by Marvin J. Ward

Holyoke, MA, 11 November 2007.  For the third annual Schubertiad presented in the Wistariahurst Museum’s Music Room here this afternoon, organizer and host David Perkins chose to feature, for the vocal works on the program, some part-songs for male chorus.

The term was coined by a friend of Franz Schubert for the musical events that the composer organized in the homes of patrons and friends to present some of his works, often including newly written ones.  Perkins seeks in these programs to imitate and emulate the composer’s predecessor to the salon performances popular in the late 19th century.  The ambiance was reputedly one of pleasant entertainment with a variety of good music as well as food and drink.  This is indeed what was served up, in spite of the need to rearrange the planned program a bit due to the scheduled lead tenor soloist’s having come down with laryngitis. The musicians dressed in attire vaguely suggestive of the period to help create the atmosphere.  

Most of Schubert’s huge output was unpublished during his brief lifetime, and unperformed in public.  One of the major exceptions was the songs for male chorus, which were popular and somewhat frequently performed.  Today, they are rather mostly ignored in favor of the lieder.  Examples opened and closed each half of the program (with refreshments served during the intermission), and there was a pair as the centerpiece of the 1st half.  The selection offered a good representative variety.

The interspersed piano and chamber works were among the chestnuts of the Schubert repertoire: the Impromptu in c, Op. 90/1, D899, the Moment Musical in Ab, Op. 94/2, D. 780, the violin sonatina in D, D. 384, and the Adagio “Notturno” in Eb, D. 897.   Perkins sang 3 solo lieder, also mostly well-known ones.

The chorus consisted of tenors Fred Cheyette, Barry Holstein, M. Patrick Kane, Mark Mulligan and Arend Sluis, and basses Charles Moran, Perkins, Tom Schwab, Dan Velleman, and Terry Ward.  The sole female vocalist on the program was mezzo-soprano Jane Hanson, who provided the solo work with the chorus in “Ständchen”.  This is the original version; Schubert rewrote it for women’s chorus afterwards, and that version appeared on the 1st Schubertiad program in ’05.

Pianists were Edward Rosser and Monica Jakuc Leverett, the former accompanying the chorus and playing the Moment Musical.  Jakuc Leverett played the Impromptu, which she characterized as a “10-minute Winterreise for solo piano,” and which was added to the program to replace the material the suddenly voiceless tenor was to have sung, and in the 2 chamber pieces with violinist Sarah Briggs Cornelius and cellist Volcy Pelletier.

Although all the members of the chorus are amateurs, the quality of the vocal work was high.   There was some fine solo work by Mulligan in several of the pieces.  Perkins acquitted himself well in the lieder also.  The instrumentalists, professionals all, did splendid work.  The 4-foot Yamaha, well suited to the intimate space, served the music well, too.  Jakuc Leverett owns a Graf replica from Schubert’s time; it would have been wonderful to have heard it in the program and in this space.

The printed program, on card stock, was simple but elegant.  It lacked Op. and D. numbers, however.  Of course, the latter didn’t exist when Schubert was the organizer and host, but this bow to period authenticity might better have been sacrificed in the interest of an audience member who, having enjoyed it in the performance, wished to seek a recording or the score of a piece heard.  Texts and translations were also provided, carefully printed so no page turning was necessary during a song.