Annual Meeting and Year-End Potluck
We will be having a quick meeting on Tuesday, April 23rd at 6:30 before rehearsal to vote on board members, 2019-2020 budget and such. These are the necessary goings on that keep our organization running. If you feel led to volunteer and help in our group, PLEASE talk to a current board member. We always need help and want to avoid burning out our current volunteers. I’d like you to consider being a board member! We know of at least one office opening for next season. HELP! ?
Tuesday, April 30th at 6 pm will be our Year-End Potluck in Allison Hall at FUMC. The board will again provide the main dish. Members with last names ending in A-O, please bring a side dish, P-Z a dessert. Same rules apply from the Post-Holiday Party. Please bring your signature dish regardless of wherever that falls! We love to see your family and any prospective singers come to this dinner!
Can you hear it? Barb Boyer shared these thoughts with us…
Did you know that Simon & Garfunkel perfected their sound by watching each other sing? They’d sit nose to nose for hours during rehearsals, looking at how the other pronounced a vowel or a consonant. Garfunkel said in an interview with Rolling Stone, “I’d want to know exactly where his tongue would hit the top of his palate when he’d say a ‘T,’ to know exactly how to get that ‘T’ right.” He said there was a difference between “almost right” and “better than almost right,” and the difference was whether it sounded professional or not. So when Anne encourages us to shape our mouths for just the right “O” sound, or where to place the tongue for a consonant, it does make a difference. Just be grateful she doesn’t make us sit nose to nose hour after hour while we sing. (Linda thinks maybe that’s one of the reasons they broke up…)
Kleine Orgelsolomesse by Haydn
Haydn wrote his Small Organ Solo Mass in B flat in approximately 1775. It is also known as Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, because it was written for the Eisenstadt church of the Barmherzige Bruder, which translates to the Order of St John of God (Joannis de Deo), and sometimes called the Brothers of Mercy.
The members of this religious order were known for the medical abilities, and the brothers had great faith in the healing powers of music. They also provided medical care and prescriptions for various ailments, offering things like “chest powder,” “Stomach elixir,” “herbal tea,” and “tooth powder.”
The mass is considered “small” because Haydn scored the work based on the limited resources the church possessed—a small chorus, a solo soprano, a couple of violins and, of course, the organ. The word “Kleine” means little, and while it may refer to the size of the composition, it may also refer to the organ that was used at the time, which only had six stops without a pedal.
The Mass has six movements: The Kyrie, Credo which is structured in three parts, Sanctus, Benedictus, followed by a repeat of the Osanna from Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. While the mass was originally scored for choir, strings and organ, later versions include with trumpets and timpani, and clarinets.
Haydn started his musical career as a choir boy around 1740. At the church, he learned keyboarding, violin and composition in addition to singing. When his voice broke, he left singing and started composing in earnest. He composed his first mass in 1749. A major influence in his life was composer Nicola Porpora, from whom he learned the fundamentals of composition. Haydn also had patrons, who supported his music career.
Thank you for being a part of this wonderful organization!
Linda
President
Cheyenne Capital Chorale
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