By Kevin Coughlin
They say life begins at 40. But Homer Hansen’s musical life is just getting started…at almost 98.
On Sunday, April 24, 2016, the Chamber Singers of the Harmonium Choral Society will premiere a cappella versions of three Hansen poems, at 3 pm in Madison’s Grace Episcopal Church.
The poems were arranged for the choir by George Aronson, who helped set Hansen’s prose to music last year at the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, where both men are members.
“Homer has definitely established himself as an accomplished lyricist, with the 11 works set to his poetry last May,” said Aronson.
At that concert, Hansen revealed that his lifelong creativity was fueled by “a large supply of curiosity.
“My mind is such a playground,” the Morris County resident told MorristownGreen.com. “I think about one thing, then I mentally connect with something else, and then it leads to something else. It’s just a never-ending place to play with ideas and curiosities and so on.”
Hansen’s creations also include intricate paper cuttings of dancers and flying birds that he calls “Homergami.”
Marrying melodies to Hansen’s words was at best, a “rather mysterious process,” which sometimes became downright challenging, said Aronson, a nature photographer who has sung with Harmonium for nine years.
“Homer’s poetry is very direct and transparent. There’s no deep or obscure meaning as there might be with, say, Emily Dickinson. So romantic-sounding lines fit in very nicely with similar-sounding musical motifs,” Aronson said.
Yet Hansen’s poetry often meanders into free-form territory, with more reason than rhyme, and stanzas of varying lengths.
“There are some poems which I declined to try to set because I didn’t know how to deal with such variability, leaving that to others with greater skill than me,” said Aronson.
Sunday’s program, titled Music of Our Muses, also will include Benjamin Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia, and “other works spanning more than 500 years, from Josquin to Tormis,” according to Aronson.
Tickets are $25, and $2. for students and seniors. Grace Church is at 4 Madison Ave.
