The Sounding Board - Memorial Church - Harvard University

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The centerpiece of the Harvard University Choir’s Spring
Term 2010 was its performance of Bach’s St. John
Passion. Professor Christoph Wolff gave opening remarks
concerning the various versions of the work (ours mirrored
Bach’s final performance given on Good Friday 1750), and the
demanding role of the Evangelist was portrayed by local tenor
— and University Choir Vocal Instructor — Frank Kelley.
The combined forces of the Harvard University Choir and the
Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra gave a thrilling account
of this dramatic score to a capacity crowd, and the memories
of that evening will remain with me for years to come. The
performance took place on Palm Sunday, and the following
week the choir premiered John Rutter’s setting of Edmund
Spenser’s “Most Glorious Lord of Life” in the Easter Day
service. I was honored that Mr. Rutter — who no longer accepts
many commissions — accepted our invitation, and produced a
vibrant work for chorus, organ, and brass that is sure to become
a staple in the Easter repertoire.
The end of Term saw the removal of the Fisk, Op. 46 pipe
organ, signaling the beginning of our project of restoration
and renewal. In its final days in Appleton Chapel, the Fisk was
featured in Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb — the work with which
the instrument was inaugurated in 1967; Christian Lane played a
superb final recital in our series celebrating the legacy of Charles
Fisk and John Ferris, ending with the Concert Variations on “The
Star Spangled Banner” by John Knowles Paine, Harvard’s first
University Organist and Choirmaster. The following morning
Op. 46 played its final Morning Prayer’s service, culminating
in Bach’s majestic Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 547
— reputedly Charles Fisk’s favorite work. The organ having
been suitably feted, work began on its disassembly immediately
following the service, and the light from the glorious Palladian
window — obscured for over forty years — began to radiate
back into the chapel. The church was closed for the summer for
the mammoth task of restoring Appleton Chapel — including
fashioning new pews, installing a new window, and preparing
the chambers for the restored 1929 Skinner pipe organ. In
addition, the rear gallery was refashioned to accommodate
choral seating, and restructured in preparation for the new Fisk,
Op. 139 pipe organ, which will be installed in the summer of
2011. Morning Prayers began in the newly configured chapel
on September 1st, 2010, with President Faust giving an address
to the filled pews bathed in a halo of glorious morning light.
Fall 2010
Music
Edward E. Jones
The University Choir has relocated to the rear gallery of the
church, and it is such a joy to feel that the group is now a true part
of our worship, both physically and musically. In the absence of a
true accompanimental instrument, the choir has been performing
mainly a cappella works that have included Bach’s Lobet den
Herrn, Gabrieli’s Jubilate Deo, and parts of Byrd’s Great Service.
When the Skinner organ in the chapel is ready for use — a little
later in the Fall Term — the choir will move back into Appleton
for the remainder of the year, and that instrument will serve as
the primary service organ until the installation and completion
of Fisk, Op. 139. The official unveiling of the chapel organ will
be during our Christmas Carols Services — Sunday, December
12th at 5:00 p.m., and Monday, December 13th at 8:00 p.m.;
the dedication recital will be given by Professor Thomas Murray
(Yale University) on Tuesday, December 14th at 8:00 p.m.
The choir’s fall concert was an exciting program of American
choral music, which paired Randall Thompson’s Frostiana with
Alice Parker’s Melodious Accord. Randall Thompson taught in the
Harvard Music Department for many years, but his collection of
settings of poetry by Robert Frost had not been performed in
its entirety at Harvard in recent memory. Boston-born composer
Alice Parker’s Melodious Accord — a collection of early American
hymnody refashioned by the composer into a thrilling cantata
— ended with the combined forces of audience, choir, brass, and
harp joining in a rousing rendition of “God Moves in a Mysterious
Way.” The choral fellows once again joined the Boston Camerata
for a concert entitled Vieni Imeneo, a program of Italian sixteenthcentury
music written in celebration of marriage.
Looking ahead, the spring term will feature an Arts First
performance of Handel’s Messiah in collaboration with the
Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra. A staple of holiday
celebrations throughout America, I am delighted that we will be
performing this great work in the octave of Easter — the occasion
for which it is most suited.
As ever, my heartfelt thanks go to Christian Lane and Carson
Cooman for their support, enthusiasm, and superlative
musicianship; to the members of our wonderful choir who give
so much of their time, energy, and talents to this church; and
to you, our faithful supporters, for your continued interest and
engagement with the music program in The Memorial Church,
in which it continues to be my honor and privilege to serve.