PROGRAMME NOTES
We begin our concert this evening with a work usually reserved in liturgical use for Episcopal processions by Edward Elgar, a pre-eminent figure in British Music. However, Elgar’s status was not achieved overnight – he came from an obscure background and endured a long period of apprenticeship. For most of his twenties he was bandmaster at a mental institution where he gained his first conducting experience. His oratorio setting of Cardinal Newman’s The Dream of Gerontius established him as a distinctly Roman Catholic composer, although he struggled with his faith for most of his life. Reconciliation came to him in his last living moments – on his deathbed. These three Latin motets are testament to Elgar’s uncanny ability to write a good tune.
Schubert was aged 18 when he wrote his Mass no. 2 in G. It was composed for his local parish church, a place of limited resources, and is scored sympathetically with this in mind, being both short in length and simple in structure. Despite these restrictions, the work contains moments of extraordinary eloquence and glimpses of the typically Schubertian invention which was to shape the remainder of the young composer’s tragically short life.
Jean-Adam Freinsberg, known as Guilain, worked as an organist and clavecinist in Paris during the early 1700s. Pièces d’orgue pour le Magnificat sur les huit tons différents de l’église (1706), dedicated to his teacher, Louis Marchand, is the only group of his compositions now extant. Guilain intended to compose a suite for each of the eight church modes (we hear excerpts from the second mode suite this evening) though only the first four were ever published.
The next five motets come from the sixteenth-century ‘Golden Age’ of Polyphonic music: Felice Anerio began his musical career as a chorister at the famous Roman Church of Santa Maria Maggiore and later succeeded Palestrina as the composer to the Papal Chapel. Christus factus est, a setting of the Gradual for Maundy Thursday, is his most famous work, containing innovative exposed dissonances, though ironically it was not published for over two hundred years after his death.
One of the most prolific and versatile of 16th century composers, Lassus wrote over 2000 works including masses, motets, psalms and hymns as well as some secular pieces. Legend has it that as a choirboy he was kidnapped 3 times for the superb quality of his voice. The text of Jubilate Deo is based on Psalm 100 (O be joyful in the Lord all ye lands). The music takes the form of an exuberant choral fanfare, with imitation and sequence both playing a major role.
Tomás Luis da Victoria was Spain’s greatest composer of the era, and one of the finest in Europe. He worked in Rome and Madrid where he was Chaplain to King Philip II’s sister, the Empress Maria. He was one of the few Spanish composers to have his entire output in print during his own lifetime. This setting of the ‘Hail Mary’ contains secular dance-like influences.
Nanino spent the greater part of his life as a singer at the Sistine Chapel. He was better known as a teacher of composition than as a composer, his pupils including Felice Anerio (see above). Diffusa est gratia is a beautiful miniature in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
William Byrd, England’s greatest composer of the time, worked during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and because she preferred Latin motets to English anthems, Byrd was able to write openly Catholic music without risk of stern retribution. In fact, such was her awareness of Byrd’s talent that she granted him (along with Thomas Tallis) exclusive publishing rights – in other words a monopoly on printed music. This ability to publish and distribute his own music ensured that his influence was widespread. Ave verum is a well-known and beautiful setting of a eucharistic text.
Duruflé was organist at Saint-Etienne-du-Mont and a composer of exceptional quality, due in no small part to a ruthless self-criticism which caused him to constantly revisit and revise his music. Tantum ergo and Tu es Petrus come from the Quatre Motets which were written in 1960. They, like the rest of Duruflé’s choral output are based on Gregorian themes which are worked with considerable skill into a polyphonic format. The gentle meditative Tantum ergo contrasts strongly with the brief but energetic Tu es Petrus, in which canonic entries cascade on top of one another, building to a strong final cadence suggesting the rock of Peter himself.
Marcel Dupré, renowned above all as an improviser of phenomenal ability, was organist at Saint-Sulpice for most of his life. He wrote his Ave Maria for trebles and organ during the First World War. The disparity of the hauntingly beautiful melody and the uneasy harmony gives the piece a dark and sombre aspect.
Gounod studied theology and almost became a priest earning himself the nickname ‘l'Abbé Gounod’. He became interested in 16th century polyphonic music whilst in Rome, and wrote a large amount of church music before he devoted himself to the composition of operas in later life; much of his sacred music bears the imprint of the operatic style. This robust and dramatic setting of Tu Rex Gloriae is no exception. The text is taken from the Te Deum and is associated with the Feast of Christ the King.
Lauda Sion is the bombastic opening movement of a larger work of the same name, a cantata scored for four soloists, chorus and organ. This noble setting of the Latin sequence, which was written in 1846, owes much of its stylistic influence to Cherubini and other Italian masters.
Balfour Gardiner taught for a while at Winchester College, before moving to London where he promoted a great number of concerts devoted to the popularisation of his contemporary British composers. This beautiful work is really an anthem of the Anglican Cathedral tradition, post-Victorian in style, though unusually employing a Latin text. It is one of a handful of works written by Gardiner, who eventually forsook musical activity and became a tree surgeon carrying out a programme of afforestation. He left an area of woodland to the British nation which is now called Gardiner Forest.
© Charles Cole 2000