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Music and
the Arts
A Brief History of Westmoreland’s Choir
What is now Westmoreland Congregational United Church of
Christ began in September 1886 with a meeting of the Mount Pleasant
Congregational Society chaired by the Rev. Charles H. Small, who was
newly graduated from Yale Divinity School and had come to Washington,
D.C., to help organize a new church. The Society's early meetings were
held in Union Hall.
The resolutions for the formation of the church
described music as an important part of public worship, leading to the
formation of a Music Committee in 1889. The next year, the Committee
was asked to reorganize the existing choir and to "secure a precentor
to lead the congregation." (A "precentor" directs singing by a choir or
a congregation.)
Begun in 1898 and completed in 1904, the red brick
building at 1410 Columbia Road N.W. was consecrated as Mount Pleasant
Congregational Church. The program for the consecration listed S.
Frederick Smith as organist and choirmaster. A choir, supported by four
soloists, sang "Appear Then, Light Divine." (Except for a short period
during World War I, a quartet of soloists -- soprano, alto, tenor, and
bass -- who also serve as section leaders has been an integral part of
the choir ever since.)
Around 1912, a Singing Society was formed. By 1914, the
group had become the choir that sang for all services. When the United
States entered World War I in 1917, the choir director, Dr. William
Buchanan, left to join the Army Medical Corps. Norton Little, one of
the choir members, volunteered to lead the choir, and the quartet was
disbanded for reasons of economy.
After the war, Claude Robeson was chosen to be organist
and choir director. Pictures from that era show the choir standing
before the organ, wearing black robes with white cottas. On Easter
Sunday 1933, the choir sang the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's
"Messiah,? led by the quartet of Elsie Schulze, soprano, Mary Apple,
contralto, William Shanahan, tenor, and Herman Fakler, bass.
After World War II, in 1946 the service held to
celebrate the 60th anniversary of Mount Pleasant Church was dedicated
to Mr. Robeson in honor of his thirty years in the ministry of music.
Constance F. Krueger was the contralto soloist and Raymond Pigott the
tenor.
Later, Mr. Pigott and Bob Heiber served as choir
directors and Marion McNabb Herrington as organist. The bass soloist
was Gene Archer, who was to become well known locally as a vocalist and
a personality.
Toward the end of the 1940’s, as congregants began
moving from the city to the suburbs, a committee, headed by Mount
Pleasant's minister, Dr. Fred Buschmeyer, started the search for a site
for a new church. Property on the Maryland side of Westmoreland Circle
(Massachusetts and Western Avenues NW) was selected, and construction
of the building at One Westmoreland Circle began on January 11, 1948.
Volunteers moved the Mount Pleasant organ to the new
sanctuary, and on Palm Sunday 1949 the Mount Pleasant Congregation, led
by the new minister, Philip Gordon Scott, moved to the new church and
became the Westmoreland Congregation. As Mrs. Herrington played, the
choir sang "Now God Be Praised in Heav’n Above? by Melchior Vulpius.
Soon choir members had new robes -- maroon with white collars.
In the 1950’s, Harold Ash succeeded Mrs. Herrington as
organist and was also named choir director, a position he held for the
next twenty years. In 1957, Mr. Ash played the opening recital on the
newly installed Aeolian-Skinner organ. The program included selections
by Bach, Mozart (Mr. Ash's personal favorite), Liszt, and Langlais.
In 1961, for the 75th anniversary celebration of Mount
Pleasant/Westmoreland, the choir, under Mr. Ash's direction, sang
Mendelssohn's "The Lord Is a Mighty God,? featuring soprano Mary Beck,
contralto Myfanwy Story, tenor David St. Pierre, and bass-baritone John
Vermilyea.
Born in 1912 in Winnipeg, Canada, of Welsh parents,
Myfanwy Evans Story, Westmoreland's contralto soloist, was also in
great demand as a soloist with other groups and churches in the
Washington metropolitan area. A generation of Westmorelanders cherish
the memory of her voice at Christmas Eve services. After her death to
cancer in 1970, gifts in her memory made possible the purchase of the
red robes the choir members were still wearing in 2003.
In 1972 Roger Ames was installed as Westmoreland's
Fellow in Music and Composer in Residence. In 1973, for the 25th
anniversary of the move to Westmoreland Circle, Mr. Ames composed and
conducted "Thanksgiving Mass." Later compositions by Mr. Ames included
music for young people, as well as such works as "Mass for All Saints"
(1978) with text by Rembert Herbert, and "The Family of God" (1986), an
anthem commissioned for Westmoreland's centennial celebration and based
on our Declaration of Faith.
In 1976, following Harold Ash's departure, Mr. Ames was
selected choir director and Sondra Proctor organist. In 1977, Sondra
Goldsmith Proctor became both organist and choir director. Under her
leadership, music sung by four choirs of various ages (Chancel, Passing
Tones, Trebles, and Children's) became an integral part of Westmoreland
services. The choral repertoire grew from the cherished anthems brought
from Mount Pleasant's music library to include works from the 14th to
the 21st centuries.
Annually Ms. Proctor produced and directed
Biblically-based musical stage plays casting the church's young people
in multiple roles as actors, singers, and dancers. Recent productions
included "Oh, Jonah," "The Singing, Dancing Carpenter," "Noye's
Fludde," and the 2003 extravaganza, "The Perils of Paul."
In l982, Ms. Proctor formed Circle Singers, a vocal
chamber ensemble that performs medieval to contemporary music
throughout the metropolitan area. Members of Circle Singers, who
rehearsed at Westmoreland, regularly supplemented Westmoreland's choir
during the presentation of major choral works in benefit concerts.
One of the hallmarks of the Proctor years was the
initiation of concerts presented jointly by the choirs of Westmoreland
and Bradley Hill Presbyterian to benefit Bethesda Cares or other local
causes. Mendelssohn's "Elijah" was sung at Bradley Hills to a full
house, Ms. Proctor conducting and Donald Sutherland, organist/choir
director at Bradley Hills, playing the organ. Ms. Proctor and Mr.
Sutherland continued the annual collaboration, alternating conductor
and organist roles depending upon which church was the performance
site. Joint concerts were presented for more than a dozen years,
including one marking the tenth anniversary of the Community Ministries
of Montgomery County.
In 1987 the Aeolian-Skinner organ was rebuilt. Seven
years later, in 1994, a complete restoration was made possible through
the generosity of Frances and Harold Serr. On May 1, 1994, Music
Sunday, the restored organ was used for the first time as the Treble
Choir sang "Loving Shepherd of Thy Sheep" by Barrie Cabena, and the
Chancel Choir sang Welsh composer William Mathias's "Alleluia." The
recessional hymn, appropriately, was "When in Music God Is Glorified."
During the past three decades, a number of distinguished
singers have supported the choir both as section leaders and soloists,
including sopranos Daisy Jackson (one of the United States Air Force's
Singing Sergeants), Mary Mitchell, Elizabeth Soule, Julianne
Turrentine, and Yvonne Sabine; contraltos Myfanwy Story, Cora Alter,
Alexandra Gifford, Mary Ann Sewell, and Jann Taylor; tenors Ken Riegel
(who went on to an operatic career), Rob Craig (who grew up in
Westmoreland Church), Bill Story, Rembert Herbert, Walter Hunt, and
Josue Bustos (another former Singing Sergeant); and bass-baritones John
Vermilyea, Donald Boothman, Charles Kopfstein Penk, George Singleton,
and Dennis Martin.
The members of the 2003 quartet are treasured not only
for their musical ability but for their length of service to the choir:
soprano Linda Poindexter (a twenty-two-year veteran); contralto Janet
Astner (twenty years); tenor Doug Gaddis (ten years); and bass-baritone
George Singleton (thirty years). Mr. Singleton is also the current
director of Westmoreland's Children's Choir, those small singers whose
appearances on the chancel steps delight us all and give musical
promise for the future.
On Sunday, June 1, 2003, after twenty-seven years as
organist and choir director, Sondra Goldsmith Proctor played and
conducted her last service. Known for her artistry as an organist, her
excellence as a choir director, her teaching skills, and her energetic
dedication to a comprehensive program of music of the highest quality
at Westmoreland, Ms. Proctor and the musical era she presided over will
be long and fondly remembered.
-- By Nancy and Richard Skinner, with editorial
assistance from Ann Dyer.
Last updatedFriday, October 5, 2007
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An
Open and Affirming Congregation
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