Stephen Paulus and Choral Quest

Synopsis

In 2010, the American Composers Forum launched ChoralQuest, a specially-commissioned series of works written especially for middle and junior high school choirs. The idea was to expand the available repertoire for young choirs, introduce them to contemporary composers, and give composers the chance and challenge of writing for young voices.

One of these new works received its premiere on today’s date in 2011 with the Oak Grove Middle School Singers in Bloomington, Minnesota. Bryan Blessing conducted his young singers in lines from “Tintern Abbey” by 19th-century British poet William Wordsworth set to music by 21st-century composer Stephen Paulus, who titled his piece Through All Things. “I chose a poem that conveys some deep thoughts,” Paulus said. “People often underestimate the sophistication of young people … The Wordsworth poem speaks about ‘a motion and a spirit that rolls through all things.’”

“But a composer really needs to know the range of young singers and what they can do,” admitted Paulus, who spent time with the Oak Grove Singers and confessed it’s not just the kids who benefitted. “You’re never too old or too experienced not to learn something from writing a new piece, whether it’s for kids or professional musicians.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Stephen Paulus (1949-2014): Through All Things; Minnesota Boychoir; Todd Price, piano; Mark S. Johnson, conductor; ACF score and recording (ISBN 0983388709)

On This Day

Births

• 1873 - Russian-born American composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff (Gregorian date: April 1)

• 1918 - German composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann, in Bleisheim

Deaths

• 1812 - Bohemian composer and keyboard virtuoso Jan Ladislav (Johann Ladislaus/Ludwig) Dussek (Dusik), 51, in Saint Germain-en-Laye or Paris

• 2000 - American composer Vivian Fine, 86, in Bennington, Vermont, following an auto accident

Premieres

• 1723 - Handel: Concerto in F (HWV 331), in London at the Drury Lane Theater (Gregorian date: March 31)

• 1739 - Handel: Organ Concerto in A (HWV 296a) as a novelty at a benefit performance of Handel’s cantata Alexander’s Feast; This concert was organized “for the benefit and increase of a fund established for the support of decay’d musicians and their families” (Gregorian date: March 31)

• 1748 - Handel: oratorio Joshua, (see March 9)

• 1887 - d’Indy: Symphony on a French Mountain Air for piano and orchestra, in Paris at a Lamoureux Concert

• 1894 - Rachmaninoff: symphonic fantasy The Rock (Gregorian date: April 1)

• 1898 - Dvořák: symphonic poem, The Wild Dove, in Brno

• 1914 - Butterworth: The Banks of Green Willow in London

• 1929 - Bartók: String Quartet No. 4, in Budapest, by the Waldbauer Quartet

• 1956 - Barber: Summer Music, at the Detroit Institute of Arts by the Detroit Chamber Music Society (principal wind players of the Detroit Symphony)

Others

• 1928 - The New York Symphony and the New York Philharmonic Society unite to form the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York — now known as simply “The New York Philharmonic.”