- Ho, Butler! (1998) SSAB, piano or brass and percussion 2'
- Text: 16th c. English
- Commissioned by The Commission Project.
- Premiere—1999, by the Academy Chorale of Saint Paul Academy, Anne Klus, conductor, St Paul, MN.
Program Note
Ho Butler is a musical toast, an exhortation by an anonymous 16th century poet to pass the cup around (Bevis à tout!). In a comic scene, a beleaguered butler irritates the parched guests, and they call for him with shouts and bells. The piece may be performed with piano or with brass and percussion. It was commissioned by The Commission Project of Rochester NY, as part of a two-year residency at Saint Paul Academy.
Text
How! butler, how!
Bevis à tout!
Fill the boll, gentill butler,
And let the cup rought!
Gentill butler, bell ami,
Fill the boll by the eye,
That we may drink by and by.
With, How! butler, how!
Bevis à tout!
Fill the boll, gentill butler,
And let the cup rought!
I am so dry I cannot spek,
I am nigh choked with my mete!
I trow the butler be aslepe!
With, How! butler, how!
Bevis à tout!
Fill the boll, gentill butler,
And let the cup rought!
Butler! butler! fill the boll,
Or elles I beshrewe thy noll!
I trow we must the bell toll.
With, How! butler, how!
Bevis à tout!
Fill the boll, gentill butler,
And let the cup rought!