Can art change the world? Last weekend I attended the
Berkeley Rep Theatre production of Tristan and Yseult, based on the legend of
Tristan and Isolde. The Kneehigh company from England excels in singing,
dancing, acrobatics and special effects. As the story unfolded, the actors
engaged with the audience to the point that we were laughing with them, blowing
up balloons and generally participating. The action moved back and forth from
ancient legend to present day foolery. When it came time for the inevitable tragedy, it was underlain with Wagner’s climactic music from the opera, the Liebestod. Maybe
because the actors had loosened us up so much with their interactions with us,
we were all completely taken away by the catastrophic sadness when it came. I
found myself breathless.
At least for a few days, it changed me. I became conscious
of the world around me, of my relationships, of the miracle of music and art.
As Ragazzi presents our holiday program, we have mixed in
some beauty, some traditions, some cultural explorations and yes, some
tomfoolery. It is my wish that you will join us in laughing and celebrating and
that at least once during the concert, we take your breath away. I hope that
you leave changed for a moment or an hour and that you are filled with an awareness
of the incredible power of music.
Here are our program notes.
Gloria is a dynamic and rhythmic piece written by
contemporary composer David Giardiniere. Mr. Giardiniere is a teacher,
conductor, soloist, clinician and composer. His choral groups tour
regularly throughout the eastern United States. Premiere sings Gloria with
the traditional Latin text.
Two
French Noels is a beautiful pairing
of two well-known and very old French Carols: Patapan and Noel
Nouvelet. Patapan, is a song written hundreds of years
ago describing how fitting it is that Willie play his drum and Robin play his
flute just like the shepherds played when Christ was born. Listen for the
words Pat-a-pat-a-pan which is the sound of the drum and Tu-re-lu-re-lu which
is the sound of the flute. Noel Nouvelet is presented in
French and is also hundreds of years old. “New Christmas, Christmas we
sing here. Devout people, let us shout our thanks to God!”
Program
Notes
Sarah Wannamaker
Awake,
Awake to Love and Work combines
an old American hymn tune from the Kentucky Harmony hymnal
with a poem written by an Army Chaplain, Geoffrey Studdert-Kennedy (1883-1929).
Like other poems from his collection, “The Unutterable Beauty”, this text
emphasizes the magic of the world as an expression of divinity. Like many folk
tunes, this melody is simple with lots of scale-wise passages. The musical
interest comes from rhythmic variations and canonic treatment in the different
verses.
The Birds, penned by Canadian composer Eleanor Daley, is a setting of an imaginative poem by Hilaire Belloc. This allegorical text portrays the Christ Child as having a profound depth of wisdom and unworldly capacity for miracles, even as a child. Note the musical reinforcement (key change, running bass notes) to convey the birds in flight. The last phrase is a internal prayer for us to view life from a more timeless perspective to gain a wisdom for our own lives.
Laudate
Dominum
Mozart's
setting of Psalm 116 is a gentle interpretation of the text, "Praise the
Lord." The soprano solo is written in long, luxurious lines over a simple
guitar-like accompaniment. The obligato instrument echoes the soprano solo. In
this arrangement, the elements (obligato, solo, and chorus) are introduced one
at a time, and then combined at the end.
Let Voice and Instrument is the fourth movement from Purcell’s ode Arise, My Muse. Completed in 1690, it was the second of six odes that Purcell was commissioned to write for the birthday of Queen Mary; he was titled ‘Composer to the King’ and organist at Westminster Abbey at this time. The two lines are presented individually, and then combined and developed. This piece was originally written for tenor and bass soloists with a four-part choir, and has been arranged for two voices.
Handel
was an English composer working in the generation after Purcell. Praise
the Lord with Cheerful Voice comes from his oratorio, Esther. An
oratorio is an opera without the staging or costumes, but with the plot and
drama. The Old Testament story of Queen Esther is about the queen rescuing her
people from persecution (which is celebrated as a traditional holiday, Purim).
The music reflects the exuberant mood of celebration. The text
appropriately references songs of praise and the heavenly choir.
Bay
Area composer, horn-player, and physicist Brian Holmes dedicated the score of The
Mummers to Joyce Keil and the Ragazzi Boys Chorus. This playful
arrangement gives space for the singers to take on the persona of mummers -
Christmas-season entertainers and actors. The mummer tradition is based in 18th
and 19th century England, as seen in the references to Saint George. This is a
fun variation in the tradition of door-to-door Christmas caroling.
Creator
of the Stars of Night is an
arrangement of a ninth-century plainsong chant Conditor Alme.
Originally in Latin, the formality of the translated text still evokes an
archaic time. Each stanza presents a different unfolding of Christ’s story: the
tumult of the world before Christ, the humble birth, the revelation of Christ,
and Christ as judge. The music for the voices remains identical between the six
verses; the interest and momentum is created by the increasingly-present organ
accompaniment.
Ludovico
Grossi (c. 1560-1627) was born in Viadana, near Parma. His life as a Franciscan
monk is reflected by the sacred music he wrote for use in the church liturgy. Exultate
justi is based on the first three verses of Psalm 33, and the buoyant
music reflects the words of praise, thanks, and singing. The piece is in
two parts - a chordal, homophonic introduction followed by an imitative middle
section - and the different writing styles reflect the Renaissance and
Baroque periods transitioning between the two eras. The piece is for four
voices - there is an alto part, two tenor parts, and a bass line. This
distribution is stylistically common as the advanced singers in a church group
would be men singing in a bass and falsetto range.
Ubi
Caritas is about juxtaposition: Latin
and African languages, formal and pop singing styles, Western and non-Western
cultures, and even different rhythmic ways of subdividing a measure. Paul
Halley chose the text “Where there is love, there is God” because it speaks to
him personally while also having a universal appeal. He writes: “I tried to
bring out the inherent power and optimism of the Gregorian Chant. … Sometimes
we need to look at the obvious through other people’s eyes.” Despite the
opposition between the individual elements, the composition works cohesively
and emphasizes the fundamental connections of religious sentiment and musical
expression. In today’s performance, the blocking of the choir according to part
highlights the different melody lines in a spatial way.
All Glory, Laud, and Honor is a single piece taken from the larger work, The Passion According to Saint John. Bach’s mastery of line, ornamentation, independent voices and harmonic flexibility show through even in shorter works such as this. The chorale is stated twice - once as an ornamented solo line with instrumental support, and once as a four-part a capella arrangement. Note the independence of the violin part, which could stand as an instrumental solo. The text, by Paul Gerhardt, is an Advent meditation on the best way to invite God into the singer’s life.
Deck
the Hall is a 16th-century Welsh tune
celebrating the season - getting ready for festivities and greeting the new
year. The ‘fa la la’ refrain is a moment of musical delight; it is about the
fun of singing purely for the joy of the art.
Angels
We Have Heard on High is a carol of French origin.
This hymn is unusual because of the melismatic (many notes per word) setting of
the refrain. Hark the Herald is an arrangement of a tune
written by Mendelssohn. The final carol is a popular interpretation of O
Come, All Ye Faithful by David Willcocks. This arrangement is now part
of the core repertoire for the King’s College Festival of Lessons and Carols in
Cambridge, featuring both an added descant and a new harmonization. The
traditional combined choir, descant and organ accompaniment culminate to remind
us how music can transcend the boundaries of time and difference, giving us the
tools to find newness, potential, and light in our world.
