Alleluia: a Newë Work!
Alleluia: a newë work!
/ Pepe Becker, Jane McKinlay,
Andrea Cochrane, Katherine Hodge,
Richard Taylor, Philip Roderick,
Brian Hesketh, Richard Walley
8pm, Saturday 10th May 2008
Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
PROGRAMME NOTES
In the 14 years since its inception in 1994, Baroque Voices has given several concerts that diverge from the group’s usual format of presenting pure Early Music in a ‘historically informed’ way – instead taking a more modern approach, juxtaposing, and even mixing, Medieval and early Renaissance music with Contemporary New Zealand works. As part of a personal commitment to, and passion for, NZ music, and also because I am convinced many others share my opinion that the very old and the very new go very well together, it is my intention that we should present a concert bearing the name “Alleluia: a newë work!” on an annual basis, in the NZ Music Month of May.
The original “Alleluia: a newë work!” concert on 25th November 1995 was a ‘programme of two halves’: the first largely consisting of 15th Century English carols and the second solely consisting of ‘newë works’, six of which were commissioned by Baroque Voices especially for the occasion, with funding assistance from Creative NZ (known then as The Arts Council of NZ Toi Aotearoa). Since then, we have devised six other programmes that explore the span from Medieval to Modern music: “O Ecclesia” in 1998, celebrating 900 years of sacred music for women’s voices; “Close Encounters of the Gothic Kind” in 1999, juxtaposing the work of Machaut & Liszt (with Dan Poynton on piano); “How great is the pleasure…” in 2001 (again, music for high voices, both sacred and secular, spanning nearly a thousand years); “From the far point of the rising of the sun…” in 2005, with old and new music separately and together, and including saxophone improvisation by Colin Hemmingsen and some new works with oboe (Robert Orr) and voice; “Massive!” in 2006, which put ‘ordinary’ mass movements (Kyrie, Gloria, etc) from the 14th, 15th, 16th & 17th Centuries alongside 20th & 21st Century works on the same texts; and last year’s “Alleluia: a newë work!” concert.
Tonight we present the old directly alongside the new, each new work being ‘paired’ with an old one written hundreds of years earlier, the old and the new linked through their text, subject matter or sentiments: praise and joy, love, death, despair, duality, memory, creation, reflection... Hopefully, listeners will enjoy the similarities, as much as the contrasts, between these works, written more than half a millennium apart.
- Pepe Becker
PROGRAMME ORDER
♦ Alleluia: a newë work! – anon., 15th Century♦ Alleluia – Mark Smythe, 2007*
♦ Loquebantur variis linguis – Tallis, c.1505-1585
♦ Loquebantur – Richard Walley, 2008*#
♦ Douce Dame – Guillaume de Machaut, c.1300-77
♦ Ftatsu no umi – Helen Bowater, 2008**#
♦ O viridissima virga – Hildegard von Bingen, 1098-1179
♦ The Seed: Pillars of the Temple – Carol Shortis, 2008**#
♦ Gloria – Guillaume de Machaut
♦ Gloria – Pepe Becker, 2006
INTERVAL / ♦ Hoquetus David – G de Machaut
♦ Hoquetus Sanctus – Pepe Becker, 2008**#
♦ Veni creator spiritus – Latin plainchant
♦ Jibrail – Jack Body, 2008**#
♦ Sanctus & Benedictus – G de Machaut
♦ Umbra Animae – Mark Smythe, 2008*#
♦ Adam Lay Ibounden – Carol Shortis, 2008*#
* new work commissioned by Baroque Voices,
** with funding assistance from Creative NZ
(# = world premiere performance)
TEXTS & COMPOSITION NOTES
♦ Alleluia: a newë work! – anon., 15th Century
An English Carol celebrating the birth of Christ.
Burden: Alleluia, alleluia.
Verses:
A newë work is come on hond,
Through might and grace of Goddës sond,
To save the lost of ev’ry lond, alleluia.
Foe now is free that erst was bond;
We mow well sing alleluia.
By Gabriel begun it was:
Right as the sun shone thro the glass,
Jesu Christ conceived was, alleluia.
Of Mary mother, full of grace;
Now sing we here alleluia.
[hond = hand, sond = messenger, lond = land, mow = many]
♦ Alleluia - Mark Smythe (May 2007)
This work was written for Baroque Voices, to be premiered at their 2007 ‘Alleluia…’ concert – the Latin text was chosen to fit the thematic idea of the concert’s title piece, and the music (penned by the hand of a rock musician with a classical background) reflects well its feeling of awe, wonder and reverence.
Translation of the sung Latin text:
Alleluia. We have seen His star in the East
and are come with gifts to adore the Lord.
(Matthew 2:2)
♦ Loquebantur variis linguis – Thomas Tallis, c.1505-1585
Tallis is one of the greatest known English composers, who lived through the turbulent religious times of 16th Century England, composing and performing at the Chapel Royal for Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth I; and much of his music is still regularly performed in churches around the world. This setting of a text for Pentecost (also known as Whitsunday) is one of Tallis’ better known motets, his mastery of polyphony (6 of the 7 voices singing complex melodies around a tenor cantus firmus) made all the more apparent when contrasted with the simple plainchant sections.
Translation of the sung Latin text:
The apostles spoke in many tongues, alleluia,
Of the great works of God, alleluia.
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit,
and began to speak in many tongues
of the great works of God, alleluia.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Alleluia.
♦ Loquebantur variis linguis – Richard Walley (2008)
Although written as a companion piece to the Tallis
生死の 二つの 海を iki shini no futatu no umi wo
厭はしみ ito washimi
潮干の山を shio hi no yama wo
しのひつるかも shinohisuru kamo
Translation of the sung Japanese text (2):
Life, death: two oceans
I detest this
Where the tides never rise on the mountain –
I long for that – this is what I really think
留火の 明石大門に tomoshibino akashioto ni
入る日にか 漕ぎ別れなむ hairu hini ka korgi wakale nan
家のあたり 見ず ieno atari misu
Translation of the sung Japanese text (3):
Lampfires bright in the Akashi Straits
The day you enter rowing – parting
The land of home beyond sight
♦ O viridissima virga – Hildegard von Bingen, 1098-1179
Abbess Hildegard of Bingen – poet, mystic, politician, herbalist, visionary, musician – was one of the most extraordinary figures of the Medieval era. This sequentia, full of imagery from Nature, is a rapturous chant of devotion to the Virgin Mary, whose fruit was the ‘saviour’ of the world’.
Translation of the sung Latin text:
Hail, O greenest branch, sprung forth in the airy breezes of the prayers of the saints.
So the time has come that your sprays have flourished; hail, hail to you, because the heat of the sun has exuded from you like the aroma of balm.
For the beautiful flower sprang from you which gave all parched perfumes their aroma.
And they have radiated anew in their full freshness.
Whence the skies bestowed dew upon the pasture, and all the Earth was made joyful because her womb brought forth corn, and because the birds of the firmament built their nests in her.
Then there was harvest ready for Man and a great rejoicing of banqueters, whence, O sweet Virgin, no joy is lacking in you.
Eve rejected all these things.
Now let there be praise to the Highest.
♦ The Seed (Pillars of the Temple) – Carol Shortis (2008)
Using texts from various religious sources, “The Seed” explores the nature of polarity, as well as that which manifests in between any two extremes, symbolically represented by the pillars of the Temple of Solomon. It is largely static, insistently returning to the ‘masculine polar’ tonic of G minor, contrasted with its feminine opposite represented by the dominant. There was a belief amongst nineteenth-century music historians that the very first musical note ever heard in the world was G, though I was unaware of this snippet when I wrote the piece, and I expect that theory has since been
INTERVAL - 15 minutes - please peruse our CDs ♫
♦ Hoquetus David – Guillaume de Machaut, c.1300-77
This double hoquet is textless, but the long notes in the lower voice part are from a plainsong chant on ‘David’; the other two voices ‘hocket’ their faster notes with each other in such a way that one is not quite sure who ‘has the tune’. The effect created is almost like that of 20th Century minimalist composer Steve Reich’s music, though written in the 14th C!
♦ Hoquetus Sanctus – Pepe Becker (2008)
This work began with a ‘hocket’ idea in mind, and uses this Medieval technique (where voice-parts ‘share’ the melodic line, with frequent rests and overlapping motifs) as well as some canonic writing (where subsequent voices enter with the same melodic material, part-way through the first voice’s phrase). For this performance, we are using stones from Makara beach, as an alternative to hand-clapping indicated in the score.
Translation of the sung Latin text:
Holy, holy, holy, lord God of hosts,
Heaven and earth are full of thy glory,
Hosanna in the highest.
♦ Veni creator – 9th C Latin plainchant hymn, anon.
This is one of the best known hymns of the Western Church, often associated with Christmas and sung in processionals and at ordinations. The text is by Rabanus Maurus, 776-856.
Translation of the Latin text (sung by tenor Richard Taylor):
Come, O creator Spirit, come, Enter our minds and fill our hearts, Implant in us grace from above; May your creatures show forth your love.
Past ages call you Paraclete, Gift to mankind of God most high, Well-spring of life, fire, charity, And anointing Spirit of peace.
You bring to men your seven gifts, You are the power of God’s right hand, The promise of God to the Church, Words of life upon lips of men.
Teach us the Trinity to know, in Father, Son and Spirit, one: The three in one and one in three, Now and for all eternity.
Amen.
♦ Jibrail – Jack Body (2008)
This work calls on the angel Gabriel, but in its Islamic pronunciation as Jibrail. The use of a gong is intended to create a ritualistic feeling, as the angel's name is called and sung as a form of evocation. [With Fraser Bremner – gong]
Sung text:
Come, Jibrail, oh come…
♦ Sanctus – Guillaume de Machaut, c.1300-77
…from “La Messe de Nostre Dame.
(Same Latin text as the Becker setting, above) / Loquebantur also performed in this concert, this work shares little musically with the older work other than its key. Nonetheless, similarities can be noted; this music also invokes the Pentecostal origin of the text, with the 'many voices' of the apostles portrayed by sometimes dense counterpoint and repetition of phrases. The interjecting 'alleluia' sections are calmer, and may be seen as reflection on the other element of the Pentecostal story – the anointing of the Holy Spirit through fire.
(Same Latin text as the Tallis setting)
♦ Douce Dame – Guillaume de Machaut, c.1300-77
One of France’s great musical treasures of the past, as Tallis is to England, Machaut was equally at home writing secular songs as he was writing music for the church. This beautiful love song is one of his many virelai, which he wrote both the words and the music for, and this one encapsulates well the Medieval preoccupation with duality: the lover’s mistress is his ‘sweet enemy’; the torment of love and yearning is both pleasurable and painful…
Translation of the sung 14th Century French text:
Refrain: Sweet pretty lady, for God’s sake, do not think that anyone has authority over me, save you alone.
Verse 1: For ceaselessly without falsehood I have cherished you; and humbly all the days of my life I have served you without unworthy thoughts. Alas! I must beg for hope and aid, for my joy is ended if you do not take pity.
Verse 2: But your sweet mastery masters my heart so harshly that it torments it and binds it in love, so much, that it desires nothing but to be in your service; and yet your heart grants it no relief.
Verse 3: And since my malady will not be cured at all without you, sweet enemy (who art glad at my torment); with folded hands I pray to your heart (since it forgets me), that it should kill me quickly: for I languish too long.
♦ ftatsu no umi (“two oceans”) – Helen Bowater (2008)
A choral setting of 3 poems from the man'yōshu, "the collection of ten thousand leaves" (from 8th C Nara, Japan), this work also deals with the topics of yearning, separation and dissatisfaction. The original Kanji script (below) has been converted to phonetic (Japanese) text and translated to English with the assistance of Kazu Nakagawa. Poems by: Priest Mansei (1), anon (2), Kakinomoto Hitomaro (3).
世間を 何に 譬へむ yononaka wo nani ni tatoemu
朝びらき 漕ぎ去にし 船の asabiraki korgi inishi fune no
跡なきがごと ato naki gagoto
Translation of the sung Japanese text (1):
How can I describe this world?
Early morning – rowing in a boat
No wake – that is the nature of this world
proved incorrect. Nevertheless, it’s still a good note! - CS
Sung text:
In the beginning (Listen) Was the Word
I have been with thee from the beginning
And the Word (Listen) was with God
Listen to the words of the Great Mother
And the Word was God
In the beginning (Listen)
I bring forth the Father
Listen my children to a father’s instruction
Mine is the secret door
I was sent forth from power
Mine is the ecstasy of the spirit
I am the utterance of my name
Let thine innermost divine self be enfolded in the rapture of the infinite
I am the name of the sound
And the sound of the name
I have been with thee from the beginning
Before earth came into being.
She who was present when you made the world
I am the first and the last
And I am that which is attained (Listen) at the end of desire
♦ Gloria – Guillaume de Machaut, c.1300-77
…from “La Messe de Nostre Dame”, the first known complete setting of the ordinary of the mass by a single composer.
Translation of the sung Latin text:
Glory to God on high, And in earth peace, Good will towards men. We praise you, we bless you, we worship you, we glorify you, We give thanks to you For your great glory.
O Lord God, heavenly king, God the Father almighty, O Lord the only begotten Son Jesus Christ; O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,
Who takes away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us; Who takes away the sins of the world, Receive our prayer;
Who sits at the right hand of the Father, Have mercy on us.
For you alone are holy, You alone are the Lord, You alone are the most high, Jesus Christ, With the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
♦ Gloria – Pepe Becker (2006)
Originally written as an entry in the Auckland Choral Society’s 50th anniversary composition competition in 2005, this work was given “highly commended” feedback by the judges (rated in the top 4 works); and went on to receive its first performance as part of the Mass of the False Relation, premiered by BV in 2006.
(Same Latin text as the Machaut setting)
♦ Umbra Animae – Mark Smythe (2008)
This piece was inspired by the image (evocatively portrayed by my father) of the last moments of Lance-Corporal HD Bridge in the muddy wastelands of WW1 France. The ending is deliberately unresolved, asking the question posed in the last line of text. The English words are my own, and have been translated into Latin with the assistance of Constant Mews. – MCWS
Original words (sung in Latin):
In a delicate grove in a distant land, a man lies slain in a pocket of Armageddon. For those touched by remembrance, the long shadow of his passing will seep into history, as will his blood into the sodden earth. His fading heart knows that time will dilute the effect, but will the cause linger…?
♦ Adam Lay Ibounden – Carol Shortis (2008)
Katharine Blake of English ensemble ‘Mediæval Bæbes’ wrote the music which inspired this present work. This source material is transcribed to form the beginning of the piece, followed by a section developing the theme. This in turn provides material from which the third, recomposed,
section is derived. The piece ends with a meditation on the word 'Bliss[ed]'
Sung text:
Adam lay ibounden [Adam’s (Man’s) sin enchained him]
Bounden in a bond
Foure thousand winter [4000 years, the accepted time…
Thought he not too long …from creation to Jesus’ birth]
And all was for an apple
An apple that he tok
As clerkes finden [as scribes have recorded…
Wreten in here book …in Holy Scripture]
Ne hadde the apple take ben [If the apple hadn’t
The apple take ben …been taken,
Ne hadde never our lady …then Mary would never have
A ben hevene queen …become Heaven’s Queen]
Blissed be the time [Blessed be then
That apple take was …that apple’s theft]
Therefore we moun singen [therefore we must sing:
"Deo gracias!" “thanks be to God!”]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ♦♦ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Acknowledgements:
BV would like to thank the NZSM, for lending of the tubular bell; Creative NZ, for funding assistance for four commissioned works; SOUNZ, for ongoing support and promotion of NZ composition; Robert Oliver, for use of his Hildegard chant edition; and the staff of Wgtn Cathedral.