Program Notes provided by Vienna Choir Boys Carmina Burana is the name given to a collection of medieval songs in Latin, Middle High German and Frankish that contains sacred songs, possibly for pageants, moral songs, satirical songs, songs about love and drinking. Compiled around 1230, the manuscript was discovered in the 1800s in the monastery at Benediktbeuren in Bavaria. In 1847 Johann Andreas Schmeller (1785-1852) edited the collection and gave it its current title. Carl Orff (1895-1982) set Carmina Burana to music in 1936, selecting 24 songs to paint a medieval vision of fortune’s wheel, and man’s life turning with it from love to death, happiness to misery. The work opens and closes with a choral address, “O Fortuna.” First performed in 1937, Carmina Burana signified Orff’s “first real work.” He wrote to his publisher to destroy everything else. Giovanni Palestrina (ca. 1525-1594), who took his name from his birthplace, started his musical career as a chorister at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. His music resembles Renaissance architecture in its flowing, smooth lines, skilful blend of voices and rich beauty of sound. His enormous output includes 93 masses, 35 magnificats and 273 motets. O vos omnes (a motet for four-part a cappella choir) is taken from Palestrina’s Lamentations of Jeremiah (published in 1588). It was intended to be sung during Holy Week. In Jeremiah’s text, the speaker is the voice of the destroyed city of Jerusalem, who bemoans her own fate. Jacobus Gallus (ca. 1550-1591), also known as Jacob Handl, was born in Slovenia. He was educated in the Cistercian monastery in Sittich, and possibly in Fiume or Triest. He arrived in Austria as a teenager, singing first in the Abbey at Melk and then in the Hofmusikkapelle in Vienna. For most of his life, he was in the service of the Roman Catholic Church. His music combines ideas and elements of the Franco-Flemish, German and Italian Renaissance styles. Contemporaries admired his music for its beautifully woven counterpoint and compared him to Palestrina (1525-94). This was high praise indeed, as Palestrina’s music was considered “pure” in the sense of the Platonic ideal of music. Gallus differs from Palestrina in his use of rhythm. Deftly moving between duple and triple meter, he uses word accents to change rhythm, and creates moments of emotional drama and suspense. Haec Dies (a cappella motet for four-part double choir) is an Easter motet. The passage from Psalm 118:24 refers to the day on which Yahweh rebuilds the temple in Jerusalem and vanquishes his enemies, something that fits well with the theme of Christ’s resurrection at Easter. The motet was originally written for high voices, and was likely intended for the boys of the Viennese Imperial Chapel. Joseph Eybler (1765-1846), a cousin of Joseph and Michael Haydn, was educated in the Viennese Stadtseminar. When he was 11, he received composition lessons from court composer Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. Haydn and Mozart helped his career along; ironically Eybler was in his lifetime far more influential than the two acknowledged masters, who obviously had a much more lasting influence on music. In 1824, Eybler succeeded Antonio Salieri as Erster Kapellmeister (first conductor) of the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle. Not many of Eybler’s compositions survive; the gradual Omnes de Saba venient (Gradual for Epiphany) is the most popular. The text is drawn from Isaiah 60:6 and Matthew 2:2. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) grew up surrounded by culture. The Mendelssohns converted from Judaism to Christianity in 1816. Felix, the second child, studied piano with Ludwig Berger and theory and composition with Karl Friedrich Zelter. At the age of 9, he gave his first public recital; at 10 he became a member of the Berliner Singakademie. He was 11 when his first compositions were publicly performed. In 1829 he directed a pioneering performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Berlin Singakademie (with a reported chorus of 600 singers), a performance that put Bach firmly on the repertoire list for choirs. Famous as a festival organizer and associated especially with the Lower Rhine and Birmingham music festivals, Mendelssohn’s death at 38 was mourned internationally. His music shows influences of Bach (fugal technique), Handel (rhythms, harmonic progressions), Mozart (dramatic characterisation, forms, textures) and Beethoven (instrumental technique). “Hebe deine Augen auf” is from Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah. The text of this passage is based on Psalm 121, 1-4. The psalm is subtitled “The guardian of Israel” and is a song of ascent, to be sung on a pilgrimage. The passage is sung by three angels who watch over Elijah’s journey into the wilderness. Elijah is sent to Mount Horeb where he meets God face to face. Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was sent to Paris as a 9-year-old to study music with Camille Saint-Saëns at the Niedermeyer School of religious music. He won the school’s composition prize at 19 for Cantique de Jean Racine and later worked as an organist at a number of Paris churches, including the Madeleine. In 1897, he became a professor at the Paris conservatory; his students included Maurice Ravel and Georges Enescu. Fauré’s Ave verum corpus (1894) is written in a style that recalls his popular Requiem—simple and emotional. The text, attributed to Pope Innocent VI (died 1342), is a prayer for the Feast of Corpus Christi, which was introduced by Pope Urban IV in 1264. There are a number of slight variants that occurred over time. During the Middle Ages it would have been sung at the Elevation of the Host during its consecration. In just five lines, it covers the Incarnation, the Passion, the Eucharist and the Last Judgement. Medieval writers were interested in acrostics, and it is no accident that the first letter of the first line, the second letter of the second line, and so on, spell out A-E-I-O-U. Robert Rieder (b. 1975) composed the “Kyrie” and “Gloria” for his choir, designing the works to suit their specific voices and abilities. He also took the boys’ musical tastes into account: the music is fast and rhythmic. This is the first performance of the “Kyrie” in the United States, and the world premiere of the “Gloria.” Both are part of a setting of the Mass ordinary and are part of the composer’s Missa brevis of 2005. Zoltán Kodály’s (1882-1967) Túrot eszig a cigány is an animated piece for four-part children’s choir based on a Hungarian folk song. The piece starts with the altos ominously chewing the initial phrase before the sopranos start developing a melody relating the events. To go by the text, curd seems to have a dangerous effect on the chewer. The second part, with a text vaguely reminiscent of the events in Goethe’s Heidenröslein, is comparatively sedate and lyrical, a short respite before the chewing begins again. Robert Schumann (1810-1856), a bookseller’s son, showed early ability as a pianist. He tried composing and writing at a young age. In 1821, at the grand old age of 11, he went to Leipzig to study law, but actually spent his time on music and literature (a bit later also on the ladies and on champagne). After a brief intermezzo in Heidelberg (more law), he was finally able to persuade his family that he should become a pianist. He moved back to Leipzig to live with the Wieck family. In 1834 Schumann founded the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, a music review. He was a perceptive critic, and his writings helped a number of young composers with their careers. Schumann, a child of his time, was into cloak-and-dagger stuff and would occasionally write under two pennames. When he felt lyrical and thoughtful, he was Eusebius; when he felt fiery urges, he called himself Florestan. He fell in love with Wieck’s daughter Clara, who was a gifted pianist. Clara’s father, however, objected to their marriage, and it took the couple five years before they were finally able to marry. Schumann continued to compose and his output includes a piano concerto, a cello concerto, symphonies, large choral works and more than 150 lieder; but he is especially known for his introvert piano and chamber music. Zigeunerleben (“Gypsy’s Life“) dates from 1840, the year Schumann married Clara and composed 138 lieder. Zigeunerleben is a lively, dramatic piece, with optional parts for tambourine and triangle to create “gypsy” effects. Und wanns amal schen aper wird is a cheerful alpine folk song with yodelling from the town of Eisenerz (Styria). It describes an ascent to alpine pastures in summer and the jolly relations between herdsmen and women. The Austrian and Bavarian word “aper” literally means “(partly) snowless,” from the Latin apertus “open.” Johann Strauss, Jr. (1825-1899) was the second Strauss with the first name Johann and undoubtedly the most famous. At least four members of the family were active as composers: his father Johann (1804-1849), Johann himself and his younger brothers Joseph (1827-1870) and Eduard (1835-1916). Many of Strauss’ compositions are influenced by Gypsy and Jewish klezmer music. There is an inherent ambiguity in his music: Strauss, who made the entire city of Vienna dance, was a nervous, ill-tempered and lonely man, and he could not dance. His polka, Unter Donner und Blitz-Polka (“Thunder and Lightning”), was first performed at the “Hesperusball” in Vienna in February 1868. The title is an afterthought; it seemed to reflect the thunderclaps and lightning bolts in the orchestra much better than the original title, “Falling Stars.” The Annen-Polka of 1852 was written for the popular festival held in Vienna on St. Anna’s Day, July 16. St. Anna, the mother of Mary, is still widely venerated in Austria. In the 18th and 19th centuries St. Anna’s Day was an official holiday, celebrated with theatrical plays, serenades and fireworks. The waltz, Rosen aus dem Süden (“Roses from the South”) is based on music from Strauss’ operetta Das Spitzentuch der Königin (“The Queen’s Handkerchief”). The waltz’s title refers to one of the operetta’s love arias and to the fact that it was dedicated to King Humbert I of Italy. © 2005 Tina Breckwoldt
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