The internationally acclaimed AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER CHOIR

directed by DOUGLAS LAWRENCE

CHAPEL ROYAL

1 November 2015, 3pm Basilica of St Mary of the Angels, Geelong, Victoria

7 November 2015, 3pm

Church of the Resurrection, Macedon, Victoria

8 November 2015, 3pm Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Middle Park, Victoria

Since King Sigbert of the Angles established the body of singers and musicians known as the Chapel Royal in 635 AD, English monarchs have continued to employ the country’s finest composers to write for coronations, weddings, funerals and other special occasions.

 

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March and Canzona, Funeral Sentences for Queen Mary Z860 Henry Purcell 1659–1695

During her short life, Mary II (elder daughter of James II, and joint sovereign with William III from 1688) remained politically overshadowed by her crafty, often unfaithful husband; but her death from smallpox, just after Christmas 1694, moved Purcell to supply some of his noblest, most exalted music, always sounding freshly created, though at various points he based it upon earlier material. Within a year, Purcell would follow his queen to the grave, and his Funeral Sentences sound as prognostic of an early passing as do Mozart’s Requiem and Schubert’s Winterreise. Still more tremendous and intense are Purcell’s purely instrumental contributions to the same funeral: the March and Canzona, played today by a wind ensemble and timpani. It is unsurprising that when Stanley Kubrick wanted for the soundtrack of the film A Clockwork Orange a piece utterly stark, pitiless, eschewing what Gustav Holst called “the domestic emotions”, he chose to quote Purcell’s March.

Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and ne’er continueth in one stay. In the midst of l i fe we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, Who for our sins art justly displeased? Yet, O Lord, O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death. Thou knowest , Lord, the secrets of our hearts ; shut not Thy merciful ears unto our prayers; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty. O holy and most merciful Saviour, Thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from Thee. Amen.

Funeral Sentences, Book of Common Prayer, 1662 O clap your hands Orlando Gibbons 1583–1625

Appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal by James I in 1615, Gibbons enjoyed a lifespan not much longer than Purcell would do three generations

 

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later. He succumbed to apoplexy – not, as rumour had it, the plague – soon after the accession of James I’s successor Charles I, in whose employ he had already been an organist. O Clap Your Hands dates from 1622 and belongs within the genre of the full anthem (in other words, it contains no big solo sections, such as the verse anthem habitually possessed). Its rich, eight-part sonority has made it a choral favourite ever since the composer’s own time, and when, in the mid-eighteenth century, William Boyce produced his anthology of outstanding Anglican cathedral music, he happily included it.

O clap your hands together, all ye people: O sing unto God with the voice of melody. For the Lord is high, and to be feared: He is the great King of all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us: and the nations under our feet. He shall choose out an heritage for us: even the worship of Jacob, whom He loved. God is gone up with a merry noise: and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. O sing praises, sing praises unto our God: O sing praises, sing praises unto the Lord our King. For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with the understanding. God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon His holy seat. For God, which is highly exalted, doth defend the earth, as it were with a shield. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

I will not leave you comfortless, Haec dies William Byrd 1539–1623

These two Byrd pieces, the second of which is among his most famous, form a marked contrast with one another. I Will Not Leave You Comfortless has an unusual origin, in that it has been often sung to English words since at least the nineteenth century, yet Byrd originally set a Latin text, Non vos relinquam orphanos. The work can be found in the second (1607) volume of Byrd’s Gradualia. Given the difficulties involved in making a syllable-by-syllable translation from any tongue into another tongue (difficulties which many an opera libretto will confirm), it is surprising how few problems of accentuation are audible here; anyone hearing I Will Not Leave You

 

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Comfortless for the first time would assume that it had been composed in English. Of particular note is Byrd’s use of “alleluia” refrains structurally, not as all-purpose concluding jubilation. Haec dies dates from substantially earlier in Byrd’s career (Cantiones Sacrae, 1591), and is suitable for – but not confined to – Easter Sunday, with a sudden switch halfway through from duple to triple metre that evokes Giovanni Gabrieli, although no evidence exists that Byrd ever knew Gabrieli’s output.

I wi l l not leave you comfort less, alleluia. I go, and I will come to you, alleluia. And your heart shall be joyful, alleluia

John 14:18 Haec dies quam fecit Dominus: exultemus et laetemur in ea, alleluia.

This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein, alleluia.

Te Deum laudamus Z232 Henry Purcell 1659–1695

This Te Deum is another late work of Purcell’s, dating from 1694. He intended it for St Cecilia’s Day celebrations, which had already inspired him to write no fewer than four odes with specifically Cecilian texts. In terms of style, it reverts to the courtly, Gallic, Lully-influenced idiom of the composer’s early anthems, the ones he supplied for the delectation of that lifelong Francophile Charles II. Appropriately enough, both Lully and Marc-Antoine Charpentier had produced for Charles’s ally Louis XIV several epic, trumpet-adorned, multi-sectional, much-admired Te Deum settings, a few of which Purcell could well have heard. Te Deum

We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship Thee, the Father everlasting. To Thee all angels cry aloud: the heavens, and all the powers therein. To Thee, Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts: Heaven and earth are full of Thy majesty, of Thy glory. The glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise Thee. The noble army of Martyrs praise Thee. The holy church, throughout all the world, doth acknowledge Thee: The Father, of an infinite majesty; Thine honourable, true, and only Son;

 

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Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ, Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. When Thou tookest upon Thee to deliver man, Thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb. When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers. Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father. We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge. We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants, Whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious Blood. Make them to be numbered with Thy Saints, in glory everlasting. O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance. Govern them, and lift them up for ever. Day by day, we magnify Thee, and we worship Thy Name, ever world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin, have mercy upon us. O Lord, let Thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in Thee. In Thee, O Lord, have I put my trust: let me never be confounded.

attrib. St Ambrose

Receive a special 10% discount (today only) when you subscribe to our 2016 SEASON, celebrating an ‘Australian Choir in the Super League’ 10 years • 5 CDs • 5 international tours • 6 countries • 177 concerts Bach Mass in B Minor With an orchestra of period instruments

Bach in the Castle of Heaven Bach – Motets, Allegri – Miserere; Messiaen – O sacrum convivium; Howells – Latin Motets

Bach Magnificat Sinfonia from Cantata 29 Wir Danken Dir Gott for obligato organ and orchestra; Cantata 147 Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben with an orchestra of period instruments See our 2016 season brochure for details. See our front of house staff for tickets. Credit card or cash welcome.

 

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By popular demand, our new CD: S O U L Available today $25

From our Venice program Jacob Handl – Pater Noster, Antonio Lotti – Crucifixus à 10, Claudio Monteverdi – Cantate Domino, Domine ad adjuvandum, Heinrich Schütz – Saul, Giovanni Gabrieli – Jubilate Deo, In Ecclesiis From our Eternal Light program Palestrina – Missa Aeterna Christi Munera; and our favourite encores: Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel, My soul’s been anchored, Deep River, Go down Moses, Steal away, Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen

INTERVAL – 15 MINUTES If ye love me Thomas Tallis 1505–1585

The affection as well as admiration felt for Tallis by, it seems, all who knew him (despite, or because of, the wrenching changes in national religion that his career encompassed) is well illustrated by his versified epitaph, which concludes: “As he did live, so also did he die / In mild and quiet sort (O happy man!) / To God full oft for mercy did he cry, / Wherefore he lives, let death do what he can.” No one knows exactly when If Ye Love Me, his most renowned anthem, was conceived; but its predominantly chordal style meets the Protestant requirements of Edward VI’s brief reign (1547–53) and the authorities’ insistence during this reign that church music should have “to every syllable a plain and distinct note.” In Tallis’s case, this demand proved entirely compatible with imitative writing which looks straightforward on paper, but which to this day taxes many a vocal group.

If ye love Me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that He may bide with you for ever, even the spirit of truth.

 

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An Amateur of Fashion, A Traveller, The Quacks Malcolm Williamson b.1931 Sydney, d. 2003 Cambridge, England

In 1964 Dame Edith Sitwell died. She had been a close, if at times cantankerous, friend of Malcolm Williamson – who at the age of nineteen had left his native Australia, never to return save for short periods. The year of her death witnessed the appearance of Williamson’s two-act chamber opera English Eccentrics, based on profiles which Dame Edith had published in 1933. Williamson’s creative spirit had a strong streak of grotesquerie, which English Eccentrics emphasises. The opera’s librettist was actor and broadcaster Geoffrey Dunn, with whom Williamson also collaborated on two later operas, Julius Caesar Jones and Dunstan and the Devil. In 1965 Williamson would dedicate his Violin Concerto to Dame Edith’s memory; a decade later he would be appointed Master of the Queen’s Musick, the sole non-English composer so far to be given this post. The last movement’s “amateur of fashion” is Robert Coates (1772–1848), sarcastically described by his contemporaries as “Romeo” Coates because of his unjustified belief in his own thespian gifts, and said to have been the worst actor in the world. From the choral suite English Eccentrics:

An Amateur of Fashion Bom bom bom bom bom, hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo Here come these beaux, these feather-witted amateurs of fashion, Here come the Macaronies, the Jessamies, Driving round the park, driving round and round the park, As if they were leaves or feathers, blown along by a cold wind. Here comes a magnificent curricle, Drawn by two white horses of faultless figure and action. Is it? Can it be? Is it the owner of the curricle himself? His heraldic device a cock with outspread wings, And, over this, the motto “While I live I’ll crow!” But can it be that rich and celebrated amateur of the drama? Romeo Coates? Robert Coates? Diamond Coates? Curricle Coates? Mr Romeo Coates is a very brave man, How high are his hopes and how swift is their fall! But never more swift than the fall of the curtain. When the Coates treads the boards, whenever he plays on the stage, Romeo Coates risks life and limb. The audience cannot suffer him, cannot endure him on the stage. Romeo Coates, Curricle Coates, Diamond Coates!

A Travel ler From some foreign country over the seas, ‘Twas in 1817, Came all a-weary down a hill The fairest creature that ever was seen. She wandered far, she wandered wide Until she saw the tall church spire

 

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Pointing its finger into the clouds Of Aunsburye village in Gloucestershire.

The Quacks Look, look, there they are again! Can you see them? Can you see the two old quacks? What would they sell us? Quarrelsome bird flapping gentlemen, Dr Katterfelto with his many magic micro marvels, Dr Graham with his pillutes, pastilles, potions, possets, powders. Cackling and cawing! They are known for what they are. Dr Katterfelto and his enemy Dr Graham. Caw-cackling like a rook!

My heart is inditing, Zadok the priest from the Coronation Anthems Georg Frideric Handel b.1685 Halle, Germany, d. 1759 London

Probably the greatest pieces written for any English coronation are the four anthems – these two plus Let thy hand be strengthened and The King shall rejoice – which the newly naturalised Handel furnished for the enthronement of George II and Queen Caroline (11 October 1727, Westminster Abbey). It would be agreeable to state that the première went smoothly, but no such luck: we are told that the original choir sang Zadok the priest at a wrong point in the service, having also reduced to “total confusion” one of the other anthems, and having completely forgotten to sing yet another. My heart is inditing uses words that Purcell treated when James II was crowned in the year of Handel’s birth. Harmonically more complex than its companions, it demonstrates a surprising degree of almost chamber-music elegance in the writing before the suitably forthright, quintessentially Handelian finale. As for Zadok (recently and appallingly debased by use in a television commercial for junk food), it shows how similar the composer’s operatic and sacred muses actually were, because its arpeggio-dominated prelude has at least as theatrical an impact as anything to be found in what Handel wrote for the stage.

My heart is indit ing of a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made unto the King. Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women; upon thy right hand did stand the Queen, in vesture of gold, and the King shall have pleasure in thy beauty. Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers.

Psalm 45; Isaiah 49:23 Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed Solomon king. And all the people rejoiced and said: God save the King! Long live the King! May the King live for ever! Amen! Hallelujah 1 Kings 1:38-40

Programme notes © R.J. Stove, 2015

 

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About us In July this year, the AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER CHOIR undertook its fifth European concert tour, with sixteen concerts in Germany, Denmark and Switzerland. Following their concert in Copenhagen, a review in the Dagbladet was headlined ‘Australian Choir in the Super League’ (see page 12). The choir has released five CDs and given concerts in Canberra, Sydney, regional NSW and throughout Victoria. During the last two years we have expanded our program, adding Macedon, Flinders, Warragul, Hamilton, Coburg and Brighton to the list of seventeen Victorian venues. We have invested heavily in developing a network of regular concerts in regional Victoria. Now we would like to establish a more regular program of visits to NSW. To take this next leap will require an increase in funds.

Donations to the ACC are tax deductible. Cheques can be made payable to Australian Chamber Choir IncCredit Card: Go to 434 Brunswick Rd www.AusChoir.org/donate West Brunswick or ask our front of house staff Vic 3055

The s ingers were Sopranos: Michelle Clark*, Grace Cordell, Alex Hedt, Elizabeth Lieschke, Erika Tandiono*, Ailsa Webb*, Jennifer Wilson-Richter Altos: Elizabeth Anderson*, Hannah Spracklan-Holl, Ria Angelika Polo, Isobel Todd Tenors: Sam Gleisner, Lyndon Green, Jacob Lawrence*, Chris Roache* Basses: Luke Hutton, Oliver Mann*, Kieran Macfarlane*, Lucas Wilson-Richter* * denotes soloist

The players were Violin I - Lizzie Welsh, Felicité Heine; Violin II - Emma Williams, Arun Patterson; Viola - Dovi Hanner; Cello - Ellie Walker, Jamie Wallis; Double Bass - Chloe Hanson; Oboe - Andrew Angus, Kailen Cresp; Bassoon - Brock Imison, Natasha Thomas (Geelong and Middle Park only); Trumpets - Joel Brennan, Oscar Mason, Allison Wright; Timpani - Steven Falk; Lutes - Nick Pollock; Organ - Michael Fulcher

Come with us to Europe in 2017 We were delighted to have a group of friends accompanying us for the first 15 days of our European tour this year. The tour was expertly managed by Eastern Hill Travel in partnership with Pega DMC, Germany. We are planning to have a similar accompanying party with us on our 2017 tour. We have already confirmed the first concert, in the Baroque church of St Anthony of the Portuguese, near the Pantheon in Rome on 1 July, 2017. So pencil 27 June to 13 July into your diary now and keep your eye on our tours page for more information: auschoir.org/tours

 

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Would you l ike more information? We suggest … Subscribe to our eNews letter: Give your email address to our front of house staff or go to www.auschoir.org/subscribe-to-newsletter Visit our website: www.AusChoir.org Visit our new YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/AuschoirOrg Like us on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/AusChoir

GOVERNANCE

President: Dr Robin Batterham AO Vice President: Stuart Hamilton AO Treasurer: Richard Bolitho Secretary: Dr Sarah Martin

Artistic Director: Douglas Lawrence OAM Manager: Elizabeth Anderson Patrons: Dr Barry Jones AC Prof John Griffiths, Oficial de

la Orden de Isabel la Católica

Australian Chamber Choir from Melbourne inspires

By Edgar Rohmert WANGEN – “Magnificent! Transporting! Phenome-nal!” The many listeners at the Summer Concert on Wednesday night in the Martinskirche were totally captivated by the marvelous sounds conjured by the Australian Chamber Choir from Melbourne. The trained voices of 20 singers delivered a performance that was mystically delicate and powerful at the same time. … At the end there

were several minutes of standing ovation. Lawrence opened the concert with … the Mass in G Minor by Ralph Vaughan Williams: Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei were embedded in sacred monastic tones that as-cended like a prayer to heaven, touching the soul deeply. The bell-bright voices of the soprano and alto alternated with the powerful vibrating sounds of tenor and bass. Stemming from the cutting edge of the Renais-sance, the Magnificat by Giovanni Gabrieli was sub-lime and beautiful. Next to Kakadu Man by Tom Henry, Kondalilla by Stephen Leek was an even more surpris-ing highlight. Kakadu Man conjured up the ancient wisdom of indigenous Aus-tralians: the birth and death of man as a return journey back to Mother Earth. This was offset by Kondalilla: with the singers dispersed

around the church, the listeners found themselves in a primeval forrest, sur-rounded by the tremendous sound of rare birds. The singers from Australia are indeed rare birds. Sacred dignity shone through the Choral Dorien of Jehan Alain. … Spirituality also radiated from the Bach Motet Der Geist hilft Unser Schwachheit auf. At the end, as encores, there were Afri-can American Spirituals such as Steal away and My soul’s been anchored in the Lord. One listener declared on the way out “If I didn’t believe in God before now, I would after hearing that program”. Nothing could serve as a greater compli-ment to the young singers from Melbourne.

17 July Schwäbische Zeitung

Ulm Germany

 

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Thank you to all who support the choir, including our friends and sponsors: Warren and Iris Anderson, Jörg and Elisabeth Bahner, Vicki and Peter Balabanski, James and Barbara Barber, Robin Batterham, Heather Bayston, David Beauchamp, Carmel Behan, Jennifer Bellsham-Revell, Rhys Boak, Anna Bohn, Richard Bolitho, Roger Boyce, Barbara Braistead, David Brand, Eleanor Bridger, Sally Brown, Harold Burge, Elizabeth Burns, Margaret Callinan, Bernard Carter, Lois Cooke, Sally Cordell, Tony and Madge Correll, Kim Dahl, Felicity Demediuk, Michael Dolan, Patricia Duke, Gregory Eccleston, Michael Edgeloe, Rod and Deb Edwards, Michael Elligate, Priyanka Erasmus, Ken Falconer, Hellen Fersch, Jennie Smith and Bruce Fethers, Anne Gilby, Ann and Reuben Glass, Rosemary Gleeson, Roland Godfrey, David and Dianne Gome, John and Bernie Griffiths, Tom Griffiths, Ian and Heather Gunn, Thorry Gunnersen, Alan Gunther, Stuart Hamilton, Ponch Hawkes, the late Bob Henderson, Tom Henry, Catherine Herrick, Ferdi Hillen, Geoff Hone, Richard Hoy, Arwen Hur, Thomas Hurley, John and Cheryl Iser, Susan Jackson, Patrick Johnston, David and Rosemary Kellam, Ozlem Keskin, Barry and Judith Kilmartin, Peter Kingsbury, Judy Kiraly, Jerry Koliha, Barbara Kristof, Alan Larwill, Margaret Lawrence Foundation, the late Neil Lawrence, George and Ann Littlewood, Pamela Lloyd, Heather Low, Janice and Andrei Lupas, Monica MacCallum, Lenore Macdonald, Hector Maclean, Penelope Maddick, Sarah Martin, Chris Maxwell, Campbell and Noreen McAdam, Kate McBride, Davina McClure, Gwenlyn McIntosh, Hilary McPhee, Lorraine Meldrum, Catherine and Barry Michael, Philippa Miller, Alana Mitchell, Mobiquity Inc, Adam Morris, Mary Muirhead, the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, Max Griffiths and Merrilyn Murnane, Christine Newman, Margaret Newman, Tony Nicol, Paul Nisselle, MJ and RM Norton, Jenny O’Donnell, Margaret O’Dowd, Ian Phillips, Margaret Price, The Ian Potter Foundation, Elizabeth Powell, Chris Punshon, Jennifer and Bill Raper, Rosalie Richards, David Ritchie, Joan Roberts, Annette Robinson, Nola Rogers, Lars Rolner, John Rowe, Alma Ryrie-Jones, The Robert Salzer Foundation, Ken Sargeant, Janet Schapper, Geoff Scollary, Cathy Scott, Stephen Shanassy, David and Lorelle Skewes, Patrick Slattery, Nicole Spicer, Lynne Star, Leonore Stephens, Eric Stokes, Rob Stove, Brian Swinn, Ross Telfer, Pauline Tointon, Elsie Valmorbida, Alison Waller, Mel Waters, Margaret and Dilhan Webb, Dianna Wells Design, Ron Whitmore, Patricia Wilkinson, Carolyn Williams, Harry Williams, Glen Witham, Marni Wodak, Robert Wright, Jenny and Wallace Young, Margaret Zammit, Harriet Ziegler and donors who wish to remain anonymous.

 

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Australian Choir in the Super League

Review SORØ: At the conclusion of the Australian Chamber Choir’s concert on Wednesday evening in Sorø Abbey the Choir was awarded an honorary membership of the Sorø International Music Festival. The Deputy Chairman of the Festival’s board, Kristine Christensen summarized the Choir’s achievements. In agree-ment with her formal observations, I would wholeheartedly place the choir in the super league. The Choir had just demonstrated their high standard in an exciting and well constructed program; three contempo-rary Australian works were framed by classics from European church music. It was very thoughtful to bring Melbourne com-poser Brenton Broad-stock’s The Soul of the Anzac, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first World War as

part of the Choir’s Euro-pean tour program. The texts are a selec-tion of deeply serious but comforting poems about a soldier’s lot during war. In a similar vein to the Wilfred Owen poems set by Benjamin Britten in the famous War Requiem, the beautiful relationship between text and music was readily apparent. The two other choral works from ‘down under’ were based on indigenous Australian themes. These texts from the Choir’s native land touch on the relationship between the ostensibly civilized white population and the origi-nal black inhabitants, a fitting export in the hands of such worthy cultural ambassadors. The Australian Cham-ber Choir has high stand-ards in abundance. In Kakadu Man, by Tom Henry, Douglas Law-rence’s direction of these young, hand-picked sing-ers was impressive. Time and again they astonished the audience with their vocal virtuosity and lightning-fast transi-tions from the softest and gentlest pianissimo to the most powerful tutti sound.

A unique experience was when the women of the choir dispersed throughout the audience for Stephen Leek’s Kondalilla, producing natural sounds that would delight any choral director. Closing your eyes, you could believe yourself far out in the Australian bush. It almost goes without saying that the classical European works that book-ended the program were delivered with com-plete stylistic perfection, from Vaughan Williams’ Mass for Double Choir to the final Motet by Bach. However, it was the concert’s central portion, which inci-dentally also contained a rarely-heard Australian transcription of Jehan Alain’s Choral Dorien into a choral vocalise, that made a lasting impres-sion. It is these Australian works that will endure in our memories.

Hans Krarup Dagbladet, Ringsted

Denmark 8 July, 2015