Gombert Concerts
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SUBSCRIPTION SERIES 2013
Welcome to our nineteenth annual subscription series. This year’s major choral anniversaries are the quattro-centenary of Carlo Gesualdo‘s death 1613, commemorated in Concert 4, and the centenary of Benjamin Britten‘s birth in 1913, celebrated in Concert 3. We shall be singing a lot of English music this year, Concert 2 observing Passiontide with the lavish polyphony of the Eton Choirbook and Concert 5, our annual Christmas to Candlemas, featuring works with viols and organ, for which we are joined by Consort Eclectus. Concert 1 is devoted to the repertoire from which we take our name, music of the generation of Gombert and the generations either side of him. We look forward to seeing you in the wonderful Xavier Chapel for another year of superb choral music.
Concert 1: Saturday 23 February at 8.00 pm
A Franco-Flemish Selection
Johannes Martini Magnificat tertii toni
Johannes Ghiselin Regina caeli
Josquin Desprez Missa Malheur me bat
Nicolas Gombert Magnificat secundi toni
Jean Richafort Philomena, praevia
Clemens non Papa Fremuit spiritu Jesus
Orlandus Lassus Nunc dimittis primi toni
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The major work of this program, new to our repertoire, is Josquin’s Missa Malheur me bat, regarded as one of the composer’s most polished settings of the Mass. It was also highly regarded by his contemporaries and subsequent generations, publications and manuscript copies occurring over a period of about 100 years, a remarkably long life for a work at this time. Also new to the repertoire is Gombert’s Magnificat secundi toni. The remaining works have been perennial favourites, though we have not performed Martini’s extraordinary Magnificat tertii toni for over ten years.
Concert 2: Saturday 23 March at 8.00 pm
Passion Music from the Eton Choirbook
John Browne Stabat mater
Richard Davy Stabat mater
William Cornish Stabat mater
Richard Davy Passio Domini in ramis palmarum
The Eton Choirbook is the major repository of English choral music from around 1500. The greater part of its repertoire is Marian, that is, works addressed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, such as Wylkynson’s resplendent nine-voice Salve regina featured in past programs. Passion music is by its nature less dazzling, though the writing remains rich and complex. All three Stabat mater settings take full advantage of the dramatic possibilities of the text. And Davy’s Passio is among the earliest polyphonic settings of St Matthew’s account of the Passion.
Concert 3: Saturday 11 May at 5.30 pm **PLEASE NOTE EARLY TIME**
Britten Centenary
Choral Dances from Gloriana
Hymn to St. Cecilia
A Hymn to the Virgin
Five Flower Songs
Sacred and Profane
A M D G
Choral music constitutes a major part of Britten’s output, having occupied the composer throughout his creative life. Indeed it was a major choral work written at the age of 19 whose BBC broadcast made Britten a household name overnight. This program presents a mixture of sacred and secular works, all settings of English poetry (with a little macaronic verse), from anonymous Medieval writers through Robert Herrick, George Crabbe and John Clare to Gerard Manley Hopkins, W.H. Auden and William Plomer.
Woodend Winter Arts Festival
J.S. Bach — Mass in B-minor
Friday 7 June at 7.30 pm
Sunday 9 June at 7.30 pm
St Ambrose’ Church, Woodend
Concert 4: Saturday 7 September at 5.30 pm **PLEASE NOTE EARLY TIME**
In memoriam Carlo Gesualdo
Ave, Regina coelorum
Venit lumen tuum Jerusalem
Ave, dulcissima Maria
Reminiscere miserationum tuarum
Dignare me, laudare te
Sancti Spiritus Domine
Domine ne despicias
Hei mihi Domine
Laboravi in gemitu meo
Peccantem me quotidie
O vos omnes
Exaudi Deus deprecationem meam
Precibus et meritis beatae Mariae
O Crux benedicta
Tribularer si nescirem
Deus refugium et virtus
Tribulationem et dolorem
Illumina faciem tuam
Maria mater gratiae
Da pacem Domine
Assumpta est Maria
Illumina nos
We have twice performed the complete Responsoria of Gesualdo, but never before have we dipped into his Sacrae Cantiones I, published in 1603. The work was published in two sections, the first containing motets for five voices, the second motets for six and seven voices. But, while all five part-books of the first section have come down to us, the second section is lacking two of its part-books (though the missing bass part-book is apparently in private ownership in Italy). Our program features all of the five-voice motets as well as two of the six-voice pieces and the only seven-voice piece, these last three items editorially completed.
Concert 5: Saturday 7 December at 8.00 pm
Christmas to Candlemas: a Jacobean celebration with viols and organ
William Byrd This day Christ was born
William Byrd O God that guides the cheerful sun
Orlando Gibbons This is the record of John
Orlando Gibbons See, see the Word is incarnate
John Bull Almighty God, who by the leading of a star
John Amner O ye little flock
John Amner Lo, how from heav’n like stars
Thomas Weelkes Gloria in excelsis Deo
Thomas Tomkins Behold, I bring you glad tidings
Performance of anthems with viols has been on our wish list for some years. Now that it is to become a reality, it is impossible not to anticipate our ‘Christmas to Candlemas’ season a bit in order to include that favourite Advent anthem, Gibbons’ This is the record of John. For that matter, the other Gibbons piece, See, see the Word is incarnate, also transcends the temporal limits, subsequently taking us through Passion, Resurrection and Ascension, but it begins with the Incarnation. This is truly a rare opportunity to hear many of these works.
Christmas Carols at “Duneira”
Saturday 14 December at 5.00 pm
Mount Macedon
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