ORLANDUS LASSUS: Infelix ego
1. Infelix ego (O wretched am I)
2. Solus igitur (God is my refuge)
3. Ad te igitur (To you I turn)
Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498), a Dominican friar renowned for his fiery sermons, was put on trial for his subversive views and was subjected to cruel torture to force him to sign an unfavourable statement. A few days later, he was burnt at the stake along with two of his companions, and his ashes were thrown into the River Arno in Florence. Broken by his suffering Savonarola was deeply distressed that his will, soul and spirit had not been strong enough to overcome his physical pains.
JAMES MACMILLAN: Miserere
This musical setting of Psalm 51 was premiered by the choir ‘The Sixteen’ in Antwerp in 2009. James MacMillan (1959) has had long-established ties with this Choir and the Director of the Choir Harry Christophers. This monumental setting of the above psalm represents the composer’s choral style almost in its encyclopaedic comprehensiveness.
Henry Purcell:
Man that is born of a woman
In the midst of life we are in death
Thou knowest, Lord
When Queen Mary II of England died of smallpox on 28th December 1694, England was devastated by her death. The thirty-two-year-old monarch was extremely popular in the country. Three months later – in line with her popularity and status – she was laid to rest in the scope of an exceptionally magnificent funeral ceremony. The funeral service featured a number of works by Henry Purcell including three so-called ‘funeral sentences,’ which are choral works setting such biblical texts to music that form part of the Anglican funeral service. These three works will also be played at this concert. These three highly expressive choral movements represent the pinnacle of Purcell’s vocal style in composition: the music follows every single word of the text perfectly both through its use of harmonies and through the development of the melodic lines. In 1695 – in the year following the Queen’s death – Purcell also died unexpectedly at the aged of thirty-six. At his funeral service, one of the movements from this cycle – entitled ‘Thou knowest, Lord’ – was likewise performed.
SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM: Hear my prayer, O Lord
Around 1682 Purcell composed an eight-part anthem based on the text of Psalm 102. Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström (1942–2019) drew his inspiration from Purcell’s piece to write his own work based on the same text. Sandström dedicated his work to Swedish composer and choirmaster Gunnar Erikson.
SEBASTIAN DE VIVANCO: Veni, dilecte mi
Composers of the Renaissance and Baroque periods were particularly fond of setting to music shorter and longer passages from the Old Testament’s Song of Songs. The same is true to Spanish priest and composer Sebastian de Vivanco (ca. 1551–1622), who was active at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. This outstanding composer was born in the same town, Ávila, as the greatest figure of late Renaissance Spanish music Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548–1611). It is likely that he sang in the boys’ choir of the same church as de Victoria, who was a few years older than him. Sebastian de Vivanco served as a priest and musician in several Spanish cities, and at the height of his career he worked at Salamanca Cathedral. It was also in this town that his works were published – in three volumes in total.
BERNAT VIVANCOS: Nigra sum
Catalan composer Bernat Vivancos was born in Barcelona in 1973. The text of Nigra sum, composed for female choir (or children’s choir), is one of the verses that is most frequently set to music from the Song of Songs. Towards the end of his Paris-based university studies, Vivancos travelled to Norway on a scholarship to continue his education under the guidance of Lasse Thoresen. “In this marvellous northern country, inspiration seems to be more powerful than anything else: paradisiacal landscapes, vast forests, tranquil lakes, clear and sharp light – the days are short but the people are always very kind.”
MIKLÓS CSEMICZKY: Vox dilecti mei
This is a musical composition based on those very lines from the Song of Songs that have been set to music by many composers. The piece was written for the Debrecen-based Béla Bartók International Choral Competition. Ágnes Anna Kun writes the following in her study, which also draws on theological perspectives: Csemiczky – like most of his contemporaries – is not particularly focused on the allegorical or dramatic layers of the text, but is primarily concerned with the lyricism of the literary piece in question.
BARNA SZABÓ: Et super nivem dealbabor in memoriam Miklós Csemiczky
This composition is a tombeau, and its text is an excerpt from Psalm 51 (Miserere). (Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor; lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor – Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.) The ‘whiteness’ mentioned in the title here refers to the “imagined radiance of those saved”.
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Resonance
22 SEPT, 8 PM
Matthias Church
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