GLAD TIDINGS A Baroque Christmas

Transcription

1 Eloq uence GLAD TIDINGS A Baroque Christmas MONTEVERDI GABRIELI SCHÜTZ PURCELL PRAETORIUS HAMMERSCHMIDT BOUZIGNAC HASSLER Roger Norrington

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3 GLAD TIDINGS A Baroque Christmas HEINRICH SCHÜTZ ( ) 1 Hodie Christus natus est 5 58 HENRY PURCELL ( ) 2 Behold, I bring you glad tidings Paul Esswood, counter-tenor Ian Partridge, tenor Stafford Dean, bass ANONYMOUS 3 Soberana Maria 2 43 ANDREAS HAMMERSCHMIDT ( ) 4 Alleluja! Freuet euch, ihr Christen alle 3 44 Jack Irons, David Johnston, tenors Geoffrey Coleby, bass GUILLAUME BOUZIGNAC (c.1587-c.1643) 5 Noé! Pastores, cantata Domino 4 19 Hazel Holt, soprano GIOVANNI GABRIELI (c.1554/ ) 6 O magnum mysterium 4 34 HEINRICH SCHÜTZ ( ) 7 Ach Herr, du Schöpfer aller Ding 5 21 CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI ( ) 8 Christe, Redemptor 4 23 MICHAEL PRAETORIUS ( ) 9 Singt, ihr lieben Christen all 2 57 Hazel Holt, Maureen Keetch, sopranos

4 HANS LEO HASSLER ( ) 0 Angelus as pastores ait 3 27 London String Players (leader: Hugh Maguire) Philip Jones Brass Ensemble Camden Wind Ensemble Charles Spinks, organ Heinrich Schütz Choir Roger Norrington Total timing: 48 19

5 Historically, the earliest items presented here belong to the vague period of transition from late Renaissance to early Baroque, with its predilection for polychorality and the exploitation of spatial effects. Fittingly, Italy is represented by a motet for two choirs by Giovanni Gabrieli, who from 1585 to 1612 was maestro di cappella at St. Mark s, Venice, where the grandeur of the musical adornment of the liturgy achieved international fame. The motet O magnum mysterium employs antiphonal effects between a high choir (SAAB) and a low choir (ABarBB) culminating in an exuberant Alleluja. For this performance, woodwind and brass instruments support the high and low choirs respectively colla parte. A similar scheme obtains for the motet Angelus ad pastores ait by the South German composer, Hans Leo Hassler, a friend and almost direct contemporary of Giovanni Gabrieli and pupil of his uncle, Andrea Gabrieli. The message of the angel to the shepherds is first announced by the high choir (SSAT) and echoed by a five-part choir of classical dimensions (SATTB), both choirs joining the final nine-part Alleluja. The generation of German composers that began to flourish in the years spanning the 17th century was faced by the task of adapting techniques learned at first hand in Italy to the demands of Reformed worship. Of the leading exponents of advanced Italianate techniques was Michael Praetorius, who alone among major German composers of his era never actually studied in Italy as he repeatedly regretted. In its treatment of a familiar chorale melody the motet Singt, ihr lieben Christen all is thoroughly German. It is characterized by its simplicity as the tune is interwoven through the four soprano parts, supported in interjected tutti sections by the male voices. In the same year as Giovanni Gabrieli took up office at St. Mark s (1585), the greatest of his pupils, Heinrich Schütz, was born in Germany. Gabrieli was not slow to realize the talents of his pupil (the fruits of three years study being Schütz s Op. 1, the Italian Madrigals ) and a close relationship developed between teacher and student that remained apparent in the works of Schütz for a further 60 years. Of the two works by Schütz on this recording at least one of them, Hodie Christus natus est, is thought to derive from those crucial years under Gabrieli s tutelage ( ) and the Madrigale spirituale, Ach Herr, du Schöpfer aller Ding, written c.1620, is directly reminiscent of the daring, unpredictable harmonic progression of his Italian Madrigals. When Schütz returned to Venice in 1628 it is

6 possible that he studied this time under Claudio Monteverdi. It is conceivable that there was no contact between the two, though a highly personal relationship such as that between himself and Gabrieli clearly did not come about. The exciting solo concertato motets that inspired Schütz to publish in Venice his first collection of Symphoniae sacrae in 1629, are far removed from the utter serenity of the Himmus (sic) for the three part male voices, two violins and continuo Deus tuorum militum found in the Selva morale e spirituale of 1641, deriving its poise from the simple interplay between the vocal and instrumental lines. In keeping with Monteverdi s own directive the hymn has been adapted here to the words of the Christmas hymn, Christe, Redemptor omnium. Among Schütz s own pupils, Andreas Hammerschmidt has become associated with a popular style that is almost alien to the profundity and sophistication of his teacher s ideals of word-setting. The motet Alleluja! Freuet euch, ihr Christen alle from Hammerschmidt s fourth set of Musical Devotions (1644) is typical of his output exuberant and direct, with an unashamed predilection for parallel thirds. charming lullaby Soberana Maria from an anonymous collection of Romances y letras a tres vozes is its own best advocate. The scène sacrée Noé! Pastores, cantare Domino is by a composer, Guillaume Bouzignac, who deserves to be more widely known. Like Schütz, his output or at least that part of it that has survived is purely vocal. With the simplest of means this dialogue between Gabriel and the shepherds achieves an overall effect of ravishing beauty, ending with an appendix for the benefit of King Louis ( et pro Ludovico nostro ). The latest work is the Christmas anthem Behold, I bring you glad tidings, written c.1687 by Henry Purcell. The choice of composer is fitting, for Purcell s idiom represents the fusion of French, Italian and English styles. Yet the Purcell verseanthem is a thoroughly Anglican genre and the present work must rank as one of his finest, reminding us enviously of those happy days when such works were performed in England as they were intended and deserved to be with orchestral and not merely organ accompaniment. DECCA The popular style is further represented by works of French and Spanish origin. The

7 Recording producer: Michael Bremner Recording engineer: Michael Mailes Recording location: Holy Trinity Church, Kensington, London, UK, May-June 1968 Eloquence series manager: Cyrus Meher-Homji Art direction: Chilu Booklet editor: Bruce Raggatt

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