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Friday
23
june
8 PM
lorelei ensemble
Beth Willer, Artistic Director
Sarah Brailey, soprano
Molly Netter, soprano
Sonja Tengblad, soprano
Sophie Michaux, mezzo-soprano
Christina English, mezzo-soprano
Megan Roth, mezzo-soprano
Stephanie Kacoyanis, alto
Emily Marvosh, alto
Pre-concert talk with Gillian Hurst, 7 PM
GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY GARTH AND LINDSAY GREIMANN
PORTUM IN ULTIMO
Idem Ato
Codex Calixtinus (ca. 1160-1173, Spain)
RITE MAJOREM JACOBUM CANAMUS ARTIBUS
Guillaume Du Fay (1397-1474)
QUI PATRIS ATRIS HONORIS/PARACLITE SPIRITUS
Torino Manuscript (Cyprus, 15 c.)
Torino: Biblioteca Nazionale s.J.11.9
POUR CE QU POINT FU DE LA AMERE ESPINE /
A TOI VIERGE ME REPRESENTE
Torino Manuscript
O PROLES HISPANIAE / O SIDUS HISPANIAE
Guillaume Du Fay
APOSTOLO GLORIOSO
Guillaume Du Fay
LOVE FAIL EXCERPTS
David Lang (b. 1957)
I live in pain
head, heart
break #3
TSUKIMI*
Peter Gilbert (b. 1975)
:: intermission ::
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Corporate Partner
The program continues on the next page
36TH SEASON | ROCKPORT MUSIC :: 49
WEEK 4
the program
AFRICA
William Billings (1746-1800)
VERMONT
Dana Maiben (b. 1954)
SARO*
Joshua Shank (b. 1980)
RECONSTRUCTED*
Joshua Bornfield (b.1980)
Wrath (Battle Hymn of the Republic)
Brother, Sister, Mourner (Amazing Grace)
INMAN
Adam Jacob Simon (b. 1987)
RECONSTRUCTED*
Joshua Bornfield
Salvation (Song to the Lamb)
*Commissioned by Lorelei Ensemble, 2014
Please hold applause until the indicated breaks in the program.
Excerpted from an essay by Beth Willer, Lorelei Ensemble Founder and Artistic Director
Notes
on the
program
by
Beth Willer
PORTUM IN ULTIMO
Idem Ato
Codex Calixtinus (ca. 1160-1173, Spain)
Among the longest standing pilgrimage routes in the Western world is the “Camino de
Compostela” or “Way of Saint James.” The Codex Calixtinus (or Liber Sancti Jacobi/Book of
St. James) was compiled circa 1160-1175 as a guide for pilgrims travelling the route across
northern Spain to the Cathedral at Compostela. The fifth and final volume of the collection,
“The Guide of the Medieval Pilgrim” includes ethnographic accounts of the communities
along the Way, as well as some of the earliest examples of notated polyphony, such as
“Portum in ultimo.” This collection, utilizing early rhythmic notation, points the way to the
thirteenth-century polyphony of Leonin and Perotin at the Notre Dame Cathedral, less than
a century later.
IMPERMANENCE
The first half of Lorelei’s concert
program combines ancient and
contemporary repertoires, and Eastern
and Western philosophy and tradition.
Each work connects to concepts of
pilgrimage and (im)migration—the
movement of peoples—and the
Buddhist concept of impermanence.
–Beth Willer, Lorelei Ensemble Founder
and Artistic Director
April 2017
50 :: NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
RITE MAJOREM JACOBUM CANAMUS ARTIBUS
Guillaume Du Fay (1397-1474)
In the fifteenth century, Guillaume Du Fay composed his grand
isorhythmic motet “Rite Majorem Jacobum canamus artibus” for the
“cult of St. James” travelers to the Cathedral at Compostela. The dualtexted motet, intended as a “send off” for pilgrims departing on that
great journey, was stylistically old-fashioned for its time.
QUI PATRIS ATRIS HONORIS/PARACLITE SPIRITUS
POUR CE QU POINT FU DE LA AMERE ESPINE / A TOI VIERGE ME REPRESENTE
Torino Manuscript (Cyprus, 15 c.); Biblioteca Nazionale s.J.11.9
These two anonymous motets from the Torino Manuscript demonstrate the subtle variation
of a genre that develops simultaneously across geographical barriers. “Qui patris atris
honoris” and “Pour ce que point fu de la amere espine” were composed between 1413-1422
at the French court on Cyprus during the reign of King Janus. They are related in style to the
slightly later works of Du Fay.
The works from the Torino Manuscript possess a unique brilliance and an occasional
peculiarity—for example, a number of full triads, particularly at internal cadences. This was
a sonority becoming more popular in English polyphony of the same period. The un-texted
lower parts were most likely performed on instruments, but tonight we deliver these works
in a purely vocal texture.
Detail of a fifteenth-century
depiction of the Renaissance
Flemish composer
Guillaume Du Fay
(1397-1474)
O PROLES HISPANIAE / O SIDUS HISPANIAE
APOSTOLO GLORIOSO
Guillaume Du Fay
Du Fay continued to compose in his “archaic” style, as exemplified in “Apostolo Glorioso,”
alongside the composition of his more modern “cantilena” motets, such as “O proles
Hispaniae/O sidus Hispaniae.” These latter were known for their rhythmic, melodic, and
harmonic flexibility and freedom, unencumbered by a pre-existing cantus firmus, and
obligated to no recurring pattern of pitch or rhythm. The resulting music is highly expressive.
LOVE FAIL EXCERPTS
David Lang (b. 1957)
I live in pain
head, heart
break #3
David Lang’s Love Fail is a concert-length work, recounting the story of Tristan and Isolde.
He has described his motivation to intertwine multiple tellings of that great love story:
I thought I might learn something about love if I could explore this in a piece, putting
details abstracted from many different retellings of Tristan and Isolde next to texts that
are more modern, more recognizable to us, more real.
The texts of these three excerpts from Love Fail derive from a variety of sources: “I live in
pain” from a twelfth-century female troubadour, Comtessa de Dia; “head, heart” from the
contemporary American poet Lydia Davis; and “break #3” an excerpt from the Yom Kippur
liturgy after Thomas of Britain. These three movements serve as the emotional and musical
core of the extended work, expressing simple yet deep emotions of hurt, loss, and strength.
Each grapples with the limitations of human understanding. The composer’s minimalist
language leaves these striking texts bare and exposed, honest and vulnerable—punctuated
by poignant silences that invite emotional participation and personal meditation.
36TH SEASON | ROCKPORT MUSIC :: 51
TSUKIMI
Peter Gilbert (b. 1975)
Notes
on the
program
by
Beth Willer
(Commissioned by Lorelei Ensemble, 2014)
Peter Gilbert’s Tsukimi (“Moon Viewing”), weaves together Japanese waka poetry and
unrecognizable melodies drawn from the Torino Manuscript. Gilbert vividly paints each
miniature text with distinct texture. Sinuous melodies, pointillist gestures, bent pitches
(quarter-tones and glissandi), improvisatory rhythm, and dynamic pitch collections work
together to create an ever-evolving texture. Each of the eight movements features a different
soloist in the ensemble, dependent upon their individual artistry to shape the text.
AFRICA
William Billings (1746-1800)
William Billings and his colonial contemporaries sought a new American style that was
distinct from Western classical models. Contention is heard in the raw harmonic language
and reckless voice-leading of his hymns and anthems. Billings’s extensive output primarily
utilizes texts of his contemporaries—local poets (particularly the fiery words of evangelist
Isaac Watts, credited with 750 hymns), alterations of biblical verse in the vernacular, and
even his own poetry. Through the publication of six collections in this new “American” style,
Billings showed his commitment to the cultivation of a vibrant culture of group singing in
America. Händel-ian figures and imitative textures in his “fuguing tunes” subtly bow to
European tradition, while the texts, notation, and performance practices
RECONSTRUCTED
(voluntary octave doubling, free folk-like ornamentation, and strident vocal
production) were wholly contemporary. Living in Boston, and working
The second half of Lorelei’s program
includes excerpts from its recent
alongside figures such Samuel Adams and Paul Revere (Revere engraved
album, Reconstructed: A New Americana.
Billings’s New England Psalm Singer in 1770), Billings was driven by both
To define an “American” aesthetic, or
philosophy and place. Qualities of optimism and resilience in American
any national aesthetic for that matter,
music certainly found their roots here, among revolutionaries.
is to bind our artistry to a place and
its people. Seeking personal identity
within a specific reality or community
is particularly hard to pin down with
any certainty in a nation of increasing
diversity. What remains constant in
American musical language is a certain
melodic optimism caught amidst
harmonic and/or rhythmic contention.
There is inherently a struggle, most
often dressed in sentiments of revolution,
defiance, or victory. The thread of
migration and impermanence remains,
as early-American and contemporary
works alike tell and re-tell the story of
a rebellious and fearless nation of
immigrants, founded on principle of
liberty and justice for all.
–Beth Willer, Lorelei Ensemble Founder
and Artistic Director
April 2017
52 :: NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
VERMONT
Dana Maiben (b. 1954)
Contemporary “shape-note” tunes on this program by Adam Jacob
Simon (“Inman”) and Dana Maiben (“Vermont”), are rooted in this early
musical tradition as preserved by Northern Harmony—a contemporary
ensemble based in Vermont. Maiben’s optimistic tune adopts the
progressive spiritual voice of Emily Dickinson, and is arranged here
for Lorelei from its original SATB version.
SARO
Joshua Shank (b. 1980)
(Commissioned by Lorelei Ensemble, 2014)
“Saro” is Joshua Shank’s setting of the English folk tune “Pretty
Saro,” thought to have originated in the 1700s and “rediscovered” in
the Appalachian Mountains in the early 20th century. Its lyrics have
been altered, but the subject remains: love lost through separation.
The composer has written:
Singers would often tailor their renditions to local customs or their own life
experiences and, in the various interpretations of the story, there are many different
descriptions of who Saro is. Sometimes she is a sister, sometimes she is lover. [The
singer]—be it man or woman—has lost a love which sustained them in an incredibly
profound way…[The tune suggests to me] the experience of a person immigrating to
the United States and what it must have been like for them to leave someone they
loved thousands of miles away…from immigrants processing through Ellis Island in
1905 to a Hispanic boy in 2014 wearing a t-shirt that says “Don’t Deport My Mom,”
it’s clear that sometimes things still don't go the way we want them to. In this moment,
our lives are defined by one heartbreaking event: saying goodbye.
Cover of sheet music for the
1882 publication of “Battle
Hymn of the Republic”
RECONSTRUCTED
Joshua Bornfield (b.1980)
Wrath (Battle Hymn of the Republic)
Brother, Sister, Mourner (Amazing Grace)
(Commissioned by Lorelei Ensemble, 2014)
Joshua Bornfield’s Reconstructed is a stirring and progressive contemporary statement,
based on five explicitly sacred tunes: three from the 19th century Sacred Harp songbook
(“Mercy Seat,” “Amazing Grace,” and “Song to the Lamb”), and two popularized during the
Tent Revival movement in the Reconstruction era. Bornfield preserves the historical context
of these tunes and texts, while opening them up to modern perspective.
“Wrath,” drawn from Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” intentionally lacks
the chorus (“Glory, glory, hallelujah!”). We are left with simple philosophy and the glorification
of war. “Brother, Sister, Mourner” comes from a version of “Amazing Grace” written by
R.F.M. Mann.
INMAN
Adam Jacob Simon (b. 1987)
Like “Vermont,” “Inman” is a contemporary shape-note tune, set by Adam Jacob Simon to a
poem by Isaac Watts. His contemporary, simple harmonies are subtly stirring.
RECONSTRUCTED
Joshua Bornfield
Salvation (Song to the Lamb)
“Salvation,” is the movement that owes the most to its source material (“Song to the Lamb,”
author unknown). Though its text has connections with the Agnus Dei [Lamb of God], the
closing line of the last verse is passive, opting for personal evangelical fulfillment rather
than asking heaven to provide a communal blessing. “Salvation” makes no attempt to
undermine the listener’s expectation for what ought to happen, except that the tension
generated at the end of the piece is not released within its own confines. The listeners must
resolve that tension by themselves.
36TH SEASON | ROCKPORT MUSIC :: 53