The North Country Chorus will sing two classical works, both titled Gloria, one by Francis Poulenc, the other by John Rutter, in their annual spring concerts. The performances are Saturday, May 3, at 7:30 pm and Sunday, May 4, at 3:00 pm. Both concerts are at the United Community Church on Main St. in St. Johnsbury. Admission is by donation. 

The program for the Chorus’s 76th spring concerts will feature the Royal Towne Brass Quintet who, along with organ and percussion, will also accompany the Rutter Gloria. Director Alan Rowe will also lead several songs by the St. Johnsbury Academy Hilltones. 

The liturgical text of both settings of Gloria is taken from the Latin Mass. Poulenc’s work, composed in 1960, is set in “a joyful yet sincere, and in places, humble manner.” Some critics labelled the work as sacrilegious, but Poulenc answered that he had in mind frescoes with angels sticking out their tongues, and also some solemn-looking Benedictine monks that he saw playing soccer one day! 

Rutter’s Gloria, which premiered in 1974, is one of his most ambitious concert works. Rutter saw this work as “exalted, devotional, and jubilant by turns” and analogous to a symphony, with three movements in common with symphonic practice to express these different moods. 

The North Country Chorus has been singing since 1947. Currently about 50 members, this community chorus is a mix of trained and amateur musicians. Auditions are not required.