Francis Poulenc, heir to the Rhone-Poulenc pharmaceutical fortune, would have turned 125 in 2024. His life and music, with their febrile ebullience and solemn introspection, reflect his conflicted identity as a gay man and devout Catholic. His Suite Française is a collection of Renaissance-era courtly dance forms recast in modernist harmonies.
Music connected to the jazz legend Billie Holiday is included as well among this Sunday’s musical selections. In spite of her anguished life of drug addiction and incarceration, Holiday produced some of the most poignant jazz and Blues standards of the last century. “Billie’s Song,” composed by jazz great and CUUC friend Valerie Capers, is a tribute to Holiday from Dr. Capers’ Portraits in Jazz.
Elsewhere, CUUC’s Choir is on hand with “Inscription of Hope,” based on texts found in a Holocaust-era safe house, and “Now I Walk in Beauty,” a setting of a Native American prayer.
Read on for programming details.
Gathering Music: Adam Kent, piano
Suite Française ~ Francis Poulenc
Bransle de Bourgogne · Pavane · Petite marche militaire · Complainte · Bransle de Champagne · Sicilienne · Carillon
Anthem:
CUUC Choir, directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas
Inscription of Hope ~ Z. Randall Strope
The composer writes: The Holocaust is a stunning reminder of the tragic results of prejudice and hate toward other people. But it is also a reminder that hope, held firm, will eventually reign victorious over the greatest of odds. The following words were inscribed on the walls of a cellar in Cologne, Germany, where Jews were hiding from the Nazis during World War II: “Hope was all they had to hold on to; hope was their only bridge to a brighter tomorrow.”
Meditation: Adam
Billie’s Song ~ Valerie Capers
Offertory: Choir
Now I Walk in Beauty ~ Navajo prayer, Gregg Smith
Postlude: Adam
God Bless the Child* ~ Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog Jr.
*Lyrics
Them that’s got shall get
Them that’s not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own
Yes, the strong gets more
While the weak ones fade
Empty pockets don’t ever make the grade
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own
Money, you’ve got lots of friends
Crowding round the door
When you’re gone, spending ends
They don’t come no more
Rich relations give
Crust of bread and such
You can help yourself
But don’t take too much
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own
He just worry ’bout nothin’
Cause he’s got his own