Free at Last The earliest example of this song (1907) was documented by African American collector John Wesley Work, Jr. (also known as J. W. Work, I). This Spiritual has been "gospelized", i.e. sung in a Gospel style.
The words "Free at last! Free at last!/Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" were popularized by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the end of what is now known as his "I Have A Dream Speech" that he gave during the 1963 March On Washington. In that speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to "Free At Last" as "the old Negro spiritual".
Old Wine in New Bottles is light-hearted setting of four early English folk songs. It was premiered by the BBC Northern Orchestra Winds and conductor Standford Robinson at the St. Bees Festival in 1959, and remains one of Gordon Jacob's most popular compositions. The "old wine" in the title refers to the songs that the four movements are based on: The Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies, The Three Ravens, Begone, Dull Care, and Early One Morning. The "new bottles" are the creative melodic treatments, the unexpected harmonies, and the "freshness" and new life breathed into these old melodies. The instrumentation is that of double woodwind quintet, with ab lib contrabasson and trumpets.
Nimrod (Lux Aeterna) The story of the Enigma Variations is an amusing one. Tired from a day of giving violin lessons, Elgar returned home to improvise a theme on the piano. His wife liked it and he comically tried to imagine how some of their musical friends may play the piece instead, hence the proper title of Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma) Op 36.
The ninth variation was given the name 'Nimrod' after the biblical reference to Noah's great-grandson of the same name who was a gifted hunter. It pays tribute to Elgar's great friend Augustus J Jaeger (whose surname in German translates to 'Hunter') who managed to keep Sir Edward's hopes up while he was still trying to make his mark on the world of music. Elgar attempted to capture Jaeger's nobility in the slowness of the piece and (allegedly) tried to make a musical reproduction of a conversation they once had late at night concerning the slow movements of Beethoven's slow pieces. Indeed, the first few bars closely resemble the very start of the second movement of Beethoven's Eighth Piano Sonata (also called Pathetique). Having said that, the piece also quotes from Mendelssohn at one point as well.
This arrangement for wind ensemble was arranged for The Renaissance Chamber Collaborative's inaugural concert in NYC 2013. The added soprano bares the tet from the Requiem mass, LUX AETERNA (Eternal Light)
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es.
Requiem aeternam
dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua leceat eis.
May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord, with Thy saints forever,
for Thou art Kind.
Eternal rest
give to them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them."
Rasaan Bourke, Music Director
