Music from England & Spain in the 16th century

Saturday 8 March 2014 St John’s Church, Newbury

Newbury Chamber Choir

Newbury Chamber Choir (musical director: Edward Lambert) !

Polyphony from Spain and England !!Emily White (sackbut) Mike Brain (dulcian)

Andrew Kerr (violone) Susan Holmes (chamber organ) !Paul Robinson (conductor) !

The composers represented in tonight’s concert are, in their respective countries, the most important of their generation. The differences between the two pairs of celebrities stem from their political relationship to the European Union that was the Catholic Church. Morales and Victoria, Spanish in origin, spent much of their working lives in Rome attached to the papal court, whereas by the time Tallis was a mature composer the English Reformation was already under way, and with it came new demands. That did not prevent Byrd (definitely) and Tallis (probably) retaining their allegiance to the Catholic faith, and their flourishing careers, let alone their survival in those turbulent years, must have involved walking the tightrope that was religious and political correctness. !Christobal de Morales Motet: Circumdederunt me gemitus mortis !Morales and Tallis were both born in the early years of the 16th century. Originating from Seville, by the 1530’s Morales was working in Naples (a Spanish colony) and then in Rome itself where he was employed as a singer for ten years. Works of his published there were well received, and by the time he returned to Spain, taking up appointments in Toledo, Marchena and Malaga in turn, his reputation as a composer of the highest rank was secure. After his death in 1550, his international popularity for the next fifty years remained second to none. !

Tomas Luis de Victoria Requiem Mass for six voices !

Introitus: Requiem aeternam Kyrie

Graduale: Requiem aeternam Offertorium: Domine Iesu

Sanctus & Benedictus Agnus Dei

Communio: Lux aeterna Motet: Versa est in luctum Responsorio: Libera me !

Born in Avila in 1548, Victoria received his early education as a chorister at the cathedral there. He then went to Rome, and it is probable that Palestrina was his teacher. Employed by various institutions as a singer and organist, he was soon dedicating collections of works to notable patrons. By the time he was forty, however, Victoria had moved back to Spain and had taken up a privileged appointment at the Monasterio de las Descalzas de S Clara near Madrid. (The Monastery of the Barefoot Royals, allied to the Order of Sainte Clare). The convent was the retirement home of the Dowager Empress Maria, sister of King Philip II, and Victoria was named as her chaplain; apart from a three year sojourn in Rome, he remained there for the rest of his life. But this was no ordinary monastery: a former royal palace, it attracted noblewomen to its order, spinsters and widows, each bringing a dowry, and it soon became one of the wealthiest monastic institutions in Europe. The services were officiated by a choir of four boys and twelve priests who lived in some luxury, while Victoria, as maestro di cappella, taught the boys plainchant, polyphony and counterpoint. The Officium defunctorum was written in 1605 on the death of the Empress Maria, and this work is largely responsible for Victoria’s recent reputation as a composer of mystical fervour and religious intensity. !!!

(interval: refreshments available in adjoining hall) !

A visitor in 2013 remarked: “The convent truly represents religious divinity, history and royal dignity. Personally, this is my favourite place in Madrid. The display of the priceless treasures, paintings, murals and tapestries are very well organised…” (TripAdvisor on the Monasterio de las Descalzas, Madrid)

Thomas Tallis Mass for four voices Thomas Tallis worked his way up through various musical establishments, as singer and organist, before joining the Chapel Royal in 1543; he remained associated with the court until he died. At the Chapel Royal, situated at Greenwich at that time, he was not only associated with the training of the gentlemen and boy choristers, but his compositions earned him a strong reputation such that royal patronage came from both sides of the religious divide. Queen Mary granted him an income in 1577, and in 1575 Queen Elizabeth awarded him, together with Byrd, who had probably been his pupil, an exclusive license to print and publish music - a new technology at the time. It is highly likely that Tallis was a committed Catholic and in the Mass for Four Voices, Tallis seems to have adopted a less florid style of polyphony, probably suited to the ecclesiastical demands of the Reformation under Henry and Edward, though it would have found its place, too, amongst the resurgence of traditional mass settings that took place under the Catholic Mary. There is no Kyrie in Tallis’ work, and in line with the practice laid out in the Book of Common Prayer, our performance puts the Gloria at the end of the Mass. !William Byrd Motet: Ave verum corpus !Byrd’s first post was at the Puritan-leaning Lincoln Cathedral but this was followed by an appointment to Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. In London, where the Queen’s Catholic tolerance, and even sympathies, were in evidence, he developed into one of the most important composers of English music, and of the Renaissance.

Emily White was working as a trombonist, when she heard the beautiful and inspiring sound of the baroque violin. She took violin lessons from Rachel Podger then Walter Reiter and studied with him at Trinity College of Music for postgraduate course in baroque violin. With her performance of Bach’s Chaconne from the Partita in D minor, Emily won the Ella Kidney Early Music Competition 2007. She has

played violin with The Scholars Baroque, Concerto Caledonia, His Majesties Cornette and Sagbut Ensemble, Music for Awhile, Canzona, Scorpio Collectief and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. She set up The Isla Quartet, who released their first disc ‘Center of Huntly’ in 2008. She created and co-directs the annual Huntly Summer School which combines traditional Scottish fiddle and classical violin playing. As a sackbut player she is member of English Cornette and Sackbut Ensemble who made their BBC Proms Debut in 2012. Their collaborative disc with I Fagiolini Striggio Mass in 40 Parts won the Diapaison D’Or 2012 and the Gramophone Early Music Award. Emily coaches sackbut at Dartington International Summer

S c h o o l , a n d B i r m i n g h a m Conservatoire. She guest teaches sackbut at The Royal Academy of Music and The Royal College of Music.

Andrew Kerr read Music at Exeter University, studying the viol with Alison Crum.  He specialises in the larger sizes of Viola da gamba, and is in demand as a player of the Violone with baroque orchestras throughout the country.  He is a member of the Rose Consort of Viols and has performed and recorded with many early music ensembles, including Musica Antiqua of London, the Parley of Instruments, I Fagiolini, Ex Cathedra, and L’Avventura London

!Michael Brain plays curtal, baroque bassoon, recorder, oboe and sings. He was a chorister at Westminster Abbey. He is related to the horn player Dennis Brain. On stage he gives spirited descriptions of how the instruments are constructed.

Susan Holmes has recently completed a Master’s degree in Music, graduating with a specialisation in Piano Accompaniment, at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with prize-winning accompanist Scott Mitchell. She was the recipient of the Piano Accompaniment Prize. Highlights during her Masters studies included working with award-winning accompanist Simon Lepper, accompanying Royal Scottish National Orchestra Principal Clarinettist John Cushing in concert, and performing in masterclasses with Paris Conservatoire Song Accompaniment Professor Anne le Bozec, lieder baritone Florian Boesch and accompanist Malcolm Martineau. Most recently, Susan was the Assistant Music Director for the critically acclaimed Opera Up Close production of Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. Susan has been a repetiteur for the Birmingham Summer Festival Opera productions of Vaughan Williams’ The Poisoned Kiss and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. She was also accompanist for the University of Birmingham Music Society’s Chamber and University Choirs. A particular highlight of her career so far was leading the band for a production of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years which was taken to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2010.

Paul Robinson read music and was a Choral Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, where he had been a boy chorister. He continued his studies at the Royal College of Music and was awarded the Opera Scholarship and the Mills Williams Junior Fellowship. His recordings include Purcell’s Ode to St Cecilia and Mendelssohn’s version of Bach’s St Matthew Passion for Radio della Svizzera Italiana (RTSI) and a setting of Psalm 91 on the Hyperion Schubert series. Concert performances have included Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem in King’s College, Cambridge; Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolae and Schubert’s Magnificat with the Philharmonia Royal at the Festival Hall;

Britten’s Cantata Misericordium with the Bochum Symphoniker; Handel’s Solomon and Theodora in Darmstadt and Frankfurt, and concerts in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Shizuoka, Japan. Recent engagements have included Beethoven’s Mass in C in Bergen; Frederic, Pirates of Penzance in Buxton and Cheltenham and Edwin, Trial by Jury for Tiramisu Opera, Bach's St John Passion in Buxton, Holofernes in Alessandro Scarlatti's La Giuditta for Figur'd Shade, Handel’s Solomon and Theodora in Darmstadt and Frankfurt, and concerts in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Shizuoka, Japan. He has sung for Newbury Chamber Choir several times including Stainer’s Crucifixion, Purcell’s King Arthur, and, most recently, Ed Lambert’s Rossetti Requiem.

next concert: Stainer: The Crucifixion

Come & Sing (or Listen) Sunday 13 April: St Mary’s Church, Shaw

Christopher Diffey (tenor) Mark Beesley (bass)

Gill Blythman (organ) Edward Lambert (conductor) !

registration & tickets only online at www.newburychamberchoir.co.uk singers: 4pm performance: 7pm

Any donations, however small, to assist our concert series can be made through www.findmeagrant.org where such donations attract matched funding from local charities

six characters in search of a stage

a new chamber opera by Edward Lambert

Kintbury, Friday 2 May 7.30

St Mary’s Church, RG17 9TR public preview !Brighton, Sunday 4 May 4.30

St Andrew’s, Waterloo Street, BN3 1AQ www.brightonfringe.org !Turnham Green, Thursday 8 May 7.30

St Michael’s, Bath Road, W4 1TT www.wegottickets.com !Camden Town, Sunday 11 May 3.30 The Forge, Delancey Street, NW1 7NL www.forgevenue.org !www.MusicTroupe.co.uk

!

Stillleben The Ballad of Lady Barnard and Little Musgrave

Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda

The Inarticulate Burr

SavitriSecrets of the

Universe: music,

theatre & dance

Arlington Arts Theatre!near Newbury RG14 3BQ!01635 244246!www.arlingtonarts.co.uk!!Saturday 7 June at 7:30!

New

bu

ry C

ha

mber

Ch

oir

Ace

Dan

ce C

ompan

y