Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra & Choir
Live performances:
November 17–19, 2023 at Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
Program
Claudio Monteverdi
1567–1643
Gloria, from Selva morale e spirituale
C. Monteverdi
Adoramus te, Christe
Salamone Rossi
1570–1630
Sinfonia undecima
Shir hamma ‘allot. ‘Ashrei kol yere ‘adonai (Psalm 128)
Antonio Bertali
1605–1669
Salve Regina
Michel Richard de Lalande
1657–1726
Pie Jesu, from Dies irae
Agostino Steffani
1654–1728
Beatus vir
Henry Purcell
1659–1695
Symphony to Ode for Queen Mary’s birthday
Soul of the world, from Hail, bright Cecilia
Hush, no more, from Fairy Queen
Nicholas Higgs, baritone soloist
Antonio Lotti
1667–1740
Et in terra pax & Cum sancto spiritu,
from Missa Vide Domine laborem meum
INTERMISSION
Johann Sebastian Bach
1685–1750
Motet “Jesu, meine Freude”
M.R. de Lalande
Gloria patri, from Veni creator
Tafelmusik Baroque Choir
Soprano
Jane Fingler*, Roseline Lambert*, Carrie Loring, Lindsay McIntyre*, Meghan Moore, Susan Suchard, Jennifer Wilson*
Alto
James Dyck, Kate Helsen, Valeria Kondrashov, Peter Koniers*, Jessica Wright*
Tenor
Paul Jeffrey, Will Johnson, Robert Kinar*, Cory Knight*, Sharang Sharma*
Bass
Parker Clements*, Paul Genyk-Berezowsky, Nicholas Higgs*, Keith Lam*, Alan Macdonald
*featured in solo ensembles
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
Violin
Patricia Ahern*, Geneviève Gilardeau, Johanna Novom, Christopher Verrette, Julia Wedman, Cristina Zacharias
Viola
Brandon Chui, Patrick G. Jordan
Violoncello
Keiran Campbell**, Margaret Gay
Double bass/Violone*
Shanti Nachtergaele
Organ
Charlotte Nediger
Access full bios for core orchestra members at tafelmusik.org/orchestra
* Orchestra leader & soloist in Bertali Salve Regina
** Cello chair generously endowed by the Horst Dantz and Don Quick Fund
Texts & Translations
Monteverdi Gloria
Gloria in excelsis Deo
et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te,
glorificamus te.
Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.
Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens.
Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe.
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris.
Qui tollis peccata mundi
miserere nobis.
Qui tollis peccata mundi
suscipe deprecationem nostram.
Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris
miserere nobis.
Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus,
tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe.
Cum Sancto Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.
Glory be to God in the highest
and on earth peace to men of good will.
We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee,
we glorify thee.
We give thee thanks for thy great glory.
Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty.
Lord, only Son of the Father, Jesus Christ.
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father.
Thou who takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us.
Thou who takest away the sins of the world,
receive our prayer.
Thou who art seated at the right hand of the Father,
have mercy on us.
For thou alone art holy, thou alone art the Lord,
thou alone art the Most High, Jesus Christ.
With the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Monteverdi Adoramus te, Christe
Adoramus te, Christe,
et benedicimus tibi:
quia per sanguinem tuum pretiosum
redemisti mundum,
miserere nobis.
We adore you, O Christ,
and we bless you,
because with your precious blood
you have redeemed the world.
Have mercy on us.
Rossi Shir hamma‛a lot
(Psalm 128)
Shir hamma’alót. ‘Ashréi kol yeré ‘adonái,
hahol´kh bidrakháv.
Yegia’ kappékha ki tokhéll;
‘ashrékha vetóv lakh.
‘Eshtekhá kegéfen poriyyá beyarketéi veitékha;
banékha kishtiléi zeitim savív leshulḥanékha.
Hinné khi khen yevórakh gáver yeré ‘adonái.
Yevarekhekhá ‘adonái mitsiyyón,
kol yeméi ḥayyékha.
Ur’e vaním levanékha;
shalóm ‘al yisra’él.
Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord;
that walketh in his ways.
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands:
happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house:
thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.
The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion:
and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
Yea, thou shalt see thy children’s children,
and peace upon Israel.
Bertali Salve regina
Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae,
vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae.
Ad te suspiramus,
gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia ergo, advocata nostra,
illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte.
Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo Maria.
Hail, O Queen, Mother of mercy,
our life, our sweetness, and our hope: hail!
To thee we cry, banished children of Eve.
To thee we send up our sighs,
groaning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, our advocate,
turn thy merciful eyes toward us.
And show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of thy womb,
after this exile.
O merciful, O pious, O sweet Virgin Mary.
Lalande Pie Jesu
Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem.
Merciful Lord Jesus, give them rest.
Steffani Beatus vir
(Psalm 112)
Beatus vir qui timet Dominum,
in mandatis eius volet nimis.
Potens in terra erit semen eius,
generatio rectorum benedicetur.
Gloria et divitiae in domo eius,
et iustitia eius manet in saeculum saeculi.
Exortum est in tenebris lumen rectis,
misericors et miserator et iustus.
Iucundus homo qui miseretur et commodat,
disponet sermones suos in iudicio.
Quia in aeternum non commovebitur,
in memoria aeterna erit iustus.
Ab auditione mala non timebit,
paratum cor eius, sperare in Domino.
Confirmatum est cor eius, non commovebitur,
donec despiciat inimicos suos.
Dispersit dedit pauperibus,
iustitia eius manet in saeculum saeculi,
cornu eius exaltabitur in gloria.
Peccator videbit et irascetur, dentibus suis
fremet et tabescet, desiderium peccatorum
peribit.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto
sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper
et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord,
that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
His seed shall be mighty upon earth:
the generation of the upright shall be blessed.
Wealth and riches shall be in his house:
and his righteousness endureth for ever.
Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth:
he will guide his affairs with discretion.
Surely he shall not be moved for ever:
the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings:
his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.
His heart is established, he shall not be afraid,
until he see his desire upon his enemies.
He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor;
his righteousness endureth for ever;
his horn shall be exalted with honour.
The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Purcell “Soul of the world”
(From Ode to St Cecilia, Nicholas Brady)
Soul of the world! Inspir’d by thee,
The jarring Seeds of matter did agree,
Thou didst the scatter’d atoms bind,
Which, by thy laws of true proportion join’d,
Made up of various parts one perfect harmony.
Purcell “Hush, no more”
(From Fairy Queen, anonymous, after Shakespeare)
Hush, no more, be silent all,
Sweet repose has clos’d her eyes.
Soft as feather’d snow does fall!
Softly, softly, steal from hence.
No noise disturb her sleeping sense.
Lotti Et in terra pax & Cum sancto
Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
Cum Sancto Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.
And on earth peace to men of good will.
With the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Bach Motet “Jesu, meine Freude”
(Chorale texts: Johann Frank 1650; other movements from Romans 8:1–2, 9–11)
Choral
Jesu, meine Freude,
meines Herzens Weide,
Jesu, meine Zier,
ach wie lang, ach lange
ist dem Herzen bange,
und verlangt nach dir!
Gottes Lamm, mein Bräutigam,
außer dir soll mir auf Erden
nichts sonst Liebers werden.
Chor
Es ist nun nichts Verdammliches an denen,
die in Christo Jesu sind, die nicht nach dem
Fleische wandeln, sondern nach dem Geist.
Choral
Unter deinem Schirmen
bin ich vor den Stürmen
aller Feinde frei.
Laß den Satan wittern,
laß den Feind erbittern,
mir steht Jesus bei.
Ob es itzt gleich kracht und blitzt,
ob gleich Sünd und Hölle schrecken:
Jesus will mich decken.
Trio
Denn das Gesetz des Geistes, der da lebendig machet
in Christo Jesu, hat mich frei gemacht von dem Gesetz
der Sünde und des Todes.
Choral
Trotz dem alten Drachen,
Trotz des Todes Rachen,
Trotz der Furcht dazu!
Tobe, Welt, und springe,
ich steh hier und singe
in gar sichrer Ruh.
Gottes Macht hält mich in acht;
Erd und Abgrund muß verstummen,
ob sie noch so brummen.
Chor
Ihr aber seid nicht fleischlich, sondern geistlich, so anders Gottes Geist in euch wohnet. Wer aber Christi Geist nicht hat, der ist nicht sein.
Choral
Weg mit allen Schätzen!
Du bist mein Ergötzen,
Jesu, meine Lust!
Weg, ihr eitlen Ehren,
ich mag euch nicht hören,
bleibt mir unbewußt!
Elend, Not, Kreuz, Schmach und Tod
soll mich, ob ich viel muß leiden,
nicht von Jesu scheiden.
Trio
So aber Christus in euch ist, so ist der Leib zwar tot
um der Sünde willen; der Geist aber ist das Leben
um der Gerechtigkeit willen.
Choral
Gute Nacht, o Wesen,
das die Welt erlesen,
mir gefällst du nicht!
Gute Nacht, ihr Sünden,
bleibet weit dahinten,
kommt nicht mehr ans Licht!
Gute nacht, du Stolz und Pracht!
Dir sei ganz, du Lasterleben,
gute Nacht gegeben.
Chor
So nun der Geist des, der Jesum von den Toten auferwecket hat, in euch wohnet, so wird auch derselbige, der Christum von den Toten auferwecket hat, eure sterbliche leiber lebendig machen, um des willen, daß sein Geist in euch wohnet.
Choral
Weicht, ihr Truaergeister,
denn mein Freudenmeister,
Jesus, tritt herein.
Denen, die Gott lieben,
muß auch ihr Betrüben
lauter Zucker sein.
Duld ich schon hier Spott und Hohn,
dennoch bleibst du auch im Leide,
Jesu, meine Freude.
Chorale
Jesu, my joy,
my heart’s pasture,
Jesu, my treasure,
oh, how long
has my heart been troubled
and has longed for thee.
Lamb of God, my bridegroom,
nothing on earth
is dearer to me than thee.
Chorus
There is therefore now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit.
Chorale
Under thy protection,
I am free from the storms
of all enemies.
Let Satan rage,
let the enemy threaten,
Jesus stands by me.
Even though thunder and lightning rage,
even though sin and hell terrify,
Jesus will protect me.
Trio
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath
made me free from the law of sin and death.
Chorale
Defy the old dragon,
defy the jaws of death,
defy fear as well!
Rage, world, and quake,
I stand here and sing
in perfect peace.
The might of God holds me in watch;
earth and abyss must fall silent,
however much they might rumble.
Chorus
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Chorale
Away with all treasures,
thou art my delight,
Jesus, my joy!
Away, vain glories,
I will not listen to you,
remain unknown to me!
Misery, distress, cross, shame, and death,
shall, although I must suffer much,
never part me from Jesus.
Trio
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because
of sin; but the Spirit is life because of
righteousness.
Chorale
Good night, oh being,
that cherishes the world,
you do not please me!
Good night, sins,
stay far behind me,
never again come into the light!
Good night, pride and vain glory!
And to you, life of iniquity,
a special good night!
Chorus
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from
the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead
shall also quicken you mortal bodies by his Spirit
that dwelleth in you.
Chorale
Give way, you spirits of sadness,
for Jesus, my Master of joy,
is entering in.
For those who love God
even their grief
must be pure sweetness.
Though I endure mockery and derision here,
yet even in my suffering shalt thou,
Jesu, remain my joy.
Lalande Gloria patri
Gloria Patri Domino, natoque
qui a mortuis surrexit ac paraclito. In saeculorum saecula.
Glory be to God the Father, and to him who was born and who rose from the dead, and to the Holy Spirit. For ever and ever.
Note from Ivars Taurins
Kaleidoscope: derived from the Ancient Greek words kalos (meaning “beautiful, beauty”), eidos (“that which is seen: form, shape”), and skopeo (“to look to, to examine”); hence “the observation of beautiful forms.” [Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon]
The word was coined by the Scottish inventor of the kaleidoscope, David Brewster. We now use the word and its adjective to describe a diverse collection, or constantly changing forms, patterns, colours, or actions.
I think “kaleidoscopic” is the perfect description of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir’s first program of this 45th anniversary season, A Choral Kaleidoscope: from Monteverdi to Bach. We experience a prismatic array of musical styles as we visit Italy, France, England, and Germany through some of the greatest composers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Some, like Bach, Monteverdi, and Purcell are well known, while others, like Lotti, Lalande, Rossi, and Steffani, show us that there are still many hidden musical treasures worthy of our listening ear. I hope you’ll agree!
Program Notes
By Charlotte Nediger
This concert offers an exploration of choral music spanning 100 years. We begin in northern Italy with “Il divino Claudio”: Claudio Monteverdi was the most admired vocal composer in Europe in the first half of the 17thcentury. Born in Cremona, he worked at the court in Mantua before taking up the esteemed position of maestro di cappella at the basilica of San Marco in Venice. He published what is considered one the last great printed anthologies of Italian sacred music in 1640, in his 73rd year. Selva morale e spirituale is a monument to Monteverdi’s 30 years of service at San Marco, and contains a varied selection of solo songs, motets, a cappella choral works, and choral works with instrumental accompaniment in festive concerted style, among them the seven-part Gloria that opens our concerts this week.
More intimate is Monteverdi’s atmospheric setting of Adoramus te, Christe, included in a publication of motets by his pupil Giulio Bianchi in 1620. The Mantuan composer Salamone Rossi worked with Monteverdi at the Gonzaga court for some 20 years, and the mutual influence is clear. Rossi was Jewish, so wouldn’t have enjoyed the same opportunities as Monteverdi, making his accomplishments as a musician and composer all the more extraordinary. He produced chamber music, madrigals, music for the theatre, and music for the synagogue. It is the Hebrew music for the latter that is perhaps the most personal. Liturgical singing in the synagogue was traditionally monophonic, and Rossi sought to introduce an art music tradition. In 1623 he published a revolutionary publication titled Songs of Solomon (Hashirim ’asher lish’lomoh), a collaboration with Rabbi Leon Modena. The title is a play on Rossi’s first name “Salamone,” as the texts are not from King Solomon’s Song of Songs, though most are drawn from the Old Testament. His arresting setting of Psalm 128 is from this publication.
The Rossi leads to a striking setting of the Salve Regina text by the Veronese violinist and composer Antonio Bertali. Bertali settled in Vienna from age 19 in 1624, a few years after the Hapsburg court moved to the capital. Ferdinand II had a particular interest in the new music being practised in Italy, and Bertali was among several Italians recruited by talent scouts to join the court. He remained in Vienna for the remainder of his life, and penned the Salve Regina in 1666, a few years before his death. It may have been commissioned for a particular occasion, rather than for liturgical use, as it features a rather extravagant part for solo violin: perhaps for Bertali to play, or for his younger colleague at court, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. The dialogue of violin and chorus is both unusual and affecting, adding a personal layer of expression to the poignant text.
From Vienna to Versailles and the composer Michel Richard de Lalande, who became the King’s favourite musician upon the death of Lully. Over the course of his 40 years at court he perfected the “grand motet,” motets for full choir (as opposed to one or a few soloists) with instruments. Over 75 have survived, many of which he revised over the decades, and performances of these motets continued in Paris long after his death in 1726, earning him the epithet “the Latin Lully.”
The program features excerpts from two extended motets by Lalande. Pie Jesu is the final verse of his setting of the Dies Irae, composed for the funeral of the Dauphine Marie-Anne-Christine of Bavaria, who had died in Versailles in 1690. The motet was revised at least once, and was heard at many royal or princely funerals for many years; it is thought to have been sung at the funeral of Louis XIV in 1715.
The Gloria patri that closes our concerts is drawn from Lalande’s Veni creator, a Pentecostal hymn sung both liturgically and at special occasions, possibly including the coronation of Louis XV. The 18th-century poet Alexandre Tannevot, Lalande’s first biographer, wrote, “M. de Lalande delighted in reading the Psalms, and he was heard to say that their expressions were so varied, so touching, so majestic, that to read them was to be moved by them. And thereupon, reciting a few verses of those which had struck him most, he would enter into a sort of ecstasy, which bore witness both to the acuity of his taste and to his natural inclination for setting Latin to music.” We hear both the touching and the ecstatic in these two excerpts.
Tafelmusik audiences were introduced to Agostino Steffani in a program dedicated to his works in November 2018. Singer, keyboardist, composer, diplomat, courtier, politician, spy, priest, and ecclesiastical ambassador, Steffani’s biography is unique, and his music is varied and bountiful. Born in Castelfranco, outside of Venice, he held posts in Padua, Munich, Hanover, Vienna, and Düsseldorf. The score of his setting of Beatus vir is to be found in the library of Sacro Convento, a Franciscan friary in Assisi.
No kaleidoscope featuring 17th-century vocal music is complete without Henry Purcell, and we offer a sampling of pieces from three spheres of his work in London: the court, the town, and the theatre. Purcell wrote many occasional pieces for the royal family, including six birthday odes for Queen Mary, one for each year of her reign. The symphony we are performing opens the first of these odes, with a celebratory tone appropriate to the young Queen’s birthday. “Soul of the world” is from an ode commissioned by London’s “Gentleman Lovers of Musick” for their 1692 celebration at Stationer’s Hall of St Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians. The text is by the Irish poet Nicholas Brady, whose description of the music of the spheres inspires Purcell’s imagination. That same year found Purcell providing music for a production of Fairy Queen, a reworking of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. We offer the beguiling music that bids the listener to be silent as Titania is lulled to sleep.
The first half of the concert ends with a return to Venice with an excerpt from a Mass by Antonio Lotti. Lotti followed in Monteverdi’s footsteps as maestro di cappella at San Marco. His music was admired by many, among them his sometime student Jan Dismas Zelenka, who took scores with him to Dresden. There he assembled and titled the Missa Vide Domine laborem meum from a Kyrie and Gloria written by Lotti in Venice. Zelenka introduced his friends J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel to Lotti’s works, and also to us, as many of the scores survive only in his hand.
And finally to Johann Sebastian Bach, whose seven extant motets have been sung continuously since they were written, first as part of the core repertoire of the St Thomas Choir in Leipzig, and then disseminated through numerous editions throughout Europe and beyond. Composers such as Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Brahms honed their craft by studying these masterful works, which speak both to the individual and to humanity. Jesu, meine Freude is the longest and most complex. It has 11 movements, all based on a chorale whose melody was written by Johann Crüger and text by Johann Franck, first published in 1653 and very popular in Protestant Germany. Bach sets all six verses of the chorale, and between each inserts settings of verses from Romans Chapter 8. The entire motet is structured like a palindrome, with the last five movements mirroring the first five in reverse. The centrepiece is a transcendent fugue: “but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.”
| For several of the works on this week’s program we’ve used editions prepared by Tafelmusik librarian Charlotte Nediger from original sources. We are grateful to the libraries below for providing copies of the original manuscripts and publications: Manuscripts Lalande Dies irae Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris: (F-Bn Rés.VMX Ms-1427) Lalande Veni creator Bibliothèque municipale, Versailles: (F-V Ms. Mus.11) Steffani Beatus vir Biblioteca Comunale, Fondo Antico, Assisi: (I-Ac N.322/4) Lotti Missa a 3 cori: ms. copy in Zelenka’s library from Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB Mus. Ms. 2159) & ms. signed William Corbett from Harvard University Music Library (fMS Mus202) Published partbooks Monteverdi Gloria, from Selva morale e spirituale: Museo internazionale e Biblioteca della musica di Bologna (I-Bc BB.13) Monteverdi Adoramus te, Christe: Bibliothèque du Conservatoire, Paris (F-Pc Rés.171) Rossi Shir hamma ’allot, from Songs of Solomon: Museo internazionale e Biblioteca deal musica di Bologna (I-Bc BB.402) |