SEACOAST WIND ENSEMBLE PORTSMOUTH PEACE TREATY ANNIVERSARY CONCERTS
In 2007, thanks to intensive historical research in period newspapers, local library collections and musical archives throughout the country, Seacoast Wind Ensemble conductor at the time Richard C. Spicer assembled a collection of band music performed in Portsmouth in 1905 during the negotiations to end "World War Zero,” the Russo-Japanese War. The concerts by local town bands and military bands brought to Portsmouth for the occasion helped create the atmosphere for peace that resulted in the Treaty of Portsmouth.
Mr. Spicer began his research during the Treaty centennial in 2005, in order to make the music associated with the Treaty available again for performance. Various kinds of music were performed in 1905-07 including pieces related to the war, the Treaty, the commemoration of peace and celebrating the crucial role of Theodore Roosevelt, who became the first American President to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts. Several programs featured this music at 100th Anniversary events, including Portsmouth Peace Treaty Concerts, re-enactments, and the State Dinner on September 5th, where Mr. Spicer accompanied noted singers in dramatic vocal selections. But it was not until he was chosen in 2006 to direct the Seacoast's own popular Seacoast Wind Ensemble that the opportunity arose to focus more on music from military band concerts and other entertainments during the summer of 1905 as well as local town band and Treaty anniversary concerts in 1907.
"We are bringing back to life the best selections from the band concerts heard during those years,” said Spicer. "People should not think for a minute that this is 'historical music" retrieved from a cabinet of curiosities and dusted off only for those with academic and esoteric interests. This is a stirring program that everyone can enjoy, featuring popular favorites of the day, from familiar marches by John Philip Sousa to medleys from the latest theatrical productions, played by the Portsmouth City Band in 1905. In addition, we are including songs and marches written by composers around the country to celebrate the historic event that happened here and the role of President Roosevelt as 'Peacemaker'; these were all scored for bands, and celebrate peace achieved, which has relevance in every age. We are also excited to be using scores from the Exeter Town Band Library—a local treasure trove of historic band music from the oldest continuing town band in this state, going back to 1847."
About Director Richard C. Spicer
Mr. Spicer is an accomplished music director, performer, and historian, with special interest in American musical culture. As a band conductor, he has worked with the Boston University Concert Band, and in the New Hampshire capital, he formerly directed historic Nevers' Second Regiment Band, founded in 1879. Since 1999, Mr. Spicer has organized several local concerts featuring Seacoast music history and collaborating with groups including the Pontine Theater, Sandpipers Chorus, and Historic New England. In 1995-97, Mr. Spicer served as curator of a major New Hampshire Historical Society exhibit on the nineteenth-century development of state town bands and instruments. He has published on this and other topics, including music in the Revolution, songs for public celebration in Federal Portsmouth, and Civil War bands. Mr. Spicer also served as a classical music radio announcer on New Hampshire Public Radio.
About the Seacoast Wind Ensemble
Founded in 1984, the Seacoast Wind Ensemble is a 50-piece, all-volunteer community concert band dedicated to providing excellence in music performance and education in the tradition of the great American bands of the Sousa years (ca. 1880-1930). Members range from qualified students to adults of all ages and, all together, compose a wonderful set of talented musicians from all walks of life. Programs throughout the year incorporate a wide and varied repertoire ranging from stirring marches to classics of the concert band repertoire, band arrangements of symphonic favorites, innovative pieces by contemporary composers, Broadway and jazz medleys, and the latest and liveliest popular selections. As one of the region’s premier concert bands, the ensemble is known as well for the celebration of Seacoast history and culture from the region it represents along the New England shore—from Boston, Massachusetts, up to Portland, Maine. Typically, the Seacoast Wind Ensemble offers holiday concerts in December, participates in local Music In Our Schools programs in March, features a major concert in late spring, and plays throughout the summer for many towns and festivals.
Mr. Spicer began his research during the Treaty centennial in 2005, in order to make the music associated with the Treaty available again for performance. Various kinds of music were performed in 1905-07 including pieces related to the war, the Treaty, the commemoration of peace and celebrating the crucial role of Theodore Roosevelt, who became the first American President to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts. Several programs featured this music at 100th Anniversary events, including Portsmouth Peace Treaty Concerts, re-enactments, and the State Dinner on September 5th, where Mr. Spicer accompanied noted singers in dramatic vocal selections. But it was not until he was chosen in 2006 to direct the Seacoast's own popular Seacoast Wind Ensemble that the opportunity arose to focus more on music from military band concerts and other entertainments during the summer of 1905 as well as local town band and Treaty anniversary concerts in 1907.
"We are bringing back to life the best selections from the band concerts heard during those years,” said Spicer. "People should not think for a minute that this is 'historical music" retrieved from a cabinet of curiosities and dusted off only for those with academic and esoteric interests. This is a stirring program that everyone can enjoy, featuring popular favorites of the day, from familiar marches by John Philip Sousa to medleys from the latest theatrical productions, played by the Portsmouth City Band in 1905. In addition, we are including songs and marches written by composers around the country to celebrate the historic event that happened here and the role of President Roosevelt as 'Peacemaker'; these were all scored for bands, and celebrate peace achieved, which has relevance in every age. We are also excited to be using scores from the Exeter Town Band Library—a local treasure trove of historic band music from the oldest continuing town band in this state, going back to 1847."
About Director Richard C. Spicer
Mr. Spicer is an accomplished music director, performer, and historian, with special interest in American musical culture. As a band conductor, he has worked with the Boston University Concert Band, and in the New Hampshire capital, he formerly directed historic Nevers' Second Regiment Band, founded in 1879. Since 1999, Mr. Spicer has organized several local concerts featuring Seacoast music history and collaborating with groups including the Pontine Theater, Sandpipers Chorus, and Historic New England. In 1995-97, Mr. Spicer served as curator of a major New Hampshire Historical Society exhibit on the nineteenth-century development of state town bands and instruments. He has published on this and other topics, including music in the Revolution, songs for public celebration in Federal Portsmouth, and Civil War bands. Mr. Spicer also served as a classical music radio announcer on New Hampshire Public Radio.
About the Seacoast Wind Ensemble
Founded in 1984, the Seacoast Wind Ensemble is a 50-piece, all-volunteer community concert band dedicated to providing excellence in music performance and education in the tradition of the great American bands of the Sousa years (ca. 1880-1930). Members range from qualified students to adults of all ages and, all together, compose a wonderful set of talented musicians from all walks of life. Programs throughout the year incorporate a wide and varied repertoire ranging from stirring marches to classics of the concert band repertoire, band arrangements of symphonic favorites, innovative pieces by contemporary composers, Broadway and jazz medleys, and the latest and liveliest popular selections. As one of the region’s premier concert bands, the ensemble is known as well for the celebration of Seacoast history and culture from the region it represents along the New England shore—from Boston, Massachusetts, up to Portland, Maine. Typically, the Seacoast Wind Ensemble offers holiday concerts in December, participates in local Music In Our Schools programs in March, features a major concert in late spring, and plays throughout the summer for many towns and festivals.
The Music Hall, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Sunday, June 24, 2007, at 3:00 p.m.
Program
Semper Fidelis John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932)
Portsmouth City Band, Fireman’s Day, 13 September 1905
Overture to William Tell Giacomo Rossini (1792-1868)
Duncan MacCallum, English Horn; Jean Schwab, Flute
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 18 August 1905 arr. Eric W. G. Leidzen
Naval Band (Portsmouth?), 5 September 1907
The Holy City Stephen Adams (1844-1913)
Jay Taylor, Trumpet
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 27 August 1905 arr. L. P. Laurendeau
March from Tannhäuser Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 25 August 1905 arr. M. C. Meyrelles
The Hunting Scene (Descriptive) Procida Bucalossi (1832-1918)
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 18 August 1905 arr. M. C. Meyrelles
Selections from the Comic Opera Robin Hood Reginald De Koven (1859-1920)
Nancy Donahue, Euphonium
Portsmouth City Band, Fourth of July 1905 arr. George Wiegand
Signature production of the Bostonians, featuring Henry Clay Barnabee of Portsmouth
The Treaty of Portsmouth March William H. Scouton (1853-1940)
— Intermission--
The Diplomat John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932)
Second U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Portland), 23 July 1905
"An Uncommon Commitment to Peace" -- Remarks by Charles B. Doleac, Co-chairman, Portsmouth Peace Treaty Anniversary Committee, founder Japan-America Society of NH
Selections from The Red Mill Victor Herbert (1859-1924)
U. S. Naval Band (Portsmouth?), 5 September 1907 arr. Herbert L. Clarke
Serenade for Flute and Horn Anton Emil Titl (1809-1882)
Jean Schwab, Flute; Luanne O’Reilly, Horn
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 25 August 1905 arr. L. P. Laurendeau
Coronation March from The Prophet Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 27 August 1905 arr. M. C. Meyrelles
Loveland Waltzes Abraham Holzmann (1874-1939)
Portsmouth City Band, Fourth of July 1905 arr. L. P. Laurendeau
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 20 August 1905
Portsmouth City Band, 13 September 1905
Selections from Southern Breezes: A Tone Picture F. P. Atherton
Portsmouth City Band, Fourth of July 1905
The Peacemaker March (Russia, Japan, and America) Harry L. Alford (1883-1939)
Sponsored by Boynton, Waldron, Doleac, Woodman & Scott, P.A., Leading Edge, Ocean Properties, Ltd. & Wentworth By the Sea Hotel, Japan-America Society of New Hampshire and the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Legacy Subscribers.
Program
Semper Fidelis John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932)
Portsmouth City Band, Fireman’s Day, 13 September 1905
Overture to William Tell Giacomo Rossini (1792-1868)
Duncan MacCallum, English Horn; Jean Schwab, Flute
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 18 August 1905 arr. Eric W. G. Leidzen
Naval Band (Portsmouth?), 5 September 1907
The Holy City Stephen Adams (1844-1913)
Jay Taylor, Trumpet
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 27 August 1905 arr. L. P. Laurendeau
March from Tannhäuser Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 25 August 1905 arr. M. C. Meyrelles
The Hunting Scene (Descriptive) Procida Bucalossi (1832-1918)
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 18 August 1905 arr. M. C. Meyrelles
Selections from the Comic Opera Robin Hood Reginald De Koven (1859-1920)
Nancy Donahue, Euphonium
Portsmouth City Band, Fourth of July 1905 arr. George Wiegand
Signature production of the Bostonians, featuring Henry Clay Barnabee of Portsmouth
The Treaty of Portsmouth March William H. Scouton (1853-1940)
— Intermission--
The Diplomat John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932)
Second U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Portland), 23 July 1905
"An Uncommon Commitment to Peace" -- Remarks by Charles B. Doleac, Co-chairman, Portsmouth Peace Treaty Anniversary Committee, founder Japan-America Society of NH
Selections from The Red Mill Victor Herbert (1859-1924)
U. S. Naval Band (Portsmouth?), 5 September 1907 arr. Herbert L. Clarke
Serenade for Flute and Horn Anton Emil Titl (1809-1882)
Jean Schwab, Flute; Luanne O’Reilly, Horn
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 25 August 1905 arr. L. P. Laurendeau
Coronation March from The Prophet Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 27 August 1905 arr. M. C. Meyrelles
Loveland Waltzes Abraham Holzmann (1874-1939)
Portsmouth City Band, Fourth of July 1905 arr. L. P. Laurendeau
Tenth U. S. Artillery Corps Band (Boston), 20 August 1905
Portsmouth City Band, 13 September 1905
Selections from Southern Breezes: A Tone Picture F. P. Atherton
Portsmouth City Band, Fourth of July 1905
The Peacemaker March (Russia, Japan, and America) Harry L. Alford (1883-1939)
Sponsored by Boynton, Waldron, Doleac, Woodman & Scott, P.A., Leading Edge, Ocean Properties, Ltd. & Wentworth By the Sea Hotel, Japan-America Society of New Hampshire and the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Legacy Subscribers.
2nd Annual Portsmouth Peace Treaty Commemorative Concert:
"Peace & The Presidency: Music for George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt"
Seacoast Wind Ensemble, The Music Hall, Portsmouth, May 17, 2008
The Seacoast Wind Ensemble presented the Second Annual Portsmouth Peace Treaty Commemorative Concert, “Peace & The Presidency: Music for George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt,” a wide-ranging program of music for the Election Year featuring Aaron Copland's "A Lincoln Portrait" with guest narrator, Rev. Robert H. Thompson, Chaplain of Phillips Exeter Academy. The annual program by the Seacoast Wind Ensemble is organized and conducted by Music Director Richard C. Spicer. The Portsmouth Peace Treaty is an important piece of history as the foundation for Theodore Roosevelt’s Nobel Peace Prize and as an early demonstration that the ordinary American citizen can make a difference. This annual commemorative concert helps trace that story from a musical perspective.
Program
The Great American (Theodore Roosevelt) by Harry J. Lincoln
Music for George Washington
Colonial Rhapsody, Edward J. Madden Chester
Overture for Band, William Schuman
Based on William Billings’s hymn and marching song of the American Revolution, Jonathan Roth, Assistant Conductor
Fugue and Chorale on “Yankee Doodle,” Virgil Thompson, arr. Frank Erickson
From the movie “Tuesday in November” (John Houseman / Nicholas Ray, 1967)
Suite from the Days of George Washington, arr. Aldolf Schmid
Introduction
The President’s March
Washington’s March
Washington’s March At the Battle of Trenton
Roslyn Castle
Quick Step
Successful Campaign
Yankee Doodle
Finale
Father of the Land We Love, George M. Cohan, arr. Ed Morbach
Angelynne Hinson, soprano
Foshay Tower Washington Memorial March, John Philip Sousa
Intermission
Music for Abraham Lincoln
American Salute,. Morton Gould, arr. Philip J. Lang
Based on “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”
Shenandoah, Frank Ticheli Washington
Grays, Claudio S. Grafulla, arr. G. H. Reeves
Echoes of the 1860’s, arr. Donald Hunsberger
General Lee’s Grand March
The Recruiting Sergeant
Come, Where My Love Lies Dreaming
Port Royal Galop
Lorena
Retreat
Storm Galop
Lincoln Portrait, Aaron Copland, arr. Walter Beeler
The Rev. Robert H. Thompson, narrator
Encore
The Treaty of Portsmouth March, William H. Scouton (1853-1940)
"Peace & The Presidency: Music for George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt"
Seacoast Wind Ensemble, The Music Hall, Portsmouth, May 17, 2008
The Seacoast Wind Ensemble presented the Second Annual Portsmouth Peace Treaty Commemorative Concert, “Peace & The Presidency: Music for George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt,” a wide-ranging program of music for the Election Year featuring Aaron Copland's "A Lincoln Portrait" with guest narrator, Rev. Robert H. Thompson, Chaplain of Phillips Exeter Academy. The annual program by the Seacoast Wind Ensemble is organized and conducted by Music Director Richard C. Spicer. The Portsmouth Peace Treaty is an important piece of history as the foundation for Theodore Roosevelt’s Nobel Peace Prize and as an early demonstration that the ordinary American citizen can make a difference. This annual commemorative concert helps trace that story from a musical perspective.
Program
The Great American (Theodore Roosevelt) by Harry J. Lincoln
Music for George Washington
Colonial Rhapsody, Edward J. Madden Chester
Overture for Band, William Schuman
Based on William Billings’s hymn and marching song of the American Revolution, Jonathan Roth, Assistant Conductor
Fugue and Chorale on “Yankee Doodle,” Virgil Thompson, arr. Frank Erickson
From the movie “Tuesday in November” (John Houseman / Nicholas Ray, 1967)
Suite from the Days of George Washington, arr. Aldolf Schmid
Introduction
The President’s March
Washington’s March
Washington’s March At the Battle of Trenton
Roslyn Castle
Quick Step
Successful Campaign
Yankee Doodle
Finale
Father of the Land We Love, George M. Cohan, arr. Ed Morbach
Angelynne Hinson, soprano
Foshay Tower Washington Memorial March, John Philip Sousa
Intermission
Music for Abraham Lincoln
American Salute,. Morton Gould, arr. Philip J. Lang
Based on “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”
Shenandoah, Frank Ticheli Washington
Grays, Claudio S. Grafulla, arr. G. H. Reeves
Echoes of the 1860’s, arr. Donald Hunsberger
General Lee’s Grand March
The Recruiting Sergeant
Come, Where My Love Lies Dreaming
Port Royal Galop
Lorena
Retreat
Storm Galop
Lincoln Portrait, Aaron Copland, arr. Walter Beeler
The Rev. Robert H. Thompson, narrator
Encore
The Treaty of Portsmouth March, William H. Scouton (1853-1940)
3rd Annual Portsmouth Peace Treaty Commemorative Concert: "Peacemakers & Diplomats" Honors President Jimmy Carter, Senator George Mitchell, Senator Claiborne Pell
Seacoast Wind Ensemble, The Music Hall, Portsmouth, June 20, 2009
Guest artists, Portsmouth Pro Musica joined in music from the Carter administration Camp David Accords celebration. The annual program by the Seacoast Wind Ensemble (www. SeacoastWindEnsemble.org) is organized and conducted by Music Director Richard C. Spicer and sponsored by the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum, supported by the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire.
Richard Spicer, Music Director for the Seacoast Wind Ensemble and music historian has spent the past year researching music for the program. During a visit to the US Marine Corps Band library in Washington, DC he found the programs – and complete musical scores arranged for band – from the Inauguration of President Jimmy Carter, who won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for bringing peace between two warring countries, as President Theodore Roosevelt won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for the Portsmouth Peace Treaty.
Mr. Spicer also found the program from the White House State Dinner on March 25, 1979, that celebrated those Camp David Accords, including a performance by the U.S. Army Chorus of an arrangement of traditional Egyptian and Israeli folk songs. That gave him the inspiration to invite local chorus Portsmouth Pro Musica under the direction of Priscilla French as guest artists for the June 20th concert to perform the piece. Then the challenge was to find the music needed to perform. “I began looking for the music that was arranged for the original concert, which led me to the original Army Band arranger, James Kessler, who is now retired,” said Spicer. “To my delight and gratitude he agreed to provide the arrangement for chorus and the Ensemble. So we will be performing music specially arranged for the Portsmouth Peace Treaty concert, created by the same man who arranged the Camp David Accords concert.
Other selections on the program honor Senator George Mitchell, now special envoy to the Middle East, who helped negotiate the Northern Ireland peace accords and Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island (who died on January 1, 2009), founder of the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy.
The Executive Directors of the Pell Center in Newport RI, dedicated to “enhancing international dialogue to achieve a more peaceful world and preparing individuals for an informed and active role in local, national, and world affairs” and the Mitchell Institute in Portland ME, committed to “strengthening the involvement of a new generation of civic-minded and committed citizens…while creating educational opportunity for Maine's young people” both expressed deep appreciation on behalf of the Senators for being honored in the program. A performance of Sibelius’ “Finlandia” commemorated the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Martti Ahtisarri, former President of Finland.
“The Portsmouth Peace Treaty is an important piece of history as the foundation for Theodore Roosevelt’s Nobel Peace Prize and as an early demonstration that the ordinary American citizen can make a difference,” said Charles Doleac, chairman of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum. “This annual commemorative concert helps trace that story from a musical perspective.”
Program
The Diplomat—John Philip Sousa
The 2008 Nobel Peace Prize: Martti Ahtisarri, former President of Finland
Finlandia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jean Sibelius, arr. M. Hindsley
Remembering Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island (1918-2009)
Con Sabor Español (With A Spanish Flavor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lewis J. Buckley
Jonathan Roth, Assistant Conductor
Semper Paratus (Official U.S. Coast Guard March)* . . . Capt. Francis Saltus Van Boskerck
Honoring Senator George Mitchell of Maine
Danny Boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Irish folk tune, arr. J. Plummerfelt
Members of Portsmouth Pro Musica
Songs of the Gael: A Gaelic Fantasy, Op. 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Walton O’Donnell
—Intermission--
Peacemaker March—K. L. King
The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize: President Jimmy Carter
Performed by the U. S. Marine Band at the inauguration of Jimmy Carter in 1977:
American Pageant for Symphonic Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Knox
Strike Up the Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Gershwin, arr. W. Barker
Navy Hymn* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. John B. Dykes, arr. J. Ployhar
Battle Hymn of the Republic*... Folk tune adapted by Julia Ward Howe, arr. R. Ringwald
God Bless America* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Irving Berlin, arr. W. Holcombe
Members of Portsmouth Pro Musica
Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from “Nabucco” . . . . . . . . . . .Guiseppe Verdi, ed. J. Rutter
Machar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Naomi Shemer, arr. J. Kessler
Performed by the U.S. Army Chorus at the White House State Dinner
Following the signing of the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt
March 25, 1979
Georgia on My Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hoagy Carmichael
Jonathan Roth, Assistant Conductor
Selections from “Porgy and Bess”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Gershwin, arr. R. R. Bennett
—Encore--
Treaty of Portsmouth March—Scouton
*Performed with members of Portsmouth Pro Musica
Program Notes by Richard C. Spicer
The 2009 Portsmouth Peace Treaty concert makes connections among unconnected events that occurred recently in late 2008 and early 2009. Those who attended our first two commemorative concerts recall that we began with the band music heard here in Portsmouth during the month of diplomatic negotiations in August and September 2005, as well as during commemorative band concerts in 1907. We then proceeded last spring with a focus on the Nobel Peace Prize and the American Presidency, with a speculative look at the legacies of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We remember always that a final outcome of the 1905 treaty was not only a negotiated end to the Russo-Japanese War, but also the first award of a Nobel Peace Prize to an American president, Theodore Roosevelt. Only two other American presidents have been so honored: Woodrow Wilson in 1919 for his work toward establishing the League of Nations, and Jimmy Carter in 2002, for three decades of diplomatic achievement in several regions of the globe, notably in the Middle East.
Our mission in the Seacoast Wind Ensemble, however, is also to produce programs of worthy band literature interesting to members and the audience alike!—and making musical connections to the Portsmouth Peace Treaty requires leaps of creativity each year well beyond Washington and Lincoln. When, in December 2008, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the latest peace prize to a former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, for decades of diplomatic work on behalf of world peace, it evoked right away not only the beginning of a concert with beloved Finlandia, so often sung as a hymn of peace, but also a continuation with music related to the presidency of Jimmy Carter, for the parallelism of the two Nobel Peace Prize awards. Carter probably should have received the prize in 1979 for his remarkable breakthrough in bringing Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachim Begin of Israel to face-to-face negotiations that year, resulting in the Camp David Accords, but committee politics prevented conferral at that time (just as, for example, in the infancy of the Nobel Peace Prize, politics also had dictated the 1906 award against the wish of some committee members to Theodore Roosevelt, known otherwise for a bellicose reputation). Instead, a quarter century later, Carter finally received a more generic prize in 2002 “for decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
In three ways, there was to be no difficulty in finding good band music to remember Jimmy Carter’s many achievements. First I was able to travel last spring to Washington, D.C., where I met with librarians of the U. S. Marine Band to find out what “The President’s Own” had played during the presidencies of our three Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Carter. The USMB staff graciously provided extraordinary and extensive assistance, allowing me to take away stacks of paper they had copied from their files, from a program played by the band during the White House wedding of Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter, to pages from concert notebooks compiled during the Wilson administration, to the program for Jimmy Carter’s inaugural ceremony and the White House “play list” during his presidency. In our tribute to Carter, we begin, then, with a few selections performed by the Marine Band at the U. S. Capitol just before his inauguration in 1977. The pre-inaugural concert also included the Atlanta University Center Chorus; and we are pleased to collaborate this evening with members of Portsmouth Pro Musica under Priscilla French to bring this music back to life in a recreation of that moment. Second, the signing of the Camp David Accords in March 1979 was followed by the largest White House state dinner ever held—so large, in fact, that it had to be held in a tent outside on the White House lawn. Much music accompanied the dinner program, including the astounding performance by the U. S. Army Chorus of a piece specially arranged for the occasion to incorporate an Israeli peace song with an Egyptian chant from Anwar Sadat’s home town. The arranger, James Kessler, still lives in the Washington, D.C., area, and he was gracious enough to provide us with an unpublished version for mixed chorus (which, incidentally, does not include the Egyptian chant). The performance you will hear this evening by Portsmouth Pro Musica may well be the first time this piece has been heard since 1979, and the chorus will be singing from Kessler’s own manuscript. Finally, Carter was obviously a devoted fan of the opera, sponsoring a White House recital in October 1978, for example, by opera star Leontyne Price. As a result, the White House “play list” for state dinners to be accompanied by the U. S. Marine Band and Orchestra included a sizeable number of opera and show music overtures, medleys, dance music, and popular excerpts—to the extent that it was difficult to make a choice what to play this evening. In the end, though, it was not problematic to select the fine arrangement for band by Robert Russell Bennett of selections from the timeless folk opera Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin.
Just after Ahtisaari’s award six months ago, the 15th annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert followed in Oslo, Norway, on December 11, 2008, a star-studded affair hosted by actor Sir Michael Cane and actress Scarlett Johansson, and featuring an array of popular artists from Diana Ross to Feist, Dierks Bentley, Julieta Venegas, Seun Kuti, and Marit Larsen. Band music connections, however, did not emerge from that cast! Instead, not long after, I sat down on New Year’s Day to watch a different sort of popular concert shaped by longer-standing tradition—that by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, this year conducted by Daniel Barenboim—who pointedly ended the afternoon’s performance with a call for “peace and justice in the Middle East” before the traditional wish for “ein glückliches neues Jahr!” The day after, I learned sadly that Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island had ended his long and distinguished life also on New Year’s Day. Having grown up in the state, I had met him on several occasions both in Rhode Island and in Washington, D.C., and was always proud that he was our senator, seemingly forever. Now, of course, his name is synonymous with the Pell grants that provide government assistance for college and university attendance, and his legacy continues, too, at Salve Regina University in Newport with the 1996 establishment of the Pell Center for International Relations and Publicity devoted to peaceful solution to international conflict (see www.salve.edu/pellcenter). But I thought as well of his work as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the further parallelism of his thirty-six years of Senate service with the Nobel Peace Prize awards to Ahtisaari and Carter. Pell needed to become a part of our program—and we honor him not with music from Czechoslovakia, for example, where he earlier served as a Foreign Service officer, but with recognition of his additional devotion to the U. S. Coast Guard. Pell enlisted four months before Pearl Harbor and began his career simply as a ship’s cook. But it was not long before he became a commissioned officer and then served in the North Atlantic and Sicily, where he helped rebuild the fishing industry. Following the war, he continued on in the Coast Guard Reserve, retiring in 1978 as a captain. This connection allows us to feature the fine band music of Lewis Buckley, recently retired as long-standing conductor of the wonderful band in residence at the U. S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut; we play, in fact, a piece personally recommended to us by him, and one that provides, as well, a certain international flavor in keeping with the connecting themes of this program. Buckley remains active, among many commitments, as conductor of one of New England’s finest community bands, the Metropolitan Wind Symphony of Newton, Massachusetts.
Finally, not long into his historic presidency earlier this year, President Obama announced that Senator George J. Mitchell, Jr., of Maine would serve as his special envoy to the Middle East—and our program was finally complete. Mitchell’s work on the Palestinian question harkens back, of course, to Carter’s work bringing Israel and Egypt to the table in 1979; but this evening we remember his earlier diplomatic achievements in Northern Ireland a decade ago, resulting in the Belfast Peace Agreement signed on Good Friday 1998, and for which he was awarded the Liberty Medal (1998) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1999), was invested with an honorary knighthood of the British Empire, and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. As the final piece in our puzzle of a program, this connection then provided a fine and long-awaited opportunity to perform a wonderful band arrangement of old Gaelic melodies published in 1924 by Irish composer Walton O’Donnell, perhaps the most exciting and substantive piece of the program.
Seacoast Wind Ensemble, The Music Hall, Portsmouth, June 20, 2009
Guest artists, Portsmouth Pro Musica joined in music from the Carter administration Camp David Accords celebration. The annual program by the Seacoast Wind Ensemble (www. SeacoastWindEnsemble.org) is organized and conducted by Music Director Richard C. Spicer and sponsored by the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum, supported by the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire.
Richard Spicer, Music Director for the Seacoast Wind Ensemble and music historian has spent the past year researching music for the program. During a visit to the US Marine Corps Band library in Washington, DC he found the programs – and complete musical scores arranged for band – from the Inauguration of President Jimmy Carter, who won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for bringing peace between two warring countries, as President Theodore Roosevelt won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for the Portsmouth Peace Treaty.
Mr. Spicer also found the program from the White House State Dinner on March 25, 1979, that celebrated those Camp David Accords, including a performance by the U.S. Army Chorus of an arrangement of traditional Egyptian and Israeli folk songs. That gave him the inspiration to invite local chorus Portsmouth Pro Musica under the direction of Priscilla French as guest artists for the June 20th concert to perform the piece. Then the challenge was to find the music needed to perform. “I began looking for the music that was arranged for the original concert, which led me to the original Army Band arranger, James Kessler, who is now retired,” said Spicer. “To my delight and gratitude he agreed to provide the arrangement for chorus and the Ensemble. So we will be performing music specially arranged for the Portsmouth Peace Treaty concert, created by the same man who arranged the Camp David Accords concert.
Other selections on the program honor Senator George Mitchell, now special envoy to the Middle East, who helped negotiate the Northern Ireland peace accords and Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island (who died on January 1, 2009), founder of the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy.
The Executive Directors of the Pell Center in Newport RI, dedicated to “enhancing international dialogue to achieve a more peaceful world and preparing individuals for an informed and active role in local, national, and world affairs” and the Mitchell Institute in Portland ME, committed to “strengthening the involvement of a new generation of civic-minded and committed citizens…while creating educational opportunity for Maine's young people” both expressed deep appreciation on behalf of the Senators for being honored in the program. A performance of Sibelius’ “Finlandia” commemorated the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Martti Ahtisarri, former President of Finland.
“The Portsmouth Peace Treaty is an important piece of history as the foundation for Theodore Roosevelt’s Nobel Peace Prize and as an early demonstration that the ordinary American citizen can make a difference,” said Charles Doleac, chairman of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum. “This annual commemorative concert helps trace that story from a musical perspective.”
Program
The Diplomat—John Philip Sousa
The 2008 Nobel Peace Prize: Martti Ahtisarri, former President of Finland
Finlandia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jean Sibelius, arr. M. Hindsley
Remembering Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island (1918-2009)
Con Sabor Español (With A Spanish Flavor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lewis J. Buckley
Jonathan Roth, Assistant Conductor
Semper Paratus (Official U.S. Coast Guard March)* . . . Capt. Francis Saltus Van Boskerck
Honoring Senator George Mitchell of Maine
Danny Boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Irish folk tune, arr. J. Plummerfelt
Members of Portsmouth Pro Musica
Songs of the Gael: A Gaelic Fantasy, Op. 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Walton O’Donnell
—Intermission--
Peacemaker March—K. L. King
The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize: President Jimmy Carter
Performed by the U. S. Marine Band at the inauguration of Jimmy Carter in 1977:
American Pageant for Symphonic Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Knox
Strike Up the Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Gershwin, arr. W. Barker
Navy Hymn* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. John B. Dykes, arr. J. Ployhar
Battle Hymn of the Republic*... Folk tune adapted by Julia Ward Howe, arr. R. Ringwald
God Bless America* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Irving Berlin, arr. W. Holcombe
Members of Portsmouth Pro Musica
Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from “Nabucco” . . . . . . . . . . .Guiseppe Verdi, ed. J. Rutter
Machar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Naomi Shemer, arr. J. Kessler
Performed by the U.S. Army Chorus at the White House State Dinner
Following the signing of the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt
March 25, 1979
Georgia on My Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hoagy Carmichael
Jonathan Roth, Assistant Conductor
Selections from “Porgy and Bess”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Gershwin, arr. R. R. Bennett
—Encore--
Treaty of Portsmouth March—Scouton
*Performed with members of Portsmouth Pro Musica
Program Notes by Richard C. Spicer
The 2009 Portsmouth Peace Treaty concert makes connections among unconnected events that occurred recently in late 2008 and early 2009. Those who attended our first two commemorative concerts recall that we began with the band music heard here in Portsmouth during the month of diplomatic negotiations in August and September 2005, as well as during commemorative band concerts in 1907. We then proceeded last spring with a focus on the Nobel Peace Prize and the American Presidency, with a speculative look at the legacies of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We remember always that a final outcome of the 1905 treaty was not only a negotiated end to the Russo-Japanese War, but also the first award of a Nobel Peace Prize to an American president, Theodore Roosevelt. Only two other American presidents have been so honored: Woodrow Wilson in 1919 for his work toward establishing the League of Nations, and Jimmy Carter in 2002, for three decades of diplomatic achievement in several regions of the globe, notably in the Middle East.
Our mission in the Seacoast Wind Ensemble, however, is also to produce programs of worthy band literature interesting to members and the audience alike!—and making musical connections to the Portsmouth Peace Treaty requires leaps of creativity each year well beyond Washington and Lincoln. When, in December 2008, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the latest peace prize to a former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, for decades of diplomatic work on behalf of world peace, it evoked right away not only the beginning of a concert with beloved Finlandia, so often sung as a hymn of peace, but also a continuation with music related to the presidency of Jimmy Carter, for the parallelism of the two Nobel Peace Prize awards. Carter probably should have received the prize in 1979 for his remarkable breakthrough in bringing Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachim Begin of Israel to face-to-face negotiations that year, resulting in the Camp David Accords, but committee politics prevented conferral at that time (just as, for example, in the infancy of the Nobel Peace Prize, politics also had dictated the 1906 award against the wish of some committee members to Theodore Roosevelt, known otherwise for a bellicose reputation). Instead, a quarter century later, Carter finally received a more generic prize in 2002 “for decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
In three ways, there was to be no difficulty in finding good band music to remember Jimmy Carter’s many achievements. First I was able to travel last spring to Washington, D.C., where I met with librarians of the U. S. Marine Band to find out what “The President’s Own” had played during the presidencies of our three Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Carter. The USMB staff graciously provided extraordinary and extensive assistance, allowing me to take away stacks of paper they had copied from their files, from a program played by the band during the White House wedding of Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter, to pages from concert notebooks compiled during the Wilson administration, to the program for Jimmy Carter’s inaugural ceremony and the White House “play list” during his presidency. In our tribute to Carter, we begin, then, with a few selections performed by the Marine Band at the U. S. Capitol just before his inauguration in 1977. The pre-inaugural concert also included the Atlanta University Center Chorus; and we are pleased to collaborate this evening with members of Portsmouth Pro Musica under Priscilla French to bring this music back to life in a recreation of that moment. Second, the signing of the Camp David Accords in March 1979 was followed by the largest White House state dinner ever held—so large, in fact, that it had to be held in a tent outside on the White House lawn. Much music accompanied the dinner program, including the astounding performance by the U. S. Army Chorus of a piece specially arranged for the occasion to incorporate an Israeli peace song with an Egyptian chant from Anwar Sadat’s home town. The arranger, James Kessler, still lives in the Washington, D.C., area, and he was gracious enough to provide us with an unpublished version for mixed chorus (which, incidentally, does not include the Egyptian chant). The performance you will hear this evening by Portsmouth Pro Musica may well be the first time this piece has been heard since 1979, and the chorus will be singing from Kessler’s own manuscript. Finally, Carter was obviously a devoted fan of the opera, sponsoring a White House recital in October 1978, for example, by opera star Leontyne Price. As a result, the White House “play list” for state dinners to be accompanied by the U. S. Marine Band and Orchestra included a sizeable number of opera and show music overtures, medleys, dance music, and popular excerpts—to the extent that it was difficult to make a choice what to play this evening. In the end, though, it was not problematic to select the fine arrangement for band by Robert Russell Bennett of selections from the timeless folk opera Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin.
Just after Ahtisaari’s award six months ago, the 15th annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert followed in Oslo, Norway, on December 11, 2008, a star-studded affair hosted by actor Sir Michael Cane and actress Scarlett Johansson, and featuring an array of popular artists from Diana Ross to Feist, Dierks Bentley, Julieta Venegas, Seun Kuti, and Marit Larsen. Band music connections, however, did not emerge from that cast! Instead, not long after, I sat down on New Year’s Day to watch a different sort of popular concert shaped by longer-standing tradition—that by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, this year conducted by Daniel Barenboim—who pointedly ended the afternoon’s performance with a call for “peace and justice in the Middle East” before the traditional wish for “ein glückliches neues Jahr!” The day after, I learned sadly that Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island had ended his long and distinguished life also on New Year’s Day. Having grown up in the state, I had met him on several occasions both in Rhode Island and in Washington, D.C., and was always proud that he was our senator, seemingly forever. Now, of course, his name is synonymous with the Pell grants that provide government assistance for college and university attendance, and his legacy continues, too, at Salve Regina University in Newport with the 1996 establishment of the Pell Center for International Relations and Publicity devoted to peaceful solution to international conflict (see www.salve.edu/pellcenter). But I thought as well of his work as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the further parallelism of his thirty-six years of Senate service with the Nobel Peace Prize awards to Ahtisaari and Carter. Pell needed to become a part of our program—and we honor him not with music from Czechoslovakia, for example, where he earlier served as a Foreign Service officer, but with recognition of his additional devotion to the U. S. Coast Guard. Pell enlisted four months before Pearl Harbor and began his career simply as a ship’s cook. But it was not long before he became a commissioned officer and then served in the North Atlantic and Sicily, where he helped rebuild the fishing industry. Following the war, he continued on in the Coast Guard Reserve, retiring in 1978 as a captain. This connection allows us to feature the fine band music of Lewis Buckley, recently retired as long-standing conductor of the wonderful band in residence at the U. S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut; we play, in fact, a piece personally recommended to us by him, and one that provides, as well, a certain international flavor in keeping with the connecting themes of this program. Buckley remains active, among many commitments, as conductor of one of New England’s finest community bands, the Metropolitan Wind Symphony of Newton, Massachusetts.
Finally, not long into his historic presidency earlier this year, President Obama announced that Senator George J. Mitchell, Jr., of Maine would serve as his special envoy to the Middle East—and our program was finally complete. Mitchell’s work on the Palestinian question harkens back, of course, to Carter’s work bringing Israel and Egypt to the table in 1979; but this evening we remember his earlier diplomatic achievements in Northern Ireland a decade ago, resulting in the Belfast Peace Agreement signed on Good Friday 1998, and for which he was awarded the Liberty Medal (1998) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1999), was invested with an honorary knighthood of the British Empire, and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. As the final piece in our puzzle of a program, this connection then provided a fine and long-awaited opportunity to perform a wonderful band arrangement of old Gaelic melodies published in 1924 by Irish composer Walton O’Donnell, perhaps the most exciting and substantive piece of the program.