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Eventually, in 1660, when the monarchy was restored and Charles II took the throne, the ban was repealed and celebrating Christmas once again became legal.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

Vocal soloists for Venetian Vespers

Victoria Fraser, soprano, was 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. Born to a mountaineer father, Victoria loves to ski, rock climb, mountain bike, hike, SCUBA dive, and row. 

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 Schütz’s Weihnachtshistorie (role of Angel). At the Amherst Early Music Festival, Caroline has been a featured soloist in Carissimi’s Historia di Jephte (under the tutelage of soprano Julianne Baird), Caldara’s Il giuoco del quadriglio (coached by harpsichordist Arthur Haas), and excerpts from the Roman de Fauvel, directed by Sequentia’s Benjamin Bagby. She presented a concert of Handel opera arias and duets with contralto Karen Clark, as well as a solo harpsichord recital, at the 2018 Berkeley Festival and Exhibition. Caroline has participated in early keyboard masterclasses with Arthur Haas, Peter Sykes, and Catalina Vicens, and currently studies harpsichord with Tamara Loring Greene. On March 26, 2022, in a departure from early music, she will be singing Webern’s Dehmel lieder with pianist Janis Mercer at the Center for New Music in San Francisco. Caroline studies voice with Karen Clark.

Pablo Corá, tenor, holds music degrees from Ithaca College and Indiana University. Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mr. Corá has sung both as a soloist and chamber musician in a wide variety of repertory ranging from early music and oratorio to twentieth-century opera.  He has performed at the Argentine Colón Theatre, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Disney Concert Hall, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Los Angeles Chamber Singers & Cappella.  He is also a founding member of the award-winning Concord Ensemble. He has collaborated with historically informed ensembles such as the Folger Consort, Piffaro, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra and the Catacoustic Ensemble in works ranging from Renaissance Florentine and English music to operas by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

His recording credits include works for the label Harmonia Mundi with Paul Hillier’s Theater of Voices and The Pro Arte Singers, Dorian Recordings with The Concord Ensemble and Piffaro, Rubis Canis Mundi (RCM) with the L.A. Master Chorale and Los Angeles Chamber Singers & Cappella, Gothic Records. He has also recorded contemporary works, including Steve Reich’s You Are Variations and Daniel Variations for Nonesuch and J.A.C. Redford’s music for the Clarion label.  He was featured in Los Angeles Chamber Singers & Cappella’s GRAMMY© winning recording Padilla: Sun of Justice. He also has a few movie soundtracks to his credit, including License to Wed, Lady in the Water, and most recently Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

As an early music singer and a composer, N. Lincoln Hanks, tenor, thrives at both ends of the music spectrum. Lincoln studied early music performance practice with Thomas Binkley at Indiana University’s Early Music Institute. While at Indiana University he co-founded the Concord Ensemble, an a cappella group that won Grand Prize in the first Early Music America/Dorian Records Competition.  Lincoln currently performs often as a singer with the baroque ensemble Tesserae, and with several other vocal groups in the Los Angeles area.

Lincoln’s accolades include winning the Contemporary Choral Composition Competition from the Roger Wagner Center for Choral Studies and an ASCAP Foundation/Morton Gould Young Composer Award. His work has been commissioned and performed by many distinguished artists and groups, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cyprus String Quartet, The Dale Warland Singers, San Francisco’s Volti vocal ensemble, and pianist Paul Barnes. Lincoln directs the composition program at Pepperdine University in Malibu and co-directed The Ascending Voice, an international symposium of sacred a cappella music. 

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).

Program Notes for Venetian Vespers

PROGRAM NOTES

Italy in the time of Monteverdi

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the concept of "Italy" existed only as a geographical entity. Although the inhabitants of the peninsula shared much in common in terms of history, culture, and language, in political terms, there were various layers of authority and jurisdiction, primarily city-states ruled by powerful families. 

In music history, the Venetian School was the body and work of composers working in Venice from about 1550 to 1610, many working in the Venetian polychoral style. The Venetian polychoral compositions of the late sixteenth century were among the most famous musical works in Europe, and their influence on musical practice in other countries was enormous. The innovations introduced by the Venetian School, along with the contemporary development of monody and opera in Florence, together define the end of the musical Renaissance and the beginning of the musical Baroque.

Several major factors came together to create the Venetian School. The first was political: after the death of Pope Leo X in 1521 and the Sack of Rome in 1527, the long dominant musical establishment in Rome was eclipsed. Many musicians either moved elsewhere or chose not to go to Rome, and Venice was one of several places to have an environment conducive to creativity.

Another factor, possibly the most important, was the existence of the splendid St. Mark's Basilica, with its unique interior with opposing choir lofts. Because of the spacious architecture of this basilica, it was necessary to develop a musical style which exploited the sound-delay to advantage, rather than fought against it.  Thus, the Venetian polychoral style was developed, the grand antiphonal style in which groups of singers and instruments played—sometimes in opposition and sometimes together—united by the sound of the organ. 

Yet another factor which promoted the rich period of musical creativity was printing. In the early 16th century, Venice, prosperous and stable, had become an important center of music publishing; composers came from all parts of Europe to benefit from the new technology, which then was only a few decades old. Composers from northern Europe—especially Flanders and France—were already renowned as the most skilled composers in Europe, and many of them came to Venice. The international flavor of musical society in the city was to linger into the 17th century.

In the 1560s, two distinct groups developed within the Venetian School: a progressive group and a conservative group.  Members of the conservative branch tended to follow the style of Franco-Flemish polyphony, including Rore, Zarlino, and Merulo; members of the progressive group included Donato, Croce, and later Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. An additional point of contention between the two groups was whether Venetians—or at least Italians—should be given the top job of maestro di cappella at St. Mark's. Eventually the group favoring local talent prevailed, ending the dominance of foreign musicians in Venice. In 1603, Giovanni Croce was appointed to the job, followed by Giulio Cesare Martinengo in 1609

The peak of development of the Venetian School was in the 1580s, when Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli composed enormous works for multiple choirs, groups of brass and string instruments, and organ. These works are the first to include dynamics and are among the first to include specific instructions for ensemble instrumentation. Organists working at the same time included Claudio Merulo and Girolamo Diruta. They began to define an instrumental style and technique which moved to northern Europe in the succeeding generations, culminating in the works of Sweelinck, Buxtehude, and eventually J.S. Bach.  

Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Christian liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Greek ἑσπέρα and the Latin vesper, meaning "evening.”

Vespers typically follows a set order that focuses on the performance of psalms and other biblical canticles.  Our concert features settings of psalms and a canticle that are commonly used in the Vespers order of service.

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (1567–1643) 

Beatus vir (psalm)

Monteverdi was an Italian composer, string player, choirmaster, and priest. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and Baroque periods of music history.

Born in Cremona, Monteverdi developed his career first at the court of Mantua (c. 1590–1613) and then until his death in the Republic of Venice, where he was maestro di cappella at the St. Mark’s Basilica. 

He defended his sometimes novel techniques as elements of a seconda pratica, contrasting with the more orthodox earlier style, which he termed the prima pratica. Largely forgotten during the eighteenth and much of the nineteenth centuries, his works enjoyed a rediscovery around the beginning of the twentieth century. 

Giovanni Rovetta (c. 1595/97–1668) 

Dixit Dominus (psalm)

Laudate pueri (psalm)

Lauda Jerusalem (psalm)

Confitebor tibi (psalm) 

Rovetta was an Italian Baroque composer and maestro di capella at St. Mark's Basilica between Monteverdi and Cavalli. He may have been a choirboy at St. Mark's, where his father played. He was a chorister, instrumentalist, and assistant maestro di capella under Monteverdi, and finally served as Monteverdi's successor from 1664 until his death. His style reflects Monteverdi's influence, but also displays a distinct and individual talent for melody. 

Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni, 1602–1676) 

Magnificat (canticle)

Cavalli was an Italian composer of the early Baroque period. He took the name "Cavalli" from his patron, Venetian nobleman Federico Cavalli. Cavalli, the composer, was born in Crema, Lombardy. He became a singer at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice in 1616, where he had the opportunity to work under the tutorship of Claudio Monteverdi. He became second organist in 1639, first organist in 1665, and in 1668 maestro di cappella after Rovetta. He is chiefly remembered for his operas. 

Sources: Martin Pearlman, Boston Baroque ;Robert Hugill, Music Web International; Wikipedia

—Patricia Jennerjohn

Soloists and Instrumentalists for our Holiday Concerts

Artistic Director Paul Flight leads the 30-voice choir with vocal soloists and an orchestra of period instruments, featuring some of the finest early music specialists in the Bay Area.

Vocal soloists Caroline Jou Armitage, soprano, and Sepp Hammer, baritone, will join the chorus for Schutz’s Weihnachtshistorie, with our own Paul Flight as The Narrator.

Caroline Jou Armitage, Soprano

Proud CBS chorister from 2011-2017, soprano Caroline Jou Armitage is known to Bay Area audiences for her “absolutely beautiful” solo performances sung with “pitch-perfect clarity and affecting intensity” (San Francisco Classical Voice). 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 Respighi’s Lauda per la Nativita (role of Angel). Caroline sang Handel opera arias and duets with contralto Karen Clark at the 2018 Berkeley Festival and Exhibition and appeared as a soloist with the Amherst Early Music Festival. Her operatic roles include Laetitia in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, Lucy in Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera, the First Lady and Papagena from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and Norina in scenes from Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. She was the featured soloist in a concert of opera arias and choruses with Chora Nova where she sang arias from Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, Weber’s Der Freichütz, and Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. In March 2022, she will be performing Webern’s Dehmel lieder with pianist Janis Mercer. Caroline currently studies voice with Karen Clark and harpsichord with Tamara Loring Greene.

Sepp Hammer, Baritone

Sepp Hammer’s voice has been described as showing “warm baritone gravity” (The Boston Globe). His concert engagements in recent seasons include the role of Jesus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with California Bach Society, Eupolemus in Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus with Philharmonia Baroque, Bach's Schwingt freudig euch empor with Cantata Collective, Zelenka’s Gloria with Chora Nova, Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with Contra Costa Chorale, and, with various ensembles, Charpentier Messe des Morts, Schütz Symphoniae Sacrae, Bach Magnificat, Bach B Minor Mass, Haydn Lord Nelson Mass, Schubert Mass in G Major, Brahms Requiem, Fauré Requiem, and Duruflé Requiem. On the opera stage, Sepp’s roles include Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, the title role in Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, the Speaker in The Magic Flute, and John Proctor in The Crucible. Sepp holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from New England Conservatory and is a member of the Philharmonia Baroque Chorale.

Orchestra

Lars Johannesson and Alissa Roedig, recorder

John Thomas, alto sackbut

Becca Burrington, tenor sackbut

David Deitch, bassoon 

Christine Meals and Rachel Hurwitz, violin

Elizabeth Reed, treble viol   

Daniel Deitch, treble viol

Farley Pearce, cello

Cheryl Ann Fulton, harp

Yuko Tanaka, organ