Background on Historic 1959 Performances by Annapolis High School 3 Combined Choirs Classes of 1959, 1960, 1961
This is a long background for readers interested in background history. As someone involved in that history, they are fond memories!
Request for Additional Information: Inputs are solicited to enable expanding information about the history relating to making the 1959 recording and the choirs!! (To provide information, Click on the Provide Comment button at the bottom of this page.)
Examples of desired information:
What was the recorder Mr. Kunkle obtained for this project?
How did he acquire it? Any other specs?
What additional information about Mr. Kunkle would be good to include, and who has it?
Etc.
Information about choir members, etc.?
Can anyone identify which women's choirs sing which numbers?
(By any chance are the choir members listed in the 1959 Wake yearbook?)
Can anyone loan a copy to allow building a webpage with all the choir member names by choir? (If that info is in the yearbook.)
How might this history of this performance be told in relatation to the prehistory of Maryland Hall, or the Annapolis Chorale?
Adaptation of The Crucifixion for Annapolis High School Choirs
Stainer was mindful this score was intended for performances during Holy Week (week before Easter) by then existing choirs in Church of England parishes. Their members were dominantly untrained, volunteer choir members. Therefore, Stainer simplified the load on the choirs by following the model of J.S.Bach's St. Matthew's Passion, of having a considerable portion of the performance carried by a limited number of soloists.
In 1959, Mr. Kunkle have the luxuary of having 3 choirs:
A mixed choir, and
2 women's choirs.
Mr. Kunkle created an adaptation that used the mixed choir to sing the numbers Stainer scored for 4-part choir harmony, i.e., the choruses that would normally be sung by the church volunteer choir. He replaced most of the arias and recitatives, normally sung by soloists, with the 2 women's choirs. The result is a truly expanded far more choral presentation in nature than scored by Stainer.
However, to break up the otherwise all choral presentation, Mr. Kunkle included a limited number of short solos. These include those indicated in Stainer's score to be performed by selected members from the mixed choir. One of those tenor solos Mr. Kunkle split between 2 women within the chorus number, "Fling Wide the Gates". The male solos also include several of the shorter recitatives. The result is the 1959 AHS choirs' performance are a wonderfully more choral sound.
The student soloists' are named on the record, clearly in order of their appearance. That enabled proper attribution of their names to their respective numbers in the playlist and lyrics pages of this website where each appears.
The combined choirs gave 2 performances. One was for students during the day, and the other in the evening for family and friends in the community.
The performances used Stainer's organ only accompaniment. In this case the organ was the electronic Hammond organ, which in 1959 AHS was on the audience right, front of the school's auditorium.
Observations About Recording Technology
Somehow Mr. Kunkle obtained what by 1959 standards was a nice consumer quality monaural tape recorder and single microphone. (Neither were commercial studio grade, so high-fidelity overtones were not captured.) What was used was:
A 1/4 inch, single track (monaural) tape recorder;
Using the then popular consumer slow tape speed of 7.5 inches per second (IPS). (That is in sharp contrast to the tape speed used commercially for analogue recordings, which is almost four times that, at 30 IPS.);
A single mic from the late 1950's era; and
No noise reduction for tape hiss.
That recording equipment was used to record 2 performances of The Crucifixion. The "best of" from those 2 performances were edited together and pressed as a limited release, private monaural record.
Consumer tape recorders (reel-to-reel) were not common in 1959 and still relatively expensive. Ampex was the most popular brand. True blossoming of multiple brands of reel-to-reel tape recorders would occur in the 1960's. The cassette tape was also introduced in the mid-60's and by the mid-1970's had largely replaced reel-to-reel, but with lower fidelity.
Note. Stereo LP records became generally commercially available only the year before this recording in March of 1958.
Tape noise reduction was introduced on the commercial side as Dolby A in 1965 for commercial studios, and updated for commercial studios with Dolby SR in 1986. (Dolby SR is still used for those doing studio analogue recording.)
Tape noise reduction on the consumer side was first introduced as Dolby B, in 1968, followed by Dolby C in 1980.
That means the consumer grade tape recorder system used by Annapolis High School in 1959 had a high level of tape noise. The slow tape speed, compounded by the limited sensitivity/frequency response of the microphone means the higher frequencies that fill out a Hi-Fi's sound, were not captured.
(More recent higher end stereo consumer tape recorders still use 1/4 inch tape, but larger tape reels and often operate at 15 IPS. Commercial studios doing analogue recording still more commonly use 30 IPS with Dolby SR tape noise reduction.)
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Recording Setup
The choirs were on risers on the stage in front of the auditorium, and the single microphone and recorder were placed in the back of the auditorium up in the balcony next to the lighting booth. Thus, the microphone was a Long distance from the performers, which caused the recording to also contain:
Greater tape hiss because of a weak audio signal and high gain setting;
Different volume levels for soloists vs choirs;
Considerable audience noises; and
Auditorium reverberation/echo effects. (The auditorium reverberation/echo is much more noticeable on the bass solos.)
Note. Neither Mr. Kunkle, nor others involved in creating the tape recordings of The Crucifixion, or later editing together the "best-of" tape from the 2 recordings, had any knowledge about the technical processes required for making a quality recording with the limited equipment available in 1959.
Notes.
For the 1959 performances, there was No safe place to put the microphone closer to the performers. Doing so would have placed both the tape recorder and microphone in a isle on the main floor with a power cord running to it. An alternative would have been to place the recorder at the foot of the stage. That would also have required a tall mic stand right in front of the stage. However, that would have placed the mic relatively closer to the front row of singers, making them more prominent. Plus, no such tall mic stand equipment was available to the school, nor did anyone involved likely know to inquire about a possible loan.
Recordings of such performances now days would prefer to use multiple microphones, and place them closer to the performers. (They would also probably prefer to record multiple tracks digitally on a computer, enabling as many microphone inputs as needed to accomodate separate tracks for the different sections of the choirs, soloists and organ.)
Using multiple microphones placed near the performers get both stronger signals from the different performers, and minimize capture of audience noises and auditorium reverberations. Each of the multipe microphone signals are recorded on separate tracks, allowing mixing a final, balanced sound of the performers. (None of that was available to AHS in 1959 for making this vintage recording.)
-- End of Notes window --
Robert F Kunkle - Choral Director, Annapolis High School
Robert F. Kunkle, Choral Director Annapolis High School (AHS), in Spring 1959, creatively utilized his 3 choirs: mixed choir and 2 women's choirs, plus student soloists from the choirs, to mount 2 performances of The Crucifixion by composer John Stainer. Members of the 3 choirs were from the graduating classes of 1959, 1960 and 1961.
Mr. Kunkle graduated from The Eastman School of Music and attended the Dusquesne University Music Appreciation - Chorus Orchestra. In addition to being the director of the choral program at AHS in 1959, he also taught music theory at AHS and was organist/choirmaster for at least one church in Annapolis.
Creation of the Private, Limited Edition LP Recording in 1959
It was only after recording the performances, that the idea of a limited, private record became known to students involved in the recording process. So, no professionally knowledgeable persons about the techniques of the recordmaking processes in the 1959 era of recordings were consulted upfront for planning management of taping the performances.
They might have helped with advice on things like:
Critical importance of using exactly the same recording levels on all recordings that are to be edited together;
Options for microphone placement to minimize autorium echos and best capture of the performances.
After tapes of the performances were made, what was then known about industy practice was to edit/splice together the best-of-performances. That was carried out with then existing technology, which was razor blade and splicing. That meant the resulting spliced together master tape of best-of-performances was louder and softer at each of the edit/splices throughout the recording, depending on which performance part was spliced in as the best.
The AHS student editor who created the "best-of" tape became aware of the volume level differences and prepared a detailed set of instructions with exact timings where the recording volume levels needed to be adjusted to equalize them. However, many of the volume differences on the tapes were included on the LP.
The record company that pressed the record (Century Record Co) was only founded the year before in 1958, the year before they pressed the record of the 1959 AHS recording. They focused on the music education market.
Mastering services were a very rare thing at that time, and a search of the internet implies that Century Record Co did not provide any such mastering services. (Even if they had been available, such services likely would not have been in the School's choral budget.) Even more than the very prominent audience noises, the result of those volume changes throughout the 1959 record produced an uncomfortable listening experience.
Note. During conversion of the record to digital, the audio engineer remarked he heard changes in the volumes during play. Thus, it may be that the record company made volume changes on the fly, perhaps based on the notes provided. But, those on the fly edits did not solve the multiple underlying volume change problems, and likely contributed some of its own problems.
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Digital Mastering and Restoration by TortoiseClimbing Audio™
The lesson learned looking back many years later, based on Tortoiseclimbing Audio™'s work with recordings, is that much of what can now readily be accomplished via digital mastering and some restoration techniques were VERY difficult to impossible in 1959, and were not widely practiced. The technology in 1959 required that all recording conditions had to be made as identical as possible up front when making alternative recordings, in order to enable editing pieces of them together. That was then the method required for making sure different takes, when spliced together, sounded like a coherent whole, without any mastering. There really was not any method for removing audience noises.
TortoiseClimbing Audio™ used the digital mastering capabilities available today to deal with the different recording level issues, and restoration capabilities to remove most of the objectionable audience noises. However, auditorium reverberations remain.
TortoiseClimbing Audio™ was finally able to undertake this project because the beginning of 2023, more than 60 years after the original historic, private limited edition, vintage monaural LP record was pressed, the score became Public Domain. Thus, TortoiseClimbingAudio™ is now permitted to provide free downloads of a digital audio file mastered and restored from this recording. (NOTE - If you want unlimited mp3 streaming from bandcamp their cost is $1.00.)
So, shortly before the beginning of 2023 when The Crucifixion's score would become public domain, we temporarily paused completion of the Hymns and Songs of My Mother project to:
Digitize the private LP record;
Create version 1 of the mastered and restored 1959 AHS choirs'performances of The Crucifixion, and
Create download pages for it, initially just on this website.
Subsequently, Version 2 was added to TortoiseClimbing™'s Online Marketplace on Bandcamp.
The record was digitized the end of Decenber, 2022. During January 2023 TortoiseClimbing Audio™ mastered and restored creating version 1 of the recording. Among other things, that process:
Removed the uncomfortable volume changes scattered throughout the recording (both within some numbers and between numbers). Those resulted from the original editing together of "best-of" from the 2 performances, plus the record company's likely on-the-fly edits throughout the original record;
Additionally we performed extensive restorations:
That largely removed most of the many distracting audience noises;
Lowered the volume on individual overwhelmingly loud bass/pedal organ notes that overwhelmed some of the singers;
Increased volume of soloists so they better matched the level of the choirs.
Balanced volumes between all numbers, so they are both balanced internally where there were edits, and flow together without unexpected volume changes.
Programmed the TortoiseClimbing™ website to add Download pages for the files. NOTE. This download from TortoiseClimbing.net guarantees you get an album version, not separate tracks. In order to load this album to the online music store at Bandcamp, we had to divide the performance into 2 parts, which are side one and two of the record. Bandcamp allows an album download, but it apppears that creates separate tracks. Thus, to play as an album you may have to build a playlist to reassemble the separate tracks as an album.
Subsequently, version 2 was created and added to TortoiseClimbing Audio's™ online Marketplace.
-- End of Accordian Window on Details of Mastering and Restoration --
It is worth reflecting on the miracle of what was accomplished:
The 1959 recording of The Crucifixion performances was accomplished on a high school chorus music budget. The fact that Mr. Kunkle even got what presumably was still a rather expensive consumer quality tape recorder and microphone is impressive. (If anyone knows that history, we'd love to add it.)
An expensive, commercial, studio recorder and sensitive high fidelity microphone was out of reach of the choral budget. (Such a system would have operated at higher tape speed, and thus would have also required changing the tape during the performance.) As a result, the frequency response/fidelity is considerably less than what was commercially technically possible in 1959, but only if you had access to well funded commercial recording studio capabilities, including high fidelity microphones.
In 1959, multi-track consumer recorders were not yet available. (Affordable home multitrack recorders were not introduced until the 1970s.)
As a result of no one knowing how critical it was to use exactly the same recording levels and acoustic conditions, the 2 choirs' performances and a solo patch addition were recorded at different gain/loudness levels and in different acoustic environments. That created some uncomfortable listening effects on the private LP.
The GREAT News
Creation in 1959 of the vintage, historic, private, limited edition LP record, for the few who ordered it through Mr. Kunkle, preserved a recording of the "best-of-performances" from those Spring 1959 performances.
Even Greater news
Restoration - A number of the internal problems, like audience noise, e.g., coughs and bangs from various things, and bass organ that overwhelmed soloists and some choir numbers, are largely addressed by various restoration techniques.
Mastering - Plus!!! The very objectionally different volume levels caused by the different audio levels of the edited together parts, and various other performance subtleties, are now addressed by digital mastering!
AND to top it off, the score for The Crucifixion became Public Domain beginning of 2023.
Thus, subject to:
The limitations of frequency response/fidelity of the 1959 single microphone, and
for the first time since the 1959 private LP recording was produced of the performances in spring 1959, this digitally mastered and restored version of this vintage, historic record from the 1959 performances:
Achieves even better listenability than originally contained on the 1959 record of the choirs' performances; and
Is publically available for Free download.
Copyright notes, i.e., Why The Crucifixion Became Public Domain in 2023
Under current copyright laws (including U.S., Britain and European Union), copyright exists for 70 years after the death of the last surviving person associated with creating the work. (U.S. copyright treats publications before 1978 as being under copyright for 95 years from date of publication.)
John Stainer, the composer, died in 1901.
William John Sparrow Simpson the younger, the librettist, died in 1952.
Thus, 2023 begins the 71st year since William Simpson the younger died. Therefore, as of January 2023, the score for The Crucifixion entered the Public Domain.
That means there is no longer a requirement for royalty payments for providing copies of this recording of The Crucifixion, making it practical to provide free digital audio file downloads, or "at cost" CDs. (NOTE - If you want unlimited mp3 streaming from bandcamp the cost is $1.00.)
Individually burned CDs are also available at cost ($3.00 including mailing.)
-- End of Notes on Copyright laws window --
How to Obtain The Crucifixion
The mastered and restored digital audio file is made available for download, at the unbeatable price of Free, in alternative digital audio file formats with somewhat different fidelity (and size). Version 1 or version 2 may be downloaded from:
Version 1 from this TortoiseClimbing™ website at Download Process, and;
Version 2 from TortoiseClimbing™'s online Marketplace. (If you want unlimited mp3 streaming from bandcamp the cost is $1.00.)
For those who would prefer a CD, TortoiseClimbing Audio™ includes an option on the online Marketplace for purchasing a CD. Based on the assumption demand for such CDs will be small, they will be individually burned by TortoiseClimbing Audio™ and mailed, at cost ($3.00 including shipping). (That means they will not have commerical printing on the CD.)
One-Version 1
The Download Process for Version 1 from this website consists of 3 steps:
Step 1 - Explanations page is available at Download from TortoiseClimbing. After reading that page, click to go to Next page.
Step 2 - Provide basic identification information. Successful submission of basic information about yourself will transfer you to the Download Page.
Step 3 - Clicking on links on that page will download the file format you wish to download, plus lyrics and score.
4 formats of digital audio file formats are provided:
High fidelity but larger audio file size -
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)
ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec)
Low fidelity but smaller audio file -
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) - better fidelity than MP3 at even smaller file size; and
MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) - oldest and most familiar, but worst audio.
Also available, in addition to the recording are:
Online Playlist, with performers;
Online Lyrics, with performers;
Downloadable PDF of Lyrics, with performers; and
Downloadable PDF of score.
Two-Version 2
Version 2 of this album is available for Free download from TortoiseClimbing™'s online Marketplace, at online Marketplace. The download from the online Marketplace includes an option that includes the lyrics as an attachment.
Note. If when you download The Crucifixion from Bandcamp, you also want the option of unlimited mp3 streaming of The Crucifixion from Bandcamp, they charge $1.00.
Who Might Be Interested?
Persons who might be interested in this album include:
Surviving choir members who participated in the performances over 60 years ago. (That would include choirmembers from the classes involved, i.e., 1959, 1960, 1961 who participated in those performances.)
It could also include:
Some of their brothers and sisters,
Children,
Grandchildren,
Other friends and family,
Annapolis High School Alumni association.
(I reached out to several persons who were historically active with the AHS Alumni Association to see if they or any others they might know who are currently active with the Association or might have any recommendations of possible interest by the Association.)
Perhaps another interested party could be Maryland Hall that is the old AHS building where this performance was given in the large auditorium on the main floor they now call the Hall. Since Maryland Hall is now serving as a home for preserving the arts in Annapolis, there might be a chance Maryland Hall might be interested in making the digitally mastered version of this recording available as a representative piece of Maryland Hall's history in the community. If so, it is unknown how they would want to provide, e.g., digital files, CDs?
Another possibility is the Annapolis Chorale. Although formed later, it might have an interest in making this recording available as a historical choral precursor in Annapolis to formation of their chorale. They might even now have members who are children and/or grandchildren of members of the original AHS choirs whose performances are on this recording.
General interest beyond these is unknown.
-- End of Comments on Who Might be Interested window --
Possible Video Version On YouTube?
Conceptually there is the possibility of creating a YouTube version of the mastered performance. That could be a simplistic showing of video stills, or gathering video of Maryland Hall, to accompany the mastered audio, in order to allow it to be posted to YouTube. It is a possibility. Again, is there any interest?
How to Express Interest in Other Options
You can express your interest for other options, such as:
A CD; and/or
A YouTube video version.
To express your interest in these possible options, click on our Comment page to let TortoiseClimbingAudio™ know whether you have an interest in any of these.
Submit your comments via the comments form on this website.
To submit your comment, go to the bottom of this page and click on the button Click to provide comment. It will take you to the comment page, where after providing identifying information, in the comments section at the bottom of the form you can explain your interest/request.
High School Building in 1959
In 1959 AHS was located in the building at 801 Chase Street, in what is now known as Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. (Access was from West Street to Amos Garrett to Constitution, to the front of the school on Chase.)
That the old high school building is preserved is a testament to those in Annapolis who came together to preserve the old AHS building. It is open to the public to browse its art gallaries. Their website is MarylandHall.org.
Maryland Hall has 4 resident companies, one of which is the Annapolis Chorale. (See The Resident Companies of Maryland Hall.) The Chorale's contact form cites room 202. (I wonder if that is the same large room on the 2nd floor where Mr. Kunkle's choruses practiced?)
Maryland Hall can be contacted at:
Guest Services Center
phone (410) 263-5544
Box Office
phone (410) 280-5640
Email: info@marylandhall.org
Annapolis Chorale can be contacted at:
The Annapolis Chorale
Room 202
Maryland Hall For The Creative Arts
801 Chase Street
Annapolis, MD 21401
Phone: 410.263.1906
Fax: 410.263.5989
Email: annapolischorale@closecall.com
-- End of Observations about old AHS building window --
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