507.995.2636 darlaward95@gmail.com

Bring this coupon in to

Bakers Square, Mankato on April 18th

and 20% of your bill will be donated to the Minnesota Valley Chorale.

The Minnesota Valley ChoraleThe Minnesota Valley Chorale was founded in 1978 with a mission to perform the great

sacred and secular works of the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods and to

present the inest choral literature to audiences in southern Minnesota. It has evolved into an outstanding adult choral ensemble which presents performances in the fall and spring. Members of the Chorale come from many different backgrounds and occupations, with the

goal to provide the audience with a rich and varied musical experience that is unique to this area.

O Day Full of Grace F. Melius Christiansen

Lamb of God F. Melius Christiansen

With a Voice of Singing Kenneth Jennings

The Lord is the Everlasting God (Movement II) Kenneth Jennings

E’en So Lord Jesus Paul Manz

The Old Church Stephen Paulus

I Have Called You By Name Stephen Paulus

Pilgrim’s Hymn Stephen Paulus

Intermission

Festival Te Deum René Clausen

PresentsMinnesota Moments

SopranoRose Adams

Kylie Ahlschwede*

Linda Becker

Diane Harms*

Laura Harstad

Lisa Hill*

Angie Kukacka

Olivia LeeHelen Neir

Megan Poehler

Lydia Walter

Bae Sunla

AltoCathy Ahern*

Denise Amundson

Leslie Brinkman

Danielle Geistfeld

Kimberly Giebel

Susan Harstad

Julie Hebenstreit

Theresa M. JohnsonKim Peterson

Rachel Pierson

Lola Ryckman

Jenny Swanson

Jennifer Thorson

Sara Traylor

Alison Wierschke

Katie Wojtalewicz

TenorCarl Bloedel

Thomas Burkel

Larry Dunker

Mick Mathews*

Robert E. Meyer IIGary Paulson*

Keith Purscell

Greg Suskovic

BassNathan Amundson

John Baumann*

Nate Becker

John Bipes

James Booker

Kim Henrickson

Bob Stover

*Board Members

Minnesota Valley Chorale Members

Rehearsal Accompanist: Chuck Hoogland

Board Member: Hugh Henry

Our DirectorEric HarstadThe Minnesota Valley Chorale is directed by Eric

Harstad, who is in his fourth year as the group’s

conductor. Eric is a graduate of Bethany Lutheran College and St. Olaf College. He earned a Master of Music at Minnesota State University – Mankato, and is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree

in choral conducting at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Eric is the choir director for grades 7-12 in the Madelia Public Schools.

ViolinWarren T Friesen

Alyssa InnigerViolaSteve DavisCello Sharon Mautner-RodgersBass Drew Sagsveen

OboeMartha Lindberg

Clarinet Hunter Ellis

BassonJohn Lindberg

Trumpet Cindy Gawnych

Jessica Landsteiner

French HornAndrew Westberg

TromboneSarah Houle

Viktoria DavisTubaJosh Forbord

Festival Te Deum Musicians

It might be the bad winter weather that drives people indoors for months at a time. It might be the Scandinavians who settled in Minnesota belonging to a Christian

denomination known as “the singing

church.” It could be that these and other conditions made it inevitable that the State of Minnesota would become known

internationally for its excellent choirs.When the St. Olaf Lutheran choir began touring the area in the early 1900’s, they

favored a cappella singing. In Minnesota, the only way to ensure a quality performance

when on the road was to sing without

accompaniment and hope that a single

steady note from a pitch pipe would be all

that is needed.Each year it seems that Minnesota is

strongly represented at the Grammy Awards

as they honor the inest recorded music of all types, including choral music. While epic choral/orchestral works tend to win the

biggest honors, it seems that the most loved choral works in Minnesota tend to be on a

bit smaller scale that grew out of who we

were and are, and not necessarily what we

might pressure ourselves into being.Our concert this evening consists entirely of music composed or arranged by people

that called Minnesota home for a signiicant portion of their life. It seems especially itting to perform music by Kenneth Jennings and

Stephen Paulus who have recently passed away. We celebrate our deep musical roots, and we are pleased to present one of the irst performances of Festival Te Deum (2015) by René Clausen

Program Notes

F. Melius Christiansen (1871-1955) is credited for raising the standards for choral

music in the church and collegiate settings

through his work at St. Olaf College in Northield, Minnesota. Today his hymn arrangements are his best known pieces and

are still frequently performed. Examples include “Wake Awake,” “Praise to the Lord,” and “Beautiful Savior.”Our concert begins with the F. Melius Christiansen arrangement of the Danish

hymn “O Day Full of Grace (1943). The piece begins very gently just as the irst light of day slowly emerges. The powerful conclusion with the text, “And there we shall walk in endless light” is especially memorable as the choir expands to eight parts.Christiansen’s arrangement of “Lamb of

God” (1933) mimics the style of Renaissance polyphony. Prior to publication, the St. Olaf chapel choir director made copies and sang

it at a church service with the famed arranger in attendance and did not expect the reaction that F. Melius had to the performance. He recalled, “I found the master stooped over at the organ unable to speak; his face was

wet with tears-- the only time I saw him weep and shed tears visibly.” He went on, “He inally regained his composure and muttered softly under his breath: ‘Thank

you! Did I write that?”

Kenneth Jennings (1925-2015) served as the third director of the St. Olaf Choir from 1968-1990. “With a Voice of Singing”

(1964) is a setting of Isaiah 48:20b and Psalm 66:1-2. This piece is readily found in school and church choral libraries around

the State and was for a time regularly

performed by the St. Olaf Choir. The piece relects a type of composition popular in the 1960s that features bold rhythms in a

seemingly conscious effort to stylistically

break with the music of the past.“The Lord is the Everlasting God” (1998) is a setting by Jennings of select verses of Isaiah 40. It was commissioned by Luther College in honor of Weston Noble’s ifty years of service as choir director from 1948-1998. It consists of two movements with the irst portion featuring some chant elements involving sections singing the same words at different times that are intended to sound

like distant echoes. The second movement that is being performed by the Chorale

focuses on the idea of God giving power to the faint and renewing strength - in reference to Weston Noble’s many years of service.”

Paul Manz (1919-2009) is primarily known as an organist and his hymn festivals in which the focus was on hymn singing

rather than solely on concertizing at the

organ. Manz served at Concordia St. Paul from 1957-1976 and at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Minneapolis from 1946-1983. His piece “E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly

Come” (1954) was his irst published choral piece and has sold over one million copies. It was written when the composer’s three-year-old son was in the hospital in critical

condition. Paul’s wife Ruth adapted the text from Revelation 22. The piece features a considerable amount of parallel motion, and

is inluenced by the melodic style of chant.In 2004, it was performed as part of the international broadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College

Cambridge, and has the unique distinction

of pieces in this concert in that it has its

own Wikipedia page. “E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come” has been performed regularly by the Chorale at the close of

many concerts.

Stephen Paulus (1949-2014) was at the height of his career as a composer when he

suddenly suffered a stroke and passed away

at the age of 65. In February of this year, he posthumously won a Grammy Award for

best contemporary classical composition. “The Old Church” (2001) comes from a commission by the Festival Choir of Madison, Wisconsin for a six movement set entitled Prairie Songs. It is the inal movement that addresses the appearance and importance of churches that rise out of

the prairie throughout the Midwest. Paulus sets the poem in such a way that resembles

the sound of a hymn that might be heard

in a typical prairie church with a humble

and worn appearance from generations of

use. Implicit in the poem is the beauty of the rural church as a place in which you

might still ind it common for a person to be baptized, commune, get married, and

have their funeral under the same roof. The

piece shifts to a dynamic climax depicting the singing that occurs inside these common

and largely unassuming structures. “I Have Called You by Name” (2010) by Stephen Paulus is a setting of Isaiah 43:1-4a written for the Chancel Choir of Gloria Dei

Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. The scope and duration of the piece make it

stand out as a signiicant work that Classics

Today reviewer David Vernier describes as a “little masterpiece.”“Pilgrim’s Hymn” is Stephen Paulus’ best-selling choir piece and was performed at

the funerals of presidents Ford and Reagan. It originated as the conclusion of a one-act opera called The Three Hermits that

premiered in St. Paul in 1997. Paulus acted on a suggestion to have this choral portion of the opera published separately. The eventual demand for over 160,000 copies of “Pilgrim’s Hymn” allowed him to begin self publishing his own works in what must be a

inancial dream for any composer. The music of “Pilgrim’s Hymn” was used earlier in the opera and poet Michael Dennis Browne was

given the task of creating new words when they decided to re-use the music at the end.

René Clausen (b. 1953) “Festival Te Deum” (2015) as described by Clausen: “As is implied by the title, Festival Te Deum is intended to be a work of celebration. Over the centuries, this early Christian hymn of

praise has been set by many composers in a

variety of compositional styles and textures, relecting the compositional era in which

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they were composed. The text itself generally follows the outline of the Apostles’ Creed,

beginning with the adoration and veneration of God the Almighty, but then moves through a series of remembrances of the life

of Christ—including his birth, suffering and

death and subsequent resurrection in glory,

offering several changes of textual mood.In my approach to setting this traditional text, my attempt was to compose a work that could be used by amateur choirs and

orchestras in festival situations where the amount of rehearsal time as well as the

availability of a full concert orchestra may be limited. In this way, the piece relates to the German term Gebrauchmusik, or “music

for use,” in which the compositional style is relatively straightforward, avoiding much technical dificulty. Thus the work is scored for regular compliment of strings plus

woodwind quintet and brass quintet, rather

than full concert orchestra. This scoring still allows for the use of most of the distinctive colors and sounds of the orchestra, yet

substantially smaller than the full concert

orchestra that is many times not available to many conductors.The compositional style of the work can be

rather easily classiied as neo-Romantic, with straightforward rhythms, harmonic

language that does not signiicantly move beyond traditional tension/resolution,

and vocal and instrumental writing that is idiomatic, yet takes full advantage of instrumental and vocal capabilities. Intended to relect the changing mood and character of the text, the underlying theme of joyful celebration permeates the work.”

O Day Full of Grace

Lyrics by F. Melius Christiansen

O day full of grace which we behold,

Now gently to view ascending, Thou over the earth thy reign unfold, Good cheer to all mortals lending,

That children of light in every clime

May prove that the night is ending.How blest was that gracious midnight hour,

When God in our lesh was given; Then lushed the dawn with light and power, That spread o’er the darkened

heaven; Then rose o’er the world that sun divine

Which gloom from our hearts hash driven.Yea, were every tree endowed with speech, And every lealet singing, They never with praise His worth could reach,

Though earth with their praise be ringing. Who fully could praise the light of life

Who light to our souls is bringing?With joy we depart for the promised land,

And there we shall walk in endless light.

Lamb of God

Lyrics by F. Melius Christiansen

Lamb of God most holy!

Who on the cross didst suffer,

Patient still and lowly,

Thyself to scorn didst offer;

Our sins by Thee were taken,

Or hope had us forsaken:

Have mercy on us, O Jesu!

Texts

With a Voice of Singing

Lyrics by Kenneth Jennings

With a voice of singing declare ye, and tell this; utter it even to the end of the earth. Hallelujah!

The Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob. Hallelujah, hallelujah!

Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. Sing forth the honor of His Name, sing

forth the honor of His Name; make His

praise glorious. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the

beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. With a voice of singing declare ye, and tell this; utter it even to the end of the earth. Hallelujah!

The Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob. Hallelujah, hallelujah!

Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. Sing forth the honor of His Name, sing

forth the honor of His Name; make His

praise, make His praise glorious.

The Lord is the Everlasting God

(movement II)

Lyrics by Kenneth Jennings

II. . . . The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth,

who does not faint or grow weary;

whose understanding is unsearchable.God gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;But those who wait for the Lord

shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.Have you not heard? Have you not known?-Isaiah 40:21-22, 25-26, 28-31

E’en So Lord Jesus

Lyrics by Paul Manz

Peace be to you and grace from him

Who freed us from our sin, who loved us all, and shed his blood

That we might saved be.Sing holy, holy to our Lord

The Lord Almighty God Who was and is,

and is to come;

Sing holy, holy Lord!

Rejoice in heaven,all ye that dwell therein

Rejoice on earth, ye saints below

For Christ is coming soon.E’en so Lord Jesus quickly come

And night shall be no more

They need no light, no lamp, nor sun

For Christ will be their all!

The Old Church

Lyrics by Stephen Paulus

The old church leans nearby a well-worn road,

Upon a hill that has no grass or tree,

The winds from off the prairie now unload

The dust they bring around it itfully.The path that leads up to the open door

Is worn and grayed by many toiling feet Of us who listen to the Bible lore

And once again the old-time hymns repeat.And ev’ry Sabbath morning we are still Returning to the altar waiting there. A hush, a pray’r, a pause, and voices ill The Master’s House with a triumphant air.The old church leans awry and looks quite

odd,

But it is beautiful to us and God.

I Have Called You By Name

Lyrics by Stephen Paulus

But now says the Lord,

He who created you, O Jacob,

He who formed you, O Israel:Do not fear,

For I have redeemed you.I have called you by name,You are mine.When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you.And through the rivers,They shall not overwhelm you.When you walk through the ire,You shall not be burned,And the lame shall not consume you.I am the Lord your God.The Holy one of Israel, your Savior.Because you are precious in my sight,

And honored, and I love you, says the Lord,

Who created you.—Isaiah 43: 1–4a

Pilgrims’ Hymn

Lyrics by Michael Dennis Browne

Even before we call on Your name To ask Thee, O Lord,

When we seek for the words to glorify You, You Hear our prayer;Unceasing love, O unceasing love, Surpassing all we know.

Glory to the Father,

and to the Son,

And to the Holy Spirit.

Even with darkness sealing us in, We breathe Your name,And through all the days that follow so

fast,

We trust in You;Endless Your grace, O endless Your grace, Beyond all mortal dream.

Both now and forever, And unto ages and ages,

Amen

Festival Te Deum

Lyrics by René Clausen

You are God we praise you;You are the Lord: we acclaim you;You are the eternal Father:All of creation worships you.To you all angels, and all the pow’rs of

heaven,Cherubim and Seraphim, sing endless

praise.Holy, Holy Lord,

Lord God of pow’r and might,

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.The glorious company of apostles praise

you.The noble fellowship of the prophets praise

you.The white robed army of martyrs praise

you.Throughout the world the holy Church

acclaims you.Father, of majesty unbounded

Your true and only Son, worthy of worshipAnd the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.You are Christ, the King of Glory,The eternal Son of the Father.

When you became man to set us free

You did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.And overcame the sting of death.And opened the kingdom of heav’n to all believers.You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.We believe that you will come to be our judge.Come then, Lord, and help your people,

Bought with the price of your own blood,

Bring us with your saints together to glory

everlasting.Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.Govern them, and uphold them now and always.Day by day we bless you.We praise your name forever.Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.Have mercy on us.Lord, have mercy on us.Lord, show us your love and mercy;For we can put our trust in you.In you Lord is our hope:And we shall never hope in vain.

We put our trust in you.Let me never be confounded.You are God we praise you;You are the Lord: we acclaim you;You are the eternal Father:All of creation worships you.To you all angels, and all the pow’rs of

heaven,Cherubim and Seraphim, sing to you in

endless praise.Holy, Holy Lord,

Lord God of pow’r and might,

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.Amen.

Love to sing? Join us this Fall! Rehearsal for our Fall 2016 season begins

on Tuesday, September 6th.

Interested in joining us? Email minnesotavalleychorale@gmail.com to schedule your audition.

Special Thanks To Our Supporters$1000+Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council

Carl & Verna Schmidt Foundation

$500+Anonymous

Red Top Farms

$200+Giebel Chiropractic, L.L.C.JoAnn Hutchinson

Miller’s Modern Garage

Scheels

$100+Drew & Dawn Campbell

Sherry & Kim Henrickson

Pell & Theresa Johnson

John & Shirley Scheidel

Philip & Jane Wold

Under $100Anonymous

Helen Balcome

Joel Botten

Larry & Barbara Dunker

Mary Jo Erickson

Laura & Eric Harstad

Robert & Janice Meyer

Sara McKay

Gary & Carol Paulson

Daniel C. & Margaret R. PreskaDr. Gregory & Sarah SuskovicSara & Gregory Traylor

Wells Federal Bank

Additional Thanks toBethany Lutheran College

Big Cobb River Photography

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from Prairie Lakes Regional

Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.