Video Information

• Choir: Neoteric Chamber Choir
• Piece: The Silver Swan
• Composer:  Adolphus Hailstork
• Voices:  SATB
• Conductor:  Dane A Carten
• Genres: A cappella, Classical, Contemporary
• Recorded on 5/3/2024 at Our Beautiful Savior's Lutheran Church in Tucson, AZ as part of our "Modern Madrigals" concert.
  
  ​Text:
  
  "The silver swan, who living had no note,
  When death approached, unlocked her silent throat...  moreRecorded on 5/3/2024 at Our Beautiful Savior's Lutheran Church in Tucson, AZ as part of our "Modern Madrigals" concert.
  
  ​Text:
  
  "The silver swan, who living had no note,
  When death approached, unlocked her silent throat;
  Leaning her breast against the reedy shore,
  Thus sang her last, and sang no more:
  'Farewell, all joys; Oh death, come close mine eyes;
  More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise.' "
  
  - Orlando Gibbons (1583 - 1625)
  
  Program notes:
  
  A famous text also famously used by Gibbons himself for his own Madrigal, Hailstork here pays homage to the work's 16th-century roots. An early composition (written while in college) from the proflic composer, Hailstork combined his own language with his love for choral literature to create a piece reminiscent of the Renaissance with a modern flair. The harmonic language harkens back to a hexachordal modality of the 16th century, uses an unaccompanied SATB choir, and employs varied moments of imitative polyphony and homophony. This short work culminates  less