Thom Ritter GeorgeSIX ENGLISH SONGS, CN 298 (1978)
(SATB and piano; flute is used in song five)
PROGRAM NOTES
In the summer of 1977, Quincy Symphony Chorus Director Douglas Reeve wrote to Thom Ritter George suggesting the idea of a group of songs to be sung by the chorus during its tenth anniversary season. Dr. George liked the idea and sketched Six English Songs in September 1978, finishing the score in final form in mid-October 1978. Each of these pieces is based on an English folk or popular song, but each has been given a completely new setting. Music sung by only one singer in the source version has been expanded to be sung by four-part mixed chorus. New harmonizations and piano accompaniments have been provided. In addition, many new structural arrangements and features, including introductions, interludes and codas, can be found in Thom Ritter George's setting. A solo flute has been added to the fifth song.
The first song, Fair Polly Oliver, tells the story of a lovesick young girl who disguises herself in uniform to find her love in the Army. She locates him wounded in France, and the song ends happily with the sergeant calling for the parson to unite the couple "who followed the drum." Two Maidens Went Milking One Day and met a gentleman whom they dared to catch "a small bird or two." He does and all are happy. The song ends with the suggestion, "Take your lady in the wood if you really think you should, you might catch her a small bird or two." The Maid and the Miller is a song of charming questioning. For example, we are told that the miller kissed the maid and she "was well pleased," but shortly afterward we must reconsider both statements when asked, "Was it so?"
The Smoothing Iron is a jolly song about a boy who falls in love watching his girl do her ironing. Through the days of the week, he sees her washing, handing, starching, ironing, and folding her linen. On Sunday, she wears the linen she has prepared with such care, and he exclaims, "Dashing away with the smoothing iron, she stole my heart away." To Sheepshearing Go is a slow pastoral song about young couples in love. There is a strong suggestion of beautiful landscape in this music; the flute represents a shepherd's quiet piping in the distance.
My Man John is the longest and most elaborate of the Six English Songs. A gentleman confides to his servant John that he is in love with a fine lady who rejects his advances. John advises him to "court her without fear, and you will win the lady in the space of half a year." To gain her favor, the gentleman offers the lady many gifts, some of which are very strange. For example, he first offers her a little greyhound so precious that each hair on its back is worth a thousand pounds! After repeated rejections from the lady and repeated encouragements from the servant John, the master finally wins the lady's hand by offering her "the keys of my heart, to lock it up for ever that we never more shall part" - an argument that few eligible women can resist.
The first performance of Six English Songs was given by the Quincy Symphony Chorus, Douglas Reeve, conductor, on March 28, 1978, in Quincy, Illinois. The pianist was Leonore Suppan Gehrich; Patricia George played the flute solo in the fifth song.
(TRGcm:2008.09.08)