Sunday 13 February 2022 at 8:00 PM
Eccles Organ Festival Recital
James Kennerley
Director of Music at Saint Paul’s Church and Choir School in Harvard Square, Cambridge MA
Municipal Organist of Portland, ME
Eccles Organ Festival Recital
James Kennerley
Director of Music at Saint Paul’s Church and Choir School in Harvard Square, Cambridge MA
Municipal Organist of Portland, ME
Program
Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868)
Overture to William Tell
(transcribed by James Kennerley)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564
Florence Price (1887–1953)
Suite for Organ No. 1
I. Fantasy
II. Fughetta
III. Air
IV. Toccata
Jonathan Dove (b. 1959)
The Dancing Pipes (2014)
John Philip Sousa (1854–1932)
Liberty Bell March
(transcribed by James Kennerley)
Léon Jessel (1871–1942)
Parade of the wooden soldiers, Op. 123
(transcribed by James Kennerley)
Seth Bingham (1882–1972)
Roulade, Op. 9, No. 3
Charles Ives (1874–1954)
Variations on “America”
Overture to William Tell
(transcribed by James Kennerley)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564
Florence Price (1887–1953)
Suite for Organ No. 1
I. Fantasy
II. Fughetta
III. Air
IV. Toccata
Jonathan Dove (b. 1959)
The Dancing Pipes (2014)
John Philip Sousa (1854–1932)
Liberty Bell March
(transcribed by James Kennerley)
Léon Jessel (1871–1942)
Parade of the wooden soldiers, Op. 123
(transcribed by James Kennerley)
Seth Bingham (1882–1972)
Roulade, Op. 9, No. 3
Charles Ives (1874–1954)
Variations on “America”
James Kennerley
Hailed as “a great organist” displaying “phenomenal technique and sheer musicality” (Bloomberg News), James Kennerley is a multi-faceted musician, working as a conductor, keyboardist, singer, and composer. His performances are known for their illustrious flair and thrilling virtuosity, subtlety and finesse, drawing on the full resources of the instrument.
Mr. Kennerley was appointed the Municipal Organist of Portland, Maine, by the Mayor in September 2017, following a unanimous vote from the Search Committee and the City Council. Together with the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ, the Municipal Organist position is one of the most prominent and significant for the promotion of the organ, its music, and the many educational and outreach opportunities it enables. Since September 2019 he has been Director of Music at Saint Paul’s Church and Choir School in Harvard Square, Cambridge MA, directing the choir of boy choristers and professional men in daily performances, regular concert tours, recordings, and broadcasts. A native of the United Kingdom, Mr. Kennerley was previously Organist and Choirmaster at Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church, New York City from 2013-2019. Mr. Kennerley was born in 1984 and became a chorister of Chelmsford Cathedral. He was educated at Harrow School and Cambridge University, where he was Organ Scholar at Jesus College. He was then appointed Organ Scholar of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, where he worked daily with the choir of men and boys under the direction of Malcolm Archer, and had the honor of performing in the presence of HM the Queen on several occasions. |
Program Notes
by Dr. Kenneth Udy, University of Utah
Rossini was born in Pesaro to musician parents. His first opera was performed in 1810, then in 1829, at the height of his popularity and following the performance of his 39th and last opera, William Tell, he retired from composing. While the opera has faded into oblivion, the four-part Overture is ubiquitous. The opening Prelude portrays the serenity of the Swiss Alps followed by the Storm which crescendos to gloom and terror before subsiding to the pastoral Call of the Cows, often used in cartoons to signify daybreak. The celebrated finale, March of the Swiss Soldiers, is heralded by a trumpet call to arms and illustrates the Swiss soldiers’ victorious battle to liberate their homeland from Austrian oppression. It was most famously used as the theme music for “The Lone Ranger” from 1933-1957.
Bach’s Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564, dates from his Weimar years (1708-1717). Known for his extraordinary improvisations, Bach was often hired to publicly demonstrate new organs. The character of this piece suggests it may have been used in such “organ trials.” The improvisatory introduction to the Toccata brings to mind the North German praeludium style with a hesitant opening gesture erupting into dazzling scale passages and a joyful pedal solo—a test of the entire compass of the keyboards, even reaching high D on the pedalboard. A snappy polyphonic concerto follows with two-bar motifs echoing from one hand to the other. The ensuing Adagio in A minor is styled after a slow concerto movement with a hauntingly expressive melody accompanied by simple manual chords and pizzicato pedal octaves. An enigmatic bridge marked Grave concludes the movement with suffocating seven-part harmony—a test of the organ’s wind supply (and the stamina of the bellows pumpers!). The spirited Fugue is a 6/8 dance with a melodically simple subject and dramatic rests—a test of the acoustics in the church. Rather than amassing fugal density, the fugue freely evolves with brilliant two- and three-voice counterpoint ending on a brief C major chord.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Florence Beatrice Price earned degrees in organ performance and piano teaching at the New England Conservatory, with additional training at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Her compositions incorporate pentatonic melodies with spiritual or folk song elements that express her African American roots. Composed in 1942, Suite No. 1 ranks as Price’s organ masterpiece. The syncopated rhythm and jazz-like harmonies heard in the first phrases of Fantasy can be found in many of Price’s compositions. The theme of the second movement, Fughetta, recalls the Negro spiritual “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” though Price doesn’t quote it exactly. The wistful third movement, Air, unfolds gently at a slower andante tempo, with rich chromatic harmonies. Its main theme evokes spirituals like “Let Us Break Bread Together” or “Were You There.” Like many African American spirituals, the melody for the final Toccato [sic] is pentatonic, and the movement’s syncopated rhythms recall the juba, a lively dance originally from West Africa and brought to the United States by African slaves. (Note courtesy of Rebecca Bennion)
London native Jonathan Dove is a mainstream composer of opera, stage, film, and choral music. He studied music at the University of Cambridge then worked as a freelance arranger and accompanist until 1987, when he took a job at Glyndebourne Opera. In 2016 he composed his fanciful The Dancing Pipes for British organ virtuoso Thomas Trotter to premiere at St. Laurence’s Church in Ludlow. Dove initially intended to craft melodic figures that might depict the 3rd century martyrdom of St. Laurence, but instead an unexpected dance-like melody surfaced and became the primary idea of the piece.
John Philip Sousa was a first generation American who grew up playing violin in his hometown of Washington, D.C. At 13, he was enlisted by his father as an apprentice in the U.S. Marine Band. Beginning in 1880 he served for twelve years as the 14th conductor of the same band then resigned and formed his immensely popular civilian “Sousa’s Band,” which broke up in 1931 due to American economic turmoil. One of the most beloved of his military marches, The Liberty Bell was composed in 1893 as part of his never-produced operetta “The Devil’s Deputy.” It follows the standard form of AABBCDCDC. The trio (sections C and D) uses bells to symbolize the Liberty Bell ringing. This piece is frequently played at presidential inaugurations and was the theme of the British television comedy “Monty Python's Flying Circus” from 1969-1974.
Leon Jessel was a German composer of operettas and light classical music. Although he converted to Christianity in 1894 to marry his wife Clara, the Nazis banned performances of his works beginning in 1933 because of his Jewish descent. He died two weeks after his arrest and torture by the Gestapo. Today he is best known as the composer of the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers originally composed for piano in 1897. It was popularized internationally in vaudeville shows of the early 1920s and was the theme music for the BBC children’s radio series “Toytown” from 1929-1980.
A New Jersey native, Seth Bingham was a student of Horatio Parker and Harry Benjamin Jepson at Yale. He continued his education in Paris from 1906-1908 with d’Indy, Widor, and Guilmant. Upon returning to New York, Bingham launched a successful 40-year career simultaneously working as a teacher (Columbia, Yale, and Union Theological Seminary), a church organist and music director (Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church), and a prolific composer beginning with his Six Pieces, op. 9 published in 1920. The most popular of the six is the delightfully atmospheric scherzo, Roulade. It is typical of music composed by French-trained American organists in the early 20th century, which often mimicked forms and techniques heard in Paris.
Charles Ives, one of the first American composers of international renown, was an insurance agent by day. Like Bingham, he studied with Horatio Parker then later with Dudley Buck. Musically far ahead of his fellow composers, Ives’ compositions were largely ignored during his early life. As a 17-year-old organist he composed his saucy and irreverent Variations on “America” for a 4th of July celebration and spoke of them as being “almost as much fun as playing baseball.” He continued to revise them until 1894, when he added the two interludes. The piece went unpublished until 1949 when E. Power Biggs rediscovered it and prepared an edition. The Introduction juxtaposes bits of the theme in various keys until the entire theme is finally exposed in a simple harmonization. The first variation uses sixteenth notes to accompany the theme. The second is an Andante ornamented with eighth notes and isolated harmonic colorations. There follows a polytonal interlude in which the theme is harmonized simultaneously in F major and in D-flat major. The third variation, an Allegro in 6/8, becomes a dance reminiscent of barrel organ music. The fourth variation, still in a dance rhythm, is a desolate Polonaise in F minor. A polymodal interlude quietly superimposes F minor and F major leading to the deliberately pompous final variation where the pedal part is to be played “as quickly as possible.” In 1962 the piece was orchestrated by William Schuman.
Rossini was born in Pesaro to musician parents. His first opera was performed in 1810, then in 1829, at the height of his popularity and following the performance of his 39th and last opera, William Tell, he retired from composing. While the opera has faded into oblivion, the four-part Overture is ubiquitous. The opening Prelude portrays the serenity of the Swiss Alps followed by the Storm which crescendos to gloom and terror before subsiding to the pastoral Call of the Cows, often used in cartoons to signify daybreak. The celebrated finale, March of the Swiss Soldiers, is heralded by a trumpet call to arms and illustrates the Swiss soldiers’ victorious battle to liberate their homeland from Austrian oppression. It was most famously used as the theme music for “The Lone Ranger” from 1933-1957.
Bach’s Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564, dates from his Weimar years (1708-1717). Known for his extraordinary improvisations, Bach was often hired to publicly demonstrate new organs. The character of this piece suggests it may have been used in such “organ trials.” The improvisatory introduction to the Toccata brings to mind the North German praeludium style with a hesitant opening gesture erupting into dazzling scale passages and a joyful pedal solo—a test of the entire compass of the keyboards, even reaching high D on the pedalboard. A snappy polyphonic concerto follows with two-bar motifs echoing from one hand to the other. The ensuing Adagio in A minor is styled after a slow concerto movement with a hauntingly expressive melody accompanied by simple manual chords and pizzicato pedal octaves. An enigmatic bridge marked Grave concludes the movement with suffocating seven-part harmony—a test of the organ’s wind supply (and the stamina of the bellows pumpers!). The spirited Fugue is a 6/8 dance with a melodically simple subject and dramatic rests—a test of the acoustics in the church. Rather than amassing fugal density, the fugue freely evolves with brilliant two- and three-voice counterpoint ending on a brief C major chord.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Florence Beatrice Price earned degrees in organ performance and piano teaching at the New England Conservatory, with additional training at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Her compositions incorporate pentatonic melodies with spiritual or folk song elements that express her African American roots. Composed in 1942, Suite No. 1 ranks as Price’s organ masterpiece. The syncopated rhythm and jazz-like harmonies heard in the first phrases of Fantasy can be found in many of Price’s compositions. The theme of the second movement, Fughetta, recalls the Negro spiritual “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” though Price doesn’t quote it exactly. The wistful third movement, Air, unfolds gently at a slower andante tempo, with rich chromatic harmonies. Its main theme evokes spirituals like “Let Us Break Bread Together” or “Were You There.” Like many African American spirituals, the melody for the final Toccato [sic] is pentatonic, and the movement’s syncopated rhythms recall the juba, a lively dance originally from West Africa and brought to the United States by African slaves. (Note courtesy of Rebecca Bennion)
London native Jonathan Dove is a mainstream composer of opera, stage, film, and choral music. He studied music at the University of Cambridge then worked as a freelance arranger and accompanist until 1987, when he took a job at Glyndebourne Opera. In 2016 he composed his fanciful The Dancing Pipes for British organ virtuoso Thomas Trotter to premiere at St. Laurence’s Church in Ludlow. Dove initially intended to craft melodic figures that might depict the 3rd century martyrdom of St. Laurence, but instead an unexpected dance-like melody surfaced and became the primary idea of the piece.
John Philip Sousa was a first generation American who grew up playing violin in his hometown of Washington, D.C. At 13, he was enlisted by his father as an apprentice in the U.S. Marine Band. Beginning in 1880 he served for twelve years as the 14th conductor of the same band then resigned and formed his immensely popular civilian “Sousa’s Band,” which broke up in 1931 due to American economic turmoil. One of the most beloved of his military marches, The Liberty Bell was composed in 1893 as part of his never-produced operetta “The Devil’s Deputy.” It follows the standard form of AABBCDCDC. The trio (sections C and D) uses bells to symbolize the Liberty Bell ringing. This piece is frequently played at presidential inaugurations and was the theme of the British television comedy “Monty Python's Flying Circus” from 1969-1974.
Leon Jessel was a German composer of operettas and light classical music. Although he converted to Christianity in 1894 to marry his wife Clara, the Nazis banned performances of his works beginning in 1933 because of his Jewish descent. He died two weeks after his arrest and torture by the Gestapo. Today he is best known as the composer of the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers originally composed for piano in 1897. It was popularized internationally in vaudeville shows of the early 1920s and was the theme music for the BBC children’s radio series “Toytown” from 1929-1980.
A New Jersey native, Seth Bingham was a student of Horatio Parker and Harry Benjamin Jepson at Yale. He continued his education in Paris from 1906-1908 with d’Indy, Widor, and Guilmant. Upon returning to New York, Bingham launched a successful 40-year career simultaneously working as a teacher (Columbia, Yale, and Union Theological Seminary), a church organist and music director (Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church), and a prolific composer beginning with his Six Pieces, op. 9 published in 1920. The most popular of the six is the delightfully atmospheric scherzo, Roulade. It is typical of music composed by French-trained American organists in the early 20th century, which often mimicked forms and techniques heard in Paris.
Charles Ives, one of the first American composers of international renown, was an insurance agent by day. Like Bingham, he studied with Horatio Parker then later with Dudley Buck. Musically far ahead of his fellow composers, Ives’ compositions were largely ignored during his early life. As a 17-year-old organist he composed his saucy and irreverent Variations on “America” for a 4th of July celebration and spoke of them as being “almost as much fun as playing baseball.” He continued to revise them until 1894, when he added the two interludes. The piece went unpublished until 1949 when E. Power Biggs rediscovered it and prepared an edition. The Introduction juxtaposes bits of the theme in various keys until the entire theme is finally exposed in a simple harmonization. The first variation uses sixteenth notes to accompany the theme. The second is an Andante ornamented with eighth notes and isolated harmonic colorations. There follows a polytonal interlude in which the theme is harmonized simultaneously in F major and in D-flat major. The third variation, an Allegro in 6/8, becomes a dance reminiscent of barrel organ music. The fourth variation, still in a dance rhythm, is a desolate Polonaise in F minor. A polymodal interlude quietly superimposes F minor and F major leading to the deliberately pompous final variation where the pedal part is to be played “as quickly as possible.” In 1962 the piece was orchestrated by William Schuman.