Holy Cross College Choir and Chamber Singers
Splendid Silent Sun
Friday, October 25, 2013 at 8PM
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel
Holy Cross College Choir and Chamber Singers
Splendid Silent Sun
David Harris, Director Matt Jaskot, Accompanist
October 25, 2013 St. Joseph Memorial Chapel
Listen To The Lambs
Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943)
Adam Ouellet, Amanda Osowski
Come To Me, My Love
When Lilacs Last In The
Dooryard Bloom’d
21 Guns from“American Idiot”
Hannah Gabriel, Blaze Hilario,
Valerie Kisselback, Catherine Mikula,
Catherine Morrison, Conner Moynihan
Come Out The Wilderness
Adam Ouellet, Catherine Mikula,
Andrew Retallick
The Campers At Kitty Hawk
Edge of Glory
Catherine Mikula
Andrew Retallick, percussion
Norman Dello Joio (1913-2008)
Robert L. Sanders (1906-1974)
David Bowie (b. 1947), John
Phillips, Billie Joe Armstrong,
Mike Pritchard and Frank Wright
arr. David Harris (b. 1974)
Michael Dellaira (b. 1949)
Lady Gaga (b. 1986), Fernando
Garibay and DJ White Shadow
Two from Three Choral Miniatures
A Message To Time
1
Michael Wells (b. 1981)
For Now from Avenue Q
Robert Lopez (b. 1975)
and Jeff Marx
Hana Polachek, Tim Rice,
Thomas Kehoe, Diana Hurtado
Songs of the Holy Cross
arr. Bruce Miller (1947-2003)
Alumni are invited to join the choir on stage for Songs of the Holy Cross
Give Me The Splendid, Silent Sun
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Read by Diana Hurtado, Blaze Hilario and Emily Conn
GIVE me the splendid silent sun, with all his beams full-dazzling;
Give me juicy autumnal fruit, ripe and red from the orchard;
Give me a field where the unmow’d grass grows;
Give me an arbor, give me the trellis’d grape;
Give me fresh corn and wheat—give me serene-moving animals, teaching
content;
Give me nights perfectly quiet, as on high plateaus west of the Mississippi,
and I looking up at the stars;
Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers, where I can walk
undisturb’d;
Give me for marriage a sweet-breath’d woman, of whom I should never tire;
Give me a perfect child—give me, away, aside from the noise of the world, a
rural, domestic life;
Give me to warble spontaneous songs, reliev’d, recluse by myself, for my own
ears only;
Give me solitude—give me Nature—give me again, O Nature, your primal
sanities!
—These, demanding to have them, (tired with ceaseless excitement, and
rack’d by the war-strife;)
These to procure, incessantly asking, rising in cries from my heart.
While yet incessantly asking, still I adhere to my city;
Day upon day, and year upon year, O city, walking your streets,
Where you hold me enchain’d a certain time, refusing to give me up;
Yet giving to make me glutted, enrich’d of soul—you give me forever faces;
(O I see what I sought to escape, confronting, reversing my cries,
I see my own soul trampling down what it ask’d for.)
2
Keep your splendid, silent sun;
Keep your woods, O Nature, and the quiet places by the woods;
Keep your fields of clover and timothy, and your corn-fields and orchards;
Keep the blossoming buckwheat fields, where the Ninth-month bees hum;
Give me faces and streets! give me these phantoms incessant and endless
along the trottoirs!
Give me interminable eyes! give me women! give me comrades and lovers by
the thousand!
Let me see new ones every day! let me hold new ones by the hand every day!
Give me such shows! give me the streets of Manhattan!
Give me Broadway, with the soldiers marching—give me the sound of the
trumpets and drums!
(The soldiers in companies or regiments—some, starting away, flush’d and
reckless;
Some, their time up, returning, with thinn’d ranks—young, yet very old,
worn, marching, noticing nothing;)
—Give me the shores and the wharves heavy-fringed with the black ships!
O such for me! O an intense life! O full to repletion, and varied!
The life of the theatre, bar-room, huge hotel, for me!
The saloon of the steamer! the crowded excursion for me! the torch-light
procession!
The dense brigade, bound for the war, with high piled military wagons
following;
People, endless, streaming, with strong voices, passions, pageants;
Manhattan streets, with their powerful throbs, with the beating drums, as
now;
The endless and noisy chorus, the rustle and clank of muskets, (even the
sight of the wounded;)
Manhattan crowds, with their turbulent musical chorus—with varied
chorus, and light of the sparkling eyes;
Manhattan faces and eyes forever for me.
Whitman’s “Give Me The
Splendid, Silent Sun” centers on
the conflict between engagement
and detachment. He asks whether
he will choose to be one who
withdraws from hardship, or one
that finds a way to love, enjoy,
and live amidst challenge. Using
nature and his City as contrasting
metaphors, he processes through
the options available at a painful
time in his own life, and in the life
of a nation torn by war. He starts
down the road of withdrawal only
to realize that, as hard as life may
be, his place is there among the fray.
He finds inspiration in the “forever
faces,” the guideposts that provide
consistency
through
rampant
change, and he embraces strife as a
part of the human experience. Each
of the musical voices on the program
ask similar questions. Lady Gaga’s
passionate reflection on life, written
at her grandfather’s wake, Dello
Joio’s setting of Rosetti’s plea to a
past love, Dellaira’s deft depiction
of the Wright brothers’ steady
determination, and the sitcomesque
simplicity of For Now all wrestle with
Whitman’s primary question: do
“splendid” and “silent” really capture
the power of the “sun.”
Come To Me, My Love
Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.
Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;
Where thirsting longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more.
Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again tho’ cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago.
~Christina Rosetti
Listen To The Lambs
Listen to the Lambs
All a-cryin’.
He shall feed his flock
Like a shepherd and
Carry the young lambs
In his bosom.
~anonymous
When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom’d
When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d,
And the great star early droop’d in the
western sky in the night,
I mourn’d, and yet shall mourn with everreturning spring.
Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me
you bring,
Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star
in the west,
And thought of him I love.
~Walt Whitman
21 Guns
Do you know what’s worth fighting for?
When it’s not worth dying for?
Does it take your breath away and you feel yourself suffocating?
Does the pain weigh out the pride?
And you look for a place to hide?
Did someone break your heart inside, you’re in ruins.
One, 21 Guns
Lay down your arms
Give up the fight
One, 21 Guns
Throw up your arms into the sky
You and I.
When you’re at the end of the road
And you lost all sense of control
And your thoughts have taken their toll
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul
Your faith walks on broken glass and the hangover doesn’t pass
Nothing’s ever built to last, you’re in ruins.
Did you try to live on your own?
When you burned down the house and home?
Did you stand too close to the fire?
Like a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone?
When it’s time to live and let die
And you can’t get another try
Something inside this heart has died, you’re in ruins.
~David Bowie, John Phillips, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Pritchard
and Frank Wright
Come Out The Wilderness
Tell me how you gonna feel when you
Come out the wilderness leaning on the cross?
Won’t your feet be happy?
Won’t your soul be happy?
Tell ole Moses you’re comin’.
Can’t you see the Lord smilin’?
~anonymous
The Campers At Kitty Hawk
On December seventeenth nineteen hundred and three Bishop
Wright of the United Brethren received a telegram from his boys
Wilbur and Orville, who’d gotten it into their heads to spend their
vacation in a little camp out on the dunes of the North Carolina
coast with a homemade glider they’d knocked together themselves.
The telegram read: SUCCESS FOUR FLIGHTS THURSDAY
MORNING AGAINST TWENTY ONE MILE WIND
STARTED FROM ENGINE POWER ALONE.
The figures were a little wrong but the fact remains a couple of
young bicycle mechanics from Dayton Ohio had designed and
flown for the first time ever a practical airplane. In those days flying
machines were the big laugh of all the crackerbarrel philosophers.
They were practical mechanics; when they needed anything they
built it themselves. They hit on Kitty Hawk on the great dunes and
sandy banks that stretch south to Hatteras seaward. Overhead the
gulls and swooping terns, fishhawks and cranes flapping across the
salt marshes.
They were alone there and figured out the loose sand was as soft as
anything they could find to fall in, taking off again and again from
Kill Devil Hill they learned to fly. Aeronautics became the sport of
the day, congratulated by the czar, crown prince, the King of Italy,
King Edward for universal peace.
Taking off again and again they learned to fly. In the rush of new
names the Brothers Wright passed from the headlines: Bleriot,
Farman, Curtiss, Ferber, Esnault, Petrie, Delagrange can blur
the memory of the chilly December day two shivering bicycle
mechanics first felt their homemade contraption soar into the air,
above the dunes of Kitty Hawk.
“I released the wire that held the machine to the track. The machine
started forward into the wind. Wilbur ran at the side holding the
wing. The machine started slowly facing twenty seven mile wind,
it lifted from the track. Wilbur was able to stay with it until it lifted
from the track after a forty foot run. The course of the flight up and
down was erratic, the first flight in the history of the world. The
machine carried a man by his own power into the air in full flight
forward without reduction of speed landed at a point as high as
that from which it started.”
~John Dos Passos
Edge Of Glory
There ain’t no reason you and me should be alone
Tonight, yeah, baby! (Tonight, yeah, baby!)
And I got a reason that you’re who should take me home tonight.
I need a man that thinks it’s right when it’s so wrong
Tonight, yeah, baby! (Tonight, yeah, baby!)
Right on the limits where we know we both belong tonight.
It’s hard to feel the rush, to brush the dangerous
I’m gonna run right to, to the edge with you
Where we can both fall far in love.
I’m on the edge of glory, and I’m hanging on a moment of truth
Out on the edge of glory, and I’m hanging on a moment with you.
I’m on the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge,
I’m on the edge of glory, and I’m hanging on a moment with you.
I’m on the edge with you.
Another shot before we kiss the other side
Tonight, yeah, baby! (Tonight, yeah, baby!)
I’m on the edge of something final we call life tonight.
Put on your shades, ‘cause I’ll be dancing in the flames
Tonight, yeah, baby! (Tonight, yeah, baby!)
It isn’t hell if everybody knows my name tonight.
I’m on the edge with you.
~Lady Gaga
A Message To Time
Time, we are not at your mercy!
1
You are me, I am you are we are tree
are sun are you are me. I am you, you are me.
~Michael Wells
For Now
Everyone’s a little bit
unsatisfied.
Everyone goes ‘round a little
empty inside.
Take a breath,
Look around,
Swallow your pride,
For now...For now...
Nothing lasts,
Life goes on,
Full of surprises.
You’ll be faced with problems
of all shapes and sizes.
You’re going to have to
make a few compromises...
For now...For now...
But only for now! (For now)
Only for now! (For now)
Only for now! (For now)
Only for now!
For now we’re healthy.
For now we’re employed.
For now we’re happy...
If not overjoyed.
And we’ll accept the things
we cannot avoid,
For now...For now...
For now...For now...
But only for now! (For now)
Only for now! (For now)
Only for now! (For now)
Only for now!
Only for now!
(For now there’s life!)
Only for now!
(For now there’s love!)
Only for now!
(For now there’s work!)
For now there’s happiness!
But only for now!
(For now discomfort!)
Only for now!
(For now there’s friendship!)
Only for now (For now!)
Only for now!
Only for now! (School!)
Is only for now! (Your grades!)
Is only for now! (Kimball!)
Is only for now!
Don’t stress, Relax,
Let life roll off your backs
Except for death and paying taxes,
Everything in life is only for now!
Each time you smile...Only for now
It’ll only last a while...Only for now
Life may be scary...Only for now
But it’s only temporary
Ba-dum ba-dum
Ba-dum ba-dum
Ba dum ba-dum
Everything in life is only for now.
~Robert Lopez (b. 1975)
and Jeff Marx
Alma Mater
O hear thy voices one in song,
Holy Cross, O Holy Cross!
Thy spirits loyal, true, and strong,
Holy Cross, O Holy Cross!
Thy purple banner floats on high
While songs of praise swell to the sky,
Thy honor’d name shall never die
Holy Cross, O Holy Cross!
We give to thee our hearty praise,
Holy Cross, O Holy Cross!
In memory of happy days,
Holy Cross, O Holy Cross!
Ring out! Ring out! Old Tower Bell,
Our Alma Mater’s triumphs tell
To those who love her name so well
Holy Cross, O Holy Cross!
~Augustine P. Conniff (‘1902)
The Slogan
Francis P. McGovern (‘1903)
March on as knights of old,
With hearts as loyal and true and bold,
And wage a bitter fight with all your might,
Fight hard for Holy Cross!
You’ll know when battle’s done
It was for her that the fight was won,
Oh may it never die, That battle cry,
“On, on for Holy Cross!”
~Francis E. Foley (‘1908)
Hoiah, Holy Cross!
J. Edward Bouvier
Come, Come, come together comrades
To our Alma Mater’s call;
And we’ll cheer, cheer, cheer and cheer again
For the purple we extol!
Hail, hail, hail her in her splendor,
Heroe’s haloes high, attend her;
Banner, beautiful in story,
Glowing there to spell in glory,
“Hoiah Holy Cross!”
~Augustine P. Conniff (‘1902)
Linden Lane
Elizabeth C. Earls
Then we’ll give another Hoiah
As we go down Linden Lane,
And we’ll hear it in the echo
When we come home again.
Up along and join the chorus
Of the Hoiah’s glad refrain,
As we hail the kindly towers
On the hill of Linden Lane.
~Michael Earls (‘1896)
Varsity Song
Hail, Alma Mater! Hail, Holy Cross!
Fair Pakachoag, On high thy banners toss.
Hail to they warriors, Valiant for thee,
Hail to the Purple Varsity!
~ Edward A. Walsh (‘1924)
Mamie Reilly
Oh, Mamie, Mamie, Mamie Reilly!
Oh, Mamie Reilly, Goin’ far away.
Oh, Mamie Reilly, Won’t be back today!
Come kiss your daddy now before we part.
Oh, Mamie, Mamie, Mamie Reilly!
CHU! CHU!
B.J. Shandley
Ring out with your Hoiah and a Chu! Chu! Rah! Rah!
Give another Hoiah and a Chu! Chu! Rah! Rah! for Holy Cross!
Shout Hoiah for Holy Cross!
~J. Leo O’Gorman (‘1904)
Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Charlotte Bond
Meghan Burke *∞
Emily Conn
Victoria Gower ‡
Kat Hollyday
Alyssa Kastinakis
Valerie Kisselback
Lizzie Knuff
Felicity McDonough
Catherine Mikula*‡∞
Nathalie Myrthil
Hana Polachek ‡
Amanda Osowski*
Caroline Randall
Ally Rancourt*
Christina Richardson
Maggie Sean
Sarah Slipek
Emily Vyse
Mary Baker
Julia Dunn ∞
Rose Fusco*
Hannah Gabriel*‡
Diana Hurtado*∞
Devin Lotterhand
Catherine Morrison*∞
Katherine Resker
Emily Richards
Nina Robertson*
Tess Staley*∞‡
Emely Ventura
Meghan White
Jeremy Berry
Adrian Fekula*‡
Mark Hogan
Connor Moynihan
Adam Ouellet*‡∞
Abe Ross*
Bass
Adam Bullock*‡∞
Daniel Bullock*‡
Blaze Hilario
Christian Hirsch
Thomas Kehoe
Max Lies
Brian Nasto*∞
Ted O’Neill ‡
Tim Rice*
Andrew Retallick*
* Chamber Singers ∞ E Board ‡ Section Leader
Upcoming Concerts
“Come, Again” A Fall Concert: Thurs., Nov.14, 8:00, Brooks Concert Hall
“Lessons and Carols”: Thurs., Dec. 5th, 8:00, St. Joseph’s Memorial Chapel