Local band to host concert

by Oda Lisa, published in The Wimberley View 11/17/22

The Hill Country Community Band will perform their last concert for 2022 on Saturday, Nov. 19, starting at 2:00 p.m.

Directed by Dr. Manuel Arambula, the free performance entitled, “When Poems Become Music,” will be staged at the First Baptist Church in Wimberley and will last about an hour. Sure to be one of the band’s usual fine instrumental offerings, this concert will be a particularly interesting event given the theme of melding literature and music.

Band member Candy Bowman explained, “The main idea is that the poems have inspired the music, even when some of the poems are over a thousand years old, preserved in an ancient monastery, and only ‘recently’ discovered in 1803. With these selections, there is a mixture of old and new, with ancient poetry providing the inspiration for modern music.”

She added, “Two of the poems will be included in the program so that listeners can follow them as the music is played. ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ was written many centuries ago to celebrate the birth of Christ, and was set into music by Morten Lauridsen in 1994. ‘Do Not Go Gentle in That Good Night’ was a poem written by Dylan Thomas that was inspired by the death of his father. Elliot Del Borgo’s work attempts to recreate the essence of the poem in sound, with the opening motif representing the life force.”

She continued, “For ‘Carmina Burana,’ poems written by clerical students in the 12th century were set to music by German composer, Carl Orff, in 1935. He used 24 of 254 poems in the creation of ‘Carmina Burana.’ You may recognize the song ‘O Fortuna’ from the movie ‘Excalibur,’ where King Arthur and his knights ride into battle.”

Bowman concluded, “Some of the musicians in the band have created an original slide show to illustrate the music of this famous musical selection. The old poems have become new again through music!”

The Hill Country Community Band is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose musicians are volunteers from the Central Texas area. For more, visit hillcountrycommunityband.org. FBCW is located at 15951 Winters Mill Parkway.