Milton's ode 'Voice & Verse' fetured at Northwest Choral's Nov. 12 concert
Northwest Choral Society's (NWCS) concert, "Voice & Verse," on Sunday, Nov. 12, will be a choral celebration of music and language. The concert will be held at 4 p.m., at First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights, 302 N. Dunton Ave. To illustrate this close relationship between music and verse, NWCS' Artistic Director Thomas Colao has highlighted a number of choral selections for the program, including Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry's composition "Blest Pair of Sirens," with words from John Milton's ode "At a Solemn Musick," and Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Serenade to Music."
"We hope our performance conveys to you both the joy of singing that we all have, as well as a meticulous love of language," Colao wrote in the concert's program notes.
Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918), was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. Parry set Milton's ode "At a Solemn Musick" unchanged, except for modernizing the poet's 17th-century spelling. "Blest Pair of Sirens" was first performed at St. James's Hall in London on May 17, 1887.
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) was an English composer whose works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies. He wrote "Serenade to Music" as a tribute to the conductor Sir Henry Wood to mark, in 1938, the 50th anniversary of Wood's first concert. He adapted lyrics from the discussion about music and the music of the spheres from Act V, Scene I from the play, "The Merchant of Venice," by William Shakespeare. Among its higher-profile performances of "Serenade to Music" were the choirs of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Prince William and Catherine Middletonin) in April 2011.
Other songs on the concert program include "A Hymn for St. Cecilia" by Herbert Howells and text by Ursula Vaughan Williams (second wife of Ralph Vaughan Williams); "If Music Be the Food of Love" by David C. Dickau with text by Henry Heveningham; and Quaker folk hymn, "How Can I Keep From Singing?' by Alice Parker.
Tickets for the "Voice & Verse" concert are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. Purchase tickets online at www.nwchoralsociety.org, call (224) 585-9127, or in person, prior to the concert at First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights.
NWCS' concert programs are sponsored in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.
Northwest Choral Society's next concert, entitled Northwest Christmas, will be at 4 p.m. on Dec. 17, at St. Raymond de Penafort Church in Mount Prospect. The concert will feature popular Christmas chorales and the opportunity to sing favorite songs of the season along with the choir.
Founded in 1965, the Northwest Choral Society is a nonprofit organization that promotes and encourages the appreciation, understanding and performance of a wide variety of outstanding choral literature. Its adult membership resides in the greater Chicago area.
The Northwest Choral Society invites experienced singers to audition to join the organization. Basses, tenors, altos and sopranos with previous choral experience and at least 17 years of age can obtain additional information about the Northwest Choral Society at www.nwchoralsociety.org.