Pennsbury Community Chorus to perform 'Grand and Glorious' masterpieces at May 12 concert
Published: Monday, May 07, 2012
It will be a “grand night for singing” when the Pennsbury Community Chorus presents its 12th annual Spring Concert on Saturday, May 12th at Keller Hall on the West Campus of Pennsbury High School, 608 S. Olds Blvd., Fairless Hills.
Grand and Glorious Masterwork Choruses is the theme chosen for this year’s concert as the PCC sings 11 works by J. S. Bach, George Frederic Handel, Johannes Brahms, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert, Heinrich Schutz, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Carl Orff – all under the baton of Music Director James D. Moyer.
Tickets for the concert, scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., are $12 for adults, $8 for seniors 65 and over, and $6 for students with ID. They can be ordered in advance by calling 215-949-6780 ext. 70975, or purchased at the door just prior to the show Group tickets for 20 or more are available by phone for a 20 percent discount
Moyer, who is Pennsbury School District Curriculum Coordinator for Vocal/Choral Music (K-12) and Pennsbury High’s Director of Choral Activities, expressed his elation at the PCC’s good fortune of having the chorus accompanied by guest artists The Mainstream Brass as well as organist Jason Vodicka, formerly a member of the Pennsbury High Music staff.
“The choral works we will be singing are – with possibly four exceptions -- among the best known musical gems of all time,” Moyer said.
The best-known selections are the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah; How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place from Brahms’ Requiem; the Lacrymosa from Mozart’s Requiem; He Watching Over Israel from Mendelssohn’s Elijah; the Sanctus from Schubert’s Mass in E flat major; Dona Nobis Pacem from Bach’s Mass in B minor, and O Fortuna from Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Not probably as well known but nevertheless “Grand and Glorious,” Moyer noted, include Achieved is the Glorious Work from Haydn’s oratorio The Creation; Awake the Trumpet’s Lofty Sound from Handel’s oratorio Samson; O Clap Your Hands, with text from Psalm 47, by Vaughan Williams, and Psalm 100 by Heinrich Schutz.
The songs from the two oratorios, Creation and Samson, offer dramatic contrasts, Moyer noted. “Achieved is His Glorious Work” in Haydn’s Creation is sung in praise of God by the Heavenly choir of Angels after the sixth day of creation when all had been accomplished. In Handel’s Samson, “Awake the Trumpets Lofty Sound” is sung by a Chorus of Philistines to their chief god Dagon following the capture of Samson.
The treatment of the Schutz work will be very unusual, Moyer said, noting that it carries the subtitle “Echo” and was written by Schutz for double choir and to be sung a cappella, that is, with no instrumental accompaniment. However, for this concert chorus 1 will be the PCC choir while the Mainstreet Brass will play the chorus 2 part, becoming the “echo” of chorus 1.“It will be a “Grand and Glorious” night,” Moyer said, “as well as a lot of fun.”