The First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe at 208 Grant Ave. Courtesy/FPCSF

First Presbyterian Church News:

There are changes in two upcoming concert dates at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe:

New Date: Sept. 18, 2020 
Time: after 5:30 p.m. on Fridays for 10 minutes
What: TGIF virtual concert– fpcsantafe.org/tgiftube/
(LAST SLASH, very Important)
Music: Jared Aragón, organ
Where – First Presbyterian Church Santa Fe, 208 Grant Ave., 505.982.8544
Admission: Freewill offering and open to all
For More Information call 505.982.8544, ext. 16

Program:

Tenção sobre o 5º Kyrie
Gaspar dos Reis (? – c.1674) 

A tenção, or intonation, is a short musical composition with the purpose of serving as a prelude to a sung portion of the Mass. The intonation sets the key and prepares the cantor for singing. Not much is known of the composer Gaspar dos Reis, his birth year is unknown, and musicologists think he may have passed in the year 1674.

Fabordón y Versos de 1º ton
Padre Martín García de Olague (c.1684 – ?)

Padre de Olague is another composer with much of his life forgotten to time, we know he served as a priest and as a choir director in Pamplona, Spain. He also has, at least, this composition that bears his name. The fabordón, like the tenção, is a musical form that precludes a hymn sung during Mass. The various versos (verses) which follow, were meant to be played by the organist between the verses of the sung hymn. In larger churches with more than one organ, the smaller choir organ was meant to help provide harmonic support to the cantor or choir, while the larger grand organ provided the fabordóns and versos. Some of these versos are left untitled by de Olague and the organist was to choose appropriate sounds, while others do have descriptors with precise sounds in mind.

Tiento de falsas de 6º ton
Juan Cabanilles (1644 – 1712)

The tiento is a musical form that originated in Spain and bears resemblance to the Italian toccata, it is a musical form that is meant to showcase the dexterity of the performer’s fingers. In its infancy, the tiento was a quasi-improvisatory work that accompanied Communion and was meant to reflect the actions of the priest reenacting the Last Supper. The moment when the priest rose the Host into the air was the climactic part of the tiento, often the loudest, or with the most musical activity. As time progressed, the tiento began to turn into a form that was more virtuosic and didn’t follow the drama of the Holy Eucharist quite so closely. The falsas portion of this work’s title refers to notes outside of the key signature, dissonances that typically land on the strong beats of the measure and are resolved in the weak beats. Cabanilles chooses mild dissonances for this tiento, mostly based on a false relationship between B-flat and B-natural.

Fandango
José Blasco de Nebra (1702 – 1768)

A flamenco dance form, the fandango is often in a triple meter and meant to be danced by couples. The dance and its associated movements and hand gestures are meant to tell the story of love. The fandango consists of a musical introduction followed by a series of variations on that introduction. In the case of de Nebra’s Fandango, the introduction is only two measures long and the entire piece switches constantly between only two chords: the tonic and the dominant. Despite there only being two chords, de Nebra allows for a world of variations to be built upon the introductory theme and performers often add their own variations or play around with the order of de Nebra’s variations. As this piece is improvisatory in nature, I take the chance to play around with some push and pull in the tempo, to give the feeling of the piece unfolding as it progresses and to mimic the feeling of spontaneously deciding what should come next in the improvisatory process. For those who may think that a fandango is out of place in a recital of sacred music, the earliest written description of the dance comes from a letter written in 1712 by the Spanish priest Padre Martín Martí.

Jared Isaac Aragón, organ

Composer and organist Jared Isaac Aragón has been immersed in music his entire life. Growing up in the bosques of Central New Mexico, his parents owned a music store where he discovered his love for music. He began piano lessons under Bobbi Carbajal and under her guidance began to discover a love of composing his own music. This passion led Aragón to pursue degrees in music composition from Eastern New Mexico University, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Arizona where he studied under composers Mark Dal Porto, Robert Mueller, Daniel Asia, and Pamela Decker. 

As a composer, Aragón has won awards from the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the College Music Society, the DissonArt Ensmble (Thessaloniki, Greece), the Santa Fe Community Orchestra (Santa Fe, NM), and Les amis de l’orgue de Montréal (Montréal, Canada). He has presented his music and performed as an organist at the 2015 Lucca International Festival for new music in Lucca, Italy and created performance editions of several newly discovered works by composer Florence Price for the E.W. Jones Black Music Festival at the University of Arkansas. Aragón serves as organist and director of handbells at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona and is a member of the percussion-organ duo sonidos encendidos.

A freewill offering for the recital fund will be received.

CHANGE OF CONCERT

New Date: Sept. 25, 2020
Time: after 5:30 on Fridays for 10 minutes
What: TGIF virtual concert– fpcsantafe.org/tgiftube/
(LAST SLASH, very Important)
Music: Travis Bregier, baritone and David W. Beatty, piano
Where – First Presbyterian Church Santa Fe, 208 Grant Ave., 505.982.8544
Admission: Freewill offering and open to all
For More Information call 505.982.8544, ext. 16

Program:

Songs in 3/4 Time
Lieder by Alexander Zemlinsky

Walzer-Gesänge, Op. 6, Nos. 2, 3, and 5

• • Klagen ist der Mond Gekommen
  • Fensterlein, nachts bist du zu
  • Blaues Sternlein

Lieder, Op. 2, No. 6
Um Mitternacht

A freewill offering for the recital fund will be received.