Program Notes

Masterworks Chorale presents Mozart’s Requiem

Saturday, April 6th at 7pm & Sunday, April 7th at 4pm

In any list of Bach’s half-dozen most popularly beloved sacred works, the Magnificat would warrant a place. This makes it all the more surprising to discover how long it took Bach to arrive at the piece’s final form. In effect, he wrote the whole thing twice. Shortly after his 1723 arrival at the Thomaskirche, he set the relevant Latin text (Luke 1:46-55) in the key of E flat major. That version is now known as BWV 243a, and lacks the lively trumpet parts familiar to us from BWV 243 (E flat was not among the very few keys which trumpeters in Bach’s time, restricted as their key-less and valve-less instruments were to notes of the harmonic series, could manage). For the Feast of the Visitation in 1733, Bach released a new version of his 1723 offering, having been tinkering at the revision intermittently since 1728. Now the music inhabited the key of D major (so that trumpeters could be incorporated) and the four specifically Christmas-related hymns to be found in the

1723 version were left out. Why a Latin-language Magnificat rather than a German-language one (of the sort that Schütz and Telemann, to name only a few leading Teutonic musicians, had already composed)? Because Leipzig distinguished itself, during Bach’s time, by the unusually large amount of Latin music in its Lutheran liturgies. Possibly commercial considerations also played a role. Bach did not succeed at getting the Magnificat published, but in view of his persistent money worries, it seems probable that he tried; and for the wider European market, a Latin-language setting would be likelier to pique publishers’ interest than a setting in the vernacular. Perhaps the two finest sections in BWV 243 are the woodwind-dominated Esurientes (the word ‘delicious’ seems odd in a sacred context, but it is le mot juste to describe Bach’s scoring here) and the melancholy grandeur of Suscepit Israel, where, in the slow-moving oboe line, Bach sets against the vocal lines’ trellis-work the haunting theme known in Gregorian chant as the tonus peregrinus - ‘wandering tone’ - which Lutherans had associated with the Magnificat since the late sixteenth century. - program notes by J.R. Stove 

I. Magnificat anima mea Dominum - Chorus      My soul magnifies the Lord

II. Et exultavit spiritus meus - Aria       And my spirit rejoices in God my saviour 

III. Quia respexit - Aria     For he has regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden. Behold, from henceforth, I will be called blessed…

IV. Omnes generationes  - Chorus    …by all generations

V. Quia fecit mihi magna - Aria      For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is His name  

VI. Et misericordia - Duet His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation

VII. Fecit potentiam - Chorus He has shown strength with His arm, He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts

VIII. Deposuit potentes - Aria He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly 

IX. Esurientes implevit bonis - Aria He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty

X. Suscepit Israel - Trio He has helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy

XI. Sicut locutus est - Chorus According to the promise He made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever

XII. Gloria - Chorus Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and for ever and ever, Amen.

In the Spring of 2001 I received a commission from the Dale Warland Singers to write a short "folk" type choral arrangement.  I had discovered a tune in a folk song book called "The Lone Wild Bird."  I fell in love with it, made a short recording and asked my good friend and colleague, Michael Dennis Browne to write new words for this tune. The tune is taken from The Southern Harmony Songbook" of 1835.  It is pentatonic and that is part of its attraction.  Pentatonic scales have been extant for centuries and are prevalent in almost all musical cultures throughout the world.  They are universal.  Michael crafted three verses and gave it the title "The Road Home."  He writes so eloquently about "returning" and "coming home" after being lost or wandering.  Again, this is another universal theme and it has resonated well with choirs around the world as this simple little a cappella choral piece has become another "best seller" in our Paulus Publications catalogue and now threatens to catch up with "Pilgrims' Hymn."  It is just more evidence that often the most powerful and beautiful message is often a simple one. - Stephen Paulus, May 2013

 The Road Home is one of Paulus’ most popular works and continues to be performed and loved by choirs and audiences all over the world.

THE ROAD HOME - Chorus

Tell me, where is the road I can call my own that I left, that I lost, so long ago?

All these years I have wandered oh, when will I know there's a way, there's a road that will lead me home?

After wind, after rain when the dark is done. As I wake from a dream in the gold of day,

Through the air there's a calling from far away, there's a voice I can hear that will lead me home.

Rise up, follow me come away, is the call, with the love in your heart as the only song;

There is no such beauty as where you belong: Rise up, follow me I will lead you home.

Dan Forrest’s Jubilate Deo brings to life the global aspect of the traditional Psalm 100 by setting it in seven different languages and drawing from a wide spectrum of musical influences.  Movement IV, Ngokujabula!, shifts to Africa, setting portions of the text in Zulu and drawing from African vocal and drumming traditions. 

Ngokujabula! (With great rejoicing!)

Hlokoma kuJehova ngezwi lokuhalalisa, mhlaba wonke. Mkhonzeni uJehova ngokujabula, nisondele ebusweni bakhe ngokuhuba kwentokozo. Yazini ukuthi uJehova unguNkulunkulu!

Shout with triumph to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with joy, come before his presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God! (From Psalm 100:1-3, Zulu)

Chances are you’ve encountered the legend surrounding Mozart’s Requiem. Although it makes for great theater, there’s no truth in the story of composer Antonio Salieri poisoning Mozart or attempting to frighten him by appearing as a masked figure in gray. But there was a mystery man: the agent of Count Walsegg, who anonymously commissioned the Requiem—a setting of the Latin Mass for the Dead—with a view to passing it off as his own. Despite the circumstances, Mozart was reportedly eager to try his hand at this “higher form of church music” and he almost certainly needed the money. But severe illness, probably rheumatic fever, led Mozart to believe he was writing his own requiem, and his death in December 1791 cut short his work, eight measures into the poignant Lacrimosa. In order to collect the fee, Mozart’s widow, Constanze, arranged for the Requiem to be completed by his student Franz Xaver Süssmayr, and while others have since made their own completions, it’s to Süssmayr that we owe the survival of this work in the repertoire.

Mozart’s Requiem is the work of a composer whose heart was in the opera house. Yes, it works perfectly well in a liturgical context, but the music’s dramatic and expressive range takes it beyond the scope of ritual function. The result is both intensely personal and, in sections such as the Dies iræ, furious and terrifying. These extremes are mirrored in the orchestral colors. Curiously, Mozart doesn’t include flutes, oboes, clarinets or horns, but there are parts for the gentle sound of the basset horn (a low-voiced member of the clarinet family, heard to remarkable effect at the very beginning, for example, and in the Recordare). Meanwhile, three trombones—instruments associated with church and theater at the time but unknown in concert music—contribute to fiercer moments such as the Confutatis. For the concluding section, Cum sanctis, Süssmayer reprised the music Mozart has written for the Kyrie—voices and instruments weaving together for a thrilling fugue in the style of Handel.

- program notes by Yvonne Frindle

I. INTROITUS

REQUIEM – Chorus & Soloist

Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and let perpetual light shine on them.
You are praised, God, in Zion, and homage will be paid to You in Jerusalem. Hear my prayer, to You all flesh will come. Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and let perpetual light shine on them.

II. KYRIE - Chorus

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

III. SEQUENZ

DIES IRAE - Chorus

Day of wrath, day of anger will dissolve the world in ashes, as foretold by David and the Sibyl.               Great trembling there will be when the Judge descends from heaven to examine all things closely.

TUBA MIRUM - Aria

The trumpet will send its wondrous sound throughout earth's sepulchres and gather all before the throne. Death and nature will be astounded, when all creation rises again, to answer the judgement. A book will be brought forth, in which all will be written, by which the world will be judged. When the judge takes his place, what is hidden will be revealed, nothing will remain unavenged. What shall a wretch like me say? Who shall intercede for me, when the just ones need mercy?

REX TREMENDAE - Chorus

King of tremendous majesty, who freely saves those worthy ones, save me, source of mercy.

RECORDARE - Aria

Remember, kind Jesus, my salvation caused your suffering; do not forsake me on that day. Faint and weary you have sought me, redeemed me, suffering on the cross; may such great effort not be in vain. Righteous judge of vengeance, grant me the gift of absolution before the day of retribution. I moan as one who is guilty: owning my shame with a red face; suppliant before you, Lord. You, who absolved Mary, and listened to the thief, give me hope also. My prayers are unworthy, but, good Lord, have mercy, and rescue me from eternal fire. Provide me a place among the sheep, and separate me from the goats, guiding me to Your right hand.

CONFUTATIS - Chorus

When the accused are confounded, and doomed to flames of woe, call me among the blessed. I kneel with submissive heart, my contrition is like ashes, help me in my final condition.

LACRIMOSA - Chorus

That day of tears and mourning, when from the ashes shall arise, all humanity to be judged. Spare us by your mercy, Lord. Gentle Lord Jesus, grant them eternal rest. Amen.

IV. OFFERTORY

DOMINE JESU – Chorus & Soloists

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, liberate the souls of the faithful, departed from the pains of hell and from the bottomless pit. Deliver them from the lion's mouth, lest hell swallow them up, lest they fall into darkness. Let the standard-bearer, holy Michael, bring them into holy light. Which was promised to Abraham and his descendants.

HOSTIAS - Chorus

Sacrifices and prayers of praise, Lord, we offer to You. Receive them in behalf of those souls we commemorate today. And let them, Lord, pass from death to life, which was promised to Abraham and his descendants.

V. SANCTUS - Chorus
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

VI. BENEDICTUS - Soloists
Blessed are they who come the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

VII. AGNUS DEI - Chorus
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them rest. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them eternal rest.

VIII. COMMUNIO

LUX AETERNA - Chorus
Let eternal light shine on them, Lord, as with Your saints in eternity, because You are merciful.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and let perpetual light shine on them, as with Your saints in eternity, because You are merciful.