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.

Text:

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. 

Instrumentation:

flute I, II/piccolo
oboe I, II
clarinet I, II
bassoon I, II
horn I, II
trumpet I, II
percussion (one player): parade drum, medium suspended cymbal
SATB chorus
strings