Program Notes for Biber Requiem & Steffani Stabat Mater, May 5–7

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.

Meet our Soloists, French Impressions

Welsh pianist-singer Nalini Ghuman is the Luther Marchant Professor of Music at Mills College and an award-winning ethno/musicologist.  She studied piano at the University of Oxford and at the Royal Academy of Music, and has performed solo recitals, chamber music, and works for piano and orchestra in Oxford, London, and the Bay Area. In partnership with countertenor and baritone Paul Flight, Nalini has performed French mélodies (Chausson, Fauré, Cécile Chaminade and Reynaldo Hahn), and German Lieder; in April 2022, the Flight-Ghuman duo performed songs of Henry Cowell and Lou Harrison, including pieces for prepared piano and string piano, at the four-day festival, Music in the Fault Zone, at Mills College. Nalini has performed solo recitals on Berkeley’s Noon Concert Series in Hertz Hall, including music by Berg, Bartók, Ravel, and Debussy; Meredith Monk’s two-piano pieces at Mills College; and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms with the UCB Symphony Orchestra.  She recently performed chamber music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Clara Schumann, and Johannes Brahms with her students at Mills College. In May, she will perform Brahms’ Requiem in the composer’s own two-piano arrangement with Chora Nova in Berkeley.

Soprano Mara McMillan holds a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from San Francisco State
University, where she studied with Christine Brandes. She has performed as a soloist and chorister with
the California Bach Society, Bay Area Classical Harmonies (Bach St. John Passion and Vivaldi Gloria), San Francisco Renaissance Voices, Schola Cantorum SF, and the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland.

With Briarbird Baroque Ensemble, Mara has performed solo and duet works in two concert series, one of Charpentier’s Quatuor anni tempestates, for the Berkeley Early Music Festival Fringe concerts, and the second a concert set of German Baroque music for voices and viol consort. She has also sung in recital the complete Handel solo cantata HWV 110 Agrippina condotta a morire. Mara’s opera roles include Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Beatrice in Berlioz’s Beéatrice and Bénédict.

While early music is her primary interest, Mara has also performed such works as Arvo Pärt’s Passio (St.
John Passion), as one of the Evangelist solo quartet, under Ragnar Bohlin, and premiered John Hirten’s
Missa Brevis with the Camerata of the Cathedral of Christ the Light.

Bass-baritone Chung-Wai Soong has sung with companies and ensembles in Australia and the US, including West Bay Opera, Victoria State Opera, Volti, American Bach Soloists, and Philharmonia Baroque. He has sung the baritone solo in the Fauré Requiem with Grace Cathedral Choir, and was bass soloist in Schubert’s Mass in A flat and Mozart’s Coronation Mass, both with Chora Nova.

Chung-Wai has sung with the San Francisco Symphony as Mityukha in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy under Kurt Masur, which he also performed at the Ojai Festival with Jeremy Denk. His extensive repertoire includes world premieres by David Chesworth (Sabat Jesus), Lisa Bielawa’s groundbreaking streaming opera, Vireo, and the title role in Meira Warshauer’s Elijah’s Violin. His performance of Schumann’s Dichterliebe at the Melbourne International Festival was broadcast live nationally on ABC. Recent roles include Erster Nazarener (Salome), Sadistic Sailor (Mazolli’s Breaking the Waves), High Priest of Baal (Nabucco), Melchior (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Kuligin (Katya Kabanova), and Un vieux paysan (Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-Bleue). Upcoming engagements include Marco (Gianni Schicchi, Hawaii Opera Theatre) and Chamberlain (Le Rossignol, West Edge Opera). He is excited to be making his debut with the California Bach Society.

Program Notes for French Impressions, March 3-5

Gabriel Urbain Fauré (1845–1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist, and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in a more complex harmonic and melodic style.

Fauré’s music has been described as linking the end of Romanticism with the modernism of the second quarter of the 20th century. When he was born, Chopin was still composing, and by the time of Fauré’s death, jazz and the atonal music of the Second Viennese School were being heard. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, which describes him as the most advanced composer of his generation in France, notes that his harmonic and melodic innovations influenced the teaching of harmony for later generations.

Influences on Fauré, particularly in his early work, include not only Chopin, but also Mozart and Schumann. In contrast with his harmonic and melodic style, which pushed the bounds for his time, Fauré’s rhythmic motives tended to be subtle and repetitive, with little to break the flow of the line, although he used discreet syncopations, similar to those found in Brahms’s works. Copland referred to him as “the Brahms of France.” The music critic Jerry Dubins suggested that Fauré “represents the link between the late German Romanticism of Brahms. . .and the French Impressionism of Debussy.”

Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11 

The text, “Verbe égal au Très-Haut” (“Word, one with the Highest”), is a French paraphrase by Jean Racine of a Latin hymn from the breviary for matins, Consors paterni luminis. Nineteen-year-old Fauré set the text in 1864–65 for a composition competition at the École Niedermeyer de Paris, and it won him the first prize. The work was first performed the following year in a version with accompaniment of strings and organ. The style shows similarities with his later Requiem. Today, the two works are often performed together.

Zachary Gates noted in a paper dedicated to the work: “The long sweeping melodies and strong melodic and harmonic appoggiaturas in Cantique are a testament to the Romantic side of the piece, but there is a definite contemporary tint to what he’s writing, hidden in very minute and well-justified atonal note choices in the harmonic structure and melody. After ten years of training at the school focused on liturgy, Fauré was able to set the inspiring text with a gorgeously restrained and respectful charm.”

Madrigal, Op. 35

This four-part song, set to words by Armand Silvestre, was composed in 1883. It is written to be sung by vocal quartet or choir, with piano or orchestral accompaniment.

Fauré had a liking for Silvestre’s poems and set several of them. This one, titled “Pour un chœur alterné,” is from Silvestre’s 1878 collection La chanson des heures. With its theme of young men and women accusing each other of selfishness and cruelty in affairs of the heart, Fauré set it as a mischievous wedding present for his friend and ex-pupil André Messager. The pianist and scholar Graham Johnson commented that the song has “the wittiness and suggestiveness of a speech by the best man at a wedding.” 

Requiem, Op. 48

Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in the late 1880s, revising it in the 1890s, and finishing it in 1900. This setting of the shortened Catholic Mass for the Dead in Latin is the best-known of his large works. Its focus is on eternal rest and consolation. He composed the work not to the memory of a specific person but, in his words, “for the pleasure of it.” It has been described as “a lullaby of death” because of its predominantly gentle tone. Fauré revised the Requiem over the years, and a number of different performing versions are now in use, from the earliest, for small forces, to the final revision with full orchestra. It was performed at his own funeral in 1924 and was first performed in the United States in 1931.

In seven movements, the work is scored for soprano and baritone soloists, mixed choir, instruments, ,and organ. Following the French Baroque tradition, the full sequence Dies irae is omitted, replaced by its section Pie Jesu. Reference to the day of judgment appears in the Libera me, which, along with the final movement In Paradisum, is based on a text that is not part of the liturgy of the funeral Mass but of the Order of Burial. Fauré wrote of the work, “Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.”

Marie Juliette “Lili” Boulanger (1893–1918) was a French composer and the first female winner of the Prix de Rome composition prize. Her older sister was the noted composer and composition teacher Nadia Boulanger.

As a Paris-born child prodigy, Lili Boulanger’s talent was apparent at the age of two, when Gabriel Fauré, a friend of the family, discovered she had perfect pitch. Her parents, both of whom were musicians, encouraged their daughter’s musical education. Her mother, Raissa Myshetskaya, was a Russian princess who married her Paris Conservatoire teacher, Ernest Boulanger, also a Prix de Rome winner. Lili Boulanger’s grandfather Frédéric Boulanger had been a noted cellist and her grandmother Juliette, a singer.

Boulanger grew up in a time of musical transition and her music fits easily into what was becoming defined as a post-Romantic style. Like Debussy, Boulanger associated herself more with Symbolism than Impressionism, with her music featuring the sense of obscurity and indirection more common in Symbolism. However, she explored the Impressionists’ harmonic palette. While much of Boulanger’s music reflects the feelings of isolation and alienation that were starting to emerge during the twentieth century, it also reveals her own struggles with depression and loneliness caused by a long-term illness. She often chose texts that conveyed a strong sense of hopelessness and sadness, as seen in her song Demain fera un an: “Nothing more. I have nothing more, nothing to sustain me” and “I seem to feel a weeping within me, a heavy, silent sobbing, someone who is not there”.

Sous bois: Dennis Keen, artistic director of Voices of Ascension, wrote on their website: “This exquisite piece is virtually unknown and was out of print for decades. I believe this performance [March 20, 2019] was actually the NY Premiere even though the piece was composed in the early years of the 20th century. The work ([a setting of a] poem by Philippe Gille) depicts two lovers on a walk in the woods and their tender remembrance of it.”

Henk Badings  (1907–1987) was born in Java when it was still a Dutch colony; he later acknowledged the influence of Indonesian music heard in childhood as the source for his adult interest in microtonal scales. Badings was a largely self-taught musician who was able to function at the highest levels of academic teaching.

When Badings graduated from Delft Politechnical Institute in 1931, he initially turned to geology and engineering, the trades for which he studied, but the desire to compose proved too strong. He received a number of commissions, and from 1935, began to teach as well, accepting the position of head at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague from the Nazi-controlled Dutch government in 1942, replacing of the sitting director, who was Jewish. Although this did not make Badings a “Nazi collaborator” in the conventional sense, this decision would have fatal ramifications concerning Badings’ later career.

In the 1960s an inquiry into that incident permanently devastated his reputation in Holland: Badings’ music was banned from Dutch radio, and his music disappeared from the concert halls. He was still permitted to teach, and his students highly valued his insights. However, his name has remained practically unknown in Holland, even though it appears on practically all short lists of great Dutch composers. His international reputation was not as strongly affected.

Badings composed more than 1,000 works and wrote for practically every instrumental combination available to him. Badings had an innate sense of formal development, a preference for luxuriant textures, and a taste for exoticism.

Trois Chansons Bretonnes

This setting of three French poems by Théodore Botrel was composed in 1946. While all three movements are part of the same cycle, each work is thematically independent from the others and tells its own story.

La nuit en mer enters the minds and hearts of fishermen marveling at the ocean on a quiet night. The voices of the choir move gently with the waves of the piano accompaniment like an evening in a fishing boat on the calm sea. As the fisherman go to sleep, they imagine the beauty of the sea and how eager they are to sail in the morning with the rising sun.

La complainte des âmes is both a lament and a prayer. The unaccompanied voices, in what can almost be considered a chant, pray to the Virgin Mary, expressing the bitter pains of souls lost to the fires of Purgatory. With eerie harmonies, they pray for the souls of the mothers and fathers whose children will not pray for them.

Soir d’été begins, like La nuit en mer, at the end of the day. Two lovers rush home before dark, but not before taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the sensuous world around them. The light-hearted music accompanies the gaiety of the couple’s hearts. Then quickly, before they lose themselves too much in the timelessness of love, they hurry home on a warm summer night.

Sources:
California State Long Beach Chamber Choir - Program Notes, March 21, 2015
Wikipedia
Voices of Ascension

– Patricia Jennerjohn

Program notes for Christmas in the British Isles

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Christmas is a “Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. The English term Christmas (‘mass on Christ’s day’) is of fairly recent origin. The earlier term [was] Yule. . . . Since the early 20th century, Christmas has also been a secular family holiday, observed by Christians and non-Christians alike.”

The Ban of Christmas

Starting in the 16th century many Puritans had been troubled by what they saw as the sinful, boisterous nature of Christmas with its extravagance, waste, and immorality. In their minds it also had too strong an association with the Catholic faith of which Christmas had been an important part of the liturgical calendar.  Another complaint was that they saw the festivities as being pagan, having no basis in the Bible. Puritans wanted Christmas Day to be a day of fasting and humility, but otherwise a normal working day.  In January 1645 Parliament produced a Directory for Public Worship, which stated that there were to be no holy days apart from Sunday.

Enforcement of the legislation was another matter, and many people continued to celebrate the season despite Parliament’s official position. The fact that Parliament had to keep issuing proclamations against Christmas throughout the 1650s shows that many people ignored the prohibition.

Eventually, in 1660, when the monarchy was restored and Charles II took the throne, the ban was repealed and celebrating Christmas once again became legal.

Christmas in the British Isles

Here in America, we have adopted many British Christmas traditions: the use of holly, ivy, and mistletoe for decorations, Christmas lights, the Christmas tree (originally a German tradition that was introduced by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria), carol services (and Christmas concerts, like this one), Father Christmas (Santa Claus), candlelight services, and of course, eating and drinking!

There are some customs that we don’t share in the U.S. Wassailing is an old Anglo-Saxon custom that doesn't take place much today. Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) is a very old holiday that started in the UK and is now celebrated in some other countries as well.

In the UK, the main Christmas meal is usually eaten at lunchtime or early afternoon on Christmas Day. It's normally roast turkey, vegetables— often brussels sprouts, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and sometimes bacon and sausages. Traditionally, and before turkey was available, roast beef or goose was the main Christmas meal. Dessert is often Christmas pudding or mince pie.

In the north of England, some very special carol singing, called the Sheffield Carols, happens in some pubs during the weeks leading up to Christmas. The carols are often very local ones and may vary from pub to pub. The singing may be accompanied by local folk musicians.

In Scots, Merry Christmas is Blithe Yule; in Welsh it's Nadolig Llawen; in Gaelic it's Nollaig Chridheil.

Scottish Traditions

The ban on Christmas also took place in Scotland, but it lasted longer. The ban started in 1640. This law was repealed in 1686, but the Church in Scotland was still very opposed to any Christmas celebrations. Christmas was only made a public holiday in 1958, and Boxing Day only became a holiday in 1974! Because of this, for 400 years Christmas was celebrated much more quietly in Scotland.

In Scotland, New Year's Eve (which is called Hogmanay) became much more important than Christmas and is still a very important celebration. The word Hogmanay comes from a kind of oat cake that was traditionally given to children on New Year's Eve.

Also in Scotland, the first person to set foot in a house on New Year’s Day is thought to have a big effect on the fortunes of the people that live there. This is known as “first-footing.” Cleaning the house to welcome the new year is an old Hogmanay tradition.

Welsh Traditions

In some villages in northern Wales there's an old form of carol singing called plygain singing. Plygain services now normally take place during evening services leading up to Christmas. But plygain started as an early morning service on Christmas Day from about 3 am to 6 am. The word plygain may come from a term meaning the cock crowing.

All the carols are based on Bible stories, not just the Christmas story. The carols are sung in Welsh and are unaccompanied. The last carol of the service is the “supper carol” (Carol y Swper); it's normally sung by all the men who have sung carols during the plygain.

Irish Traditions

Christmas for Irish people lasts from Christmas Eve to the feast of Epiphany on January 6th, which some Irish people call “Little Christmas.” In Ireland, many people put up their decorations, including the Christmas tree, on December 8th, which is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

There is an old tradition, now observed by only a few, that people put a tall, thick candle on the sill of the largest window after sunset on Christmas Eve. The candle is left to burn all night and represents a welcoming light for Mary and Joseph.

Our program will present both arrangements of Christmas carols and songs of the season from these beloved traditions, and compositions by composers from the British Isles (and a guest American) using texts and poetry that bring to mind all of the aspects of this holiday and time of year.  Here are some interesting details about our composers and arrangers, and the music that they created.

Richard Rodney Bennett (1936–2012) wrote film, TV, and concert music, and was also a jazz pianist and occasional vocalist. He wrote in a wide range of styles. He said that it was as if the different styles of music that he was writing went on “in different rooms, albeit in the same house.” From the liner notes of a CD of his complete choral music, we learn that “Bennett’s choral pieces are all possessed of a gift for heart-melting, memorable, and quintessentially English melody—and an instinctive lyric responsiveness to English poetry. Poetry always mattered intensely to Bennett, and in his choral writing we find him setting some of the very greatest—Shakespeare, Donne, Marvell, and Spenser—alongside slighter but exquisite lyrics by such poets as Herrick, Quarles, and the medieval ‘anon’s.”

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) was one of the last composers brought up on exclusively live music: his father refused to have a gramophone or, later, a radio in the house.  Britten composed “A Boy Was Born” at age 19 as a student at the Royal College of Music. It was his last project at the college—his first major vocal work and his first mature work on religious themes. He dedicated it to his father.

Ann Burgess was born in Leeds and read music at Edinburgh University, where she studied with Kenneth Leighton.  She now lives in England, where she is director of music at Christ Church, Frome, a piano teacher, accompanist, and continuo player, and she sings alto in the Christ Church Singers chamber choir. In December of 2015, her composition “Come the Light” was the winner in the BBC Radio 3 Carol competition. David Hill, BBC Singers Chief Conductor, who chaired the judging panel, said: “Ann Burgess’s carol was fresh and new, bringing a unique new slant onto the traditional Christmas carol.”

Harold Darke (1888–1976) His famous 1909 setting of Christina Rossetti's "In the Bleak Midwinter" is often sung at the service of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge, and at similar services around the world. In a 2008 poll of choral experts and choirmasters published in BBC Music Magazine, "In the Bleak Midwinter" was voted the greatest Christmas carol of all time.  Comparing Darke's setting to another popular setting by Gustav Holst, the editor expressed the view that "While Gustav Holst's charming setting of 1906 is rightly loved by millions worldwide, it is the less well known but infinitely more stylish setting by Harold Darke from three years later that convincingly won the day in our poll."

Walford Davies (1869–1941) became well known for his BBC programs "Music and the Ordinary Listener" (1926–29), his wartime broadcasts for children (1939–41), and "Everyman's Music" (1940–41). The Musical Times called him "one of the world's first great broadcasters"; The Times, in an obituary tribute said: [H]is name has become known to many thousands of people who have not been interested hitherto in music or in musicians. He proved himself to be one of the very few lecturers who could immediately establish the sense of personal contact with audiences over the wireless. They have felt that they knew him and could enter into music, which was the absorbing interest of his life, through the personal relation which he always established immediately with his audiences. It was an almost unique gift.”

Herbert Howells (1892–1983) is most famous for his large output of Anglican church music, even though he was not really an orthodox Christian.  A project he was involved in during the 1920s was to lead to a multi-volume edition of Tudor Church Music by Oxford University Press. It enabled him to absorb the English Renaissance style which he loved and would evoke in his own music. His first significant works for choir, the Three Carol-Anthems (“Here is the Little Door,” “A Spotless Rose,” and “Sing Lullaby”), were written around this time. “ Sing Lullaby,” as described by the publisher Stainer and Bell, “has the free sweep and flow of what would sound like plainsong if it weren't moving so fast.”

William Mathias (1934–1992), a Welsh composer, wrote much of his music for the Anglican choral tradition, most famously the anthem “Let the People Praise Thee, O God,” written for the July 1981 royal wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales, which had a television audience of an estimated one billion people worldwide.  “Sir Christèmas" is a traditional British Christmas carol.  The song's lyrics and melody are by an unknown author, written sometime before 1510.

Fintan O'Carroll (1922–1981) was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1922. His family later moved to Waterford, Ireland, and that is where he spent the rest of his life.  There is some dispute as to whether Suantraí ár Slánaitheora is an Irish or Scottish carol.  It is a Christmas lullaby, in which Mary marvels at the beauty of the newborn baby Jesus.

John Rutter (1945– ) has been associated with choral music and active internationally for many years. He first came to notice as a composer during his student years. Much of his early work consisted of church music and other choral pieces including Christmas carols. His larger choral works are widely performed around the world, and many of his shorter pieces have become standards. The "Sans Day Carol," also known as "St. Day Carol," is a traditional Cornish Christmas carol named after the Cornish village of St. Day. Its text is very closely related to the more famous carol "The Holly and the Ivy." The wistful, unaccompanied “There is a flower,” to words of the fifteenth-century poet John Audelay, was written in the mid-1980s at the request of the legendary organist and choir director of St John’s College, Cambridge, George Guest.

John Tavener (1944–2013) is known for his extensive output of choral religious works. Among his best-known works are “The Lamb” and his “Song for Athene,” which was memorably sung at the funeral of Princess Diana. Tavener converted to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1977. Orthodox theology and liturgical traditions became a major influence on his work. John Rutter describes Tavener as having the "very rare gift" of being able to "bring an audience to a deep silence.”  “The Lamb” was composed in 1982. It is a setting to music of the William Blake poem “The Lamb,” from Blake's collection Songs of Innocence. The song was performed shortly after its composition at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in Kings College Chapel, Cambridge, on Christmas Eve 1982. The service was broadcast to a large international TV and radio audience, giving the piece widespread exposure.

David Willcocks (1919–2015) was a British choral conductor, organist, composer, and music educator. He was particularly well known for his association with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, which he directed from 1957 to 1974, making frequent broadcasts and recordings. Several of the descants and carol arrangements he wrote for the annual service of Nine Lessons and Carols were published in the series of books Carols for Choirs which he co-edited. He was also director of the Royal College of Music in London.  Willcocks is British, yet made many arrangements of music from other traditions: “Ding Dong Merrily on High” is an arrangement of a traditional French carol, and “The Infant King” is a traditional Basque carol. 

Dilys Elwyn-Edwards (1918–2012) was a Welsh-language composer, lecturer, and accompanist.  She was born in Dolgellau, Wales. She was offered the Turle Music Scholarship at Girton College, Cambridge, and the Dr. Joseph Parry Scholarship from Cardiff University. She elected to study at Cardiff University and received her bachelor of music degree there. She then received the Open Scholarship in Composition from the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied composition with Herbert Howells and piano with Kathleen McQuitty. She was also an Eisteddfod adjudicator, and appeared and performed on radio and television. The BBC commissioned a number of works from her.

James MacMillan (1959– ), the Scottish composer, came to the attention of the classical establishment with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's premiere of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie at the Proms in 1990. Isobel Gowdie was one of many women executed for witchcraft in 17th-century Scotland. According to the composer, "On behalf of the Scottish people the work craves absolution and offers Isobel Gowdie the mercy and humanity that was denied her in the last days of her life." MacMillan's music is infused with the spiritual and the political. His Catholic faith has inspired many of his sacred works, including a Magnificat (1999), and several masses.  He studied composition at the University of Edinburgh with Rita McAllister and Kenneth Leighton.  “O Radiant Dawn” is an antiphon for December 21; the text (in English) is one of the Great O Antiphons, which are used on the seven days approaching Christmas.

Elaine Hagenberg (1979– ) is an American composer, who is a guest artist and featured clinician for professional conferences and festivals both in the U.S. and abroad as a composer, conductor, and accompanist of her work.  With over fifty commissioned works, she has composed new music for the American Choral Directors Association, professional choirs, colleges and universities, community choirs, high schools, and churches. “I Am the Wind” was named the winner of the 2020 ACDA Brock Competition for Professional Composers.  We present her setting of the “Wexford Carol,” an Irish poem from the 12th century.  This is a beloved carol, which has been arranged and presented by many musicians.

Patricia Jennerjohn

Sources:  Wikipedia, composers’ Web sites, publishers’ Web sites

Program Notes, Plaisirs Baroques

PROGRAM NOTES

In French Baroque music, the grand motet primarily contrasted with the petit motet. The distinction is evident in the name: the grand form was truly grand (big) in proportion, calling for double choirs and massed orchestral forces, whereas the petit form was a chamber genre for one or two solo voices, one or two solo instruments, and basso continuo, typically provided by harpsichord at home or organ in a church. These two French Baroque motet types are very distinct from the medieval motets of Dufay, the Renaissance motets of Lassus, and the German motets of Johann Sebastian Bach. The French motet type was determined by the occasion and venue; whereas the grand motet was cultivated at the Chapelle royale at Versailles, the petit motet could be for private, often domestic devotions. The texts varied also: a grand motet was generally a Latin psalm, hymn, Biblical canticle, or Dies irae; while the petit motet could be shorter Latin verses from a variety of religious sources. 

The grand motet also had a set of stylistic conventions in the form of a sequence of independent numbers, much like the choruses, arias, and recitative in Italian Baroque opera. The operatic effect was intended to embellish and reflect the Sun King's splendor.

Although the grand motet was distinct from the early 13th-century motet, aside from the use of Latin text, it also combines secular and sacred elements. By incorporating theatrical elements of French spectacle and concerto elements inherited from Italian music, the French grand motet became the archetypal genre of the Versailles style, the "ne plus ultra of French Baroque music." As a grandiose genre, the grand motet "took on the aspects of a sacred concert right from its inception"; lacking the liturgical significance of the first motets, it served to signify the grandeur associated with the monarchy.

Our program presents three grand motets—each with a unique musical viewpoint.  We have a composer with a traditional royal patron (Mondonville), who creates a dramatic work in the full Versailles style.  We have a composer who was not beholden to the official royal patronage system (Charpentier), who presents his personal and emotionally rich concept.  Finally, we have a “guest artist” (Telemann); enchanted by the grand motet on a visit to Paris, he melded his German and Italian influences into this French form, creating yet another distinctive approach.

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually decided on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of that city's five main churches.

Telemann is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works.  He was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time, and he was compared favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally.  He was known as a kind and gentle man, with a substantial sense of humor.

Ironically, after the Bach revival in the nineteenth century, Telemann's works were judged inferior to Bach's and lacking in deep religious feeling. For example, by 1911, the Encyclopædia Britannica lacked an article about Telemann, and in one of its few mentions of him referred to "the vastly inferior work of lesser composers such as Telemann" in comparison to Handel and Bach. Particularly striking examples of such judgments were produced by noted Bach biographers Philipp Spitta and Albert Schweitzer, who criticized Telemann's cantatas and then praised works they thought were composed by Bach, but which were in fact composed by Telemann. The main criticism turned out to be rather tongue in cheek. “In general,” [another] music historian wrote, “Telemann would have been greater had it not been so easy for him to write so unspeakably much. Polygraphs seldom produce masterpieces.” It was not until the twentieth century that his music was performed again.  

How did a German composer come to compose a French grand motet? The prestigious Latin psalm setting Deus judicium tuum (Psalm 71/72) is among the finest from Telemann’s pen. Its composition is associated with the beginning of his eight-month sojourn in Paris in the fall of 1737, during which time he celebrated musical triumphs in the French metropolis. As he himself reported, with no little pride, the piece “was performed twice in three days by almost one hundred selected people in the Concert Spirituel.” (The Concert Spirituel was one of the first public concert series.)

Adhering to the stylistic convention of contrast and operatic writing, three magnificent choral movements frame a richly-colored succession of demanding solo movements. The opening chorus uses contrasting dynamics and tempo changes to produce musical variety while covering very little text—just the opening lines of the psalm.  The second section consists of three arias that are quite dramatic: a stately theme for soprano, a firm and resonant bass solo, and then a colorful tenor aria in which the orchestra depicts falling rain and flying sparks.  The middle chorus is in triple time and makes interesting use of legato repeated notes in the chorus—a trick that Handel also used in his oratorios.  Another operatic sequence follows, ascending from a declamatory bass solo, to a lighter graceful soprano solo, and a rise to a transparent and lyrical soprano duet.  The final chorus opens with a stately homophonic section, followed by a double fugue—the first subject takes on the final words, and the second subject provides the reinforcing “Amen.”

Jean-Joseph de Mondonville (1711–1772) was a French violinist and composer. He was a younger contemporary of Jean-Philippe Rameau and enjoyed great success in his day. Pierre-Louis Daquin (son of the composer Louis-Claude Daquin) claimed, "If I couldn't be Rameau, there's no one I would rather be than Mondonville.”

Mondonville was born in Narbonne in Occitania (South France) to an aristocratic family that had fallen on hard times. In 1733, he moved to Paris where he gained the patronage of the king's mistress Madame de Pompadour and won several musical posts, including that of violinist for the Concert Spirituel. 

Between 1734 and 1755, Mondonville composed seventeen grands motets, of which only nine have survived. Thanks to his mastery of both orchestral and vocal music, Mondonville brought to the grand motet an intensity of color and a dramatic quality hitherto unknown.

Dominus regnavit (Psalm 93) uses the dramatic text to full effect.  The Psalm praises the steadiness of the Throne of God, which existed even before the founding of the earth.  The opening chorus establishes this; following this movement is a darkly harmonic trio (TTB) which reinforces the founding of the solid earth and a transparent soprano duet that describes how this was so even before the earth’s beginning.  Then we hear a stunning, virtuoso choral movement, describing dramatic rushing rivers and majestic rising seas, and declaring that the power of the Lord is mightier.  A quiet, yet dramatic, soprano solo expresses faith in the promises of the Lord, and the work concludes with the chorus singing a dignified Gloria, a spirited Sicut Erat, and an Amen that Handel may well have admired and imitated.

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704) was exceptionally prolific and versatile, producing compositions of the highest quality in several genres. His mastery in writing sacred vocal music, above all, was recognized and hailed by his contemporaries. What is most striking to modern listeners is probably the transparent emotion expressed in his music, giving it an extraordinarily modern sensibility. He is best known for his noble and often achingly poignant religious works.

Charpentier was born in or near Paris. He received a good education and entered law school in Paris when he was eighteen, but he withdrew after only one semester. He spent several years in Rome, probably between 1667 and 1669, and studied with Giacomo Carissimi. There he acquired a solid knowledge of contemporary Italian musical practice and brought it back to France.

Upon his return to France, Charpentier began working as house composer to Marie de Lorraine, Duchess of Guise, who was known familiarly as "Mlle de Guise." She gave him an apartment in the recently renovated Hôtel de Guise.  During his years of service to Mlle de Guise, Charpentier also composed for "Mme de Guise," Louis XIV's first cousin. It was in large part owing to Mme de Guise's protection that the Guise musicians were permitted to perform Charpentier's chamber operas in defiance of the monopoly held by Jean-Baptiste Lully.

Largely because of the great popularity of its prelude, the best known of Charpentier’s motets is the Te Deum in D major, H.146, written as a grand motet for soloists, choir, and instrumental accompaniment—probably between 1688 and 1698, during Charpentier's stay at the Jesuit Church of Saint-Louis in Paris, where he held the position of musical director after Mlle de Guise’s death.

Charpentier considered the key of D major as "bright and very warlike"; indeed, D major was regarded as the "key of glory" in Baroque music. (French Baroque music generally was performed at A392, which would sound like C major to modern ears, accustomed to A440). The instrumental introduction, composed in the form of a rondo, precedes the first verset, led by the bass soloist. The choir and other soloists join gradually. The choir predominates in the first part (verset 1–10) and individual soloists in the second part (verset 11–20. In subsequent versets, (21–25), both soloists and choir alternate, and the final verset is a large-scale fugue written for choir, with a short trio for soloists in the middle.

Wikipedia

www.musicroom.com

George Predota, “From Hero to Zero,” Interlude Web site, Aug 10 2017

Patricia Jennerjohn

Meet our soloists, Plaisirs Baroques

Victoria Fraser, soprano

Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, soprano Victoria Fraser holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of Notre Dame, and University of Limerick in Ireland. Victoria has performed as a soloist and chorister in Europe and North America, notably with Il Coro del Duomo in Florence, Italy; the Vocalensemble Frankfurt Dom, in Frankfurt, Germany; Vox Humana in Texas; True Concord in Arizona; the Berwick Chamber Chorus at the Oregon Bach Festival; and the Bachkantaten-Akademie in Thuringia, Germany. Her most recent appearance with CBS was in last season’s performances of the St. John Passion.

She has sung under the direction of Masaaki Suzuki, Helmut Rilling, Matthew Halls, John Nelson, and Jeffrey Thomas. Passionate about interdisciplinary performance, Victoria produces and performs concerts which re-contextualize classical music through visual art, dance, and technology. Also a composer, Victoria's compositions were recently featured at the Hot Air Music Festival and last year’s Concert of Compassion. Born to a mountaineer father, Victoria loves to ski, rock climb, mountain bike, hike, SCUBA dive, and row.

Caroline Jou Armitage, soprano

Proud CBS chorister from 2011-2017, soprano Caroline Jou Armitage is known to Bay Area audiences for her “absolutely beautiful” performances sung with “pitch-perfect clarity and affecting intensity” (San Francisco Classical Voice). As a frequent soloist with the California Bach Society, she has performed Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Bach’s Cantatas BWV 21 and 198, Bach’s Mass in G Major, Bach’s Mass in A Major, and most recently in last season’s Venetian Vespers concerts.

A multi-instrumentalist, Caroline made her harpsichord debut at the 2022 Berkeley Festival and Exhibition, playing repertoire from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. The same festival found her debuting on the Baroque violin with the Albany Consort and singing excerpts of Rameau’s Les Surprises de L’Amour with tenor Brian Thorsett. On November 9, she performs the Bach Double Violin Concerto accompanied by the Berkeley Baroque Strings, directed by Kati Kyme.

Caroline currently studies voice with Karen Clark, harpsichord with Tamara Loring, and Baroque violin with David Wilson. She is also the soprano soloist and section leader at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Belvedere, under the direction of Jonathan Dimmock.

Adam Cole, baritone

The grandson of a lifelong church musician and a Michigan native, baritone Adam Cole studied as an organist with Robert H. Murphy at Interlochen Arts Academy and Paula Pugh Romanaux at Kalamazoo College before turning his focus to voice. 

An eleven-year American Guild of Musical Artists member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and currently in his seventeenth year with the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, Adam has sung, toured, and/or recorded professionally with the SF Symphony, American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque, Cappella SF, Grace Cathedral, California Bach Society, and SF Renaissance Voices; and has appeared as soloist, section leader, and chorister with many other current and former Bay Area concert and liturgical ensembles over the past three decades. When not rehearsing or performing, Adam enjoys exploring the California hills and mountains, and creating solo and virtual choir recordings of his favorite Renaissance polyphony and pop songs.

Roco Córdova, baritone

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, baritone Roco Córdova is a vocalist, composer, producer, and improviser, with a B.Mus. in Composition from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and an M.A. in Composition from Mills College. They study voice with CBS director and countertenor Paul Flight, and have participated in vocal advancement workshops with Meredith Monk. Roco recently soloed with CBS in last season’s performances of the St. John Passion.

Voice is at the core of Roco’s compositions, which incorporate techniques like throat singing, overtone singing, falsetto, yodeling, and vocal clicks and pops into live performances. Their music has been described as "slow-boiling, apparently timeless" with "an odd momentum of its own" (The Washington Post).

As a touring vocalist and improviser with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Roco has performed in venues including the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago; SESC Pompéia in São Paulo, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. A selection of their work can be found at: https://linktr.ee/rococordova.

Noah Strick, concertmaster

Violinist Noah Strick has appeared in performances throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, China, and South America, and can be seen regularly in a variety of performance venues throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Critics have described his playing as “keen” and “suave.” Noah has performed at numerous summer festivals, including the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Caramoor, and the American Bach Soloists' Festival & Academy.  He was concertmaster for the recent CBS performances of the St. John Passion.

As a baroque violinist, Mr. Strick most frequently performs with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and American Bach Soloists, and has appeared as a soloist with both ensembles. He is a member of the California Symphony, and formerly served as Associate Concertmaster for Berkeley Symphony. Noah holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His principal teachers include Kyung Sun Lee, Marilyn McDonald, and Bettina Mussumeli.  When he’s not working, he spends his time cycling in Marin County or inside on Zwift if the weather is inclement.  

Translations and Transmutations, Part II of II

Theologians, biblical scholars, academics, and musicians have looked at St. John's gospel and been confronted by its harsh portrayal of the Jews. In a two-part series, we will look at the texts in historical context and look at how Bach inserted his own message into this masterpiece.

Singer Pat Jennerjohn expands her scope beyond the program notes to this series of blog posts.

Translations and Transmutations, Part II

Even for those of us who treasure it, the St. John Passion, as Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker magazine back in 2017, “remains a little frightening.” Robert Shaw, a secular humanist who loved this work and performed it throughout his career, summed up the plight of Bach music lovers in 1995: “Many of us never will cease to be embarrassed by its occasional vehement-to-vicious racial attribution regarding the Crucifixion of Jesus. There can be no doubt that its traditional text has added to the waves of anti-Semitism for generations and centuries since its composition.”

We suggested in our previous blog that a great deal of the harm from that traditional text was caused by possibly questionable translations (into modern languages from an old form of Greek) of the term hoi loudaioi, which did not necessarily mean “all Jewish people” but rather the specific groups that were opposing Jesus (the high priests and other leaders of the community).

And it is probably not correct to say that the St. John Passion itself was an intentional vehicle of anti-Semitism at the time of its composition.  Yet, as suggested by the musicologist Michael Marissen in his lectures, the “St. John problem” has become ever more troubling in the decades since World War II and the Holocaust. With the horrible potential latent anti-Semitism ever more apparent, any performance or hearing of this work must be cause for sober reflection, not mere mindless pleasure.

Tom Hall writes on the ChorusAmerica blog, back on April 20 of 2011: “People should understand that, from a Jewish perspective, the Passions have very strong emotional consequences. To ignore that fact is to put your head in the sand. Performers should be sensitive about these issues.

“Performances of the Bach Passions can be an occasion to understand the differences in perspective on this text and on this music, from Christian and Jewish points of view. Performances can be used to bring people together and to understand the history of anti-Semitism and to promote religious tolerance.

“You can also make the case that Bach’s musical choices in both Passions go a long way toward opposing the argument that the Jews killed Jesus. In the chorales and the arias that surround the biblical text, Bach consistently brings the responsibility for Jesus’ death back on the community of sinners—which includes everyone. Where do Pilate and the Roman authorities fit into this story? How is our understanding of the story informed by the events in history in which this story has been used to justify violence towards Jews? These questions must be grappled with.”

Michael Marissen notes in his book Bach & God (2016), “Bach moves the focus away from the perfidy of ‘the Jews’ and onto the sins of Christian believers.”

Therefore, we can view this Passion as being a skillfully assembled reflection and sermon upon a central Lutheran theological premise—that the inherent nature of mankind is sinful, and the redemption of mankind could only be achieved by the sacrifice of Jesus’ life (and of course, the triumphant Resurrection that also denies the power of death).  If this is the premise, then anyone involved in these events actually had a sacred role to play in order to bring about this redemption.  The chorale settings and arias wrap the harsh narrative with constant reminders that this is really about all of humanity.

For example, a chorale setting early in the work asks Jesus, “Who has struck you so?”. The second verse answers, “Ich, ich und meine Sünden”: “I” (a member of humanity) “I and my sins.”  Subsequent chorales continue to reflect the reactions of this collective “I” upon the narrative as it unfolds.

The arias represent the individual human soul, its myriad reactions to this suffering and death, and the transmutation of these trials into spiritual triumph, tempered with grief at the end. 

James Oestreich, in a New York Times review of a performance in 2017, observes that “the work as a whole moves in an epic arc from turmoil to profound fellow-feeling and consolation, from inhumanity for the sake of effect, as it were, to a humanity deeply felt and registered.”

Patricia Jennerjohn

This is an extensively discussed topic with many resources to tap.  In addition to my own thoughts and observations, my particular sources were:

Michael Marissen: Bach & God (2016)

New York Times concert review, James R. Oestreich, April 14, 2017

Tom Hall, ChorusAmerica blog, April 20, 2011

St. John Passion Program Notes

Program Notes

The St. John Passion was first performed on April 7th, Good Friday, in 1724, during Bach’s first year in Leipzig. The tradition of re-enacting the events of the day Jesus died dates from the early Christian church, when the Gospel narrations of the betrayal, trial, and crucifixion were chanted. The annual presentation of the Passion on Good Friday was intended to remind the congregation of events in the life of Jesus that are an integral part of Christian beliefs. The larger, more complex and dramatic works performed in the Lutheran church during the 17th and 18th centuries were also intended to provide the opportunity to reflect on and to experience these events. By Bach’s time, this tradition of presenting complex, dramatic works with solos, choruses, and instruments was well established in Northern Germany.

To appreciate Bach's St. John Passion, it is useful to compare it to his St. Matthew Passion, which he composed twelve years later. Both are large works that set two chapters of the Passion story in recitative, sung by the narrator, the voice of the evangelist, whether John or Matthew; the other soloists sing the words of Jesus, Pilate, Peter, and others who participate in the story. Whenever the crowd, the soldiers, or another group of people speak, Bach gives their words to the chorus with more elaborate settings than in the recitatives.

The chorus and soloists have a second role as active listeners to the story, who express the sentiments of the Lutherans for whom Bach wrote the passions. The soloists' arias and the chorales of the chorus are placed at telling points in the scriptures, where their modern (to Bach) texts serve as an appropriate commentary. The chorus also sings long and complex numbers to open and close the Passions.

The instrumentalists play a significant role as well, especially in the commenting movements. An aria may really be a trio for one singer with two oboes, flutes, or violins. And in choral crowd scenes, the orchestra typically adds still more voices to an already intricate counterpoint.

Though a big work by most standards, Bach's St. John Passion is much shorter than his grand St. Matthew Passion. Bach takes his cue from the difference in the texts. The account in John is less dramatic than in the other gospels. Accordingly, Bach makes of it a subtler, more personal, more intimate story.

John's version omits many of the symbolic, portentous, and stirring events that are related in the St. Matthew gospel. John relates so many of Jesus's teachings at the Last Supper that the scene cannot be included at all. Absent as well are the agony in the garden of Gethsemane, the death of Judas, the ominous dream of Pilate's wife, and even the crowd's final acknowledgement that "truly he was the son of God." Some of the omissions John makes were apparently just too much for Bach. He borrows from the gospel of Matthew for Peter's lament and for the earthquake, both of which are colorfully set.

All the cuts, as Bach clearly recognizes, help to focus the drama on Christ's trial before Pilate, a political, psychological, and emotional conflict, but one without obvious good-guy and bad-guy roles. In those two chapters of John, Christ is not a particularly strong character. He does not claim to fulfill scriptures, nor does he make prophecies, although he holds fast to the words he speaks. And in the end, he dies quietly. Pilate, on the other hand, has great presence, though he can be interpreted as either a sympathetic figure or a smooth, crafty operator.

Notes on the John Passion always feature the ingenious, palindromic structure of the piece. The work is flanked by two massive choruses, the opening “Herr, unser Herrscher,” a complex and compelling invocation, and the ending “Ruht wohl,” a sweet and lingering graveside parting. Within this framework Bach transcends mere sequence of individual numbers by arranging musically similar choruses symmetrically around a central chorale. Nine choral movements, the last four mirroring the first four, revolve around the pivot point in the drama, the height of the psycho-emotional conflict, when Pilate searches for a way to release Jesus while the high priests scream for Jesus to die.

Here and throughout the work, Bach pairs off choral movements that share similar texts or sentiments. The music with which the soldiers mockingly hail the King of the Jews reappears when the priests demand that Pilate "write not that he is King of the Jews." A more ironic pairing is Bach's choice of the same chorale tune to contemplate first Peter's thoughtlessly denying his master and then Jesus's thoughtfully providing for his mother. On an even larger scale, Bach takes the grating chromatic notes (a sequence of notes known as the “sign of the cross” motif) with which the oboes pierce the dark turbulence of the opening chorus and repeats this harsh, sinister theme in the choral cries of "crucify him" and in the frenetic, agitated orchestral accompaniments of five other angry-mob choruses.

The evangelist, who relates the very dry narrative, has the opportunity to emote on many pictorial words; the scourging of Jesus is particularly striking as the narrator drops the recitativo style for a vivid description of that horror.

The chorales, though based on familiar hymn tunes, are characterized by exceptionally rich harmonies—poignant, sinister, or glorious—which highlight significant words or phrases. The listener is constantly reminded that the real cause of the suffering they are witnessing is the listener, arising from the essential sinful nature of man (a fundamental Lutheran teaching). The complexity of the settings makes it obvious that they were not meant to be sung by a congregation.

After an introductory symphonia, the opening chorus, “Herr, unser Herrscher” (Lord, our ruler), is a hymn of praise and also a request for comfort and reassurance that Jesus will survive the darkest hours. The music is restless and anxious, with the oboes foreshadowing the Crucifixion with the “sign of the cross” motif mentioned earlier.

Solo arias are characterized by their intricacy in form and wealth of imagery. The alto's “Von den Stricken” (From the tangle of my transgression) is an elaborate weaving of vocal and instrumental lines. In the tenor aria “Erwäge” (Consider) the words for "waves of water" are sung in undulating phrases and the word for "rainbow" is one long rhapsodic arch. “Ich folge dir” (I will follow thee) has a flute line that "follows" after the soprano line.  The bass aria “Eilt” (Hasten ye) is a compelling "running" line of eighth notes (with the chorus repeatedly asking “Where?” and the bass replying “To Golgotha”). 

One of the most poignant arias in this work is “Es ist vollbracht” (The end has come), Jesus’s last words. The recitative that precedes the aria describes Jesus’s final moments with understated simplicity, ending with the text “Es ist vollbracht” on a descending motif. A viola da gamba, an instrument associated with death during Bach’s time, picks up this motif to introduce the alto aria. The motif is an integral part of the aria and is woven continually into the melodic structure

The chorus that forms the close of the work, “Ruht wohl” (Rest well)—often described as a lullaby—is gentle and restful, but full of feeling. The Passion concludes with the chorale “Ach Herr, lass dein lieb Engelein” (Ah Lord, let your dear little angel).

The work is gloomy, full of stress and anxiety, highly emotional, and powerfully meditative. Its depth comes from its subtlety. There is no noble hero or mustache-twirling villain. Yet a sense of spiritual elevation can be experienced as the story unfolds, since the underlying belief is that there was a purpose and intent to these events.  As difficult as it was to work within the confines of John's text, Bach was able to create a moving work with musical, spiritual, and psychological unity of form.

Sources:

Wikipedia

Bay Choral Guild Program Notes by Audrey Wong and Norm Proctor

CBS 2010 Program Notes

For a further discussion of the St. John Passion, which explores the difficulties of the St. John gospel and Bach’s transformative treatment of this harsh text, please visit our blog at: https://www.calbach.org/blog/2022/4/7/translation-and-transmutation.

Meet the vocal soloists for St. John Passion

Mark Bonney, tenor

Based in London, tenor Mark Bonney enjoys a diverse career performing oratorio, opera, and choral ensemble repertoire.

Recent appearances include the Evangelist in Theile’s St. Matthew Passion (American Bach Soloists), Jonathan in Handel’s Saul (Dartington International Festival), the Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion (Westerkerk, Amsterdam), Lukas in Haydn’s The Seasons (Orchesterverein Interlaken, Switzerland), Jephtha in Handel’s Jephtha (Iford Arts), Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Berlin Opernfest), Parpignol in Puccini’s La bohème, Count Barigoule in Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon (Wexford Opera Festival, Ireland), and Paolino in Cimarosa’s The Secret Marriage (Pop-up Opera).

Mark has also performed as an ensemble member with the Monteverdi Choir (dir. Sir John Eliot Gardiner), the Gabrieli Consort, Britten Sinfonia, and Le Concert d’Astrée, and as a member of the chorus at Grange Park Opera, Opera Holland Park, Bury Court Opera, and Wexford Festival Opera.

Mark holds a Masters in Opera from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, a Masters in Music and a Graduate Certificate in Historical Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Stanford University. He is also a graduate of the Franz Schubert Institute, the Berlin Opera Academy, and the American Institute of Musical Studies.

Prior to becoming a classical singer, Mark worked in socio-economic development in Egypt, before, during and after the Arab Spring. In his spare time, Mark enjoys hiking, tennis, and playing for and managing a baseball team he co-founded in south London.

Scott Graff, bass/baritone

Praised for his purity of tone and expressive musicianship, bass/baritone Scott Graff has appeared as a soloist with the California Bach Society, the Carmel Bach Festival, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Musica Angelica, Catacoustic Consort, and Synchromy.

Now in his 22nd season with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Scott is part of their touring company presenting Orlando di Lasso’s monumental Lagrime di San Pietro (directed by Peter Sellars); over 30 performances have taken place from Berkeley to Auckland.

In addition to live performance, Scott has participated in soundtrack recordings for more than 60 feature films (Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Jumanji, Frozen, Minions, Smallfoot, and Sing, to name a few) and television projects (The Book of Boba Fett, Outlander, various Mickey Mouse short cartoons, House of Cards, and Family Guy).

Victoria Fraser, soprano

Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, soprano Victoria Fraser holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of Notre Dame, and University of Limerick in Ireland. Victoria has performed as a soloist and chorister in Europe and North America, notably with Il Coro del Duomo in Florence, Italy; the Vocalensemble Frankfurt Dom, in Frankfurt, Germany; Vox Humana in Texas; True Concord in Arizona; the Berwick Chamber Chorus at the Oregon Bach Festival; and the Bachkantaten-Akademie in Thuringia, Germany.

She has sung under the direction of Masaaki Suzuki, Helmut Rilling, Matthew Halls, John Nelson, and Jeffrey Thomas. Passionate about interdisciplinary performance, Victoria produces and performs concerts which re-contextualize classical music through visual art, dance, and technology. Also a composer, Victoria’s compositions were featured at last year’s Hot Air Music Festival, at the San Francisco Conservatory. She is currently part of a small team putting together a large-scale benefit concert for Ukraine, to take place on Monday May 9th (www.concertofcompassion.com). Born to a mountaineer father, Victoria loves to ski, rock climb, mountain bike, hike, SCUBA dive, and row.

Corey Head, tenor

Early music specialist Corey Head has a particular affinity to J.S. Bach, with solo concert performances including The Evangelist in the St. John Passion and tenor soloist in Bach’s Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, B Minor Mass, and many of his cantatas. Corey’s oratorio roles include Uriel in Haydn’s Creation, “The Evening” in Telemann’s Die Tageszeiten, and tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah. Other major solo performances include Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, William Boyce’s Solomon: A Serenata, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, Bach’s B Minor Mass, and Mozart’s C Minor Mass. Operatic performances include the roles of Ferrando in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte, Damon in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, and Mordocai in Cristiano Lidarti’s Hebrew setting of Esther.

Corey has performed as soloist with many San Francisco Bay Area groups including Albany Consort, Bay Choral Guild, Chora Nova, Marin Baroque, Marin Oratorio, Marin Symphony, San Francisco Choral Society, San Francisco Renaissance Voices, San Francisco Symphony, Stanford Choirs and Orchestras, and Viva La Musica. He performs regularly with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale.

Roco Córdova, bass/baritone

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, baritone Roco Córdova is a vocalist, composer, producer, and improviser, with a B.Mus. in Composition from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and an M.A. in Composition from Mills College. They study voice with CBS director and countertenor Paul Flight, and have participated in vocal advancement workshops with Meredith Monk.

Voice is at the core of Roco’s compositions, which incorporate techniques like throat singing, overtone singing, falsetto, yodeling, and vocal clicks and pops into live performances. Their music has been described as "slow-boiling, apparently timeless" with "an odd momentum of its own" (The Washington Post).

As a touring vocalist and improviser with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Roco has performed in venues including the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago; SESC Pompéia in São Paulo, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. They have also toured internationally and published recordings with the improvising bands Monopiece and Temoleh.

Jefferson Packer, bass/baritone

Jefferson Packer is the bass/baritone Soloist at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, a soloist at Marin Baroque and the choir of First Presbyterian, San Anselmo, and a member of Jeffrey Thomas's American Bach Choir.  As a member of San Francisco Renaissance Voices, he performed the role of Haman in the Western Hemisphere modern-day premiere of the Purimspiel Esther, commissioned by the Jewish community of Amsterdam in the 18th century and composed by Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti to a Hebrew-language libretto.

Jefferson also performed as soloist with the Lesbian Gay Chorus of San Francisco in “I am in Love with the World,” an oratorio that derived its text from portions of Maurice Sendak's final interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air.  Jefferson has sung with the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and many other church and synagogue music programs.  He is also an active vocal accompanist and coach, holding a Masters Degree in Piano Performance from San Francisco State University.  Jefferson lives in San Francisco with his husband Marcel, a violist, and their Corgi mix, Figaro.

Translations and Transmutations, Part I of II

Theologians, biblical scholars, academics, and musicians have looked at St. John's gospel and been confronted by its harsh portrayal of the Jews. In a two-part series, we will look at the texts in historical context and look at how Bach inserted his own message into this masterpiece.

Singer Pat Jennerjohn expands her scope beyond the program notes to this series of blog posts.

Translations and Transmutations, Part I

In presenting the Johann Sebastian Bach setting of the St. John Passion, we are confronted with the fact that the Gospel of St. John challenges us to reconcile, in the words of Adele Reinhart, the “exalted spirituality and deep knowledge of Judaism with its portrayal of the Jews as the children of the devil (John 8:44) who persecuted Christ and his followers.”

In this two-part blog, we present a view that may allow us to make this reconciliation.  Yet, we acknowledge that not all scholars agree with this interpretation.  And we also acknowledge that it is a tragic fact that the Gospel of St. John has been used to promote anti-Semitism and religious violence for centuries.

The issue seems to have arisen from a number of factors in play at the time that this Gospel was written (somewhere around 90 to 100 CE). The gospels not only tell a story of Jesus, but also reflect the growing tensions between Christians and Jews. By the time John was written, the conflict had become an open rift, reflected in the vituperative invective of the evangelist's language. In the words of Prof. Eric Meyers, “Most of the gospels reflect a period of disagreement, of theological disagreement. And the New Testament tells a story of a broken relationship, and that's part of the sad story that evolves between Jews and Christians, because it is a story that has such awful repercussions in later times.” It’s important to note that there was no “official” split at this time between the Jews who wished to follow the teachings of Jesus and Jews who did not.  Christianity was not officially recognized as a separate religious sect until the fourth century CE.

The Gospel of St. John emerged from a group known as the Johannines. This gospel was most likely written by multiple authors (an original version, with subsequent additions). It was not the work of the apostle John, beloved of Jesus.  This gospel, like the other three, was written in Greek.  The Greek language has many terms that are ambiguous and difficult to translate into a single meaning.  The Greek term hoi loudaioi is one of those problematic terms and deserves some attention because of the way it has been translated.

According to George Smiga, “The problem of how to understand and translate hoi Ioudaioi does not lend itself to a simple solution. Although it can refer to all the Jewish people, in its polemical usages in John’s gospel it does not seem to carry that connotation. In most contexts the temple authorities would serve as the Jewish subgroup to which the phrase refers. Yet even that approach must allow for exceptions. It seems best to examine each occurrence and translate it according to our best evaluation of its associations and context.

“The complexity of translating the polemical usage of hoi Ioudaioi arises from the influence which later historical events have imposed on the gospel. This influence has originated from the opposition experienced by the Johannine community at the end of the first century rather than from events or debates contemporaneous with the ministry and passion of Jesus. Therefore, wherever Jesus faces opposition in the narrative from the Pharisees, chief priests, or crowds, John is inclined to insert hoi Ioudaioi in place of those subgroups of Jews.”

At the time of the events described in the Passion, many of the hoi loudaioi opposed the recognition of Jesus as the Messiah because they feared that the Romans would consider such recognition as a rebellion and crush their nation, destroying their livelihood and their culture.  Thus, the Gospel of John names the hoi Ioudaioi as the people who were responsible for the torment and death of their spiritual leader, Jesus.

The story goes that the Johannines were eventually cast out of their synagogue for promoting their beliefs.   Those who followed Jesus still considered themselves Jews; for these followers of Jesus to be cast out of their synagogue because of their beliefs was extremely painful, and the Johannine sect then portrayed those leaders (the chief priests and Pharisees especially – the hoi loudaioi) with great anger and bitterness in their gospel.

When is the beginning of the widespread problem with this Gospel?  It is not the contents, but the effect of the modern language translations (starting around the 13th century, along with Luther’s translation in 1534, and the King James translation in 1611).  As we have noted, the term hoi Ioudaioi should not refer to the Jewish people as a monolithic whole, yet the first translations of this word seem to have deliberately rendered this term as “the Jews.” 

The Gospel of John became the test that enforced separation of Christians and Jews. We recognize that this selective translation was used and is still used to justify oppression and hatred, and we don’t deny the dreadful events that resulted.  Human nature (fear, jealousy, greed, tribalism) and erroneous thinking sometimes reach back to find a theological justification for the expression of the dark side of human nature.

In our second blog post, we will examine the concept that the problem lies in the history of Christianity. Bach makes the conflict visible. Should this work be considered a recitation of anti-Semitic beliefs, or a reconciliation and transmutation?  Are we invited to “go low” or “go high” as we listen to the story, embedded in its setting of chorales and arias?

Sources: 

Dimmock, P. H. (2006). Hoi Ioudaioi in the Gospel of John : an ethnic designation from an expelled community (T). University of British Columbia. Retrieved from https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0092685

Anderson, Paul N., "Anti-Semitism and Religious Violence as Flawed Interpretations of the Gospel of John" (2017). Faculty Publications - College of Christian Studies. 289.

https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ccs/289

Adele Reinhartz, “Cast Out of the Covenant: Jews and Anti-Judaism in the Gospel of John” (2018)

PBS Frontline: From Jesus to Christ 1998

George Smiga's commentary on John which is to be published by Paulist Press and Stimulus Books as part of The Word Set Free series