Event

Armistice

Miserere mei Deus, Allegri
Selections from Geistliche Chormusik (1648), Heinrich Schütz
Down Upon the Dugout Floor, World War I soldier song
In Flanders Fields, Christine Donkin
Selections from A Procession Winding Around Me, Jeffrey Van
Selections from Four Anthems, Herbert Howells
Selections from Songs of Farewell, Hubert Parry
A Psalm of Life, John Muehleisen

From across the centuries, all of these were composed during great times of strife or commemorating those who fought in armed conflicts: Allegris timeless Miserere, featuring one of the most famous High Cs in all of choral music, is based on Psalm 51, a penitential psalm of humility and repentance. Heinrich Schütz famously composed his most intimate choral music, contained in the collection Geistliche Chormusik, late in his career while the world around him raged through the destructive Thirty Years War. Jeffrey Van took selections from poetry by Walt Whitman, written when Whitman returned from American Civil War camps, and set it for choir and solo guitar in a visceral and thought-provoking series of choral vignettes. The more contemporary armed conflicts of the 20th century appear through the lens of English composers, including Hubert Parry who died only one month before the end of the War. Works by two living composers, Canadian Christine Donkin and Seattles own John Muehleisen, round out the program.