What’s more American than a patchwork quilt? Chora Nova, a 50-voice Berkeley-based chorus, continues its 20th anniversary season by celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States with An American Choral Journey: from the Bay Psalm Book of 1640 to Living Composers, a patchwork quilt of music that explores the rich tradition of American song, at First Church Berkeley UCC (also known as First Congregational Church) at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 7. Artistic Director John Kendall Bailey conducts. Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols, soprano; and Jesse Micek, piano, will join the chorus for the performance.
This patchwork quilt of music spans over 360 years, starting with The Bay Psalm Book. First printed in 1640 in Cambridge, Colony of Massachusetts Bay, it was the first book printed in British North America and of course predates the birth of the United States. Its production just 20 years after the Pilgrims' arrival at Plymouth represents a considerable achievement. It remained in use for well over a century. Two of the psalms begin our program.
Moving on in time from the Bay Psalm Book, we come to the music of William Billings, the first great American composer. We perform several of his compositions that are set in traditional musical notation, and some that are in a system known as shape-note notation, designed to teach untrained singers. Shape-note music is all religious; the most important (and still published) compendium is The Sacred Harp. The vocal technique for shape-note singing is unique in American singing practice. We bring this to our performance.
American folk song comes next: Shenandoah and Every Night When the Sun Goes In. It wouldn’t be American music without Stephen Foster’s Beautiful Dreamer. The Shaker hymn ’Tis the Gift to be Simple is the finale of Aaron Copland’s ballet Appalachian Spring; we perform it in his Choral Variations on Simple Gifts.
African-American spirituals, including My Lord, What a Mornin’, and American Indian music interpreted by Charles Wakefield Cadman, bring us to our own century, including pieces by Morten Lauridsen (Dirait-on), Samuel Barber (Sure on this Shining Night), Eric Whitacre (Sleep) and Charles Ives (Psalm 67).
A patchwork quilt of music, indeed. We have created a real patchwork quilt that pictures all the composers in the program.