Choral Music of the Americas - Chorale’s Latin Set
Sydney Guillaume, Composer & Conductor
A little more than a year ago, Chorale sang a concert which included music by three Argentinian composers: Carlos Guastavino, Astor Piazzolla, and Martín Palmeri. Of the three, Guastavino was the most conservative and European in style; some have called him “the Schubert of the Pampas.” He expressed support for developing an Argentinian national style, including Argentinian texts and indigenous elements, but his music does not reflect much of this. Piazzolla on the other hand embraced the popular, African-based tango of the working classes, and developed it into a distinctive, sophisticated style. Martín has followed largely in Piazzolla’s footsteps. The Caribbean and South American composers on our current program exhibit a similar dichotomy.
Venezuelan composer César Carrillo was born in Caracas in 1957. His first musical influences came through his involvement in traditional music ensembles, where he sang both as a soloist and as a back-up singer, and learned to play many traditional instruments. He later veered toward a more centrist European-based style, particularly in his church music, which tends to be settings of Latin liturgical texts. Widely recognized in his own country, he has produced a sizable body of choral work, much of which is published and performed in the United States. The lovely, a cappella “O magnum mysterium” which Chorale will sing, is his best-known work in this country.
Miguel Matamoros (1894 -1971) was a popular Cuban musician and composer, and founder of the Trío Matamoros in Santiago de Cuba. He is known for being an author, composer, and performer of popular songs, and contributed notably to the development of traditional, rural Cuban music into an Afro-Cuban genre. He particularly focused on the bolero, a popular Latin American vocal and dance style. “El juramento” (The Oath), the bolero which Chorale will sing, is one of his best-known songs, and has been arranged for SATB choir by Elenco Silva.
Sydney Guillaume (b.1982) originally from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, came to the United States when he was 11 years old. He received a bachelor’s degree in music composition from the Miami Frost School of Music, and has composed a large number of choral pieces reflective of his Haitian background. The text of “Dominus Vobiscum” (God be with you), the piece we will sing, was written by his father, Gabriel T. Guillaume, in Haitian Creole, which derives its linguistic roots from French. Unlike the more formal Latin Christian music of Carrillo, which seems to inspire its composer to employ conservative harmonic and rhythmic language, Guillaume’s music glories in exhilarating African rhythms and archaic, modal harmonies.
It’s a wonderful experience for us to prepare this music which is so far out of our usual wheelhouse. Please come and hear what we do with it! June 1st in Lincoln Park, June 2nd in Hyde Park. We’d love to see you there.
