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November 2004: Renaissance SplendorThe Program
Musica Dei donum optimi Roland de Lassus (1532-1594) Sing Joyfully William Byrd (1543-1623) Jubilate Deo Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1556-1612) Ricercar del duodecimo tuono Giovanni Gabrieli Brass Unlimited Missa pro defunctis Tomas Luis de Victoria (1549-1611) Introitus / Kyrie / Graduale / Sanctus / Agnus Dei / Communio Solo chant—Larry Richardson, Mike Grube
INTERMISSION
O Virgo splendens from the Libre Vermell de Montserrat (c.1370) Gloria ad modum tubae Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474) Canzona undecima Giovanni Picchi (1600-1625) Brass Unlimited Du bist aller Dinge schön Melchior Franck (1580-1639) Lamento d’Arianna Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) 1. Lasciatemi morire 2. Dove, dove é la fede 3. Ahi, che non pur risponde Soprano 1: Debra Defotis, Debra Nielsen, Kelly O’Halloran Soprano 2: Maria Bayer, Lynn Hinrichs, Pam Younghans Alto: Marta Chaloupka, Meredith Selfon, Sue Stehl-Stohs Tenor: Mike Grube, Marc Popkin-Paine , Larry Richards Bass: Gene Buchholz, Gordon Buck Sonata from Die Bankelsangerlieder anonymous Brass Unlimited In hora ultima Roland de Lassus
Welcome to the opening concert of our 2004-05 season. Renaissance Splendor features the majestic and thrilling music of the golden age of polyphony, with sacred and secular works for voices and instruments, both alone and in consort.
We open and close the program with two marvelous, rarely performed compositions of the Netherlander Roland de Lassus, better known by his Italianized name Orlando di Lasso. One of the most brilliant and cosmopolitan musicians of the last quarter of the Renaissance, Lassus spent the majority of his adult musical life as “Kapellmeister” at the royal court in Munich. Marvelously prolific, he wrote more than 1250 pieces in all the sacred and secular genres of the time, and in several languages. His music generally exhibits a vigorous rhythmic polyphony, with succinct, syllabic melodies often surprising in their abrupt shifts in pictorial intervals.
Musica Dei donum optimi comes from the Cantiones sacrae, a collection of motets for six voices completed in 1593. Lassus called this volume his "swan song", expressing the hope that listeners would find these motets more pleasing then the work of his youth, "as the light of the setting sun is more pleasing to the eye". A setting of a fascinating non-liturgical text celebrating the power of music, Musica is a wonderful summation of the composer’s style. Its melodic lines beautifully mirror the verbal content: the gentle arabesque of the motive for the word "musica" as opposed to the dotted punctuation and octave leaps of "horridas" (wild beasts); the measured pace which "calms the angry spirits"; and the descending lines of "sad minds".
The six-voiced anthem Sing Joyfully is one of the best known English-language works by William Byrd, one of the great masters of the Renaissance. Written while he was serving Queen Elizabeth I as a gentleman of the Chapel Royal as a singer, composer, and organist, it is an example of the music he provided for the Anglican Church, though personally remaining a devout Roman Catholic. Byrd also composed a great volume of Latin liturgical works for the private use of his fellow Catholics. The fact that he survived, let alone thrived as a musician, during this time when disloyalty to the established religion was also disloyalty to the state, shows the high esteem in which he was held by the royal court.
As organist and composer at Venice's jewel-encrusted Basilica of St. Mark, Giovanni Gabrieli evolved a style of sacred music that has never been excelled for splendor. Exploiting the architecture of that great cathedral, Gabrieli extended the “cori spezzati” techniques developed earlier at St. Mark's, contrasting multiple choirs of instruments and voices to achieve daring effects of texture and color. Jubilate Deo is one such work, with a double choir of SSAA / TTBB and accompanying brass choir yielding contrasting layers of light and dark. The piece comes from Gabrieli’s monumental collection Sacrae symphoniae of 1597, which was the first published music to present dynamic indications for the performers to follow. The Ricercar from Madrigali e Ricercari (1589) is typical of Gabrieli’s exciting instrumental music.
“Rejoice in the Lord, all the earth, for they shall be blessed who fear the Lord. The God of Israel will unite you, and be one with you; God will send you help from his sanctuary, and give you support from Zion. May the Lord bless you from Zion, God who made heaven and earth. Rejoice in the Lord, all the earth; serve the Lord with gladness.” from Ps. 100, 128, 20, 134
The Missa pro defunctis (Mass for the dead) of the great Spanish composer Victoria was written in 1603 for the funeral of the Dowager Empress Maria of Austria, sister of King Phillip of Spain. Victoria had joined the Empress in Madrid in 1587 as her “maestro de capilla” after having spent over twenty years in various positions in Rome. The Missa is one of the most refined and most beautiful works of this priest and composer of solely sacred music, and surely ranks as one of the masterpieces of the era. The strict liturgical chant melody is always carried in one part (usually the second Cantus), while the slow-moving polyphony is normally in six parts. In an actual mass service, the nine sections of choral material (seven of which will be performed here) would have been interspersed with other liturgical chant, lessons, and prayers.
and a vow paid to Thee
in Jerusalem:
and may light eternal
shine upon them.
Let light perpetual
shine on them, O Lord,
O Virgo splendens is a late 14th-century chant from the Spanish manuscript ”Libre Vermell”, and is one of the earliest extant rounds. Though technically from the late Medieval period, its luminous polyphonic sound is perfectly in keeping with the early Renaissance ethos. The text refers to pilgrims who would climb Montserrat, a mountain in Catalonia, to worship a black wooden image of the Virgin Mary.
Guillaume Dufay represents an important artistic link between the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Born in Cambrai, he held several positions in Italy before returning to his home city as the canon of the cathedral, where he served until his death. He displayed great mastery of all the elements of composition in both sacred and secular styles, with beautifully sculpted melodies and varied textures usually organized via strict canon or other forms of imitation. Gloria ad modum tubae employs an energetic tune in canonic imitation between male voices, while two lower brass instruments play a simple and continuous isorhythmic pattern underneath them.
”Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace to those of good will. Composer, organist, and lutenist Giovanni Picchi served as organist of the Ca Grande and later of the Scuola di San Rocco, both in Venice. Although details of Picchi’s life remain sketchy, he left several volumes of instrumental pieces, including sixteen published canzonas.
Melchior Franck (1579-1639) was one of Germany's most prolific late-Renaissance composers. The majority of his more than 1400 pieces were composed while in service to Duke Johan Casimir of Saxe-Coburg. Franck’s vocal motet collections, which exceed forty, were published between 1601-1636. Du bist aller Dinge schön is found in a collection based on the “Das Hohelied Salomos” (The Songs of Solomon). Its declamatory style combines intricate rhythmic polyphony with more stately homophonic passages for some wonderful word-painting of this sensuous biblical text.
“Thou art fair, my
beloved, there is no blemish upon thee. Song of Songs 4:7-11
Every major brass ensemble in existence has performed and recorded the Sonata from Bankelsangerlieder by an unknown composer of the early 17th century. The popular piece reflects a style typical of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Bankelsangerlieder” means “bench singer’s songs.”
Claudio Monteverdi’s opera Arianna was presented in 1608 to honor the heir to the Duke of Mantua, Francesco Gonzaga, and his new bride. The highlight of the drama was the lament sung by Arianna after Theseus had abandoned her on the island of Naxos on his way home to Athens, even though she had helped him escape the labyrinth at Cnossos, where her father Minos, King of Crete, had imprisoned him. While the lament became one of Monteverdi's most famous works, with manuscripts circulated widely during his time, only the libretto of the rest of opera remains. Monteverdi later converted the piece from the newer monodic style of opera to the older form of the five-voiced polyphonic madrigal, as a set of four pieces entitled Lamento d’Arianna (three of which are performed here).
Lasciatemi morire in such a difficult fate, in such a great martyrdom?
Leave me to die!
that will rip me apart
and devour me?
alas, he is more deaf
than a snake to my laments.
it is not I who has set
free these words.
but not my heart. Our program concludes with another of the astonishing 516 motets of Lassus. In hora ultima is found in the Magnum opus musicum, a collection of all the composer’s motets published posthumously in 1604 by his sons Rudolph and Ferdinand. Employing the descriptive resources of the madrigal, this piece presents a less than solemn vision of the end of the world. With its imitation of the sounds of musical instruments and laughter, it is not so much the disappearance of worldly pleasures that is depicted but rather their very enjoyable presence which the composer celebrates.
”At the final hour all will pass away: trumpet, flute, and harp; jokes, laughter, dancing, singing and harmony.”
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