“Music frees us. Not only does it let each of us say for himself what he can not say in words, but,
at its best, it reveals to us a higher reach of life, detached, yet a part of the inmost being of us all.”
Thomas Whitney Surette
Dear Friends,
In the mid 1980’s, much time, thought, and effort went into establishing the Thomas Whitney Surette Concert Series, which opened in Surette’s former residence, and the home of the Concord Summer School of Music (1915-1938) in Concord Center, with a number of Thomas Whitney’s “seasoned” pupils at hand.
The concert series, which was held in Concord homes, was much appreciated. And, I believe one can say, it rekindled an appreciation for that Concordian, who not only played the organ at Emerson’s funeral — taking up what had been a literary and philosophical impulse and translating it into a musical impulse, borne of a veritable intelligence — but who went on to transform American musical education, as the forerunner of the Tanglewoods of our day.
In the words of the celebrated critic, Jacques Barzun:
“It makes one despair of human justice . . . to find a career like Surette’s exerting so much influence and passing so unnoticed by the public at large. . . If in the schools of America today, boys and girls sing Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert, if earlier still, in the kindergarten, they make up their own words and tunes as they dance, if much later . . . they sing Bach chorales, practice the oboe, and arrange musical house parties, it is because Thomas Whitney Surette plowed the field and prepared the harvest.”
Despair we need not.
For the last years it has been clear to me that the impulse of The Concord Summer School of Music (“not a normal school”, in Surette’s words), which was devoted not to music alone but which embraced its sister arts and culture itself, asks to be renewed — an impulse that bore not only the fruits of Transcendentalism, but much more, as those who concern themselves with that impulse may discover.
The time is at hand to revive not only the Thomas Whitney Surette Concert Series but the Concord Summer School of Music and its kindred “royal”/“liberal” arts — under a simple and straightforward theme, in our increasingly professional, competitive, and economically driven times:
FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC
THE ARTS, CULTURE & THE HUMAN SPIRIT.
The series will feature gifted young students — as noted in the following — whose love of music, its great composers, culture, and the spirit that inspires one and all, we look forward to supporting and encouraging along their way.
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* FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC *
The Thomas Whitney Surette Concert Series
Friday, June 24nd, 7:30 pm
Duvall Chapel, 100 Newbury Court, Concord, MA.
“Nothing ever dies. What we call death is only a transformation from one form of life to another. All the music that ever was still sounds; all that music that is to be still slumbers. Life and death are one, and, in the truest sense, the whole universe is a song.”
Thomas Whitney Surette, Founder, Concord Summer School of Music, 1915-1938.
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Join us friends for the June 24, St. John’s Concert with pianist Meghan Tan’s return to Newbury Court (see youtube below), accompanied by acclaimed fellow student pianists David Kotler and Peter Wang, along with 4 young, gifted Russian singers from Alexander Prokhorov’s Commonwealth Lyric Theater Company: Clark Rubinstein, Sam Golub, Allen Gurvits, and David Nogin. The company has won acclaim for their full scale opera productions of: Tchaikovsky’s IOLANTA, Rachmaninoff’s ALEKO, Rimsky-Korsakov’s MOZART & SALIERI, and most recently Mussorgsky’s BORIS GODUNOV.
Following the concert, the students will speak about the challenges they face to remain true to their “love of music” in the face of the growing competitive and professional pressures all around them.
* Your thoughts/angles of vision thereto are most welcome. *
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Glimpses of Meghan’s performances
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Thomas Whitney Surette & His Work
The concert series honors the life of Concordian, Thomas Whitney Surette, the founder and director of The Concord Summer School of Music, 1915-1938, which transformed American musical education and became the forerunner of the musical festivals of our day. As a young man, Surette played the organ at Emerson’s funeral and, thereby, took up the torch, transforming what had been a literary and philosophical impulse into a musical impulse and more . . . In Surette’s words:
“This [Concord Summer School of Music] is not a normal school. The chief purpose of this school is to develop the individuality of teachers by bringing them in contact with great music, poetry etc., by dealing as clearly as possible with the principle underlying all teaching, and particularly the teaching of music, and to stimulate and help the teacher to work out his or her own way of teaching. Teaching is an art, not a science. To impose a rigid system on the teaching of any art is to destroy the art and the teacher.”
“Music frees us. Not only does it let each of us say for himself what he can not say in words, but, at its best, it reveals to us a higher reach of life, detached, yet a part of the inmost being of us all.”
“The purpose of higher education is to “unsettle” the lives of young men and women (to quote Hutchins, President of the Univ. of Chicago.) Try to get a realization of the significance of the life we ourselves must attain to – not just to see objects and events. William Blake says that our five senses may shut us out from the world. It is not by looking that we see things, but by seeing. We must use our inner eye.”
“Try to get a realization of yourself in relation to the world by seeing not only the object but the significance of it. To do this you must have imagination (insight) and originality. Interpret the world for yourself. Cultivate a seeing eye, a hearing ear – and be aware. . . Think for yourself, never through anyone else, be yourself, yet keep within the laws of life.”
“We all need music because it is a fluent, free, and beautiful form of expression for those deeper impulses of ours, which are denied expression by words . . .”
“Nothing ever dies. What we call death is only a transformation from one form of life to another. All the music that ever was still sounds; all that music that is to be still slumbers. Life and death are one, and, in the truest sense, the whole universe is a song.”
Surette’s colleague, Edward Barry Greene and critic (and more) Jacques Barzun offer further insights into Surette’s labors — on our behalf.
“What were his [Surette’s] ideals? Beauty was perhaps most important – and the desire to share it. He wanted to share with us his sensitivity to and love for beauty, and through us, as teachers, he wanted to reach and share with the children in America his joy in music and the beauty of music. For he knew that Beauty absorbed and understood, changes people.” — Edward Barry Greene.
“It makes one despair of human justice . . . . to find a career like Surette’s exerting so much influence and passing so unnoticed by the public at large . . . . If in the schools of America today, boys and girls sing Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert, if earlier still, in the kindergarten, they make up their own words and tunes as they dance, if much later . . . . they sing Bach chorales, practice the oboe, and arrange musical house parties, it is because Thomas Whitney Surette plowed the field and prepared the harvest.” — Jacques Barzun
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For more information, contact: David White at info@concord-ium.us