Lamentation Over the Dead Christ, by Fra Angelico from around 1436-1440
Our program presents the work of two composers who—although perhaps unfamiliar to modern audiences—are both acknowledged masters of the Middle German Baroque, Agostino Steffani and Heinrich Biber.
Agostino Steffani (1653-1728) was born in Venice, where he was a chorister at St. Mark's Basilica. As a young singer, he came to the attention of a visiting dignitary from Bavaria who invited him to Munich. He received much of his formal musical training there. He spent a year studying in Rome and formed connections that he maintained throughout his lifetime. In 1688, Steffani accepted the post of Kapellmeister at the Court in Hanover and came into contact with the young Georg Frideric Handel. Although Steffani did not accompany the Elector of Hanover to England when the latter became King George I, his music was known there, and manuscripts of his work are found in the library at Buckingham Palace. The Stabat Mater was one of the works that he submitted upon his election as honorary president for life of the London Academy of Vocal Music.
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704) was born in what was then Bohemia. Little is known of his early life and musical education. He emerged onto the musical scene as a young man in the employ of the archbishop in Olmütz (now Olomouc in the Czech Republic), serving as valet and violinist. By his early 20s, he had already gained a reputation as a violin virtuoso and moved to Salzburg, Austria, where he spent the remainder of his life. While his best-known works are for violin, Biber has also left a large body of sacred choral works, written during his tenure as Kapellmeister of the Cathedral at Salzburg. It is a mark of the esteem in which he was held during his lifetime that despite humble beginnings as a servant, he rose to be knighted and lived his later life in wealth and comfort.
The Stabat Mater and Requiem are musical forms that developed in the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. They tend to be quite personal and introspective in style.
The Stabat Mater is a sequence, or hymn, one of five prescribed in the Roman Catholic tradition (the “Dies irae” from the Requiem Mass is another). The text comprises numerous three-line rhymed verses that fall into two sections. The first section describes the suffering of Mary, the mother of Jesus, during the Crucifixion. The second section is a series of petitions to Mary for help and salvation. Like Biber in the Requiem, Steffani employs numerous combinations of singers in his Stabat Mater, alternating solo and duet sections with chorus in unison or divided into six parts (soprano 1 and 2, alto, tenor 1 and 2, bass). The choral sections weave together short musical segments that are introduced sequentially in several of the voices and are specific to each line of text. The musical style can be quite descriptive: for example, the chromaticism in the soprano opening underscores the suffering of Mary, a tremolo represents trembling at the text et tremebat (and trembled), and uncomfortable melodic intervals depict the harshness of the word flagelis (whipped).
The Requiem is a special form of the Latin Mass intended for use at funerals. As in Masses for other special occasions, several of the "ordinary," or standard, Mass sections are replaced by "proper" sections specific to the occasion:
Introit, Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine (Grant them eternal rest, O Lord)
Sequence, Dies irae, dies illa (Day of wrath, day of mourning), which describes the final day of judgment
Offertory, Domine, Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae (Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory)
Communion, Lux aeterna luceat eis (May everlasting light shine upon them)
Dozens, if not hundreds, of composers have composed a Requiem to commemorate a special person or event, some intending the work for liturgical use and others for concert performance. Requiems most familiar to contemporary audiences include those by Mozart, Brahms, Fauré, Berlioz, Verdi, and Britten, who wrote his famous War Requiem to commemorate the rededication of Coventry Cathedral upon its rebuilding after World War II.
Biber structures his Requiem in F minor around the sections of the Mass. While it would have been intended for liturgical use, it is equally suitable for concert performance. The complete original score is lost, but remaining sources suggest that Biber intended the work for performance in the Cathedral of Salzburg, the design of which was ideal for music featuring multiple physically separated ensembles: in the Requiem, two five-voice choirs with one singer on a part and a third five-part ensemble with multiple singers on each part. The Requiem employs varied musical forms and textures to describe and underscore the text, alternating solos and duets with smaller five-part groups and with the full ensemble. There are imitative and homophonic choral sections, declamatory phrases, and lovely florid melodies. In the Dies irae, almost a separate work in itself, Biber varies the music and style as the text progresses from the dramatic opening at the final day of judgment through sweet verses of contrition and supplication to Jesus for salvation to the final solemn request for eternal rest. Throughout the Requiem, Biber's masterful weaving of unique and interesting melodic lines within a complex musical texture is evident.