A Farewell to Arms: A WWI Centennial Concert by the City Choir of Washington

A FAREWELL

TO ARMS:

A WORLD WAR I

CENTENNIAL

CONCERT

Sunday, November 11, 2018

4:30 p.m.

National Presbyterian Church

Washington D.C.

Gretchen Kuhrmann, Guest Conductor

Program Notes 3

Europe and the Centenary Commemorations 8

Historical Notes 11

Text and Translations 16

Meet The Artists 25

War Poems 30

The City Choir of Washington 33

Photo Notes 36

Donors & Supporters 37

Upcoming Concerts 41

c o n c e r t p r o g r a m

THE CITY CHOIR OF WASHINGTON

Robert Shafer, Artistic Director and Conductor

Gretchen Kuhrmann, Guest Conductor

Rachel Binger, Assistant Conductor

Katelyn G. Aungst, Soprano | Robert Petillo, Tenor | James Shaffran, Baritone | Todd Fickley, Organ

The City Choir of Washington Chamber Orchestra

Gretchen Kuhrmann’s appearance as Guest Conductor has been underwritten by

a generous donation from Marty and Barbara Ilacqua.

PRESENTATION OF

THE NATIONAL COLORS

& THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

IN TERRA PAX

Gerald Finzi (1901-1956)

A FAREWELL TO ARMS


GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN

John Ireland (1879-1962)

INTERMISSION

DONA NOBIS PACEM

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

JERUSALEM

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918)

A question and answer session will take place immediately following the performance.

Please also explore the exhibition of World War I artifacts on view in the parlor. These artifacts are generously on loan

from the personal collection of Michael Bigelow, Command Historian for the Army Intelligence and Security Command.

1

2

p r o g r a m n o t e s

by Emily Hantman Tsai

Planning for The City Choir of Washington’s first

England tour this past summer, Maestro Shafer

ruminated on the impact of English composers and

choral tradition on his own musical development:

“As a young student musician in the early sixties, I

was enormously impressed by the great tradition of

choral singing at King’s College, Cambridge...

I had a transforming musical experience in the

spring of 1964, at the age of 18, when I heard one

of the first American performances of Britten’s

War Requiem at Washington National Cathedral,

conducted by Paul Callaway…Inspired by my

early exposure to the great British choral tradition,

I have regularly performed so many British works,

from Handel oratorios to the mystical masterpieces

of Sir John Tavener.”

When the opportunity came for TCCW to perform

a concert in remembrance of the Armistice’s

Centennial, Shafer was immediately drawn to the

idea of a program by British composers who were

alive during World War I, all of whom were directly

involved and intensely impacted by the war.

Our program examines war and peace. There is

the man-made peacefulness of an idyllic pastoral

England—and what must be done to keep and

return to it. Sir Hubert Parry brings William

Blake’s words to life: “I will not cease from mental

fight; Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, Till

we have built Jerusalem in England’s green and

pleasant land.” John Ireland draws on the text:

“Greater Love hath no man than this, that a man

lay down his life for his friends.” Then the drums

of war: Ralph Vaughan Williams, although in

his forties, enlisted as a private in the ambulance

corps. His great cantata, Dona Nobis Pacem, was

written in 1936, although the fourth movement,

“Dirge for Two Veterans,” was composed as

a stand-alone piece in 1914. Texts taken from

Walt Whitman (a volunteer nurse during the

American Civil War) and John Bright, a British

parliamentarian known for his opposition to the

Crimean War, show the human face and horror

of war. Gerald Finzi, only 13 years old when war

broke out, experienced terrible personal loss, since

his three brothers and his music teacher were

killed in the war. Throughout his career he would

return to the memory of war and its ravages. In A

Farewell To Arms, he evokes Ernest Hemingway’s

great novel of World War I; the song’s subject,

taken from two 16th-17th century poems, is an

elderly warrior who has laid down the tools of war.

But both In Terra Pax and Dona Nobis Pacem invoke

the idea of a divine rather than man-made peace:

the “Carthaginian Peace,” as John Maynard

Keynes called the harsh terms decided upon during

the Treaty of Versailles, held within it the seeds of

another world war, a fact that must have been increasingly

clear to Vaughan Williams in the tense

1930s, and in hindsight to Finzi in 1954. In Terra

Pax ends with the promise of the angel: “and on

earth peace, good will toward men.” Vaughan Williams’

cantata begins with a plea: “Give us peace

(Dona nobis pacem)” and ends with the same promise:

“and on earth peace, good will toward men.” We

can only hope that the divine peace will overcome

our human impulse to war and destruction.

In Terra Pax (1954)

Finzi’s In Terra Pax is set to text taken from “Noel:

Christmas Eve, 1913,” a poem by Robert Bridges

(an English Poet Laureate and member of Britain’s

War Propaganda Office during the Great War).

Finzi composed the work after being inspired by a

New Year’s Eve visit to Chosen Hill, Gloucestershire:

coming out into the clear frosty midnight,

he “heard bells ringing across Gloucestershire

from beside the Severn to the hill villages of the

Cotswolds.” That last Christmas before the Great

War conjures up tremendous feelings of ambivalence:

a time of lost innocence and hope; the

remembrance that politicians and citizens alike

believed in August 1914 that a war would “clear

the air” and the boys would be home by Christmas;

the ghosts of the Christmas Truce on the Western

Front in December 1914. It is interesting that Finzi

leaves out the stanza of the poem that begins:

“Now blessed be the tow’rs/that crown England

so fair”; perhaps he felt enough damage had been

done by overweening national pride. Yet the piece

is hopeful: whatever man may have wrought, the

angels promise: “And on earth peace.”

A Farewell to Arms (1945)

Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) was one of the finest

composers of English verse in his generation.

He wrote the second part of A Farewell to Arms in

3


the 1920s, still fresh from the terrible losses of the war.

Although Finzi was too young to fight himself, three of

his brothers and his music teacher all perished in the war.

He chose text by the seventeenth-century poet George

Peele, describing an aging warrior whose “helmet shall

make a hive for bees” and who has turned from battle

to prayer. The song was premiered in 1936 (the same

year as Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem), but Finzi,

a tremendous reader of English literature, during World

War II discovered a second poem which begins with

identical imagery: “The helmet now an hive for bees

becomes.” This seventeenth-century poem by Ralph

Knevet captured Finzi’s imagination with its evocative

description of weapons turned to farm implements

and final description of the soldier himself fading into

obscurity. Toward the end of the war or just after, Finzi

began reworking his original song. As described by

Joseph Stevenson: “The first movement is in the style

of a recitative while the verses of the aria are flowing

and noble in expression, with a sad nostalgia, while the

orchestral bass line, with a light but steady tread, clearly

suggests the slow advance of time.”

Greater Love Hath No Man (1912)

John Ireland (1879-1962) emerged as a celebrated

composer towards the end of World War I when his

Violin Sonata No.2 in A minor brought him overnight fame.

From then until his death in 1962 he led an outwardly

uneventful life combining composition, composition

teaching at the Royal College (where his pupils included

Benjamin Britten and E. J. Moeran), and his position as

organist and choirmaster at St. Luke’s Church, Chelsea,

in London (biographical information courtesy of the

John Ireland Trust).

Ireland’s motet Greater Love Hath No Man was

commissioned in 1912. It was immediately popular with

cathedrals and church choirs; after 1914, with its theme

of noble self-sacrifice it tapped into a larger national

mood and soon became an unofficial anthem of the war.

In the post-war years, it is often sung in services that

commemorate the victims of war.

by Brian Bartoldus

Dona Nobis Pacem (1936)

When Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) composed

Dona nobis pacem in 1936, he was no stranger to its subject

matter. At age 42, he had enlisted in what was then known

as “the war to end all wars.” Two decades later, growing

European tensions threatened to render this title obsolete.

Hitler’s recent march into the Rhineland hung like a

specter over the cantata’s composition and premiere. In

crafting his libretto, Vaughan Williams looked to sacred

and secular sources, most notably the Civil War poetry

of Walt Whitman. Whitman, who served as a volunteer

nurse during the war, details the suffering he witnessed

in an honest and forthright manner. Dona nobis pacem was

novel in its day for its frank discussion of the horrors of

battle, devoid of political or nationalist explanation. It

stands among the first definitively anti-war choral works,

part of a body of repertoire that would expand throughout

the 20th century. While its message is not strictly pacifist,

Dona nobis pacem reminds listeners of the grave costs of

total warfare, cautioning all who would engage in this

dreadful endeavor.

4


The cantata begins in a somber, almost

inconspicuous manner. The opening strains of

“Agnus Dei” evoke liturgical music, setting an

imitation of Latin chanting over a fauxbourdon

accompaniment. Without warning, an explosion

of sound dashes any expectation that Dona nobis

pacem will be a “safe” work for the church. After

a fourfold choral plea of “dona,” the soprano

soloist offers a prayer for peace: listen as it arches

upwards towards the word “nobis,” emphasizing

our shared stake in her petition. This melody and

the sighing “dona” motive serve as the soprano

soloist’s primary musical material, both in this

movement and in her repeated Latin interjections

heard throughout the cantata. Benjamin Britten

would later expand on this concept of assigning

different languages to various performing forces

in his famed War Requiem. Distant snare rhythms

transition us to the first of the Walt Whitman

settings, “Beat! Beat! Drums!” Their deep,

insistent notes clash with braying bugle calls, set

a discordant semitone above. Whitman’s forceful

poetry orders inanimate instruments to call forth,

bypassing their human masters. The chorus sings

nearly the whole of the movement in two-part

harmony, heavily relying on perfect fourths and

fifths. The only departure from this texture is in

the poem’s final stanza, where the concerns of

the reticent are shouted down by a final clamor

of drums. After the rage of battle subsides, the

baritone sings a hymn to the transcendent in

“Reconciliation.” Following a choral affirmation,

its second half becomes a personal meditation on

mortality. The soloist, faced with the slain body of

his enemy, kisses his head as a sort of improvised

benediction. The chorus takes up the opening

refrain with an added, soaring descant, only to

have its final cadence unsettled by the soprano

soloist’s quiet supplication of “Dona nobis pacem.”

At the onset of World War I, Vaughan Williams

composed Dirge for Two Veterans as a stand-alone

piece, later subsuming the movement into the

larger work. While his compositional voice

certainly changed over this time, the piece still

marries well with the newer surrounding music

because of their common features. Both share the

same poetic authorship and martial themes, as well

as simple vocal textures that prioritize clarity and

quick delivery of text. The latter point is crucial

when setting Whitman, whose free verse can

favor lengthy and uneven sentence structures. His

poem tells of a double funeral for father and son,

slaughtered in combat. Its brilliant pomp mixes

with strong emotions of tragedy and loss. Shining

octave triplets, flickering like quiet moonbeams,

serve as both counterpoint and respite to this

bittersweet scene.

“The Angel of Death” sets the words of

ninteenth-century British parliamentarian John

Bright, a famed orator and staunch opponent

of the Crimean War. Its quasi-recitative draws

on melodic ideas from the opening “Agnus

Dei,” portending its terrifying recapitulation.

Quotations from the prophet Jeremiah, himself

a witness to the destruction of Jerusalem, plead

for an end to the terrors of warfare: “Is there no

balm in Gilead?” The baritone soloist’s reply in

“O Man Greatly Beloved” is forceful and clear,

drawing from diverse biblical sources to tell God’s

millennia-old promise of peace. His noble charge,

“be strong,” lifts us up from the former flat keys

into the brilliance of D and B Major. The music

that follows, like its lyrics, breathes new life into

ancient ideas. It mixes the word-driven rhythmic

counterpoint of the British renaissance with 19thcentury

melodic development, all accompanied by

Vaughan Williams’s pandiatonic harmonies. The

chorus steadily builds in volume and tempo to the

angelic Christmas proclamation, “Glory to God in

the highest.” The confident descending statements

of “goodwill toward men” transform before us into

the sighing motives of “Dona Nobis Pacem,” now in

the comfort and safety of C Major.

Yet, Vaughan Williams does not leave his audience

in complete comfort. The soloist extends her final

note, the rootless third of the tonic chord, well

after all others have ceased their singing. This

author has often imagined how such fragility and

ambiguity sounded to its first audience, standing

as they did on the precipice of another unthinkable

European conflict. Is it a fading hope? A warning?

Our relationship with war has changed drastically

in the eight decades since Vaughan Williams

composed Dona nobis pacem. Still, its lessons

remain relevant: do not normalize the horrors of

war, and do not forget those who bear its pain and

burdens most acutely.

Continued on following page >

5


Jerusalem (1916)

Sir Hubert Parry (1848-1918) showed tremendous

early musical talent, sitting the Oxford Bachelor

of Music exam while still at Eton; however, to

please his father and in-laws he pursued a career

in insurance at the same time. While working as

an underwriter at Lloyd’s of London, he was taken

as a disciple by George Grove and contributed

numerous articles to Grove’s Dictionary of Music and

Musicians. On Grove’s retirement, Parry succeeded

him as director of the Royal College of Music. His

pupils included Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav

Holst, Frank Bridge and John Ireland. Parry held

German music and its traditions to be the pinnacle

of music, and was a friend of German culture in

general. He was, accordingly, certain that Britain

and Germany would never go to war against each

other, and was in despair when World War I broke

out. He died before the Armistice in October 1918

of Spanish Influenza, a different sort of casualty

of war.

“And did those feet in ancient times,” a littleknown

poem by William Blake, was included in

a patriotic anthology of verse published in 1916

by the Poet Laureate Robert Bridges (author of

Noel: Christmas 1913, which Gerald Finzi set in

his piece In Terra Pax). As a member of the War

Propaganda Office, Bridges asked Sir Hubert

Parry to set the poem to music: he wanted a hymn

to “brace the spirit of the nation [to] accept with

cheerfulness all the sacrifices necessary.” Against

the backdrop of a bloody and seemingly endless

war, the song (later renamed Jerusalem), with its

imagery harkening back to an idyllic England,

became instantly popular. Parry himself became

uncomfortable with its status as an ultra-patriotic

hymn and transferred ownership to the suffragist

movement; but it remained popular among Britons

of all political stripes and has persisted as a second

national anthem even today.

6

7

e u r o p e a n d t h e c e n t e n a r y c o m m e m o r a t i o n s

by Nastasia Stipo

An American traveling through Belgium,

Northern France, or Italy would quickly notice

the extent of World War I’s impact on Western

Europe. Tourists are constantly reminded of

the effect of its destruction and violence on

local communities through the monuments and

memorials erected in nearly every village. Indeed,

World War I strongly impacted modern-day

Europe, both in terms of significant territorial

restructurings and of social trauma caused by

the exorbitant number of lives that were lost. It

is difficult to believe that, despite the presence of

so many historical monuments, commemorations

of what is known as the “Great War” have often

been overshadowed by those related to the ensuing

World War II. Thankfully, 2014-18 Centenary

commemorations have helped revitalize what had

often been described as a part of Europe’s “erased

memory,” and remind us that the WWI helped

shape our present image of the Old Continent.

In general, commemorations play a significant

role in the daily construction of political and social

narratives. As societies begin what is commonly

known as a “Work on Memory,” narratives can

be used to either promote inclusion or division,

depending on the political motives of each party.

Just as social diversity in the United States makes a

unique narrative of its domestic history impossible,

Europe’s memory of WWI is composed of multiple

and diverging collective memories, mainly due

to the diverse nature of the continent and each

nation’s perspective. This diversity has led to

a wide variety of centennial commemorations

of the Great War which, in turn, has rekindled

debates on rather contentious subjects such as the

exclusion of deserters’ names on memorials or the

inefficiency of offensive strategies in the trenches.

Additionally, the contemporary narrative of the

futile human sacrifices for the sake of powerseeking

empires often clashes with the narrative of

the glorified, noble service and sacrifice of soldiers

at the time, expressed through the shared memory

of loved ones who died.

While some nations such as France and Great

Britain tend to lead a triumphalist approach in

their commemorations, others such as Germany or

former colonies do not lend similar importance to

the Great War and tend to focus solely on the

lessons learned, while other countries, such as

Poland, barely commemorate it at all. The modern

state of Poland came into existence in 1918, at the

end of World War I. Despite this contention and

diversity, Europe has mostly experienced inclusive,

multilateral Centennial events in the form of

wreath laying, marches, exhibits and memorial

vigils, and WWI is still considered a great success

in inclusive commemorations between former

rivaling nations. This Centennial has been

used as a means to accentuate the necessity of

collaboration between European nations, point

at the danger of competing nationalisms, and

improve relations with former colonies.

Art has played an exceptionally important role in

WWI commemorations in Europe, where artists

expressed their feelings through orchestral, cinematographic,

choral, pictural and poetic masterpieces.

The City Choir of Washington decided to

particularly focus on British interpretations that

depict the Great War through an unmistakably

romantic perspective. Today’s concert is a perfect

example of Great Britain’s tribute to triumph and

loss, service and sacrifice, death and destruction,

which ultimately led to peace, reconciliation,

and collaboration. The depictions of human and

social suffering offers World War I a unique place

in the various representations of memories and

consciousness. As we listen to these interpretations,

however, let us be reminded of the diversity in

narratives across Europe, of the horror and loss

experienced by all European and neighboring

nations, regardless of which side they belonged to.

8

9

The lamps are going out

all over Europe: we shall not see

them lit again in our life-time.

British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey.

A comment to a friend about the impending

UK entry into the First World War, August 1914.

10

HISTORICAL NOTES

by Zain Shariff

Italian Front

Western

Front

Eastern

Front

Salonika Front

Cameroon

War Zone

Palestinian Front

East African

War Zone

Mesopotamian

Front

PRELUDE TO WAR

It is called “the shot heard around the

world,” and with good reason. The

bullet that ended the life of Archduke

Franz Ferdinand of Austria (as well

as the one that did the same for

his wife) on June 28, 1914 touched

off an inexorable and ultimately

cataclysmic chain of events never

before experienced in human history.

And yet the notion that the death of

one man could spark a conflict that

would engulf the whole world, killing

between fifteen and nineteen million

people in the process, must strike any

reasonably curious person as a rather

simplistic and therefore unsatisfying

explanation.

Beginning in the early nineteenth

century, a growing wave of nationalistic

fervor in Europe would ultimately

lead to the 1871 unifications of

both Germany and Italy, each from

a collection of smaller regional states

which happened to share, among

other things, both a sense of culture

and of destiny with one another. The

process of German unification was

undertaken largely by the Prussian

state, led by Otto von Bismarck

(1815-1898), provoking a series of

wars with its neighbors and encouraging

other Germanic states to join

in. Through this, King Wilhelm I of

Prussia (1797-1888) was soon able to

proclaim himself Kaiser Wilhelm,

emperor of all German-speaking

peoples outside of Switzerland and

Austria. Almost simultaneously,

enterprising Italian leaders were able

to ally with the French to expel Austrian

overseers from northern Italy,

and then, leaning on the charismatic

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), succeeded

in doing the same to Spanish

Bourbon monarchists in the south.

The nationalistic fervor displayed in

both the German unification and the

Italian risorgimento would continue

to hold sway over Europe for decades

to come.

While Germany and Italy were each

finding their strength, the Ottoman

empire was in serious jeopardy.

European powers, most particularly

Austria and Russia, were all too happy

to chip away at the outskirts of the

empire and weaken it territorially.

June 28, 1914

Assassination of Austrian

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and

his wife by Serbian nationalist

student, Gavrilo Princip.

July 28, 1914

The Austrian government blames

the Serbian government for the

assassination and declares war on

Serbia (a Russian ally).

11

August 1 & 3, 1914

Germany (an Austrian ally)

declares war on Russia and, two

days later, on France (a Russian

ally), sending troops into Belgium

(a neutral country). Britain

demands—but does not

achieve—a withdrawal of

German troops from Belgium.

August 4, 1914

Germany continues advancing

toward France through Belgium,

Britain declares war on Germany,

followed by British Ally, Japan, on

August 13.

The more pressing threats, however,

came from within. The Ottoman

military had failed to keep up with

technological advances brought on

by the industrial revolution, and the

once-elite Janissary corps was now

more content to stage coups and

wage political battles than train for

actual ones. At the same time, an

influx of cheap manufactured goods

from the rest of Europe created

such a trade imbalance that, by the

mid-nineteenth century, interest

payments on foreign loans totaled

more than half of the empire’s revenue,

resulting in further subordination

to the empire’s creditors.

Ottoman leaders attempted to

institute a number of western-influenced

reforms, most notably during

the Tanzimat era (1839-1876), but

succeeded mainly in aggravating

many influential sectors of Ottoman

society. Throughout the long period

of decline that followed, breakaway

states, chiefly in the Balkans, would

further diminish Ottoman glory. In

the words of historian Jerry Bentley,

“By the early twentieth century, the

Ottoman empire survived principally

because European diplomats

could not agree on how to dispose

of the empire without upsetting the

European balance of power.”

These relatively young breakaway

states quickly found themselves

caught in the hungry gazes of both

Russia and Austria-Hungary. When

Serbia finally earned international

recognition of its independence in

1878, it began advocating loudly

for Pan-Slavism, a nationalistic

movement that aimed to politically

unite the Slavic peoples of eastern

Europe. Russia certainly had no

misgivings about supporting any

movements that might further

weaken Austrian influence and

so threw their support behind

the Serbs. The Germans, now on

decently friendly terms with the

Austrians, sought to counter Russian

influence by backing Austro-

Hungarian ambitions. The close

relationship between Germany and

Austria-Hungary would blossom

into the Dual Alliance of 1879, later

becoming the Triple Alliance when

Italy signed on board in 1882.

THE TANGLED WEB

By the late nineteenth century,

Germany was undisputedly the

most powerful country in Europe.

This fact, coupled with the earlier

annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by

the Germans during the Franco-

Prussian War (1870-1871) gave the

French good reason to be distrustful

of the new German state. Since

Russia, too, had misgivings about

German territorial ambitions, the

1894 Franco-Russian alliance gave

to its members the comfort of mutual

support should Germany or its

newfound allies get any bright ideas.

As the nineteenth century gave way

to the twentieth, nationalistic ideals

would encourage many European

nations to build up their military

power, which in turn fed further

nationalistic pride. Owing to its

growing suspicions about German

imperialism, England would find

itself drawn into the continental

alliance system in a somewhat

peripheral way, signing onto what

became known as the Triple Entente

in 1907. To be clear, the Entente was

not a military alliance, but rather

12

an understanding (entente is French

for “understanding”) of possible (if

not probable) support should the

need arise.

A year after the Entente was signed,

Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia.

Bosnia had long been in the sights of

the Serbs as a key part of their

pan-Slavic goals, and Austrian

annexation put a speedy end to any

unifying hopes the Serbs might have

had. Serbs and their allies would

fight two expansionist wars in the

Balkans in 1912 and 1913, both of

which would continue to chip away

at the ailing Ottoman Empire.

By late June 1914, when Archduke

Franz Ferdinand and his wife were

touring the Bosnian capital at

Sarajevo, tensions were at a breaking

point. As the Archduke and his wife

rode through the streets in an open

car, assassins twice tried to target

the couple. The first attempt, a

bombing, missed its intended target,

instead hitting the car behind the

Archduke’s, and a rattled Archduke

arrived at the town hall reception

planned for him. As they left the

town hall, the Archduke decided to

change the day’s plans so that he

and his wife could go to the hospital

and visit those wounded in the

bombing, but information about the

new route never reached the driver.

Turning down the wrong road,

he was obliged to reverse the car

to correct course. Before he could

do so, nineteen year old Serbian

nationalist Gavrilo Princip stepped

forward from the crowd and fired

two shots—one at the Archduke, and

the other at his wife, Duchess Sophie.

The Archduke’s final words were,

“Sophie, Sophie! Don’t die! Live for

our children! It is nothing...

it is nothing…”

THE JULY CRISIS

Global public reaction to the assassination

was, on the whole, rather

muted. In the United States, the

fallout from the assassination had

dropped to third-page news by July 1.

Nevertheless, the political situation

was quite tense. A flurry of diplomatic

correspondence and action ensued,

but it wasn’t until July 23rd that the

crisis truly began. Austria-Hungary

sent an ultimatum to Serbia.

The pro-war Austrian Count of

Hoyos pointedly noted that “that

the demands were really of such a

nature that no nation that still possessed

self-respect and dignity could

possibly accept them.” It was clear

that Austria-Hungary intended to

provoke a war with Serbia in order to

August, 1914

Russia sends troops into Prussia

and the Battle of Tannenberg

ensues with heavy Russian losses.

October 29, 1914

The Imperial German Navy,

with the assistance of Turkey,

bombards Russia.

13

put the unruly Serbs in their place.

With no satisfactory reply from

Serbia, Austria-Hungary declared

war on Serbia on July 28, 1914.

November 2, 5, 6, 1914

Russia declares war on Turkey,

followed by Russian allies Britain

and France.

Germany and Russia, allies of

Austria-Hungary and Serbia

respectively, watched nervously.

Generations of European noble

intermarriage made the emperor of

Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm, and the

emperor of Russia, Tzar Nicholas,

simultaneously third cousins and

second-cousins once removed, with

the bonus that Wilhelm was also

the first cousin of Nicholas’ wife.

(Further complicating the family

tree, King George V of England

was first cousins to both Wilhelm

and Nicholas.) Wilhelm and

Nicholas (literally) telegraped

their worries to one another

in a series of cables, written in

English, addressing one another

affectionately as Nicky and Willy.

Late November

After advancing through Belgium,

German troops arrive in France.

World War I begins in earnest.

August 1914 to January 1915 saw

over one half-million deaths,

putting to rest any ideas of a

quick war that would end by

Christmas.

Despite their best intentions,

neither was able to stem the tide

of war. Simultaneous to their

correspondence, both Russia and

Germany were busy mobilizing

their armies in anticipation of being

drawn into the Austro-Serbian

conflict by virtue of their respective

alliances. The mobilization plans

were very much all-or-nothing

affairs, and highly intractable, which

required that Russia mobilize not

only against Austria-Hungary, but

against Germany as well. Thus,

mobilization created what amounted

to an incredibly high-stakes game

of “chicken” in which neither side

could dare flinch for fear of the

consequences. Unable to back

down, on August 1st, the German

government officially declared war

on Russia. Russia’s ally, France,

began to mobilize against Germany

14

and so Germany declared war on

France on August 3.

Being effectively closed in

geographically by the Franco-

Russian Alliance, the Germans

developed a strategy known as the

Schlieffen plan in 1905. The plan

was for a quick, knockout blow

to France executed by marching

through neutral Belgium, then

fighting a defensive war with Russia

on the Eastern front. In 1914, that

plan was put into motion. Germany

sent an ultimatum to Belgium

requesting free passage of German

troops. Belgium refused, and so

Germany declared war on Belgium.

The British government had, since

1839, been signatories to a treaty

guaranteeing Belgium’s neutrality.

Now, with the Germans advancing,

the British had no choice.

On August 4, 1914, Britain declared

war on Germany. Europe was now

entirely at war.

April 6, 1917

USA declares war on Germany

November 11, 1918

At 11:00 AM the Armistice was

signed, ending a war that saw

over 16,000,000 deaths and over

37,000,000 million casualties.

15

t e x t a n d t r a n s l a t i o n s

IN TERRA PAX, OP. 39 (1954)


Words by Robert Bridges (1844-1930) and from St. Luke II 8-14

Baritone Solo

A frosty Christmas Eve

when the stars were shining

Fared I forth alone

where westward falls the hill,

And from many a village

in the water’d valley

Distant music reach’d me

peals of bells a-ringing:

The constellated sounds

ran sprinkling on earth’s floor

As the dark vault above

with stars was spangled o’er.

Then sped my thoughts to keep

that first Christmas of all

When the shepherds watching

by their folds ere the dawn

Heard music in the fields

and marveling could not tell

Whether it were angels

or the bright stars singing.

Chorus

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,

keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the

Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about

them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them:

Soprano Solo

Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall

be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a

Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you;

ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Chorus

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly

host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on

earth peace, good will toward men.

Baritone Solo

But to me heard afar

it was starry music

Angels’ song, comforting

as the comfort of Christ

When he spake tenderly

to his sorrowful flock:

The old words came to me

by the riches of time

Mellow’d and transfigured

as I stood on the hill

Heark’ning in the aspect

of th’eternal silence.

Chorus

And on earth peace, good will toward men.

16


A FAREWELL TO ARMS, OP. 9


The helmet now an hive for bees becomes,

And hilts of swords may serve for spiders’ looms;

Sharp pikes may make

Teeth for a rake;

And the keen blade, th’arch enemy of life,

Shall be degraded to a pruning knife.

The rustic spade

Which first was made

For honest agriculture, shall retake

Its primitive employment, and forsake

The rampires steep

And trenches deep.

Tame conies in our brazen guns shall breed,

Or gentle doves their young ones there shall feed.

In musket barrels

Mice shall raise quarrels

For their quarters. The ventriloquious drum,

Like lawyers in vacations, shall be dumb.

Now all recruits,

But those of fruits,

Shall be forgot; and th’unarmed soldier

Shall only boast of what he did whilere,

In chimney’s ends

Among his friends.

His golden locks Time hath to silver turned.

O Time too swift! Oh swiftness never ceasing!

His youth ‘gainst Time and Age hath ever spurned,

But spurned in vain; youth waneth by increasing.

Beauty, strength, youth are flowers but fading seen;

Duty, faith, love are roots and ever green.

His helmet now shall make a hive for bees,

And lover’s sonnets turn to holy psalms.

A man-at-arms must now serve on his knees,

And feed on prayers which are Age’s alms.

But though from Court to cottage he depart,

His Saint is sure of his unspotted heart.

And when he saddest sits in homely cell,

He’ll teach his swains this carol for a song:

Blest be the hearts that wish my Sovereign well.

Curst be the soul that think her any wrong.

Goddess, allow this aged man his right

To be your beadsman now that was your knight.

—Words by George Peele (1556–1596)

—Words by Ralph Knevet (1600–1671)

17


GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN (1912)

John Ireland (1879-1962)

Many waters cannot quench love,

neither can the floods drown it.

Love is strong as death.

Greater love hath no man than this,

that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,

That we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.

Ye are washed, ye are sanctified,

ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation;

That ye should shew forth the praises of him

who hath call’d you out of darkness into His marvellous light.

I beseech you brethren, by the mercies of God,

that ye present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy,

acceptable unto to God, which is your reasonable service.

It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into

the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself

seeming to be in the balance.

Woodrow Wilson, April 2, 1917.

Address to Congress seeking a Declaration of War against Germany.

18


DONA NOBIS PACEM (1936)

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1931-2003)

I

Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi

[Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,]

Dona nobis pacem.

[Grant us peace.]

II

Beat! beat! drums! – blow! bugles! blow!

Through the windows – through the doors – burst like a ruthless force,

Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,

Into the school where the scholar is studying;

Leave not the bridegroom quiet – no happiness must he have now

with his bride,

Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field, or gathering

in his grain,

So fierce you whirr and pound you drums – so shrill you bugles blow.


Over the traffic of cities – over the rumble of wheels in the streets;

Are beds prepared for the sleepers at night in the houses?

No sleepers must sleep in those beds,

No bargainers’ bargains by day – would they continue?

Would the talkers be talking? Would the singer attempt to sing?

Then rattle quicker, heavier drums – you bugles wilder blow.


Make no parley – stop for no expostulation,

Mind not the timid – mind not the weeper or prayer,

Mind not the old man beseeching the young man,

Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties,

Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the

hearses,

So strong you thump O terrible drums – so loud you bugles blow.

—Words by Walt Whitman

III Reconciliation

Word over all, beautiful as the sky,

Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be

utterly lost,

That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly, softly,

wash again and ever again this soiled world;

For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead,

I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin – I draw near,

Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.


IV Dirge for Two Veterans

The last sunbeam

Lightly falls from the finished Sabbath,

On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking

Down a new-made double grave.

Lo, the moon ascending,

Up from the east the silvery round moon,

Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon,

Immense and silent moon.

19


I see a sad procession,

And I hear the sound of coming full-keyed bugles,

All the channels of the city streets they’re flooding

As with voices and with tears.

I hear the great drums pounding,

And the small drums steady whirring,

And every blow of the great convulsive drums

Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father,

In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,

Two veterans, son and father, dropped together,

And the double grave awaits them.

Now nearer blow the bugles,

And the drums strike more convulsive,

And the daylight o’er the pavement quite has faded,

And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

In the eastern sky-up buoying,

The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumined,

‘Tis some mother’s large transparent face,

In heaven brighter growing.

O strong dead-march you please me!

O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!

O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!

What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light,

And the bugles and the drums give you music,

And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,

My heart gives you love.


V

The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land; you may

almost hear the beating of his wings. There is no one as of old….to

sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two side-posts of our doors,

that he may spare and pass on.

—Words by John Bright

Dona nobis pacem.

[Grant us peace.]

We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health,

and behold trouble!

The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole land

trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are

come, and have devoured the land…and those that dwell therein…

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved...

Is there no balm in Gilead?; is there no physician there? Why then is

not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

—Jeremiah VIII. 15-22

20


O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong,

yea, be strong.

—Daniel X. 19.

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former…

and in this place will I give peace.

— Haggai II. 9.

Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they

learn war any more.

And none shall make them afraid, neither the sword go through

their land.

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have

kissed each other.

Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look

down from heaven.

Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will go into them.

Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be

assembled; and let them hear, and say, it is the truth.

And it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues.

And they shall come and see my glory. And I will set a sign among

them, and they shall declare my glory among the nations.

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall

remain before me, so shall your seed and your name remain for ever.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,

good-will toward men.

(Adapted from Micah iv. 3, Leviticus xxvi. 6, Psalms lxxxv.

10, and cxviii. 19, Isaiah xliii. 9, and lxvi. 18-22, and

Luke ii. 14.)

Two armies that fight each other is like one large army that commits suicide.

French soldier, Henri Barbusse. From his novel Le Feu, 1916.

21

22

We’re telling lies; we know we’re telling lies; we don’t tell the public the truth, that we’re losing

more officers than the Germans, and that it’s impossible to get through on the Western Front.

Lord Rothermere, 1917. In conversation with fellow journalist J.L. Garvin.


JERUSALEM (1916)

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918)

Words by William Blake (1757-1827)

And did those feet in ancient time

Walk upon England’s mountains green?

And was the Holy Lamb of God

On England’s pleasant pastures seen?

And did the countenance divine

Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here

Among these dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!

Bring me my arrows of desire!

Bring me my spear! O clouds unfold!

Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

Till we have built Jerusalem

In England’s green and pleasant land.

It looked like what “the

abomination of desolation” must

look like. And all through the

long night those big guns

flashed and growled just like the

lightning and the thunder when

it storms in the mountains at

home. And, oh my, we had to pass

the wounded. And some of them

were on stretchers going back to

the dressing stations, and some

of them were lying around...And

the dead were all along the road.

And it was wet and cold. And it

all made me think of the Bible and

the story of the Anti-Christ and

Armageddon. And I’m telling

you the little log cabin in Wolf

Valley in old Tennessee seemed

a long long way off.

Alvin C. York, October 7, 1918.

In the Diary of Alvin York.

23

24

Come on, you sons of b------, do you want to live forever?

Daniel Daly, June 1918. Battle cry at the Battle of Belleau Wood.

m e e t t h e a r t i s t s

“In just a few seasons, artistic director

Robert Shafer has shaped The City Choir

of Washington into another of the area’s

first-class choruses.” The Washington Post

The City Choir of Washington, which is beginning

its 12th season under the artistic leadership

of Robert Shafer, is known for its beautiful

choral sound, attention to musical detail, and

moving performances. Maestro Shafer, an accomplished

life-long educator and conductor, is

a master at preparing his singers, giving careful

attention to vocal technique and musical style

to communicate each composer’s vision. Shafer

challenges his singers and audiences by creative

programming, breathing new life into old

masterworks—most recently, Handel’s oratorio

Solomon—and pairing them with stunning renditions

of new or under-performed works, such as

Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum, Benjamin Britten’s Cantata

Misericordium, and Tarik O’Regan’s Triptych.

Besides performing to capacity audiences in its

own yearly subscription series, City Choir has

sung with The National Symphony Orchestra

and The Washington National Opera

Orchestra at The Kennedy Center and at

Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts.

The chorus has sung under the batons of such

noted conductors as Stephen Lord, Randall

Craig Fleischer, Ludwig Wicki, and Marvin

Hamlisch. City Choir has also been honored to

join with The Defiant Requiem Foundation and

Maestro Murry Sidlin to present performances

of The Defiant Requiem at the Kennedy Center,

Strathmore Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall at New

York’s Lincoln Center.

Additional memorable orchestral performances

by City Choir during its first ten seasons under

Maestro Shafer’s baton include Bach’s Mass in

B Minor and Magnificat, Bernstein’s Chichester

Psalms, Fauré’s Requiem, Monteverdi’s Marian

Vespers of 1610, Mozart’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s

Gloria, and the world premiere of Lux Aeterna by

Robert Shafer.

In the spring of 2014, the Choralis Foundation

nominated The City Choir of Washington for

an Ovation Award for Most Creative Programming.

Maestro Shafer feels that “our great affinity

for and dedication to the music of our time is

what really sets us apart. We have given many

premiere performances, including several of the

final compositions by one of England’s greatest

composers, Sir John Taverner.”

The City Choir roster is composed of approximately

130 experienced, professional-caliber

volunteer singers who hail from throughout the

greater Washington metropolitan area, even

extending out to Annapolis and Frederick,

Photo credit: Jill Bochicchio

Maryland, south to Springfield, Virginia, and

sometimes into Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The singers state enthusiastically that it

is worth the drive to have the privilege to sing

with Maestro Shafer.

The City Choir of Washington seeks to

inspire singers, audience members, and the

community at large to discover the rich

musical and cultural heritage of choral

music and, in the words of Maestro Shafer,

“to create beauty and give our audiences an

escape from our deeply troubled world and

a vision of a new world truly at peace and

filled with love.” Also, through performances

and educational and community outreach

programs such as The City Singers, the high

school Partners in Song, and commitment

to spotlighting emerging American soloists,

The City Choir of Washington aims to

nurture the next generation of performers

and audience members.

Robert Shafer, recognized

as one of America’s

major choral conductors,

has served as Artistic

Director of the City Choir

of Washington since its

launch in September

2007. For 50 years, Mae-

25


stro Shafer has served the Washington, D.C.

area as a choral conductor, composer, educator,

and church musician. He was the Music

Director of The Washington Chorus for more

than 35 years. In February 2000, he was honored

by the National Academy of Recording

Arts & Sciences with a GRAMMY ® Award

for Best Choral Performance, for a live concert

recording of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem.

Shafer prepared The Washington Chorus for

the GRAMMY ® -Award-winning recording of

John Corigliano’s Of Rage and Remembrance with

Leonard Slatkin and The National Symphony

Orchestra and for the GRAMMY ® Awardnominated

compact disc and film soundtrack

recording of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov with

Mstislav Rostropovich and The National

Symphony Orchestra. Shafer has prepared

choruses for many of the world’s leading

conductors, including Sir Neville Marriner,

Seiji Ozawa, Zdenek Macal, Christopher

Warren-Green, Charles Dutoit, Kent Nagano,

Mstislav Rostropovich, and Leonard Slatkin.

He has guest-conducted The National

Symphony Orchestra on several occasions

and also conducted choral performances for

NBC national telecasts. In addition, he has

conducted numerous European concert tours

with the choral groups that he has prepared.

Active as a teacher, Shafer taught at James

Madison High School from 1968-1975,

producing one of the finest madrigal groups in

the country. He served as Artist-in-Residence

and Professor of Music at the Conservatory

of Music of Shenandoah University in

Winchester, Virginia, from 1983 until his

retirement in 2016, when he was named

professor emeritus. In 1989, Shafer was

honored by the Virginia Council on Higher

Education with an Outstanding Faculty

Award for his outstanding public service,

research, and teaching, the first teacher in

the arts to receive this award. In June 2011,

the Choralis Foundation Board of Directors

and Artistic Director Gretchen Kuhrmann

named Robert Shafer as the winner of the

2nd Annual Greater Washington D.C. Area

Choral Excellence Award. This award is given

to a person or organization that has made

significant contributions to the art of choral

singing in the greater D.C. metropolitan area.

The City Choir of

Washington is honored to

be singing under the baton

of Maestra Gretchen

Kuhrmann for our

November 11, 2018 concert.

Ms. Kuhrmann, a mainstay

of the Washington choral

scene and long-time friend of Bob Shafer, is

the founder and director of Choralis. A true

advocate for choral music in all schools and

communities, she has spent her career honing

choral ensembles into musically sensitive

performers and encouraging singers of all ages

to develop their skills. In addition to being a

sought-after conducting and choral clinician,

Ms. Kuhrmann has shown great success

with building choral organizations and is in

demand as a speaker and consultant on the

topic around the world for choral conventions

and workshops.

Ms. Kuhrmann is an especially sensitive

interpreter of English choral music, and

worked closely with British composer Bob

Chilcott when he was composer-in-residence

with Choralis. This relationship culminated in

the world premiere of Chilcott’s Gloria; in April

2017 Ms. Kuhrmann and Choralis recorded

In Winter’s Arms: Seasonal Music by Bob Chilcott.

Ms. Kuhrmann says of her opportunity to

work with City Choir, “I am honored that Bob

asked me to take this concert; they are huge

shoes to fill, but I know we will make music

he will be proud of.” Ms. Kuhrmann also has

prepared choruses for many notable U.S. and

international conductors as well as numerous

area diplomatic and political events. She is

26


the Director of Music for Fairfax Presbyterian

Church and holds performance degrees in conducting

from the University of North Carolina

at Greensboro and George Mason University.

Hailed by the Washington

Post for her “supple,

haunting soprano,”

Katelyn G. Aungst

performs with intelligence,

“particular purity of tone”

(San Francisco Classical Voice),

and grace. She has soloed

with the Washington Bach Consort (St. John

Passion), the Nashville Symphony Orchestra

(Messiah), the Washington Master Chorale

(Lauda per la Natività del Signore), the City Choir

of Washington (Solomon), and the Peabody

Symphony Orchestra (Harmoniemesse). Katelyn

was also the first soprano Vocal Fellow at the

Oregon Bach Festival under Matthew Halls.

Her choral and chamber experiences include

performances with the Washington Master

Chorale, the U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants,

Third Practice, and Church Circle Singers.

A dedicated choral educator, Ms. Aungst

spent six years teaching in the Montgomery

County Public Schools and is the Assistant

Artistic Director of the Six Degree Singers, a

community choir based in Silver Spring, MD.

She is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree

in Historical Performance from the Peabody

Conservatory in Ah Young Hong’s studio.

While her studies occupy some of her time,

she continues to serve as the Assistant Artistic

Director of the Six Degree Singers and made

her professional debut with the American Bach

Soloists in April 2018.

Called “one of the

enduring joys of the local

early-music scene” by

the Washington Post, tenor

Robert Petillo has

appeared many times with

virtually every oratorio

society in the greater DC

area since the early 1980s. He is perhaps

best known as the Evangelist in numerous

performances of the Bach passion settings of

Matthew and John, as well as passion settings

by Telemann, CPE Bach, Johann Theile,

and others.

He is often heard in performances of Handel’s

Messiah and Bach’s Mass in B Minor with

organizations like the National Philharmonic

Orchestra and Chorus, the Cathedral Choral

Society, City Choir of Washington, and the

Washington Bach Consort. He has received

acclaim for his many performances of

Monteverdi’s Vespers 1610, notably in Venice,

Italy, in the National Cathedral with the

Folger Consort, and at Strathmore Music

Center with the City Choir of Washington.

His performing travels have also taken him

to Italy, England, and Germany, where he

was tenor soloist with the Washington Bach

Consort for their Bach anniversary tours

in 1985 and 2000 and sang the role of

Jupiter in Handel’s Semele in the 1990 Halle

Handel Festival.

Robert has been a fan of Renaissance

polyphony and mediaeval music since college

days, and sang both tenor and countertenor

with collegium musicum ensembles at Rutgers

and the University of Maryland. At Rutgers

he studied the music of 16th century composer

Claude LeJeune and wrote an honors thesis

on his polyphonic settings of the Psalms in

the French translations of Clement Marot and

others in Calvin’s circle.

Sergeant Major Petillo retired in 2017 after

almost 32 years of service to our nation as a

member of one of the most elite male vocal ensembles

in the world, The United States Army

Chorus. Often called upon as a special soloist

for visiting foreign dignitaries, he has sung in

38 languages and made enormous contributions

to diplomacy and cultural exchange.

27


Baritone James

Shaffran’s versatility and

audience appeal have made

him a long-sought-after

performer, accomplished

singing actor and

perennial favorite. Equally

comfortable in chamber,

symphony hall and opera stage, Mr. Shaffran

has sung with virtually every arts organization

in the Washington-Baltimore area and many

beyond. A WAMMIE nominee for Best

Classical Vocal Soloist for the past five years,

he soloed on the Grammy ® -winning recording

of Corigliano’s Of Rage And Remembrance with

Leonard Slatkin and the NSO.

The past season included Brahms’ German

Requiem with the Lawton (OK) Philharmonic

and the Haydn Nelson Mass with the Choral

Arts Society of Washington. His performance

in the title role of Bob Chilcott’s Wenceslas,

written with him in mind and which saw its

American premiere in 2016 by Choralis, will

be released next year on the Signum Classics

label. This season sees him performing

Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with

New Dominion Chorale, the Bach Christmas

Oratorio with the Kentucky Bach Choir

(Lexington), and Bach Magnificat and Bruckner

Te Deum with Choralis.

Described as “a pillar of the company”

by former director Placido Domingo, Mr.

Shaffran has amassed over 50 roles in over

300 performances with Washington National

Opera, and enjoys an active stage presence

regionally as well. Recent performances his

participation in the critically-acclaimed world

premiere adaptation of Glass’ Appomattox as

the Union Soldier, an Inmate in Jake Heggie’s

Dead Man Walking, and the Registrar in Madame

Butterfly. He will continue his collaboration

with the WNO Young Artists by appearing as

Sergeant in their production of Barber of Seville

next season, after singing Antonio earlier this

season in their Marriage of Figaro.

He has several world premiere productions to

his credit, including creating the role of the

Principal in the acclaimed Greg Spears opera

Paul’s Case (a New Yorker Top-10 production of

2015 at the Prototype Festival, and which will

be released worldwide next year on the VIA

label), and the title role of Bernie Madoff in

Luna Pearl Wolff’s The Pillar in 2016.

Mr. Shaffran is a regular local presence as a

National Anthem singer, and is a frequent performer

with the Washington Nationals. He is a

staff bass chorister and soloist in the esteemed

Choir of Men, Boys and Girls of Washington

National Cathedral. He lives in Annandale,

Virginia with his wife Mary, a lyric soprano

and health tech executive with whom he performs

regularly in charity events and recitals,

and with their son Stephen, 18, a senior honors

student at Woodson High School.

Organist Todd Fickley

is the Assistant Director

and Keyboard Artist for

The Choralis Foundation,

and the Interim Organist

for National Presbyterian

Church. He is the long-time

protégé of the late Bach

expert Dr. J. Reilly Lewis, having served as his

Artistic Assistant at both the Washington Bach

Consort and the Cathedral Choral Society.

Equally comfortable at the podium, harpsichord,

piano, and organ, his career spans over

25 years performing across the United States,

Europe, and Israel. He is frequently seen in

concert with a wide variety of ensembles, such

as the National Symphony Orchestra, The

Washington Ballet, the National Philharmonic,

and the Three Notch’d Road baroque ensemble.

A native Washingtonian, Mr. Fickley began

his organ studies at the Washington National

Cathedral under Bruce Neswick. At the age

of 23, Mr. Fickley was made a Fellow of the

American Guild of Organists (AGO). He also

28


holds the AGO Choirmaster Diploma as well

as the M.A. in Organ Performance with High

Distinction from the University of Wales.

A prize-winning organist and specialist in

the music of J.S. Bach, Mr. Fickley has been

featured numerous times on NPR and PRI.

In 2014 he launched “The Bach Project,” a

cycle of concerts performing and recording

all of Bach’s organ works, the first time in

almost a quarter of a century that such a

project has been undertaken in the DC area.

The first volume on the MSR Classics label

was praised in Fanfare Magazine as “some of

the most enthralling Bach organ playing you

are likely to hear anywhere by anyone.” Mr.

Fickley is frequently seen as conductor, soloist,

accompanist and speaker in the Washington

DC metro area. He is an Officer in the Order of

St. John and a member of the National Society

of Washington Family Descendants.

Rachel Binger is director

of The City Singers, TC-

CW’s outreach ensemble.

She attended Shenandoah

Conservatory of Shenandoah

University and has over

20 years of conducting and

performing experience.

Currently, she is in her thirteenth year as choral

director at River Bend Middle School with

Loudoun County Public Schools in Sterling,

Virginia. Ms. Binger has served as department

chair, vocal director, and accompanist to musicals,

and her ensembles have received excellent

and superior ratings at festival competitions

and assessments.

Ms. Binger is an active member of NAfME,

and ACDA. Her select ensemble, Raven Choir,

has also performed the National Anthem

as guest for the Washington Wizards at the

Verizon Center for the past three years.

Andrew Woods is the

senior Research Historian

at the McCormick

Research Center, part

of the Cantigny First

Division Foundation and

First Division Museum

at Cantigny, in Wheaton,

Illinois. Mr. Woods has researched and written

about the history of the 1st Division, and

WWI, since 1986. He is shown here holding

a photo of Major General William L. Sibert,

first commanding general of the First Division

in WWI.

Leigh Gibson has just taken up the post of

Director, USA having previously worked as

Director, Festivals and

Seasons with a recent stint

as Director, Partnerships &

Business Development

at the British Council.

Recent postings include:

Executive Director,

UK-Russia Year of Culture

2014; Director, UK NOW Festival, China,

2010–2012; Director for Content and

Programme, Shanghai 2010 World Expo.

Since joining the British Council in Hong

Kong in 1981, Leigh has held numerous

positions. From 1993 to 1999 she was Director

of Operations in Hong Kong, responsible for

re-structuring operations after the handover

in 1997 and subsequently served in the Policy

Directorate for East Asia and the Americas in

London. She also led the global Arts team as

Director of Arts from 2004 to 2007.

Leigh read Modern History at the University

of Oxford and did post-graduate work at the

London School of Economics. She also taught

a course in The Government and Politics of

the Soviet Union at the University of Hong

Kong during her time there in the 1980s.

Leigh is married to a financial journalist and

has two grown-up sons.

29

War Poems

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae (1872-1918)

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

“In Flanders Fields,” a war poem written in 1915 by Canadian physician

Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, was inspired by the funeral of a friend

and fellow soldier of McCrae’s who died in the Second Battle of Ypres.

Legend has it that fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae had

initially discarded it. The poem—and poppy—are prominent

Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations,

and in the United States, where it is widely associated with Veteran’s Day

on November 11.

Break of Day

in the Trenches

by Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918)

The darkness crumbles away.

It is the same old druid Time as ever,

Only a live thing leaps my hand,

A queer sardonic rat,

As I pull the parapet’s poppy

To stick behind my ear.

Droll rat, they would shoot you if they knew

Your cosmopolitan sympathies.

Now you have touched this English hand

You will do the same to a German

Soon, no doubt, if it be your pleasure

To cross the sleeping green between.

It seems you inwardly grin as you pass

Strong eyes, fine limbs, haughty athletes,

Less chanced than you for life,

Bonds to the whims of murder,

Sprawled in the bowels of the earth,

The torn fields of France.

What do you see in our eyes

At the shrieking iron and flame

Hurled through still heavens?

What quaver—what heart aghast?

Poppies whose roots are in man’s veins

Drop, and are ever dropping;

But mine in my ear is safe—

Just a little white with the dust.

30

Anthem for

Doomed Youth

by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

— Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.

The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

31

Nineteen-Fourteen:

The Soldier

by Rupert Brooke (1887-1915)

If I should die, think only this of me:

That there’s some corner of a foreign field

That is forever England. There shall be

In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,

Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;

A body of England’s, breathing English air,

Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,

A pulse in the eternal mind, no less

Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;

Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;

And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,

In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Everyone Sang

by Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

Everyone suddenly burst out singing;

And I was filled with such delight

As prisoned birds must find in freedom,

Winging wildly across the white

Orchards and dark-green fields;

on - on - and out of sight.

Everyone’s voice was suddenly lifted;

And beauty came like the setting sun:

My heart was shaken with tears; and horror

Drifted away ... O, but Everyone

Was a bird; and the song was wordless;

the singing will never be done.

32

t h e c i t y c h o i r o f w a s h i n g t o n

ROBERT SHAFER, Artistic Director

GRETCHEN KUHRMANN, Guest Conductor

RACHEL BINGER, Assistant Conductor

PETER UHLIR, Accompanist

SOPRANO I

Martha Blakely

Laura Bradford**

Linda Cirba

Leslie Hall

Emma Harger

Marie Hyder

Anna Jeide

Lanette Kanakry

Lynn Kaplan

Thelma K. Leenhouts

Jenna Lindeke Heavenrich

Kathryn Lupinacci

Loris McVittie

Jessica Robbins

Susan Schumacher

Amy D. Solomon++

Rachel Tester*

Bernadette Valdellon

Juliet Weenink-Griffiths

Debra Wynn

SOPRANO II

Rachel Binger

Vivian Chakarian**

Deborah Dewey

Carol Green Edison*

Glenda Finley

Katie Jagielski

Christine Jones

Kristen Lewandowski

Elizabeth McWhirt

Muriel Morisey

Barbara Neuhoff

Emmilu Olson

Mary Peterson

Susan C. Schreurs

Donna Kaye Simonton

Nastasia Stipo

Kathryn Tidyman

Emily Hantman Tsai

Marian Ware

Carleen Dixon Webb

ALTO I

Sharon E. Alexander

Hannah Anderson-Dana

Marie Colturi

Gail Crane**

Marianne Epstein

Beth Gawne

Anita Glick

Meaghan Heselden

Audrey Jenkins

Joyce Korvick

Xochilt Melendez

Patricia Morris-Falconi

Carol B. Perez

Beth Riggs

Ann Roddy

Maggie Stewart

Maggie Sullivan

Chi-Yu Sun

Alfhild Winder

Anne Harding Woodworth*

Patricia Yee

Kristin Zimmer

ALTO II

Audrey Bigelow*

Dearbhla Doyle

Cita Furlani

Pat Giraldi

Barbara W. Greene

Elizabeth Horowitz

Anne Hunter

Rhoda Metcalfe

Carole Lynne Price

Kate Purcell

Connie Ridgway

Shelley Stewart

Claudia Tornblom

Joanna Ward**

Elaine Wunderlich

TENOR I

David Boomsma

Carl W. Deanell

Michael Doan

William J. Doepkens**+

Margaret Hemingway*

James B. Hutchinson, Jr

Geoffrey D. Kaiser

Christopher Kanakry

Kyle Miller

Betsy Morse

Anita O’Leary

Joshua Rovou

Robert Stansbery

Laura Szakmary

Benjamin Tsai

TENOR II

L. Robert Barnes

Armin Bondoc

Ted Ellis

Cameron Farley

Douglas Fisher**

Joe Jones

Tony Lee

Lou Maroulis

Joel C. Miller

Justin Moul

David Nelson

Drew Riggs

Alexander Riley

Leo H. Settler*

William R. Stewart

Scott Tousley

BASS I

Gene Beye

Peter Bonner

Kevin Boteler

Steve Briggs**

Richard Brush

Avery Davis Lamb

Ryan Davis

Robert Finley

William Gilcher

Drew Goins

Joe Hill

Richard Lolich

Richard E. Morrison*

Roger Oliver

Patrick Pau

Chandler Stephan

Alex Szoka

BASS II

Jim Blackburn

Al Bradford*

Jarrett Cohen

Nathan Detweiler

H. Mark Gibson

Nathaniel Hodges

Jeff Jenkins

Donald Juran

Philip Kopper

Jay Labov

Howard Lincoln

David Robinson

Verdon Staines

Rod Sterling**

* Section leader

** Assistant section leader

+ Chorus President

++ Chorus Vice-President

33

34

t h e c i t y c h o i r o f w a s h i n g t o n


CHAMBER ORCHESTRA


BOARD OF DIRECTORS

VIOLIN I

Eva Cappelletti Chao,

Concertmaster

Karin Kelleher

Laura Knutson

Jennifer Rickard

Annie Loud

Sonya Hayes

VIOLIN II

Lisa Cridge*

Bill Tortolano

Shelley Mathews

Ivan Hodge

Pam Lassell

VIOLA

Ann Steck*

Jennifer Ries

Nana Vaughn

Marta Howard

CELLO

Marion Baker*

Dan Shomper

Matthew Harmon

BASS

Matt Nix*

Morgan Daly

TRUMPET

Woody English

HARP

Marian Rian Hayes

PERCUSSION

Julie Angelis Boehler

TYMPANI

Joseph McIntyre

ORGAN

Todd Fickley

PERSONNEL

Pam Lassell

*Principal

Carol B. Perez,

President

Elizabeth McWhirt,

Vice President

David B. Robinson,

Secretary/Counsel

Cita Furlani,

Treasurer

Margaret Hemingway,

General Manager

Michael Doan

Barbara W. Greene

Meaghan Heselden

Jeff Jenkins

Thelma Leenhouts

Carole Lynne Price

Susan Holaday

Schumacher

Zain Shariff

Amy Solomon

Benjamin Tsai

Anne Harding

Woodworth

Debra D. Wynn

Chorus Officers

William J. Doepkens,

President

Amy Durant Solomon,

Vice President

Staff

Robert Shafer,

Artistic Director

Zain Shariff,

Operations Director

Rachel Binger,

Assistant Conductor

Nathaniel Hodges,

Chorus Manager

Peter Uhlir,

Accompanist

We would like to particularly thank the members of the

World War I Concert Committee for conceiving and organizing

the concurrent events and visual aspects of this concert:

Audrey Bigelow, Barbara Greene, Meg Hemingway,

Thelma Leenhouts, Zain Shariff, Shelley Stewart (Chair),

Nastasia Stipo, Emily Tsai, and Patricia Yee. Finally, thank

you to Michael Bigelow, Command Historian for the Army

Intelligence and Security Command, for sharing a curated

display of his World War I artifacts with today’s concert-goers.

The City Choir of Washington would like to thank the following individuals

and organizations for their support and assistance with

this performance: Paul Herbert, Executive Director, First Division

Museum at Cantigny Park;

Eric Gillespie, Director, Colonel Robert R. McCormick Research

Center; Philip Brookman, National Gallery of Art;

Colonel Michael G. Carberry, USMC Reserve, Ret.;

WAMU, Washington’s NPR station;

Anne and Fred Woodworth

35

PHOTO NOTES

Cover: Infantry soldiers, 1914, France. Drawing by Renefer. Alamy.com

Page 2: Soldier reading in a trench at the front.

Page 4: Window commemorating Gerald Finzi in Gloucester Cathedral’s Lady

Chapel. Commissioned by the Finzi Trust; created by Tom Denny, 2016.

Pages 6: German soldiers surrendering with white flag (seen in rear) to

American troops, France.* // Men of the 18th Infantry, 1st Div. marching

through deep mud. Ardennes, France, 1918.*

Page 7: Subsurface hospital during Battle of Verdun, 1916, showing wounded

soldier’s dog and patients. +

Page 8: French refugees returning home and thanking American troops for

driving Germans from their village. Ardennes, France, 1918.*

Page 11: Serbian trench on hilltop. +

Page 12: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. Puck magazine, January 12, 1898 //

Belgian soldiers resisting German advance on the River Nethe. + // Britain and

Russia get “Tough on Turkey”, Puck magazine, April 22, 1885.

Page 13: Russian soldier wearing gas mask, 1917. + //Russian soldiers on the way

to detention camps in Germany after the battle of Tannenberg. +

Page 14: Ataturk Statue in The Canakkale Martyrs Memorial, commemorating

Turkish soldiers who participated in the Battle of Gallipoli. // Captured

German prisoners being brought in by troops of 16th Infantry, 1st Div.,

Beaumont, France.*// American soldiers holding up trampled statue of Christ

they had cleared from road before resting it against monument base. France.*

Page 15: American soldiers wearing gas masks in front line trench, France.

Shutterstock.com//Celebration of the Armistice, Washington, D.C., Nov.

1918. + //Ypres 1919. Watercolor, artist unk (signed T.B.). Courtesy of V. Dodson.

Page 18: Wounded American soldiers tending and feeding injured German

prisoner on stretcher. France.*

Page 22: Wounded British soldiers in trench. Note gas mask pouches on chest. +

Page 24: American gun crew from the 23rd Infantry, firing a French 37mm

cannon in Belleau Wood. June 3, 1918. +

Page 29: German artillery soldiers taking a meal break during their shelling of

Verdun, 1915. +

Page 31: “Trench of Death” in Flanders, near Diksmuide, Belgium. Called

Le Boyau de la Mort in French and the Dodengang in Dutch.

Page 32: American soldier playing piano—abandoned by Germans—for fellow

16th Infantry, 1st Div. troops. Hansard, France.*

Page 34: Americans and British soldiers celebrating the Armistice. +

This Page: British soldiers enter Lille, France, which had been under German

occupation for four years. +

36

* Courtesy of the Cantigny First Division Foundation and First Division

Museum at Cantigny

+ Everett Historical / Shutterstock.com

t h a n k yo u to o u r donor s & s u p p o rt e r s

Thank you to our 2018–2019

Season Underwriters

THE CITY CHOIR OF

WASHINGTON

SEASON

UNDERWRITERS

Vivian Chakarian

Glenda Finley & Frank Maddox

Cita & John Furlani

Barbara & Jonathan Greene

Charles Hazlehurst Moura

Family Foundation

Margaret Hemingway

Judith James

Joseph E. Jones

Geoffrey D. & Marion Kaiser

Thelma K. Leenhouts &

Joseph W. MacDoniels

Elizabeth McWhirt

Richard E. Morrison &

Joyce Siegel

Carol & Antonio Perez

Carole Lynne Price

Beth & Drew Riggs

David & Sandy Robinson

Robert & Sharon Shafer

Amy & Eric Solomon

Benjamin & Emily Tsai

Donald Vreuls

Anne & Fred Woodworth

Elaine Wunderlich

THE CITY CHOIR OF

WASHINGTON

acknowledges with gratitude the generous

support of its donors.

GRATIAS IN PERPETUAM

The City Choir of Washington is forever

indebted to Elaine and Marv Wunderlich

for their 2007 matching grant of $100,000,

without which this chorus would not have

been formed.

THE ARTISTS’ CIRCLE

The City Choir of Washington invites you to

support our mission by becoming a valued

member of The Artists’ Circle (with a

contribution of or above $1,000). The

support of committed and generous patrons

enables us to pursue the very highest artistic

standards in our performances and to

inspire singers and audiences to discover

the boundless musical and cultural heritage

of great choral music. The City Choir is

deeply grateful for this support.

PLATINUM CLUB

($10,000 and up)

Cita & John Furlani


Geoffrey D. & Marion Kaiser

Carol & Antonio Perez

Carole Lynne Price

In memory of Joseph B. Price, Jr.

Benjamin & Emily Tsai

Elaine Wunderlich

Debra Wynn & Allen Maberry

GOLD CLUB

($5,000 to $9,999)

Charles Hazlehurst Moura Family

Foundation

Thelma K. Leenhouts

Beth & Drew Riggs

David & Sandy Robinson

Robert & Sharon Shafer

Amy & Eric Solomon

Donald Vreuls

Anne & Fred Woodworth

SILVER CLUB

($2,500 to $4,999)

William J. Doepkens

Glenda Finley & Frank Maddox

Margaret Hemingway

Joseph E. Jones

Elizabeth McWhirt

Richard E. Morrison & Joyce Siegel

Constance G. Ridgway

In memory of Richard & Marjory Ridgway

Shelley, Ed, Maggie & Bill Stewart

Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Inc.

BRONZE CLUB

($1,000 to $2,499)

Anonymous

Morris Antonelli

Bob & Terry Barnes

The Busis Family

Cindy Carlton

Carol & William Edison

Patricia & Albert Giraldi

Barbara Esposito Ilacqua

Jeff & Carol Jenkins

David A. Klaus

In honor of Bob Shafer

Joyce A. Korvick

Betty & Gary Lortscher

In honor of Meg Hemingway

Susan Schumacher

In memory of Gus Schumacher

Leo H. Settler & Joel A. Cuffman

Maude A. Williams

In memory of Patrick Wolfram Jacobson

FRIENDS OF

THE CITY CHOIR

All donations to The City Choir are accepted

with gratitude. Individuals or corporations

contributing $20–$999 are recognized as

Friends of The City Choir and listed below.

BENEFACTORS ($500 to $999)

Anonymous

Sue & Kim Ahearn

Richard & Judith Berglund

Peter T. Bonner & Elba M. Pacheco

Stephen L. Briggs

Patricia Byram

Gail & Donald Crane

Douglas J. Fisher

Mary L. Fisher

Bill & Kay Gilcher

John L. Goodrow

In memory of Judith Pyles Goodrow


In memory of William Carter


Whitney Greene

In honor of Barbara Greene

IBM Matching Grants Program

Lani Kanakry

In memory of Sam Kanakry

Lynn & Simon Kaplan

37


Brian G. Laush

Steve & Nancy Lohman


Peter Laugesen & William Stewart

Anita O’Leary

Caroline E. Price

Amy Claire Smith

Claudia Tornblom

In honor of Bob Shafer

Joe & June Widmayer

Robin Woollatt

PATRONS ($250 to $499)

Ari & David Antonelli

In memory of Amy Antonelli

Kenneth Bailes

Rachel A. Binger

Paul Bohne

Kenneth L. Bourque

Bruce Bouton

Joellen Brassfield

Morgan Brophy

Vivian Chakarian

Marie & Mark Colturi

Alison Combes

Anita & Carl W. Deanell

In memory of Carl L. Deanell, Jr. &

Maiga Bindemanisi

Adele dePolo

Michael Doan

Pat & Delores Dunn

Carol & William Edison


In memory of August Schumacher

In memory of Ann Woollatt

Paula & Franco Einaudi

In honor of Anne Harding Woodworth

Karen L. Florini & Neil R. Ericsson

Anita Glick

Jennifer & Will Gotten

Thomas A. & Ruth R. Green

Peggie J. Hatton

Neeta Helms

Tim & Anne Hemingway

Meaghan Heselden

Dennis & Sachiko Humenik

James B. Hutchinson, Jr.

Marie A. Hyder

Elliott & Susan Jacks

Nell Jeter

Wayne & Gale Johnson

Don & Carol Juran

Lynn Koerbel

Jay B. Labov

Ilona & Richard Landfield

Dorothy Dort Levy

In memory of Amy Antonelli

Howard Lincoln

Kathryn & Michael Lupinacci

Loris McVittie & Mario Rinaudo

Muriel Morisey

Patricia Morris-Falconi

Martha Newman

Lori Ann Horne Pendleton

Diane & Frank Peterson

Edward E. Purcell, III

Lydia Rice

Susan & Stephen Schreurs

James Shaffran

Sing for America Foundation

Paul Skevington

William & Judith Stephenson

In honor of Shelley Stewart

Dr. Michael Stepniak

Rod Sterling

Alan & Krista Taffel

Kathryn M. Tidyman

SPONSORS ($100 to $249)

Joanne Balzano-LaRusso

Linda Whelan Barber


Scott Barton

Audrey Bigelow

Anne P. Black

Virginia Martino Bland

Marlene Blevins

Dave Boomsma

Kevin Boteler

Robert & Sharon Bothwell

Albert G. Bradford, Jr.

G. H. Patrick Bursley

Jarrett S. Cohen

Thomas Colohan

James & Ann Connell

Carol & Will Cooke

Trish & John Corbett

Margaret A. Crabtree

Andrea M. Diggs

Anne Edgar

Nancy Eichelberger

Cita & John Furlani


Jeffrey Gedmin

David Gibbs

Mark & Sara Gibson

Ralph Gingery

Lynne Glassman

Alice C. Green

In honor of Green & Godfrey Family

Joan Gregoryk

Michael Hill

Bruce Hunter

Judith James

Carol Jason

In honor of Amy Durant Solomon

Monica Jeffries Hazangeles

In honor of Laura Bradford

Christopher Kanakry

Dr. Theo Kano

In honor of Bob’s 50 years conducting!

Patricia & John Koskinen

Anita K. Kowalski

Dr. & Mrs. Lennart Ljungman


Leslie Luxemburg

Constance Mathers

In memory of James Mathers

Russell Matthias

In honor of Robert Stansbery

Christine Mayo

Sandy R. McKenzie

Mary Megson


Bill Miller

Betsy Morse

William Newman

David M. Petrou

In memory of Bebe & John Petrou

Nancy Plum

David C. Rees

Alexander Riley

Louise Romanchak

Nancy & Michael Shank

Donald M. Simonds

Melissa H. Sitter

In loving memory of her brother Richard Seide

Joan Snowden

J. Timothy Sprehe & Elaine Bloomfield

Sidney Stone

Jeanie W. Teare

Patti Tice

E. Fuller & Barbara Torrey

Scott & Julie Tucker

38

WW1

YEARS

WW1

YEARS


LOGO & IDENTITY GUIDELINES

THE UNITED STATES WORLD WAR I CENTENNIAL COMMISSION

PRIMARY LOGO

Thomas J.C. Williams

In memory of Patrick W. Jacobson

Alfhild & James Winder

E. Dollie Wolverton

Elaine Wunderlich


In memory of August Schumacher

Patricia E. Yee

FRIENDS ($40 to $99)

Anonymous

Cheryl & Ed Adkins

Jamie Ahearn

Erica Antonelli

Cedric & Mary E. Bielawski

Kathleen Binger

Jim Blackburn

Armin Bondoc & Bennett Lindauer

Carol Borut

Laura Bradford

Genie Brown

Richard & Sharron Cain

Charles Clark

Jan Crews

Liana C. Cuffman

Deborah DeGeorge

Nathan Detweiler

Deborah Dewey

Agnes Donahue

Trudy Downs

Shannon Ehrich Warren

Pam Freeman

Evan Gittlein

Jerry Haggin

E. DeVere Henderson

Cynthia Hibbert


George Hobart

Kathleen Jagielski

Anna Jeide

Michael Knipe

Robert E. Lee, Jr.

Kristen Maria Lewandowski

Gisela Marcuse

Rhoda Metcalfe

Clare Miller

Margaret Minton

Jerry Mishler

Nina Morwell

Kay O’Neal

Donna I. Page

In honor of Carol Edison

Willa B. Perlmutter

Karen Peterson

Donna Petruska

Peter & Betsy Reddaway

In honor of Robert Shafer

Carolyn Richmond


Ann Roddy

Debra Silimeo

Mary Ann Simmons

Barry Smith

Verdon & Susan Staines

Robert G. Stansbery

Joseph Summerill

Rachel Tester

David C. Thomas

James R. Tidyman

Bernadette Valdellon

Martha Vayhinger

Joanna Ward

Carleen Dixon Webb

Juliet Weenink-Griffith

Lawrence D. Weiler

Suzanne M. Worth

In honor of Meg Hemingway

Patricia Wynn

CORPORATE AND

IN-KIND SPONSORS

We would like to thank the following

sponsors for their generous in-kind

donations:

Morris Antonelli

Robert Aubry Davis

Frank Conlon

William J. Doepkens & Doepkens Farm

Barbara Greene

Diane Henderson

Hillwood Estate Museum & Garden

Barbara Esposito Ilacqua

Kenneth & Anita Kulman

Carole Lynne Price

Emmilu Olson

David Robinson Law

Susan Schumacher

Sima Seide

Paul Skevington

Amy Solomon

Shelley & Edward Stewart

Kerry Wilkerson

Willard InterContinental Hotel

Debra Wynn & Allen Maberry

The list above reflects gifts received from

July 1, 2017 through October 8, 2018.

Every effort has been made to ensure this

list is complete and accurate.

If your name has been misspelled or

omitted, please accept our apologies and

contact Zain Shariff, Operations Director,

at zain.shariff@citychoir.org

so the error may be corrected.

COLORS

PANTONE 296C

C: 90 M: 76 Y: 55 K: 68

R: 6 G: 27 B: 43

Hex #061b2b

ALTERNATIVE LOGO VERSIONS

VERTICAL STAMP

HORIZONTAL SQUARE

100

WW1 THE UNITED STATES

100

YEARS

PANTONE 7621C

WORLD WAR ONE

CENTENNIAL COMMISSION

C: 21 M: 100 Y: 95 K: 12

R: 178 G: 30 B: 39

Hex #b21e27

FONTS

PERPETUA REGULAR

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) - = +

PERPETUA BOLD

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) - = +

ALTERNATIVE COLOR VERSIONS

BLACK

WHITE

THE UNITED STATES

100

WORLD WAR ONE


THE UNITED STATES

WORLD WAR ONE


World Bank

Community Connections Fund

THE UNITED STATES

100

WORLD WAR ONE


39

Shenandoah

Conservatory offers

a wealth of exciting

opportunities for

vocalists and choral

singers.

- Music Performance

- Music Education

- Music Therapy

- Music Production &

Recording Technology

- Five performing

ensembles and

two major opera

productions each year

- International travel &

performance

Learn more.

su.edu/conservatory

540-665-4581

Winchester, Virginia

Strauss Symphony of America

Waltzes, Polkas & Operetta Hits

European Singers, Ballroom Dancers & Ballet

Sunday, Dec. 30, 2018 at 3:00 pm

301.581.5100 • strathmore.org

salutetovienna.com/washington

Produced by Attila Glatz Concert Productions

Photo by Chris Lee

40

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

2018–2019 Concert Season

www.choralis.org

DON’T MISS THESE

UPCOMING CONCERTS!

A Classic Brass Christmas

Friday, December 7, 2018 at 7 pm

The Church of the Epiphany

Saturday, December 8, 2018 at 7 pm

Providence Presbyterian Church

My Song Is Love Unknown

Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 5 pm

The Falls Church Episcopal

Handel’s Messiah

Part 1 Sing-Along

Sunday, December 2, 2018 at 2 pm

Fairfax Presbyterian Church

featuring:

Erin Sanzero, soprano

Roger Isaacs, countertenor

Rob Petillo, tenor

Mendelssohn’s Elijah

Sunday, June 2, 2019 at 5 pm

National Presbyterian Church

featuring:

Danielle Talamantes, soprano

Kristen Dubenion-Smith, mezzo-soprano

Dennys Moura, tenor

Kerry Wilkerson, baritone, as Elijah

1918-1919:

The Armistice did not

bring an end to military

duties. The long,

hard road up to the

Rhine was led by the

oldest and most experienced

divisions. The

First Division was first

to cross, and remained

until August—the last

of the fighting divisions

to return home.

Courtesy of the Cantigny

First Division Foundation

and First Division

Museum at Cantigny

A TWELFTH NIGHT CONCERT

Sunday, January 6, 2019 | 4:30 PM

National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.

Bring the joy of the season into the new year by celebrating

Twelfth Night with us! We will also continue our longstanding

tradition of showcasing another exceptional, local high school

choir as our Partner in Song. Join us as we explore the rich musical

offerings of the extended season!

THE GLORY OF FRANCE

Sunday, March 10, 2019 | 4:30 PM

St. Luke Catholic Church, McLean, VA

In March, The City Choir of Washington transports you to

France, with a program of works in the great tradition of

French choral music, including works by Jean Langlais and the beloved,

Washington, D.C. composer Russell Woollen.

AN ODE TO SPRING

Sunday, May 19, 2019 | 4:30 PM

National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.

The City Choir of Washington’s twelfth season concludes with a jubilant

ode to spring with shimmering works by Purcell, Mozart, and Bach.In

the words of Maestro Shafer, “We need this music now, more than ever.”

TICKETS: $15-$59. Group discounts available.

Visit www.citychoir.org or call 571-206-6865

for tickets.

P.O. Box 9673, Washington, D.C. 20016

202-495-1613 • info@citychoir.org

citychoir.org

41

42

A Farewell to Arms: A WWI Centennial Concert by the City Choir of Washington

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?