[Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) is profiled at AfriClassical.com,
which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof.
Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.
We
are collaborating with the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation of the
U.K., www.SCTF.org.uk]
Charles
Kaufmann of The Longfellow Chorus of Portland, Maine writes:
Dear Bill,
Here's a post for your blog:
As you know, in
March 2013, The Longfellow Chorus put on a rare performance of the
complete 4-part Song of Hiawatha by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, in
Portland, Maine. I am now able to share previews of a few recordings of
this remarkable music from that performance, as sung by a diverse group
of 60 singers from Portland, Maine, from Boston and from Washington, DC.
What you will hear occasionally in the background are five dancers from
New York City, choreographed by the American choreographer Darrell
Grand Moultrie.
As the story goes, Hiawatha and his grandmother,
Nokomis, and their talented friends, Pau-Puk-Keewis (the dancer),
Chibiabos (the musician) and Iagoo (the storyteller), really knew how to
put on a good wedding:
1. After the dinner feast was over (where hump of
bison, among other specialties, was on the menu), Nokomis invites Pau-Puk-Keewis to dance for everyone:
2. Pau-Puk-Keewis gets a little carried away, collapsing to fan himself at the end of his dizzying, panther-like display:
3.
Every good wedding needs a good wedding singer, and so the guests call
for the musician Chibiabos -- Hiawatha's special friend and the
"sweetest of all singers" -- to give them a love
song:
4.
This he does, and here you hear the American tenor Rodrick Dixon --
best known, perhaps, as a member of the trio of tenors Cook, Dixon &
Young -- singing what was perhaps SC-T's best known (and actually very
sensual) song, "Onaway! Awake, beloved!" SC-T's future bride, Jessie
Walmisley, probably swooned over this one. (Do you think Jessie also had
breath "as sweet as the fragrance of the wildflowers in the morning,"
as the song says?):
5.
The storyteller Iagoo (who is "old and ugly" -- we are told that he is
the special friend of Nokomis) has gotten jealous of the attention given
Pau-Puk-Keewis and Chibiabos. And so Iagoo is invited to "tell us now a
tale of wonder . . . a strange adventure . . . that the time may pass
more gaily."
6. This completes the wedding celebration, and the guests depart, leaving Hiawatha "happy with the night and Minnehaha":
7.
Hiawatha Part II, "The Death of Minnehaha," quite accurately depicts
scenes of winter starvation that periodically occurred among Native
American tribes in the wild before the beginning of the 20th century,
and this contains some of SC-T's most heartfelt music. Having been
visted by "Famine" and "Fever," Hiawatha's young bride dies while
Hiawatha desperately searches for food. Minnehaha's Funeral March also
brings to mind SC-T's own funeral in September 1912, and thus, this is
especially moving:
8.
In his grief, Hiawatha sings the beautiful aria, "Farewell, Minnehaha."
Here we hear the American baritone Robert Honeysucker, who is known for
his "powerful and plaintive voice":
9.
The finale of The Death of Minnehaha contains one of the great climatic
moments of Victorian English music. The only thing missing here is the
sound of the full organ at the very end. Merrill Auditorium in Portland,
Maine, has the
Kotzschmar Pipe Organ (completed in 1918), one of the world's largest
and greatest organs, but it was out of service during our concerts in
March 2013. This closing movement also features what should be known as
-- but isn't -- one of the most famous solo cymbal crashes of all time,
something that should be on every percussionist's audition list, if only
to get the chance to do it with feeling:
Best wishes,
Charles Kaufmann
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