The Shedd Choral Society is a repertoire reading ensemble, focusing on great Western choral music in a traditional setting. Led by Shedd faculty member Amy Adams and accompanied by Bruce Haines, the ensemble explores works by Bach, Vivaldi, Brahms, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Handel, and many others. Non-auditioned and open to adult choral musicians at any level, rehearsals focus on learning choral parts and conclude with an informal performance that is free and open to the public.
FALL, 2017
Franz Schubert's Magnificat in D Major
Michael Haydn's "Heiligste Nacht"
The Shedd Choral Society will perform Schubert’s Magnificat, preceded by a short choral piece - “Heiligste Nacht” (Most Holy Night) - by Michael Haydn. Perhaps lesser known today than his famous brother Franz Joseph Haydn, Michael was a prolific and famous composer of sacred choral music, and was an enormous influence on Schubert.
Franz Schubert embodied the spirit of Romanticism with his lyrical, passionate, expressive compositions. (To realize his impact on sacred music, just think of how often his beautiful Ave Maria is performed!) His Magnificat, written when he was only nineteen, is one of many works, which only came to light many years after his death.
A church canticle beloved by many great composers, the “Magnificat” is a hymn expressing joy and thanksgiving, sung by the Virgin Mary:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.”
The term-end performance will be Tuesday, December 5, 6:30 pm, in The Shedd Recital Hall.
WINTER, 2018
Songs: Sir Charles Villiers Stanford
The Shedd Choral Society will perform six of Stanford’s choral compositions, drawn from various times of his composing career:
“What the Bee Is To the Flow’ret” and “Oh! Breathe Not His Name” from Six Irish Folksongs
“Shall We Go Dance?” from Six Elizabethan Pastorals
“Sailing At Dawn” from Songs of the Fleet
“My Love’s an Arbutus” and “Quick! We Have But A Second” (old Irish melodies)
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (September 30, 1852 – March 29, 1924) was an Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford began composing as a child and rapidly ascended to the position of organist at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1882, aged 29, he was one of the founding professors of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life.
Among Stanford’s students were rising composers whose fame went on to surpass his own, such as Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. As a conductor, Stanford held posts with the Bach Choir and the Leeds triennial music festival. He was knighted in 1901.
Stanford was a prolific composer and was especially known for his orchestral works, which include seven symphonies and five Irish Rhapsodies. His other works include numerous choral pieces, 10 operas, and many songs. His music reflects the late 19th-century Romantic style, into which he introduced elements of Irish folk song, contributing to his enduring appeal.
SPRING, 2018
Gabriel Fauré: Madrigal
Camille Saint-Saens: "Deus Abraham" & "Ave Maria"
The Shedd Choral Society will perform Faure’s Madrigal, along with two choral works by his lifelong friend, the composer best known for “Carnival of the Animals,” Camille Saint-Saens’ “Deus Abraham” and “Ave Maria”.
Gabriel Fauré (born May 12, 1845, Pamiers, Ariège, France—died Nov. 4, 1924, Paris), was a composer whose refined and gentle music influenced modern Western composers.
Fauré’s musical abilities became apparent at an early age. Fauré studied piano with Camille Saint-Saëns, who introduced him to the music of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. In 1896 he was appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory. In 1905 he succeeded Théodore Dubois as director of the conservatory, and he remained in office until ill health and deafness forced him to resign in 1920. Among his students were Maurice Ravel, Georges Enesco, and Nadia Boulanger.
Fauré excelled not only as a songwriter of great refinement and sensitivity but also as a composer in every branch of chamber music. He wrote more than 100 songs, enriched the literature of the piano with a number of highly original and exquisite works. One of the most striking features of his style was his fondness for daring harmonic progressions and sudden modulations, always elegant and deceptively simple.
Faure wrote his “Madrigal” in 1883, and dedicated it to his former roommate, about to get married. It’s the only work in which he borrowed a theme from another composer – none other than J.S. Bach. The opening line is derived from Bach’s cantata “Aus Tiefer Not” (From Deepest Need) and the piece (a dialogue between men and women about the love’s inconstancy) has the tone of a speech by the best man at a wedding.
SUMMER, 2018
Felix Mendelssohn, Sechs Lieder (Six Songs) Op. 59
The Shedd Choral Society will perform Felix Mendelssohn’s “Sechs Lieder (Six Songs) Op. 59”
1 Im Grünen (“In The Countryside”)
2 Frühzeitiger Frühling (“Early Spring”)
3 Abschied vom Wald (“Farewell to the Forest”)
4 Die Nachtigall (“The Nightingale”)
5 Ruhetal (“Resting Valley”)
6 Jagdlied (“The Hunter”)
Felix Mendelssohn was born on February 3, 1809, in Hamburg, Germany. At age 9, he made his public debut in Berlin. In 1819, he joined the Singakademie music academy and began composing non-stop. At Singakademie, he also became a conductor, but continued to compose prolifically. Mendelssohn founded the Leipzig Conservatory of Music in 1843. He died on November 4, 1847, in Leipzig at the age of 38.
During Mendelssohn’s short lifetime he displayed an obvious affinity for nature and the great outdoors, and expressed it in romantic choral partsongs. As the 19th century was also the golden age of German poetry, the composer often used verses by some of the leading poets of his day including Heinrich Heine and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The songs are brief, yet within them Mendelssohn creates a small world of vivid images. As in Die Nachtigall (The Nightingale), Op.59, No.4, Mendelssohn frequently uses a canon or roundelay, moving the verse refrain around the chorus for an effect both lovely and fun.