From the Podium: Listen, My Beloved
Dear friends and supporters of Pro Coro Canada
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the first concert in our 2019-2020 season. The choir has been in existence for nearly 40 years, and today’s program reflects our raison-d’être through a selection of eclectic a cappella masterworks from the European tradition interspersed with new Canadian music.
When conceiving a concert program, I find it helpful to limit myself with certain parameters. There is such a vast amount of choral music out there, that one has to establish filters to create a successful program. For today’s concert, I chose poetry from the Old Testament known as Song of Songs, or Song of Solomon, Canticum Canticorum in Latin, Cantique des Cantiques in its French version, or Das Hohelied der Liebe for our German-speaking guests. Scholars debate the origin of the text, as its structure, syntax and language place it centuries after King Solomon. Speculation ranges from the 10th to the 2nd centuries BCE, with the language argument supporting a date around the 3rd century.
The selection today covers 500 years of music history, starting in the Renaissance and ending with a work written only three months ago. As pillars, and as an interesting comparison within the program, we will find several settings of Rise up, my love and also of Set me as a seal. In particular the melodic treatment of just those words (‘rise up’) are consistent with every composer setting that particular verse (Willan, Hawley, Martin, Daniel-Lesur); without exception, the musical line rises up. While this treatment seems obvious, it is interesting that not only the gesture moves up, but that also the ascending intervals are comparable. Additionally, the starting point of these melodies sits within the pitch-centre of the choir (around middle C), and there is always a descending countermelody. A more surprising coincidence - one wonders? - is the treatment of the words ‘set me as a seal’ by Hossfeld and Beatch. The compositions are about 10 years apart, and neither composer had heard of the other. But, not only is the rhythmical idea identical, the melodies are actual mirror images of each other!
Our musical excursion starts with Orlando di Lasso and Francisco Guerrero, composers of the late Renaissance. Lasso was chief representative of the polyphonic style of the Franco-Flemish school, and considered to be one of the three most famous and influential musicians in Europe at the end of the 16th century, the other two being Palestrina and Victoria. Like Palestrina, he set the entire text of Song of Songs in a collection of motets, and we’re presenting three of those motets. Guerrero was a catholic priest and musician, and spent most of his life in Spain and Portugal. Stylistically, he preferred homophonic textures, rather like his Spanish contemporaries or Lasso and Palestrina, and he wrote memorable, singable lines. Interesting in both works is the use of two choirs, symbolizing the two lovers of the poem.
Rise up, my Love by Canadian Healey Willan is a staple of almost every - anglican church - choir in Canada. Known as the "Dean of Canadian Composers", he was a composer, organist and teacher and from 1921 till his death in 1968, Precentor of the church of St. Mary Magdalene, Toronto, which became a mecca for church musicians. The choral music composed for St. Mary Magdalene has had a significant influence on Canadian composers.
Christopher Hossfeld lives in Massachusetts, where he is Director of Music and Ritual at Harvard Divinity School and Director of Music at First Parish, Old Ship Church. His A Seal Upon Your Heart was written as a wedding gift, and premiered by the Cantata Singers in Ottawa and subsequently in Montreal with voces boreales where Chris was a singer. The musical setting is dramatic at times, with large, dissonant chords, but generally uses fluid melody to enhance the words. The middle section is a back and forth between male and female voices, portraying the scene in the orchard (male voices) and the daughters of Jerusalem (female voices). The treatment of that text is also worthwhile to keep in mind for comparison with the Daniel-Lesur later in the program.
Canticum Canticorum is a cycle of 29 motets by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and is one of his largest collections of sacred motets, written in the year 1584. At the time, Palestrina challenged what music was commonly accepted in the church. As one was not supposed to compose madrigals, i.e. worldly music, Palestrina showed that it was possible to create a musical setting of profane love songs, but which ultimately portrayed a celebration of divine love. I have selected three of the motets, again starting with the setting of the first Verse ‘let him kiss me’ and including verses that are not represented in other compositions.
The second part of the concert features shorter works by three living Canadian composers. Edmonton-based Stuart Beatch wrote Set me as a seal just this past July, and dedicated the work to the singers in Pro Coro. The music brings out two distinct moods, first the floating and gentle interpretation of set me as a seal, which is repeated at the end, and second, the middle section that takes a very dramatic approach to the word jealousy. Major chords and active rhythms make this part stand out as bold or ‘in-the-face’ and in stark contrast to the lush and quiet framing sections.
Stephanie Martin is based in Toronto and teaches composition at York University. As past director of music at St. Mary Magdalene, where Willan spent most of his career, her setting of Rise up, my love has a similar harmonic and melodic language. The tenor line of the opening is an almost identical replica of Willan’s idea. Martin uses more of the poetry and the middle section evolves into a dance-like movement with the words ‘take us the little foxes’. The work is dedicated to her late husband.
The third setting of the verses Rise up, my love is by Laura Hawley written in 2017 for Spiritus Chamber Choir in Calgary. Initiated with a solo voice, the melody follows the invitation to rise up, and within a short time comes to a first climax on the words ‘come away’. Interestingly, there is an additional text with the first line of Ubi Caritas, which could be seen as an affirming of the divine love in Song of Songs, or as a counterweight to the passion and longing between two lovers. This duality is further explored at the second climax when both the English Song of Songs and the Latin Ubi Caritas are used parallel. The final section gives an answer that unites the two positions as the words set me as a seal are introduced.
Four Songs of Love were composed in 2008 by Sven-David Sandström. The Swedish composer passed away this past June, and we’ll have his music represented throughout our season. His style draws ideas from modernist music, minimalist music, jazz, and popular music, and a number of his works were inspired by significant choral works by Bach. Sandström is considered the most influential Swedish composer of his generation, and he has taught across the world, with longer appointments in the US. His music is lush and generally moves slow, giving time to develop harmony and create and dissolve dissonances. A unique technique in his music is the humming/singing of one’s lowest sound possible. This creates an audible vibration in the musical structure and an unexpected outcome as each singer’s low note depends on the individual’s daily form. In the setting of these love poems, this seems to portray a subsconscious expression of desire.
One of my all-time favourite choral works is the Cantique des Cantiques by Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur. It is a setting for 12 voices of selections of the Song of Songs, interspersed with Latin verses and New Testament texts, and likely his best-known composition for choir. Daniel-Lesur was a renowned organist in Paris and his composition is testament to his skill and creativity as he uses the voices akin to registrations of an organ. The seventh and final movement, titled Épithalame combines richly harmonised upper voices singing the words from Chapter 8 in French "Pose-moi comme un sceau sur ton coeur, comme un sceau sur ton bras. Car l'amour est fort comme la mort' over an ostinato set to Latin words "Veni sponsa Christi" (come, bride of Christ), which has a great cumulative power in a succession of Alleluias – an idea which seems to suggest the joyous ringing of wedding bells.
Thank you for spending the afternoon with us, we hope you enjoy the musical settings of the Song of Songs.