The magic of music: Composer Christopher Wicks finds and shares the music of Saint Thèrése’s poetry

By Brenna Wiegand[singlepic=313,320,240,,right]

Enchanted by the poetry of a 19th century nun, Christopher M. Wicks thought he heard music.

Wicks – composer, organist and lifelong Silverton resident – began translating into English the poems of Saint Thèrése of Lisieux, a French Carmelite who died at 24 and became the patron saint of France.

He set the poems to music, composing Seven Songs on Poems of Saint Thèrése of Lisieux. These are the basis of his opera I Know That God is Good: Saint Thèrése of Lisieux and are among those on Wicks’ recently released CD, Sacred Music for Organ, Voice & Trumpet.

More than any other work, Wicks said “Seven Songs” is getting around, performed by himself and others to the point that Wicks said, “The piece has legs.”

Last year, three songs were included in a group recital of the American Guild of Organists. Wicks, soprano Alison Seeber and trumpeter Jon Fronza, also of Silverton, have played them at churches from Portland to Salem. In January, all seven songs resounded through the halls at the New Voices Festival in Washington DC.

Recent honors include the publication of a horn concerto and performances of Wicks’ music in New York, Germany, Italy and Romania. These join a far-reaching resume of awards, publications, his recitals and concerts and a globe-spanning list of musicians who choose to perform the music of Wicks. For all the renown, Wicks relishes the opportunity to share his work with a hometown audience. The feeling appears mutual.

Last fall, on the feast day of Saint Thèrése, the trio performed I Know That God is Good – the songs with biographical readings – at Saint Paul Catholic Church in Silverton to a packed house – and a standing ovation. The same month Mount Angel’s Queen of Angels Monastery called upon them to perform at the annual Founders’ Day Concert.

This fall, Wicks is orchestrating performances of “Sing an Opera, Sing a Song” in Mount Angel and Silverton. The three-part program includes a song cycle by visiting composer Zae Munn; premiere performances of her 14-minute opera Night of Blue Magic, in which Wicks sings a part; and “God Is Good.”

Seeber and Wicks’ relationship goes back to the first grade. They became good friends in high school, both active in the drama program.

“Not only am I grateful to have such a sweet friend in Christopher, but I am honored each time he invites me to sing his beautiful and challenging music,” Seeber said. “I love working with him because he is always professional, but kind, gracious and understanding. I hope more people will discover what a priceless gem he and his music are to our community and take some of the many opportunities he freely offers to enjoy his music.”

“Christopher is the dynamo behind the ‘Sing an Opera, Sing a Song’ project,” said Munn, a music professor at Saint Mary’s College in Indiana. “He is functioning as composer, performer, producer, copy editor, musical director, recruiter, advertiser, and scheduler. He is blessed with seemingly boundless energy and is fortunately able to direct some of it to the less glamorous entrepreneurial challenges of music and to collaborating with other composers. The Silverton area surely benefits from his musical vision and talents.”

Wicks graduated from Silverton High School at 15. Then, beginning as an organ performance major, it was all music, all the time. His undergrad training at Eastman School of Music in New York, and Marylhurst College near Portland led to a master’s degree in composition from the University of Montreal.

“I felt absolutely providentially guided that I needed to start composing again and that I needed to stay with an intensely music-centered curriculum,” he said. “I did have these other intellectual curiosities as so many other people do, but I figured out that it’s just not any good being a bad musician and I really needed to focus in order to be the best musician that I could be – and you can always read books in your spare time.”

Wicks sought to embody the nun’s seemingly simple style in his musical translation.

“Her poetry is transparent, direct and simple at first glance, but there is a lot more to the young nun’s writings than meets the eye,” Wicks said. “I really wanted the Thèrése music to reflect the kind of spirit in which she wrote and I think it really does. The standing ovation at Saint Paul is part of the testimony along with how frequently it is being performed.”

Wicks has a penchant for making classical music more accessible and for teaching kids that playing the organ is not just for weddings and funerals.

“There’s so much more to it,” Wicks said. “It can really be very exciting and I think young people should know that.”

Last month, a national organists’ magazine printed a description of the educational program (about playing the organ) Wicks wrote for Salem preschool children.

“People tend to think those who listen to classical music are a sort of closed society,” Wicks said. “I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that since classical music is so complex, you have to listen to it many times before you can really grasp it.”

To that end, and to display the varied expressions such music can take at the hand of a modern-day composer, Wicks has more than 100 music videos on YouTube, where his alias is monsieurw1.

“This enables folks to come to their own conclusions,” Wicks said.

Though he has won prizes for his poetry, he writes for sheer enjoyment.

“I think of poetry as recreation; sort of the icing on the cake whereas music is the thing,” he said. “I really don’t care if someone thinks I’m a bad poet. I had a great time writing those poems. However, if someone were to listen to my Brahms rendition and say ‘You don’t know what you’re doing,’ I can take it really hard…”

Wicks started playing the piano when he was 3; at 5 years he began “improvising” on classical pieces his teacher presented. At around 10 or 11, he started writing his own music.

“I’ve heard people say I was a child prodigy but they are more kind than accurate,” Wicks said. “It’s more that I was just hard-working and capable.”

…and driven.

“The call to commit to study music seemed irresistible; magnetic,” Wicks said. “When I saw the Harry Potter movies later on, it reminded me of that – like this incredible good fortune that takes you so far out of life as you had known it up until that point. And it seems as much like a new world and something as fantastical and amazing as this Hogwarts School seems to Harry.”