Hagenberg Elaine Archives - Behind the Music

An Illuminating New Work–Elaine Hagenberg’s “Illuminare”

January 18, 2026August 6, 2025 by debisimons

A Composer Composes

Elaine Hagenberg’s Illuminare burst on the classical choral scene in 2022 with initial performances by member choirs of a commissioning consortium. My own choir, the Cherry Creek Chorale in the Denver area, was privileged to be a part of this group and to perform the work in March 2022. We had the additional privilege of having Ms. Hagenberg on board for our final rehearsal. The composer was a full collaborator that evening, listening and critiquing gently but firmly. She clearly knew exactly how she wanted the piece to sound, and we benefited greatly from her input. I’m reminded of something that the director of my choir, Brian Patrick Leatherman, said when we started working on the piece: “This is going to be big.” He also said that when he’d been contacted about our participation in the consortium he’d “JUMPED AT!” it. I’d say that his enthusiasm has been fully justified. Illuminare was made available for sale in August 2022 and is now being performed widely all over the world. A gala performance in Paris is scheduled to take place on June 24, 2026; this concert will also include the performance of a new major Hagenberg work. I hope to write about the texts of that composition at some point.

“Swifter than Flame”–Elaine Hagenberg Hits Another One Out of the Park and Up into the Stars

January 16, 2026July 4, 2024 by debisimons

This latest piece (as of June 2024) from Elaine Hagenberg perfectly embodies her style: the use of an unfamiliar and enigmatic text and dramatic, sweeping musical lines: “Swifter than Flame,” for SATB chorus with the text from a poem by Carl John Bostelmann, who wrote primarily in the 1920’s and 30’s. I don’t do musical analysis in these posts and so will simply say that she manages harmonic sweetness that never topples over into syrupiness. There’s an edge there, a drive. My own choir, the Cherry Creek Chorale, has sung a number of her pieces and also participated in the commissioning consortium for her first major-length work, Illuminare, with Hagenberg herself participating in one of our rehearsals during concert week. Those of us who were privileged to be present that evening will never forget it.

I was very intrigued by the lyrics and wanted first of all to know more about the author, Carl John Bostelmann. He is perhaps best known as having written a behind-the-scenes look at John D. Rockefeller, Neighbor John, in cooperation with the photographer Curt E. Engelbrecht, who was allowed unusual access to the usually camera-shy Rockefeller. Bostelmann was also involved with various historical survey projects. For my purposes here, though, I’ve found that he published at least four volumes of poetry, a couple of which are available on Google Books, and that his work appeared during his lifetime in a number of poetry magazines. “Swifter than Flame,” however, doesn’t show up in any of these available sources.

Welcome, Subscribers! And a Plan for the Rest of the Summer

June 21, 2024 by debisimons

I’ve been very pleased over the past few months to see a steady trickle of new subscribers to this blog, with very few unsubscribes. All this in spite of the fact that I haven’t written much new here for awhile. This gap isn’t at all because I’m losing interest; it’s just that most of my material stems from concerts that my beloved community choir, the Cherry Creek Chorale, is in process of rehearsing. Because I didn’t sing in the May concert I sort of lost that connection. But now I’m back, and looking forward very much to our 2024-25 season. You’ll be seeing lots of material about that concert in upcoming posts, with a multi-part post on the biggie we’re performing in October, Mozart’s Coronation Mass. I can hardly wait!

Two Hagenberg Hits

July 2, 2024January 15, 2024 by debisimons

My own choir, the Cherry Creek Chorale, has performed quite of few of Elaine Hagenberg’s choral compositions, and we were privileged to be part of the original commissioning consortium for her first extended work, Illuminare. She burst on the classical choral world in 2013 with “I Will Be a Child of Peace,” an arrangement of a Shaker hymn, and hasn’t looked back since. (When Ms. Hagenberg came to one of our final rehearsals for Illuminare she graciously submitted to some Q&A, and of course one question was “How did you get started composing?” She said she’d always had a lot of hobbies and decided to try composing. Well . . . I think her getting started as a composer was a little more challenging than, say, trying out that first crocheting pattern. But we were all charmed by her self-deprecation.)

A Mysterious Text with Three Beautiful Settings and a Bonus: “Gaelic Blessing/Deep Peace”

March 30, 2023February 19, 2023 by debisimons

The miniature gem “Gaelic Blessing” written by John Rutter in 1978 has an interesting connection with the choral music scene in the US. How did that happen with an English composer and a Scottish text? It all started with one of those inexplicable human connections that can never be completely teased out.

John Rutter started his long relationship with America in 1974 when he was contacted by a church choir director, Mel Olson, in Omaha Nebraska, and asked to write a 20-minute piece for Olson’s Chancel Choir. How did someone from Omaha even know about John Rutter, then in the very early stages of his composing career? I don’t know for sure, but it seems possible that Olson had gotten hold of Rutter’s early Christmas music and liked it. Whatever the reason, Rutter was very pleased to get the commission and ended up writing his magnificent Gloria. As he said in answer to my inquiry when I wrote about that piece, “Other commissions from the USA just seemed to follow, to the point where I was able to look upon America as my second home.” And one of those commissions was for “Gaelic Blessing” in 1978, but this time it was the Chancel Choir that reached out for a piece they could dedicate to Olson. I haven’t been able to find a detailed description of Olson’s career, but I’m wondering if this was a farewell gift to him from that choir because he was leaving Omaha. He ended up at in California, where in 1985 he was involved in the initial performances of Rutter’s Requiem.

How an Obscure Shaker Hymn Gave Elaine Hagenberg Her Start

February 16, 2026September 1, 2022 by debisimons

“The Ritual Dance of the Shakers,” Shaker Historical Society, public domain, image accessed via Wikimedia Commons

“I Will Be a Child of Peace” by Elaine Hagenberg offers an origins two-fer: the beginning of her career as a published choral composer/arranger and the source of the music itself. “Peace” was Hagenberg’s first published piece back in 2013. The piece has now been voiced for SATB, TTBB, and SSA. She must really like it!

The original song is a Shaker hymn:

“O Holy Father,” according to manuscripts, originated in 1851. [The manuscripts] attribute it to Alonzo Gilman of the community in Alfred, Maine. [Sister] Mildred said that in her youth the song was used very frequently “at the close of prayer services while we were on our knees.” The song is in 5/4 time. (Notes on Songs in the Film, Shakers)

Was the Singing of the Angels on Christmas Night “Soft,” “Sweet,” or “Faint”?

October 27, 2022November 30, 2021 by debisimons

Image by falco from Pixabay. Kind of a cool contemporary stained-glass depiction of the angels and shepherds.

Let me start out by questioning the very supposition in the above title: did the angels in the Christmas story actually do any singing at all?

Here’s the relevant text from the translation I know best, the King James Version:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, . . . And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:9-10, 13-14)

A Timeless Text Set by a Timely Composer—Elaine Hagenberg’s “Alleluia”

January 26, 2026August 18, 2021 by debisimons

One of the greatest pleasures for me in writing these music posts lies in finding out about choral composers who are active today. Yes, it’s always rewarding to find out more about the creative geniuses of the past, and I’m typically surprised when diving into the life of someone such as, say, Antonio Vivaldi or Robert Schumann. So fascinating! But guess what? I can’t go onto those guys’ websites and use the contact form. I can’t message them on Facebook. It’s very gratifying to get info straight from the composer’s mouth, as it were, as I’ve been privileged to do a number of times.

So I was pleased to find out that we’re singing a piece by Elaine Hagenberg for the October 2021 concert of the Cherry Creek Chorale, my beloved community choir. Our conductor, Brian Leatherman, had told us previously that a consortium of choirs had commissioned a 20-minute piece from Hagenberg which will be premiered in May 2022, but I didn’t know until the music list came out that we were also performing an already-published short work of hers. The title led me to believe that we were singing the Randall Thompson version, which we have done before and which is seriously, seriously great. But so is the Hagenberg piece! My take, as a totally underqualified music analyst, is that Thompson is . . . sturdier? And Hagenberg more . . . lyrical? Or is that too gender stereotypical? What I think is really interesting is that Thompson’s piece is more than double the length of Hagenberg’s but that he uses only the single word “alleluia,” while Hagenberg has a middle section in which she uses text from St. Augustine. Very different approaches, totally masterful results.