Douglas Hedwig
Choral Arts of Chattanooga will perform a concert of inspirational music on Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m., at Second Presbyterian Church, including the world premiere of a work by local composer Douglas Hedwig, “Gitanjali: Song of Devotion.”
The performance, sponsored by Barnett and Company, will be the first conducted by new Artistic Director Darrin Hassevoort, who gave great consideration to the programming. “When thinking about a theme for our concert scheduled for late October or early November, the current climate in our country led me to some of the old Puritan and Shaker songs, which focus on peace, humility, and the need to look outside of ourselves for strength and purpose in life,” Mr.
Hassevoort said. “I then discovered Douglas Hedwig’s new work and it seemed to be the perfect mixture of new and old music focusing on spiritual inspiration and devotion.”
Mr. Hedwig and his wife Mimi have been a part of the Chattanooga music community since 2013, when they relocated from New York. After a 35-year career as a successful trumpet player and professor, including 27 years playing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Mr. Hedwig shifted to full-time composition, and the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra will premiere his string quintet in February. He has received several major commissions, and his music has been published by Carl Fischer Music and TRN Music Publishers.
Mr. Hassevoort reports that Choral Arts is excited and honored to have the opportunity to debut “Gitanjali,” an a cappella piece that Mr. Hedwig describes as “a harmonic and emotional journey. Its spiritual text, from influential Indian writer and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore, explores the refreshing and limitless nature of spirit, interwoven with references to musical elements and singing.
"Fittingly, Mr. Hedwig set the poetry to a placid melody that harkens back to ancient Indian chant, free flowing, modal and expansive, untethered by traditional meter or strict harmonic structure. Set for four voice parts, the middle section introduces more dissonance and stronger rhythms."
Mr. Hedwig said, “As the words change, as ‘ages pass,’ we’re tested and emerge later from that testing, hopefully stronger and more enlightened than we were before.”
The harmonies resolve along with the text, “all that is harsh and dissonant melts away into sweet harmony,” prompting Mr, Hedwig to introduce a distinctly American sound, influenced by Aaron Copland, with wide open chords that suggest the wide open spaces of the American West.
“In a sense,” Mr. Hedwig said, “the piece is an integration of that timeless Indian based tradition, transformed through testing in the middle section, then finally integrated, resolved and brought into my own American experience through the harmony at the end.”
In addition to Indian and American references, Mr. Hedwig interjects words from the Hebrew and Arabic traditions as well. “This was my way of signaling that I believe Tagore’s poetry—and I hope my music is universal in appeal, nondenominational,” he said.
Along with this new work, Choral Arts will sing a varied program from American composers, including selections from Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs, a set of Shaker Songs by Kevin Siegfried, and Lux Aeterna, a five-movement piece by Morten Lauridsen based on sacred Latin texts that reference light.
Anyone interested in meeting Mr. Hedwig and Mr. Hassevoort in person is encouraged to attend the Meet the Musicians fundraising event, hosted by Choral Arts at the Walden Club on Thursday, Oct. 27 beginning at 5:30 p.m. Several choir members will be in attendance as well.
There is no charge for admittance to either the fundraising event or the concert, but donations are encouraged and appreciated for both, officials said.
