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UPCOMING EVENTS
JANUARY 28, 2025
Georgia College and State University
February 22-23, 2025
Crosstown Arts of Memphis
The Beethoven Club of Memphis
Songs of
Sunshine, Love, Conflict, and Death
Featuring new music for voices and piano
with the 1716 Collective of the University of North Georgia
program
for Mothers
by David R. Peoples
Benjamin Schoening, lyric baritone; David Peoples, piano
3. To My Mother
4. My Mother
Opera Game: 1858 Paris
by David R. Peoples (world premiere)
Yin Yue, soprano; Benjamin Schoening, lyric baritone;
David Peoples, piano, percussion, electronics
Tune up and Overture
Developmentation
What the huh and oh-oh
Castling
Queenicide
Checkmate and Coda
9 Sunrises and a Moonrise
by David R. Peoples (world premiere)
Yin Yue, soprano; David Peoples, piano
The morning steals upon the night
A heavy fog this morning
But I will sing of thy power
Good morning!
I’ll tell you how the sun rose
Of this you shall die
I often looked at that picture
And when the friendly sunshine smil’d
The sunrise wakes the lark to sing
A Final Year for President Lincoln
by David R. Peoples
Benjamin Schoening, lyric baritone and percussion;
David Peoples, piano, narrator, percussion, and electronics;
Yin Yue, narrator;
Campaign Song 1864: McClellan
Campaign Song 1864: Shout for Lincoln
Hey Sherman ‘Go as you purpose’ from your pal - Ulysses S. Grant’
The Thirteenth Amendment
Surrender at Appomattox
Assassination
He is Gone
The Players
The fanciest artiste of the noble five lines, Yue Yin is a master huntress of the quintupled beam. She has been the empress of color, sister and keeper to non other than the Yellow Sea, the Marina Bay, the River Thames, Monroe Lake, Bard Lake, and presently—Lake Lanier. A scholar of the coloraturanistic arts, she is a soprano that has blown the flames from many opera house candelabras. Her song can only be described as the songs of heaven, the celestial bearing of a thousand angels.
The depths of hell doth shake its knees at the heavenly-touched breath of lyric baritone Benjamin Schoening. He is a favorite son of the Sconnie Nation - in his mighty youth, he captained a thousand badgers and spat in the eyes of Old Man Winter. Doctor and commander of the musical arts, Schoening will say what cannot be said with pillars of words, calling down vines of gold from heaven with the simple charm of his poetic gorget - slaying discordant demons to the delight and fascination of the masses.
A great mystery lies in his tune-mastering quill. David R. Peoples writes with a ginger ale in hand on a balcony surrounded by forest. It’s from Flowery Branch, Georgia, surrounded by nature, that all his compositions begin before being released into and around the world. He is an ol’ rusty guts that would lay down the knife and fork for any of his kin. A champion of the finer tunes, he has ne’er associated with whooperups or had a tune take the old cow to the butcher.
in memoriam
We'll sing the words or sayings of the following dead people
Random 19th Century Definitions
Webster's Dictionary 1828:
"BAR'YTONE, noun In music, a male voice, the compass of which partakes of the common base and the tenor, but which does not descend so low as the one, nor rise as high as the other."
"COLORATURE, noun In music, all manner of variations, trills, etc., intended to make a song agreeable."
"MUSIC, noun 4. The art of combining sounds in a manner to please the ear. This is practical music or composition.
"OBSTINATE, adjective [Latin obstinatus.] 1. Stubborn; pertinaciously adhering to an opinion or purpose; fixed firmly in resolution; not yielding to reason, arguments or other means."
"SONG, noun 1. In general, that which is sung or uttered with musical modulations of the voice, whether of the human voice or that of a bird."
"VOICE, noun [Latin vox; voco. The sense of the verb is to throw, to drive out sound; and voice is that which is driven out.] 1. Sound or audible noise uttered by the mouth, either of human beings or of other animals. We say, the voice of a man is loud or clear; the voice of a woman is soft or musical; the voice of a dog is loud or harsh; the voice of a bird is sweet or melodious. The voice of human beings is articulate; that of beasts, inarticulate. The voices of men are different, and when uttered together, are often dissonant."
If you have made it this far, we honor your commitment, curiosity, and bravery. We would buy you a sausage and a drink - but mind you, we are sometimes slightly starving musicians. As consolation, please accept our certificate for partially looking at our site.
Dr. Genuine Lee Superior, PhD
Some words of endorsement from an imagined professor of the ultimate academic badassery.
"You will find in these program notes treasures written for only the highest caliber of the educated person. They will satiate the curious and enlighten the dolt. These notes will provoke the mind with significant interconnections to society, history, art, philosophy, affairs of state, technical theoretical jargon, occasional outbursts of emotionality, fluffified made up words with improperly used suffixes, narratives that avail to unrelated tangents, and any other form of chaos the composer deems appropriate.
There will be a multiple choice test on these notes the next time we meet. None of the answers will be correct, answer the most correct responses. Class is dismissed."
Dr. Superior
FOR MOTHERS
This cycle was originally composed in 2018 for Benjamin Schoening. Musically, the accompaniments are heavily ostinato based - obstinately repeating the same rhythmical ideas over and over and over and over again and the baritone sings some endearing and pleasant melodies (as long as he is in a good mood). This piece invites the listener to consider the emotional connections old dead people have said about their own mothers - or people they consider to have filled that role. There are moments of love, melancholy, excitement, and chill.
Movement 3 is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. It's a poem dedicated to mothers. He references different people who filled the role of a mother to him. He has no mention to his mother (he was 2 when she died), but he was deliberate in setting the poem to the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet, a possible call to his mother who was an actress by trade and performed a lot of Shakespeare.
Movement 4 is a jazzy thing of sorts. A prominent part of jazz can be heard at the drums and the swingified pattern of the spang-a-langing ride cymbal, which is translated into the music. The text is interesting, it narrates the roles of a mother nurturing and caring but also narrates some of death and how to entreat your old and dying mother. I chose two chords of unique and distant origins to paint these polarizing concepts. If you want to know, the music flips back and forth between G mixolydian and D Locrian - or a fancy-pants theorist could just say I am in C minor the whole time with the Dominant 7 chord and a super tonic half diminished - but never arriving at a tonic chord (ouch and ewwww). To be honest, and these days, I like the idea that the music just has two chords that are a third away and two notes are in common between the chords. Or, that, if you remove the chordal extensions the music switches from a major chord to the relative minor of the major one half step higher. But who cares, just listen and enjoy.
OPERA GAME: 1858 PARIS
So, this is a musical setting of one of the most popular chess matches. The vocalists narrate the movement of the chess pieces, each voice represents the respective movement of black or white pieces.
Where: Paris France in an opera house during an opera performance. They played in a private opera box and paid no attention to what opera was being performed (some of the audience for the match say it was either Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' or Bellini's 'Norma').
Winner: Paul Morphy at the white pieces. Morphy, an American, was a wiz at chess and was in residency in Europe beating the crap out of Europeans on the chess board. This lasted for several years... The reputation of which led to difficulty finding opponents (the United States raised the ante - offering large sums of money if an opponent would challenge and beat this chess wizard). While suffering infectious diarrhea, Morphy sought treatment of the day - resulting in leeches sucking a lot of blood out of his system. Adolf Anderssen (a German master and considered the world champion) thought he could beat a now lifeless Morphy; despite his best laid plans, Anderssen got the poop knocked out of him by Morphy (while he was lying in his bed). Eventually, the American returned home and endeavored to establish himself as a lawyer (he tried unsuccessfully after serving in the Civil War). He met his demise after exercising (he went for a vigorous walk and then dipped into a bath tub with water too cold, resulting in a stroke).
Losers: Karl II, Duke of Brunswick and the Comte Isouard de Vauvenargues (an aristocrat) both playing the black pieces. We don't know much about Count Isouard, but the Duke led an interesting life. His father was very involved with the military, before his father faced Napoleon's forces he took his children to England - where Karl II was raised (because Napoleon's forces gunned down Karl on the battlefield). Off the chess board, Karl II was a loser - losing his rightful place as a ruler to his younger brother (despite diplomatic and physical attempts to depose his brother, he was actually pressed and had to retreat from an angry mob of rock throwers). He maintained the title of 'Exiled Ruling Prince,' but he had no followers to follow him. He also spent a lot of time in the courtrooms, claiming libel by the presses - but he was quite the loser there too. In fact, as Google grew the Duke's failed attempts resulted in the ability to share things on the internet without financially liability (lawyers used the Duke's failed attempts to sue the presses for legal defense), despite claims of historical liability against Google. We can say he did win, though, after his death a big statue was made of him (because he willed it so with his royal coffers). Thank goodness a giant hunk of metal memorializes this champion of losing.
Checkmate! This game is known for the clever use of developing the pieces, sacrificing valuable players, and building opponents confidence while sneaking in to capture the king. Though, I have a couple of other takeaways. (1) You could play chess during a 3-hour long opera, (2) you could play chess during a 3-hour long opera and not be side-eyed judged or kicked out, and (3) you could play chess during a 3-hour long performance and not be shot by one of the performers.
9 SUNRISES AND A MOONRISE
This piece was originally composed for Yue Yin, a Coloratura Soprano. This song cycle is a collection of musical pieces using the words and descriptions of sunrises from a collective of dead poets and historical figures. It's not so much that sunshine is so sun-shiny-tastic, it's more about the different perspectives of the morning and sunshine. We'll provide the text of the different movements - each with their unique perspective. Enjoy themes of love and morning resoluteness. Fear the murderous armies that will lay waste to children and their families for being in the wrong place. Forget your worries to the entrancing song of the nightingale at the beauty of a solemn moonrise.
The morning steals upon the night, Melting the darkness. from 'The Tempest'
William Shakespeare
A heavy fog this morning prevented our setting out before seven o'clock. At nine I took two men and walked on the L.S. I crossed three beautiful streams of running water heading into the prairies. On those streams the land very fine, covered with pea vine and rich weed.
William Clark
But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.
Psalm 59
Good Morning, on July 7. My thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved I can only live wholly with you or not at all.
Ludwig van Beethoven
I’ll tell you how the Sun rose – A Ribbon at a time – The Steeples swam in Amethyst – The news, like Squirrels, ran – The Hills untied their Bonnets – The Bobolinks – begun – Then I said softly to myself – “That must have been the Sun”!
Emily Dickenson
However! I warn you that if the morning sunrays fall upon you and your children within the borders of this land, you shall die! These are undeniable, unalterable words.
Euripides
I have often looked at that picture behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.
Benjamin Franklin
And, when the friendly sunshine smil’d, And she would mark the opening skies, I saw no Heaven—but in her eyes.
Edgar Allan Poe
The sunrise wakes the lark to sing, The moonrise wakes the nightingale. Come darkness, moonrise, every thing That is so silent, sweet, and pale: Come, so ye wake the nightingale.
Make haste to mount, thou wistful moon, Make haste to wake the nightingale: Let silence set the world in tune To hearken to that wordless tale Which warbles from the nightingale
O herald skylark, stay thy flight One moment, for a nightingale Floods us with sorrow and delight. To-morrow thou shalt hoist the sail; Leave us to-night the nightingale.
Christina Rosetti
A FINAL YEAR FOR PRESIDENT LINCOLN
This piece was set for the 'A Little Night-Hawk Music' series at the University of North Georgia. Everything here in this concert is connected.
The Mothers cycle used Poe, Lincoln, and Rosetti. Quotes that I wanted to use, but didn't use on the Mothers cycle found their way into the Sunshine cycle. The Poe quote was the first piece composed in the Sunrise cycle and the Rosetti poem was the second piece composed.
I also, unsuccessfully found much on European quotes about Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. So, it was interesting to discover the chess opera match.
On to the Lincoln cycle...
Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." These words were set in the for Mothers cycle. I also have a piece composed for a mezzo and brass quartet - Songs of the Hopefuls. Hopefuls was a fun piece using the campaign songs of Antebellum USA - hopefuls because it was the songs written for losers of presidential elections. So I began the journey of the Final Year cycle with a new musical setting of a campaign song of the loser of the 1864 election, George McClellan.
The rest of the cycle progressed with settings of different events in the last year of life of President Lincoln, from Constitutional amendments to the burning down of Georgia to his assassination.
The piece became the anchor for a larger cycle (a cycle within the cycle) with different pieces depicting events of Lincoln's last year with instrumental settings.
The larger cycle is set to release on April 15, 2025 - the 160th anniversary of Lincoln's death. More information on that album release can be discovered at Space Bear Records.
in memoriam, part 2
61 PROMO POSTERS
YOU HAVE REACHED
the END of the LINE
PARTY ON!
Ha! Not Yet.
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