7.30pm, 12th December 2001
St Barnabus Church
Programme £1

CHRISTMAS
CONCERT

The Chairman writes…
Good evening, and welcome to St. Barnabas‘ Church for the Southampton University Chamber Choir Christmas Concert.
This concert is the third time this choir has performed together since the beginning of term, the other two being an Evensong at Romsey Abbey at the beginning November, and Carols on Campus yesterday evening.
To be able to perform a programme like this in nine weeks is a credit to the choir, for such a small group they have worked extremely hard. I would like to thank Clive Jones, our Musical Director, for putting in so much effort and getting us to this standard, and also Marcus Reeves, Assistant Director and Accompanist, for all his work.
2002 sees the Golden Jubilee of Southampton University gaining its Charter. To celebrate this, the Chamber Choir is performing in Haydn‘s creation, alongside the University Sinfonietta and Philharmonic Choir.
This is on Charter Day itself, 29th April 2002, at 7.30pm in the Southampton Guildhall. Before that, however, I do hope you will come to our Easter Concert, on 9th March 2001 provisionally at St Michael‘s Church in the City Centre, when we will be performing Monteverdi‘s Vespers. Please check our website or join our mailing list to be kept updated.
On behalf of the Choir I would like to thank you all for coming tonight, also Fr. Barry Fry for allowing us to perform here and we wish you all a very merry Christmas!
Matthew Reeve

Choir members 2001-2002:
Sopranos: Sally Brailsford
Becky Gray
Sarah Hemingway
Jenny Holton
Jo Mattock
Becky Weatherall
Altos: Liz Jones
Hanna McMillan
Claudine Nightingale
Sauju Pal
Tenors: Peter Boltryk
Matthew Reeve
Marcus Reeves
Tristan Wright
Basses: John Cullingford
Adrian Hickford
Mike Jewell
Paul Mills
Will Wohlman
Musical Director: CliveJones
Assistant MD and
Accompanist: Marcus Reeves

Concert Programme
* * *
* * *
There will be a short interval, during which wine and mince pies will be served
* * *

* * *
Chamber Choir on the Internet…
You can stay updated on all our future concerts and activities by visiting the website at….
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cchoir/
Or if you would like to be included on our electronic mailing list, simply send an email to….
cchoir@soton.ac.uk

Messe de Minuit
Marc. Antoine CHARPENTIER
Hymn to St Cecilia
Benjamin BRITTEN
In dulci Jubilo
R . L. PEARSALL

„Wachet auf“ ruft uns die Stimme
J.S. BACH
Noel from Esquisses Byzantines
Henry MULET
Marcus Reeves (organ)

Three Carol Anthems
Sing lullaby
Here is the little door
A Spotless Rose
Herbert HOWELLS
Rejoice in the Lamb
Benjamin BRITTEN
Benedicamus Domino
Peter WARLOCK

Programme Notes
Charpentier: Messe di Minuit
Born in 1645, Charpentier was less materially successful than his Paris contemporary Lully, but nevertheless won considerable esteem. A prolific composer, he wrote extensively for the church and with slightly less fecundity for secular purposes. He was in the service of the Dauphin and held important positions at the Jesuit Church of St. Louis and later at the Sainte-Chapelle. Of seventeenth-century French composers, Marc-Antoine Charpentier stands out for the impressive legacy he left to future generations of musicians. He was renowned in his day, and Charpentier's music continues to intrigue audiences and performers with its freshness and daring. The diversity that Charpentier himself held to be essential to excellent music is at the core of his own works.
The Messe di Minuit is perhaps his most famous work, along with the second Te Deum, with its now infamous trumpet voluntary. As the title suggests, this mass was written for the celebration of midnight mass, the late night vigil held on Christmas Eve, and as is suitable, it is based upon several French Noel’s, or carols. The mass is composed of the usual movements, or propers: the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus (including Benedictus, the custom of separating these two movements had stopped by this time), and the Agnus Dei.
A feeling of lightness and profundity dominates many sections of the work. This is shown in the lightness of the Agnus Dei, contrasting with the seriousness of the Kyrie. Often, Charpentier sets lighter moments in chordal or homophonic passages, while moments of more gravity are set contrapuntally. Although a relatively simple work, its buoyant atmosphere is helped by the generally fast speeds that Charpeniter prescribes and the jubilant ornamentation, which dominates French music of this period.
Britten: Hymn to St. Cecilia
Born on the 22 November 1913, Britten was destined to be one of Britain’s greatest composers, for the 22 November is St. Cecilia’s day, and she is the patron Saint of music. Britten’s choral works are famous for their unique approach to the text, not necessarily melodic, but more designed to portray the underlining meaning of the text with passion and drama, Britten was after all, a composer for the stage! The Hymn to St. Cecilia is no exception, from the beginning, the luxury of Cecilia’s garden is pictured in the suave harmonies, while the bell-like quality in the underlying parts is a theme continued throughout the composition. This is contrasted with a slower refrain, which returns frequently in a triple meter, to the words “Blessed Cecilia appear in visions to all musicians, appear and inspire”. A very rhythmic middle section leads into a soprano solo, and then the respective imitation of instruments by solo voices: the violin, the flute, timpani, and finally the trumpet. The work ends with a refrain.
Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb
Rejoice in the Lamb is Britten’s second substantial multipart anthem. The text is by the insane poet Christopher Smart, and Britten sets it with great imagnination and flair. The work is a contrast between slow and fast, quiet and loud. The static opening with its chant passages and brief interspersions from the organ gives way into a dramatic passage about Nimrod the hunter. This passage is rhythmically very unstable, with bars in 5/8, 7/8, 6/8, 9/8 and 11/8, and offbeat organ chords. Following this is the first Alleluia, which repeats at the end of the entire piece. The middle section separates the two louder sections and is dominated by extensive solos famously depicting Geoffrey the cat and the couragous mouse. As with St. Cecilia, Britten refers to instruments in the final section before the reprise of the Alleluia, which closes the work.
Howells: Three Carol Anthems
Howells began his three carol anthems in 1918, whilst he was still a student at the Royal College of Music. Each is individual, yet already bears the hallmark of his mature style. This is mainly and unhurriedness, a deep concern for the text and of course his distinguished use of harmony, and counterpoint. Arguable the most famous is A Spotless Rose. Based over two pentatonic scales, this is a simple three stanza setting of this historic text, the second verse taken by a baritone solo. The work ends with one of the most sumptuous cadences in the choral literature. It prompted Patrick Hadley (later Professor of Music at Cambridge University) to write ‘O Herbert, that cadence!’ with a copy of the cadence written on a postcard to Howells every year.
Here is the Little Door is a much simpler setting, beautiful because of its simplicity. Mainly homophonic, it is composed in two stanza’s, the second slightly altered. It contains many melodic and harmonic shifts, so typical of Howells’ style.
The final piece of the trio is Sing Lullaby. This is perhaps the most complex of the three with lilting rhythms in the underneath parts, and a melody shared amongst the parts. The final pages contain some agonised harmonies before the lullaby returns to close the piece.
Pearsall: In dulci jubilo
Robert Pearsall is perhaps most famous for his setting of this chorale, one of the most liquid and singable settings of this text. The opening is dominated by a three time meter, with the lilt of the dotted rhythms. This is repeated before the third verse is given to the tenors, the upper voices providing a descant in thirds. The fourth verse is perhaps the most elaborate of them all, written in eight parts. The parts are more fragmented but the theme of falling dotted motif dominates throughout the texture, which is one of joy and praise. All the parts come together for the joyous ending, itself an act of word painting, by bringing the disparate groups together in a united worship.
compiled by Marcus Reeves