
date: August 3, 1994
We were commissioned by the Elora Festival to produce a programme depicting the history of the town from the early nineteenth century. In the concert’s first half, narrative extracts from contemporary sources carried us through the first 150 years or so. The framework of the second half was provided by a specially written piece of doggerel which we entitled “The Ballad of Elora”; it told the more recent history of the town and drew on the personalities chiefly responsible for the establishment of the Festival. By far the bulk of the music performed was by Canadian composers. The concert ended in grand style with Adams’s “The Holy City”, sung by soloists, choir and audience (who had been expertly rehearsed by the conductor at the end of the intermission).
Song | Artist | Composer | Poet |
---|---|---|---|
Oh! can you leave your native land? – A Canadian Song | Braun, Russell, baritone; Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Scottish folksong | Moodie, Susanna |
An die Natur, D372 | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Schubert, Franz | Stolberg, Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg- |
Our old Canadian home | Braun, Russell, baritone; Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Woodlawn, C.P. | anon. |
Scots wha hae wi’ Wallace bled (Three Burns Songs) | Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Scottish folksong, arr. Beckwith, John | Burns, Robert |
Ae fond kiss (Three Burns Songs) | Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Scottish folksong, arr. Beckwith, John | Burns, Robert |
Auld lang syne (Three Burns Songs) | Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Scottish folksong, arr. Beckwith, John | Burns, Robert |
The Water Mill (Four Poems by Fredegond Shove) | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Vaughan Williams, Ralph | Shove, Fredegond |
The Canadian Sleigh Song | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Braun, Russell, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Russell, Henry | Mackay, Charles |
Brilliant Contredanse and Polka | Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Strathy, George | n/a |
Grenadier | Braun, Russell, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Morawetz, Oskar | Housman, Alfred Edward |
Ma, I miss your apple pie | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Braun, Russell, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Lombardo, Carmen / Loeb, John Jacob | Lombardo, Carmen / Loeb, John Jacob |
When your boy comes back to you | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Thompson, Gordon V. | Thompson, Gordon V. |
Oh! can you leave your native land? – A Canadian Song (Contrasts) | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Braun, Russell, baritone; Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Holman, Derek | Moodie, Susanna |
My jolly shantyboy – Ontario lumbermen’s song (Contrasts) | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Braun, Russell, baritone; Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Holman, Derek | anon. |
Autumn (Contrasts) | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Braun, Russell, baritone; Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Holman, Derek | Scott, Duncan Campbell |
This Canada of ours | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Braun, Russell, baritone; Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Ridout, Elizabeth | Edgar, James |
Lead, kindly light | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Braun, Russell, baritone; Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ubukata, Bruce, organ | Harriss, Charles A.E. | Newman, John Henry |
The Volunteer Organist | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ralls, Stephen, piano; Ubukata, Bruce, organ | Spaulding, George | Gray, William B. |
The Wings of Song | Braun, Russell, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Warren, Samuel P. | Heine, Heinrich, trans. anon. |
On Wings of Steel: Wheeling Song | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Braun, Russell, baritone; Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Godfrey, Henry | anon. |
On the River | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Rubini, Eduardo | “Eleonore” |
Old Ontario | Braun, Russell, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, arr. MacMillan, Sir Ernest | Gibbon, John Murray |
The Holy City | Vanderhooft, Rosemary, mezzo; Braun, Russell, baritone; Elora Festival Singers; Edison, Noel, conductor; Ralls, Stephen, piano; Ubukata, Bruce, organ – with audience | Adams, Stephen | Weatherly, Fred |