2026 Spring Program

This semester’s program features the works of Gerald Finzi and John Rutter; two of England’s most well-known composers of the 20 th /21 st century. The first half of the program includes works by Gerald Finzi. Although an agnostic of Italian and Jewish descent, Finzi was English through and through and his works are highly characteristic of English music. Several of his works were written for the Christian church and our concert begins with a bombastic choral anthem, God Is Gone Up. Written for the Feast of the Ascension; a day which commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, this work is based on a text by American poet and minister Edward Taylor. Trumpet-like fanfares in the organ begin the piece, which are then echoed back by the choir. A playful middle section follows. Rich with wonderful poetry, the soaring choral lines are juxtaposed with the organ accompaniment dancing playfully underneath. The fanfare-like theme reemerges and finishes with a final, unexpected cadence.

Finzi’s Seven Partsongs on poems by Robert Bridges make up the remainder of the first half of the concert. These poems are masterfully set by Finzi, whose ability to write long, lyrical lines combines with complex rhythms, where voice parts are seldom singing the same thing at the same time. Finzi’s penchant for text-painting is particularly noticeable in these pieces, where the music effectively brings out the meaning of the words.

Gerald Finzi was an introspective and shy personality, who has been described as ‘being full of poetry’. Finzi’s early years were filled with loss. At age 7 Gerald lost his father and, during the First World War, lost three brothers and his influential teacher Ernest Farrar. These tragedies likely enhanced Finzi’s love and attraction towards the sense of fragility and transience found in much of English poetry. The poetry of Robert Bridges likely appealed to Finzi because of his thoughtful personality and his love of the English countryside. The period in which he wrote the Seven Partsongs was a time of great happiness in Finzi’s life. His career was beginning to flourish and he met and married artist Joyce (Joy) Black. The word and theme of ‘joy’ fills much of the poetry and it is said that Finzi’s setting of My Spirit Sang All Day was written during the time of his courtship with Joy.

Rather than providing a technical description of these partsongs, I believe that this brief historical and biographical context of the pieces sets the framework for the music and poetry to more effectively speak for themselves. 

John Rutter is arguably one of the most well-known choral composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Though largely famous for his Christmas carols, Rutter has composed works for piano, orchestra, voice, chorus, and more. One of his most famous large-scale works is his Requiem. The term Requiem comes from the Roman Catholic Mass for the dead. The musical term Requiem suggests a multi-movement work which outlines the texts of the mass. The word requiem literally means ‘rest’ and comes from the opening line of the mass: Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine (Grant them eternal rest, O Lord). Rutter’s setting is unique, in the sense that it contains the standard movements in Latin while adding relevant biblical texts in English. There are also selections of text taken from the Book of Common Prayer; a book used for the liturgy of the Anglican and Episcopal churches. Rutter also includes two movements, the texts of which are taken from the book of Psalms. The piece is wonderfully emotional and written in a variety of musical styles, including but not limited to a bluesy setting of Psalm 130. Composed separately, Rutter later incorporated his setting of the familiar Psalm 23 into the Requiem. 

Two settings of the Requiem exist: one for full orchestra and the original version, scored for organ and small instrumental ensemble. The original instrumentation is presented in tonight’s performance.