Ode to Virginia Voyage

Allison Brophy Champion / Culpeper Star Exponent
Published: May 3, 2007

Jamestown fever is spreading. Even as Queen Elizabeth tours Virginia during her fourth ever state visit to the U.S., the Blue Ridge Chorale of Brandy Station will present concerts today at Culpeper Baptist Church and Saturday at Lake of the Woods Church in celebration of America's 400th birthday.

The regional community choir will perform American composer Randall Thompson's "Ode to the Virginian Voyage," based on Renaissance poet Michael Drayton's poem from 1606, a year before the first permanent English settlement on Virginia's shores.

"And cheerfully at sea
Success you still entice
To get the pearl and gold
And ours to hold Virginia,
Earth's only paradise!" wrote Drayton, an Englishman.

Thompson, born in New York City, put the now 401-year-old poem to music during the summer of 1957 in commemoration of Jamestown's 350th anniversary. It was first performed in Williamsburg. A lecturer and composer at the University of California Berkeley, Princeton University and Harvard, Thompson served on the fine arts facility at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville from 1941-45.

The Blue Ridge Chorale will also perform excerpts from Thompson's "Testament to Freedom," based on the writings of Thomas Jefferson. Old American classics like "Shenandoah" and other folk songs will round out the concert.

"By presenting this concert, the Chorale seeks to present the history of a proud nation, and also to inspire, through music and commentary, future generations of America," according to a news release.

And for the first time, the hearing impaired will be able to find inspiration as well. Thanks to a $295 grant from the Northern Piedmont Community Foundation, the Blue Ridge Chorale will bring in Rebecca Bennett, a signer, for both concerts.

"We are very excited about it," said Nellie Santinga, chorale manager, "and are hoping to make it a permanent thing."
Interestingly, five chorale members are hearing impaired.

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or