WMC 2023 WINTER CONCERT feat. THE SEVERIN SISTERS

The Willamette Master Chorus welcomes you to our 2023 Winter Concert. In the continuing spirit of collaboration and community building, we have invited the Severin Sisters to perform with us this afternoon. All three women grew up in Salem and have established themselves as a true Willamette Valley treasure. Welcome to Amy, Haley, and Heidi. We are also including guests Caius Oprea and Christopher Buckley to round up the ensemble to a traditional five-piece ensemble of fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin and bass.

In the eighteenth century, immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland arrived in Appalachia, in the eastern United States, bringing with them
the musical traditions of their homelands: English and Scottish narrative ballads and Irish reels (dances) with fiddle accompaniment. These were the “Belt buckle” seeds of the Appalachian country music known as Bluegrass. Later influenced by African American music, Bluegrass also incorporated jazz elements, particularly syncopation.

Bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe captures the spirit of the genre as “Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin’. It’s Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It’s blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound.”

It was Monroe’s band, Monroe Crossing, who with Philip Brunelle’s choir, Vocal Essence, premiered Carol Barnett’s The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass. Commissioned in 2007, the piece has since taken the choral world by storm. It was premiered at Carnegie Hall in February 2013, with Monroe Crossing and choirs from across the United States.

Composer Carol Barnett writes, “To bring the solemnity of the classical choir-based mass together with the down-home sparkle of bluegrass— now there’s an assignment. My highest hope is that listeners coming from one tradition—classical or bluegrass—and perhaps dubious about the other, might discover something new and wonderful in the combination, as I have. Composing the music for The World Beloved has given me the chance to write cheery sacred music—all too rare in a medium rife with staid and even lugubrious settings. And it’s brought me back to memories of music heard while visiting my grandparents, country music with a church flavor that told stories and came out of a scratchy old record player. Grandma would not have allowed dancing, but under the table I tapped my toes.”

Chamberlain writes, “Bluegrass is more than a sound. The lyrics of so many bluegrass songs display an unpretentious, earthy philosophy that is easy to sing and easy to understand:

Carol Barnett manages to honor both the classical choral tradition and the improvisatory impulse of bluegrass music in her contemporary rendition of the mass. She ingeniously traverses the two idioms, bringing out the best in both ensembles. The contrasts between the sophisticated classical choral sound and the jubilant bluegrass harmonies make the text come alive. The triumphant Gloria is an exuberant success. Poet Marisha Chamberlain creates lyrics giving each of the sections of the Catholic liturgy (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, etc.) a contemporary interpretation. She also intersperses verses of a bluegrass ballad, elucidating a joyful spirituality with formality and jubilance well balanced in this life-affirming celebration.

The Severin Sisters share a set of music especially selected for this afternoon's bluegrass celebration. As with most bluegrass players,
the Severin Sisters learned these classic tunes by attending festivals and jam sessions. It is their hope that when given the chance you will always dance and don't forget to take time for the precious blessings in your life.

The Unclouded Day is a hymn that describes the eternal city where the tree of life yields her fruit. The text and tune were composed by Josiah Kelley Alwood who was born in the vicinity of Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio. Written in 1879, the tune has been recorded many times over the years, including being an early attention-getter for the Staple Singers. In 1956, their version served as an inspiration to Bob Dylan and was part of the standard repertoire for artists such as Doc Watson, Johnny Cash, and the Blind Boys of Alabama.

I hope you enjoy this journey into the roots of music that is truly American in origin. Later in the spring the Chorus will offer a complete change of pace with a concert of sacred music in a sacred place.

Please join us for a program of choral music at Mount Angel Abbey
on May 7 or May 21 at 3 P.M. For tickets, please visit our website at willamattemasterchorus.org
Paul Klemme