Last week Michael came across a post about an Advent Procession held at St Paul’s Cathedral on Sunday (with a repetition on Monday). It was listed as ‘One of the year’s most dramatic services’, and as Michael hadn’t been in the Cathedral before (you normally have to pay to visit…and I’ve been in it a couple of times for work) so he asked if I was interested. It was probably one of the first times (if not the first ) that Michael was the one pushing a religious activity, so who am I to argue?

So we arrive at the Cathedral, walking in with this whole throng of people: it definitely is a popular service! Luckily St Pauls is enormous, so it could easily seat us all .

The service started with the priests and the choir (I apologise in advance if anyone who is Church of England is reading this and I am using the wrong terminology…being Catholic that is the terminology I know, but I have already been told off once for saying mass not service O:)…so I apologise in advance if I offend anyone ) near the front door. With a service interspersed with readings and singing, the choir slowly made its way at intervals to the nave, then the transepts, then under the dome, and finally in the choir, with each step lights being lit in the new area, so that gradually the cathedral passed from a state of darkness to a state of light.

Being a regular church-goer when I was back home, I was never all that interested in going to a sung mass (mainly cos it made the service longer, and less interesting to me ). However, now that I am going less regularly, and also as mainly I end up going to a different denominational service rather than Catholic, I am starting to enjoy these services more, and appreciate the singing more than just something I need to wait out. In this case, having booklets with the words to be sung in Latin and an English translation was great…I could understand the words being sung (and could follow), and even more I was proud of myself that I could understand a great deal of the Latin…woohoo! (and no…I have never studied Latin, but it is sufficiently close to Italian and all the other bits and pieces I have learned from biology classes and from other services in Latin I have attended). There was only one hymn/song/anthem which I found VERY weird…the boys in the choir where in the transept singing what to me sounded very eerie, while a guy in the centre of the nave sung the melody…very eerie and weird in deed.

What did I think? I wouldn’t be all that excited if I was attending it every week . But it was really interesting for once a year (or once in a lifetime!). Certainly something to experience!

And here’s a video of us singing Kelly Tang’s She’s Out of My Life @ THREE Vol. 2. Tokyo, 2009. “A Contemporary Motet on a theme by Michael Jackson”. Commissioned by SYC in 2001. Lyrics and original melody by Tom Bahler.

Magali Léger est la soprano française qui monte. Repérée par le grand public grâce à une Victoire de la Musique Classique en 2002, elle a fait son chemin en interprêtant un répértoire de plus en plus large. De Schoenberg à Rameau, de classique en baroque, elle virevolte de sa voix de soprano léger et va de rôles en rôles, étonnant et charmant tous ses auditoires. Je vous en parle ici parce que son dernier disque est une splendeur ! ” Motetti e sonate da chiesa” reprend quelques chants sacrés de Haendel, un Gloria, un Salve Regina entre autres, à tomber à genoux ! Magali Léger a la voix d’un ange, agile, claire, ample et riche et fait tant et si bien qu’elle réveillerait des pulsions chrétiennes chez le plus matérialiste des agnostiques…en clair, il n’en faudrait pas beaucoup plus pour que je retourne à la messe ! Si vous voulez connaitre le frisson mystique, je vous conseille donc, non sans malice bande de mécréants, de vous procurer ” Motetti e sonate da chiesa” de Georg Friedrich Haendel par l’ensemble RosaSolis et Magali Léger, paru en 2009 chez Pavane Records.

Selama masa-masa awal sejarah kebaktian Kristen, gereja-gereja tersebar ke banyak negara di dalam Kekaisaran Roma. Tradisi musik yang sudah ada di dalam negara-negara tersebut tetap dipakai, sehingga musik gereja memiliki banyak variasi. Pada saat itu musik instrumental dihubungkan dengan iblis dan tari-tarian, oleh karena itu musik instrumental tidak diperbolehkan di dalam gereja. Satu-satunya yang diperbolehkan di dalam gereja adalah nyanyian. Pada abad ke-4 Bishop Ambrosius dari Milan memperkenalkan antifon  dan mendukung diciptakannya lagu-lagu hymn baru. Mazmur merupakan bagian yang penting dalam kebaktian Kristen mula-mula. Mazmur responsorial adalah mazmur yang dinyanyikan oleh satu orang (yang biasa disebut sebagai sang pembaca), dan jemaat merespon di akhir ayat dengan mengucapkan sesuatu yang sederhana seperti “Haleluya”.  Perlahan-lahan “mazmur antifonal” berkembang, dan masih dinyanyikan sampai saat ini di dalam Kathedral Anglikan.

Jenis musik yang biasa terdengar di dalam gereja Katolik disebut sebagai chant, yang biasa dikenal dengan nama “Gregorian chant”. Liriknya merupakan kata-kata yang biasa digunakan untuk liturgi. Kata-kata tersebut kemudian dimasukkan ke dalam musik oleh para komposer. Musik bagi orang mati disebut Requiem Mass. Hingga abad ke-16, organ hanya digunakan untuk mengiringi nyanyian. Pada periode Renaissance banyak komposer terkenal seperti Giovanni da Palestrina dan Orlande de Lassus  menciptakan musik polyphonic untuk gereja Katolik. Para komposer ini juga sering menulis motets.

Selama periode Reformasi, beberapa kelompok Protestan melepaskan diri dari gereja Katolik. Sejak masa itu Katolik dan Protestan memiliki perkembangan musik yang berbeda.

I have just come back from Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, where I attended a beautiful Concert of Classical Music. It was presented by Santa Cecilia Choir, of the Patriarchal Rachol Seminary. It was conducted by the young musician Father Romeu Monteiro.

The Chief Guest was The Archbishop of Goa, Msgr.Filipe Neri Ferrao. The Guests of  Honour were Dr.Pandurang Phaldesai, Member Secretary of Kala Academy and Adv.Carlos Alvares Ferreira, Ass.Sollicitor General, India.It started at 6.30 in the evening and lasted till 9.00. It was a pleasant evening. After Jana Gana Mana, the Rector of the Seminary welcomed the audience. The items were Prelude and Chorus from the Operetta “Onesimus”, Symphony no.38, “Prague”, of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Goan Motet: “Koxttovta jiv mhozo”, with the arrangement by Father Lourdino Barreto. Three musicans were felicitated: Mr.Jerry Fernandes, Fr.Bernardo Cota and Mr.Antonio Antao. The Chief Guest praised the efforts of Fr.Romeu to work for the classical music. There was Inflammatus from Stabat Mater dolorosa, of Gioachino Rossini, with soprano solo by Preethi Coutinho.

Although Mozart’s popularity among the Viennese waxed and waned, he was consistently popular among the Bohemians and had a devoted following in Prague. A piece appearing in the Prager Neue Zeitung shortly after Mozart’s death expresses this sentiment: “Mozart seems to have written for the people of Bohemia, his music is understood nowhere better than in Prague, and even in the countryside it is widely loved.” The Prague Symphony was written in gratitude for their high esteem.It was premiered in Prague on January 19, 1787.

Symphony no.38: Mozart wrote it in 1786. The early classical symphony of the 18th century would either have three movements or four (or one movement in three recognizable sections, like the 26th or the 32nd – the latter possibly intended for Zaide), the four-movement symphonies having a minuet in addition. By the time Mozart wrote his Prague symphony, however, the symphony was no longer a step away from the opera overture, no longer bound to this tradition, so that the symphony without a minuet could be, and was, similar in weight to his other symphonies, different mostly in the lack of that minuet and not in overall specific gravity.

The Prague Symphony was scored for full orchestra with the notable absence of clarinets but with the powerful backing of timpani and trumpets.

The work has the following three movements:

1. Adagio—Allegro D major. Sonata form, preceded by introduction Adagio. 4/4
2. Andante G major. Sonata form. 6/8
3. Finale (Presto) D major.

The first movement begins with an Adagio introduction, which is atypical for Mozart — he only does this in two of his other symphonies, No. 36 (“Linz”) and No. 39. The introduction gives way to the main portion of the movement, in which six melodies are developed and recapitulated in a very contrapuntal example of sonata-allegro form.

The second movement’s structure is not far removed from one in a typical Mozart symphony dating around this period although the music veers off into the minor-key in a movement of contrasting moods. Though it is structurally similar, harmonically it is unstable (as another G major slow movement, that of the 16th piano concerto, had been earlier and for somewhat similar reasons), and there are several polyphonic surprises.

The third movement is an exuberant piece where the flute plays a prominent role in balancing the main melody in the development section.

Inflammatus from Stabat Mater by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868). Stabat Mater is a hymn in honour of Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross. The “Analecta” text, which Rossini used, has 20 verses. He set it to music by suppressing them into 10 verses. Inflammatus is the 18th verse of the text and 6th verse of Rossini’s composition for Aria (Soprano Solo), Coro and Orchestra.

Koxttovta by Maestro Lourdino Barreto is a traditional Goan motet set to polyphonic choral music accompanied by a string ensemble with clarinets.

Salve Regina is a traditional Latin Marian Hymn. Lourdino Barreto arranged the traditional melody for four Soloists, Choir and Orchestra. It was premiered at the closing of the Marian Year in 1988 and is noted for its complicated polyphonic and contrapuntal arrangements.

Fr.Aleixo Menezes gave the vote of thanks. The last item was salve Regina, by Lourdino Barreto, with soprano solo by Melvy Afonso, alto solo by Sarojini Sardinha, tenor solo by Valentine Dom Paulo Andrade, and bass solo by Jean da Cruz Fernandes.

It is encouraging to hold such concerts of classical music in Goa. Our Youth should be trained and channelled into this type of harmony of life…

D’Antonio Vivaldi, bien sûr.

Aquest diumenge el cor Madrigal ofereix el primer concert de la temporada, a Castellar del Vallès, amb un programa rico rico, y con fundamento una primera part variada a capella, i tres motets de Bach a la segona part, amb acompanyament instrumental. El meu primer concert com a plantilla del cor…

Avui l’assaig ha estat fantàstic. És increïble poder fer aquesta música així de ben feta, en tots els sentits! Per a mi personalment, que tinc l’aria final del Komm, Jesu Komm al cap des que el vaig conéixer ara ja fa casi 5 anys, poder cantar-la avui tal i com l’hem cantat, ni que fos només les sopranos… No ho puc descriure!

Us hi esperem,

Diumenge, 28 d’octubre a les 18.30h

Església de Sant Esteve de Castellar del Vallès

COR MADRIGAL
Música religiosa dels segles XIX i XX


Locus iste, A. Bruckner
Quatre Motets, M. Duruflé
O vos omnes, P. Casls
Antífona, J. Homs
Sanctus Benedictus, J. Vila i Casañas 


***


Tres motets de J.S. Bach
1. Singem dem Herrn ein neues Lied
2. Komm, Jesu, Komm
3. Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden

 Grup instrumental

Mireia Barrera, directora

Cor Madrigal