Oberlin College Choir Combines 19th and 20th Century Choral Music in Performance of Brahms "Liebeslieder Walzer" and Henze's "Moralities," Saturday, April 15, 8:00 P.M., Finney Chapel Story and photo by Michael Chipman
			On Saturday, April 15, at 8:00 p.m. in Finney Chapel, the Oberlin College Choir will perform Brahms' "Liebeslieder Walzer" and Henze's "Moralities," two pieces which, according to Hugh Floyd, assistant professor of choral conducting, have three things in common: "Both pieces are for chorus with double keyboard accompaniment; both run about 20 minutes; and they are both written by German composers. But, they are as different as night and day." "The Brahms 'Liebeslieder Walzer' are a familiar and extremely popular part of the choral repertoire," says Floyd. "In fact, they were so popular at the time of their composition that they made Brahms famous. They were (and are) popular because they are dances of joyful simplicity. Chamber music of that type was popular in the 19th century and these could be done with two pianos and four singers. They were probably written originally for vocal quartet, but they are frequently performed by full choruses now. "The 'Liebeslieder Walzer,' are standard works that every singer ought to know," explains Floyd. "It's a choral cycle. Many of my singers perform portions of or complete song cycles in their recitals, and the technical, theoretical, functional and harmonic issues in a solo recital of a song cycle are the same for a choral performance. Brahms uses harmonies and musical punctuations of the text in these waltzes that he uses in his songs. By pointing out these things as we study the 'Liebeslieder Walzer,' I think it helps students in their individual song cycle studies." "It was quite a challenge for Brahms to write 18 pieces in binary form and make them each individually interesting," continues Floyd. "He imposed a very constricting form on himself, but they are all different, and through their key relationships, make for a lovely, unified whole." Floyd says the Henze "Moralities" are as obscure in the standard repertoire as the "Liebeslieder Walzer" are well-known. "Henze is an important 20th century composer, born in 1926, but his music is infrequently sung. His style is very different from Brahms. He composed the 'Moralities' in English for the Cincinnati May Festival in 1968. The text is based on plays by W. H. Auden that Auden took from fables by Aesop. The 'Moralities' present three scenes involving animals, with a moral stated at the end." Are the "Moralities" humorous? "Yes, and no," says Floyd. "They are not novelty pieces. The humor is a kind of dark humor, with a serious message. The first is a story of discontented frogs who, through their own stupidity, destroy themselves by inviting a frog-eater into their midst. The moral at the end states, 'When people are too dumb to know when all is well with them, the gods shrug their shoulders and say, To hell with them!' "The second is about Nightingales who become crows. In the third scene, the animals are on a ship, oblivious to the dangers around them. They don't take the danger seriously and that leads to disaster." Floyd says the acrid tone of "Moralities," stems from Henze's politics. "Henze was a radical leftist. His music is very politicized. The 'Moralities' are basically all social commentaries, and the morality he preaches is more a social morality than a spiritual morality. The animals, of course, represent different groups of society. Communism was an overt part of Henze's ideology. After he served in the German army on the Russian front he joined a radical group of composers who wrote music 'for the people,' ignoring all formal stylistic traditions. In his vocal music he includes all kinds of sounds besides singing that are difficult, but feasible for human performance. "Musically, the 'Moralities' have a dissonant tonality with complicated rhythms and 'sprechstimme' (speaking voice) sections," says Floyd. "They involve a narrator who speaks in and out of rhythm. All three scenes are very dramatic. In fact, Henze subtitles them 'Scenic Plays' -- each is independent and could be performed individually. But, they are very seldom performed." Floyd says he tries to balance well-known with lesser-known works when programming for College Choir. "That is important to me," he says, "because I am a teacher and a conductor. Part of my joy is to present standard works for students. To me the Brahms 'Liebeslieder Walzer' are familiar but no one in Choir had sung them yet. For most of them, this is a first experience, and it's an important part of vocal repertoire for them to know. Also, I think dramatic works, like Henze's, are exhilarating for the audience. There is a great deal of sacred choral literature, but I also make an effort to find the best of the secular tradition. Both of these works are secular, yet full of brilliant writing." This concert is free and open to the public.
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