Musical Premieres for All Saints’ Day
November 1, 2009, at 11 a.m.
The Calvary Choir will present first performances of new musical works inspired by the church’s architecture on All Saints’ Day.
Commissioned by James P. Cassaro, a member of the Calvary Choir and its Architectural History Committee, the pieces–by University of Pittsburgh composers Amy Williams and Roger Zahab, and Calvary parishioner John W. Becker, and Calvary’s director of music, Alan Lewis–reflect the legacy of the saints and the structure of Calvary’s building in a variety of ways.
Williams used a prayer attributed to the Celtic saint, Brigid, as the text for her piece, an organ toccata with choral obbligato; Zahab drew on the final words of St. David of Wales for his choral piece with organ, violin, and cello.
The three movements of Becker’s "Tryptique" present settings of an All Saints text from Wisdom, the collect for All Saints’ Day, and the hymn, "O what their joy."
Lewis’s piece is a setting of a stanza from George Herbert’s poem, "Stained Glass Windows."
Duruflé Requiem
Friday, November 6, at 7 p.m.
Calvary continues its annual liturgical presentation of a musical Requiem Mass for All the Faithful Departed, with a service built around the setting by Maurice Duruflé.
Duruflé was one of the great organists of 20th-century Paris; he composed this piece around the centuries-old chant-melodies of the Latin rite, weaving them into a quasi-Impressionist harmony that is both evocative and beautiful.
All are welcome; if you wish to include names of the departed in the reading of the Necrology during the service, please submit them to the Parish Office not later than Monday, November 2.
The service is made possible in part by the Friends of Music at Calvary.
Calvary Episcopal Church
315 Shady Avenue
Pittsburgh PA 15206 (East Liberty)
412-661-0120
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