CHRISTMAS MAJESTY
December 7-8-9, 2012
Program Notes by Sanford Dole
Program Notes by Sanford Dole
Tonight we are exploring contemporary settings of ancient texts from the liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas. As a lifelong church musician and performer in countless Christmas concerts that have included classical and traditional selections, I am anxious to discover what other possibilities exist. And since we will all get inundated during December with the standard fare at the mall, in elevators, on television ads, and at church, this program offers an alternative soundtrack. In pursuit of our mission to educate both the singers and the audience, I hope you will find the ideas expressed to be stimulating and the music as beautiful as we do.
The first half of our show focuses on a specific part of the final liturgies of Advent, the four weeks that lead up to and anticipate the celebration of the birth of Jesus. These are The Great O Antiphons, texts that are sung or recited in the seven days before Christmas.
Antiphons are short “responses” sung or recited by a choir or congregation next to a larger religious text. They comment on the text, typically linking it to the season or particular feast (the saint being celebrated that day). The O Antiphons originated in the early Roman Catholic Church as the prayers preceding the Magnificat during evening services (Vespers) during the week before Christmas. This is a time when one’s attention is directed to the messianic promises proclaimed by the ancient prophets of Israel. The antiphons add a mood of eager anticipation to the liturgy, building throughout these seven days and climaxing at Christmas.
Each of the seven antiphons makes reference to portions of the Book of Isaiah, and follows the same pattern, resembling a traditional liturgical prayer. Each begins with an invocation of the expected Messiah using one of his particular titles. Each ends with a petition for God’s people, relevant to the title by which he is addressed, and the cry for him to “Come.” As an example, note the structure of the first one, O Sapientia: “O Wisdom, proceeding from the mouth of the Most High, stretching from end to end, disposing all things in strength and sweetness; come and teach us the way of prudence.”
The seven titles attributed to Jesus in the antiphons are Wisdom (Sapientia in Latin), Ruler of the House of Israel (Adonai), Root of Jesse (Radix), Key of David (Clavis), Rising Sun or Morning Star (Oriens), King of the Gentiles (Rex), and God with us (Emmanuel in Hebrew). The initials of the Latin titles make an acrostic which, when read backwards (Ero cras), means “Tomorrow I will be there.” To the medieval mind this was clearly a reference to the approaching Christmas vigil.
Today the O Antiphons are most familiar to us in the hymn “O come, O come Emmanuel.” Each verse of the hymn parallels one of the antiphons. In addition to their use in the Liturgy of the Hours and the gospel acclamation, they have been popularly incorporated into church devotions and family prayer.
Our program will begin with the original Gregorian chant melody that was used for these texts. The same tune was adapted to each of the seven antiphons. We will sing it again before the final anthem in the set, O Emmanuel. Until fairly recently, these texts were usually heard in this chant form. It was only in the late twentieth century, when choral composers were looking for non-copyrighted texts appropriate for holiday concerts, that they became used as the basis for seven-movement Advent cantatas. Rather than perform one entire set, we will present a composite I have created by selecting movements from three of these recent compositions.
The first two movements, O Sapientia and O Adonai, and the sixth, O Rex Gentium, are by Pawel Lukaszewski.Born in 1968, Lukaszewski is one of the younger generation of Polish composers specializing in sacred and choral music. He studied at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, where he received a Ph.D. (2000) and a Ph.D. Hab. (2007) in composition. His works have been performed around the world and recorded on more than 50 CDs. Also an active conductor, Lukaszewski is Artistic Director and Conductor of Musica Sacra Cathedral Choir in Warsaw. I am pleased to be introducing local audiences to this exciting new compositional voice. By turns rhythmically alive and languorously meditative, these works cast a distinctive spell as they steer a new course for twenty-first-century choral composition.
Switching to English translations, the third and seventh movements in our eclectic cantata are by Seattle-based John Muehleisen. After being introduced to his music when I was researching our West Coast composers program in 2010, I have been looking for an opportunity to present his work. Like Lukaszewski he specializes in works for choir and solo voice. Since 1996 he has been Composer-in-Residence and Artistic Advisor for the Seattle-based Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble, writing 15 pieces for this fine choir. John’s works have been recorded and performed by numerous ensembles in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including standouts such as The Dale Warland Singers, Conspirare, and The Esoterics. We have found his music to be quite accessible from a learning standpoint, and yet very rich musically. In a fun reference, you will likely recognize a familiar tune incorporated into the concluding movement, O Emmanuel.
The remaining two movements we will sing in German, as conceived by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt in 1988. Born in 1935, he graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory in 1963 while working as a recording director in the music division of the Estonian Radio. A year before leaving the Conservatory, he won the first prize in the All-Union Young Composers’ Competition for a children’s cantata and an oratorio. In 1980 he emigrated to Vienna, where he took Austrian citizenship. Since 1982 he has made his home in West Berlin. His earliest works showed the influence of Prokofiev and Shostakovich, and he later experimented with serialism. But it was after a self-imposed period of silence, during which he studied early music, that he devised the technique he is known for today. He called this new style “tintinnabuli”—a reference to the ringing of bells—music in which the sound components are in constant flux, though the overall image is one of stasis. A beautiful example of this style is O Morgenstern. Each voice part sings the notes of a simple triad or scale. When combined, the result is one of shimmering beauty. Before that we’ll sing the central movement of the seven, about which one commentator gushes, “What could be more impassioned and dramatic in late-twentieth-century music than … O Schlüssel Davids … with its ecstatically pleading multiple layers of closely packed harmony?”
After intermission we’ll return with some feel-good Christmas music. Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carolshas become a staple in the repertoire of choirs around the world since it was first published in 1943. The story of its composition is fascinating. A well-known pacifist, Britten escaped the war with his partner, Peter Pears, aboard a Swedish cargo vessel bound for New York. Describing the cabin as “miserable … very near the huge provisions Ice box, and the smell and heat were intolerable,” he somehow managed to get some composing done, noting that “one had to alleviate the boredom.” Not only did he complete the now beloved Hymn to St. Cecelia (text by W. H. Auden), but also five of the ten movements that appear in the final version of Ceremony. This came about after the ship docked at Halifax, Nova Scotia. During the stop Britten purchased a copy of The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems, which seems to have sparked the idea for a carol sequence based on these medieval texts. It is believed that the use of harp as accompaniment was stimulated by his studying for an unfulfilled commission for a harp concerto. Originally conceived for three-part boy choir, the work’s immense popularity prompted the publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, to create an arrangement for mixed choir, first released in 1955.
I was first introduced to another rising star in the choral music world just this past summer. Ola Gjeilo (pronounced Yaylo) was born in Norway in 1978, and moved to New York in 2001 to begin his composition studies at the Juilliard School. Since his graduation in 2006 he has become a full-time composer based in New York, writing music for choir, orchestra, and piano. His style draws much inspiration from movies and cinematic music. He says of this piece, “With Serenity (O Magnum Mysterium) I wanted to write a cappella music that has a symphonic, abundant feel. This is the case with quite a few of my recent choral works. I love a warm, lush sound that can give a feeling of space and evocativeness, but still be intimate, somehow.”
Working from his home in Minneapolis, Stephen Paulus has become a model for the successful composer in the twenty-first century. Self-publishing from his own website (as John Muehleisen also does) he has made available over 450 wonderful works including music for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, solo voice, keyboard, and opera. Hailed by the New Yorker as “a bright, fluent inventor with a ready lyric gift,” his music has become a favorite with choirs and audiences alike. Three Nativity Carols sets fifteenth-century English carols with care and imagination. The text of the first of these, The Holly and the Ivy, will be familiar to many, but the tune is Paulus’ own. Subtle rhythmic shifts and unexpected harmonies making for a delightfully different setting from the one we all grew up with. And adding harp and oboe to the mix makes all three carols sparkle, a fitting way to conclude our holiday concert!
The first half of our show focuses on a specific part of the final liturgies of Advent, the four weeks that lead up to and anticipate the celebration of the birth of Jesus. These are The Great O Antiphons, texts that are sung or recited in the seven days before Christmas.
Antiphons are short “responses” sung or recited by a choir or congregation next to a larger religious text. They comment on the text, typically linking it to the season or particular feast (the saint being celebrated that day). The O Antiphons originated in the early Roman Catholic Church as the prayers preceding the Magnificat during evening services (Vespers) during the week before Christmas. This is a time when one’s attention is directed to the messianic promises proclaimed by the ancient prophets of Israel. The antiphons add a mood of eager anticipation to the liturgy, building throughout these seven days and climaxing at Christmas.
Each of the seven antiphons makes reference to portions of the Book of Isaiah, and follows the same pattern, resembling a traditional liturgical prayer. Each begins with an invocation of the expected Messiah using one of his particular titles. Each ends with a petition for God’s people, relevant to the title by which he is addressed, and the cry for him to “Come.” As an example, note the structure of the first one, O Sapientia: “O Wisdom, proceeding from the mouth of the Most High, stretching from end to end, disposing all things in strength and sweetness; come and teach us the way of prudence.”
The seven titles attributed to Jesus in the antiphons are Wisdom (Sapientia in Latin), Ruler of the House of Israel (Adonai), Root of Jesse (Radix), Key of David (Clavis), Rising Sun or Morning Star (Oriens), King of the Gentiles (Rex), and God with us (Emmanuel in Hebrew). The initials of the Latin titles make an acrostic which, when read backwards (Ero cras), means “Tomorrow I will be there.” To the medieval mind this was clearly a reference to the approaching Christmas vigil.
Today the O Antiphons are most familiar to us in the hymn “O come, O come Emmanuel.” Each verse of the hymn parallels one of the antiphons. In addition to their use in the Liturgy of the Hours and the gospel acclamation, they have been popularly incorporated into church devotions and family prayer.
Our program will begin with the original Gregorian chant melody that was used for these texts. The same tune was adapted to each of the seven antiphons. We will sing it again before the final anthem in the set, O Emmanuel. Until fairly recently, these texts were usually heard in this chant form. It was only in the late twentieth century, when choral composers were looking for non-copyrighted texts appropriate for holiday concerts, that they became used as the basis for seven-movement Advent cantatas. Rather than perform one entire set, we will present a composite I have created by selecting movements from three of these recent compositions.
The first two movements, O Sapientia and O Adonai, and the sixth, O Rex Gentium, are by Pawel Lukaszewski.Born in 1968, Lukaszewski is one of the younger generation of Polish composers specializing in sacred and choral music. He studied at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, where he received a Ph.D. (2000) and a Ph.D. Hab. (2007) in composition. His works have been performed around the world and recorded on more than 50 CDs. Also an active conductor, Lukaszewski is Artistic Director and Conductor of Musica Sacra Cathedral Choir in Warsaw. I am pleased to be introducing local audiences to this exciting new compositional voice. By turns rhythmically alive and languorously meditative, these works cast a distinctive spell as they steer a new course for twenty-first-century choral composition.
Switching to English translations, the third and seventh movements in our eclectic cantata are by Seattle-based John Muehleisen. After being introduced to his music when I was researching our West Coast composers program in 2010, I have been looking for an opportunity to present his work. Like Lukaszewski he specializes in works for choir and solo voice. Since 1996 he has been Composer-in-Residence and Artistic Advisor for the Seattle-based Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble, writing 15 pieces for this fine choir. John’s works have been recorded and performed by numerous ensembles in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including standouts such as The Dale Warland Singers, Conspirare, and The Esoterics. We have found his music to be quite accessible from a learning standpoint, and yet very rich musically. In a fun reference, you will likely recognize a familiar tune incorporated into the concluding movement, O Emmanuel.
The remaining two movements we will sing in German, as conceived by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt in 1988. Born in 1935, he graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory in 1963 while working as a recording director in the music division of the Estonian Radio. A year before leaving the Conservatory, he won the first prize in the All-Union Young Composers’ Competition for a children’s cantata and an oratorio. In 1980 he emigrated to Vienna, where he took Austrian citizenship. Since 1982 he has made his home in West Berlin. His earliest works showed the influence of Prokofiev and Shostakovich, and he later experimented with serialism. But it was after a self-imposed period of silence, during which he studied early music, that he devised the technique he is known for today. He called this new style “tintinnabuli”—a reference to the ringing of bells—music in which the sound components are in constant flux, though the overall image is one of stasis. A beautiful example of this style is O Morgenstern. Each voice part sings the notes of a simple triad or scale. When combined, the result is one of shimmering beauty. Before that we’ll sing the central movement of the seven, about which one commentator gushes, “What could be more impassioned and dramatic in late-twentieth-century music than … O Schlüssel Davids … with its ecstatically pleading multiple layers of closely packed harmony?”
After intermission we’ll return with some feel-good Christmas music. Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carolshas become a staple in the repertoire of choirs around the world since it was first published in 1943. The story of its composition is fascinating. A well-known pacifist, Britten escaped the war with his partner, Peter Pears, aboard a Swedish cargo vessel bound for New York. Describing the cabin as “miserable … very near the huge provisions Ice box, and the smell and heat were intolerable,” he somehow managed to get some composing done, noting that “one had to alleviate the boredom.” Not only did he complete the now beloved Hymn to St. Cecelia (text by W. H. Auden), but also five of the ten movements that appear in the final version of Ceremony. This came about after the ship docked at Halifax, Nova Scotia. During the stop Britten purchased a copy of The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems, which seems to have sparked the idea for a carol sequence based on these medieval texts. It is believed that the use of harp as accompaniment was stimulated by his studying for an unfulfilled commission for a harp concerto. Originally conceived for three-part boy choir, the work’s immense popularity prompted the publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, to create an arrangement for mixed choir, first released in 1955.
I was first introduced to another rising star in the choral music world just this past summer. Ola Gjeilo (pronounced Yaylo) was born in Norway in 1978, and moved to New York in 2001 to begin his composition studies at the Juilliard School. Since his graduation in 2006 he has become a full-time composer based in New York, writing music for choir, orchestra, and piano. His style draws much inspiration from movies and cinematic music. He says of this piece, “With Serenity (O Magnum Mysterium) I wanted to write a cappella music that has a symphonic, abundant feel. This is the case with quite a few of my recent choral works. I love a warm, lush sound that can give a feeling of space and evocativeness, but still be intimate, somehow.”
Working from his home in Minneapolis, Stephen Paulus has become a model for the successful composer in the twenty-first century. Self-publishing from his own website (as John Muehleisen also does) he has made available over 450 wonderful works including music for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, solo voice, keyboard, and opera. Hailed by the New Yorker as “a bright, fluent inventor with a ready lyric gift,” his music has become a favorite with choirs and audiences alike. Three Nativity Carols sets fifteenth-century English carols with care and imagination. The text of the first of these, The Holly and the Ivy, will be familiar to many, but the tune is Paulus’ own. Subtle rhythmic shifts and unexpected harmonies making for a delightfully different setting from the one we all grew up with. And adding harp and oboe to the mix makes all three carols sparkle, a fitting way to conclude our holiday concert!
