Linda Mack leads a rehearsal recently at St. Mark’s Church in Durango for the Durango and Telluride choral societies’ performance of “Requiem for Eagles.” The piece was started by former Telluride conductor David Lingle, who died before finishing it. His friend Dalen Steven finished the piece, which will be premiered Friday in Durango and Sunday in Telluride./Photo by Jennaye Derge

Requiem for Eagles

Durango and Telluride choral groups prepare for world premier

by Stew Mosberg

It isn’t often that small mountain towns are the scene of world premier choral compositions. But, Oct. 9, Durango will host such an event as the Durango and Telluride choral societies join forces to present “Requiem for Eagles,” an original piece conceived by former conductor of the Telluride Choral Society, David Lingle. The piece will be performed at St. Columba Church, with another show slated for Sunday in Telluride.

Sadly, Lingle died in 2013 from cancer before finishing the piece. But it has now been adapted and orchestrated by Dalen Stevens, his long-time friend and musical collaborator. Stevens has been associated with the Telluride faction for close to 20 years and was instrumental in the hiring of Lingle as its conductor.

JusttheFacts What: “Requiem for Eagles,” Durango world premiere performed by Durango and Telluride Choral Societies When: Fri., Oct. 9, 7 p.m. Where: St. Columba Church, 1830 E. 2nd Ave. Tickets: $20/$5 students and children under 12. Available at DurangoChoralSociety.org What: “Requiem for Eagles,” Telluride world premiere performed by Durango and Telluride Choral Societies When: Sun., Oct.11, 3 p.m.  Where: Palm Theatre, 721 W. Colorado Ave., Telluride Tickets: $20/$8 students and children under 12. Available at DurangoChoralSociety.org

A requiem, by definition, is a sacred musical composition performed at a funeral or liturgy.

“In celebrating the life of the individual, we celebrate the life of us all – the passage of life through death into life again and again and again,” writes Stevens in the introduction to the requiem.

Some of the more familiar requiems performed by the Durango Choral Society include ones by Mozart and Verdi as well as modern composers such as Faure and Durufle. Perhaps it is a lofty statement to make, but “Requiem for Eagles” may someday have its place among them.

Stevens’ journey to full realization of Lingle’s concept has taken more than two years and countless hours. The resulting achievement is a soaring, inspirational and poignant tribute. Audiences attending the performances can expect to be moved by the richness of the combined voices of more than 90 singers and accompaniment of 22 musicians.

According to Stu Fraser, Telluride’s mayor and long-time Choral Society member, Lingle and Stevens remained close friends after Lingle left Telluride to conduct a small chorus elsewhere. It was during that time that Lingle mentioned he was working on a requiem, and thereafter the two discussed it regularly. When Lingle passed away, a search was undertaken to find a person to finish his composition, and Stevens was encouraged by Fraser and others to take on the task.

Fraser said in addition to an original shortened version of Lingle’s work, they also found a CD recording.

Fraser and his wife, Ginny, along with Stevens and his wife, Deb, decided to raise funds to adapt the requiem to vocals and a chamber orchestra. According to Fraser, a large portion of the cost to do so was born by Telluride because of Lingle’s years as choral director. 

Linda Mack, conductor and artistic director of the Durango Choral Society since 1999, described her involvement in the Lingle requiem. “I personally got involved after the Telluride folks brought this idea to me and showed me the ‘sketches.’ I knew that it would be a significant achievement if we could orchestrate and produce this beautiful, inspiring work.”

Stevens’ muse for the requiem was always Lingle, and he modestly acknowledges it has been a labor of love for all involved. Knowing David, he said much of his inspiration likely came from a love for traditional Latin Mass and Native American rituals. “(David) spent a great deal of time on the Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma, and his first teaching job was at a small college near the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota,” Stevens said.

As far as the composition’s name, Stevens believes the eagle is meant to symbolize a personal totem that accompanies one through life transitions.

Indeed, the score soars like an eagle, at times lifting voices and listeners on intangible thermal drafts. “One great aspect of the melody is that it can be sung in a ‘round’... meaning that each voice part sings the melody while overlapping the same melody in the other parts,” Stevens said. “The result is this sort of floating ethereal sound. I’ve tried to express that feeling, where the music climbs and climbs, is lifted higher and higher, and gradually dissipates, and the voices are singing  ‘where you fly, I will follow … I will follow ... .’”

Glenn Rodney, a singer and Durango Choral Society Board member, commented that Lingle and Stevens mixed traditional requiem harmonies with more modern chording to great effect. “The orchestral elements, for me, project a feeling of nobleness,” he explained. “As a nonprofessional music lover, I believe this requiem will capture the hearts of the public.”

Dawn Spaeder has been singing with the Durango Choral Society for eight years and is in her third year as executive director. She has had eight years of formal training from four voice coaches and has worked with world-class directors, including Mack. She recently described “Requiem for Eagles” as a “lovely, poignant requiem” that captures aspects of the unique culture of the Southwest. “Local audiences will hear echoes of their own beloved landscapes as this beautiful piece takes its premiere flights,” she said.

Although “Requiem for Eagles” combines Latin and English in the last movement, it also has undertones of Native American spirituality and music. “It invokes the supernatural in the form of a sacred eagle totem leading the wild and lost birds into paradise,” Jeanne Bandy, Durango Choral Society Board President, said. “I can’t help but feel as if I am flying with those birds as I sing the score.”