The Senior Recital Song
- Chris Bearer
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
in which we learn of a Poet, a Saint, a School and the Slamming of Doors
It is an extraordinary notion how random disparate things can be united into one cohesive idea. One of our current projects is such a concept. Through it, we have tied together three unrelated things into a convergence of one musical project! We have the story of a prominent early twentieth-century British Catholic author and poet and his curious poem about a girl who slams doors. We also have a young, recently canonized saint, though from Italy, who lived at the same time as our British author; locally, we have a Catholic High School named in his honor. Finally, what ties the project all together is a music student preparing for her senior recital and premiering an Art Song using the curious poem of the British poet as the text which has been commissioned to raise money for Catholic Education, specifically our local Catholic High School named for the Italian Saint in our triptych. Clear as mud, right? Let me explain!
Hilaire Belloc and the Poem
Our story begins almost 120 years ago in 1907. Hilaire Belloc, the French-born British author, was serving in the British Parliament. As such, his writing at the time evoked his political beliefs, which is beyond the scope of this article, but suffice it to say there is one work from this period which stands out. At face value, Cautionary Tales for Children, a set of children’s poems, is a zany romp through many different predicaments in which a cast of not-so-well-behaved children find themselves struggling to surmount and ultimately are defeated by a tragic end. They are written as a witty, playful admonition for good little boys and girls lest they fall prey to the same concupiscence. There is, of course, an underlying politically allegorical message in these stories, but as I said before, that message is beyond our scope. In my research for this project I went a little bit down that rabbit hole! So as with many other “children’s stories” (think: Alice in Wonderland, Gulliver’s Travels, and most Disney movies), ours uses the surface level text as the basis for meaning of the song, because, well it’s just a bit silly and fun.
The whole set of cautionary tales was a big hit in the early twentieth-century and continues to be widely read to this day. Our particular Cautionary Tale is about the misdeeds of one, Rebecca Offendort, who had the unfortunate habit of going around and slamming doors! But she meets her demise when the vibration of her last slammed door causes a heavy statue to topple onto her, “knock[ing] her flat!”
The final lines of the poem Rebecca Who Slammed Doors for Fun and Perished Miserably (to give you an idea) offer the warning to the children presumably reading these tales:
The children who were brought to hear
The awful Tale from far and near
Were much impressed, and inly swore
They never more would slam the Door.
—As often they had done before.
St. Pier Frassati and the School
On a much more serious note, Pier Giorgio Frassati, canonized just last year, was a young mountain climbing man with boyish good looks and a heart on fire for the Lord. Alas, he became sick at the age of 24 and died shortly after. In his short life, his mission was to serve the poor in his community. And he gave everything he had to serve them. But his community reciprocated his loving self sacrifice (it is believed that his illness came from exposure to the sick and afflicted men and women he was devoted to serving). Those same people to which he ministered turned out in droves for his funeral to honor him. The streets were lined near and far with people who had been touched in some way by this young man. So many people who were strangers to the Frassati family, still came to show their love and respect to the one who had been there for them. In 1981, his exhumed remains were discovered to be incorrupt. The year 1990 brought his beatification and 2025 his canonization.
Our local Catholic High School in Spring, Texas is named for this great saint. Founded in 2013 the school brings so much to our local community through education in academics, sports, community and the one most near and dear to our hearts: music. Because of the great work they do our project will benefit the Frassati Fine Arts Department. All net proceeds raised will be donated to them.
Audrey Bearer and the Song
Audrey is our second oldest child and oldest daughter. The C Major Project family is full of musicians! Audrey’s request for the commissioned song for her recital was, “something fun”. There is a lot of wonderful “serious” repertoire on her program, but a little musical levity always fits the bill. As Willy Wonka said: “A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men!”
You can probably see now how the poem Rebecca has become a song in the recital program.
Audrey’s life has not been without setbacks and difficulties. Of course she is truly blessed since many on this earth certainly have had worse issues, I am sure. But what she has accomplished so far continues to amaze her mother and me. She was born with congenital cataracts in each eye and had surgery to remove those in the first few weeks after birth. This left her visually impaired and therefore developmentally delayed until she was school aged as she was finally catching up to her peers. She finally learned to walk at about 20 months. She will never be able to drive. At age 8, she was at the doctor for a routine check up and the doctor heard a heart murmur. A visit with a pediatric cardiologist showed a significant hole in her heart and at the age of 9 she was at the hospital having bypass surgery to close the hole. Audrey was scheduled to stay in the hospital for at least 12 days; she stayed 6 days. Even with all of this, she has never let any impairments slow her down. She has made it to her senior year at Sam Houston State University. Her voice has blossomed into a rich mezzo-soprano, but check out this video to hear her at 12 years old! Now, she is excited to present this senior recital in general but also to premiere this new work to support the music education program at Frassati High School.
Now about the song itself…I am fairly certain that Audrey’s request for “something fun” came from the fact that she knows what kind of music I typically write. Usually projects have involved topics of less frivolity. Typically it has been music of a more serious nature, or Sacred Music for Liturgy or Devotion. Recent projects like this include Requiem for the Unborn, Magnificat, The Litany of Loreto, two settings of Ave Maria etc. While The C Major Project’s focus thus far has been on this type of music, there is certainly a need to branch into the secular realm. Doing so allows us to bring our strong Catholic ideals into the world and to be able to partner with and/or feature other Catholic Artists (like Belloc, the poet–even if a century later!).
I think the music closely mimics the words themselves and echoes their playfulness and charm. And the color changes drastically as we learn of Rebecca’s demise. You may even hear a nod to the Dies Irae chant (from the traditional Catholic funeral Mass) that resounds in the piano accompaniment as the sung text expresses the singing of sacred songs at her own funeral. All in all it captures the zaniness of Belloc’s cautionary tale of what could happen when children slam doors!
With that we have neatly tied together a twentieth-century British Catholic poet’s poem set to a new piece this year commissioned to benefit a Catholic School bearing the name of a recently canonized saint who died at an age only a couple of years older than Audrey is now. The recital is November 13, 2026 at 5:30pm at the School of Music on the Sam Houston State University campus in Huntsville, Texas. It is free and open to the public. Join us if you can. We will have a recording of the project soon after the recital. Please consider a donation to help support the continuation of strong Catholic music education!
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