12/05/2023
TONIGHT! Don’t miss the WORLD PREMIERE of Marc-André Bougie’s Magnificat & Mozart Mass! The concert will be held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church and will begin at 7:00 PM (Free admission). This is your chance to hear world-class musicians along with members of the Texarkana Regional Chorale and Orchestra perform a historically significant concert that will be performed in New York later this year. Please read the notes below from the conductor and TC music professor, Marc-André Bougie, and view the attached poster for more information.
Dear Friends –
Welcome to our Magnificat concert! This event, perhaps more than any other program this season, is filled with historical significance. For one, it is a celebration of my 20th season as Music Director & Conductor for the Texarkana Regional Chorale, alongside pianist and friend Mary Scott Smith. Through our two decades together, we have toured regionally, nationally, and internationally, collaborated with living composers, performed their music, and put together countless terrific concerts for all to enjoy.
Tonight, it is also the preview performance for our upcoming New York concert. The next time we will be singing these two pieces will be on the Perelman Stage of Carnegie Hall on March 23, 2024! Concerts in such grand venues have established TRC as a national leader in choral singing. These events allow us to truly act as Texarkana’s Musical Ambassadors – representing our community beyond our region.
Of significance too this evening is the world premiere of my new Magnificat. Performing a large-scale choral-orchestral composition for the first time is always a huge undertaking, and I am grateful to all involved for putting the time into learning the piece and bringing it to life tonight. Of coincidental interest, the first program I conducted with TRC was Mozart’s Coronation Mass back in November 2004.
This is also a year of festivities for our community, as Texarkana celebrates its sesquicentennial this week. For this momentous occasion, this program book – signed by all participants – as well as a full score of the Magnificat, a concert recording, and pictures of the event will be included in the time capsule to be buried downtown this coming Friday, December 8. In fifty years from now, when the capsule is opened, future Texarkanians will relive what we experienced tonight. I pray that I can be there then – as a 97 year-young resident!
Many thanks to all for being here this evening and allowing us to share our gifts and talents with you. I would ask all who can afford it to please continue supporting us financially. One of my primary goals since starting my work in Texarkana in 2004 has been to bring the great canon of Classical music to the masses – with as little financial obstacles as possible. This music is for everyone, and everybody should be able to experience it live. Timeless beauty is above all of us, and being in its presence forces us to look up to it, setting our glares away from each other and our problems, if only for a few moments. It reminds us of the Eternal, the sacred source of all beauty.
In closing, I want to share my deepest appreciation for Rev. Justin S. Braun, Pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Rev. Michael J. Adams, Pastor Emeritus, and the whole family of Sacred Heart for their support of great sacred music in our parish and community. Their enthusiasm and willingness to go above and beyond to share sacred beauty with all is a gift to all in our region.
With sincere gratitude, Marc-André
About Coronation Mass
Mozart composed his Coronation Mass for the Cathedral of Salzburg in 1779. The composer was 23 at the time and returning to his native city from a European tour. It is presumed that the premiere of the work happened on Easter Sunday, April 4, 1779.
The composition is set in the traditional Latin format, with all prayers of the ordinary of the Mass set to music. Of all the Masses that Mozart wrote, this setting is probably the most popular one. Its colorful melodies, accessible vocal writing, and overall joyful spirit have helped secure a place of choice for this work in the great Classical sacred repertoire. The title Coronation was given to the piece in the early 19th century when it became a favorite Mass setting in the Viennese Imperial Court. The Mass was also performed for the coronation of Emperor Francis II as Holy Roman Emperor in 1792, adding to the significance of its title. Mozart had already passed away by then, but his music lived on.
About Magnificat
The conception of Magnificat came to me in early 2022 as we were about to perform the Carnegie Hall premiere of my Requiem in March of that year. Right after the concert, Maestro Peter Tiboris and MidAmerica Productions honored me with the title of Honorary Composer and Conductor for the company. I reached out to them shortly thereafter to discuss this new project I was working on and suggested a New York premiere in 2024. The offer was accepted, and a more in-depth thematic work of the music began.
The bulk of the composition happened in 2023, following a survey of various Magnificat pieces from the masters. I wanted to create an original musical setting of the text, but also to follow in the footsteps of the great minds who had set the prayer to the music through generations.
The Magnificat prayer is extracted from the Gospel of Luke, and traditionally referred to as the Canticle of Mary. The prayer speaks of Mary’s yes to God, and of her exultant spirit as she had been the chosen to carry the Son of God. The prayer also references the whole of salvation history leading to the birth of the Messiah. For this reason, we will begin our performance of the piece tonight with a reading of the genealogy of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew. The scripture will lead directly into the glorious song of praise of Mary.
I divided the piece into seven movements, including the insertion of the Nunc dimittis (Canticle of Simeon) right before the final doxology (Gloria Patri). This prayer, sung by the solo baritone in English at that point in the piece to create a direct connection with the audience, speaks of old Simeon who encounters the newborn Messiah, and asked to be dismissed in peace as his eyes have finally set on the promised one of Israel.
The first movement, Magnificat, is an exultant and joyful attempt to convey the excitement of Mary and of the infant in the womb. It leads into the more introspective Quia respexit set for solo soprano, with choral interjections. Follows the Et misericordia/Fecit potentiam, set as a two-sided contrasting unit, with a pensive first half, and an intense fugal second section. Esurientes follows, set exclusively for solo soprano. With Sicut locutus est, the choir is brought back, making way for the glorious entrance of the solo baritone in Lord, now dismiss your servant. At the end of the solo, an orchestral crescendo leads to the re-entry of the chorus for the final peroration of the composition: Gloria Patri. The two soloists join in that exultant conclusion as the opening joyous theme is sounded anew.
The composition is dedicated to Jimmie Stephens & Karin Morrow – two very dear friends from the Chorale without whom not much of this would happen. I pray that this dedication brings about the recognition that they deserve for their service to music in our community.
