Overture: The People’s Room

Overture: The People’s Room was commissioned by William and Susan Sands in honor of the 2005 Centennial Celebration of the Minnesota State Capitol Building. It was originally conceived for a chorus accompanied by the winds and percussion of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Should there not be a chorus available, their parts may be taken by the strings.

Willkommen, Willkommen! [German] Welcome!
Herzlich willkommen im gastlichen Haus! [German, from the Capitol rathskeller.] Välkommen! [Swedish] Hjertilig velkomen! [Norwegian] Ay onsiste! [Finnish] (ey an-sis-ta)
Failte! [Irish] (fall-te)
Witajcie! [Polish] (vi-tai-cheh)
Boruch haboh! Borkhabeh, borkhabeh! [Hebrew/Yiddish] Vitame vas! [Czech] Dobro pozhaluitye! [Russian] Zoo Siab Txais Tos! [Hmong] (jong shieh tsai taw)
Ku-soo dhawoow! [Somali] (koo-soh dha-woh)
Bienvenidos! [Spanish] Miigwech! Thank you for coming. Thank you for being here. Let us work together. [Ojibwe] The building was created for people to participate;
the rotunda is really the people’s room.