The Longfellow Chorus
A 203rd birthday happens only once. *
* So why not really celebrate?
Commemorating the 203rd birthday of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, born in Portland, Maine, February, 27, 1807
Learn about the third annual Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition, 2009-2010.
.
The Longfellow Chamber Chorus, Aug. 3, 2008
at Longfellow National Historic Site
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow—
Composer, Singer
On April 29, 1850, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow transcribed this entry into the journal of his six-year-old son 'Charley,' who was not yet old enough to write:
Monday 29. I made a song this morning as I lay in bed, looking at a great picture on the screen, where some people were going away in a vessel.
It is very sorrowful
To sail away in a ship!
It is very sorrowful
When you get there!
After dinner, Papa made music for it, and sang it to me with the piano.[Journal of Charley Longfellow, April 29, 1850. Houghton Library bMs Am 1340, item 161, as found on microfilm, Longfellow National Historic Site]
"A Boy's Will," the second in our CD series of Longfellow music, is now available. This 2 CD set, with an informative 8-page booklet, features The Longfellow Chorus and soloists. A Boy's Will contains the premiere performances from our 2007-08 Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition, and historical songs and choral settings of Longfellow poems. $18.00 plus shipping.
"Afternoon in February," the first in our CD series of historic Longfellow music, is now available. This 2 CD set, with an informative 8-page booklet, features The Longfellow Chorus and soloists, and contains songs and choruses never before recorded (anywhere). $18.00 plus shipping. Listen to audio samples
PROGRAM NOTES
A Great Way to Recite a Program
Program notes, by Charles Kaufmann, from the 2008 Longfellow National Historic Site Summer Music Festival performance.
At Home With America's King of Song
Program notes, by Charles Kaufmann, from the 2007 Longfellow National Historic Site Summer Festival performance.
Henry Wadswoth Longfellow: America's King of Song
Program notes from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 200th Birthday Choral Concert, Feb. 25, 2007.
The Longfellow Chorus sings the opening of
HIAWATHA'S WEDDING FEAST
and final moments of
HIAWATHA'S DEPARTURE
from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's masterwork, Hiawatha, 1900
(Shirley Curry, piano; Albert Melton, organ)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, 1875-1912
202 SINGERS FOR 202 YEARS
All interested choral singers invited
to join the Longfellow 202 Chorus!
Soloist parts available. Contact the director,
Charles Kaufmann
clk328@rcn.com
for more information
or call 207-773-5747
Rehearsal and Concert Schedule
(at The First Parish Church in Portland, UUA)
T. B. A.
Most Recent Performance:
Sunday, August 3, 2008, The Longfellow National Historic Site, Cambridge, MA
The Longfellow Chorus in Story Chapel, Mount Auburn Cemetery
NEW: Contribute to The Longfellow Chorus Annual Fund 2008-2009. Are you a Hiawatha, an Evangeline or a Village Blacksmith contributor? Do you simply want to help us get 'up and doing' or lend a hand on a Rainy Day? Choose the amount of your donation based on five levels of sponsorship.
The Longfellow Chorus
Charles Kaufmann, Director
NEXT PERFORMANCE
The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 203rd Birthday Choral Concert
and International Composers Competition
February 27 and 28 2010
featuring baritone soloist Robert Honeysucker —[a] robust, penetrating trombone of a voice with a thrilling passion and precision (New York Times, February 3, 2009)—chorus and full orchestra in The Death of Minnehaha, Part II of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Hiawatha cantata.
PAST PERFORMANCES:
The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 202nd Birthday Choral Concert
and International Composers Competition
8 PM, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009, (7:30 Preconcert Composer Discussion) at The First Parish in Portland, UUA
and
3 PM, Sunday, March 1, 2009, (2:30 Preconcert Composer Discussion) at First Congregational Church of South Portland
with
John D. Adams, bass-baritone; Shirley Curry, pianist
Featuring winners of the 2008-2009 Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition
and a performance of The Black Knight, by Edward Elgar, a lush late-Victorian "symphony for chorus and orchestra."
View the CONCERT PROGRAM
(Also on the program, settings of Longfellow's poems about children, family and friendship, such as The Children's Hour, and Prescription for a Sore Throat; and can we resist presenting new and even-more-daring Victorian settings of Longfellow's infamous The Rainy Day, including an 1876 example by Portland-born composer John Knowles Paine?
Generous material and financial support for The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 202nd Birthday Choral Concert comes in part from The Elgar Society Elgar in Performance Fund.
The Longfellow Chamber Chorus at Longfellow National Historic Site Summer Music Festival, 4 PM, August 3, 2008, 105 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA
featuring the 11 winning compositions of the Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition
The Longfellow Chamber Chorus at Longfellow's Wayside Inn
Sunday, March 16, 2008, 4 PM
Listen to historic 19th and 20th century vocal settings of Longfellow poems in the inn made famous by Longfellow in "Tales of a Wayside Inn," 1863. (Progam includes winners of the 2007 Longfellow Chorus International Composers' Competition)
The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 201st Birthday Choral Concert
3 PM, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008
(2 PM Preconcert Lecture by William D. Pardus)
The First Parish in Portland, Maine, 425 Congress Street.
The Longfellow Chorus, with
Heidi Kim, soprano soloist
John D. Adams, bass-baritone soloist
Shirley Curry, pianist
Featuring the winners of The Longfellow Chorus 2007-2008 International Composers' Competition
View the
CONCERT PROGRAM
At Home With America's King of Song
Sunday, July 15, 2007
The Longfellow Chorus presented its 200th Birthday Choral Concert in Story Chapel, Mount Auburn Cemetery,
sponsored by The Longfellow National Historic Site
105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Listen to excerpts from the Longfellow music:
The Longfellow Chorus sings the premiere of
SNOW-FLAKES
by Charles Kaufmann
Composed in January, 2006, and premiered on February 25, 2007, this work formed the program basis of the original Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 200th Birthday Choral Concert and later won the second prize at the 28th Annual Ithaca Choral Composition Contest, November, 2007
The women of the Longfellow Chorus sing
HO! WATCHMAN, HO!
by John Liptrot Hatton, 1809-1886
Ho! Watchman, Ho! was composed in London, July, 1868, by John Liptrot Hatton, 1809-1886, for Longfellow's daughters, Alice, Edith and Anne Allegra. The Longfellow text describes a watchman's chant at midnight during midsummer in a Swedish village, 1835.
Maggie Vishneau, soprano; Sarah Johnson, soprano; Eli Dale, alto
Use of the manuscript of Ho! Watchman, Ho!, by John L. Hatton, courtesy Longfellow National Historic Site. Copy or distribution prohibited.
Listen to a complete performance of Excelsior!
by Sourindro Mohun Tagore, 1840-1914
Timothy Neill Johnson,
baritone;
David Pontbriand, sitar
Use of "English Verses Set To Music," Calcutta, 1875, by Sourindro Mohun Tagore, courtesy Longfellow National Historic Site.
Listen to a performance of
Stars of the Summer Night!, 1844
by Benjamin Franklin Baker, 1811-1889
Timothy Neill Johnson, countertenor
Stuart Bailey, tenor
Jim Bishop, baritone
John D. Adams, bassUse of the manuscript, "A Serenade," by Benjamin Franklin Baker, text from Act I, Scene III, "The Spanish Student," 1840, courtesy Longfellow National Historic Site.
The Longfellow Chamber Chorus, August 3, 2008
at Craigie House, Longfellow National Historic Site
Listen to excerpts from this outdoor concert at Longfellow's Cambridge home. The Longfellow Chamber Chorus sings the premieres of
Daybreak by Christopher Wicks
Jugurtha by Daniel Morel
Twilight by William Pardus
(Sarah Johnson, soprano solo), three of the eleven winning entries from the first annual Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition.The Longfellow Chorus is doing such joyful and important work.
- Diana Korzenik, founder and first president of The Friends of Longfellow House
Charles Kaufmann has single-handedly resurrected an interest in Longfellow and how Longfellow's poetry has been set to music in the past; and, in addition, he has inspired composers world-wide to create new music set to Longfellow's poetry.
- Lily Gordon, trustee, Longfellow's Wayside Inn National Historic Site
Read what the Portland Press Herald had to say about
The 201st Birthday Concert
and what the Maine Sunday Telegram said about The Longfellow Chorus
and
The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 200th Birthday Choral Concert
A member of the audience comments about the
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 200th Brthday Choral Concert:
"...yesterday's concert was an ideal combination of occasion, venue and music. Any lover of choral music fortunate enough to be present must be grateful.... And if the singing itself weren't splendid enough in and of itself, the intelligence with which [the program] was put together added to our enjoyment as did [the] erudite and witty pre-concert remarks. And who could have asked for better-written, more informative program notes? Longfellow poems I haven't been able to read for years came to life again. The three settings of The Rainy Day was an especially happy idea."
Faustina Hasse Hodges, 1823-1895
Footprints on the sands of time? Grab your headphones to fully appreciate Albert Melton's 32-foot Bourdon pedal tones: The Longfellow Chorus -- in unison -- sings
A Psalm of Life, 1850,
by Faustina Hasse Hodges, with John Boden, ca. 1820 cor piston horn after Halary, and Shirley Curry, piano.
"Were I really of medium size I would roll myself inside this cover and give you the...sounds of it myself - were I of magic powers I would inspire the pipes of the organ, the wind of the instruments, the many voices of the singers... ."
[Faustina Hasse Hodges letter to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, March 11, 1850. Letters to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, bMs Am 1340.2 (2755). Used by permission of Houghton Library, Harvard University.]
View the
CONCERT PROGRAM
The Longfellow Chorus in St. Luke's Cathedral, Portland, Maine
Links to organizations
that have provided generous support:
About Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Maine Historical Society
The Longfellow National Historic Site
in Cambridge, MA
The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Collection
at the Bowdoin College Library George J. Mitchel Department of Special Collections & Archives
Vocal music chosen from Longfellow settings by:
Elgar, Gounod, Arthur Sullivan, Randall Thompson, Frederic H. Cowen, The Hutchinson Family, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Ciru Pinsuti, John L. Hatton, B. F. Baker, W. R. Dempster, George Whitfield Chadwick, Maharajah Sourindo Mohun Tagore, Clara Angela Macirone, Alicia Adelaide Needham, Amy Marcy Cheney, Faustina Hasse Hodges, Mme. Erminia Rudersdorff, "Miss Davis" and others.
Some works copied from original manuscripts.
Random Quotations from the Longfellow Music (reload the page to see another):
The best known rainy day in the Victorian world occurred in Portland, Maine, USA, in 1841. Here is the view from the Longfellow Garden,Wadsworth-Longfellow House, of the room where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote "The Rainy Day."
The Longfellow 200th Birthday Choral Concert will feature three musical settings (selected from numerous) of The Rainy Day:
John L. Hatton, 1853
Arthur Sullivan, 1867
Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, 1880
Listen to
The Rainy Day, by John Liptrot Hatton, 1808-1886
Maggie Vishneau, soprano; Charles Kaufmann, piano,
recorded in December, 2006, in Longfellow's boyhood church, with a pair of old Radio Shack unidirectional mics.
The Longfellow Chorus sings
THE RAINY DAY, 1867
by Arthur Sullivan, 1842-1900
Photo by Charles Kaufmann
The Dreary Day, Faustina Hodges, 1823-1895
Maggie Vishneau, soprano; Joyce Moulton, pianist
The Rainy Day
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
Left, cover of The Rainy Day, 1873, by Erminia Rudersdorff, 1822-1882.
Right, cover of The Rainy Day, 1883, by Amy Marcy Cheney (Beach), 1867-1944.
[from Music for the Nation, Music Division, Library of Congress]
LONGFELLOW SHEET MUSIC EXHIBIT:
(From a program cover of a performance of S. Coleridge Taylor's "Hiawatha," 1931, Royal Albert Hall.)
The Maine Historical Society will offer a simultaneous exhibit of original Longfellow sheet music from the concert as part of their Longfellow 200 visual art exhibit.
This ca. 1885 poster shows a rare image of 20-year-old actress Fay Templeton in her debut role as Gabriel. Photo by Charles Kaufmann. Original poster property of The Longfellow Chorus, Inc.
ChoralNet: the
Internet Center for Choral Music
Mission Statement of The Longfellow Chorus, Inc.:
"The Corporation shall organize and maintain a chorus to perform and
record vocal and choral settings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry, written from 1840 to the present, shall inspire and commission new vocal and choral
settings of Longfellow's poetry, and shall perform choral music of the
Romantic and immediate post-Romantic eras, ca. 1825-1920."
All materials on this Web-site are protected by copyright of Charles Kaufmann, The Lygonia Press, The Longfellow Chorus, Inc., The Longfellow National Historic Site, Bowdoin College, Houghton Library, Harvard College, The First Parish in Portland, UUA, and/or the Maine Historical Society.
Charles Kaufmann pays homage to Samuel Coleridge-Taylor at his gravesite in Croydon, U. K., south of London. (Click for larger image)
Bio of Charles Kaufmann
Director of The Longfellow Chorus
e-mail: The Longfellow Chorus
The Longfellow Chorus
c/o Charles Kaufmann
P. O. Box 5133
Portland, Maine 04101
Back to The Lygonia Press
Learn about the third annual Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition, 2009-2010.
.The Longfellow Chamber Chorus, Aug. 3, 2008
| NEW: Contribute to The Longfellow Chorus Annual Fund 2008-2009. Are you a Hiawatha, an Evangeline or a Village Blacksmith contributor? Do you simply want to help us get 'up and doing' or lend a hand on a Rainy Day? Choose the amount of your donation based on five levels of sponsorship.The Longfellow ChorusCharles Kaufmann, DirectorNEXT PERFORMANCE The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 203rd Birthday Choral Concert and International Composers Competition February 27 and 28 2010 featuring baritone soloist Robert Honeysucker —[a] robust, penetrating trombone of a voice with a thrilling passion and precision (New York Times, February 3, 2009)—chorus and full orchestra in The Death of Minnehaha, Part II of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Hiawatha cantata. PAST PERFORMANCES: The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 202nd Birthday Choral Concert and International Composers Competition 8 PM, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009, (7:30 Preconcert Composer Discussion) at The First Parish in Portland, UUA and 3 PM, Sunday, March 1, 2009, (2:30 Preconcert Composer Discussion) at First Congregational Church of South Portland with John D. Adams, bass-baritone; Shirley Curry, pianist Featuring winners of the 2008-2009 Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition and a performance of The Black Knight, by Edward Elgar, a lush late-Victorian "symphony for chorus and orchestra." View the CONCERT PROGRAM (Also on the program, settings of Longfellow's poems about children, family and friendship, such as The Children's Hour, and Prescription for a Sore Throat; and can we resist presenting new and even-more-daring Victorian settings of Longfellow's infamous The Rainy Day, including an 1876 example by Portland-born composer John Knowles Paine? Generous material and financial support for The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 202nd Birthday Choral Concert comes in part from The Elgar Society Elgar in Performance Fund. The Longfellow Chamber Chorus at Longfellow National Historic Site Summer Music Festival, 4 PM, August 3, 2008, 105 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA featuring the 11 winning compositions of the Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition The Longfellow Chamber Chorus at Longfellow's Wayside Inn Sunday, March 16, 2008, 4 PM Listen to historic 19th and 20th century vocal settings of Longfellow poems in the inn made famous by Longfellow in "Tales of a Wayside Inn," 1863. (Progam includes winners of the 2007 Longfellow Chorus International Composers' Competition) The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 201st Birthday Choral Concert 3 PM, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008 (2 PM Preconcert Lecture by William D. Pardus) The First Parish in Portland, Maine, 425 Congress Street. The Longfellow Chorus, with Heidi Kim, soprano soloist John D. Adams, bass-baritone soloist Shirley Curry, pianist Featuring the winners of The Longfellow Chorus 2007-2008 International Composers' Competition View the CONCERT PROGRAM At Home With America's King of Song Sunday, July 15, 2007 The Longfellow Chorus presented its 200th Birthday Choral Concert in Story Chapel, Mount Auburn Cemetery, sponsored by The Longfellow National Historic Site 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA Listen to excerpts from the Longfellow music: The Longfellow Chorus sings the premiere of SNOW-FLAKES by Charles Kaufmann Composed in January, 2006, and premiered on February 25, 2007, this work formed the program basis of the original Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 200th Birthday Choral Concert and later won the second prize at the 28th Annual Ithaca Choral Composition Contest, November, 2007 The women of the Longfellow Chorus sing HO! WATCHMAN, HO! by John Liptrot Hatton, 1809-1886 Ho! Watchman, Ho! was composed in London, July, 1868, by John Liptrot Hatton, 1809-1886, for Longfellow's daughters, Alice, Edith and Anne Allegra. The Longfellow text describes a watchman's chant at midnight during midsummer in a Swedish village, 1835. Maggie Vishneau, soprano; Sarah Johnson, soprano; Eli Dale, alto Use of the manuscript of Ho! Watchman, Ho!, by John L. Hatton, courtesy Longfellow National Historic Site. Copy or distribution prohibited.Listen to a complete performance of Excelsior!by Sourindro Mohun Tagore, 1840-1914 Timothy Neill Johnson, baritone; David Pontbriand, sitar Use of "English Verses Set To Music," Calcutta, 1875, by Sourindro Mohun Tagore, courtesy Longfellow National Historic Site.Listen to a performance ofStars of the Summer Night!, 1844 by Benjamin Franklin Baker, 1811-1889 Timothy Neill Johnson, countertenor Stuart Bailey, tenor Jim Bishop, baritone John D. Adams, bass Use of the manuscript, "A Serenade," by Benjamin Franklin Baker, text from Act I, Scene III, "The Spanish Student," 1840, courtesy Longfellow National Historic Site. |
The Longfellow Chamber Chorus, August 3, 2008Listen to excerpts from this outdoor concert at Longfellow's Cambridge home. The Longfellow Chamber Chorus sings the premieres of |
|
Links to organizations that have provided generous support: About Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Maine Historical Society The Longfellow National Historic Site in Cambridge, MA The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Collection at the Bowdoin College Library George J. Mitchel Department of Special Collections & Archives |
Vocal music chosen from Longfellow settings by: Elgar, Gounod, Arthur Sullivan, Randall Thompson, Frederic H. Cowen, The Hutchinson Family, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Ciru Pinsuti, John L. Hatton, B. F. Baker, W. R. Dempster, George Whitfield Chadwick, Maharajah Sourindo Mohun Tagore, Clara Angela Macirone, Alicia Adelaide Needham, Amy Marcy Cheney, Faustina Hasse Hodges, Mme. Erminia Rudersdorff, "Miss Davis" and others. Some works copied from original manuscripts. |
Random Quotations from the Longfellow Music (reload the page to see another): |
|
The best known rainy day in the Victorian world occurred in Portland, Maine, USA, in 1841. Here is the view from the Longfellow Garden,Wadsworth-Longfellow House, of the room where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote "The Rainy Day." The Longfellow 200th Birthday Choral Concert will feature three musical settings (selected from numerous) of The Rainy Day: John L. Hatton, 1853 Arthur Sullivan, 1867 Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, 1880 Listen to The Rainy Day, by John Liptrot Hatton, 1808-1886 Maggie Vishneau, soprano; Charles Kaufmann, piano, recorded in December, 2006, in Longfellow's boyhood church, with a pair of old Radio Shack unidirectional mics. The Longfellow Chorus sings THE RAINY DAY, 1867 by Arthur Sullivan, 1842-1900 |
Photo by Charles Kaufmann |
The Dreary Day, Faustina Hodges, 1823-1895 Maggie Vishneau, soprano; Joyce Moulton, pianist The Rainy Day The day is cold, and dark, and dreary; It rains, and the wind is never weary; The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, But at every gust the dead leaves fall, And the day is dark and dreary. My life is cold, and dark, and dreary; It rains and the wind is never weary; My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past, But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast, And the days are dark and dreary. Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary. |
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Left, cover of The Rainy Day, 1873, by Erminia Rudersdorff, 1822-1882. Right, cover of The Rainy Day, 1883, by Amy Marcy Cheney (Beach), 1867-1944. [from Music for the Nation, Music Division, Library of Congress] |
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LONGFELLOW SHEET MUSIC EXHIBIT: (From a program cover of a performance of S. Coleridge Taylor's "Hiawatha," 1931, Royal Albert Hall.) The Maine Historical Society will offer a simultaneous exhibit of original Longfellow sheet music from the concert as part of their Longfellow 200 visual art exhibit. |
This ca. 1885 poster shows a rare image of 20-year-old actress Fay Templeton in her debut role as Gabriel. Photo by Charles Kaufmann. Original poster property of The Longfellow Chorus, Inc. |
ChoralNet: the Internet Center for Choral Music |
Mission Statement of The Longfellow Chorus, Inc.:
"The Corporation shall organize and maintain a chorus to perform and
record vocal and choral settings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry, written from 1840 to the present, shall inspire and commission new vocal and choral
settings of Longfellow's poetry, and shall perform choral music of the
Romantic and immediate post-Romantic eras, ca. 1825-1920."
All materials on this Web-site are protected by copyright of Charles Kaufmann, The Lygonia Press, The Longfellow Chorus, Inc., The Longfellow National Historic Site, Bowdoin College, Houghton Library, Harvard College, The First Parish in Portland, UUA, and/or the Maine Historical Society.
Charles Kaufmann pays homage to Samuel Coleridge-Taylor at his gravesite in Croydon, U. K., south of London. (Click for larger image)
Bio of Charles Kaufmann
Director of The Longfellow Chorus
e-mail: The Longfellow Chorus
The Longfellow Chorus
c/o Charles Kaufmann
P. O. Box 5133
Portland, Maine 04101
Back to The Lygonia Press