The Standard Cantatas: Their Stories, Their Music, and Their Composers: A HandbookUpton, George P. (George Putnam)
History
The Standard Cantatas: Their Stories, Their Music, and Their Composers: A Handbook
Upton, George P. (George Putnam)
Cantatas -- History and criticism
"As our God wills it. Up, arouse thee!
Up! yon flag with hope endows thee.
Jerusalem! the goal is there.
We cry aloud, 'Hosanna!'"
GILCHRIST.
William W. Gilchrist, the American composer, was born at Jersey City, N.
J., in 1846. He began his studies with H. A. Clarke, professor of music
in the University of Pennsylvania. In 1872 he accepted the position of
organist at the New Jerusalem Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was also
appointed teacher in the Conservatory of Miss Bauer. A year later he
returned to Philadelphia, where he has since resided. During this time he
has done a great work for music in that city, having been conductor of
several societies. He has been the recipient of honors on many occasions,
having obtained several prizes from the Philadelphia Art Society and
others for his compositions. In 1880 he contended for the prize offered
by the Cincinnati Musical Festival Association, but stood third on the
list, Dudley Buck being first and George E. Whiting second. In 1882 he
made another trial for the Association's prize, and was successful; the
committee, consisting of Carl Reinecke of Leipsic, M. Saint-Saens of
Paris, and Theodore Thomas of New York, making him the award.
The Forty-sixth Psalm.
The composition referred to in the sketch of Mr. Gilchrist's life which
secured for him the Cincinnati prize in 1882 was "The Forty-sixth Psalm."
The composer's own analysis of the work, furnished at the time, is
appended:--
"The composition is a setting of the Forty-sixth Psalm for soprano
solo, chorus, orchestra, and organ, and has four principal divisions
exclusive of an introduction, each following the other without pause,
and connected by a gradual decrescendo in the orchestra. The opening of
the Psalm seemed to me to indicate a strong outburst of praise or of
thanksgiving for a deliverance from trials, which the introduction is
intended to convey. But instead of beginning with a strong outburst, I
lead up to it from a very subdued beginning, working gradually to a
climax at the entrance of the chorus on the words, 'God is our refuge
and our strength.' The opening movement of the chorus becomes a little
subdued very shortly as it takes up the words, 'A very present help in
trouble,' which is followed again by an _allegro con fuoco_ movement on
the words, 'Therefore we will not fear though the earth be removed,
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.' This
movement leads into still another, a furioso movement on the words,
'Though the waters thereof roar, though the mountains shake with the
swelling thereof.' This is followed by an elaborate coda, in which all
the themes of the preceding movement are worked together, and which
brings the chorus to a close.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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