Johann Strauss, Jr. composed “Voices of Spring” (“Frühlingsstimmen”) to showcase the talents of soprano Bianca Bianchi, a star of the Vienna Court Opera. The piece, initially performed at a matinée charity performance in Vienna in March 1883, thrilled the audience, who demanded an encore on the spot. Given the enthusiastic reception, Strauss recast Frühlingsstimmen into a strictly orchestral form. The Strauss Orchestra, conducted by Johann’s brother Eduard, debuted the orchestral version on March 18, 1883, just 17 days after the vocal performance premiere. The waltz has occupied a top place among the most recognizable works of classical music ever since.

“Voices of Spring” is a set of four waltzes with a very brief introduction. Viennese poet Richard Genée, a frequent collaborator with Strauss and librettist for Strauss’s most famous operetta, Die Fledermaus, wrote the text. The poem evokes the singing of birds as nature awakens from its winter slumber and “spring breaks forth in all its splendor.”

ABOUT THE COMPOSER: Johann Strauss, Jr. was the undisputed king of dance music in 19th century Vienna. Following in his father’s footsteps, Strauss composed more than 500 musical pieces, 150 of which were waltzes, earning him the nickname of “The Waltz King.” Modifying the form developed by his father, Strauss elevated the outwardly simple dance style from its relatively humble beginnings to pieces worthy of concert hall performances. Nonetheless, for many years the music of Strauss was not taken seriously because of his preference for writing so-called “light music” rather than symphonies, concertos, and other heavier concert fare. By contrast, his contemporaries—Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Richard Strauss (no relation)—admired his music, counting him among the era’s brightest stars.

Colleen Daly, soprano

The catalog of music created by the partnership between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II is unparalleled in the American theater. Beginning with the 1943 hit Oklahoma!, the collaboration produced a run of blockbusters—Carousel, The King and I, The Sound of Music, and South Pacific. The songwriting duo also wrote scores for other musicals, among them State Fair in 1945, their only Hollywood commission.

Today’s program features “It Might as Well be Spring” from State Fair, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for 1945. The song is sung early in the film by Margy, teenage daughter of her state fair-bound family, who is feeling the symptoms of spring fever. “It Might as Well Be Spring” serves as a pivotal moment within the narrative, capturing the feelings of hope, new beginnings, and potential for happiness associated with the arrival of spring.

EXTRA CREDIT READING: “It Might as Well be Spring” is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein song for which a complete alternate melody, different from the final version, is known to exist. Rodgers initially envisioned the song as a cheery, up-tempo number, but rewrote it as a moody, romantic ballad per the decision of the film studio.

from Appalachian Spring

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free.
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be.

The words and melody to “Simple Gifts” are now familiar, thanks largely to Aaron Copland’s set of variations on the Shaker song in Appalachian Spring. Originally written in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett, “Simple Gifts” was largely unknown outside Shaker communities until Copland used it nearly 100 years later; first in the ballet score, and shortly thereafter, in the orchestral suite.

Copland began work on Appalachian Spring in 1943, after receiving a commission from the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation to create a ballet for Martha Graham to perform at the Library of Congress. The ballet was first performed in October 1944, achieving immediate success and earning several prestigious awards. The Suite for Orchestra premiered the following year with the New York Philharmonic.

Copland delivered his initial score as Ballet for Martha, which subsequently became the work’s subtitle. Graham suggested Appalachian Spring, taking her inspiration from a poem by Hart Crane. (Of note, Appalachian Spring has nothing to do with the mountain region or season of the year, “spring” referring to a water source.)

Appalachian Spring has emerged as Copland’s most loved and enduring work. Though Copland did not pen the words to “Simple Gifts” or write the melody associated with those words, they are indelibly linked to his name.

EXTRA CREDIT READING: Copland used “Simple Gifts” a second time in 1950 in his first set of “Old American Songs” for voice and piano, which was later orchestrated. Copland drew inspiration for “Simple Gifts” and the other four songs in the set largely from America’s folk music traditions.

EXTRA CREDIT READING: For most of the 20th century, Aaron Copland was widely regarded as the Dean of American composers. He did much more than work American folk motifs into classical structures and set to music folk heroes, cowboys, and Pennsylvania farmers in compositions like A Lincoln Portrait, Billy the Kid, Fanfare for the Common Man, Rodeo, and Appalachian Spring. He authored articles and books, lectured, headed the American Composers Alliance, and produced an annual concert series of new work by others. Copland devoted his life to fostering, developing, creating, and establishing distinctive "American" music, exerting enormous influence on multitudes of contemporaries and successors.

Arranged by Chuck Sayre

"April in Paris,” composed by Vernon Duke with lyrics by Yip Harburg, was introduced in the 1932 Broadway revue Walk a Little Faster, one of the few musicals mounted during the Great Depression. Thanks largely to the song’s recording by Count Basie more than 30 years later, “April in Paris” has since become an American standard, though no one would have predicted that during the Broadway show’s short run.

On Broadway’s opening night of Walk a Little Faster, December 7, 1932, Evelyn Hoey sang “April in Paris.” Suffering from laryngitis, Hoey botched her performance and critics dismissed the song. It was kept alive, however, by several dance band recordings that enjoyed enough popularity to make the charts.

It was Count Basie’s 1955 recording of “April in Paris,” arranged by organist “Wild” Bill Davis, that brought the song to the forefront for jazz musicians. The Basie Band’s swinging performance would become a staple on the band’s playlist and later be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

EXTRA CREDIT READING: Composer Vernon Duke and lyricist Yip Harburg were an odd couple, thus making their professional collaboration short-lived. Duke, an aristocrat born Vladimir Alexandrovich Dukelsky, fled his Russian homeland during the Bolshevik Revolution. His first love was classical music, to which he devoted most of his energy. Edgar “Yip” Harburg, meanwhile, was born on Manhattan’s lower east side to Russian immigrant parents employed as sweatshop garment workers. Exposed from an early age to the social inequities experienced by his family and friends, Harburg became a member of the Socialist Party and was known as “Broadway’s social conscience” from building many songs (“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?,” for example) out of his own political convictions. The prodigious Harburg wrote lyrics to more than 600 songs for stage and screen, most notably Finian’s Rainbow and his crowning achievement, The Wizard of Oz.

“Moonshine Lullaby” by Irving Berlin
“Goodnight Moon” by Eric Whitacre

Colleen Daly, soprano

As a nod to this concert’s partnership with St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore Head Start programs for children’s underwear and clothing collection, we’ve included music for children; specifically, a medley of two lullabies: “Moonshine Lullaby” by Irving Berlin, and “Goodnight Moon,” arranged by Eric Whitacre. With Mother’s Day around the corner, the lullabies also pay tribute to mothers and those, through their nurturing and care, have served as mother figures.

“Moonshine Lullaby” is from the 1946 musical Annie Get Your Gun, with lyrics and music by Irving Berlin. The Broadway classic tells a fictionalized version of the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley (1860-1926). In Act I of the musical, Annie sings her siblings to sleep with the “Moonshine Lullaby.”

Composer and conductor Eric Whitacre set the text from Goodnight Moon to music in 2012, after obtaining permission from the publisher. Whitacre drew inspiration for his composition from the many times he had read the well-known children’s book to his son. Whitacre’s first arrangement was for a soprano soloist, harp, and string orchestra. Subsequent arrangements were set for choir and piano and for a wind ensemble and soloist.

About That Picture Book. Goodnight Moon, written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd, was published in 1947. Despite positive reviews, the book was only a modest commercial success during Brown’s lifetime (Brown died suddenly at the age of 42). First, the book focused on familiar, ordinary objects found in the “great green room”—a wild departure from the fairy tale and fable characters, settings, and plots that defined children’s literature at the time. Second, Goodnight Moon did not receive the New York Public Library’s stamp of approval, an almost guaranteed assurance of robust sales. The library not only excluded the title from its recommended children’s book list, but also did not acquire it —in fact, 25 years would pass before the book would find a place on the NYPL’s shelves. Goodnight Moon is now a celebrated children’s bedtime classic, selling tens of millions of copies and translated into at least a dozen languages. In 1995, the NYPL included Goodnight Moon on its list of books of the century.

A medley of songs from the Broadway musical.

Aaron Crouch, tenor
The St. Louis Concert Chorus

Adolphus Hailstork composed “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes” in 1989, dedicating the cantata to the memory of Undine Smith Moore, a leading Black composer of vocal music who had died that year. The large-scale choral anthem, which features a tenor soloist, is written for a mixed chorus and a small orchestra consisting of single winds and brass, timpani, percussion, and strings.

“I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes” is structured in three movements based on well-known texts from the biblical book of Psalms (psalms 121, 13, and 23). The first movement, which shares its name with the cantata’s title, begins with a lengthy orchestral introduction. The tenor then leads the choir in a call-and-response-style rendition of the psalmist’s “I will lift up mine eyes.”

The second movement, “How Long?”, is inspired by the text of Psalm 13, setting a mood that is sorrowful and somber.

The third and final movement, “The Lord Is My Shepherd, Alleluia,” features rhythmic and legato singing. A blend of soprano and tenor voices begins the familiar prayer, setting the tone and creating an atmosphere of peace and contentment. The cantata ends with a brief reprise of the first movement and a majestic “Alleluia.”

About the Composer: Adolphus Hailstork has written music in the European concert-hall tradition as well as works that reflect the Black experience in America. Hailstork’s broad compositional sweep includes symphonies, operas, cantatas, concertos, chamber music, among other genres.

The United States Marine Band (often called “The President’s Own”) performed an arrangement of Hailstork’s “Fanfare on Amazing Grace” during the prelude to the inauguration of Joe Biden in January 2021. The performance marked only the second time that music by a Black composer had been selected as part of the ceremony’s repertoire.

from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46

“Morning Mood” is the opening movement to Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, a collection of four orchestral pieces representing different scenes from Henrik Ibsen’s epic play. The drama tells the story of the young, restless Peer Gynt who leaves behind his village, devoted mother, Ase, and girlfriend Solveig to journey around the world in search of adventure. Grieg’s Suite No. 1, pulled from the original Peer Gynt score, remains a beloved masterpiece in the classical repertoire, captivating audiences with its melodic beauty, dramatic storytelling, and allure of Norwegian folk traditions.

Perhaps the most famous of the four Suite No. 1 movements, “Morning Mood” paints a tranquil musical landscape that evokes the beauty of the sun rising and captures the peacefulness of a new day dawning. It opens Act IV of the play, which finds Peer Gynt stranded in the Moroccan desert. The remaining three movements of Suite #1 (bearing no relation to the chronology of the play) portray “The Death of Ase,” Peer Gynt’s mother; “Anitra’s Dance,” a scene about a seductive dancer; and the iconic “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” where Peer Gynt encounters the troll king.

Henrik Ibsen asked his friend Grieg to compose incidental music for his five-act allegorical drama in 1874. Grieg agreed enthusiastically, but doubt soon set in, as he found the work to be less than congenial. He expressed his frustrations in a letter to a friend, writing that composing the music for Peer Gynt “progresses slowly” and “is a terribly unmanageable subject.” In the end, Grieg wrote 90 minutes of music for the play, which opened in Christiania (modern-day Oslo) on February 24, 1876. Grieg eventually fashioned two short orchestral suites from the score, still ranking among his most popular works.

About the Composer. Composer and pianist Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) almost single-handedly established a national identity for classical music in his homeland. Drawing inspirations from the landscapes and folk traditions of Norway, Grieg represented his native land through music, providing his people with their own identity and becoming the nation’s most famous and celebrated musical son. Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, composed in 1868, is his most popular work, followed closely by Peer Gynt Suite No. 1.

“Spring” from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi

I Allegro
II. Largo
III. Danza pastorale

Sheng-Tsung Wang, violin

Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” (“Le quattro Stagioni”) remains among the most recognizable and celebrated music of the Baroque period (1600-1750) and one of the most beloved compositions in the orchestral repertory. First published in 1725 as part of a collection of 12 violin concertos titled “Il cimento dell' armonia e dell' inventione“ (“The Contest between Harmony and Invention,” opus 8) each of the four seasons concertos is accompanied by a descriptive sonnet likely written by Vivaldi himself.

“The Four Seasons” is an exceptionally vivid example of musical picture painting, complete with thunderstorms, blistering heat, sounds of the hunt, revelry during the autumn harvest celebration, freezing temperatures, and a crackling fire to register the changes of the year. As such, “The Four Seasons” represents one of the first examples of programmatic music—compositions having a story or “program” to accompany it, often with guiding program notes. The technique thus offers concrete illustrations of the world around the music to orient the listener. This was a new concept in Vivaldi’s day, placing him years ahead of his time in adopting the approach for his composition.

“Spring” opens the concerto, with melodies celebrating the sounds of birds singing, soft breezes blowing, and brooks murmuring. Thunderstorms break out, briefly silencing the birds, but they reappear once calm is restored. A goatherd, his faithful dog beside him, sleeps. Nymphs and shepherds dance to the sound of rustic bagpipes. The appended sonnet describes season in this manner:

Spring has come, and joyfully
the birds welcome it with cheerful song,
and the streams, at the breath of zephyrs,
flow swiftly with sweet murmurings.
But now the sky is cloaked in black
and thunder and lightning announce themselves;
when they die away, the little birds
turn afresh to their sweet song.
Then on the pleasant flower-strewn meadow,
to the gentle rustle of the leaves and branches
the goatherd rests, his faithful dog at his side.
To the rustic bagpipe’s gay sound,
nymph and shepherd dance beneath
the fair spring sky in all its glory.

Vivaldi’s masterpiece circulated widely in his time. Along with the rest of his output, however, “The Four Seasons” fell out of the repertoire, before it was rediscovered in the first part of the 20th century. Vivaldi’s work got another boost in 1947 when violinist Louis Kaufman brought “The Four Seasons” to Carnegie Hall and made the first American recording of it with members of the New York Philharmonic. The resurgence in popularity of “The Four Seasons” concurrently sparked a renewed interest in Vivaldi and his music, catapulting the composer from obscurity to his current eminence amongst the titans of the Baroque.

“The Four Seasons” concertos are now part of our cultural fabric, appearing in movie and television soundtracks and commercials, and playing on elevator Muzak loops. Chances are you’ve even listened to parts of “The Four Seasons” while being placed on hold by a call center.

I. Allegro vivaci
II. Andante
III. Vivace e ritmico

Colleen Daly
Karla Rivera
Leah Heater
The St. Louis Concert Chorus

English composer John Rutter, one of the most celebrated choral works’ composers and conductors of the late 20th century, wrote “Gloria” in response to a commission from The Voices of Mel Olson, a choir based in the United States. The 1974 premiere of “Gloria” by the choir in their hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, with Rutter conducting, served as the occasion for the composer’s first visit to the United States.

One of Rutter’s most ambitious concert works, “Gloria” is structured into three movements: allegro vivace, andante, vivace e ritmico; in other words, fast, slow, fast, roughly corresponding to traditional symphonic structure.

Allegro vivace, “Gloria in excelsis Deo” (“Glory to God in the highest”). Borrowing text from Luke’s gospel when the angels announce the birth of Christ to the shepherds, this movement is proclamatory.

Andante, “Domine Deus” (“Lord God”). The text of the second movement, described as a “gentle and restrained prayer,” addresses Jesus as the Lamb of God, asking for mercy and for listening to prayers.

Vivace e ritmico, “Quoniam tu solus sanctus” (“For you alone are holy”) Concluding the “Gloria,” the text ends in a liturgical expression of praise to God.

EXTRA CREDIT READING: Apart from his sacred choral works, John Rutter is known for his orchestral and instrumental works, compositions for television, and especially for his Christmas carols. Rutter began writing carols as a student at Clare College of Cambridge University, composing his now famous “Shepherd’s Pipe Carol” when he was just 18 years old. In a 2008 interview with National Public Radio, Rutter stated that he loves almost every Christmas carol—whether it's his own or one of the classics—because they all have an extraordinary ability to awaken happy memories.