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Longtime
Accompanist to Retire from Cantemus
by
Bettina Turner, Soprano 2
Robert
Littlefield’s reassuring and familiar presence at the
piano and organ has been a part of Cantemus since 1985. His
laid-back attitude belies the fact that he is a superb accompanist
who can play practically anything set in front of him and
a musician with a lifetime of outstanding accomplishments.
Cantemus is only one of seven choruses Robert accompanies;
the others being Chorus North Shore, three choruses at Briscoe
Middle School in Beverly, MA, and his two choirs at First
Parish Unitarian in Beverly, where he has been Music Director
for 40 years. He also teaches piano and organ. He holds Bachelors
and Masters Degrees in Music from New England Conservatory,
where he majored in organ and minored in harpsichord and choral
conducting. Sadly, this will be his last season with Cantemus
as he is looking to move into semi-retirement.
In an
interview for this newsletter, Robert allowed some glimpses
of the man behind the keyboard.
 How
did you get started in music?
My parents
took me to church at Easter when I was four, and I thought
the organ was God! I talked about it for weeks. I started
to study the organ in eighth grade, as soon as I was tall
enough. Before that, I already sang in the choir at St. Paul’s
Episcopal Church in Newburyport. My first paid job was singing
in a boys’ and men’s choir at age 11. They paid
25 cents per rehearsal, 25 cents per Sunday, 25 cents per
solo, and, if you had perfect attendance and no “mark
downs” for bad behavior, you got double pay. I decided
at 11 years old that I wanted to be an organist and choir
director. My first organist job was as a high school sophomore.
In my youth I also played flute, clarinet, tuba and baritone
horn. I was an only child, a “prince,” and my
parents were supportive of my choice to become a musician.
My father, a tool and die designer, sang in the same choir
I did and I learned a lot about music from him. My son, Mark,
who is an excellent musician and pianist and presently heads
the math department at Newburyport High School, also followed
the family tradition and sang in the choir at St. Paul’s.
What
were some of the high points of your career?
I really enjoy accompanying choruses. I accompanied chorus
rehearsals under Aaron Copland at NEC when he was conducting
his own pieces. I also accompanied for Erich Leinsdorf and
the Boston Symphony. I was the piano soloist for the Beethoven
Choral Fantasy with the Salem Philharmonic.
What
are some of your favorite keyboard works?
Besides Bach? Probably organ pieces by Franz Liszt, who did
not even write a lot for the organ. It’s hard to have
a favorite; it depends on what day of the week it is and what
organ you are on.
What
kinds of things are you looking forward to doing in semi-retirement?
I read a lot. I especially like books on architecture.
How have you changed during 40 years of playing, conducting
and accompanying?
Other than the reading glasses, the gray hair, and that I
got a lot heavier? … I am not as good as I thought I
was in my twenties, but I know that I am better now than I
was then.
How
Choral Music Has Changed Our Lives
Although
some Cantemus singers employ music as part of their professional
lives, we all (professional musicians or not) sing for the
love of it, a love that often sprouted very early in our lives.
We thought it would be fun to ask our singers to share how
their involvement in choral music, early on and as adults,
has affected their lives. Here’s what they had to say:
Gary
Freeman, tenor 1
 Lessons
learned:
In elementary school, the music teacher gathered me into a
make-shift chorus to perform at a teacher’s workshop.
I remember watching the music teacher’s cue, and singing
my solo, “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” I sang
it as fast as I could, relieved when it was over. At the end,
everybody applauded, and I joined in. But I had forgotten
that I’d been troubled that day by stabbing pains in
my arm, which were increasing as I applauded. A few hours
later at the doctor’s office, I found that I had broken
my arm earlier that morning when I’d fallen while running.
I’ve learned that if you want to be a star you’d
better not run before a major performance. But if you do,
don’t applaud when you’re done.
Dorothy
Monnelly, alto 2
 Best
memories: An elementary school performance of “Evening
Prayer” from Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel.
Yes, I was one of the angels, complete with halo, and I couldn’t
get enough of the music. Later, I always sang in church choirs,
although the memory that comes to mind is stealing the organist’s
shoes and marching out with them concealed under my choir
robe.
What she brings to choral music: I am often struck
by the parallels with photography (what I do with the rest
of my time). Ansel Adams said that the negative is the score
and the print is the performance (he was a fine pianist, so
he understood the full meaning of his words). To move from
the negative to the final print, or from the score to the
performance, I am aware that the attention to detail and technique
is similar, as is the continuing sense of the “big picture”
which guides and inspires the process.
Mark
Pierce, tenor 1
 Best
memories: My most outrageous memories of singing involve
musical comedies, not choirs. I have performed dressed in
an emerald green hoop skirt, a yellow sandwich board, as a
corpse, a soldier, a cowboy, and as a sleazy bartender (my
personal favorite). Each of these extravaganzas involved dancing
as well. You have not lived until you have tried to carry
a tune while being “clothes lined” by another
dancer.
Lessons learned: What have I learned? Duck! Also, that
the key to performing well is performing confidently then
letting go. The key to performing confidently is preparation,
but even that won’t eliminate mistakes. When mistakes
occur, forget them immediately and continue on confidently.
Somehow, things will turn out all right.
Nat
Pulsifer, bass 2
 How
choral music changed his life: Singing was more important
than smoking. So I quit!
Chris Reif,
alto 2
 Best
early choral music memory: I sang in chorus in school
until 6th grade, the highlight being when we performed with
Karen and Richard Carpenter on their “Sing A Song”
tour.
Lessons learned: After 6th grade, I had to choose between
instrumental groups or the chorus, because they met at the
same time, so I stayed with the band and orchestra. I did
not sing with a chorus again for over 15 years. I then took
another four-year hiatus from all music due to child-rearing
and work demands. Those were the emptiest four years of my
life.
What she takes from choral singing: One beautiful thing
about choral singing (as opposed to instrumental music) is
that you can practice in your car. Another is that, though
arthritis can make it an ordeal to play guitar chords or press
trumpet valves, it has no impact on your ability to sing.
Finally, the measure of success is how well you blend with
others to form one rich sound; it’s not about competition,
it’s about unity.
Cantemus
Medley!
While
sharing their talents with Cantemus, our singers also make
an impact elsewhere in the arts community and in their various
chosen vocations. Here’s a recent sampling:
 In
July, altos Deb Twining and Betsy Lebel, bass
Bill Dowdall, and soprano Susan Nash spent a
week at the Berkshire Choral Festival in Sheffield, MA. Morning
rehearsals were followed by noontime classes in music theory,
history, or performance. After free afternoons, participants
enjoyed pre-dinner talks and faculty concerts, and then attended
evening rehearsals. (Imagine singing five hours a day for
six days!) The climax came on Saturday night: 237 voices performed
Beethoven’s Mass in C and the Duruflé
Requiem accompanied by the Springfield Symphony and
conducted by Donald McCullough, of The Master Chorale of Washington,
D.C. For more information, see the BCF web site (www.choralfest.org).
This organization provides a fabulous singing experience for
more than 1,000 people every year. Just ask Deb (this was
her 10th year) and Bill (he met his wife there!).
 Author
and Cantemus alto Pat Lowery Collins recently received
the Boston Author’s Club Julia Ward Howe Award for the
best children’s book of 2004. The award is for The
Fattening Hut, a young adult novel published by the children’s
division of Houghton Mifflin. The Fattening Hut was
also chosen for the Booksense 76 list for 2003-2004. The book
tells the story of a young girl who resists the traditions
of her tribe and fights to become educated and free. What
reviewers have said: “(the book is) powerful and unique...”
“so powerfully written that it seems to be not just
for this character, but for a tribe, a gender, a race”...
and “the impact of each word and the tempo of the narrative
drive readers on.” For more on this and other of Pat’s
works, see www.patlowerycollins.com.
 One
of Cantemus’ new basses, Justin Turner, 16, also
happens to be the son of soprano Bettina Turner. Justin,
a junior at Newburyport High School, has been singing with
the school’s choir and select choir for the past two
years, as well as in his church and in school musicals. He
enjoyed the challenge of auditioning for an “adult group”
like Cantemus and says he was happily surprised and proud
to be invited to join. His mother is “thrilled to share
my love of singing with my son. It’s unusual for teenagers
to want to join in activities with their parents and it’s
a great opportunity for us to spend time together. The main
challenge so far has been to fit Justin with a tuxedo for
his lanky frame!”
 Cantemus
bass Richard Salandrea, soprano Susan Nash and
tenor Tim Bakland (on sabbatical this semester) sang
in the octet chorus of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito,
performed September 17 and 19 by Prism Opera (www.prismopera.org),
in a new English translation by, and under the artistic direction
of, Thomas Stumpf. Thomas performed with Cantemus in December,
reading A Child’s Christmas in Wales.
Download
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It’s
not too early to plan to hear Cantemus during the holidays!
Save
the weekend of December 2-4, 2005, when we’ll delight
you with musical gifts of the season. We’re looking
into adding more concert dates and locations to accommodate
our growing audience! Watch your mailbox for updated information.
Order
a CD
Ranging
from traditional carols to international music of the season
to a complete performance of Benjamin Britten’s masterful
"Ceremony of Carols" for treble voices and harp,
our debut CD presents the listener with a sampling of our
most spirited seasonal pieces.
"Joy
Shall Be Yours" is available for
purchase at all of our concerts as well as at the River Gallery
in Ipswich.
To
purchase "Joy Shall Be Yours" by mail,
please send a check or money order for $8 per CD, or 2 for
$15, plus $2.50 shipping and handling, payable to Cantemus,
P.O. Box 784, Ipswich, MA 01938. There are just a few left,
so order yours today.
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