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A Note from David Hayes, Music Director
”Like many lovers of Bach, I not only revere his music but am eternally fascinated by how far-reaching his influence has been over the past two-and-a-half centuries. All of the other composers on this program (Ginastera, Stanford, Martin) are indebted to Bach in substantive ways and the depth of this is evident in each of the works on this program. Each has a unique style and harmonic language, yet each composer reveals the influence of Bach. The Philadelphia Singers invites you to experience Bach & Beyond with this richly hued concert of exceptional choral music.”
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Johann Sebastian Bach - Jesu meine Freude, BWV 227
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) composed Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227 in 1723. The intricate eleven movement work is composed for a five part chorus. It, like his other motets was written when Bach was the music director of St. Thomas’ Church in Leipzig. It is the largest, the most musically complex, and is widely considered to be the finest of his six motets.
By the time Bach was deep into his compositional life in Leipzig, the German motet had developed into two forms: Spruchmotetten, short portions of scripture set in a lighter style, and Choralmotetten, based on familiar Lutheran choral tunes set in a complex “theme and variations” style. Jesu meine Freude is a highly evolved sample of Choralmotten.
The tune, heard from the outset in a standard four-part arrangement, is a melody by 17th century German composer Johann Crüger, and the chorale text is by the 17th century German Johann Frank. Bach paired the chorale text with verses from the eighth chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, which are set in intricate five-part choral style. The work is constructed as an arch, with a centerpiece of the sixth movement, which is a fugue in true Baroque style. On either side of this movement are a chorale, a trio, and an aria-like movement. Johann Frank’s chorale text is spread throughout the motet, both beginning and ending the work.
Whether or not this work was performed a cappella in Bach’s time is a topic of great debate among scholars. Accompanying motets in a basso continuo style was a prerequisite to a career as a keyboard artist in Bach’s time, and the version presented tonight includes a light continuo accompaniment with organ and solo strings.
Frank Martin - Mass for Double Chorus
Swiss composer Frank Martin (1890-1974) began writing music when he was eight years old and his eventual output included nearly 100 works for stage, chorus, orchestra and chamber ensemble. Mass for unaccompanied double chorus, was composed over a span of four years; the first four movements were written in 1922, with the “Agnus Dei” added in 1926. This work reflects Martin’s early interest in the music of Bach and demonstrates Martin’s inherent compositional style: an amalgamation of late Romantic tonality and the twelve-tone techniques of the Second Viennese School.
Mass for Double Chorus is the only work Martin wrote purely for liturgical purposes, and following its completion, the composer kept it in a drawer for forty years, refusing to release it on the basis that it was “unworthy of the Lord.” Since its premiere in Hamburg, Germany in 1963, Mass has proven to be far from unworthy, and is considered one of the great choral monuments of the twentieth century.
Alberto Ginastera- Lamentaciones de Jeremias Propheta
Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983), one of Latin America’s leading composers, was a child prodigy, entering conservatory at the age of twelve and graduating with a gold medal in composition. Ginastera began composing in 1930 (destroying many of his early works) and graduated from the National Conservatory with a choral arrangement of Psalm 150. In the 1940s, Ginastera served as chair of music at the Argentine Liceo Militar General San Martin until dismissed from this position by the Perón administration in 1945. He spent the next few years in the United States, visiting universities and studying with Aaron Copland—a trip which had considerable influence on his subsequent compositions.
Lamentaciones de Jeremias Propheta (Lamentations of Jeremiah) was composed in 1946 during Ginastera’s visit to America, around the same time Copland was writing In the Beginning. The text is taken from the Biblical book of Lamentations, but Ginastera does not set the Bible verses in order, instead creating a musical palette of anger and despair perhaps reflecting his own political exile at the time. Written for a cappella eight-part chorus (but not necessarily double chorus), Lamentations calls for a “Tragico e molto vivo” style at the outset on the verse “O vos omnes qui transitis per viam.” This style is a marked change from the more pensive approach to these words by such 16th century composers as William Byrd and Tomas Luis de Victoria.
- Program Notes by Nancy Plum
MUSICAL TERMS
a cappella: Singing without instrumental accompaniment
Basso continuo: Beginning in the Baroque, a bassline throughout an entire work or section of a work played by a low instrument, often assisted by a keyboard instrument
Chorale: A hymn tune of the German protestant Church, or one similar in style
Fugue: A piece of music in which a short melody is stated by one voice and then imitated by the other voices in succession, reappearing throughout the entire piece in all the voices at different places
Motet: Derived from the medieval French word “mot” meaning “word,” a motet is a religious piece, often in Latin, other than a Mass, Magnificat, etc.
Spruchmotetten: Short portions of scripture set in a lighter style
Choralmotetten: Based on familiar Lutheran chorale tunes set in a complex “theme and variations” style
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