End of an era

Jen is stepping down as MD of Cantabile choir in anticipation of ultimately returning to the UK (when we sell the house, of course...)

This last few weeks saw the choir perform to appreciative audiences at two venues: The Casino, Torrevieja and La Siesta Church. Jen's last concerts as MD - going out on a high, as reported in the Costa Blanca News this Friday.

Well done, all concerned!

Cantamus Cantabile – Joy to the World

Last night, Jen’s choir Cantabile performed a programme of songs for the winter season at the nearby La Siesta church. The accompanist on the piano was Nataliya Khomyak, the MD Jennifer.

The weather had been good during the day and the church community had enjoyed a good fete, accompanied by a brass band. So the evening was not too cold at 7pm, the start time. Indeed, the church was almost filled to capacity with an appreciative audience.

They choir began with their theme song, written by Jen some seven years ago – Cantamus Cantabile. No choral concert would be complete without including something by the prolific John Rutter, so they began with his Dancing Day, a traditional Christmas song he arranged. This was followed by Charles Villiers Stanford’s beautiful setting of Mary Coleridge’s short poem: The Blue Bird. Alicia Muddle sang the solo soprano line.

Over a decade ago, when Jen was in a choir in Lee on Solent, one of her fellow choristers was Peter Wilson, who composed a Requiem as well as many other works for their choir. He gave her permission to use his Here’s a Baby, a Christmas song in the Caribbean style.

Here in Spain we’ve met a host of nationalities all who tend to rub along together. So it seemed apt for Jen to feature a piece by Jay Althouse and Sally Albrecht, I am a Small part of the World. Jan Robson sang the soprano solo.

Two solos followed. The first was written by Francesco Durante, who was born in Naples in 1684 and was considered one of the best church composers of his time; he only ever wrote sacred music. His song Virgin May, Fount of Love is a prayer by a sinner who begs for compassion and grace. Margaret Jennings sang this, Vergin Tutto Amor in Italian.

Pat Yardley chose to sing a traditional Russian song with the rather unassuming title of Polka a la Russe; however, she has renamed it more appropriately as The Little Russian Snow Girl, and she sang it unaccompanied.

Following immediately was Andrew Carter’s setting of a traditional French melody, A Maiden Most Gentle.

John Rutter’s Distant Land was next. Among his hundreds of works are carols, choral pieces, anthems, a Requiem, a Magnificat, a Mass to the Beatles, no less, and a concerto.

American composer John Peterson, as prolific as Rutter, has written over a thousand songs and 35 Cantatas. From his Christmas Cantata, Born a King, the choir sang Born a King, with Pat Yardley singing the introduction, and this was followed immediately by his Hail to Thee.

 
Two more solos followed: the prayer Ave Maria from Verdi’s Otello, sung by Alicia Muddle, and then La Vergine degli Angeli from Verdi’s La Forza del Destino was sung by Jennifer.

Then the choir sang a piece by American musical director and teacher Michael Clawson, expertly and intriguingly combining two pieces: The First Noel and Pachelbel’s Canon (which has sold over 600,000 copies).

Maintaining the winter ambiance, the choir sang Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind by John Purifoy and The Snow, a beautiful piece written by Sir Edward Elgar to words by his wife Alice.

Back in 2008, Jen was asked to write a carol for Cantabile. Quite a task; which part of the Christmas Story should she go for, it’s all so wonderful: the annunciation, no room at the inn, shepherds, ox and ass, wise men, the flight into Egypt? Too hard to choose, so she opted for the whole thing: Nativity!

The concert concluded with Handel’s Joy to the World, also sung by the audience.

There was a retiring collection for the upkeep of the church.

 
An excellent night for all concerned.

 

 

 

Music speaks to all nations

Here on the Costa Blanca we’re blessed with many choirs and bands, whether run by Spanish or expat nationalities. My wife Jennifer’s choir Cantabile has shared the stage with Ukrainian singers and dancers, Mexican ballet, Scottish pipers and drummers, Welsh choirs and Spanish guitarists. Few local choirs sing any songs in the language of their national hosts, though Cantabile does – a couple even penned by Jennifer. At one time the choir had a Ukrainian pianist and their common language had to be Spanish! A few weeks ago we enjoyed an a cappella concert of four young Ukrainian singers, offering songs in their own language, Spanish and English.

This afternoon we both attended a concert in the local church provided by the Danish choir Lyngby Kammerkor (Lyngby Chamber Choir from Copenhagen). The Danish choir sang five songs in English (Elgar, Purcell, Stanford, Bennett and Dowland), ten songs in Danish (including Carl Nielsen and Schultz) and three in Swedish. They sang a cappella, apart from the last three, accompanied on piano by Antonio Guillén. The conductor was Frank Sylvan. The choir has also toured to Paris and Berlin.

 

My Danish and Swedish are a bit rusty (!) but I enjoyed the event. Hearing songs in a foreign language is obviously enhanced if you can understand the words, but the clear tone and musicality transcends linguistic barriers; otherwise, the most famous Italian operas wouldn’t have become so famous, I suspect.

The concert concluded with Lars Edlund’s ‘Ant han dansa med mej’ – which was, roughly, about fifteen Finnish men who attempted to court a woman on Gotland, Sweden’s largest island in the Baltic Sea; she didn’t fancy any of these chaps and repelled their advances with axe, scythe and knife, ultimately cutting up all of them into little pieces. The choir particularly enjoyed singing this song! There was an encore to compensate for the blood and gore, all about peace…

‘Music has charms to sooth a savage breast.’ – Congreve, The Mourning Bride (1697)

Blog guest - Jennifer Morton - I ode her this

From time to time, I’ll be featuring blog guests with the name Morton. This stemmed from my discovery of all those Mortons and Moretons on HMS Victory at the battle of Trafalgar (see the end of my post here )

First up, then, close to home, is Jennifer, my wife of forty years.  She sold the following to The Coastal Press here in Spain and it was published in the September 2005 edition. I’ve edited the first line of the introduction only, which referred to the 400^th anniversary of the publication of Don Quixote.

AN ODE TO DON QUIJOTE

Jennifer Morton

Don Quixote - Wiki-common 

It is 409 years since the publication of Part I of Don Quixote. Perhaps this offering may be of interest, particularly to those who have an understanding of some Spanish and haven’t read the book – 672 pages in Spanish, 765 pages in English. (Part II of Don Quixote didn’t appear until 1615). The following macaronic poem briefly tells the famous story.

Macaronic poetry was coined in the sixteenth century by the Italian poet Teofilo Folengo. He was referring to a kind of burlesque verse he invented in which Italian words were mixed in with Latin ones for comic effect. Macaronic as a word first appeared in English a century later and expanded its scope to refer to any form of verse in which two or more languages were mixed together.

There lived a man in days of yore, Quijote was his nombre,

He was a very gallant and inestimable hombre.

To while his time he read great tomes of noble knights andantes,

Of quarrels, battles, challenges ’gainst moros and gigantes.

He read by day and night until his reason was perdido;

But none could turn him from his quest for he was decidido

To roam the world and right all wrongs and seek for aventuras.

His friends, the barber and the priest, avowed this was locura.

“We'll burn his books!” They burned his books. It made no diferencia;

He'd rescue damsels in distress and hang the consecuencias!
 
He cleaned his armour till it shone, a helm, a shield, a lanza,
And took to squire a village-man, by name of Sancho Panza.
 
His nag, bare flesh and bones, but brave, he dubbed him Rocinante.
 “My trusty steed!” he cried, “With you, I’ll conquer mil gigantes!”
 
Now who could be the lady fair for knight so muy famoso,
But Dulcinea? A country lass who hailed from El Toboso.
 
And so, our bold, intrepid knight, Quijote, and his Sancho
Set out ere dawn one summer's day, ‘cross plains of broad La Mancha.
 
With giants he fought, though they were nought but sails of a molino.
A barber’s basin chanced he by, the Helmet of Mambrino.
 
More giants in dreams he fought with sword, which really made him angry;
But, waking, found he'd pierced some sacks of wine which flowed like sangre!

Why masters beat their serving boys, he could not comprender;

And wretches chained to slave in galleys rough, he'd defender.
 
Revenge, alas, was sweet but short, his efforts all en vano,
For those he freed abused him, stoned and scorned our good cristiano.
 
And knights come to the end of days, and one morn on the playa
The White Moon Knight approached him and did shout, “Your Dulcinea”
 
“Is not as fair as my lady!” Our Don, with face severo,
Could scarce believe the arrogance of this brash caballero!
 
The challenge he accepts. They charge; White Moon unseats our Don.
“My honour’s slain, so kill me now!” He bares his corazon!
 
“No, Sir Knight! I'm content with this! Dulcinea is muy hermosa!
But you must retire, give up your arms, go home, return to your casa!”
 
With sorrowful countenance, Don Quijote confessed he had been muy loco.
But now he was sane and smiled again; but knew that his time was poco.
 
He made his peace with Sancho, his niece, the curate, the barber, and then
He sighed one last sigh and en lágrimas died, and went to his Maker. Amén!
 
Vocabulario
Nombre – name
Hombre – man
Andantes – walking
Moros – moors
Gigantes – giants
Perdido – lost
Decidido – decided
Locura – madness
Lanza – lance
Muy famoso – very famous
Molino – windmill
Sangre – blood
Comprender – understand
Defender – defend
Cristiano – christian
Playa – beach
Severo – severe
Caballero – knight
Corazón – heart
Hermosa – beautiful
Casa – house
Muy loco – very mad
Poco – little, few
En lágrimas – in tears

Bio
Jennifer attended Bolton Girls' School and then Newcastle University, obtaining her degree in Spanish. She met Nik February, 1973 and they were married one year to the day after. Nik was in the Royal Navy and he was drafted to Malta, where they both stayed for 18 months, returning to UK for the birth of their daughter Hannah in 1976. Jennifer taught history, music, French and Spanish in schools then became a college lecturer in Spanish. She and Nik emigrated to Spain in 2003 where she soon took up singing in choirs and became the MD of the ladies' choir Cantabile in 2007. She has completed a novel, The Wells Are Dry, a romantic thriller set in contemporary Spain and is looking for a publisher or agent for that. When not preparing for choir performances, she writes poetry and short stories and has embarked on a historical novel set in 10th Century Spain.

A Musical Journey to Far-Away Places

It was an evening when I was exceedingly proud of Jen, my wife (I’m always proud of her many accomplishments, but this night was right up there with some of the best memories - shsh, she doesn't know I'm writing this...).

Saturday, May 18, at Torrevieja’s Palacio de la Musica, the choir Cantabile – 21 ladies – sang their hearts out concerning a ‘Musical journey to far-flung places’, accompanied by Ukranian pianist Nataliya Khomyak and conducted by Jen, their MD.

 

The Narrators were Kay Reeves in English and Jen Morton in Spanish.

The first half began in: the Americas:

1492 – Vangelis/ words & arr. J. Morton
Land of the Silver Birch – trad. Canadian
Battle Hymn of the Republic – Julia Ward Howe/arr. J. Morton
Solo: Pat Yardley: Georgia on My Mind – Hoagy Carmichael
Flor Habanera – words & music: Jennifer Morton

Then on to the Far East:

Faraway Places – Joan Whitney & Alex Kramer
Solo: Phyl Webb: On the Road to Mandalay – Oley Speaks
Love is a Many-Splendoured Thing – Webster/Fain

Followed by the Pacific, New Zealand and Africa

Hine e Hine – New Zealand folk/ arr. J. Morton
Some Enchanted Evening – from ‘South Pacific’ – Rodgers & Hammerstein
Dry Your Tears, Africa – theme from film ‘Amistad’ – John Williams

The second half began with by river and by sea:

The Sea (La Mer) – Charles Trenet/ arr. J. Morton
Solo: Alicia Muddle: Ships of Arcady – Michael Head
River of Dreams – Vivaldi/ arr. J. Morton
Let the River Run – theme from film ‘Working Girl’ – Carly Simon

 
And yet further onwards, to the moon and beyond into outer space:
Solo: Jen Morton: Rusalka’s Song to the Moon – Dvorak
Nataliya Khomyak: Moonlight Sonata: 1^st movement – Beethoven
Star Trek: First Contact theme – Jerry Goldsmith/words & arr. J. Morton
 
Then, finally, coming home safely at last to great rejoicing:
Pilgrims’ Chorus – from ‘Tannhauser’ – Wagner
Hava Nagila  trad. Hassidic; arr. Robert Schultz/arr. J. Morton
Going Home – Dvorak
 
The concert was very well attended and the choir received a great deal of deserving and appreciative applause and even a few bravos! The considerable collection at the end, over 200 euros, was donated to ‘Age Concern’.

I was proud to hear again Jen’s haunting solo, but also to listen to her many arrangements and specifically her own composition, Flor Habanera and the lyrics she wrote for the First Contact theme.

www.cantabilesingers.es

Wishing you a happy and peaceful Christmas!

Dateline Friday, December 14 – Town Hall square, Torrevieja, Costa Blanca, Spain


This was the tenth annual Christmas Carols in the Square event.

My wife Jennifer and I, along with many members of her choir, Cantabile (above), joined other choirs and citizens from the area to sing thirteen carols in front of the floodlit church and next to the splendid Belen diorama. Included were two Spanish carols, ‘Campana Sobre Campana’ and ‘Fum, fum, fum’. The music was provided by The Phoenix Concert Band.

Lots of Christmas hats and antlers were in evidence! A census wasn’t taken, but we reckon there were Spanish, English, Welsh, Scottish, Belgian, German, Dutch, Ukranian, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian in attendance to celebrate the nativity. Also present, representatives from the town hall and the Salt Queen and her Dama, Nuria Zaragoza and Elsa Martinez respectively (below).

The collection amassed €985 for the local charity Alimentos Solidarios, which provides meals for those in need.


There was no religious message, save that implicit in the nativity; Mass followed for those who wished to attend.

The international community of Torrevieja and environs is a beacon for co-existence among all peoples. Yet again it was wonderful to be a part of this event. The world is a better place than we sometimes wonder when we learn about the horrors and destruction, natural and man-made.