“Art is not a frill on the frock of life, it is the very fabric: without it we are naked to the often cruel, harsh and unjust elements of life. Art refreshes and inspires through sheer beauty and virtuosity. But art is also the safest place to explore dangerous ideas, and that forum is essential in this critical moment of change for the 21st century.” Robyn Archer AO

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Program Layout and Design: Paul Eldon Front Cover Artwork: Daniel Sanderson

Supported by the ACT Government

 S ongs of Sundrie Natures

It is time to say what is, her scope and boundaries: not to count and measure her harbour defences and border walls, but to estimate her capacity for self rule. It is time to say what a king is, and what trust and guardianship he owes his people: what protection from foreign incursions moral or physical, what freedom from the pretensions of those who would like to tell an Englishman how to speak to his God. Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (2009)

The question of how an Englishman should speak to his God through music is at the heart of this evening’s program, which reflects a period of great societal, cultural, and musical turmoil. Against the backdrop of debates about and , about singing in or in English, and about the supremacy of text or of music, the four composers we feature tonight produced some of the most beautiful English music ever written. From the architectural stillness of Byrd’s settings of the Mass to the muscular robustness of Tallis’ psalms; from the delicacy of Tomkins’ trios to the complexity of Gibbons’ writing for double choir, Tudor and Jacobean England produced music of extraordinary variety and vitality. I am delighted to have joined The Oriana Chorale as their new Music Director, and I am grateful to the group for their dedication and hard work in preparing for this concert. I hope you enjoy this evening’s program and look forward to seeing you again in May, when we present Monteverdi’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin as part of the Canberra International Music Festival.

David Mackay

 B iography

David Mackay Music Director, The Oriana Chorale

David Mackay has worked as a conductor in Australia and the United Kingdom, with Opera Australia, Sydney Philharmonia , Sydney Chamber Choir, the Sydney Chamber Orchestra, Nova Camerata, the choir of St James’ Church King Street, and the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals’ Orchestra and Choir. David has also appeared as a guest conductor with the Sydney Youth Orchestra and the Beecroft Orchestra.

He was the founding Music Director of the Goodenough Chamber Orchestra and Voices in London, for whom he commissioned Kasper Cornish’s oratorio The Wanderer, a setting of poems by Australian poet Christopher Brennan.

David works regularly with Canberra ensembles, and is a founding member of The Pocket Score Company, Canberra’s smallest vocal ensemble. He is also active as a composer, particularly of works for choir and solo voice.

Photo by John Kung

 P rogramme

Third Mode Melody for Archbishop Parker’s Psalter Thomas Tallis Haec Dies Introductory Remarks (David Mackay) O Nata Lux Thomas Tallis Royal Injunction of 1559 (Reading) O Clap Your Hands Royal Injunctions of 1548 (Reading) Remember not, O Lord God Thomas Tallis On the Reformation by Her Majesty (Reading) O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth William Byrd Byrd’s Agnus Dei Settings (David Mackay) Agnus Dei à 4 William Byrd To ‘all true lovers of Musicke’ (Reading) Agnus Dei à 5 William Byrd Ye Sacred Muses William Byrd

3 Interval 4

Terra Tremuit William Byrd Petition for the Grant of a Lease (Reading) How Great Delight (Trio) Thomas Tomkins This Sweet and Merry Month of May (Semi-chorus) William Byrd Remarks on the Secular Material (David Mackay) When shall my sorrowful sighing slake Thomas Tallis Musick Divine (Semi-chorus) Thomas Tomkins Queen’s Response (Reading) Ah, Dear Heart (Semi-chorus) Orlando Gibbons Final Remarks (David Mackay) Thomas Tallis O Quam Gloriosum William Byrd Videte Miraculum Thomas Tallis Readers: Liz McKenzie, Geoff Millar, Brab Brabin-Smith

 T he Oriana Chorale

The Oriana Chorale is one of Canberra’s leading a cappella choirs, maintaining a high reputation for innovative programming, quality performances and performing at special events and locations in the national capital.

Oriana’s varied programs provide high audience interest and appeal whilst challenging its members to prepare and perform music from different periods and styles. Our performances have included works ranging from Schnittke (Requiem – 1991, Concerto for Choir – 1993) and Arvo Pärt (Miserere – 1992) to music from 19th-century Europe (Brahms, Bruckner, Mendelssohn, Rossini – 2008), and Australian composers (“An Australian Summer” – Sculthorpe, Boyd, Orlovich, Maclean – 2007; this concert was chosen by W.L. Hoffman of The Canberra Times as one of the “top 10 music performances in Canberra of 2007”).

Oriana’s concerts are usually themed and sometimes include the spoken word – such as the “Century of the Republic” – telling some of the story of 17th-century England (1998) and “Shadow and Light” (2005) – Australians during the Second World War. The Chorale took a new approach in March 2009, singing a Choral Cabaret in Gunning Court House, the National Portrait Gallery and at the Pialligo Estate Winery.

The Oriana Chorale participates broadly in and contributes to Canberra’s musical community, for example in major performances by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and by organising workshops that are open to all choral singers. In addition, Oriana has collaborated frequently in concerts with other local choirs including the Canberra Choral Society, The Resonants, Igitur Nos and the University of Canberra Choral Society. In May 2009, the Chorale was invited to join in a notable performance of Peter Sculthorpe’s Rites of Passage directed by Roland Peelman as part of the Canberra International Music Festival (CIMF). They are delighted to have been invited back to the CIMF where they will perform Monteverdi’s Vespers on 23 May 2010 at the Fitters Workshop in Kingston.  In 2008 the choir commissioned Australian composers Matthew Orlovich and Calvin Bowman each to compose two Christmas carols, which were premièred at the National Museum of Australia in December that year. They have since commissioned Elena Kats-Chernin, in collaboration with Michael Leunig, to compose another four carols during 2010.

Soprano Lis Aplin, Grace Chiu, Julia Golding, Karen Halliday, Valerie Hawke, Andrea Holland, Emma Jenvey, Christine Levers, Colette Lucas, Joan Milner, Deborah Munro, Claire Parkhill Alto Jane Davies, Brenda Goggs, Marjorie Lindenmayer, Alanna Mackay, Liz McKenzie, Mary Molan, Helene Stead, Mary Tatchell, Annabel Wheeler Tenor Chris Aplin, Ian Biggs, Richard Brabin-Smith, Paul Eldon, Stephen Lawton, Colin Matheson, Daniel Sanderson, Richard Tulip, John Virgo Bass Nick Bulleid, Peter Callan, Nick Horn, Geoff Millar, Oliver Raymond, Michael Tatchell

 P rogramme Notes by Anne O’Connell

Third Mode Melody for Archbishop Parker’s Psalter (Tallis) Tallis wrote nine psalm tunes for Archbishop Parker’s Psalter, which was published in 1567. The text is :1, 2. Haec Dies (Byrd) This six part is the Gradual from the Roman Missal sung after the Epistle and before the Sequence in the Easter Mass. O Nata Lux (Tallis) The text for O Nata Lux is taken from the Office of Lauds for the Feast of the Transfiguration, which was based in turn on an anonymous tenth century hymn. This five-part motet sets only two verses of the text, and was published in 1575. O Clap Your Hands (Gibbons) O Clap Your Hands is a setting in eight parts of (most of) Psalm 47 plus the Gloria Patri . It was performed, possibly for the first time, at Gibbons’ admission to the degree of Doctor of Music in 1622. Remember Not, O Lord God (Tallis) This is based on an earlier four-part hymn by Tallis which in this version uses multiple notes on words such as ‘saviour,’ and repetition of certain phrases to emphasise central ideas in the text. O Lord, Make Thy Servant Elizabeth (Byrd) This six part piece is something of a vocal challenge, featuring long sustained phrases and startling dissonances. Peter Phillips (Tallis Scholars) says [of ‘O Lord’]: “Here is music which evidently has a functional purpose: to tie like- minded people together in unaffected, down-to-earth expressions of piety. So that the words may be heard, much of the writing is chordal.”

 Agnus Dei à4 & à5 (Byrd) The Masses for 4 and 5 voices were written in the 1590s and apparently published without title pages, defying the Protestant ban on all things Catholic. Ye Sacred Muses (Byrd) This was written on the death of Thomas Tallis in 1585 and was scored in five parts originally for voice and . Terra Tremuit (Byrd) This short, dramatic five-part motet was written for Easter Sunday, and is contained in Byrd’s Gradualia of 1607. The text is taken from Psalm 75:9-10. How Great Delight (Tomkins) This was published in 1622 in the collection Songs of 3, 4, 5 & 6 Parts. Each of these was dedicated with a general dedication to the Earl of Pembroke. This Sweet and Merry Month of May (Byrd) There are two settings of this : one in four parts and one in six. The six part version is thought to be the original. When Shall my Sorrowful Sighing Slake (Tallis) This was a popular piece during the composer’s life, and is one of only four known part songs by Tallis. Written for four parts it is homophonic in style. Musick Divine (Tomkins) This short madrigal for 6 voices has something of a sting in the last two lines! Ah, Dear Heart (Gibbons) By the time this was published in 1612, the English madrigal had become a form distinct from its Italian roots. The text is attributed to John Donne. O Sacrum Convivium (Tallis) O Sacrum Convivium is a text in praise of the Blessed Sacrament written by St Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi. This version (published in 1575) is the last of many previous settings.

 O Quam Gloriosum (Byrd) Published in Cantiones Sacrae (1589) it is described as “Byrd’s vision of a choir of saints.” Videte Miraculum (Tallis) Written for the Feast of the Purification (in six parts) alternating plainchant and choral sections.

Thomas Tallis b. c. 1505 d. 1585 Tallis’ education is said to have been with choirs. In 1542 he was appointed a singer at the ; he remained there in variously ascendant positions, for the rest of his professional life. In 1575 he published Cantiones Sacrae (with William Byrd) which he dedicated to the Queen. Tallis died in 1585 and is buried in the church of St. Alphege in .

William Byrd b. 1543 d. 1623 Byrd was a Catholic in Protestant England though he remained loyal to the Crown and continued to enjoy the favour of the Queen. In addition to his liturgical works he published numerous smaller scale songs and left a large and influential body of keyboard music, most of which was unpublished during his lifetime.

Orlando Gibbons b. 1583 d. 1625 Gibbons is one of the many notable Kings College Cambridge Choir alumnae. At 21 he became organist at the Chapel Royal of James I, and later the organist at Westminster Abbey. He was awarded a Doctorate of Music from Oxford University in 1622.

Thomas Tomkins b. 1573 d. 1656 Tomkins studied with William Byrd and in 1621 became organist in the Chapel Royal under his friend Orlando Gibbons. He held the position of organist at Worcester Cathedral from 1596 until 1646 when the cathedral was desecrated during the the Civil War.  

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