Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876): Man That Is Born Of A Woman

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June 8, 2013

samuel sebastian wesley 180x195 captioned Wesley's output of church music was considerable, the quality can be a bit uneven but he composed enough masterpiecs that his style remained influential amongst the generation of musicians and composers who followed him. Even amongst his less happy compositions there's generally movement or two of very high quality that show what could have been were it not for Wesley's mercurial nature that on occasion descended into insanity. Amongst his undoubted masterpieces is 'Man that is born of a woman' which he composed in 1861 for the funeral of the Warden of Winchester College. It's a moving and dignified piece of music full of pathos and showing very clearly Henry Purcell's (1659-1695) influence upon the composer. Indeed so strong was Purcell's influence on this particular piece that Wesley suggested when it was published that Purcell's Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts be sung immediately afterwards. It's sung below by the Choir of Worcester Cathedral conducted by Donald Hunt. Enjoy :-).

markfromireland

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Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord Z45

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June 7, 2013

Purcell Closterman Small Purcell's De Profundis is a remarkable composition. It's a verse anthem (verse anthems are anthems that consist of solos for one of more voices interspersed with short full choral passages that amplify the solo material. - mfi) that could well be from as early as 1680. It appears in the Flackton Manuscript (British Museum Add. MS 30931) in Purcell’s own hand and its verse sections are scored for three soloists a treble, a high tenor and a bass.

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Boys Air Choir: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis – YouTube

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June 6, 2013

The Boys Air Choir performing the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis.The soloist is Edward Burrowes and the conductor is Connor Burrowes - yes I know I mistyped his name :-(

markfromireland

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Edwin Fissinger (1920-1990): Lux aeterna

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June 5, 2013

Edwin Fissinger (1920-1990) Recordings of Fissinger's music are now ludicrously exensive and very hard to come by even if you are prepared to pay US$99.99 for a second-hand CD (I'm not). So I was very glad to see his 'Lux aeterna' on the track list for Stephen Layton and Trinity College Choir Cambridge's recent CD of late twentieth century American A Capella music. Fisssinger's career as a conductor and composer spanned forty-five years and was by no means confined to choral works of which he wrote one hundred and eighty three. All of his published music is certainly well worth listening to whether it's one of his orchestral, piano, or vocal compositions there's a lively and very distinctive musical imagination at work that attracted the attention of his fellow members of the American Choral Director’s Association of which he was a founder member. Perhaps that's why if you hear his work at all these days you tend to it hear it being such by All-State Choirs at regional and national ACDA conventions.

He composed Lux aeterna in 1982 dedicating it to the memory of his wife and one of his composition students who had been killed in a car accident. In it Fissinger combines Gregorian motifs with clustered chordal harmonisations that remind me more than somewhat of Holst's Nunc dimittis. As Lux aeterna progresses from its bottom-upward beginning you can hear the soloists voices flying free of the clustered choral textures as the souls, freed from earthly bondage begin their ascent. It's sung below by The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge conducted by Stephen Layton. Enjoy :-).

markfromireland

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Felice Anerio (±1560-1614): Salve Regina

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June 4, 2013

Felice Anerio (±1560-1614) is the older but lesser-known of the Anerio brothers. He had a very successful musical career starting his career as a choirboy in S. Maria Maggiore before transferring to St Peter's to sing and study under Palestrina. Following his release from St. Peter's he held a variety of prestigious posts in Rome including at the Spanish church of Santa Maria di Monserrato and the English College. In 1594 following the death of Palestrina he was appointed as composer to the Papal Chapel and held also during the first few years of the new century the coveted post of Maestro di Capella to that renowned (and very wealthy) patron of the arts Duke Giovanni Angelo Altemps.

His setting of the Salve Regina — the Marian antiphon sung at the end of Compline or Vespers in the period between the feasts of Pentecost and Advent is bi-choral. That is it's set for two choirs one consisting of high voices (sopranos and altos) the other of low voices (basses and tenor). Double-choir composition was common throughout Italy at the time but was particularly popular in the two wealthiest and most powerful Italian cities, Rome and Venice. From a musicologist's point of view it's an interesting setting of the Salve because in it Anerio contrasts the high voiced choir with the low, this is atypical of Roman bi-choral compositions of the period but would be far from surprising in music composed for one of the great Venetian establishments. Is it possible that this setting was written in support of a job application with one of the major churches of the Serene Republic?

Musically I find it lovely, it's a somewhat restrained yet very poignant and expressive setting in which Anerio makes use of sharpened thirds and the juxtaposition of major and minor to heighten the mood and the desired effect upon the listener. It's a very individual piece — neither Anerio nor anybody else ever wrote anything quite like it again. Enjoy :-).

markfromireland

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Happy Groupy: The Cardinall’s Musick 2012 – YouTube

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June 3, 2013

I'm an unabashed fan of Andrew Carwood's work with The Cardinall's Musick so when I stay stumbled across this video in which he talks about why he founded the group and their work I found it very interesting. As a bonus the video shows them rehearsing. And before anyone asks, yes I am salivating at the prospect of them recording Tallis' works in their entirety. Enjoy :-) .

markfromireland

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Sunday Concert: Jan Dismas Zelenka: Officium Defunctorum | Collegium 1704 – YouTube

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June 2, 2013
This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Zelenka: Officium Defunctorum and Requiem | Collegium 1704

Zelenka Officium Defunctorum Collegium 1704

When Frederick Augustus the Elector of Saxony known as Augustus the Strong, whose love of the arts and music made Dresden a beacon of the arts in the early 18th century died on February 1st 1733 an entire year of protocols and grand ceremonial occasions were organised by the state to mourn his passing. The exigencies of religous politics in his domains meant that these had to encompass and satisfy the religious sensibilities of both his Catholic and protestant subjects. Zelenka who had been acting as Kapellmeister at the Dresden court following Heinichen's death in 1729 was responsible for writing both the Officium defunctorium (Office of the Dead) and the Requiem as part of the Catholic ceremonies. This week's 'Sunday Concert' which covers the Officium defunctorium is the first of two in which I deal with Zelenka's Officium defunctorium and his Requiem.

Zelenka's setting of the Officium defunctorium is very substantial piece of work that repays listening to several times. It's an extended piece of funereal theatre and it opens with a truly spectacular Invitatorium, whose darkly dramatic progressions and suspensions create wonderfully gritty rythmic that textures that give way by and by to a lyrical  Psalmus. This is music on a grand scale it's on the scale you'd expect from on of Bach's Passion's and it's just as impressive. The work's main body is divided into divided into three Nocturni, each of which is further divided into three Lessons and three Responses these are remarkably intense pieces of music that are characterised by beautifully eloquent and moving vocal solos and floating choral textures that Zelenka married to a richly harmonical contrapunctal orchestral accompaniment of strings, winds, organ, and theorbo continuo. This particular performance is by the superb Collegium 1704 who under their conductor Václav Luks have done such sterling work in bringing Zelenka's music to a wider public, it dates from 2009 and was broadcast by the Mezzo channel. Enjoy :-).

markfromireland

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Ola Gjeilo(b. 1978) : Ubi caritas – Schweizer JugendChor; Dominique Tille – YouTube

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June 1, 2013

Ola Gjeilo Captioned 150x183 I've written about Ola Gjeilo's setting of 'Ubi Caritas' before (see: Ola Gjeilo with the CWU Chamber Choir: Ubi Caritas (1st version) | Saturday Chorale ) in the few years since Gjeilo first published it it's become very popular with choirs and deservedly so it's got a beautiful melody that starts by evoking plain chant that evolves almost imperceptibly into a wider and more modern use of harmonics. Even better it's a very accessible piece that can, and has been, easily be mastered by a good secondary school choir. The Schweizer JugendChor (Swiss Youth Choir) performed it on May 18th 2013 during the first lap of the first round of the International Chamber Choir Competition Marktoberdorf 2013. You can hear them singing a somewhat shortened version of it below under the direction of their conductor Dominique Tille. Enjoy :-).

markfromireland

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Henry Purcell (1659-1695): I was glad – KammerChor Saarbrücken; Georg Grün

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May 31, 2013

This week's entry in my series dealing with Purcell's religious music is somewhat different from normal in that it features a live performance of one of his works. Although I've written about 'I was glad' before I think that this performance by the KammerChor Saarbrücken (Saarbrucken Chamber Choir) conducted by their founder Georg Grün given on May 18th 2013 as part of their entry for the first lap of the first round of the International Chamber Choir Competition Marktoberdorf 2013 is of such high quality that a little repetition of material can be forgiven. Grün founded the choir in 1990 and they are, to my mind, one of the best choirs singing in Germany today – have a listen to them singing below and see if you don't agree with me. Enjoy :-).

markfromireland

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Feature: William Byrd (±1539-1623): Ave verum Corpus – Sequence for the Feast of Corpus Christi

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May 30, 2013

Innocent VI captioned small Ave Verum CorpusByrd’s Propers for the Mass of Corpus Christi were published in the first book of the Gradualia (London, 1605) they're beautiful music both in context of the Mass and in their own right. (I wrote about the Mass with propers for Corpus Christi here: Sunday Playlist: William Byrd: Mass For Recusants With Propers for Corpus Christi | Saturday Chorale if you want to hear it – and them, in their entirety, or are a bit unclear about what the difference between 'Propers' and 'Ordinaries' is then that's the posting for you).

Corpus Christi as we know it today was first declared as a feast of the Church in 1264 and instead of celebrating it on Maundy Thursday as it had been before the new dispensation reserved it for the first free Thursay after Easter tide. (Eastertide is the fifty days running from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday). The texts and music proper to that day are meant to convey a mixture of awe and joy and this is certainly the case of Byrd's setting of Ave verum Corpus which has long been one of his best-loved and most performed pieces. Byrd took the text which is from  the sequence hymn by Pope Innocent VI (±1282 – 1362) for the Feast of Corpus Christi and gave it his own quite unique imprint. Whether it's his perfect control of the poyphony that is, as John Rutter puts it 'wonderful to sing', the brilliantly clear musical structure, the way he gets his listener to sit up and listen by introducing a completely unexpected progression (the first three chords) or the manifest fervour and conviction of his own beliefs expressed through the text and his music Byrd's setting of 'Ave Verum Corpus' does what he wanted it to do. It reaches out to the listener across the centuries saying 'Behold'.

It's sung below by the Cambridge Singers conducted by John Rutter. Enjoy :-).

markfromireland

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Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745): Salve Regina

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May 30, 2013

We don't know all that much about Jan Dismas Zelenka he was born in 1679, his father was a Kantor who presumably acted as his first music teacher. He was a student at the Jesuit Collegium Clementinum in Prague and was first taken up by the von Hartig family in Prague which was followed by a post in Dresden. He was took a post as a double bass player in about 1710 at the court of The Elector of Saxony, August the Strong. He came to the Elector's attention as a composer shortly thereafter and was sent on study trips between 1716 and 1719. By all accounts he was a diligent servant of the court whose compositions contributed greatly to the unique 'Dresdener' style of Church music. By 1729 he was the chief assistant to the Kappelmeister Johann David Heinichen (1683–1729) it must have seemed to him that his future was secure. But the heir to the throne preferred the new Italian style and tried to get rid of Heinichen and his colleagues and in 1730 he succeeded in having Johann Adolf Hasse appointed as the new Kappelmeister. Zelenka was given a badly-paid and low status post of Kirchencompositeur (Church Composer) as a sop but ended his days a broken and embittered man.

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How much is that doggy in the …

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May 29, 2013

O quam gloriosum by Victoria, being sung in Canterbury Cathedral by St Stephen's Church Choir, Canterbury. The choir were right up in the far East End of the cathedral by this point, which is why it sounds rather distant. Watch out for the dog coming into the Quire at around 1'40"!

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