Three beautiful programs to mark
Vallejo Choral Society’s 107th Season
Program 1: Love Came Down at Christmas
This program explores different facets of love: familial love, community love, love for our
mothers (through the Virgin Mary), motherly love, and Godly love. The Magnificat settings that
bookend the concert offer different insights into the Marian text. We first present a more
traditional yet expressive text and musical setting found in Vivaldi’s work, originally written for
his students at the Ospedale della Pietà convent/orphanage/music school at which Vivaldi
taught. Dale Trumbore’s Magnificat, on the other hand, sets a poem by contemporary writer Lynn Ungar; they explore the following idea: “My soul doth magnify the Lord / said Mary, under circumstances / which make it something of a startling / utterance…Somehow, / in being
magnified God gets small…”
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 7 PM
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
120 E J St., Benicia
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 3 PM
Springbrook Masonic Temple
101 Temple Way, Vallejo
Program 2: Nature of Love Gala Concert
Our March Gala Concert, The Nature of Love, rests at the crossroads of nature and love. In much of the greatest poetry, nature is used as a metaphor to describe the experience of love — falling in love, being in love, losing love. The Florence Price set that begins the program celebrates various aspects of nature. Guastavino and Brahms both use nature to investigate themes of love. Brahms’s “Liebeslieder Walzer” is a set of 18 short love songs set to waltzes and folk songs. However, unique to other collections of poetry and songs about love, Brahms does
not shy away from the tumultuous or unsavory side of love. Finally, the Renaissance madrigal set
for Chamber Choir weaves in themes of nature through double entendres both in the text and music.
SUNDAY, March 16, 2 PM
Springbrook Masonic Temple
101 Temple Way, Vallejo
Program 3: Dona Nobis Pacem
The centerpiece of our season finale concerts is the Ralph Vaughan Williams’ cantata Dona Nobis Pacem, a powerful musical evocation of the destruction and death brought about through war and violence, with an overarching message of peace and reconciliation. Balancing the program, Brandon Williams’ “A Jubilant Song,” featuring text by Walt Whitman, is a shout of joy—and a proclamation that we can choose love for each other. “Fix Me, Jesus,” arranged by Stacey V. Gibbs, is a plea for inner
strength to lead us toward a more promising future. “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners,” by Williametta Spencer, is an invigorating setting of
John Donne’s poem about judgement day, asking for pardon and grace. Spencer is a
contemporary composer, but her musical setting seems to imagine how a musical contemporary
of Donne may have imagined his text put to music. “All Seems Beautiful to Me,” by Eric Whitacre, is a selection of Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of the Open Road.” Finally, “Ndikhokhele Bawo” is a traditional Xhosa prayer song that asks God for guidance through the troubles of the world.
SATURDAY, MAY 31, 7 PM
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
120 E J St., Benicia
SUNDAY, JUNE 1, 3 PM
Springbrook Masonic Temple
101 Temple Way, Vallejo