Just a reminder that "Chariton Chronicles," an original work for band by Toronto-based composer Vince Gassi, will be premiered by the Chariton Community High School Band under the direction of Daniel Scheetz tonight during the spring concert. The program begins at 7 p.m. in Johnson Auditorium.
The Lucas County Historical Society made a little history itself by commissioning the piece more than a year ago --- for a variety of reasons.
One of course, was the fact that Daniel suggested it. But the composition also celebrates the rich history of instrumental music in Chariton, commencing with brass bands during the 1850s and 1860s, continuing through the American Legion Junior Band of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s and carried forward today by school music groups and soloists and the summer Community Band.
In addition, it was a positive way to reinvest in the community that supports us --- providing an opportunity for our high school students to interact with a composer and practice and perform a piece related to the history of their hometown.
The composer researched Lucas County history extensively during the composing process and earlier this year singled out the stories of five Lucas Countyans who were among those he was thinking of while at work.
They are (clockwise from upper left) Capt. Helen Talboy, heroic World War II nurse and later pioneering superintendent of the Iowa Womens Reformatory; Theopolis "Buster" Gibson, lifelong Chariton resident who also served his country in exemplary fashion during World War II, but in the segregated armed forces of that era; James G. and Frances (Allen) Robinson, among the first dozen or so pioneer EuroAmerican settlers here during the late 1840s (James was one of three founding county supervisors); Smith H. Mallory, railroad builder and entrepreneur who was among Chariton's most widely known citizens from 1867 until 1903, when he died; and Dora Wyland McAfee, pioneering Chariton physician at a time when women were rare in that field.
And of course there are threads of the lives of many others woven into the composition.
I've been lucky enough this spring to interact with the student musicians on a couple of occasions, but have yet to hear the piece performed. So I'm looking forward to tonight's concert.
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