Randall Thompson

Concert today to present Frost's poems set to music

Joseph Rivers The concert will also feature his “Will Rogers — Self-Portrait.”

By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
4/22/2007

Exactly what Robert Frost thought of Randall Thompson's "Frostiana," a musical setting of seven of Frost's poems, is open to debate.

Thompson had been commissioned to write a piece, using Frost's poetry, to commemorated the bicentennial of Amherst, Mass., where Frost had taught for many years.

Thompson chose seven poems -- famous ones such as "The Road Not Taken," "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and some lesser-known poems -- and the work had its premiere in 1959, with Thompson conducting and Frost in the audience.

One story has it that Frost, at the conclusion of the final piece, "Chose Something Like a Star," stood up and shouted "Sing that again!"

Others claim that Frost was so displeased that he never again allowed his poems to be set to music for the rest of his life. In a Los Angeles Times story about Frost and music, Carole Thompson, president of the Friends of Robert Frost, said that "Frost did not like having his poems set to music. He said, 'It spoils my fun.' "

In the end, more people have agreed with that first reaction, as Thompson's "Frostiana" has become one of this composer's best-known and most performed works.

The University of Tulsa's Capella Chamber Singers, under the direction of Kim Childs, assistant professor of choral studies at TU, will perform "Frostiana" as part of its spring concert at 3 p.m Sunday at All Souls Unitarian Church, 2952 S. Peoria Ave. Admission to the concert is free.

The concert is titled "An American Portrait," and will feature "Will Rogers -- Self-Portrait," a work composed by TU music professor Joseph Rivers.

Rivers' piece was written in 1998, and was commissioned by by the Claremore Community Chorus and the Will Rogers Heritage Inc.

"It is completely based on words by Will Rogers," Rivers said, adding that he tried to balance the piece between "his humorous and his serious side, ending -- of course -- with that familiar quote, 'I never met a man I didn't like.' "

"We thought it would be a good piece to revive during the Oklahoma Centennial year," he said.

The concert also will include another Thompson piece, "The Peaceable Kingdom." Thompson was inspired by a painting of the same name by Edward Hicks. Thompson used verses by the Book of Isaiah for the text.

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James D. Watts Jr. 581-8478
james.watts@tulsaworld.com

By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer