Summer School Chours

Well, Harold Schmidt has done it again. He managed to prepare some 80 or so amateur singers in less than six weeks and put on a superlative concert in Sanders Theatre. The result showed the wisdom of the Summer School administration in disregarding its unwritten rule of not engaging the same choral conductor in successive summers. Schmidt's accomplishment is all the more remarkable in view of the facts that he was beset by unusual handicaps this summer and that he chose works of greater difficulty than in the past.

Last summer Schmidt presented one of the big Brahms works, which constitute the New Testament of choral music. This year he turned to the Old Testament--Handel--and gave us a sizable hunk of the charming serenata Acis and Galatea. The chorus wove lovely, if at times a bit breathy, garlands of sound, ably assisted by soloists Sara-Jane Smith and Antonio Giarraputo.

The chief novelty, though now 31 years old, was a work in which the chorus sang for half an hour without emitting a single word, Vaughan Williams' extraordinary Flos Campi. In this piece the chorus vocalizes on all kinds of vowel sounds and musically sustainable consonants. The composer was not interested in expressing ideas, but rather in evoking moods by exploiting sheer sonority and tonal colors. Occasionally there appeared such typical Vaughan Williams features as chordal parallelism; but mixed in with them were wonderful wailing appoggiaturas and, above all non-Western melodic lines that so characteristically turned back on themselves--which suffused the whole with a subtle, intoxicating exoticism. An important role went to a solo viola, superbly played by Jean Comstock, which expressed itself in a manner always wistful and often melancholy. Vaughan Williams inserted before each section in his manuscript brief verses from the Song of Solomon; and Schmidt hit on the bright idea of having Kenneth Costin narrate these at the appropriate spots in the music. The balance of chorus, viola and piano was kept perfect throughout. The singers were in absolutely peak form, and gave forth luscious sounds such as have not filled Sanders in a long time. The whole performance will remain an unforgettable experience.

For Monteverdi's Tirsi e Clori Schmidt properly used a small body of singers. This so-called "ballo concertato" combined a light madrigal style of the Renaissance with an orchestra (harpsichord and strings) and the more impressive dimensions of the Baroque. Since the piece was originally written to be danced, it abounds in strong, bouncy rhythms. Before the chorus begins to sing, the title characters carry on a spirited dialogue, in which conductor Schmidt displayed his fine tenor voice in company with soprano Jean Lunn.

The group of madrigals and chansons, performed with a semichorus, went very well save for a couple of imprecise entrances. Outstanding was Monteverdi's Dorinda, with its tortured Mannerist harmonies. "The Promise of Living," from Copland's opera The Tender Land (1953), went far better than on the Chorus' telecast, owing to the use of more singers and rehearsals. The opera was not considered a success; but the criticism was aimed at the libretto and dramatic structure. The music was always warm and limpid.

Kirke Mechem's Rules for Behaviour (1955), with piano obbligato, bore up well on second hearing. Written in a crisp, clean Irving Fine manner, it took its text from some amusing rules for children found in a 1787 church in Williamsburg, Virginia. The concert, like the telecast, ended with Vaughan Williams' robust and lusty antiphon Let all the World in Every Corner Sing.

We in Cambridge are accustomed during the winter academic year to the best in choral music and the tops in performance. Conductor Schmidt has maintained these standards and shown that he is just about the best in the business.