ENGLISH BAROQUE SOLOISTS

Sunday, June 15, 2014 3:00 p.m. Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall Princeton University Judith and William Scheide in partnership with the present MONTEVERDI CHOIR ENGLISH BAROQUE SOLOISTS Sir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor J.S. Bach Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, Motet BWV 225 Christ lag in Todesbanden, Cantata BWV 4 ~ intermission ~ G.F. Handel Dixit Dominus, HWV 232

SIR JOHN ELIOT GARDINER (c) Chris Christodoulou Founder and artistic director of the Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner is one of the most versatile conductors of our time. The extent of Gardiner s repertoire is illustrated by over 250 recordings for major record companies and numerous international awards. In recognition of his work, Sir John Eliot Gardiner has received several international prizes and honorary doctorates; he is an Honorary Fellow of King s College London and the Royal Academy of Music, and a Visiting Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1990 and a Knight Bachelor in the 1998 Queen s Birthday Honours List. He received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2005, and was made Chevalier de la Légion d Honneur in 2010. In 2013 he won the Critics Circle s Outstanding Musician award. He was recently appointed president of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, and his long-awaited book on Bach, Music in the Castle of Heaven, was published by Penguin in 2013. He appears regularly with leading symphony orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Royal Concertgebouw, Bayerischer Rundfunk and Orchestre National de France. Formerly artistic director of the Opéra de Lyon (1983-88), he later conducted staged productions in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet (Gluck Orphée and Alceste, Weber Oberon, Verdi Falstaff and Berlioz Les Troyens), and the Opéra Comique (Carmen, Pelléas et Mélisande, Chabrier L Etoile, and the Weber-Berlioz Le Freyschütz) with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Acknowledged as a key figure in the early music revival, he has led his own ensembles in a number of ambitious large-scale tours including a year-long Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, in 2000, to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer s death in 1750. Most recently in 2013 he performed with them in a nine-hour Bach Marathon at the Royal Albert Hall. 2 3

MONTEVERDI CHOIR Under the patronage of HRH the Prince of Wales (c) Massimo Gianelli The Monteverdi Choir, founded in 1964, is famous for its passionate, committed and virtuosic singing. Over the past 50 years, it has been consistently acclaimed as one of the best choirs in the world, noted for its ability to switch composer, language and idiom with complete stylistic conviction. an exciting new dimension to its profile. The Choir has over 150 recordings to its name and has won numerous prizes. It regularly participates in staged opera productions, including recently Le Freyschütz (Weber), L Etoile (Chabrier) and Carmen (Bizet) at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Last year, the Choir took part in a variety of projects across different repertoires from Beethoven Missa Solemnis to a nine-hour Bach Marathon at the Royal Albert Hall. It collaborated with both the London Symphony Orchestra (Stravinsky Oedipus Rex) and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Schumann Manfred). Engagements in the Choir s 50th anniversary season have included performances of Monteverdi s Vespers of 1610 in Cambridge (UK), Barcelona, and Versailles; and currently an extensive European tour of Handel s Dixit Dominus. Among a number of trail-blazing tours, the most ambitious was the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, during which they performed all 198 of J.S. Bach s sacred cantatas in more than 60 churches throughout Europe, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the composer s death. The entire project was recorded and released by the company s record label, Soli Deo Gloria. It was hailed as one of the most ambitious musical projects of all times by Gramophone magazine. The Choir is also a fertile training ground for future generations of choral and solo singers: Choir members often step out to sing solo parts, and many former choristers have gone on to spectacular solo careers. Since 2007, the Monteverdi Apprenticeship Programme has added 4 5

ENGLISH BAROQUE SOLOISTS Under the patronage of HRH the Prince of Wales (c) Massimo Gianelli The English Baroque Soloists have long been established as one of the world s leading period instrument orchestras. Throughout their repertoire, ranging from Monteverdi to Mozart and Haydn, they are equally at home in chamber, symphonic and operatic repertoire and the distinctive sound of their warm and incisive playing is instantly recognisable. The English Baroque Soloists are regularly involved in projects along with the Monteverdi Choir, with whom they famously took part in the trailblazing Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, performing all of Bach s sacred cantatas throughout Europe. Most recently, they joined forces again in a Bach Marathon event at the Royal Albert Hall, and collaborated on recordings and tours of Bach Motets (2011) and Ascension Cantatas (2012), both of which reached no. 1 in the UK classical charts. The ensemble has performed at many of the world s most prestigious venues including La Scala in Milan, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Sydney Opera House. In the course of the 1990s they performed Mozart s seven mature operas and recorded all Mozart s mature symphonies and his complete piano concerto cycle. Their recent recordings of the Brandenburg Concerti and Mozart Symphonies 39 & 41 were released by the Monteverdi ensemble s own record label, Soli Deo Gloria. Recent performances in 2013 have included a series of Bach concerts together with the Monteverdi Choir St. John Passion, B Minor Mass, Easter and Ascension Oratorios, and more. In 2014, following concerts of the Monteverdi Vespers 1610 in Cambridge (UK), Versailles and Barcelona to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Monteverdi Choir, they will perform Handel s Dixit Dominus at several summer festivals. 6 7

MONTEVERDI CHOIR SOPRANO Emily Armour Charlotte Ashley Esther Brazil Zoe Brown Alison Hill Katy Hill Angela Kazimierczuk Gwendolen Martin Eleanor Meynell Chloe Morgan Emilia Morton Katie Thomas ALTO Heather Cairncross Rory McCleery Eleanor Minney Richard Wyn Roberts Kate Symonds Joy Gordon Waterson TENOR Andrew Busher Guy Cutting Peter Harris Nicholas Keay Nicolas Robertson Michael Solomon Williams BASS Thomas Appleton Alexander Ashworth Christopher Borrett Samuel Evans Rupert Reid Lawrence Wallington ENGLISH BAROQUE SOLOISTS VIOLIN Kati Debretzeni, concertmaster Davina Clarke Huw Daniel Emily Dupere Ingrid Lindström Jean Paterson Rodolfo Richter Beatrice Scaldini James Toll Oliver Webber Håkan Wikström Hildburg Williams VIOLA Annette Isserlis Fanny Paccoud Aliye Cornish John Crockatt Maria Ramirez Rodriguez Malgorzata Ziemkiewicz CELLO Robin Michael Catherine Rimer Kinga Gaborjani Poppy Walshaw DOUBLE-BASS Valerie Botwright Robert Nairn* KEYBOARDS Oliver-John Ruthven LUTE David Miller *guest artist 8 9

JUDITH & WILLIAM SCHEIDE instrumental ensemble that performed and recorded for 34 years. Renowned for his interest in and collection of rare books, Bill is the owner of the Scheide Library, now housed in Firestone Library at Princeton University, which contains books and manuscripts that he, his grandfather, William T. Scheide, and his father, John H. Scheide (Class of 1896) acquired. The Scheide Library holds copies of the first four Bibles ever printed; materials on the invention and history of printing; books and manuscripts on the early voyages to the Americas; and musical manuscripts of J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, and many others. (c) Stephen Krencicki William Scheide believes that each member of the human family deserves a free and enlightened life. Musician, philanthropist and humanitarian, Bill s life-long support of the arts, education, civil rights, health, and poverty relief programs expresses this belief. Born in Philadelphia on January 6, 1914, Bill is the only child of John Hinsdale Scheide and Harriet Hurd. He grew up in a household passionate about music, culture, rare books and the well-being of humanity. His father played the piano, and his mother sang. At age 6, Bill began piano lessons, and his passion for music has not diminished. A Bach scholar who majored in history at Princeton (Class of 1936) because there was no music department, he then earned an M.A. in music at Columbia in 1940. He was the first American to be published in the Bach Jahrbuch, a journal of Bach scholarship. In 1946, Bill founded and directed the Bach Aria Group, a vocal and 10 11

Judith Scheide is the president of the Scheide Fund, a philanthropic organization that has touched the lives of people from all walks of life all over the world. For 17 years she worked at Princeton University, planning and running campaign events and later fundraising for classes. Previously, she was an educator in the Upper Freehold Regional Schools, the Princeton Regional Schools, and the Minneapolis school system. She taught at the Wilmington Montessori School and founded the elementary program there. She serves on the advisory council for the Democratic National Committee, advisory board for Organizing for Action, the Dryden Ensemble, McCarter Theatre, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Center for Theological Inquiry. She has served on numerous other boards and committees, including the American Montessori Society, The Arts Council of Princeton, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and is the past president of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization. A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, Judith received her bachelor s degree from the University of St. Catherine and her master s degree in English literature from the University of Minnesota. (c) Paul Burns Judith Scheide, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and HRH the Prince of Wales celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Monteverdi Choir at Buckingham Palace. 12 13

With a collecting history that extends back to the 1750s, the Princeton University Art Museum is one of the leading university art museums in the country, with collections that have grown to include over 92,000 works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary art and spanning the globe. Committed to advancing Princeton s teaching and research missions, the Art Museum also serves as a gateway to the University for visitors from around the world. Intimate in scale, yet expansive in scope, the Museum offers a respite from the rush of daily life, a revitalizing experience of extraordinary works of art, and an opportunity to delve deeply into the study of art and culture. The Princeton University Art Museum is located at the heart of the Princeton campus, a short walk from the shops and restaurants of Nassau Street. Admission is free. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays. 14 15

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, Motet BWV 225 J.S. Bach portrait by E.G. Haußmann, 1748. (William Scheide - Princeton, NJ) Though they lived nearly 200 years apart, Martin Luther and J.S. Bach both endured public and private struggles with doubt and fear, faith and disbelief in life s pilgrimage. And for both, these spiritual tensions gave birth to unprecedented inventiveness. The motet and cantata featured on today s program provide a nexus for the expression of these themes in Luther and Bach s words and music. Indeed, the biblical stories detailed in these works the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt and the New Testament drama of Christ s Crucifixion were intricately connected for Luther. The ancient customs of spring sacrifice, Passover, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread matured into the modern Christian ritual of the Eucharist, where the believer is called upon to become a character in the play of redemption, casting aside his doubts and meeting the ephemeral Christ in tangible form. Bach s motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied depicts the Old Testament celebration when Miriam, sister of Moses, led the Hebrew women to the men of Israel in their song of thanksgiving upon their liberation from Egypt. And yet, Bach explores through dance-inspired gestures and fleet-footed fugal subjects the prominent feature of dance in Exodus s description of the Hebrew celebration. The first section of the motet peaks with the collective effervescence of Israel s rejoicing, before Miriam and her maidens step forward to lead the fugal dance at Die Kinder Zion. Brilliantly, Bach sets the Singet! motto to the imitative effusion heard at the outset of the piece, now cast as a funky, offbeat commentary to his four-part fugue. Music and dance were of course once considered inseparable in early Christian worship. Although such rituals were snuffed out during centuries of medieval church reform, Luther provided legitimacy for Bach s baroque version of a danced religion in the motet when, in accepting the legitimacy of country customs, he argued so long as [they are] done decently, I respect the rites and customs of weddings... and I dance anyway! And so it is in keeping with Lutheran theology that after the religioso middle section in which Bach juxtaposes phrases of four-part chorale harmonisation with lyrical, rhapsodic text setting, the third section of the work erupts suddenly into jubilant celebration with dance allusions. The eight voices converge on a more uniform four on Alles, was Odem hat, and out of the hurly-burly the united basses of both choirs begin a delicate passepied. Several episodes follow in quick succession, each with expectations of an imminent conclusion. And yet, it is not until the sopranos strive to a high B-flat before the motet draws to its conclusion. 16 17

Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, die Gemeine der Heiligen sollen ihn loben. Israel freue sich des, der ihn gemacht hat. Die Kinder Zion sei n fröhlich über ihrem Könige, sie sollen loben seinen Namen im Reihen; mit Pauken und mit Harfen sollen sie ihm spielen. Wie sich ein Vater erbarmet Gott, nimm dich ferner unser an, über seine junge Kinderlein, so tut der Herr uns allen, so wir ihn kindlich fürchten rein. Er kennt das arm Gemächte, Gott weiß, wir sind nur Staub, denn ohne dich ist nichts getan mit allen unsern Sachen. gleichwie das Gras vom Rechen, ein Blum und fallend Laub! Der Wind nur drüber wehet, so ist es nicht mehr da, Drum sei du unser Schirm und Licht, und trügt uns unsre Hoffnung nicht, so wirst du s ferner machen. also der Mensch vergehet, sein End, das ist ihm nah. Wohl dem, der sich nur steif und fest auf dich und deine Huld verlässt. Die Gottesgnad alleine Gott nimmt sich ferner unser an, steht fest und bleibt in Ewigkeit, bei seiner lieben G meine, die steht in seiner Furcht bereit, die seinen Bund behalten. Er herrscht im Himmelreich. denn ohne ihn ist nichts getan mit allen unsern Sachen. Ihr starken Engel, waltet sein s Lobs und dient zugleich dem großen Gott zu Ehren und treibt sein heilig s Wort! Drum sei er unser Schirm und Licht, und trügt uns unsre Hoffnung nicht, so wird er s ferner machen. Mein Seel soll auch vermehren sein Lob an allem Ort. Wohl dem, der sich nur steif und fest auf dich und deine Huld verlässt. Lobet den Herrn in seinen Taten, lobet ihn in seiner großen Herrlichkeit! Alles, was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn. Halleluja! Sing unto the Lord a new song, the congregation of saints shall praise him. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him. The children of Sion shall rejoice in their king, they shall praise his name with dancing, and they shall play to him with drums and harps. As a father takes pity God, continue to take care of us, on his own young children, so does the Lord pity us all, if we fear him like pure children. He knows our poor estate, God knows that we are but dust, for without thee all human endeavour is nothing. Like grass that is reaped, the fading flower and falling leaf. The wind only has to blow over it, and it is there no more. Be therefore our shield and light, and if our hope does not deceive us, thou shalt continue to be so. Man thus passes away, and his end is near. Blessed is he who steadfastly relies on thee and thy grace. God s grace alone God continues to take care of us, is steadfast and lasts forever, with his dear congregation, that stands in fear of him and keeps his Testament. He reigns in the kingdom of heaven. for without him all human endeavour is nothing. You mighty angels hold sway, praise him and serve him, honour the great God, and obey his holy word. Let him therefore be our shield and light, and if our hope does not deceive us, he shall continue to be so. My soul shall also continue to praise him everywhere. Blessed is he who steadfastly relies on thee and thy grace. Praise the Lord for his mighty deeds, praise him according to his excellent greatness. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Alleluia! English translation by Richard Stokes 18 19

Christ lag in Todesbanden, Cantata BWV 4 At the core of Bach s early exposure to Lutheran music and theology were the German chorales, many of which were newly composed or refashioned from existing melodies by Luther himself. The chorales served as a core medium for Luther s evangelical message. Consisting of simple melodies intended to encourage congregational singing, they enable the parishioner to give expression to the emotional tension between fear and hope, despair and trust, and the acceptance to fulfil one s baptism in the struggle with and conquest of death. Bach s cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden adapts a chorale melody and text composed by Martin Luther (who had himself borrowed the melody from the eleventh-century plainsong Victimae paschali laudes sung on Easter Sunday). The chorale appears in its purest form in the final movement, but the melody threads throughout the cantata. Music and text bring the events of Christ s Passion and Resurrection vividly to life, depicting both the physical and the spiritual ordeals Christ underwent in order to bring about man s release from the burden of sin. Bach begins the cantata by uprooting the very first two notes of Luther s chorale tune from their Dorian mode by introducing a sharp that creates a falling half-step, a musical motif that readily expresses sorrow. Already in the third bar of the sombre opening Sinfonia he fixates on these two notes and only at the third attempt does the first full line of the hymn s melody emerge. This half step motif becomes the seminal melodic interval of the entire composition. It was a radical move provocative even for a young composer to dare to alter the melodic contours of this age-old tune, hallowed by Luther s well-known setting. With the entry of the choir in verse one the hymn tune is chiselled out of the dense contrapuntal heartwood of this imposing choral fantasia. The violins exchange the breathless suspiratio or sighing figuration to reflect Christ s suffering in the grip of death before erupting into an alla breve conclusion on the text Hallelujah. The mood of unbridled joy that concludes the first verse is short-lived however. In the second verse Luther s poetry evokes the time when death held humanity captive. Twice the sopranos and altos fixate on a four-fold iteration of the word Tod (death). The familiar falling semitone fragment appears prominently in a grief-laden, rocking motion. On the word gefangen (imprisoned), the sopranos and altos lock into a simultaneous E/F-sharp dissonance. Even the final Halleluja is unremittingly sad and sunken in resignation. The spellbinding movement conveys humanity helpless and paralysed as it awaits God s judgement against sin. In a stark contrast of mood, the violins launch into verse three with an Italianate concerto-like variant of the chorale melody. As the tenors herald the coming of Christ and the overthrow of sin and death, Bach deploys the violins like a flail with which Christ slashes at the enemy. The continuo line is dispersed, plummeting down to a low E before the music comes to a complete stop on nichts (naught remained). The tenors slowly resume to depict the pale shadow of Death s mere form before giving way to a gleeful chortle of Hallelujas. The central stanza enacts the crucial contest between life and death. Bach seizes on the physicality of the contest: only the continuo provides instrumental support as groups of onlookers describe their reactions to 20 21

the seminal bout that will determine their fate. Three parts embark in a fugal stretto with entries just a beat apart, while the altos trumpet out the familiar chorale melody in deliberate tones. One by one the voices sputter the semitone motive on the text ein Spott (mockery): death has been turned into a joke, subject to the derision of the crowd. work concludes with Bach s four-part harmonisation of Luther s original chorale. Although Bach s original setting for the final verse has not survived, the performance tonight features a superbly rousing substitution he composed eighteen years later in Leipzig. The stark continuo that begins the fifth stanza presents a more introversive mood immediately marked by the descending chromatic line through the interval of a fourth. This gesture, known as a lament or ground bass, was a well-known gesture in the eighteenth century that, in Bach s hands, was synonymous with the recurrent image of the Crucifixion. Indeed, emblems of Christ s ordeal on the cross proliferate as Bach later on introduces another wellestablished gesture. On the text Kreuz (cross), the basses sustain a B until the accompaniment suddenly halts its harmonic movement. During this single bar of suspended animation, the basses move up to C-sharp and then down to A-sharp before returning to the B. This crossing over the staff position of B with pitches chromatically inflected by sharps was a commonly-invoked tool in Bach s musical theology. Finally, at the moment of profound anguish in which the text narrates the death of Christ on the cross ( dem Tod ), the basses plunge downwards by a diminished twelfth to a low E sharp. That, to all intents and purposes, concludes the drama, though not the musical delights. For the penultimate verse, set as a duet for sopranos and tenors with continuo, Bach gives us a tripping dance of unalloyed joy. The word Wonne (joy) is expressed in Purcellian roulades, the final Hallelujas exchanged in alternating triplets and duplets between the voices. The 22 23

1. Sinfonia 2. Versus I: Coro Christ lag in Todesbanden für unsre Sünd gegeben, er ist wieder erstanden und hat uns bracht das Leben; des wir sollen fröhlich sein, Gott loben und ihm dankbar sein und singen halleluja, halleluja! 3. Versus II: Sopran, Alt Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt bei allen Menschenkindern, das macht alles unsre Sünd, kein Unschuld war zu finden. Davon kam der Tod so bald und nahm über uns Gewalt, hielt uns in seinem Reich gefangen. Halleluja! 4. Versus III: Tenor Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn, an unser Statt ist kommen und hat die Sünde weggetan, damit dem Tod genommen all sein Recht und sein Gewalt, da bleibet nichts denn Tods Gestalt, den Stach l hat er verloren. Halleluja! 5. Versus IV: Coro Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg, da Tod und Leben rungen, das Leben behielt den Sieg, es hat den Tod verschlungen. Die Schrift hat verkündigt das, wie ein Tod den andern fraß, ein Spott aus dem Tod ist worden. Halleluja! 6. Versus V: Bass Hier ist das rechte Osterlamm, davon Gott hat geboten, das ist hoch an des Kreuzes Stamm in heißer Lieb gebraten, das Blut zeichnet unsre Tür, das hält der Glaub dem Tode für, der Würger kann uns nicht mehr schaden. Halleluja! 1. Sinfonia 2. Versus I Christ lay in the bonds of death, sacrificed for our sins. He has risen again and brought us life; for this we should rejoice, praise the Lord and give thanks and sing alleluia, alleluia! 3. Versus II No one could overcome Death amongst all mankind; this was all caused by our sins, no innocence could be found. Thus it was that Death came so soon and seized power over us, holding us captive in his kingdom. Alleluia! 4. Versus III Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come to our abode and cast all sin aside, thereby depriving Death of all his rights and strength. Naught but Death s mere form remained: he had lost his sting. Alleluia! 5. Versus IV It was an awesome battle when Death and Life struggled. Life won the victory and devoured Death; the scriptures foretold it so, how one death gobbled up the other and made a mockery of Death. Alleluia! 6. Versus V Here is the true Easter Lamb, that God has offered; high on the tree of the cross it was burned in ardent love. His blood marks our door, faith holds it up in the face of death, the strangler can no longer harm us. Alleluia! 24 25

7. Versus VI: Sopran, Tenor So feiern wir das hohe Fest mit Herzensfreud und Wonne, das uns der Herre scheinen lässt, er ist selber die Sonne, der durch seiner Gnade Glanz erleuchtet unsre Herzen ganz, der Sünden Nacht ist verschwunden. Halleluja! 8. Versus VII: Choral Wir essen und leben wohl in rechten Osterfladen, der alte Sauerteig nicht soll sein bei dem Wort der Gnaden, Christus will die Koste sein und speisen die Seel allein, der Glaub will keins andern leben. Halleluja! Text: Martin Luther 7. Versus VI So we celebrate with heartfelt joy and pleasure the High Feast that the Lord for us makes manifest. He is Himself the sun, who through the splendour of His grace fills our hearts with light: the night of sin has disappeared. Alleluia! 8. Versus VII We eat and fare well on the true unleavened Easter bread. The ancient leaven shall not be with us at this time of mercy: Christ shall be our food now, He alone shall feed the soul, faith would live on nothing else. Alleluia! English translation by Richard Stokes 26 27

GEORG FRIEDRICH HANDEL (1685-1759) Dixit Dominus, HWV 232 A German has arrived here in Rome, an excellent harpsichordist and composer. Today he showed his skill by playing the organ at the church of St John Lateran to universal admiration. almost as though this young composer, newly arrived in the land of virtuoso singers and players, was daring his hosts to greater and greater feats of virtuosity. The work is masterful for all its bold, naive assumptions that voices function like violins, and violins like the manuals of an organ, and it must have contributed to the astonishing success Handel gained in Italy. So runs the entry of a Roman diarist for 14 January 1707. This German musician was surely Handel, aged 22, drawn to Italy in quest of modern music and the creative freedom denied to him in the somewhat stifling atmosphere of north Germany. His three-and-a-half years in Italy turned out to be the decisive influence on Handel s life, as it was for so many of his northern compatriots. One thinks of another composer Heinrich Schütz, the painter Albrecht Dürer, or the poet Goethe, all of whom sought greater creative development south of the Alps. Each responded quite differently to his experience of Italy, but in every case it was her vitality, punctuated in vivid colours, landscape, art, music and architecture, that made its mark on these northern artists. Colour is immediately striking in Handel s Dixit Dominus, a Latin psalm-setting completed in Rome in April 1707. The score is laid out for five solo voices, five-part chorus and an orchestra (presumably of strings), also in five parts. It is in fact a grand concerto for all these forces, vocal and instrumental, and Handel is pitiless in the demands he makes of his musicians in the course of the eight movements: he requires energy and breadth, phenomenal agility and precision, declamatory vigour and a lyrical expressiveness. All this gives the psalm its feeling of ebullience and breathless exhilaration, 28 29

Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis. Donec ponam inimicos tuos, scabellum pedum tuorum. Virgam virtutis tuae emittet Dominus ex Sion: dominare in medio inimicorum tuorum. Tecum principium in die virtutis tuae in splendoribus sanctorum: ex utero ante luciferum genui te. Juravit Dominus, et non poenitebit eum: Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech. Dominus a dextris tuis : Confregit in die irae suae reges. Judicabit in nationibus, implebit ruinas, conquasabit capita in terra multorum. De torrente in via bibet: propterea exaltabit caput. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. The Lord said unto my Lord: Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy power out of Sion: be thou ruler, even in the midst of thine enemies. In the day of thy power shall people offer thee free-will offerings with an holy worship: the dew of thy birth is of the womb of the morning. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedek. The Lord upon thy right hand: Shall wound even kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies, and smite in sunder the heads over divers countries. He shall drink from the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up his head. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, and is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. *extracted from liner notes for albums SDG128, SDG716 and ERATO2292451362 **written by Sir John Eliot Gardiner; edited for this program by Dr. Johanna Frymoyer 30 31

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Mariam Nazarian, Producer Natasha D Schommer-Grant, Art Direction Chris Schommer, Layout & Design Anne O Neill, Scheide Fund Roma Bingham, Scheide Fund Albert Imperato, 21C Media Group Michael Piperno, Imbue Creative Joseph Mastrull, Prin-Tech Johanna Frymoyer, Princeton University Robin Broomer, Witherspoon Media Group Julia Soto, Joss and Jules Catering Linda Gilmore, Nassau Presbyterian Church Teri Noel Towe, WPRB Katherine Perez, WPRB David Osenberg, WWFM The Classical Network John K. Bleimaier, Law Offices of John Kuhn Bleimaier Marina Pushkareva, Law Offices of John Kuhn Bleimaier Sherwood T. Goodenough, Office of U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) PRINCETON UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM James Steward, Director Caroline Harris, Associate Director for Education Laura Hahn, Executive Assistant to the Director Karen Ohland, Associate Director for Finance and Operations Curtis Scott, Associate Director for Publications and Communications Erin Firestone, Manager of Marketing and Public Relations Michael Brew, Manager of Financial and Personnel Operations Lisa Gratkowski, Financial Assistant MONTEVERDI CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA Melanie Crompton, Chief Executive Gill Dixon, Artistic Administrator Nicola Ramsden, Acting Director of Development Helen Lewis, Tour Manager Cécile Pauty, Marketing and Label Manager Fanny Guesdon, Development Officer Michael Robson-Kiernan & Beverley Vong, Administrators James Halliday, Librarian Richard Fitzgerald, Stage Manager Julian Clarkson, Choir Manager Philip Turbett, Orchestra Manager Rodney Fenner, Finance Katerina Kanavaki, Marketing and Development Intern CAMPUS VENUE SERVICES Nick Robinson, Director, Campus Venue Services Kathleen Coughlin, Assistant Director, Performing Arts Services Mary Kemler, Assistant Director, Client Resources Gina Holland, Artist and Performance Manager Sharon Maselli, Audience Services Supervisor Bryan Logan, Production Manager, Performing Arts Services Jim Allington, Audio Engineer John Burton, Theater Operations Technician Bill Pierce, Theater Operations Technician 32 33

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