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iratluiKlraBvGLORIA DEXKO■•iwAmusements EditorMan’s search for understanding, for a glimpse into a transcending power, for the Peace of God as approachedand depicted through music, is the dominant theme for the Amarillo Symphony concerton Saturday.The program spans the metaphysical as felt by Richard Strauss in his delineation of “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” and explores man’s quest for meaning through Christianity,DESCANTespecially the Nativity as told in Daniel Pinkham's Christmas Cantata and in the “Christmas” portions of Handel's Messiah: Part I, theProphesies and Narration ofthe Nativity,Concert time is 8 p.m. inthe Civic Center Auditorium.Soloist will be mezzo-soprano Carol Mayo, winner ofthe Amarillo Symphony’s 1970National Artists Auditions, For her appearance Saturday, Miss Mayo will receive the SI.000 Ray c. Johnson VocalA wa rd.Choral portions of the pro fram will be offered by a 170 voice group from WestTexas State U n i v e r s i t y, Amarillo College and the community. The choirs were prepared by Dr. Hugh Sanders and Dale Roller, of theWTSU and AC music facul ties, respectively.Dr. Thomas Hohstadt will conduct the combined chorus and orchestra.Miss Mayo, 25, won the Amarillo competition a year ago, in a unanimous decision by the judges and to thehearty approval of listeners.At time of the competition, she had only recently returned from a month-long stay in New York, where she had taken part in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions. She was one of nine finalists chosen in competition against 21 young singers from over the United States, Canada andAustralia.After a month of work with Metropolitan Opera diction and vocal coaches, she sang for a capacity crowd at Lincoln Center, where she was declared winner of the $2,000 Bromwell Ault Award.She has studied abroad fortwo summers at the Amerian Vocal Institute at Frei burg, Germany.Presently an Instructor in voice at East Texas State University at Commerce, Miss Mayo also is working toward a doctorate at North Texas State University atvity Selections on symphonyDenton, where she did her previous music study.She has performed for three seasons with the Fort Worth Opera Association, and recently completed engagements with the Corpus Chris-ti, Austin and Shreveport, La. symphonies.For the concert Saturday, Miss Mayo will be heard inthe airs, “But who may abide the day of His coming?”, “O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion,” and “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd” — the latter two preceded by the recitatives: “Behold, avirgin shall conceive” and “Then shall the eyes of the blind.”The choruses programmedare: “And the Glory of the Lord,” “And He shall purify the sons of Levi,” “For unto us a Child is born,” “Glory to God in the highest,” and conclude with the Halleluiah Chorus, which occurs at close of Part II in the complete work.Dr. James Carroll, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, will narrate the omit-v.y.*V.V.NV»«A—- -—-Miss Mayo .. . symphony soloistted portions of the Nativity section (Part I), from which all except the Halleluiah Chorus have been taken.In determining the type and size of orchestral accompaniment to employ for the concert Saturday. Dr. Hohstadt turned to the information available regarding the Messiah’s original performance, he said, and against this, he weighed the size of the Civic Center Auditorium and numbers in the chorus.When originally performed, in Dublin, the combined choirs from two cathedrals were made available to Handel. The result was a reported six boys and 14 men.The work was scored for strings, with two trumpets and two kettle drums. The organ passages were not scored, but came later, at Handel’s direction.For the performance, Handel directed from the harpsichord, Historians tell us that four bassoons and four oboes were added, and the performance given in a 600-seat hall.Handel is said to have intended his work to be massive, rather than of chamber dimensions. (Indeed, he was known as a “noisy” composer.) But he did not live to hear the Messiah performed by the massed choirs and so-loists and orchestras which eventually were assembled for its performances.On the 25th anniversary of his death, a commemorative concert was given in Westminster Abbey, with an orchestra of 250, including a dozen each of horns and trumpets, six trombones and three sets of tympani. The chorus — all male — included 60 sopranos, 50 altos, 80 tenors and 90 basses. As was common practice at that time (and has come down to us in many churches today), the work was conducted from the organ console. (The conductor had not yet come into the prominence he was later to achieve.)For the performance Saturday, Hohstadt will employ organ continuo; the full string section for the tutti passages, and three players each for the solo passages; also, two trumpets, four oboes, four bassoons and tympani. He feels that, given a similar situation, with large hall and many-voiced chorus, Handel would have used more oboes and bassoons, in ’order to achieve a stronger balance. . .“but this is all we have available,” he said.The Pinkham Christmas Cantata employs brass choir and chorus.The Strass recently rose toIthe top of the “hit” paradeamong recordings, following release of the film, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” in which theintroductory passages were incorporated into the score.Historians tells us that, although Strauss disavowed any intention of writing “philosophical music”, he nonetheless set out to convey musically . . . “an idea of the development of the human race from its origin, through the various phases of development, religious as well as scientific, up to Nietzsche’s idea of the Superman,” . . .as set down by the German philosopher, Nietzsche, in his work, “Also Sprach Zarathustra.”Strauss’ tone poem is written with introduction and eight sections, performed without interruption. It is the Introduction that comes to mind when one thinks of the film, “Space Odyssey.” Here, the C-G-C “World Riddle” theme is introduced to then recurr through the work and culminate in the final section, when the key to the riddle is provided.Concert tickets, priced at $4, $5 and $6 are available at the Amarillo Symphony off ice. Room 108 of the Amarillo Building, 3rd and Polk. They may be purchased between 9 a.m. and noon, Monday through Friday.i
Newspaper Details
Amarillo Sunday News Globe
Amarillo, Texas, US
Sun, Nov 28, 1971
Page 129
Full Page
Clipped by
West T.
TX, USA 03 Mar 2023
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