A WHITE CHRISTMAS
Swifts - Darling Point, Sydney
Sunday, December 3rd, 2pm and 5pm
mezzo-soprano Rebecca Currier
organ Grace Chan
Sydney Art Quartet
violin Thibaud Pavlovic-Hobba
violin Anna Albert
viola Andrew Jezek
cello Paul Stender
PROGRAM
Corelli, Arcangelo - Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.8
“Christmas Concerto” for string quartet
Barber, Samuel - Dover Beach Op.3
for mezzo-soprano and string quartet
Naughtin, Matthew (arr.) - “A Christmas Feast of 5 Ancient Carols”
for string quartet
Pepusch, Johan Christoph - Selections from “Voluntary in C”
for solo organ - Largo, Flutes, Slow 1, Bassoon, Twelfth and Fugue
Respighi, Ottorino - “Il Tramonto”
for mezzo-soprano and string quartet
Bach, Johann Sebastien (arr. Gibson) - Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio)
selections for string quartet
Adam, Adolphe/ Dwight, John Sullivan - “O holy Night”
for mezzo-soprano and string quartet
Christmas carol sing-along
with organ accompaniment
Silent Night
Deck the Halls
Joy to the World
Jingle Bells
PROGRAM NOTES
Corelli, Arcangelo - Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.8
“Christmas Concerto” for string quartet
Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8, known commonly as the Christmas Concerto, was commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni and published posthumously in 1714 as part of Corelli's Twelve concerti grossi, Op.6. The concerto bears the inscription Fatto per la notte di Natale (made for the night of Christmas). Its composition date is uncertain, but there is a record of Corelli having performed a Christmas concerto in 1690 for the enjoyment of his new patron.
Barber, Samuel - Dover Beach Op.3
for mezzo-soprano and string quartet
Dover Beach was written when Barber was a twenty one year old student at the Curtis Institute and represents the first of his extended pieces for voice and ensemble. Barber, a singer with a fine baritone voice, was in some demand as a recitalist, a singularly unusual role for a composer and he made the first recording of Dover Beach.
Dover Beach is a poem by Matthew Arnold that is deeply pessimistic. Arnold's view is that material progress does not protect us from conflict. The moonlit world of the viewer on the Dover Cliffs is beautiful but unreal, just a dream. The true world is one of darkness "where ignorant armies clash by night."
The rich imagery of the poem enabled Barber to reveal the poem's nuances through descriptive musical details e.g. rocking figures in the string parts represent shifting light on the sea, the restrained section, “And Sophocles….” reflecting a more reasoned state of mind. The work gradually builds up through shorter and repeated phrases to an impassioned conclusion, "Ah, love, let us be true to one another!", where previous images take on full emotional weight. The piece ends as tranquilly as it began, with the wavelike movements of the beginning.
Naughtin, Matthew (arr.) - “A Christmas Feast of 5 Ancient Carols”
for string quartet
A uniquely rich and sonorous festive medley of five age-old Christmas carols: "Ding Dong! Merrily on High," "Verbum Caro Factum Est," "Gaudete," "Carol of the Bagpipers," and "Coventry Carol."
Ding Dong! Merrily on High
With celebratory bell-ringing and a cheery chorus of ‘Gloria’s’, it’s near impossible to dislike this wonderfully festive carol. The tune first appeared as a secular dance tune, in a book on dance written by Jehan Tabourot.
Verbum Caro Factum Est
is one of the world's oldest Christmas carols and chants and dates from the medieval times. It is the 9th responsory of the Christmas Matins to be sung on Christmas morning, and is a setting of the famous account of the Incarnation from the beginning of St John’s Gospel.
Gaudete
The oldest carol on the list, ‘Gaudete’ is thought to have been composed in the late 16th century – but its melody might even date back to the Middle Ages. Its Latin words simply translate as ‘Rejoice, Jesus is born from the Virgin Mary! Rejoice!’.
Carol of the Bagpipers
In Sicilian tradition, this carol is played on bagpipes by shepherds serenading villagers during the nine days before Christmas.
Coventry Carol
This carol can be traced all the way back to 16th-century England. The lyrics refer to the ‘Massacre of the Innocents’ by King Herod, who in an attempt to ensure the death of the baby Jesus, ordered the death of all male children under the age of two in Bethlehem.
Pepusch, Johan Christoph - Selections from “Voluntary in C”
for solo organ
Largo, Flutes, Slow 1, Bassoon, Twelfth and Fugue
The early 18th century English voluntary was not a stereotyped form. Its most usual shape was a two movement piece, frequently a Prelude and Fugue but very often with the fugue replaced by a lively concertante movement for a specific organ colour such as Cornet or Trumpet. Some voluntaries consist of one, three or four movements.
This Voluntary in C by Pepusch appears to be unique in having twelve movements: a prelude and fugue separated by a variety of movements for specified registrations. English organ music of the period, was dominated by Italian influences. Pepusch, a fervent Corelli-worshipper, was no exception to this. Most of the quick movements are in Italian concerto style and the opening prelude, not the expected slow chordal introduction, would sit quite comfortably in an Italian solo sonata.
Given his idiomatic keyboard writing, it is surprising that no keyboard music by Pepusch seems to have been published in his lifetime nor does very much survive in manuscript despite his considerable reputation.
Most keyboard performances were probably improvised and this Voluntary may have been written down for a specific occasion, probably in the early 1720s. The different movements showcase the Swifts organ’s stops and ends with the fugue on full organ.
Respighi, Ottorino - “Il Tramonto”
for mezzo-soprano and string quartet
Respighi's string quartet with soprano from 1914 is based on a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sunset” (“Il Tramonto” in Italian). Respighi set several of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poems, but only three were set for mezzo-soprano and orchestra: Arethusa in 1910, Il tramonto in 1914, and La Sensitiva between 1914 and 1915. Of the three, Il Tramonto was also written for voice and string quartet, and is heard in this version as often as in the chamber orchestral version.
The poem itself was written in 1816 in a time of great emotional turmoil for the young poet. Shelley was living with Mary Godwin, pregnant with their first son, when his wife Harriet committed suicide allowing him to then marry Mary. The story is about two lovers with a tragic fate; they meet outside and after a tender night of love-making the woman awakens to find her partner has died in his sleep. The woman lives out her years in sorrowful resignation.
The music closely follows the trajectory of the poem starting, after an operatic recitative, with the soft, flowing sounds of a summer’s eve. The movement builds steadily to a passionate climax resulting in, the next morning, her horror upon the grim discovery. It then slips slowly into sad resignation at the cruelty of fate. At the end one hears church-like chanting and the baroque influence of Monteverdi with the unmistakable dramatic passion of Puccini mixed with a Debussy-like texture in the lilting arpeggios of the viola throughout. The music and words are perfectly intertwined telling the story in two complete and identical arcs.
There late was One within whose subtle being,
As light and wind within some delicate cloud
That fades amid the blue noon's burning sky,
Genius and death contended. None may know
The sweetness of the joy which made his breath
Fail, like the trances of the summer air,
When, with the lady of his love, who then
First knew the unreserve of mingled being,
He walked along the pathway of a field
Which to the east a hoar wood shadowed o'er,
But to the west was open to the sky.
There now the sun had sunk, but lines of gold
Hung on the ashen clouds, and on the points
Of the far level grass and nodding flowers
And the old dandelion's hoary beard,
And, mingled with the shades of twilight, lay
On the brown massy woods - and in the east
The broad and burning moon lingeringly rose
Between the black trunks of the crowded trees,
While the faint stars were gathering overhead.
"Is it not strange, Isabel," said the youth,
"I never saw the sun? We will walk here
To-morrow; thou shalt look on it with me."
That night the youth and lady mingled lay
In love and sleep - but when the morning came
The lady found her lover dead and cold.
Let none believe that God in mercy gave
That stroke. The lady died not, nor grew wild,
But year by year lived on - in truth I think
Her gentleness and patience and sad smiles,
And that she did not die, but lived to tend
Her agèd father, were a kind of madness,
If madness 'tis to be unlike the world.
For but to see her were to read the tale
Woven by some subtlest bard, to make hard hearts
Dissolve away in wisdom-working grief;
Her eyes were black and lustreless and wan:
Her eyelashes were worn away with tears,
Her lips and cheeks were like things dead - so pale;
Her hands were thin, and through their wandering veins
And weak articulations might be seen
Day's ruddy light. The tomb of thy dead self
Which one vexed ghost inhabits, night and day,
Is all, lost child, that now remains of thee!
"Inheritor of more than earth can give,
Passionless calm and silence unreproved,
Where the dead find, oh, not sleep! but rest,
And are the uncomplaining things they seem,
Or live, a drop in the deep sea of Love;
Oh, that like thine, mine epitaph were – Peace!"
This was the only moan she ever made.
Bach, Johann Sebastien (arr. Gibson) - Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio)
Selections for string quartet
The Christmas Oratorio (German: Weihnachtsoratorium), BWV 248, was intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance in a church service on a feast day of the Christmas period. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 and incorporates music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a largely lost church cantata, BWV 248a. The date is confirmed in Bach's autograph manuscript. The next complete public performance was not until 17 December 1857 by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin under Eduard Grell. The Christmas Oratorio is a particularly sophisticated example of parody music. The author of the text is unknown, although a likely collaborator was Christian Friedrich Henrici.
The work belongs to a group of three oratorios written in 1734 and 1735 for major feasts, the other two works being the Ascension Oratorio (BWV 11) and the Easter Oratorio (BWV 249). All three of these oratorios to some degree parody earlier compositions. The Christmas Oratorio is by far the longest and most complex work of the three.
The first part (for Christmas Day) describes the Birth of Jesus, the second (for 26 December) the annunciation to the shepherds, the third (for 27 December) the adoration of the shepherds, the fourth (for New Year's Day) the circumsision and naming of Jesus, the fifth (for the first Sunday after New Year) the journey of the Magi, and the sixth (for Epiphany) the adoration of the Magi.
Adam, Adolphe/ Dwight, John Sullivan - “O holy Night”
for mezzo soprano and string quartet
"O Holy Night" (original title: Cantique de Noël) is a sacred song for Christmas performance. Originally based on a French-language poem by poet Placide Cappeau, written in 1843, with the first line "Minuit, Chrétien, c'est l'heure solennelle" (Midnight, Christian, is the solemn hour) that composer Adolphe Adam set to music in 1847. The English version (with small changes to the initial melody) is by John Sullivan Dwight. The carol reflects on the birth of Jesus as humanity's redemption.
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees, oh, hear the angel voices
O night divine, O night when Christ was born
O night divine, O night when Christ was born
Led by the light of faith serenely beaming
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming
Here came the wise men from the orient land
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger
In all our trials born to be our friend
He knows our need, to our weakness no stranger
Behold your King, before Him lowly bend
Behold your King, your King, before Him lowly bend
Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we
Let all within us praise His holy name
Christ is the Lord, then ever, ever praise we
His power and glory evermore proclaim
His power and glory evermore proclaim
We wish to thank Neighbourhood Cellars for their generous support of this project
Please enjoy the complimentary wine and gin cocktail from Neighbourhood Cellars as we see in the festive season together