A glorious choral hymn about Gritty premieres this weekend

Old City composer Melissa Dunphy was given just one rule when local a cappella group PhilHarmonia commissioned her to write a composition for its 10th anniversary show — the piece had to be about Philadelphia.

The assignment should have been an easy one for Dunphy, a Philly transplant who loves the tone and tenor of her chosen home, but she was getting dangerously close to her deadline this year with nothing to show.

Sitting at her piano, Dunphy looked at the 2020 protest sign she made of Gritty that she now uses to hold up her sheet music. It reads “F--- around and find out.”

“I was like ‘Oh my God! The inspiration is right there, I just need to write a song about Gritty,’” Dunphy said.

In search of lyrics, she asked on social media if anyone wanted to write a poem about Gritty that she could to set to music.

Sara Harris Brown, director of PhilHarmonia, saw Dunphy’s post and couldn’t temper her excitement.

“I was like ‘Oh my gosh! Is she writing a song about Gritty for us? I hope this is for us,’” Brown said.

Dunphy received several poems, “not just from Philly people, but from Gritty lovers all over the place,” but in the end, chose to go with the suggestion that she set City Council’s 2018 resolution welcoming Gritty to music.

That is how “A Gritty Resolution” — what is believed to be the first choral work based on a city’s resolution honoring a sports mascot — came to be. And choruses in other, Gritty-less cities are already clamoring for it.

“I literally have choirs lined up following the premiere who are begging to see the score,” Dunphy said. “I’m super excited. I love the idea of a Philadelphia sports mascot having such resonance with people around the country.”

PhilHarmonia will debut “A Gritty Resolution” and two other pieces it commissioned at its free 10th anniversary concert, To Philly, With Love, at the Settlement Music School’s Germantown branch at 1 p.m. Saturday. The show features works about Philadelphia and by Philadelphians, and includes a full, two-minute a cappella version of the 6ABC Action News theme song, “Move Closer to Your World.”

“We wanted to show our appreciation for our wonderful city and get the word out to the rest of the world about how awesome Philadelphia is,” Brown said.

PhilHarmonia averages around 40 members, and the chorus — which sings classical and contemporary pieces — has performed everywhere from 30th Street Station to the Independence Seaport Museum.

As Brown and the choir’s artistic director, Mitos Andaya Hart, thought about the 10th anniversary show, they knew they wanted to commission local composers to write “a quilt of musical vignettes on Philadelphia.”

“We just wanted to give back to the city that brings us all together,” Andaya Hart said.

But the choir, which is funded by private donors and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, could only afford three commissions, so the show is padded with other works, including those by members of the chorus and existing works by Philadelphians.

The three commissioned pieces each have a different vibe. At the choir’s dress rehearsal Monday, composer and cellist Ajibola Rivers’ piece, “So Much to Love,” about all of the amazing things that have come out of Philly, from the first volunteer fire company to Tastykakes, had everyone swaying and snapping to the music.

“We have so much to love

Every brick, every street

Every legend and myth

Every achievement and feat.”

Rivers, a Philly native now based in Norristown, said Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and Take Six — artists his mother used to play for him — were the musical inspiration for his song and his lyrics were inspired by the love affair Philadelphians have with their city.

“You talk to the people here and we really do love this city and I think that sentiment is also what guided my writing,” Rivers said. “If I’m really going to write something that speaks to the people and represents that voice, then that’s the feeling I want to capture.”

Philly-based composer John Conahan’s song, “Philly Fête,” begins as a spoken fugue mirroring the hustle and bustle of Philly traffic and becomes a celebration of places in Philadelphia, from the Linc to LOVE Park. The chorus is: “We love we live in Philadelphia.”

According to Andaya Hart, annotations from Conahan to the choir on how to sing his piece include, “With Philadelphia enthusiasm,” “A little faster, with energy youse got from a soft pretzel,” and “Building World Series excitement to the end.”

“I got an email from John Conahan showing this thought process on a scrap of paper and behind it was a PPA violation,” Andaya Hart said. (Yes, the PPA gets a shout-out in the song).

As the choir rehearsed “A Gritty Resolution” on Monday, Dunphy couldn’t keep a straight face, and neither could anybody else.

The earnest, hymnlike quality of the song contrasted ridiculously with phrases like “a ghastly empty-eyed Muppet with a Delco beard” and “Sleep with one eye open tonight, bird.”

Dunphy’s tune begins:

“At first, I was disgusted.

I was like, what the hell is this?

Why did you do this?

Why is this a thing?

It was like an hour after that

I fell in love with him.”

Because City Council’s resolution, which was written by former Councilmember Helen Gym, is a government document and part of the public domain, Dunphy didn’t need permission to use it. But the text was too long, so she cut it down and reworked it into poetic form.

“It’s a hymn to our lord and savior, Gritty,” Dunphy said. “It’s at once reverent and irreverent, which is how I feel we feel about Gritty and the city of Philadelphia.”

Brown called the song “earnest but not serious” while Andaya Hart said it gives off Beauty and the Beast vibes.

“It’s this idea that at first you’re looking at this character who looks like a googly-eyed Muppet, but then you fall in love with it,” she said. “Melissa has a way of tapping into our musical subconscious and weaving it together with what we’re already familiar with, whether we know it or not.”

It’s unclear if the city’s fuzzy, orange overlord knows about the first choral work in his honor, or its premiere on Saturday. The choir has tried to get word to him and Brown said he’s got a standing invitation to the show.

“If Gritty were to make an appearance and crash our party, I would not object,” she said.

PhilHarmonia’s free 10th anniversary concert, To Philly, With Love, will be held 1 p.m. Saturday at the Settlement Music School’s Germantown branch, 6128 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, Pa., 19144.