Feeling the Same Emotion at the Same Time: Alice Parker (1925-2023)
January 25, 2024 1:50 PM Subscribe
Alice Parker (Wikipedia), choral composer, arranger, conductor, and teacher, passed away on Christmas Eve 2023 at the age of 98.
Parker graduated from Smith College in 1947 with a double major in organ and composition. She later studied at Tanglewood and Julliard. Parker was a student of, and later a prolific collaborator with, the American choral giant Robert Shaw (Wikipedia). In 1985, she founded and led the professional choir Melodious Accord.
From Wikipedia: “Parker wrote a total of 5 operas, 11 song-cycles, 33 cantatas, 11 works for chorus and orchestra, 47 choral suites, and more than 40 original hymns. She also arranged spirituals, hymns, and folk songs, including French, Spanish, Hebrew, and Ladino folk songs, many of which have become part of the repertoire of choirs around the world.”
From a 2022 interview for New Music USA, (YouTube, audio and written transcript), this quote encapsulates the transcendent essence of choral singing:
“When we sing something perfectly lovely together … and it really clicks, you have this marvelous feeling of brotherhood in the room. We are all human beings. We are all feeling this emotion together at the same time. And this is uniting us. We are not separate.”
2020 documentary: At Home with Alice Parker.
St. Olaf Choir’s (distanced, masked) performance of Alice Parker’s 2020 composition “On the Common Ground.”
Parker graduated from Smith College in 1947 with a double major in organ and composition. She later studied at Tanglewood and Julliard. Parker was a student of, and later a prolific collaborator with, the American choral giant Robert Shaw (Wikipedia). In 1985, she founded and led the professional choir Melodious Accord.
From Wikipedia: “Parker wrote a total of 5 operas, 11 song-cycles, 33 cantatas, 11 works for chorus and orchestra, 47 choral suites, and more than 40 original hymns. She also arranged spirituals, hymns, and folk songs, including French, Spanish, Hebrew, and Ladino folk songs, many of which have become part of the repertoire of choirs around the world.”
From a 2022 interview for New Music USA, (YouTube, audio and written transcript), this quote encapsulates the transcendent essence of choral singing:
“When we sing something perfectly lovely together … and it really clicks, you have this marvelous feeling of brotherhood in the room. We are all human beings. We are all feeling this emotion together at the same time. And this is uniting us. We are not separate.”
2020 documentary: At Home with Alice Parker.
St. Olaf Choir’s (distanced, masked) performance of Alice Parker’s 2020 composition “On the Common Ground.”
Oh my. I had no idea.
Just this past week I've been drilling down into her hymnal, recording various pieces and parts on whatever instruments I have laying around.
As a minister - people like these are living icons... her work animates my faith.
I don't know how to explain how piercing and powerful something like this can be - words utterly fail me. When Ash Wednesday and the events of Holy Week become geographic places that you travel to and visit every year, like a pilgrim, her music is like the sound of the waves breaking on Lake Michigan in January. It is a sound that identifies a place, a season, and an experience.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 5:36 PM on January 25 [4 favorites]
Just this past week I've been drilling down into her hymnal, recording various pieces and parts on whatever instruments I have laying around.
As a minister - people like these are living icons... her work animates my faith.
I don't know how to explain how piercing and powerful something like this can be - words utterly fail me. When Ash Wednesday and the events of Holy Week become geographic places that you travel to and visit every year, like a pilgrim, her music is like the sound of the waves breaking on Lake Michigan in January. It is a sound that identifies a place, a season, and an experience.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 5:36 PM on January 25 [4 favorites]
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posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 7:58 PM on January 25
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 7:58 PM on January 25
Her collaborations with Robert Shaw produced dozens of arrangements of shape note tunes and other American folk hymns, bringing that great American oral tradition to written sheet music accessible to people all over the world who otherwise might never have encountered it. Truly a gift to choral music!
posted by hydropsyche at 5:02 AM on January 26 [4 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 5:02 AM on January 26 [4 favorites]
Such a towering figure in the world of choral and sacred music. Her Sacred Symphonies ("The Wine," "The Daughter," "The Anointing") are still one of my favorite pieces ever.
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posted by lysimache at 1:46 PM on January 26 [1 favorite]
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posted by lysimache at 1:46 PM on January 26 [1 favorite]
I note that I neglected to include an obituary; this one in the NYTimes is lovely and thorough, and as far as I can tell not paywalled. She was an amazing person and an incredible musician.
One of the choruses I sing with is performing Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal in her honor this spring.
Although we are not related, we share a (maiden) surname (spelled backwards it is my user name).
posted by rekrap at 3:56 PM on January 26 [3 favorites]
One of the choruses I sing with is performing Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal in her honor this spring.
Although we are not related, we share a (maiden) surname (spelled backwards it is my user name).
posted by rekrap at 3:56 PM on January 26 [3 favorites]
Rekrsp, that’s such a great arrangement! I’ve sung it too. Just joyful.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:01 PM on January 26
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:01 PM on January 26
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