Chanticleer Program Notes

A river gurgles. Wind rushes. Branches creak. Snowflakes faintly fall. Every piece of the world has a sound. But if you listen really closely, you might also find that each of these pieces has a voice. In Music of a Silent World, Chanticleer sings the songs of the natural world and gives a voice to the otherwise voiceless rocks and stones and trees and rivers that share this planet with us. While inhabiting those voices, we also explore what the world might be like without them.

The program centers around a new arrangement of Majel Connery’s song cycle, The Rivers are our Brothers, which was written in, around, and about the Sierra Nevada mountains. Each movement inhabits a different part of the Sierra’s natural beauty: from its high peaks to its forests, rocks, rivers, and snowbanks. "The goal,” she says, “is to give nature a voice. I wanted to allow these vibrant things to speak on their own behalf.” By giving agency to these inanimate parts of our world, we are compelled to empathize with otherwise silent beings, uncovering their unique characters, personalities, and motivations. Majel describes herself as a “vocalist, composer and roving musicologist making electro-art-dream-pop with repressed classical influences.” She tours frequently with her art-rock band Sky Creature and is the host and producer of A Music of Their Own – a podcast exploring female experiences in the music industry (CapRadio/NPR). 

Woven around her song cycle and in dialogue with those vibrant parts of the natural world are works from across the choral spectrum, including selections from Max Reger’s Zehn Gesänge für Männerchor (Opus 83). Written in 1904 for the Vienna Men’s Choral Society, much of this collection features early German Romantic poetry about nature, which Reger sets with his typically dense, late Romantic harmony, where chromatic voice leading is the standard instead of the exception (“Abschied” and “Hochsommernacht”). Paired with these harmonically complex movements is a simple, lively drinking song, “Eine gantz neue Schelmweys,” in four-part harmony that hearkens back to the early days of German Männerchor singing. Admittedly, it also has its fair share of 20th-century harmonic twists and turns, but its sentiment is one of nostalgia.
 

The concert begins by placing us and our natural world in a larger context. Kurt Weill’s “Lost in the Stars” comes from his musical adaptation of Alan Paton’s novel, Cry, the Beloved Country. Set in the years immediately before apartheid in South Africa, Paton’s Black protagonist, Stephen Kumalo, sings “Lost in the Stars” when confronting a crisis of faith in the face of an unjust society. His feelings of helplessness resonate today, as we continue to grapple with our respect for each other and for the natural world. Gene Puerling arranged “Lost in the Stars” for Chanticleer in 1995. 

“Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen,” by the Netherlandish Renaissance composer Heinrich Isaac, is a lament on leaving the city of Innsbruck, Austria. Nestled among the Alps and overlooking the powerful Inn river, Innsbruck was for Isaac a symbol of stability and a beautiful home. In this program, Innsbruck represents an idyllic former world untouched by concerns of a changing climate. Due to his talent and popularity, Isaac was one of the first musicians in history to be called a “composer” by his contemporaries. His music remained popular into the 20th century, with many German Romantics considering him a kind of national and musical ancestor of J.S. Bach. Isaac wrote prolifically in many languages, genres, and styles, but his largest undertaking by far was the Choralis Constantinus, a collection of over 375 settings of Mass propers in three volumes. “Cibavit eos,” an introit for the Feast of Corpus Christi, comes from this collection.

Stephen Sondheim wrote “I remember” for the 1966 made-for-TV musical, Evening Primrose, which tells the story of a small community hiding from the outside world and living in a department store. “I remember” is sung by a young woman, Ella, who has not seen the sky for 13 years. Ella’s aching text, “I remember sky, it was blue as ink, or at least I think…” takes on new meaning for those of us around the country who are all-too-familiar with smoke and haze and orange skies, or who find themselves spending most of their time indoors because of extreme heat.

The second set begins our exploration of Connery’s song cycle and features a new work by our composer-in-residence, Ayanna Woods. “I miss you like I miss the trees” takes its text from Franny Choi’s 2019 poem, “How to Let Go of the World.” It is an intense exploration of climate grief, and wrestles with feelings of helplessness in the face of powers beyond our control. Ayanna Woods is a GRAMMY-nominated performer, composer and bandleader from Chicago. Her music explores the spaces between acoustic and electronic, traditional and esoteric, wildly improvisational and mathematically rigorous. “I miss you like I miss the trees” is her third composition for Chanticleer.

The remainder of the program contains some favorite arrangements from our library, including Vince Peterson’s version of “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell, which we recorded on our most recent album, On a Clear Day. New for this season are arrangements by current members of the group: “The Weather,” by Lawrence, arranged by tenor Vineel Garisa Mahal, and the Hoagy Carmichael tune, “Stardust,” arranged by bass-baritone, Jared Graveley. Stardust’s nostalgic, in particular, explores feelings and sentiments that might exist if we were to lose our connection with the natural world.

Program notes by Tim Keeler

Texts and Translations

Lost in the Stars – Kurt Weill, arr. Gene Puerling

My Lord, what a mornin’ when the stars began to fall...

Before the Lord God made the sea and the land

He held all the stars in the palm of His hand,

And they ran through His fingers like grains of sand,

And one little star fell alone.

Then the Lord God hunted through the wide night air

For the little dark star on the wind down there

And He stated and promised He’d take special care

So it wouldn’t get lost no more.

Now a man don’t mind if the stars get dim

And the clouds blow over and darken him

So long as the Lord God’s watchin’ over him

Keepin’ track how it all goes on.

I’ve been walkin’ through the night and the day

‘Til my eyes get weary and my head turns gray

And sometimes it seems maybe God’s gone away

Forgetting the promise that we heard Him say

And we’re lost out here in the stars,

Little stars, big stars, blowin’ thru the night.

Text by Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959)

Cibavit eos – Heinrich Isaac

Cibavit eos ex adipe frumenti, alleluia.

He fed them from the abundance of the wheat, alleluia.

Et de petra melle saturavit eos, alleluia.

And sated them with honey from the rock, alleluia.

Exultate Deo adjutori nostro,

Rejoice in God our helper,

Jubilate Deo Jacob.

sing for joy to the God of Jacob.

Psalm 81:1,16

Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen – Isaac

Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen,

Innsbruck, I must leave you

 ich fahr dahin mein Straßen

For I am traveling the road

 im fremde Land dahin.

 to a foreign land.

Mein Freud ist mir genommen,

There, deprived of my joy

die ich nit weiß bekommen,

and not knowing how to get it back,

 wo ich im Elend bin.

I will be in misery.

Groß Leid muss ich jetzt tragen,

I am burdened with great sorrow

das ich allein tu klagen

which I can shed only

 dem liebsten Buhlen mein       

through the one dearest to me.

Ach Lieb, nun lass mich Armen       

O my love, leave me not bereft

im Herzen dein Erbarmen       

of compassion in your heart

daß ich muss von dannen sein.       

that I must part from you.

Mein Trost ob allen Weiben,       

My comfort above all other women,

Dein tu ich ewig bleiben       

I remain yours forever,

stets treu, der Ehren fromm.       

always faithful, in true honor.

nun muss dich Gott bewahren,       

And now, may God protect you,

in aller Tugend sparen,       

safe in virtue,

bis daß ich wieder komm!       

until I return.



I Remember – Stephen Sondheim, arr. Joseph Jennings

I remember sky,

It was blue as ink.

Or at least I think

I remember sky.

I remember snow,

Soft as feathers,

Sharp as thumbtacks,

Coming down like lint,

And it made you squint

When the wind would blow.

And ice, like vinyl,

On the streets,

Cold as silver,

White as sheets,

Rain, like strings,

And changing things,

Like leaves.

I remember leaves,

Green as spearmint,

Crisp as paper,

I remember trees,

Bare as coat racks,

Spread like broken umbrellas…

And parks and bridges,

Ponds and zoos,

Ruddy faces,

Muddy shoes,

Light and noise and

Bees and boys

And days.

I remember days,

Or at least I try,

But as years go by,

They’re sort of haze.

And the bluest ink

Isn't really sky,

And at times I think

I would gladly die

For a day of sky.

Text by Stephen Sondheim



I Am a Tree from The Rivers are our Brothers – Majel Connery, arr. Majel Connery and Doug Balliett

I eat the sun, I drink the light.

I am a conjurer. My sugar is self-sacrifice.

I cut my arm to feed my leg.

I am waiting for nothing, needing for nothing.

I am an army, I am the mother of them all,

I can regenerate.

I clone a nation from my foot.

I am a country of one.

I am a family; I am a household.

I have skin and I can bruise and I can bleed, and I can cry.

I make my friends. We are connected.

We are inseparable. We grow intertwined.

We share the sky, we are agreed.

I can give, and I can care for.

I’ve got other mouths to feed.

They need me.

I am a tree. I know secrets that you will never know.

I channel lighting. I see in color.

I make the air you need to grow.

I’m not a man, I’m not a woman. Surprisingly I’m both.

And when I know that I must die

I put the best of me back into the ground.

I stretch for miles and miles and miles.

And let’s not forget my leaves:

Clouds of green.

Text by Majel Connery



I miss you like I miss the trees – Ayanna Woods (b. 1992)

I don’t know how to do it: hold their faces in my hands and tell them what’s waiting.

Holding my love’s face in my hands, I tell him I miss him. I say, I miss you like I miss the trees.

By this I mean, Look! The trees are here! Everyone’s outside, darling: green in my hands…everyone’s waiting for us.

This text is excerpted from Franny Choi's poem, “How to Let Go of the World”



Abschied (Farewell) – Max Reger

Abendlich schon rauscht der Wald

At evening, the forest already murmurs

Aus den tiefen Gründen,

from the deepest valleys,

Droben wird der Herr nun bald

From on high, God will soon

An die Sterne zünden.

Rekindle the stars.

Wie so stille in den Schlünden,

How softly in the valleys

Abendlich nur rauscht der Wald.

Evening murmurs through the forest.

Alles geht zu seiner Ruh.

All goes to its rest,

Wald und Welt versausen,

Forest and world cease to stir,

Schaudernd hört der Wandrer zu,

Awestruck, the wanderer listens

Sehnt sich recht nach Hause.

Yearning to return home.

Hier in Waldes grüner Klause,

Here, in this wooded valley,

Herz, geh endlich auch zur Ruh.

Heart, go finally also to rest.

Text by Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857)       



Willow Weep for Me – Ann Ronell, arr. Jennings

Willow, weep for me, willow, weep for me.

Bend your branches green along the stream that runs to sea.

Listen to my plea, listen willow and weep for me.

Gone! My lover’s dream, lovely summer dream,

Gone and left me here to weeping tears into the stream

Sad as I can be, hear me willow and weep for me.

Whisper to the wind and say that love has sinned,

To leave my heart a-breaking and making a moan,

Murmur to the night to hide her starry light.

So none will find me sighing and crying all alone.

Weeping willow tree, weep in sympathy.

Bend your branches down along the ground.

Cover me when the shadows fall,

Bend, oh willow, and weep for me.

Text by Ann Ronell



I Am the Air from The Rivers are our Brothers – Connery, arr. Connery and Balliett

I am the air, I am everywhere

I am inside you, behind you, before you

I’m indivisible. Just try to find me.

I am uncountable.

I bring rain upon my shoulder,

I bring fire in my hand.

I tell the trees just how to blow,

I tell the storm to land.

The winds are my children,

they do the changing work.

They scatter seeds and bend the trees,

and make the leaves to fall.

North, South, East, West,

They bear the bees along.

They guide the birds,

And steal the words of those who go before them.

I am the air, I am everywhere.

I am the king of the weather.

I am tornado, I’m hurricane,

I am the gale, I am the thunder.

I always speak my mind.

Text by Majel Connery



Hochsommernacht (Midsummer Night) – Reger

Stille ruht die weite Welt,

The vast world rests in silence,

Schlummer füllt des Mondes Horn,

slumber fills the Moon’s Horn,

Das der Herr in Händen hält.

that the Lord holds in His hands.

Nur am Berge rauscht der Born–

Only the fountain murmurs on the mountain:

Zu der Ernte Hut bestellt,

called to guard the harvest,

Wallen Engel durch das Korn.

angels wafting over the wheat.

Text by Friedrich Hermann Frey (1839-1911), under the pseudonym Martin Greif     



Eine gantz neue Schelmweys (A Completely New Rogues’ Tune) – Reger

Wir Schelmbe sind ein feinen Hauff,

We rogues are a fine crowd,

da kann kein Herrgott wider auf.

No Lord God can control us;

Die Welt ist voll von Unsern Preiß,

The world is full of our praise,

seit Adam stahl im Paradeys.

Since Adam stole in paradise.

Uns bleibt kein geldt in unsern Sack,

There’s no money left in our sack,

Wir sind ein fürnemb Lumpenpack.

We are a noble pack of rogues,

Wir han das Allergrößt Gefolg,

We have the biggest following

kein fuerst vnd Hertzog hat ein solch.

No prince and duke has such a one.

Zu nie keyn Diensten taugen Wir

We are no use for any service

als für dem Edlen Malwesier.

Except for the noble Malwesier.

Dem tun wir fröhnden und nit faul:

For it we are never lazy in serving:

ein jede Flaschen findt jr maul.

Every bottle finds its mouth.

Wir han nit weib, wir han nit Kindt,

We have no wife, we have no child,

Wir sind die rechten Sausewind.

We are the real whirlwinds.

Und läßt uns eine Dirn nit ein,

And if a girl does not let us in,

die ander wird so süßer sein!

The others will be all the sweeter!

Wir schieren umb kein Pfaff uns nit,

We don’t bother with any priest,

Wir han unß Eignen Segen mit.

We have our own blessings with us.

Und pfeifen wir am letzten loch:

And when we’re on our last legs:

der Teuffel nimpt in Gnad uns doch!

The Devil will still take us in his grace!

Text by Richard Dehmel (1863-1920). Translation by Dr. Anthony Fox



Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell, arr. Vince Peterson

Rows and flows of angel hair

And ice cream castles in the air

And feather canyons everywhere.

I’ve looked at clouds that way.

But now they only block the sun.

They rain and they snow on everyone.

So many things I would have done

but clouds got in my way.

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now,

from up and down and still somehow

it’s cloud illusions I recall.

I really don’t know clouds at all.

Moons and Junes and ferris wheels,

the dizzy dancing way that you feel,

as ev’ry fairy tale comes real,

I’ve looked at love that way.

But now it's just another show.

And you leave ‘em laughing when you go.

And if you care, don’t let them know.

Don’t give yourself away.

I’ve looked at love from both sides now,

From give and take and still somehow,

It’s love’s illusions that I recall.

I really don’t know love at all.

Tears and fears and feelin’ proud,

to say “I love you” right out loud,

dreams and schemes and circus crowds,

I’ve looked at life that way.

But now old friends are acting strange.

They shake their heads, they say I’ve changed

somethin’s lost, and somethin’s gained

in living every day.

I’ve looked at life from both sides now,

from win and lose and still somehow

it’s life’s illusions I recall.

I really don’t know life,

I really don’t know life at all.

Text by Joni Mitchell



Ave Maria – Franz Biebl

Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae

The angel of the Lord made his annunciation to Mary

et concepit de Spiritu sancto.

and she conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum;

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you;   

benedicta tu in mulieribus,

blessed are you among women,

et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus.

and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Maria dixit: Ecce ancilla Domini;

Mary said, “Behold the servant of the Lord;

fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.

let it be unto me according to Your word.”

Et verbum caro factum est

And the Word was made flesh

et habitavit in nobis.

and dwelt among us.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

ora pro nobis peccatoribus.

pray for us sinners.

Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis

Holy Mary, pray for us

nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

now and at the hour or our death. Amen.



I Am a Cloud from The Rivers are our Brothers – Connery, arr. Connery and Balliett

I am a cloud. I am upside down.

I am together, I am apart.

Upon the blue sky, now.

I spin around the world.

I change a thousand miles a minute

I am just born, and I’m disappearing.

I’m like the waves in the sky.

I’m a reflecting pool.

I mirror every ripple far below me.

I am an answer, I am surprising,

and I only take dictation from the wind.

I am a cloud, you do the work:

Just tell me what to be.

I am a thousand shapes upon the palette of the sky

I am a bird, I am a ship, I am a tree.

I am the music! I’m getting louder now.

I’m the original art form etched upon a blank slate.

I am the earth-shattering image of a face up in the sky,

I am the untold story of the beginning of time.

I’m the original conversation, and an ongoing negotiation.

 I am purposeful obscurity, I’m spectacular multiplication.

I’m the universal symphony, and the centuries in reverse,

I’m the singular revelation of articulate matter,

I am the untrained genius of the childlike mind,

I am the waves in the sea!

I am disappearing.

Text by Majel Connery



Wildflowers – Tom Petty (b. 1950), arr. Tim Keeler

You belong among the wildflowers,

You belong in a boat out at sea

Sail away, kill off the hours

You belong somewhere you feel free.

Run away, find you a lover

Go away somewhere all bright and new

I have seen no other

Who compares with you.

You belong among the wildflowers,

You belong in a boat out at sea.

You belong with your love on your arm,

You belong somewhere you feel free.

Run away, go find a lover

Run away, let your heart be your guide

You deserve deepest of cover

You belong in that home by and by.

You belong among the wildflowers

You belong somewhere close to me

Far away from your trouble and worry

You belong somewhere you feel free

You belong somewhere you feel free.

Text by Tom Petty

About Chanticleer

The GRAMMY Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer is known around the world as “an orchestra of voices” for its wide-ranging repertoire and dazzling virtuosity. Founded in San Francisco in 1978 by singer and musicologist Louis Botto, Chanticleer quickly took its place as one of the most prolific recording and touring ensembles in the world, selling more than one million recordings and performing thousands of live concerts to audiences around the globe.

Rooted in the Renaissance, Chanticleer’s repertoire has been expanded to include a wide range of classical, gospel, jazz and popular music and to reflect a deep commitment to the commissioning of new compositions and arrangements. The ensemble has dedicated much of its vast recording catalogue to these commissions, garnering GRAMMY Awards for its recordings of Sir John Tavener’s Lamentations and Praises and the ambitious collection of commissioned works entitled Colors of Love. Chanticleer is the recipient of Chorus America’s Dale Warland Commissioning Award and the Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. During his tenure with Chanticleer, its Music Director Emeritus Joseph H. Jennings received the Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award for his contribution to the African American choral tradition.

Named for the “clear-singing” rooster in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Chanticleer continues to maintain ambitious programming in its hometown of San Francisco, including a large education and outreach program, and an annual concert series that includes its legendary holiday tradition “A Chanticleer Christmas.”

Chanticleer is a non-profit organization, governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees, administered by a professional staff with a full-time professional ensemble. In addition to the many individual contributors to Chanticleer, the Board of Trustees thanks the following Foundations, Corporations and Government Agencies for their exceptional support:

• Alphadyne Foundation
• The Goatie Foundation
• The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• McNabb Foundation
• The Bernard Osher Foundation
• The Bob Ross Foundation
• San Francisco Grants for the Arts

Chanticleer Staff

Philip Wilder, President & General Director

Zachary Burgess, Director of Development

Brian Hinman, Director of Operations and Touring

Brian Bauman, Director of Finance

Lisa Seischab, Development Advisor

Matthew Knickman, Road Manager

Cortez Mitchell, Merchandise Manager

Tim Keeler, Music Director

Gerrod Pagenkopf, Assistant Music Director & Education Coordinator

Ayanna Woods, Composer-in-Residence

Artist Management: Opus 3 Artists, Ltd.

Founder: Louis Botto (1951 – 1997)

Music Director Emeritus: Joseph H. Jennings

www.chanticleer.org