World Premiere Performance

TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER, 2017 (6:30PM)
Performers: Canterbury College, directed by Janet Wyvill.
Venue: Canterbury Events Centre, Canterbury College, Waterford, QLD, Australia.
URL: Canterbury College (Facebook)

Composer’s Note

Master of Music, a setting of a poem of Henry Van Dyke (1852 – 1933), was commissioned by Canterbury College, Waterford, QLD, Australia for world premiere performance on 14th November, 2017 upon the occasion of the College’s thirtieth anniversary.

As a tribute to the late conductor Theodore Thomas, Van Dyke’s poem reflects on the glory of architects, painters, sculptors and bards who live “forever in temple and picture and statue and song”. But what of the Master of Music, the poet asks? What of the conductor’s “art in the air” that vanishes as soon as it appears? Van Dyke posits that, far from being a transient or ephemeral art, the glory of the Master’s music “endures in the depths of the human soul”, bringing purity, gratitude and joyfulness to all who bear witness to it.

My setting of Van Dyke’s poem is scored for a massed choir of trebles, sopranos, altos and baritone voices, two pianos and a large battery of percussion, including timpani, glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone, tubular bells, marimba and assorted auxilliary percussion instruments.

I sincerely thank Canterbury College for commissioning this new work and for presenting the world premiere performance.

Dr Matthew Orlovich,
Composer.