allies who conquered Olaf, and again suffered the loss of a united sovereignty.
OLAF TRYGVASSON was exceptionally gifted by nature. He was possessed of a magnifiecent physique, and "so comely to behold that none had seen his like". He was courageous and daring, skilled in the use of every kind of weapon and in all the arts of war. But he was by no means only a great warrior, for his mental and spiritual endowments in every way matched his physical prowess. His personality was forceful, yet singularily magnetic and attractive, and his capacity for leadershipof the highest order. In peaceful contracts he won respect and affection of the nobility, the chivilary and warm vitiality of his nature, and it is said that in war he conquered as much by the strength of his will as by the force of his arms. Certainly he won the alligiance and support of his people not through the power of his postion, for when he landed upon the Drothiem shore in 995 he had absolutely no poweror station or authority over them; he won them and held them to him by virtue of his inherit qualities as a man and leader - and all in spite of his reckless zeal and almost fanatical insistances of imposing upon them his pwn religion, against the deep prejudices of many toward it. As a friend he was genial, and generous and loyal to a fault. As a foe he asked no quarter and expected none. In the administration of justice, though stern and unyielding, he was fair to both friend and foe. His character and personality were the ideal of the times in which he lived, and in the middloe ages as the nobelist example of the Norman race.
DR. BJOERNSTJERNE BJOERNSON (born December 8, 1832; died April 26, 1910) was one of Norway's greatest literary figures. He wrote in virtually every literary form - poems, novels, dramas, essays non political, social, and historical topics - and he was for a time a theatrical director. He was on the original Nobel Prize Committee, and won the prize for liture in 1903.
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His plays cover a wide range of subjects - taken from the ancient sagas, from recent history, from modern life. He had begun a drama on Olaf Trygvasson's conquest and Christianizing of Norway, but finished only the first three scenes which are the text for
GRIEG'S CANTATA. These scenes occur just after Olaf has landed in Norway, and depict a ceremony of the pagan Norwegians, in which they call upon thier pagan godsto aid them to defeat Olaf's Christian warriors. (Oddly , the character from which the Cantata takes it's name does not appear, because these scenes in the drama were to have been in the nature of an introduction, and Olaf's first entrance wound not have occured untli a later scene.)
SCENE I takes place before the altar of the pagan temple. In turn the High Priest, a woman, and the people gather in the temple to supplicate thier dieties. At (A) - in the text of the Cantata - they acknowledge that "other gods are now arising", and ask thier own to help combat them, as " gods alone with gods can wrestle".
SCENE II. The Voelva, a phrophetess and oracle, calls upon the people to do more than just invoke thier divinities: they must carve some rune staffs, to " disperse evil from the pathway which to gods doth lead", and scatter the Christians that are , as she says, howling upon thier horns " to hide our voices that the gods may never hear us!" At length (B) she casts into the altar fire a rune staff she has been carving; the flames leap up to the temple roof, and a crash and peal of thunder shake the temple. All terror stricken , take this to mean that the gods are answering thier pleas. The Voelva then continues her praying to them, asking where they will find Olaf , when he
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will be struck down (C). Another peal of thunder, the back of the temple is rent asunder, through the rift thus caused there appears an apparition of the temple surrounded by smoke and flames as the thunder continues. Soon it vanishes. Then the Voelva and the people ask if the holy ones have actually have hastened to them, and declare that he must enter thier hall (D), "ne'er to come forth again", and scornfully they will tell him that in his god they "will believe if he come safely come forth!" Then they thank thier dieties for the signs and tokens they have been shown (E) ; Olaf shall leave thier land, driven out by the fires of the fire god, Loki.
Soon the High Piest and elders take horns from a raised place before the image of Thor (F - see text of cantata); the High Priest declares that the blazing up of the altar fires and the rending of the temple have hallowed it. The people then prepare for games and sports in celebration of all that has transpired.
SCENE III. The ceremonial dances and accompaning choruses. (To help visualize the stage action, certain stage directions for this scene are quoted in the cantata text.)
The score is for picolo, 2 flutes, 2 o0boes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, tympani, triangle, small drum, bass drum, cymbals, tam-tam, harp, and strings.
SCENE I
(Molto moderato, 4-4 time)
High Priest Thou whom fancy lends many ties,
Giver of Runes and of magic!
Working before the worlds begining,
Thou who out gazest from Lindskialf:
Men Hear us! Hear us!
A Woman Tender mother Frigga, sorrow for Balder,
Bearing in thy bosom all worldly woe!
Comforter of Odin, nourisher of nature,
Drawing all life and care into Fensal:
Women Hear us ! Hear us!
High Priest Trudfang's Hlorida, Bilskiner's fire flame,
Thou of the strenght belt and hammer,
Shield of the Aesir and of the Northmen,
Ever the dread of the giants:
Men Hear us ! Hear us!
A Woman Beauteous weeping goodness, silent widow Vanadis,
Love's distress thine own loss taught unto thee!
Let our tears of sorrow with thine own be mingled:
Thou who dost govern half of the living.
Women Hear us ! Hear us !
High Priest Horn bearing Heimdal, ul in Yadler,
Nyoerd, mighty North dweller, hear us!
Alfenheim's joy, Landiva's sorrow,
Long bearded minstrel, and thou Tyr:
Men Hear us ! Hear us !
A Woman Ever youthful Idun, Sif of golden harvest,
Saga of the streamlet, Skada of the hills,
All thee mighty Aesir, Vanir, and Valkyrir
Hear our complaining, earthward oh hasten!
Women Hear us ! Hear us !
(Molto piu animato)
Chorus Other gods are now arising; gods of power, gods of battle!
(A) Help us, help us; Mitgard trembles: gods alone with gods can wrestle !
(All kneeling) (Andante molto)
Ye who from Udar fountain pour life strength into our bosoms,
Ye who alone know his will, the Father in gold canopied Gimle;
Ye in Odin's ear who whisper softly as each day awakens,
Ye who were ere world's begining, Ye who will be when tis wasted:
Show us, show us, show our Fates the the pathway
Show us , show us, show our Fates the way to him,
The god so long awaited, the god so long awaited.
Show us, show our Fates the pathway, show the god so long awaited !
Show the way to him so long awaited ! Hear us !
(p.11)
SCENE II
(Allegro agitato, 2-2 time)
The Voelva (from an elevation in the fore ground)
Tis not enough that ye invoke Nornin and Aesir.
Runes must be graven duly, evil to disperse from the pathway
Which to the gods do lead .
There see the gathered hosts !
Upon thier horns to hide our voices,
That the gods may never hear us!
(Poco lento)
Chorus O prophetess mighty, rise in thy magic !
Fill heaven and earth with Odin's word !
(Allegro, 6-8 time)
The Voelva (raises herself so that she stands high above all the others)
Spirits base, basely mastered , ye who come from the Southlands:
With Hel shall your feast be holden.
Plague shall gnaw, serpents send through your veins deadly venom.
Let Hel's hounds awake , howling and foaming,
Monsters filled with madness for your blood thirsting blindly !
For Hel no fitter food can afford them !
For Hel no fitter food can afford them !
With Hel ! Spirit base, basely mastered,
Ye who come from the Southlands,
With Hel here in the North your feast is, your feast is.
(Poco lento 2-2 time)
Chorus O prophetess mighty, great is thy magic !
Fill heaven and earth with Odin's word !
(Assmebling around the images of the gods)
Three nights we besought we, suing like son to sire;
Three nights we pleaded, heard is our prayer.
(repetition of the above)
(p.12 & 1/2 p. ad)
(Allegro, 6-8 time)
The Voelva (who has been carving runes, now continues to cut eagerly).
Spirits base, basely master, ye who come from the Southlands,
To Hel soon shall your way be wended.
Evil Ones, away, away! The Thunderer's weapon awaits ye!
To Hel soon shall your way be wended!
Runes I wrote on a staff I rent from the altar of Odin.
To Hel straightway it's charms consigns ye!
To Hel straightway it's charms consigns ye!
To Hel! Runes will lead Loki's lot unto the doors of his daughters!
With Hel ye shall devour that wrighting, that wrighting!
(B) ( She casts the rune -staff upon the sacred fire , which immediatley blazes
up ' till the flames touch the roof. A fearful crash, ending in peals of
thunder which die away in the distance, shakes the temple).
( poco adante, 4-4 time)
All (recoiling in terror)
Wonderous word of Odin goes to black abyss, to heavens hieght!
Awful returnsth the answer .
The Voelva Answer came from Hel, from high gods; all fear it , yet not I :
Now let us kneel to them ! Ev'ry path is free!
So I will pray them first! Yes, I pray them first!
Gods, ye holy eternal gods! Are you here, then heed me!
Where find we the fiat which governs our fate?
Where bends your balance ,ordering all?
Show, ah show to me, ye mighty ones,
Where ye will strike the Evil Olaf? where? where?
Gods all-governoring , endless, omnipotent Aesir!
Gods all-governoring , endless, omnipotent Aesir!
I, I pray, devoted to Odin from my youth,
By the grey wolf's heart , by the reven's tongue
By my sacriface in sleepless nights;
I, I pray you, Show me, mighty ones:
(C) Where ye will strike the evil Olaf? where? where?
(Molto moderato)
( Thunder! The background of the temple is rent asunder. The temple
is seen as if in the distance , surrounded by smoke and flames. As long
as the temple remains visable the thunder continues to peal).
(Allegro animato)
The Voelva ( when the apparition vanishes)
Here! Here! hasten the holy ones?
Here, herew hurtled the vengeance of heaven!
Chorus Here! Here! hasten the holy ones?
(D) Here, here strikes him the vegeance of heaven !
The Voelva In our hall he must enter,
Let him go in , ne'er to come forth again!
Chorus In our hall he must enter,
Let him go in ne'er to come forth again!
The Voela Let this be told him:
We will believe if he come safely forth !
Chorus (scornfully) We will believe if he come safely forth!
The Voelva This must be told him :
Let his God go into our gods!
Chorus Let his God go into pour gods!
The Voelva and Chorus (Repitition fo the above, contrapuntally.)
( Animato, 2-2 time)
All (turning towards the gods)
Thanks! Thanks! Thanks for the token !
(E) Solace it sends us ! Thanks ! Thanks!
Thanks for the token, faith it cinfirms !
Choice of the children, come then , oh king, to us!
Come to thy childern, strife will be short !
Now will the gods themselves go on thier gladsome way,
Now will the gods themselves grant us thier grace !
Lit from our land by fire, lo, he shall leave us,
Loki shall lighten him hence unto Hel!
(p.13)
(Adagio, 2-2 time )
( The High Priest takes a horn from a raised place before the image of
Thor, and the elders do the same. With these leading, all march around
the three sacred fires, coming afterwards toward the front again, where
the elders all p-roceed to thier seats on either side . when the High Priest
has taken horn he makes the sign of the hammer over it and proceeds
to sing the song that follows )
High Priest Raise high the horn, great Host-father, Odin's horn,
Raise up the horn, upheave it for him,
Raise up the horn, upheave it for him.
High altar fires, and Alkethor's hammersign,
High altar fires have hallowed it,
High altar fire have hallowed it.
Chorus Gladly we join in games for the gracious god,
Gladly we join in gambols of joy,
Gladly we join in outbursts of joy !
SCENE III
The younger ones prepare to dance . The men leap over the sacred fires and lift the women over on both sides . Then begins a Temple-dance, in which the principal features are 1: a round -dance with continual change of partners, 2: a sword dance in which shields are held over the women and meets the swords over the fires, while on thier side the women hold swords before thier warriors while these advance or retreat.
As the arms are only allowed to be used in the games, they are brought in by the children, at the appointed time, and removed as soon as the first dance begins. All of the arms are held over the sacred fires, in order to be purified before they are to be used. During the dance the elder people are seated in two ranks on each side, singing and handing the horns around.
(Allegretto marcato, 2-4 time)
Give to all a gracecup of gratitude
Give to the gods your greatest gifts!
Horns fill for Akethor , Dronthiemer's diety,
Fill them to Akethor's daring in fight!
Gaily then join ye games fot the gracious gods,
Gaily join ye outbursts of joy!
Fill up to Nyoerd and Frey , harvest and fish they send !
Fill up to Nyoerd and Frey, Harvest fair , haul of fish,
To freedom and faith! To freedom, to freedom,
To freedpom, to freedom, to freedom and faith!
Gaily then join ye games to the gracious gods,
Gaily then join outbursts of joy!
Gaily we join in games to the gracios gods ,
Gaily we join in outbursts of joy!
Beakers to Braga bring we with holy vows,
Beakers to Braga brimming we raise ,
Off'rings of flesh and blood make we for Olaf's end,
Flesh and blood offerings , flesh and blood offerings,
We all freely bring to Braga, to Braga,
To Braga, to Braga we all freely bring.
Gaily then join ye games to the gracious gods,
Gaily we join in outbursts of joy!
Gaily then join ye in games to the gracious gods,
Gaily we join in outborsts of joy !
O ye Asynier honor we offer ye ,
All ye Asynier honor and praise!
O ye Asynier , honor we offer ye,
All ye Asynier honor and praise!
Noursh, oh mild ones , men with you mother milk !
Noursh us, ye who move us with might !
Young men and maidens, grandsire and grandmother,
Honor for aye the gods ever green!
Gladly then join in games to the gracious gods,
Gaily the join in outburst of joy!
(p.14)
A tempo
animato Glorious Disir gliding like doves around ,
Glorious Disir death making glad!
Guarding ye follow friendly our future fate,
Guarding ye follow us, hail to your flight!
Fortune of fathers holdeth the Harmingja,
Fortune of fathers and of the race.
tranquillo
O ye Asynier, honor we offer ye,
All ye Asynier, honor we offer ye,
Nourish, ye mild ones, men with your mothers milk,
Nourish us, ye who move us with might!
Young men and maidens, grandsire and grandmother,
Honor for aye the gods ever green !
Gladly we join in games to the gracious gods,
Gladly we join in outbursts of joy!
(Allegretto marcato, 2-4 time)
Earthmen and kobolds keeping the ground for us,
Earthmen and kobolds, hail to your kind!
Hail to the hughest spirit that hides in hills,
Hail, tiny elves who frolic in flow'rs!
Hail, our up holder, guardians of house and halls!
Hail, who upholdest harbor and holm!
Hail our upholder, guardeian of house and halls,
Hail to thee, hail to thee, guarding our house and homes,
We hail thee, upholder of harbor, we hail thee,
We hail thee, upholder of harbor and holm!
Gladly then join in games to the gracious gods,
Gladly then join in outburst in joy!
Gladly we join in games to the gracious gods ,
Gladly we join them, gladly we join in outburst of joy!
Gladly we join in outburst of joy!
(Adagio molto, 2-4 time)
Faith of our fatherland, love thou dost light in us,
Faith of our fatherland , moving all men!
Faith of our fatherland, honour thou art to us!
Faith of our fatherland, fond and profound!
Faith of our fatherland, love thous dost light in us,
Faith of our fatherland, moving all men!
Faith of our fatherland, honor thou art to us!
Faith of our fatherland, fond and profound!
Faith of our fatherland, love thou dost light in us,
Faith of our fatherland, moving all men, moving all men!
(Presto, 3-4 time)
Faith of our fatherland, love thou dost light in us,
Faith of our fatherland, moving all men!
Moving all men, faith of our fatherland, moving all men,
We will defend thee fight for our father's faith,
We will defend thee , future be ours!
We will defend thee, source of our weal and woe,
We will defend thee, fount of great deeds!
Three nights besought we, suing like son to sire,
Three night we prayed, and heard was our pray'r.
The first night offered we bowls of bloody sacrifice,
On the first offer'd we oxen with pray'r.
Next night, guest offering gave we the gracious gods,
Over thier images uttering pray'r.
On the third night fair dreams favor'd us !
On the third night we danc'd and we sang .
Gladly we join'd in games, games to the gracious gods!
Gladly we join'd in games to the great gods,
Games to the great gods , outburst of joy!
It is interesting to know that the city of Trondhjem was founded by Olaf Trygvasson , and that in 996 he built there the first Christian Church in Scandinavia.And it is peculiarly approprite that the present Trondhjem Cathedral , which stands near the spot where Olaf first sowed the seeds of Christianity in Scandinavian soil, is today the most notable Christian Church in Scandinavia. It was founded near the end of the eleventh century , holds th tombs of many of Norways early kingsand has been for centuries the place of thier coronation.
(p. 15)
(p.16 / full page of ads.)
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ANNUAL CONCERT
---------------- Given By ---------------
Academy Junior and Senior
Orchestra and Band
Friday Evening, April 29th, 1938
PART
I
THE JUNIOR HIGH ORCHESTRA
Directed By LOUISE E. SCHWEITZER
1. Overture - Lustpiel ..................................................................... Keler - Bela
2. The Trumpeter ............................................................................. Englemann
Andrew Thiel, Soloist
3. Selection - The Band Wagon ........................................................ Schwartz
4. Serenade ....................................................................................... Drigo
John Demifjain, Soloist
5. Parade of the Wooden Soldiers ................................................... Jessel
6. Mannhattan March ...................................................................... Sousa
PART II
THE SENIOR HIGH ORCHESTRA
Directed by WM. S. OWEN
1. March of the Peers ........................................................................ Sullivan
2. Overture - Pique Dame .................................................................. Suppe
3.Barcarolle from "The Seasons" ...................................................... Tschaikowski
4. Ida and Dottie - Polka ................................................................... Losey
Florence Meiser, Soloist
5. Overture - Prometheus .................................................................. Beethoven
PART III
THE BAND
Directed by WM. S. OWEN
1. March - Hail to the Academy ......................................................... Frank
2. Overture - One Beautiful Day ........................................................ Hildreth
3. Selection - The Merry Widow ......................................................... Lehar
4. Selection - Il Travatore ................................................................... Verdi
CONCERT BY
ACADEMY SENIOR ORCHESTRA and
BAND
Wm. S Owen, Director
ACADEMY AUDITORIUM,
Jan. 10, 1940 8 P. M.
PROGRAM
THE SENIOR ORCHESTRA
1. Overture - Hungarian Lutspeil ............................................................... Kela Bela
2. Selection from " The Bat" ....................................................................... Joh. Strauss
3. Duet from Pique Dame ............................................................................ Von Suppe
Mary Lois Pire, Flute - Allison Alloway, Clarinet
4. First Waltz ................................................................................................ Durand
5. Symphony in G Major, No. 6 (Suprise) .................................................... Jos. Haydn
Andante - Minuetto - Allegro di Molto
ACADEMY BAND
1. Symphonic Peom - Findlandia ................................................................... Sibelius
2. Selections from The Lady of the Slipper ................................................. Victor Herbert
3. Suite - ATLANTIS ( The Lost Continent ) .................................................... Safranek
Under the Direction of Peter Petranni
Studen Director
A. Nocturne and Morning Hymn of Praise
B. A Court Function
C. Duet " I Love Thee"
George Griffith, Cornet
John Nutter, Baritone
D. The Destruction of Atlantis
4. Finale from Symphony No. 4 in F Minor ................................................... Tchaikowski
5. The Stars and Sripes Forever .................................................................... Sousa
The Pennsylvania School Music Association
Northwestern District Orchestra Festival
Erie Pennsylvania
Jan. 11, 12, 13, 1940
MEMBERSHIP
NAME --- Jean Kerr -- ADDRESS -- Erie Academy --
has been selected for membership in the Northwestern District
Orchestra Festival .
Your tempory seat is -- 4 -- chair -- second -- section .
You should report at Strong Vincent High School not later
than 9:30 A. M. Thursday, January 11, 1940. After enrollment
you will rehearse the following program, and recieve sectional
instruction under a competent -- violin -- teacher.
Please be prompt at all rehearsals ; otherwise, you will be demoted
for unexcused tardiness.
PROGRAM
Title Composer Number Pub.
1. Marche Noble ............................. C. Bach ...................................... - - - ............... Lud.
2. Symphony No. 8 in B minor
(unfinished) ........................ F. Schubert ............................... C. Sym. ............... CF.
3. Evening Prayer and Pantomine
"Hansel and Gretal" ........ Humperdinck ............................ A.E.14 ................ C.F.
4. Phaon (Symphonic Poem) ........... Johnson ..................................... C.93 .................. C.F.
5. In a Monastery Garden ............... Ketelby ..................................... - - - .............. Harms.
6. Fervent Is My Longing ................. Bach-Cailliet ............................... - - - ............ E.V.
7. Foster Fantasy ............................. Rauterkaus ................................. - - - ............ Vol.
8. Findlandia ..................................... Sibelius ....................................... A.E.22 .............. CF.
9. The Star Spangled Banner ........... Arr. Walter Damrosch ................ - - - ............. G.S.
STRING PLAYERS ARE REQUESTED TO BRING EXTRA STRINGS.
