The King's Singers | Angels and Demons

Performances

12. July / Saturday / 21:30h

Rector's Palace Atrium

Artists

The King's Singers

Angels and Demons

Find a Christian church anywhere, and you will likely find four figures represented in its architecture, artwork and iconography. Angels, doing God’s work on Earth and guarding over humanity; Demons, the representation of all evil and temptation at play in the world; the Virgin Mary, the figure of purity, perfection and humility; and Christ, the Son of God whose life and teaching sits at the centre of the Christian faith. Using these four symbols and also Geoffrey Poole’s dramatic Wyndomham Chants (1970) as our guide, Angels and Demons collects together extraordinary choral music written over 500 years, to explore both the light and the darkness of the human experience, and its potent symbolism in Christianity.

PROGRAMME:

Angels

William Byrd Haec dies

Geoffrey Poole Prologue: Ave rex angelorum (from Wymondham Chants)

Demons

Geoffrey Poole Scherzo:Tutivillus (from Wymondham Chants)

Arvo Pärt Zwei Beter

William Byrd Miserere mei Deus

Mother

Judith Bingham Ave virgo sanctissima

G.P da Palestrina Regina Caeli

Geoffrey Poole Prayer: Mary Modyr (from Wymondham Chants)

Son

Hans Leo Hassler Cantate Domino

Hildegard von Bingen O Euchari

Geoffrey Poole Epilogue: Blessed Jesu (from Wymondham Chants)

MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAMME:

Notes by Dina Puhovski

The King’s Singers built their programme around the theme of Angels and Demons. They say that they were inspired by the four figures found in Christian churches: ‘Angels, doing God’s work on Earth and guarding over humanity; Demons, the representation of all evil and temptation at play in the world; the Virgin Mary, the figure of purity, perfection and humility; and Christ, the Son of God, whose life and teaching sits at the centre of the Christian faith.’ The programme Angels and Demons collects together extraordinary choral music written over the past 500 years and explores ‘both the light and the darkness of the human experience, and its potent symbolism in Christianity.’

The first part of the concert is divided into four sections: Angels, Demons, Mother, Son. In each we find a part from Geoffrey Poole’s Wymondham Chants, from 1970, which serve as a guide through the programme, or a kind of anchor. Geoffrey Poole (Ipswich, 1949) is an English composer with over a hundred works. In his youth he was self-taught, then studied at the University of East Anglia and at Southampton University, with Jonathan Harvey and Alexander Goehr. He taught in Manchester and Bristol. His early Nonet attracted the attention of The King’s Singers, who commissioned him to compose Wymondham Chants.

Poole was inspired by the ruins of Wymondham Abbey in Norfolk. In this work, he set medieval texts to music – four texts, which he divided into a Prologue (Ave, rex angelorum – Hail, King of Angels), a Scherzo (Tutivillus – a demon said to introduce errors into the work of scribes), a Prayer (Mary Modyr – Mother Mary) and an Epilogue (Blessed Jesu – Blessed Jesus). His composing is influenced by early music, but also by more recent composers, for example Britten and Penderecki, with percussive vocal effects, dynamic range and mixing of languages (macaronic form): according to the composer, in Wymondham Chants ‘four medieval macaronics are treated to a process of imaginary completion in a style fusing the 14th and 20th century’.

The English composer William Byrd (London, ~1540 – Stondon Massey, 1623) is credited with developing the English madrigal, and he also wrote numerous works for keyboard instruments. He trained as an organist at Lincoln Cathedral and a singer at the Chapel Royal. In the six-part Haec dies, he set to music a part of Psalm 118, opening with ‘This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!’, from the Anglican Easter liturgy; it is believed that Byrd was inspired by the case of Edmund Campion, a Jesuit priest who was persecuted and executed, and that the piece represents Campion’s arrival in heaven. The second part of the concert, Demons, features another one of his works, the five-part Miserere mei Deus – Have mercy on me, God – a prayer for mercy, with special musical emphasis on the words iniquitiatem (iniquity) and misericordiam (mercy).

Before Byrd’s prayer, in the Demons chapter, the ensemble returns to Poole, and then performs Zwei Beter (Two Praying Men). Estonian postmodernist Arvo Pärt (Paide, 1935) wrote it in 1998 for the Hanover Girls Choir, based on the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican from the Gospel of Luke – the Pharisee and the Publican are presented with contrasting musical material, and the complex vocal texture culminates with Christ’s words: ‘All those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’

The third part of the programme, entitled Mother, begins with a piece by a female composer. Judith Bingham (Nottingham, 1952), a mezzo-soprano, was a long-time member of the BBC Singers. In addition to numerous vocal works, including seven Missa Brevis, she has written concertos for bassoon, oboe, trumpet, tuba; orchestral and chamber music, works for organ and for wind ensembles. Ave Virgo Sanctissima – Hail, most holy Virgin – was written in 2011, commissioned by St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Los Angeles, to texts by Prudentius, St Ambrose and an anonymous author. Pianist and author Kathryn Louderback described the piece as ‘gorgeously dissonant’.

The next piece, the Marian antiphon Regina caeli (or coeli) – Queen of Heaven, is also dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was written by Giovanni Pierluigi (Palestrina, 1525 – Rome, 1594), who added the designation of his birthplace, da Palestrina, to his name, and also signed himself Praenestino, after the region of origin. The author of more than a hundred masses and more than 200 motets and madrigals, Palestrina was one of the most important composers of the 16th century. He continued to develop polyphonic techniques of the Franco-Flemish School and wrote works that were considered the ideal of Catholic musical expression in the post-Tridentine period.

Cantate Domino is another setting of a psalm on tonight’s program, in this case Psalm 96, which begins with the lines ‘Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth!’ It was composed by Hans Leo Hassler (Nuremberg, 1564 – Frankfurt, 1612), who came from a musical family and was one of the first German musicians to receive musical education in Italy. After returning from Venice, he applied Italian style and forms to his compositions and taught others. He was also an organist and advisor to organ builders. He published canzonets, motets, masses and songs, and left manuscripts with instrumental music.

In the fourth part of this review of vocal music, entitled Son, we will hear the work of another female composer, Hildegard von Bingen (Böckelheim, 1098 – Rupertsberg near Bingen, 1179), or St Hildegard: the antiphon O Euchari in leta via ambulasti, or, ‘O Eucharius, you walked a joyous road when you stayed with the Son of God’. Saint Eucharius was the first bishop of Trier, in the 3rd century. Hildegard von Bingen was proclaimed Doctor of the Church (doctor ecclesiae universalis) in 2012, as one of only four women with that title, with a total of 37 saints who, according to the Catholic Church, have contributed greatly to theology and doctrinal teaching. She is the patron saint of musicians, writers and ecologists.

She was exceptionally active in many fields, a Benedictine nun, visionary mystic, herbalist, author and composer. She became prioress of the Disibodenberg monastery, and, wanting greater independence, established a new convent, in Rupertsberg. In the work Scivias, she listed her visions; she also wrote poems, treatises on nature, health, and medicinal herbs. Her work Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations) is a collection of 77 songs set to her own texts.

After the selection of sacred music in the first part of the concert, in the second part, The King’s Singers will perform a selection from their album Close Harmony, containing pop and rock songs and popular standards, adapted to the ensemble’s vocal expression.