Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): – The Church Year – Trinity Sunday: Die Elenden sollen essen (The miserable shall eat) BWV 75

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May 26, 2013
This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): – The Church Year

Bach 150x150 captionedOn May 22, 1723 Bach moved to Leipzig to take up his position as the newly-elected Kantor at the Thomasschule and although he wasn't formally installed until June 1st he apparently started work immediately, for on Sunday May 30th the first performance of one of his large-scale Cantatas took place to great applause. The Cantata in question which is in two parts was 'Die Elenden sollen essen' (The miserable shall eat) BWV 75 the anonymous text to which is based on Luke 16:19-31 – the parable of the rich man and Lazarus . It's one of my favourite Cantatas, Bach was determined to start his tenure at Leipzig with a display of musical fireworks and he certainly succeeded. It's huge (if you count up 'Die Elenden sollen essen's' sections – or movements if you prefer to call them that, you'll find no less than fourteen separate movements). Not only is it huge but Bach filled it  choc-a-bloc with musical inventiveness, some wonderful arias, ditto recitatives, and that's before I mention the simply superb orchestral writing. The cumulative effect of all of this is a thrilling and dramatic piece of music.

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Pau Casals (1876 – 1973) Nigra Sum – Escolania de Montserrat

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May 25, 2013

The choristers of the Escolania de Montserrat singing Pablo Casals' (Pau Casals) beautiful setting of Nigra Sum at Montserrat Abbey. Video text and translation are all below the fold. Enjoy :-)

markfromireland

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Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Rejoice in the Lord alway ‘The bell anthem’

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May 24, 2013

Henry Purcell Purcell's setting of Philippians 4: 4-7 (Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice …) is one of the most popular of his anthems. It acquired it's title of 'The bell anthem' very early on and dates from sometime between 1682 and 1685. I love its signature pealing of bells which is everywhere in its stunning opening Prelude. You can hear the bells pealing both in the bass part and in the intertwined upper parts where Purcell juxtaposes their joy to bittersweet effect with some typically Purcellian harmonies. This Prelude also has some wonderful writing for strings which is given further depth by the descending scales of the theorbos.

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The Music of Agostino Steffani (1654-1728) Part II: Cecilia Bartoli – Mission – Les musiques d’Agostino Steffani à Versailles – YouTube

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May 23, 2013
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series The Music of Agostino Steffani

I said yesterday of  Agostino Steffani's music that it was easy to see 'why his contemporaries held his music in such esteem' – his religious music is very beautiful and so is his opera music. Much of his music has been pioneered for modern audiences by Cecilia Bartoli and we're fortunate that vdzwyer  has published the Arte video production of her singing solo arias and four duets from his operas. The scene is set at Versailles and the singing is as glorious as the surroundings. Bartoli put a lot of effort into researching Steffani's music – and it shows in her superb technique and profound feeling for the texts she's singing, much of what she sings has never been recorded before. The accompaniment by I Barocchisti conducted by Diego Fasolis is superb and as for the duets in which she is joined by countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, well what can I say other than that 'my cup runneth over'? It's a wonderful introduction to this neglected master and his masterpieces and indeed to the entire genre of baroque opera. Enjoy :-)

markfromireland

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The Music of Agostino Steffani (1654-1728) Part I: Stabat Mater – YouTube

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May 22, 2013
This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series The Music of Agostino Steffani

Agostino Steffani (1654-1728)Clergyman, diplomat, musician, composer, Agostino Steffani (1654-1728) had an extraordinary life. His music is largely forgotten today but during his life it was very well thought by the public and by his fellow composers including his friend Handel.  He was born in 1654 at Castelfranco in the Province of Treviso and started his musical life as a choirboy in St Mark's Basilica , Venice, when he was 12 the beauty of his voice attracted the attention of Count Tattenbach who brought him to Munich to sing and receive musical education at the Court of  Prince Ferdinand Maria the Elector of Bavaria including one year of tuition in Rome at the Elector's expense , his skill, intelligence, and diligence meant that he soon was being granted appointments starting with the position of court musician, rising to chamber musician, and then director of the court's music and court organist. He remained at the Electoral court for  twenty-one years. He left Munich in 1688 for a post at the Court of the Elector of Hannover where he befriended and showed great kindness to Handel and was befriended by Leibniz . Ten years later in 1698 he was invited to take up residence at at the court of Johann Wilhelm II the  Elector Palatine, at Düsseldorf. His diplomatic career dates from at least 1680 when he was ordained as priest and appointed as protonotarius apostolicus by Pope Innocent XI for whom he successfully undertook several diplomatic missions who made him a Bishop and "Vicario Apostolico delle Missioni Settentrionali," a post that involved considerable diplomatic work at various North German courts. There was a downside to this promotion which was that as a senior diplomat and personal episcopal representative of the Pope it would have been a severe breach of etiquette for Steffani to publish operas under his own name a restriction that he got around by publishing them under the name of his secretary Gregorio Piva. In 1695 he published a pamphlet, 'Sui Principii della Musica' discussing how music is grounded on nature and science.

His surviving music consisting of  chamber duets, operas and religious music is of very high quality – it's easy to see reading the scores or listening to the few recordings that have been made why his contemporaries held his music in such esteem he was an important figure in the development of German opera while his duets make him a worthy successor to Carissmi and foreshadowed Handel. His extant religious work  includes, a nine-part polychoral 'Laudate pueri' an eight-part 'Psalmodia Vespertina' and the six-part accompanied 'Stabat Mater'  which is the subject of this posting and which was often compared favourably to Alessandro Scarlatti's work, he himself considered it to be his greatest work. It's a very touching piece of music an eloquent and elegaic portrayal of grief which never lapses in being maudlin and  whose last movement is truly compelling. I defy anyone to listen to how he treats the text at  'Quando morietur …' - (When I shall die…) and remain unmoved. It's sung below by the Coro della Radio Svizzera under Diego Fasolis. Enjoy :-).

markfromireland

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Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625): If ye be risen again with Christ

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May 21, 2013

Orlando Gibbons'  'If ye be risen again with Christ' is a verse anthem in other words it's an anthem that consists of solos or duets for one or more voices, usually from the start of the work as here, interspersed with short choral passages that augment the solos. I've always enjoyed listening to this particular anthem and when the soloists are  two trebles as talented  as the boys singing here it is a soaringly beautiful piece of music. Enjoy :-).

marfkromireland

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Drakensberg Boys’ Choir (April 2013): Some Nights ~ Shosholoza — YouTube

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May 20, 2013

Why yes I did suddenly reorganise the posting calendar when I saw that a new Drakensberg Boys' Choir video had made its way on to YouTube.  They're one of my three all-time favourite choirs so anything new from them is quite an event as far as I'm concerned. Video and lyrics are both below the fold. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :-)

markfromireland

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): – The Church Year – Pentecost: Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! – BWV 172

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May 19, 2013
This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): – The Church Year

Bach 150x150 captioned This particular Cantata (BWV172) was composed for Pentecost and dates from the period when Bach was Kapellmeister in Weimar during his time there he composed several large-scale works for some of the major holidays in the Lutheran church calendar, Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. While at Weimar Bach was fortunate in having the poet Salomo Franck as his librettist. Bach responded to the high poetic and literary quality of Salomo's text and 'Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!' (Resound, ye songs, ring out, ye strings!) like all his Weimar works is a very passionate piece of music.

Its structure is like this:

 Chorus recititative (bass) aria (bass) aria (tenor) duet/chorale (sop/alto) chorale.

It begins joyfully with a four-part homphonic chorus reacting  to festive trumpet fanfares and tympani which is followed by  a short arioso bass recitative of John 14:23 this leads to a da capo aria in which the bass asks the Holy Trinity to "come into the tabernacle of our hearts" this heartfelt plea  plea is supported by tympani and three obligato trumpets. Trinitarian symbolism is woven throughout this aria which Bach wrote mostly in intervals of a third. While the tenor aria that follows is in complete contrast – it's a tranquil piece whose mood is enchanced by the strings that portray the soul being wafted on the breath of the Holy Spirit.

The duet between the soul and the Holy Spirit is the Cantata's high point it's a duet for soprano and alto with obbligato oboe accompaniment. Bach went all out to match the complex text with intricately crafted, detailed, and elaborate voice parts. A rather beautiful setting of Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern,  ends the cantata. Music video, text and translation are all below. Enjoy :-)

markfromireland

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Jacobus Vaet (±1529 – 1567): Pentecostal Motet – Spiritus Domini

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May 18, 2013

Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk Golden Madonna and Child Jacobus Vaet is yet another one of those renaissance composers whose early demise cut short a very promising career. He was probably born in 1529 either in Kortrijk or Harelbeke and was enrolled as  a choirboy at Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk in Kortrijk aged thirteen. When his voice broke in 1546 the church gave him a scholarship to attend the University of Leuven which he entered in 1547. By 1550 he was serving the Emperor Charles V in 1550 as a tenor. He must have stood out because by  January 1st 1554 he had become Kapellmeister to  Archduke Maximilian of Austria – the future Emperor Maximilian II. He remained as Maximilian's Kapellmeister  until his death aged 37 on Jan 8th 1567. Maximilian was generous to Vaet  His death was mourned by Maximillian who wrote of it in his diary and by his fellow musicians many of whom composed elegies mourning his passing. His influence persisted after his death with many of his motets being used as the basis for Mass settings by a constellation of composers including his pupil Jacob Regnart, and such luminaries as Jacob Handl, Antonius Galli, and Johannes de Cleve.  His Missa quodlibetica seems to have been the first of the genre and was used as a model by Regnart, Losio and Luython among others.

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Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Thou wakeful shepherd that does Israel keep ‘A morning hymn’

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May 17, 2013

Nicholas Witcomb 1688 was a good year for Purcell fans such as myself for it was in 1688 that the finest of his devotional songs were written, collected, and published in Harmonia Sacra.  Purcell's setting of William Fuller's poem incorporates so many changes made by Purcell that fully half of the words in the setting are by not by the author of record but rather by Purcell himself acting as composer-turned-poet the result is a far more moving and poignant text than Fuller's original, more poignant, more contemplative, and far less optimistic than Fuller's original. Something within Purcell responded to darker texts and moods and spurred to produce some of his most beautiful music. Beautiful and very difficult to sing music, Purcell plainly had an excellent treble soloist in mind when he was composing this and we're fortunate that in the recording below the singer is the excellent Nicholas Witcomb whose singing abilities were more than equal to the occasion.

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Edward Elgar (1857-1934): The Wanderer

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May 16, 2013

Caroline Alice Elgar - captioned small The death of his wife in April 1920 devastated Elgar, this shattering blow combined with his difficulties in adjusting to the changes in British society wrought by World War I meant that he entered a bleak and fallow period in his life. It wasn't until 1923 that he started to compose again the impetus for this was the suggestion by his friend the critic Robin Legge that he compose  two part-songs for the DeReszke Singers a popular Polish-American male-voice ensemble.  Elgar responded with 'The Wanderer' a setting of a seventeenth century poem he had found to which he added an opening stanza of his own devising. It's gently nostalgic and resigned song which portrays Elgar's own emotional landscape as he wanders 'through the woodlands … tuning a song'  as the song progresses he wanders into the wilderness eventually facing up to the fact of the death. All of which sounds deathly grim but in fact it's very far from gloomy and is well worth listening too. It's sung below by the London Symphony Chorus conducted by Vernon Handley. Enjoy :-).

markfroireland

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Serendipity

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May 15, 2013

I've just finished writing a two-part posting about Agostino Steffani and his music, Writing it gives me the perfect excuse to post this glorious performance of Eia mater recorded by the Boys Air Choir. I've had it for years and still listen to it regularly. It's one of those performances whose freshness and clarity remains striking no matter how often I hear it. The soloists were, the incomparable Tristan Hambleton (treble) and Dominic Collingwood (treble). You'll find it, the text, and a translation below. Enjoy :-)

markfromireland

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