Wellesley Choral Society Our 75th Season, 2022-2023 Edward Whalen, Music Director Masters of the Mass Franz Schubert: Mass in G major Niccolò Jommelli: Missa pro defunctis (Requiem) Sunday, May 14, 2023, 3:00 p.m. Wellesley Hills Congregational Church 207 Washington Street, Wellesley Hills, MA www.wellesleychoralsociety.org
2 THE WELLESLEY CHORAL SOCIETY DEPENDS IN PART ON THE GENEROSITY OF ITS FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS. THE SOCIETY WISHES TO ACKNOWLEDGE CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE FOLLOWING DONORS AND TO THANK THEM FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF OUR ANNUAL FUND CAMPAIGN OF JULY, 2021 – JUNE, 2022 In Honor of Ted and Hisako Anonymous (x3) Kate and Gordon Baty Karen and Brian Bell Wil and Ruth Breden John A. Carey Peter V. and Patricia G. Cooper Elisabeth Dambolena Francesca D'Arcangelo Sue D'Arcangelo Wayne Everett Bob Feldman Ted and Anastacia Feldman John Finney Marjorie Freeman Carolyn Gayle Hisako Hiratsuka Max Hobart Dr. and Mrs. Stephen K. Holland Leslie M. Holmes Sara Johnson Maayan Leroy-Melamed Karen Lourence Roberta and Barry MacNutt Luma Marcaccio Lavonne McKeown Kate Meany Holly Mikula Nina Moss Nancy Nichols Ellen Prottas Carolyn Pruyne Ben Singer and Corina Grigore Carol and Danny Singer Dawn Tomlinson Heather Turner Tom Urmston Ted and Corrie Whalen Jo Ann Wong
3 Wellesley Choral Society Our 75th Season, 2022-2023 Music Director, Edward Whalen Accompanist, Hisako Hiratsuka Chorus Leadership Jettora Lundquist, President Carolyn Gayle, Vice -President Nina Moss, Treasurer Lavonne McKeown, Secretary Linda Derezinski, Immediate Past President Carol Singer, Concert Management Robert Feldman, Advertising Drive Francesca d’Arcangelo, Annual Fund Nancy Nichols, Annual Fund Anastacia Feldman, Grant Writer Ted Feldman, Music Committee Chris Crowley, Social Media Coordinator Sandra Kuhn, Program Booklet Holly Mikula, Publicity Corrie Whalen, Membership/Communications Lane Johnson, Treasurer Emeritus The Wellesley Choral Society is a member of the Greater Boston Choral Consortium, a cooperative association of diverse choral groups in Boston and the surrounding areas. Honorary Board Wil Breden John Finney Max Hobart Leslie Holmes Sara L. Johnson The Wellesley Choral Society is a nonprofit organization, open to all singers, dedicated to studying and performing the world’s great choral music, both sacred and secular. The Society was founded in 1947 after several choruses in the town of Wellesley joined forces for a holiday festival. Edward Whalen became the Society’s tenth music director in 1994. Each year the Society performs three concerts and on occasion hosts a Messiah Sing in December. WCS rehearses at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Wellesley Hills, 309 Washington St., Wellesley, MA, on Monday evenings from September to May. All singers of high school age and over are welcome! Wellesley Choral Society, P.O.Box 81060, Wellesley Hills, MA 02481-0001 http://www.wellesleychoralsociety.org Please LIKE our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wellesleychoralsociety/ This concert is supported in part by a grant from the Wellesley Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
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5 Edward “Ted” Whalen was appointed Music Director of the Wellesley Choral Society in 1994. During his tenure with the ensemble, he has led the chorus in a wide scope of repertoire including Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Handel’s Coronation Anthems, Mozart’s Requiem and Great Mass in c minor, Bloch’s Sacred Service, Rachmaninoff’s Sacred Vespers, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, requiems of Brahms, Fauré, and Duruflé, and Poulenc’s Gloria. In May of 2015 the chorus presented a program of Mr. Whalen’s own compositions including Dialogues, a piece written especially for the group. In Spring 2018, the ensemble premiered his composition Stars, written in honor of their 70th anniversary season, and for the Spring 2019 concert, held on Mother’s Day, the chorus premiered a special work entitled Love and Prayers in honor of Mr. Whalen’s mother, Janet Whalen. Ted is a graduate of New England Conservatory, University of Rhode Island, and studied at Tanglewood Music Center and the Aspen Music Festival. He has appeared as conductor with the Boston Aria Guild’s performances of Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel, the Wakefield Festival Chorus, King’s Chapel, Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra, Rhode Island Gilbert and Sullivan Society, University of Rhode Island, and other ensembles. He has prepared choruses for performances at Monadnock Music Festival and conducted gala celebration performances for Boston Baroque. As a vocal soloist, Mr. Whalen has performed with such groups as the Boston Lyric Opera, The Des Moines Metro Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, and Boston Aria Guild. He made his Boston Symphony Hall debut singing the role of Dancairo in the critically acclaimed Chorus proMusica performance of Carmen. Mr. Whalen also sang with Boston Baroque (Banchetto Musicale) for 25 years, appearing on all of the ensemble’s Grammy-nominated recordings. Since 1995, Ted has been the director of Upper School Choruses at Milton Academy. Hisako Hiratsuka joined the Wellesley Choral Society in 1990 as a singer and became our accompanist in 1993. She is a graduate of the Tokyo University of Arts and Music. Her teachers include Yasuko Tani and Victor Rosenbaum. Ms. Hiratsuka is an active chamber music player and accompanist. In recent years she has performed in the Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Boston areas as well as in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Zushi, Chiba, and Kamakura, Japan. She also has accompanied flutists for music festivals in Ecuador and Columbia. Ms. Hiratsuka has been a featured soloist with the WCS, performing such works as Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and the two-piano arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, accompanied by her daughter. Prior to coming to the United States in 1989, Ms. Hiratsuka taught piano in Japan. She currently teaches piano and coaches chamber music groups at Tufts University.
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7 Masters of the Mass Mass in G Major (D167) Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) Kyrie Gloria Credo Sanctus Benedictus Agnus Dei Missa pro defunctis Niccolò Jommelli (1714 – 1774) Introitus Kyrie Sequentia Dies irae Salva me Oro supplex Pie Jesu Offeratorium Domine Jesu Libera eas Quam olim Abrahae Hostias Quam olim Abrahae Sanctus Benedictus Agnus Dei Communio Lux aeternam Requiem aeternam Cum sanctis tuis There will be no Intermission Soprano Mary Sullivan Mezzo Jennifer Webb Tenor Michael Calmés Baritone Michael Meraw Violin I Guiomar Turgeon Violin II Robert Curtis Viola Frank Grimes Cello Sam Ou Bass Nancy Kidd Piano Hisako Hiratsuka
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9 PROGRAM NOTES Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was a child prodigy who quickly outstripped the music lessons given him by his brother and father; a local organist who then taught him found himself reduced to “astonishment and silence.” Around the age of 18 Schubert ended up a student of Antonio Salieri (of Amadeus fame), and a scholarship student at the Vienna music conservatory. Like so many composers in the history of Western music, Schubert was forced to take on students to make his living. For several years he endured the drudgery of teaching students at his father’s school (his father being a successful schoolmaster). From about the age of 20, a growing circle of friends took him in, allowing him freedom to compose; their social gatherings became known as “Schubertiads.” Students meeting together in post-Napoleonic Austria, however, were suspect in the eyes of the state police. Schubert’s group of musical – and liberal - friends was dealt a severe blow when Austrian police arrested Schubert and four others, one of whom was permanently exiled from Vienna. Such was life in this world capital of music. Schubert experienced growing success in Vienna during the 1820s. He was amazingly prolific, composing over 1500 works. His death at a very young age, from causes that we will never fully know, ended the promising career of a great genius. Schubert wrestled with spiritual and theological questions over the full length of his career. Among his works are six Latin masses and a German mass. It was common enough for composers of the period to alter the text of the mass; Schubert, for example, always omitted the phrase “unam sanctam catholicam ecclesiam” (“One holy catholic church”) from the Creed: he was spiritual but not, perhaps, a devout adherent of the Roman church. Four of the Latin masses were composed over the course of three years, between 1814-1816; the Mass in G was the second among these, written when Schubert was just 18 over the course (as seems from manuscript evidence) of six days. The Mass in G is Schubert’s shortest and most intimate mass and has remained one of his most popular choral works, characterized by simplicity and clarity. The Hosanna chorus is justly famous. If Schubert was scarcely known outside his circle of friends during his lifetime, Niccolò Jommelli (1714-1774)’s fame was Europe-wide. A leading composer of Italian opera, he introduced plot into the genre, which before offered only successive solo arias. Jommelli was known for expressing in his music the emotional content of his text. He excelled at creating musical settings for dramatic scenes, such as death or betrayal, his music bringing out the passions and emotions of the characters. Jommelli’s Requiem (1756) is one of the few examples of a requiem mass written in the Baroque style. Its rich harmonic language and expressive vocal writing, use of dissonance and chromaticism typify Jommelli’s dramatic style. Until 1791, it was the most widely performed Requiem mass in Europe, “a masterpiece,” according to a contemporary, “the noblest, most moving singing, full of expression and dignity … exquisite music." Then, in 1791, Mozart’s Requiem appeared and completely eclipsed Jommelli’s work. Jommelli was forgotten, his Requiem not published until the 20th century. He has recently experienced a revival; the Wellesley Choral Society is using a performance edition compiled by Ted Whalen, its director, from several manuscript sources. - Ted Feldman
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11 Wellesley Choral Society 75nd Anniversary SOPRANO ALTO TENOR Francesca D’Arcangelo Linda Derezinski Harriet Dishman Anastacia Feldman Celeste Harring Robin Ingalls Luma Marcaccio Rebecca Mayer Kate Meany Holly Mikula Gyöngyi Molnar Nina Moss Emily Myers Nancy Nichols Katie Ozelius Carol Singer Rosetta Solari Jo Ann Wong Barabara Allen Irene Axelrod Kate Baty Ellen Carita Ruth Chang Elinor Dulit Carolyn Gayle Linda Hirsch Chloe King Anne Kott Sandra Kuhn Jettora Lundquist Lavonne McKeown Lucy O’Mara Michele Petteruti Ellen Prottas Alice Shabecoff Lora Simon Sara Smith Elizabeth Spark Melanie Tamura Mandy Waddell Corrie Whalen Marlene Williamson Rebecca Crane Ted Feldman Jeff Pearson Ellen Straus Bob Weaver BASS/BARITONE Chris Crowley Robert Feldman Paul Merry Ned Moore Robert O’Mara Wellesley Choral Society is a community chorus made up of singers from Wellesley as well as many other separate towns and cities in the Greater Boston area. This season we are from: Ashland, Auburndale, Dover, Framingham, Gloucester, Lexington, Medfield, Millis, Natick, Needham, Newton, Roslindale, Sherborn, Somerville, Southborough, Sudbury, Waltham, Wayland, Wellesley, West Roxbury, and Weston.
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13 Music is an essential part of all our lives, and making music is an essential part of our community. The Wellesley Choral Society has been making music in Wellesley for 75 years! Devoted singers, skilled professionals, and inspired compositions, however, are not enough to bring this music to life. Member dues and concert ticket sales only account for just over half of the chorus’s operating expenses, so we therefore depend on financial support from individuals and organizations. To contribute to the Wellesley Choral Society, please send your checks made out to: Wellesley Choral Society c/o Nina Moss, Treasurer 104 Sherbourne Place Waltham, MA 02451 Thank you so much for supporting the Wellesley Choral Society!
15 WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT CONCERT? All singers of high school age and over are welcome! The Wellesley Choral Society is a no-audition chorus, open to all who love to sing. Come visit us during open rehearsals and see if we are the chorus for you! OPEN REHERSALS for our fall concert will be held on Monday, September 11, 18, and 25. We rehearse on Monday nights from 7:30 – 9:15 in the UU Wellesley Sanctuary (participation via Zoom is also available). ALL VOICE PARTS ARE WELCOME. Please contact Jettora Lundquist, President, for more information: ([email protected]) Wellesley Choral Society, P.O.Box 81060, Wellesley Hills, MA 02481-0001 http://www.wellesleychoralsociety.org
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17 Our Offerings for the 2022-2023 Season have been Fall Concert: Anniversaries: Music of Tye, Tomkins, Schutz, Franck, and Vaughan Williams Winter Pops: Music from the Silver Screen Spring Concert: Schubert, Mass in G, Jommelli, Missa pro Defunctis All concerts at Wellesley Hills Congregational Church For additional details, please visit www.wellesleychoralsociety.org Please LIKE our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wellesleychoralsociety/
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28 Flowers for this afternoon’s concert generously provided by Posies of Wellesley