Digital program

Program Notes, Texts, and Translations

It’s a Grand Night for Singing (State Fair, 1945)

Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein III

Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein III jointly wrote 11 musicals, winning numerous Tony and Academy awards. “It’s a Grand Night for Singing” comes from State Fair (1945). This joyful waltz captures the excitement of a summer evening at the fair, celebrating love and possibility.

It’s a grand night for singing, 
the moon is flying high. 
And somewhere a bird who is bound he’ll be heard, 
is throwing his heart at the sky.

It’s a grand night for singing, 
the stars are bright above, 
the earth is a show with a warm springtime glow, 
and best of all we are all here, 
sharing the joy of music this time of year. 

Maybe it’s more than the moon. 
Maybe it’s more than the birds. 
Maybe it’s more than the sight of the night in a light too lovely for words. 

Maybe it’s more than the earth, 
shiny in silvery blue.
Maybe the reason we’re feeling this way 
has something to do with you. 

It’s a grand night for singing, 
the moon is flying high. 
And somewhere a bird who is bound he’ll be heard, 
is throwing his heart at the sky. 

It’s a grand night for singing 
the stars are bright above. 
The earth is a show with a warm springtime glow, 
and best of all we are all here, 
singing, singing, 
set the mountains ringing. 
This is a grand, grand night.

Tonight / White Moon (West Side Story, 1957)

Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Eugene Butler, arr. Ronald Staheli

West Side Story is a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, set in 1950s New York City. With music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, the story follows Tony and Maria, two young lovers from rival gangs. “Tonight” mirrors the Shakespearean balcony scene, and provides a moment of hope and anticipation during the otherwise tense action.

Ronald Staheli interpolates “The White Moon” into the center of this arrangement. Eugene Butler, and American educator and church musician, depicts the stillness of a midsummer evening with the moonlight reflecting off the calm surface of a lake in his miniature tone poem about love.

Tonight, tonight won’t be just any night. 
Tonight there will be no morning star. 

Tonight, tonight I’ll see my live tonight
and for us stars will stop where they are. 

Today the minutes seem like hours
the hours go so slowly
and still the sky is light. 

O moon grow bright, 
and make this endless day endless night, tonight. 

The white moon gleams in the wood, 
from every branch comes a voice, 
O my love. 

The lake reflects, 
shimmering mirror, 
the silhouette of the willow, 
where the wind laments. 

Let us dream, let us dream. 
It is the hour. O my love. 

Vast and tender
an appeasement 
seems to lower
from the firmament. 
O exquisite hour! 

The white moon gleams in the wood, 
O my love. 

Tonight, tonight, the world is full of light, 
with suns and moons all over the place. 

Tonight, tonight the world is wild and bright, 
going mad, shooting sparks into space, 

Today the world was just an address
a place for me to live in, 
no better than all right. 

For here we are, 
and what was just a world
is a star tonight. 

Hymn to the Fallen (Saving Private Ryan, 1998)

John Williams

John Williams is considered the greatest film composer of our time, with five Academy Awards, 26 Grammys, and numerous memorable melodies across his 70 years of composing. His 1998 score for Saving Private Ryan includes Hymn to the Fallen, which was inspired by a letter Abraham Lincoln wrote to Lydia Bixby, the mother of six sons, five of whom had perished in the Civil War. In fact, this letter largely inspired the creation of this film. Of the Hymn, John Williams said, “This is kind of a Requiem for people lost [in the war]… and chorus and orchestra are still the best medium for this kind of thing.” 

Of note, during the recording session of this piece for the soundtrack, John Williams asked Tom Hanks (who was seated in the largely empty Boston Symphony Hall) to read Lincoln’s letter to Mrs Bixby. Click here to read the Letter to Mrs. Bixby.

On Earth as it is in Heaven (The Mission, 1986) 

Ennio Morricone, arr. René Clausen

The song “On Earth as It Is in Heaven” by Ennio Morricone is part of the soundtrack for the 1986 film The Mission. The movie tells the story of 18th-century Spanish Jesuit priests who establish a mission in the South American jungle to protect the indigenous Guaraní people from slavery and colonial exploitation.

The composition is one of the film’s most iconic pieces and represents the merging of European sacred music with the indigenous musical traditions of the Guaraní. Morricone blends choral and orchestral sounds to evoke both the spiritual and the earthly struggles faced by the missionaries and the indigenous people. The oboe melody, known as “Gabriel’s Oboe,” is one of the most celebrated movie score melodies of all time.

Vita nostra (our life)
Tellus nostra (our earth)
Sic clamant (they cry)
Poena nostra (our punishment)
Ira nostra (our anger)
Fides nostra (our faith)
Sic clamant (they cry)
Gloria! 

Agnus Dei / Adagio for Strings (Platoon, 1986), Elephant Man (1980), Amélie (2001)

Samuel Barber

Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings was originally composed in 1936 as the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11. Barber later arranged it for string orchestra in 1938 at the request of conductor Arturo Toscanini, who premiered it that same year. Often associated with mourning and remembrance, Adagio for Strings was performed at Franklin D. Roosevelt’s funeral and other major national and international events and has been soundtrack music in at least five feature films including Platoon, Elephant Man, and Amélie. Barber made a choral adaptation of this work in 1967, using the liturgical text Agnus Dei (Lamb of God).  

Agnus Dei, (lamb of God)
Qui tollis peccata mundi, (who took the sins of the world)
Miserere nobis (have mercy on us)

Act I Scene I (Into the Woods, 1987) 

Stephen Sondheim

Into the Woods is a musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine that weaves classic fairy tales with an original story about a baker and his wife seeking to lift a curse. The opening scene introduces the main characters as they each express their deepest wishes. Cinderella longs to attend the prince’s festival, Jack wishes his cow would give milk, and Little Red Riding Hood wants bread for her journey. Meanwhile, the Baker and his wife learn from the witch that they are cursed and must collect four magical items to break the spell. As the characters set off on their quests, their stories intertwine, setting the stage for the journey ahead.

Into the woods and down the dell,
The path is straight, I know it well.
Into the woods, and who can tell?
What’s waiting on the journey?

Into the woods to bring some bread
To Granny who is sick in bed.
Never can tell what lies ahead.
For all that I know, she’s already dead.

But into the woods,
Into the woods to Grandmother’s house,
And home before dark!

Into the woods, it’s time to go,
It may be all in vain, I know.
Into the woods, but even so,
I have to take the journey.

The way is clear, the light is good,
I have no fear nor no one should.
The woods are just trees, the trees are just wood.
No need to be afraid there,
There’s something in the glade there…

Into the woods without delay,
but careful not to lose the way.

Into the woods who knows what may
be lurking on the journey.

Into the woods to get the thing
That makes it worth the journeying.
Into the woods to see the King—
To sell the cow—
To make the potion—
To see—
To sell—
To get—
To bring—
To make—
To lift—
To go—
To go to the Festival!

Into the woods,
Then out of the woods,
And home before dark!

Hold On / Winter’s on the Wing (The Secret Garden, 1991)

Marsha Norma, Lucy Simon, arr. Ronald Staheli

The Secret Garden is a 1991 musical based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel, with music by Lucy Simon and lyrics/book by Marsha Norman. It follows Mary Lennox, a lonely orphan sent to live with her reclusive uncle Archibald Craven in a remote Yorkshire manor. As she discovers a hidden, neglected garden, she brings it back to life, healing both herself and those around her.

“Hold On” is sung by Martha, a sympathetic house maiden offering emotional support and encouragement to young Mary.  At this point in the story, Mary is distressed because her uncle Archibald has left for Paris and his scheming brother, Dr. Neville Craven, is planning to send her away to boarding school. Mary has also been struggling to help her sickly cousin, Colin, grow stronger, but without his father’s presence, she fears he may not survive. 

When you see the storm is comin’,
see the lightning part the skies,
It’s too late to run, there’s terror in your eyes.
What you do then is remember this old thing you heard me say:
It’s the storm, not you, that’s bound to go away.

Hold on, hold on to someone standing by.
Hold on, don’t even ask how long or why.
Child, hold on to what you know is true,
Hold on ‘till you get through,
Child, oh child.
Hold on.

When you feel your heart is poundin’
Fear a devil’s at your door
There’s no place to hide, you’re frozen to the floor.
What you do then, is you force yourself to wake up, and you say:
It’s this dream, not me, that’s bound to go away.

Hold on, hold on the night will soon be by.
Hold on, until there’s nothing left to try.
Child, hold on there’s angels on their way.
Hold on and hear them say:
Child, oh child.
Hold on.

And it doesn’t even matter
If the danger and the doom
Come from up above, or down below
Or just come flyin’ at you from across the room.

If you see a man who’s raging,
And he’s jealous, and he fears
That you’ve walked through walls he’s hid behind for years,
What you do then, is you tell yourself to wait it out. You say:
It’s this day, not me, that’s bound to go away.

Child, hold on.
It’s this day, not you, that’s bound to go away.

Earlier in the story, “Winter’s on the Wing” is sing by Dickon, younger brother of Martha, to the newly arrived and deeply depressed orphan Mary in an effort to help her discover that there is something worth hoping for by describing the changing seasons and the renewal of life in the garden. He encourages Mary to believe in the magic of nature as a symbol for transformation and healing.

Winter’s on the wing, here’s a fine spring morn
Comin’ clear though the night, come the day I say.
Winter’s taken flight, sweeping dark cold air
Out to sea, Spring is born, comes the day say I.

And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop and feel it,
Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.

And now the sun is climbing high, rising fast on fire
Glaring down through the gloom, gone the gray, I say.
The sun spells the doom of the winter’s reign
Ice and chill must retire, comes the May say I.

I say begone, ye howling gales, be off ye frosty morns.
All ye solid streams begin to thaw.
Melt, ye waterfalls.
Part ye frozen winter walls.
See, see how it’s starting.

And now the mist is lifting high, leaving bright blue air
Rolling clear ‘cross the moor. Comes the May, I say.
The storm ‘ill soon be by leaving clear blue sky,
Soon the sun will shine, comes the day, say I.

And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop and feel it,
Stop and hear it.
Spring, O Spring, I say!

Cloudscapes: Red Dawn, Stormhead (Northland Sky, 2022)

David Packa

The Arrowhead Chorale is pleased to feature this recent composition by our own David Packa. Cloudscapes are pieces composed for piano four hands, inspired by the often picturesque Twin Ports skies.

“Red Dawn” depicts the vibrant colors and mysterious beauty of a red sunrise: The clouds are ablaze in the dawn, bringing beauty, mystery, and lastly trepidation as one recalls that red sky in the morning gives warning. 

“Stormhead” is illustrative of the isolated thunderstorms that roll over Duluth hills: the tension in air, the sudden violence of the storm, and the glorious vibrancy of the sky as it clears in the storm’s wake. The air becomes heavy and still – the tension is palpable. The wind shifts abruptly as the stormhead rolls in. Rain pelts, lightning flashes, and thunder roars. The heaviness lifts as the storm recedes and the sky clears into a glorious, vibrant blue.

Heimr Arndadalr / Vuelie (Frozen, 2013)

Christophe Beck, Leo Birenberg, Christine Hals

The 2013 animated musical fantasy film Frozen was inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s 1844 fairy tale “The Snow Queen.”  The soundtrack includes two choral pieces inspired by music of Scandinavia. “Heimr Árnadalr” is written in a Norwegian style after the choral music of Egil Hovland and Knut Nystedt, and uses ancient Norse for its text (according to the lyricist Christin Hals). This piece appears in the film during Anna’s wedding ceremony.

Verðug dróttning stór. (Worthy, great queen)
Hjarta af gulli skína. (May your heart of gold shine)
Kronum þik med vánum, ást ok trú. (We crown thee with hope, love, and trust)
Fagra, grýttur land, heimr Árnadalr. (Fair, stony land, home Arendelle)
Fylgið dróttningu ljóssins. (Follow you all, queen of the light)

A second choral piece, an adaptation of which appears in the opening scene of the movie, is a Saami chant originally composed by Frode Fjellheim, a contemporary Norwegian composer of Saami descent. The Saami are a people indigenous to northern Europe with a long and rich history, currently scattered across northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and into Russia. “Vuelie,” or song, is written in the style of a yoik, which is a Saami chant. The original version of this piece was known as “Eatnemen Vuelie” (The Earth’s Yoik) and was first introduced in this country 15 years ago by the all-female Norwegian choir Cantus at a national choral convention in Minneapolis. There is a Saami (Sami) center in Duluth for those interested in discovering more
about this culture.

Circle of Life (The Lion King, 1994)

Tim Rice, Elton John, arr. Fidel Calalang Jr

The Lion King is a beloved musical which premiered on the silver screen in 1994. Loosely based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the film features a score composed by Hans Zimmer and songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, with “Circle of Life” being the opening number. 

From the day we arrive on this plant
And blinking step into the sun,
There’s more to see than can ever be seen,
More to do than can ever be done.

There’s far too much to take in here,
More to find than can ever be found.
But the sun rolling high in the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round

In the circle of life.
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope,
Through faith and love.
‘Til we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the circle, the circle of life.

Sing for Good

What is Sing for Good? 

Sing for Good is Arrowhead Chorale’s community engagement program. The mission of the program is simple, yet powerful: to create harmony in our community through song and service.

Sing for Good Goals:

• Volunteer our voices and time to community events such as Bentleyville, The Great Hall Marketplace, and The Haunted Shack
• Donate to local nonprofits (e.g. Union Gospel Mission, Lifehouse, Safe Haven, Bethany Crisis Nursery, and more) to meet community needs.
• Bring quality music to underserved populations through free outreach and hosted performances ensuring all community members have the opportunity to experience live chorale music’s life-giving effect! Audiences include NERCC, Benedictine Living Center, MN Adult & Teen Challenge, Ecumen, BOLD-choice Theatre Company, Trillium, Sevita, and more.

This concert cycle alone, we’ve collected donations for Damiano Center, performed an outreach concert for residents at Ecumen, arranged for all of today’s raffle proceeds to go to 23rd Veteran, and – thanks to the generous support of the Lloyd K Johnson Foundation – provided interactive puppeteering workshops for residents of Trillium of Duluth and Embark of Superior. Workshop attendees will be participating in the final piece of the concert – a delight not to be missed!

The Chorale

Our mission is to engage and inspire singers and audiences through high-quality performances of diverse, distinctive choral music and unique education opportunities in Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and surrounding communities.

Click here to learn more about the Arrowhead Chorale (including singer bios)!