Alessandro Striggio Missa `Ecco si beato giorno`

Alessandro Striggio
Missa ‘Ecco si beato giorno’
Alessandro Striggio
Ecce beatam lucem
Thomas-Selle-Vokalensemble Berlin
Thomas Selle
Aus der Tiefe
Heinrich Schütz
Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes
Robert Carver
O bone Jesu
Alessandro Striggio
Missa ‘Ecco si beato giorno’
Kyrie & Gloria
INTERVAL
Alessandro Striggio
Missa ‘Ecco si beato giorno’
Credo
Johannes Ockeghem
Deo gratias
Josquin des Prez
Qui habitat
Paragon Singers
Thomas Tallis
O nata lux
William Byrd
Civitas sancti tui
Thomas Weelkes
Hosanna to the Son of David
Alessandro Striggio
Missa ‘Ecco si beato giorno’
Sanctus & Agnus Dei
This concert is dedicated to the memory of Michael Procter
Welcome to this evening’s concert of large-scale works from the first half of the Renaissance.
We are delighted to be joined by both the Thomas-Selle-Vokalensemble of Berlin and several
local guest singers. It gives us a rare chance to take part in an all-vocal, one-voice-perpart performance of Striggio’s magnificent, recently discovered mass, as well as his motet
and three other iconic earlier pieces for large ensemble. We shall be performing the entire
programme again in Berlin, on 9 and 10 June.
The concert is the brain-child of Kai Schulze-Forster, who was put in touch with Keith
Bennett by a mutual friend and colleague, Michael Procter who, very sadly, died suddenly
two weeks ago. Michael was a long-standing friend of Keith Bennett, who had known and
worked with him for over 30 years. He was a very fine choral conductor and a meticulous
editor and scholar of Renaissance music, and will be very much missed. This concert is
dedicated to his memory.
Little is known about the early life of
AlessandroStriggio(c.1540–
1592),
but in 1559 he entered service as a
virtuoso string player at the Medici
court in Florence, where he was the
highest paid member of the musical
establishment. As a composer he wrote
mainly madrigals and music for the
intermedi – musical entertainments
between the acts of plays, which
eventually grew into opera.
In 1561, Striggio sent a
40-voice work to the Duke of
Mantua as a birthday gift, and
probably the same work was
performed in Florence in honour
of a visiting
cardinal, en route from
Rome to
Paris on a diplomatic
mission. In
1568 a 40-voice motet,
almost certainly Ecce beatam
lucem, was performed
as part of
wedding celebrations in Munich,
where Orlando de Lassus headed
the most sumptuous musical
establishment in Europe. The year
before, Striggio had visited England,
taking with him the 40-part Missa
‘Ecco si beato giorno’.
Santa Croce, Florence
Striggio’s Missa ‘Ecco si beato giorno’ can be considered exceptional on account of both the
history of its inception and its allocation of parts. The title of this mass implies a parody of a lost
40-part madrigal bearing the same name, but its musical material also strongly resembles that
of Ecce beatam lucem. The mass was long thought to have been lost, awareness of its existence
stemming mainly from contemporary reference to it and from accounts of its performance
in 1567. The part-books were rediscovered in Paris in 2007 and published anew in 2010.
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All of the voices in the mass are texted, but the individual vocal parts can be doubled
or replaced by instruments to suit the work to the circumstances of performance. The piece is
written for five eight-voice choirs, each of which enters domino fashion in the opening Kyrie
whilst no more than three choirs sing together at any one time. The first tutti occurs in the
Gloria with the words “Glorificamus te”. In the last movement, Agnus Dei III, the ensemble is
enhanced once more, as was common in works of this kind during the Renaissance period. In
this each choir has twelve voices, and a sixty-voice movement emerges for the first time. Here,
from the first soprano entry in the first choir to the last bass entry in the fifth choir, each voice
follows the last, forming the same simple chord and (here at least) creating a canonic structure
reminiscent of Josquin or Ockeghem.
The motet Ecce beatam lucem, although linked
to the mass in musical material, has some significant
differences. As in the mass, around a dozen voices have
music which is often lively, whereas the majority move in
more stately fashion, though in the motet the latter are
enlivened by syncopated entries and other elements of
voice-leading which make the contrast between the two
vocal styles somewhat less strong. However, rather than
five eight-voiced choirs, the motet has ten choirs of four
voices, unevenly distributed so that seven are for higher
voices and three for lower. Moreover, these are not used in
strict blocks, but rather to provide variety of sonority – in
bars 1-19, the opening phrase using voices 1-8 is answered
by voices 31-40, followed by voices 9-24, 26-33, 1-16, 1740, 1-8 and 33-40, before finally the full complement is
heard in bar 20. Prior to the final section, all 40 voices are
heard together fairly rarely, most strikingly at two static
statements of the word “O”: those familiar with Spem in
alium will recall the similar effect of Tallis’s two settings
of “respice”, even though it is Striggio’s mass, rather than
this motet, which is now thought to have inspired him.
Ecce beatam lucem is a stately, resplendent work, which
answers the challenge of multi-voice writing in a quite
different way from the motets of Josquin, Ockeghem or
indeed Tallis, and looks forward, not only to its related
mass, but to the large-scale works of the 1589 Intermedi
and Giovanni Gabrieli.
Michelangelo’s David
The early baroque composer Thomas Selle (1599–1663) was born in Zorbig (Saxony-Anhalt,
Germany). He received his first instruction in Leipzig where he was probably a pupil of the
Thomaskantor Sethus Calvisius. He was cantor in Heide (Holstein) in 1624, and in 1625 in the
nearby Wesselburen. From 1634 he was cantor in Itzehoe and from 1641 was Music Director at
the Johanneum of the four main churches of Hamburg, becoming a minor canon at St Mary’s
in 1642. He died in Hamburg. His motet, Aus der Tiefe, demonstrates his compositional skill
on a par with that of his better-known contemporaries Heinrich Schütz and Johann Hermann
Schein. In this five-part piece, the main stylistic feature is the exchange between three higher
and three lower voices. The alto voice is employed both as the lowest of the higher voices and
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the highest of the lower, thus creating the effect of a six-part double choir, except when the
choir sings tutti. That the piece begins with the three lower voices might well be related to the
meaning of the words, “I cry out from the depths”.
Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) was one of the foremost 17th-century German composers.
Born in 1585 in Köstritz, Thuringia, he joined the Collegium Mauritanum in Kassel at the
age of 13 as a choirboy, eventually studying law in Marburg. After three years studying music
under the guidance of Giovanni Gabrieli in Venice, in 1613 Schütz took on the post of court
organist in Kassel. However, in 1617 he was called to the court of Johann Georg I of Saxony
in Dresden, becoming Master of the Music there. Dresden featured as the focal point of his
musical activities. In addition, Schütz was declared court musician in Wolfenbüttel (1655) and
in Zeitz (1663). Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes is a motet belonging to the Schütz
collection Geistliche Chormusik published in 1648. Twenty-nine five- and six-part motets, in
various configurations, are to be found therein, sometimes with instrumental parts, obbligato.
Schütz penned a most comprehensive preface to this collection; the many examples are intended
didactically to serve students of composition without basso continuo (figured bass). Schütz
distanced himself from the then modern Italian practice of composing over a basso continuo,
in favour of strict counterpoint.
Robert Carver (1484/7–after 1567) was a Scottish composer, who is first heard of as a
canon of the Augustinian abbey at Scone in 1503, around which time he may have studied
for a year in the Netherlands. His musical life seems though to have centred on the Scottish
Chapel Royal and the church of the Holy Rood at Stirling. His extant works – just seven
masses and two motets – reveal the influence of Netherlandish composers like Josquin
and Isaac as well as the insular, late medieval style of the Eton Choirbook (1490-1502).
The latter influence is especially obvious in O bone Jesu, which is probably an early
work written for use at the Mass of the Name of Jesus, originally instituted by his uncle at
the parish church of Aberdeen in 1493. In this 19-voice antiphon – in which ten of the voices
are tenors/high baritones! – infrequent full-textured passages act as structural pillars offset
against more ornamental sections for far fewer voices, used in varying combinations. The
work has a wonderful range of sonorities, and though its style appears somewhat archaic by
comparison with the sophisticated technical prowess of continental composers it has, like the
Eton Choirbook music, a very special and individual appeal.
Johannes Ockeghem (c.1421–1497) was a Flemish composer, born in the county of Hainaut.
Nothing is known of his musical education, though he may have been a pupil of Gilles de
Binchois, in which case he would have had an early connection with the dukes of Burgundy.
He was a singer in the cathedral choir at Antwerp in 1443, but by the mid 1440s he had moved
to France, first to the court of the Duke of Bourbon and from 1452 in the Royal Chapel. He
remained in royal service throughout the reigns of Charles VII, Louis XI, and Charles VIII. In
addition to being a famous composer of masses, motets and chansons, he taught and influenced
the development of important composers of the next generation, men such as Jacob Obrecht,
Heinrich Isaak, and Josquin des Prez. Ockeghem was famous for his skill in counterpoint. The
compositional-form “canon”, which recurs through the centuries, ensures the equal value of
each individual voice. The “puzzle canon” leaves the musicians to enter as they please as well
as to find their initial note and the proportion of the whole. Ockeghem wrote many puzzle
canons and the complete mass in canon form, Missa Prolationum. The canon Deo gratias
stands out in that the voices of each group sing their own nine-part canon.
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Josquin Desprez (c.1450–1521) was one of the most influential composers of the Renaissance
period, and so famous that he is known merely by his first name. He may have studied
counterpoint under Ockeghem. Josquin wrote both sacred and secular music, and in all the
significant vocal forms of the age, including masses, motets and chansons. Throughout the
sixteenth century, his works were cited in theoretical treatises and extensively quoted in the
music of other composers. In 1538, Martin Luther extolled him as “the master of the notes,
which must do as he wishes, while other composers must follow what the notes dictate.”
The motet canon Qui habitat is surely the most remarkable of Renaissance pieces. Each
of the four-voice parts forms its own six-part canon, which in total forms a 24-part quadruple
canon. The individual voices evolve like a cascade from the first soprano to the last bass entry.
The resulting soundscape resembles the tolling of bells; Josquin could hardly have portrayed
the words of the 91st Psalm more accurately.
Thomas Tallis (c.1505–1585) is one of the most significant figures in the history of English
music. Although his great friend and colleague William Byrd was to prove a greater and
more versatile musician, as a composer Tallis was undoubtedly second only to Byrd, and in
his influence in changing English musical style and as a teacher, more important.
Relatively little is known about Tallis’s early life. We first hear of him in 1532 as
organist of Dover Priory After the priory was dissolved in 1535 he held three other short
appointments before in 1542 being appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, where
he remained for the rest of his life. He became its most senior composer, organist and the
teacher of Byrd and many others. Tallis died in 1585 as the doyen of English music. The
esteem in which he was held could not have been more eloquently expressed than it was in
Byrd’s consort song Ye sacred muses: “Tallis is dead, and music dies”.
Tallis’s long career spanned the reigns of four Tudor monarchs, whom he successfully
and pragmatically served through decades of political and religious upheaval, adapting his
musical style to changing demands as required. His most fluent and expressive work dates
from the reign of Elizabeth I, in the early years of which the Chapel Royal was allowed
restricted licence to perform works in Latin. The simple Office hymn/motet O nata lux
was one such piece, though it also reflects the drastic simplification of musical style effected
during the earlier reign of Edward VI, when composers were instructed to set (in the words
of an injunction of 1548) ‘a plain and distinct note for every syllable’.
One of the most versatile and productive composers of his age, William Byrd (1540–
1623) was the leading English composer of the period, equivalent in stature to his great
contemporaries Palestrina, Lassus and Victoria. His extensive output included Latin motets
and masses, English anthems and services, consort songs, and numerous instrumental
works. He was appointed organist at Lincoln cathedral in 1563, and then in 1570 became
a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, where he was joint organist with Tallis, with whom
he was granted a royal monopoly of music printing. Although initially a Protestant, he
became increasingly involved with Catholicism from the 1570s. Unlike the pragmatic
Tallis, who did not allow his catholic sympathies to impede his career, Byrd’s position
became increasingly precarious, though he seems to have enjoyed sufficient of Elizabeth
I’s protection to have survived, if not comfortably. In 1593 he moved out of London to
the relatively safer area of Stondon Massey in Essex, where he lived close to his Catholic
patron, Lord Petre of Writtle where he wrote music for clandestine Catholic services, his
three masses and two volumes of Gradualia (settings of the Propers for the church year),
which were published in 1605/7.
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Byrd’s commitment to the
Catholic cause also found expression in
his motets, of which he composed about
50 between 1575 and 1591. Civitas
sancti tui is the second part of the motet
Ne irascaris Domine, published in 1589
in his first volume of Cantiones Sacrae. It
is a passionate lament for the destruction
of Jerusalem, an obvious analogy for the
plight of English catholics: it demonstrates
complete mastery of continental
polyphonic idioms, combined with a
deeply expressive setting of the text.
Unlike Tallis and Byrd, the career
of Thomas Weelkes (c.1576–1623)
remained largely provincial. Born in Sussex,
in 1598 he became organist of Winchester
College, from where in 1602 he moved
to Chichester Cathedral as organist and
informator choristarum (instructor of the
choristers). His subsequent career proved
quite colourful. From about 1613 he was
frequently in trouble for heavy drinking
and ‘immoderate behaviour’, including
apparently being fined for “urinating
on the Dean from the organ loft during
Evensong” and in 1616 reported to the
Bishop for being “a common drunkard
and notorious swearer and blasphemer”.
At least once he was dismissed and
reinstated, but appears in his final years
to have spent a great deal of his time in
London, where he died. It is perhaps ironic
that he nevertheless merited a memorial
stone in Chichester cathedral.
Weelkes is perhaps best known
as one of England’s finest composers of
madrigals, but he also wrote a substantial
amount of church music for the Anglican
Giotto’s Campanile, San Giovanni, Florence
rite. Many of it is in the up-to-date style of
accompanied services and verse anthems,
but he also wrote a number of full anthems, including Hosanna to the Son of David. This is
typical of Weelkes, being very madrigalian in style and demonstrating vivid musical imagery, a
fine contrapuntal technique and, within its small scale, a firm sense of structure, enlivened – as
is Byrd’s music – by a uniquely English harmonic and rhythmic energy.
Keith Bennett & Kai Schulze-Forster
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Ecce beatam lucem
Ecce beatam lucem;
Ecce bonum sempiternum,
Vos turba electa celebrate Jehovam eiusque natum
aequalem Patri deitatis splendorem.
Virtus Alma et maiestas
passim cernenda adest.
Quantum decoris illustri in sole,
quam venusta es luna,
quam multo clar’honore sidera fulgent,
quam pulchra quaeque in orbe.
O quam perennis esca
tam sanctas mentes pascit!
praesto gratia et amor, praesta nec novum;
praesto est fons perpes vitae.
Hic Patriarchae cum Prophetis, hic David,
Rex David ille vates,
cantans sonans adhuc aeternum Deum.
O mel et dulce nectar,
O fortunatam sedem!
Haec voluptas, haec quies, haec meta, hic scopus
Nos hinc attrahunt recta in paradisum.
Behold the blessed light,
behold eternal goodness,
you throng of the elect, praise God and His Son
who is equal to the Father;
praise the splendour of the deity.
Benign power and majesty are seen everywhere.
The dazzling splendour of the sun
is matched by you, the moon,
and by the stars shining brightly
in their great glory.
O how such eternal nourishment feeds holy minds!
Mercy and love are here, and always have been;
here is the eternal fount of life.
Here the Patriarchs and Prophets, here David,
King David the bard,
singing and playing instruments
still praise eternal God.
O honey and sweet nectar,
O blessed place!
This delight, this peace, this goal, this mark
draw us from here straight to Paradise.
Aus der Tiefe Aus der Tiefe ruf ’ ich, Herr, zu dir.
Herr, höre meine Stimme,
laß deine Ohren merken
auf die Stimme meines Flehens!
So du willst, Herr,
Sünde zurechnen,
Herr, wer wird bestehen?
Denn bei dir ist die Vergebung,
daß man dich fürchte.
Ich harre des Herren;
meine Seele harret,
und ich hoffe auf sein Wort.
Meine Seele wartet auf den Herren
von einer Morgenwache
bis zur andern.
Israel, hoffe auf den Herren!
Denn bei dem Herren ist die Gnade
und viel Erlösung bei ihm,
und er wird Israel erlösen
aus allen seinen Sünden.
Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord:
Lord, hear my voice.
O let thine ears consider well:
the voice of my complaint.
If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme
to mark what is done amiss :
O Lord, who may abide it?
For there is mercy with thee:
therefore shalt thou be feared.
I look for the Lord;
my soul doth wait for him:
in his word is my trust.
My soul fleeth unto the Lord:
before the morning watch,
I say, before the morning watch.
O Israel, trust in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy:
and with him is plenteous redemption.
And he shall redeem Israel
from all his sins.
Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes
Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes,
und die Feste verkündiget seiner Hände Werck.
Ein Tag sagts dem andern,
und eine Nacht tuts kund der andern.
Es ist keine Sprache noch Rede,
The heavens declare the glory of God:
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
One day telleth another:
and one night certifieth another.
There is neither speech nor language:
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da man nicht ihre Stimme höre.
Ihre Schnur gehet aus in alle Lande,
und ihre Rede an der Welt Ende.
Er hat der Sonnen eine Hütten
in derselben gemacht.
Und dieselbige gehet heraus wie ein Breutigam
aus seiner Kammer
und freuet sich wie ein Held,
zu lauffen den Weg.
Sie gehet auf von einem Ende des Himmels
und läuft um biß wieder an dasselbige Ende,
und bleibt nichts für ihrer Hitz verborgen.
Ehre sey dem Vater und dem Sohn
und auch dem Heilgen Geiste.
Wie es war im Anfang, itzt und immerdar,
und von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit, Amen.
but their voices are heard among them.
Their sound is gone out into all lands:
and their words into the ends of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle
for the sun:
which cometh forth as a bridegroom
out of his chamber,
and rejoiceth as a giant
to run his course.
It goeth forth from the uttermost part of the heaven,
and runneth about unto the end of it again:
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be world without end. Amen.
Sandro Botticelli
(1479–1564)
Lorenzo de Medici
(1449–1492)
O bone Jesu
O bone Jesu, O piissime Jesu, O dulcissime Jesu,
O Jesu fili virginis Mariae plenus pietatis
O dulce Jesu
secundum magnam misericordiam tuam
miserere mei.
O clementissime Jesu
deprecor te per illum sanguinem pretiosum
quem pro peccatoribus effundere voluisti
ut abluat iniquitatem meam
et in me respiciat
miserum et indignum peccatorem
et hoc nomen Jesum invocantem.
O nomen Jesu, nomen dulce, nomen Jesu,
nomen dilectabile, nomen Jesu, nomen suave,
quid enim est Jesus nisi salvator?
Ergo bone Jesu propter nomen tuum
salva me ne peream
et ne permittas me damnari
quem tu ex nihilo creasti.
O bone Jesu ne perdat me iniquitas mea.
Rogo te, piissime Jesu,
ne perdas me quem fecit tua bonitas.
O dulcis Jesu, recognosce quod tuum est
et absterge quod alienum est.
O amantissime Jesu, O desideratissime Jesu,
O mitissime Jesu, O Jesu,
admitte me intrare regnum tuum, dulce Jesu.
O good Jesus, O most holy Jesus, O most sweet Jesus,
O Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary, full of piety,
O sweet Jesus,
according to your great mercy
have mercy upon me.
O most compassionate Jesus
I beseech you by that precious blood
which you willingly shed for sinners
that you might wash away my wickedness
and look upon me
miserable and unworthy sinner
imploring this name of Jesus.
O name of Jesus, sweet name, name of Jesus,
beloved name, name of Jesus, sweet name,
for what is Jesus if not our saviour?
Therefore good Jesus through your name
save me that I shall not perish
and suffer me not to be damned
whom you created out of nothing.
O good Jesus, let not my sin destroy me.
I beg you, most holy Jesus,
forsake not me whom your love has made.
O sweet Jesus, accept what is yours
and reject that which offends you.
O most beloved Jesus, O most longed for Jesus,
O most gentle Jesus, O Jesus,
permit me to enter into your kingdom, sweet Jesus.
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Kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Gloria
Gloria in excelsis Deo,
et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
Laudamus te, benedicimus te,
adoramus te, glorificamus te,
gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam,
Domine Deus, Rex caelestis,
Deus Pater omnipotens.
Domine Fili unigenite, Iesu Christe.
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere nobis.
Qui tollis peccata mundi,
suscipe deprecationem nostram.
Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris,
miserere nobis.
Quoniam tu solus Sanctus. Tu solus Dominus.
Tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe,
cum Sancto Spiritu,
in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.
Glory be to God on high,
and on earth peace, good will towards men.
We praise thee, we bless thee,
we worship thee, we glorify thee,
we give thanks to thee for thy great glory,
O Lord God, heavenly King,
God the Father Almighty.
O Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,
that takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us.
Thou that takest away the sins of the world,
receive our prayer.
Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father,
have mercy upon us.
For thou only art holy; thou only art the Lord.
Thou only art most high, O Christ,
with the Holy Ghost,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Credo
Credo in unum Deum,
Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem caeli et terrae,
visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
Et in unum Dominum, Jesum Christum,
Filium Dei unigenitum,
Et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula.
Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,
Deum verum de Deo vero.
Genitum, non factum,
consubstantialem Patri:
per quem omnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos homines
et propter nostram salutem
descendit de caelis.
Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto
ex Maria Virgine: Et homo factus est.
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis
sub Pontio Pilato:
passus, et sepultus est.
Et resurrexit tertia die,
secundum scripturas.
Et ascendit in caelum:
sedet ad dexteram Patris.
Et iterum venturus est
cum gloria judicare vivos et mortuos:
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
Only begotten Son of God,
Begotten of his Father before all worlds.
God of God, light of light,
Very God of very God.
Begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father:
by whom all things were made.
Who for us men
and for our salvation
came down from heaven.
And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost
of the Virgin Mary: And was made man.
And was crucified also for us
under Pontius Pilate:
suffered, and was buried.
And the third day He rose again
according to the scriptures.
And ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of the Father.
And He shall come again
with glory to judge the living and the dead:
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Cujus regni non erit finis.
Et in Spiritum sanctum Dominum,
et vivificantem:
Qui ex Patre, Filioque procedit.
Qui cum Patre et Filio
simul adoratur et conglorificatur:
Qui locutus est per Prophetas.
Et unam, sanctam, catholicam
et apostolicam Ecclesiam.
Confiteor unum baptisma
in remissionem peccatorum.
Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum
Et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.
His kingdom shall have no end.
And (I believe in) the Holy Ghost,
Lord and giver of life:
Who proceedeth from the Father and Son.
Who with the Father and Son
together is worshipped and glorified:
Who spake by the Prophets.
And in one holy catholic
and apostolic church.
I acknowledge one baptism
for the remission of sins.
And I look for the resurrection of the dead
And the life of the world to come. Amen.
Deo gratias
Deo gratias
Thanks be to God.
Qui habitat
Qui habitat in adiutorio Altissimi,
in protectione Dei cæli commorabitur.
Dicet Domino: Susceptor meus es tu,
et refugium meum:
Deus meus sperabo in eum.
Quoniam ipse liberavit me de laqueo venantium,
et a verbo aspero.
Scapulis suis obumbrabit tibi:
et sub pennis eius sperabis.
Scuto circamdabit te veritas eius:
non timebis a timore nocturno.
A sagitta volante in die,
a negotio perambulante in tenebris:
ab incursu et dæmonio meridiano.
Cadent a latere tuo mille,
et decem millia a dextris tuis:
ad te autem non appropinquabit.
Verumtamen oculis tuis considerabis:
et retributionem peccatorum videbis.
He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High,
shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.
He shall say to the Lord: Thou art my protector,
and my refuge: my God,
in him will I trust.
For he hath delivered me from the snare of the
hunters: and from the sharp word.
He will overshadow thee with his shoulders:
and under his wings thou shalt trust.
His truth shall compass thee with a shield:
thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night.
Of the arrow that flieth in the day,
of the business that walketh about in the dark:
of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
A thousand shall fall at thy side,
and ten thousand at thy right hand:
but it shall not come nigh thee.
But thou shalt consider with thy eyes:
and shalt see the reward of the wicked.
O nata lux
O nata lux de lumine,
Jesu redemptor saeculi,
dignare clemens supplicum
laudes preces que sumere.
O light born of light,
Jesus, redeemer of the world,
mercifully deem worthy and accept
the praises and prayers of your supplicants.
Qui carne quondam contegi
dignatus es pro perditis
Nos membra confer effici,
tui beati corporis.
Thou who once deigned to be clothed in flesh,
for the sake of the lost ones,
grant us to be made members
of your holy body.
Civitas sancti tui
Civitas sancti tui facta est deserta.
Sion deserta facta est,
Jerusalem desolata est.
Your holy city has become a wilderness.
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem has been made desolate.
11
Hosanna to the Son of David
Hosanna to the Son of David.
Blessed be the King that cometh
in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna thou that sittest in the highest heavens.
Hosanna in excelsis Deo.
Leonardo da Vinci
(1452–1519)
Sanctus
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.
Osanna in excelsis.
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of Hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Benedictus
Benedictus qui venit
in nomine Domini.
Osanna in excelsis.
Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona nobis pacem.
Lamb of God,
who takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God,
who takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God,
who takest away the sins of the world,
grant us peace.
Ponte Vecchio
12
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Thomas-Selle-Vokalensemble Berlin
It was in 1999 that Kai Schulze-Forster gathered together a group of singers with particular interest in early
music, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Selle (1599-1663) with a Christmas concert.
The singers remained together, and have since then performed much Renaissance and early Baroque repertoire,
the music of Thomas Selle being always in the foreground. Since 2001 the choir has borne the name „ThomasSelle-Vokalensemble Berlin“: it consists of some 20 members, some of whom also function as soloists. Two
or three concerts a year present sacred music from the time before Johann Sebastian Bach, which are rarely or
never heard in concert. Performances in the context of the liturgy are also a priority, reflecting as they do the
original performance situation.
The ensemble has also given first performances of several pieces by contemporary composers; it is open
for experimental music and the links that can be sensed between early and modern music. Thus the ensemble
took part in performances in Berlin and Rostock of Dietrich Schnebel’s AMN, contrasted with Josquin’s Missa
Pange lingua.
Some projects involve further guest singers or instrumentalists, especially for such large-scale pieces
of polyphony as the 40-voice works of Tallis and Striggio (2006, 2007) or polychoral works by Giovanni
Gabrieli. A highlight were the quasi-liturgical performances of the ‘Monteverdi Vespers’ in the Cistercian
Kloster Lehnin and in the church where Monteverdi is buried, the Basilica del Frari in Venice.
Sopranos Bärbel Bader, Odile Blaquiere, Sarah Brinkmann, Claudia Brüggemann, Katharina Daur,
Irmela Gómez Alvarez, Daniela Lang, Christa Pein, Rosemarie Renneberg
Altos Hanne Blazejewski, Daniela Büche, Susanne Fülberth, Sabine Hartmann,
Katharina Hirschberg, Barbara Kuhn, Cornelia Praetorius
Tenors Stefan Dybe, Peter Mühe, Alan Pope, Karl Schüßler
Basses Hans-Jürgen Burggaller, Michael Dollendorf, Nigel Hurley, Sebastian Kaindl,
Dominik Mühe, Andreas Tanner
Dr. Kai Schulze-Forster (conductor)
Kai was born in 1963 in Berlin. He studied Musicology and Pharmacy at the Freie Universität Berlin. He had
private Organ tuition, and since the age of 13 has taken part in church music; for the past 15 years he has been
Organist at the Evangelisches Diakonissenhaus Berlin-Teltow-Lehnin. Since 1981 he has been increasingly
involved in early music and historical instruments. Besides the Thomas-Selle-Vokalensemble he also founded
the Consort Ear´s Delight and the Orlando-Ensemble für Alte Musik. He founded the course cycle ‘Early
Music in Berlin’ which has so far presented some 30 weekend courses on early sacred music directed by
Michael Procter. In his day job Kai Schulze-Forster is director of a biotechnology firm, and he has published
many scientific papers.
Palace in the Forte de Belvedere
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Paragon Singers
Paragon Singers was formed in 1976. In recent years the choir has come increasingly to specialise in
Renaissance, Baroque and 20th-century music and is now considered a leading chamber choir in these fields
in the area. Paragon Singers performs several times a year in Bath and its environs as well as making frequent
appearances elsewhere. The choir has made concert tours to Kenya, Ireland, France and Holland.
Sopranos Pamela Bennett, Laura Breen, Charlotte de Grey, Julia Draper, Josephine Herrlinger,
Stephanie Lockhart, Sal McDougall
Altos Louise Best, Gill Clarke, Lavinia Ferguson, Margaret Graham, Hannah Rees*,
Adele Reynolds, Catherine Richards, Mandy Shaw
Tenors Mike Anderson*, Tim Barrett*, Rupert Bevan, Ed Cooke*, Mike Gumbley, James Henderson,
Neil Moore, Christopher Rogers, Gareth Somerset
Basses Phil Brotheridge, Jonathan Dawes, Paul Feldwick*, Tim Graham, Marc Horobin,
Niall Hoskin*, David Lewis*, Paul Maine, Tony Shield, Nicholas Stuart, Martin Warren
*singing in Striggio Mass, Sanctus and Agnus Dei only
Keith Bennett (conductor)
Keith Bennett studied music at Oxford, where he was organ scholar at Brasenose College, and at Trinity
College of Music. He was awarded a doctorate from Oxford in 1978 for his study of the Italian madrigalist
Luca Marenzio. From 1979-2004 he was a principal lecturer at Bath Spa University, including 18 years as
Course Director of the BA Music degree. As well as conducting Paragon Singers, he has performed widely as
an accompanist, continuo player and singer.
Steven Hollas (chamber organ)
Steven Hollas read music and history of art at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He teaches piano,
harpsichord and organ in Bradford-on-Avon, mainly at the Wiltshire Music Centre. He plays continuo for
Bradford Baroque Band and accompanies several choirs and soloists in the area.
Inner courtyard of the Palazzo del Bargello
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