Fenno Heath
Encyclopedia
Fenno Follansbee Heath, Jr. (December 30, 1926- December 5, 2008) was an American
conductor
, composer
, and arranger of choral
music
.
Heath attended Yale University
, where he majored in music and graduated in 1950. As an undergraduate he sang in the Yale Freshman Chorus, the Apollo Glee Club, the Yale Glee Club
, and the Spizzwinks
, the country's second-oldest a cappella singing group. In his senior year he was appointed conductor of the Whiffenpoofs, the prestigious all-senior a cappella group.
Heath's graduate studies were at the Yale School of Music
. During this time he was conductor of the Apollo Glee Club. He received the M.M. degree in 1952.
. This chorus consisted of male undergraduate students in their second, third, and fourth years, and sang classical music as well as spirituals
and folk songs
.
The chorus was composed of men only (as Yale's undergraduate college was all-male). In 1969, Yale admitted its first women undergraduates. That same year Heath helped to organize the auditions for the first all-female a cappella group at Yale, "The New Blue." The following year, Heath changed the Glee Club from an all-male chorus to a mixed chorus.
During his term as director of the Yale Glee Club, Heath also held the post of "Marshall Bartholomew Professor of Choral Conducting" at the Yale School of Music
.
Heath retired in 1992 and the directorship of the Glee Club passed to David H. Connell, another graduate of the Yale School of Music (D.M.A. 1991).
After his retirement from Yale, Heath continued to conduct at choral festivals and alumni get-togethers, and to compose choral music.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and arranger of choral
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
.
Heath attended Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where he majored in music and graduated in 1950. As an undergraduate he sang in the Yale Freshman Chorus, the Apollo Glee Club, the Yale Glee Club
Yale Glee Club
The Yale Glee Club is a mixed chorus of men and women, consisting of students of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1861, it is the third oldest collegiate chorus in the United States after the Harvard Glee Club, founded in 1858, and the University of Michigan Men's Glee Club,...
, and the Spizzwinks
The Spizzwinks(?)
The Spizzwinks, whose name includes the parentheses and question mark, are an a cappella singing group of male students from Yale University. Founded in late 1913, the Spizzwinks are the oldest underclassman a cappella group in the United States, dating back to a first performance in early...
, the country's second-oldest a cappella singing group. In his senior year he was appointed conductor of the Whiffenpoofs, the prestigious all-senior a cappella group.
Heath's graduate studies were at the Yale School of Music
Yale School of Music
The Yale School of Music is one of the twelve professional schools at Yale University and one of the premier music conservatories in the world....
. During this time he was conductor of the Apollo Glee Club. He received the M.M. degree in 1952.
Professional positions
From 1953-1992 he was the conductor of the Yale Glee ClubYale Glee Club
The Yale Glee Club is a mixed chorus of men and women, consisting of students of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1861, it is the third oldest collegiate chorus in the United States after the Harvard Glee Club, founded in 1858, and the University of Michigan Men's Glee Club,...
. This chorus consisted of male undergraduate students in their second, third, and fourth years, and sang classical music as well as spirituals
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
and folk songs
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
.
The chorus was composed of men only (as Yale's undergraduate college was all-male). In 1969, Yale admitted its first women undergraduates. That same year Heath helped to organize the auditions for the first all-female a cappella group at Yale, "The New Blue." The following year, Heath changed the Glee Club from an all-male chorus to a mixed chorus.
During his term as director of the Yale Glee Club, Heath also held the post of "Marshall Bartholomew Professor of Choral Conducting" at the Yale School of Music
Yale School of Music
The Yale School of Music is one of the twelve professional schools at Yale University and one of the premier music conservatories in the world....
.
Heath retired in 1992 and the directorship of the Glee Club passed to David H. Connell, another graduate of the Yale School of Music (D.M.A. 1991).
After his retirement from Yale, Heath continued to conduct at choral festivals and alumni get-togethers, and to compose choral music.
Accomplishments and honors
- Heath arranged a large number of songs for chorus. While his group was all male, he was dedicated to arrangements for four-part male chorus, known as "TTBB chorus." After 1970, when he added women to his group, his arrangements were mostly for mixed chorus, known as "SATB chorus." His choral arrangements are published by Schirmer, many of them as part of the "Yale Glee Club Series" that was started by his predecessor as Glee Club director, Marshall Bartholomew.
- He also arranged music for male and female a cappellaA cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
singing groups.
- Heath was active as a composer, creating many works for chorus. Most of his works are based on ChristianChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
religious texts or subjects. He wrote for chorus alone, chorus with piano, and chorus with instruments.
- As Glee Club director, Heath led the group on many tours, both domestic and international. Highlights included a round-the-world tour in 1965 and tours to South AmericaSouth AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, ScandinaviaScandinaviaScandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, and RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
- After his retirement, Heath was named "conductor emeritus" of the Glee Club.
- He was awarded the Yale Glee Club Medal for his contributions to the Glee Club.
- He was awarded the Yale Medal for his contributions to the university.
- He was appointed director of the University Glee Club of New Haven in 1955. A position he held until 1986, handing the baton to Mark Dollhopf '77.
- He was named an honorary member of the University Glee Club of New York City.
- He was awarded the Marshall Bartholomew Award by the Intercollegiate Men's Choruses, a national association of male choruses
- In 2005, Jeffrey DoumaJeffrey DoumaJeffrey Douma is the Director of the Yale Glee Club and an Associate Professor of Conducting at the Yale School of Music. Prior to his appointment at Yale in 2003, he taught at Carroll University, where he was Director of Choral Activities, and also served on the conducting faculties of Smith...
, conductor of the Yale Glee Club, created the Fenno Heath Award, a composition competition for new Yale songs (to rekindle the tradition of prolific composition of Yale-spirited songs around the turn of the 20th century). The competition was named for Heath in honor of his work with YGC, which looked both forwards with innovation and backwards to tradition, a hallmark of the group today.
Compositions
- Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight (words by Vachel LindsayVachel LindsayNicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. He is considered the father of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted...
) - Beat, Beat Drums!
- Fern Hill (words by Dylan ThomasDylan ThomasDylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
) - Death Be Not Proud (setting of Holy Sonnet X by John DonneJohn DonneJohn Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
) - General William Booth Enters into Heaven (words by Vachel LindsayVachel LindsayNicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. He is considered the father of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted...
) - The Greatest of These (written for Church of the Redeemer in New Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
) - The Lamb (words by William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
; written for Yale Glee ClubYale Glee ClubThe Yale Glee Club is a mixed chorus of men and women, consisting of students of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1861, it is the third oldest collegiate chorus in the United States after the Harvard Glee Club, founded in 1858, and the University of Michigan Men's Glee Club,...
) - Lux et Veritas (1998?)
- Mass for Chorus and Brass (1987?)
- Psalm 96
- Reunion (written for the 145th Glee Club Reunion in 2006, words by Sandra BoyntonSandra BoyntonSandra Keith Boynton is an American humorist, songwriter, children's author and illustrator. Boynton has written and illustrated more than forty books for both children and adults, as well as over four thousand greeting cards, and four music albums...
) - Stop, Look, and Listen - Here Come the Smithereens (1948)
- Thy Word is a Lantern (1965)
- Tiger, Tiger
Arrangements/Transcriptions
- Alleluia, from Brazilian Psalm by Jean Berger
- Ave Maria (Franz BieblFranz BieblFranz Xaver Biebl was a German composer of classical music. Most of his compositions were for choral ensembles....
) - The Battle Of Jericho
- Cheek to Cheek
- Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel?
- Er Is Een Kindeke Geboren Op D'Aard
- Ev'ry Time I Feel The Spirit
- Gaudeamus igitur
- Guide my Head
- He's Got the Whole World in His HandsHe's Got the Whole World in His Hands"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" is a traditional American spiritual. It was first published in the paperbound hymnal Spirituals Triumphant, Old and New, in 1927. In 1933, it was collected by Frank Warner from the singing of Sue Thomas in North Carolina...
- In That Great Gettin' Up Mornin'
- I Wonder as I Wander
- Keep In The Middle Of The Road
- My Lord, What A Mornin'
- A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
- Poem In October (by Dylan ThomasDylan ThomasDylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
) - Rise Up, Shepherd
- See Him In A Manger
- September Song
- Shenandoah (arr. Marshall Bartholomew, transcribed for SATB chorus by Fenno Heath)
- Simple Gifts
- Softly
- Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
- The Lady Is A Tramp
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- This Train
- Three Chanteys (1. Eight Bells 2. Away to Rio! 3. Old Man Noah)
- Wake, Freshmen, Wake
- What Child Is This
- When Johnny Comes Marching Home
External links
- Yale Glee Club official web site
- The Heath Sisters, an ensemble formed by Heath's three daughters
- UGA Men's Glee Club perform Fenno Heath's composition, "Beat, beat Drums!" (text by Walt Whitman)
- http://www.universitygleeclub.org/ University Glee Club of New Haven
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1539427/bio