Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 14:06:41 -0400
From: gkolb(a)itsmail1.hamilton.edu (G. Roberts Kolb)
Subject: Re: Thanksgiving Concert

Since Nina Gilbert appears to be away from her computer today, I'm
forwarding to the choralist her earlier posting about St. Martin's Day
music.

>
>>I'm looking for program suggestions on a Thanksgiving
>>theme.
>
>How about Hindemith's "Martinslied"? It sets a seventeenth-century poem for
>St.
>Martin's Day, November 11.
>
>The Thanksgiving connection is that the Martinmas goose was the European
>equivalent of the American Thanksgiving turkey. The holiday is named for
>Bishop
>Martin of Tours, who was buried on November 11, c. 397. Martinmas falls
>during
>the migration of geese through England and parts of Europe, and also marks the
>first tasting of the season's new wine. Martinmas songs are full of food and
>drink,
>and of imitations of the cry of the goose.
>
>Hindemith's "Martinslied" is a few short movements for unison choir (men's,
>women's, or mixed voices), plus one movement of instrumental prelude.
>Instrumental parts are simply labeled "high," "medium," and "low," so the
>orchestral forces for the rest of your program could serve.
>
>I think Schott published it, and I don't know if it's still available in print
>(there is a
>copy in the music library at Indiana University). I have a paragraph about it
>in
>last November's Choral Journal ("Musica Practica" column).
>
>Lasso's "Audite nova" is also about St. Martin's Day.
>
>I would be interested to see others' ideas for this program.
>
>Regards,
>
>Nina Gilbert
>
>
>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>Nina Gilbert
>gilbertn(a)scholar.wabash.edu
>Wabash College, Crawfordsville IN 47933 (USA)
>phone/FAX 317-364-4299
>NOTE: AWAY FROM E-MAIL MOST OF JULY, but getting phone messages
>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
>

---

Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 09:18:52 -0600
From: David Topping
Subject: St. Martin Update

Please Note:
The following is being posted on behalf of Nina Gilbert, whose address
appears at the bottom. Please don't use your "reply" function to respond
to it, or it will go to me instead.

***********************

First, "Thanks" to Rob Kolb for re-posting my St. Martin's message. I'd lost
my original, and wasn't even sure if I'd been the one to post the suggestions
in the first place.

I'm back at my computer today for an hour before leaving for a month (e-mail
will accrue, just not get answered until August), and I have some updates on
St. Martin. Some traditions have St. Martin's day on November 10, but November
11 seems more widespread.

1. Hindemith's Martinslied is still available from Schott. The chorus part
costs $2.50, instrumental parts $3.50, and score $15.00. A few people e-mailed
me to mention that it makes a good solo work in addition to unison chorus.

2. If you are programming Lassus' "Audite nova" for a serious, high-church
event, be aware that it involves a farmer, St. Martin, and a goose, at least
one of whom is drunk.

3. I've found more Martinmas music: Mardilaulud, the first nine movements of
Veljo Tormis' "Eesti Kalendrilaulud" (Estonian Calendar Songs), is a "Song
"cycle" for St. Martin's Day" for men's voices. The music is nearly impossible
to buy in this country; Fazer (Helsinki) plans eventually to reprint it, and
Presser is Fazer's distributor here. Mardilaulud includes several
onomatopoetic treatments of the word "Uups," which is apparently what one says
in Estonian (with rising portamento) after drinking too much wine.

Cheers,

Nina Gilbert
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NOTE: AWAY FROM E-MAIL IN JULY, but getting phone messages
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nina Gilbert
gilbertn(a)wabash.edu
Wabash College, Crawfordsville IN 47933 (USA)
phone 317-364-4299
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .