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Circle Singers : Program Notes for December 2006
"O Great Mystery!" This phrase tunes our spirits to the wonder of the Christmas season. The O Magnum Mysterium text is the fulcrum of this Circle Singers concert, with four settings spanning the centuries from the Renaissance to the present. This text is a Great Responsory dating back to the Matins, one of the daily Offices (services) of the medieval church. The singing of psalms formed the musical center of these services. Each psalm phrase, chanted by the choir, was followed by a freely composed refrain. The simplest of these were called Antiphons. As the refrains were gradually taken over from the congregation by the choir, the more elaborate refrains were called the Great Responsories. Soon both Antiphons and Great Responsories were used in services independently of the psalms. European composers of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance set these texts as independent motets. Chaucer, in The Prioress's Tale, refers to an Antiphon as an anthem! Born in 1543, only nine years after Henry VIII broke with Rome and established the Church of England, composer William Byrd remained a loyal Catholic throughout his life. Elizabeth's reign, beginning in 1558, was Anglican, but so great was the queen's admiration for Byrd, that she awarded him a position in the Chapel Royal. Considered the greatest English composer of his time, Byrd wrote at least 150 Latin motets as well as many anthems for the new Anglican Church. During his lifetime these Latin motets could only be sung in clandestine performances in Catholic homes. His setting of O Magnum Mysterium exemplifies the European motet style. Imitative and overlapping entrances introduce each new line of text. All combine to illuminate the divine mystery that "living beings may see our Lord born." In this edition, Gustav Holst has included only part one of Byrd's setting of the Responsory. Morton Lauridsen, Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, is one of America's finest and most popular choral composers. "Depth of feeling" and "luminosity" are words that come to mind upon hearing Lauridsen's music. His setting of O Magnum Mysterium creates a sensitive image of this holy moment. Two four-note motives, heard in the alto, soprano, and occasionally the tenor voices, are a unifying element in the piece. The tenor and bass voices act primarily as a harmonic under girding, adding gentle dissonances to a primarily tonal work. Part one of the Responsory is repeated at an accelerated tempo and higher dynamic level. Part two returns to the original tempo. Then part one repeats in an altered form, overlaid in the first soprano and bass voices with the "Alleluia" text. In the early twenties, Francis Poulenc was part of Les Six, a group of composers rebelling against Impressionism in French music. They turned to the music of Igor Stravinsky and Eric Satie, and to the popular sounds of street musicians, vaudeville, and jazz. Poulenc rejected his Roman Catholic faith in 1917 upon the death of his father, but returned to it twenty years later after the tragic death of a friend and a pilgrimage to Rocamadour, a shrine of the "Vierge Noire" in southern France near his father's home. Poulenc felt he had put his best into his choral music. His Quatre Motets Pour le Temps de Noël are glistening gems. O Magnum Mysterium and Quem Vidistis Pastores are Great Responsaries, and Hodie Christus Natus Est and Videntes Stellam are Antiphons for the time of Christmas. Poulenc writes these motets in a homophonic style with brief melodic motives, repeated with different harmonic treatments. While each work has a key center, the harmonies are highly dissonant and move through distant and unrelated keys. His O Magnum Mysterium opens with an evocation of mystery in the alto, tenor, and bass voices. The sopranos overlay the harmonies with the melodic motive. The melodic theme of part two is begun in the tenor voice and completed in the alto voice. Then part one returns. Extreme dynamic contrasts bring excitement to the work. Poulenc disavowed musical Impressionism. Even so, the clear cool light of the star shining from Videntes Stellam and the dazzling wonder felt in Hodie and Quem Vidistis call to mind the light and clarity of the Impressionist paintings of southern France. Born in 1955, David Conte is a professor of composition and conductor of the Conservatory Chorus at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His A Stable-lamp Is Lighted reflects a move away in the late twentieth century from the atonal and dissonant music of earlier years back to a more Romantic and tuneful style. The text by Richard Wilbur begins in the stable with the birth of the holy child. The line in each verse, "And every stone shall cry," is taken from the passage in Luke that describes the triumphal precession of Palm Sunday. The disciples shout praises, "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest." As they are rebuked by the Pharisees, Jesus says that if they are silent, the very stones would cry out. Written for women's voices, the piece opens with gently flowing Romantic harmonies. The second verse describing the Palm Sunday procession is marked by a meter change, a faster pace, and minor harmonies, foreshadowing the events to come. Verse three describes the crucifixion. This section is very dissonant. The key center dissolves and the verse ends on a diminished chord. Verse four celebrates the reconciling mission of the holy child. The melodic theme of verse one returns over an ostinato-like accompaniment that blurs the key center without being dissonant or chromatic. Then the piece ends with the Romantic harmonies of the beginning. There is perhaps nothing more that tunes our hearts and minds to the Christmas season than the singing of carols! The concert opens with In Dulci Jubilo, a German carol text dating from the fourteenth century. As often happened with medieval sacred songs, the text mixes Latin with the vernacular. Nineteenth-century composer R. L Pearsall arranges this ancient carol for double chorus. As the piece progresses, the interweaving of the voices becomes more complex, with the tune heard first in one voice, then another. As the carol ends, the soprano voice sounds out the bright pealing of the bells. French composer Pierre Villette reflects a heritage that includes Faure, Debussy, Poulenc, and Durufle. His Hymn á la Vierge begins diatonically, then becomes increasingly chromatic, with the refrain melody passing through several keys. The final coda ends with a group of dissonant cluster chords. Braxton Blake's Shepherds, Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep, is based upon a medieval Besançon carol melody. Associate Director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Mack Wilberg's arrangement of Silent Night for solo tenor voice and men's chorus is rich with Romantic harmonies. Donald McCullough gives us a joyous Angels We Have Heard on High, with a bell-like accompaniment. Fred Graham brings variety to his arrangement of the spiritual, Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow, with a different treatment to each verse. Robert MacGimsey's beloved spiritual, Sweet Little Jesus Boy, for solo voice is a welcome treat. Circle Singers' own Ralph Gingery has written a lovely arrangement of the French carol, Quelle est cette odeur agréable? The concert concludes with his delightfully zany arrangement of Jingle Bells!
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