NEC Chamber Singers

Erica J. Washburn, conductor

with

This organization is supported in part Thomas Handel, organ by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, and by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and administrated by the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism, and Special Events.

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Thursday, February 25, 2016 7:30 p.m. Church of the Covenant 67 Newbury Street, Boston

necmusic.edu/concerts

Other Upcoming Concerts at NEC PROGRAM –continued

______SONATA NIGHT XIV, Pei-Shan Lee, coordinator Tuesday, March 8, 2016 at 6:30 p.m., Williams Hall

TUESDAY NIGHT NEW MUSIC Herbert Howells (1936) New music by NEC student composers, performed by their peers (1892–1983) Salvator mundi Tuesday, March 8, 2016 at 8:00 p.m., Pierce Hall Psalm 23 Requiem aeternam LIEDERABEND XXIX , Cameron Stowe and Tanya Blaich, coordinators Psalm 121 An evening of songs featuring student performers from NEC’s voice and Requiem aeternam I heard a voice from heaven collaborative piano departments Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at 6:30 p.m., Williams Hall Joanna Kim, soprano Meghan Jolliffe, alto NEC PHILHARMONIA , Jeffrey Kahane, guest conductor and piano soloist Timothy Ayres-Kerr, tenor Ravel Concerto for Piano in G Major; Adès Three Studies for Chamber Orchestra Ethan Lobenstine, baritone from Couperin; Elgar Symphony No. 1 in A-flat Major, op. 55 Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at 7:30 p.m., Jordan Hall

Maurice Duruflé Requi em, op. 9 [NEC ]SHIVAREE , Stephen Drury, artistic director (1902–1986) Introit Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at 8:00 p.m., Brown Hall Kyrie Domine Jesu Christe FACULTY RECITAL : BOB NIESKE , jazz bass and the Bob Nieske 4 Sanctus Dave Tronzo, guitar and gizmos ; Phil Grenadier, trumpet; Jon Hazilla, Pie Jesu percussion Agnus Dei Sunday, March 13, 2016 at 8:00 p.m., Pierce Hall Lux aeterna FACULTY RECITAL : EDEN MAC ADAM -SOMER , contemporary improvisation In Paradisum Monday, March 14, 2016 at 7:30 p.m., Jordan Hall

Pauline Ann Tan, mezzo-soprano Matthew O’Donnell, baritone NEC BACH ENSEMBLE , John Gibbons, director Monday, March 14, 2016 at 8:00 p.m., Brown Hall Thomas Handel, organ

Erica J. Washburn , conductor

Herbert Norman Howells was one of the most remarkable composers Upcoming Choral Concerts at NEC of sacred vocal music in the 20th century. In 1932, he wrote a Requiem in –continued D major for unaccompanied double choir, but he kept it unpublished for most of his life. It was not until one of Howells’ private letters was NEC CONCERT CHOIR , CHAMBER SINGERS , WIND ENSEMBLE , Erica uncovered that some of the mysteries of this work were solved. Washburn, Jonathan Richter, conductors; Stephanie Beatrice, graduate Born in Gloucestershire, England and gifted as an organist from a young conductor – Weinstein Gott hämmert for chorus and wind ensemble; Brahms age, Howells earned a scholarship to the Royal College of Music (RCM) and Drei Gesänge, op. 42; Pärt Da pacem Domine; Rheinberger Ave Regina and soon became the darling of some of the most notable composers of the late Tribulationes; world premieres of Sanl ıkol Șu Yalan Dünya and Maglione Night, Victorian period, many of whom became his mentors. Christopher Palmer, Veiled Night (arr. for double chorus) his biographer, claims famous English composers such as Hubert Parry, Monday, April 25, 2016 at 7:30 p.m., Jordan Charles Stanford, Walford Davies, Edward Bairstow, Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams “all thought the world of Howells, and he of them”. However, it was Hubert Parry, the director of RCM, who took the Other Upcoming Concerts at NEC greatest interest in the young student, and for the six years before Parry’s death, Howells became like a son to him. In fact, Howells had a knack for FACULTY RECITAL : JOHN MALLIA AND KATARINA MILJKOVIC , composers acquiring mentors. Another luminary of the British choral tradition, Charles Works by Mallia, Miljkovic, and Jed Speare performed by Chris Watford and Stanford, once called Howells, “my son in Music”. Aaron Likness When the Requiem was published in 1980, most assumed Howells Monday, February 29, 2016 at 7:30 p.m., Jordan Hall wrote it in reaction to the death of his son, Michael, who died suddenly of polio in 1935. As it turns out, Howells’ musical reaction to his son’s tragic PERKIN OPERA SCENES death was not his Requiem (which we now know was written three years Performances by graduate opera majors earlier), it was his much-lauded Hymnus Paradisi . The Hymnus is a large-scale Sunday, March 6, 2016 at 7:00 p.m., Brown Hall work for chorus and orchestra, broader than the Requiem in musical scope Monday, March 7, 2016 at 7:00 p.m., Brown Hall and with a larger canvas, but it includes a significant amount of musical material from the unpublished Requiem. Despite the fact that Howells kept BORROMEO STRING QUARTET GUEST ARTIST CONCERT the 1932 Requiem unpublished for most of his life, he nonetheless regarded Sunday, March 6, 2016 at 8:00 p.m., Jordan Hall it highly enough to return to it after his son’s death as a basis for the

Hymnus . FIRST MONDAY AT JORDAN HALL After Howells’ death his biographer uncovered a 1932 letter Howells Kodály Serenade for Two and , op. 12; Bartók String Quartet No. 4 wrote to his friend Diana “Dinna” Oldrige. This letter upended previous and Rhapsody No. 1; Hungarian music of Transylvania hypotheses about the Requiem—namely that it was just a rough draft for Performed by Yoojin Jang, Mari Lee, ; Dimitri Murrath, and viola; the Hymnus following the death of Howells’ son. This letter helps flesh out the members of the Borromeo String Quartet: Nicholas Kitchen, the genesis of the Requiem. The following excerpt reveals Howells’ initial Kristopher Tong, violin; Mai Motobuchi, viola; Yeesun Kim, ; reason for composing it. Beth Bahia Cohen, hegedű; Áron Székely, kontra; Ildikó Nagy, bögös, ütőgardon “Dinna! I’ve added a complete new sort of work to my holiday Monday, March 7, 2016 at 7:30 p.m., Jordan Hall list — a brief sort of ‘Requiem’ (on the Walford Davies model,

but more extended). I began flirting with the idea on Sunday. I finished it yesterday and am copying it out. It’s done specially for Erica J. Washburn King’s College, Cambridge — otherwise I might not have Director of Choral Activities dreamed of it….” Conductor and mezzo-soprano Erica Washburn is NEC’s Director of Choral Activities. Prior to her appointment at NEC, Washburn was an This letter also sheds light on Howells’ atypical choice of texts for this non- instructor of voice and member of the conducting faculty at the Greatbatch traditional requiem. A brief examination of the origins and traditions School of Music of Houghton College, Houghton, NY. She has also served surrounding the requiem mass will aid in understanding how Howells’ piece on the faculty for the New York State Summer School for the Arts School stands apart. The requiem, an ancient Roman Catholic liturgical rite of Choral Studies, and as conductor of the East Carolina Women’s Choir, memorializing the dead, has undergone significant changes and trans- Assistant Conductor of the Eastman Women’s Chorale, and instructor of secondary voice while matriculated at East Carolina University and the formation since it first appeared sometime in the 10 th century. The normative formula for a requiem service, solidified by the Eastman School of Music. While residing in Rochester, NY, Washburn was featured on the (1545–63) required a standardized order of Latin texts: an introit Requiem Eastman-St. Michael’s Recital Series, performing selections of Mahler’s aeternam , a Kyrie , a Dies Irae, Domine Jesu Christe, Sanctus and Agnus Die , Lux Des with the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, Vaughan aeterna , and finally Requiescant in pace . As the centuries passed, composers Knaben Wunderhorn began to transform the genre from a liturgical and Eucharist-based form into Williams’ Serenade to Music with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and a non-liturgical concert-hall work. Most notable was Johannes Brahms’ Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus. Other stage performance credits include Ravel’s , German Requiem (1857–68) which jettisoned the traditional requiem texts Shéhérazade and instead included texts from the Lutheran Bible that Brahms himself Toensing’s Night Songs and Evening Prayers, Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s chose. Dialogues of the Carmelites , Rebecca Nurse in Robert Ward’s The Crucible , Howells continued this tradition of transformation in his Requiem, even Aminta in Mozart’s Il re pastore , and portraying the role of Mother/Allison in the premiere of Lee Hoiby’s . noting in his letter that he chose texts similar to those in a requiem Henry This is the Rill Speaking

Walford Davies (1869–1941) had composed in 1915. Davies had been one Upcoming Choral Concerts at NEC of Howells’ teachers at RCM, and his little-known Requiem drew texts from (all programs subject to change) a variety of sources, including Anglican burial rites from the Book of Common Visit necmusic.edu for complete and updated concert information Prayer , the Psalms, and standard Latin requiem mass settings. Howells borrows almost all of Davies’ texts for his own work, the singular difference NEC SYMPHONY , CONCERT CHOIR , CHAMBER SINGERS , David Loebel, being that Howells set Psalm 23 instead of Psalm 130. Even if the text Erica J. Washburn, conductors selections are atypical, the musical material is soaring, heart-breakingly Berlioz Le corsaire Overture, op. 21; Debussy Nocturnes ; Duruflé Requiem moving, and Howells at his most typical. Wednesday, March 2, 2016 at 7:30 p.m., Jordan Howells’ lifelong obsession with architecture may be seen in his

Requiem. Indeed, his abilities as a musical architect are on full display in this NEC WIND ENSEMBLE , SYMPHONIC WINDS , CHAMBER SINGERS , work. Howells was known to cite buildings—churches, cathedrals, Charles Peltz, William Drury, conductors; colleges—as the inspiration for many of his works. In the previously- Ives Decoration Day; Weinstein Gott hämmert for chorus and wind ensemble mentioned letter to Diana Oldridge, Howells wrote of the Requiem, “It’s (premiere); Denisov Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Wind Orchestra, Scott done specially for King’s College, Cambridge — otherwise I might not have Chamberlin, saxophone dreamed of it.” In a 1961 BBC interview, Howells described how Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 7:30 p.m., Jordan Hall architecture inspired him, telling his interviewer, “Certainly I have been

New England Conservatory Choruses immensely influenced by buildings… and whenever I’ve composed a piece of Erica J. Washburn, Director of Choral Activities music for the church I have most definitely been mentally inside a building… Jonathan Richter, Choral Conducting Faculty when I wrote the service for King’s, Cambridge, I wrote it, as it were, Stephanie Beatrice, Ethan Lobenstine, graduate assistant conductors mentally wholly absorbed by the architectural beauty of that place and its Sally Millar, administrator acoustic properties”. Jacob Hiser, Hanzhen Li, rehearsal accompanists Howells’ choice of key areas and his tonal language define the architecture and the structure of the Requiem. The first movement, in G NEC Chamber Singers minor, mysteriously begins and ends in G minor’s dominant key area, D major, almost asking the listener an unanswerable question. D major plays Timothy Ayres-Kerr Anneke Harger Bosba Panh an important role in the work, as it begins and ends on D major chords, Kyle Bejnerowicz Johan Hartman Alexandra Chace Purdy which stand as the two outer walls of the composition and provide tonal Isaac Roth Blumfield Steven Keen Hyland Jonathan Richardson symmetry to its structure. Between these two foundational chords, Vivian Buchanan Meghan Jolliffe Richard Rivale however, Howells writes with a prismatic harmonic language full of light, Julia Anne Cohen Joanna Kim Leon Saliba-Blight shadow, and color which all seem to evoke a sparkling rose window from SarahAnn Duffy Nicole Leung Pepita Salim one of the cathedrals that so inspired him. Michael Alexander Ethan Lobenstine Pauline Ann Tan A second area in which Howells displays his abilities as a musical González Matthew O’Donnell Öznur Tülüo ğlu craftsman can be heard in his text painting. The last fouteen bars of the Andrew Haig Wenceslas Ostasenko Requiem showcase his celebrated ability to set musical ideas to the Thomas Handel maintains a varied career as an administrator, teacher, appropriate texts. The final words, “they rest from their labours” repeats and performer. From 2002 to 2015 Handel served as Dean of Students at three times, and in the first and second repetitions the word “labours” is NEC. Currently, he chairs the Doctor of Musical Arts program and advises treated to different kinds of laborious suspensions and chromaticisms. doctoral and Graduate Diploma students. Handel has served on the music Finally, on the third and final repetition, the vocal lines rest on a satisfying D history faculty since 1992, specializing in sacred music and French music major triad—the same chord that started the work. In this long-awaited from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He regularly performs and cadence, Howells grants rest to the souls of the dead and gives comfort to tours with the NEC Chamber Singers. those who mourn. – Jon Richardson, Handel successfully revived the organ class for non-majors at NEC, MM Candidate, Musicology, 2017 introducing over thirty students each year to the organ and its vast repertory. In this capacity he emphasizes the wide variety of musical and interpersonal skills that are required of the practicing church musician. Salvator mundi (Saviour of the world) Handel is the Minister of Music at Church of the Covenant in Boston, O Saviour of the world, Who by thy Cross and thy precious Blood hast redeemed where he has the privilege of playing the restored Welte-Tripp organ. At us, Covenant, Handel oversees a progressive and eclectic music program that, Save us, help us, we humbly beseech thee, O Lord. on any given Sunday, may include the music of Michael Jackson and Messiaen, or Bob Marley and Bach. Recordings include works of Bach and d’Aquin with the Boston Cecilia and Duruflé’s Requiem (solo organ version) with the Phillips Exeter Academy Concert Choir. He has lectured on Messiaen throughout the U.S. and at the University of Sheffield (U.K.) International Messiaen Festival.

Psalm 23 dona eis requiem. grant them rest. The Lord is my shepherd: therefore can I lack nothing. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the He shall feed me in a green pasture: and lead me forth beside the waters of world’s sins, comfort. dona eis requiem sempiternam. grant them eternal rest. He shall convert my soul: and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness, for his name’s sake. Lux aeterna Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: thy rod Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, May eternal light shine upon them, and thy staff comfort me. cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, Lord, in the company of thy saints forever, Thou shalt prepare a table before me against them that trouble me: thou hast quia pius es. for thou art merciful. anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, Eternal rest grant them, Lord, and But thy loving kindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will et lux perpetua luceat eis. let perpetual light shine upon them. dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Libera me Requiem aeternam Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, in die illa tremenda on that dreadful day, et lux perpetua luceat eis. and let perpetual light shine upon t hem. quando coeli movendi sunt et terra, when the heavens and earth shall quake, dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem. when thou shalt come to judge the

world by fire. Psalm 121 Tremens factus sum ego, I am seized with trembling, and I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills: from whence cometh my help. et timeo dum discussio venerit, I am fearful until the judgment comes, My help cometh even from the Lord: who hath made heav’n and earth. atque ventura ira. and I dread the coming wrath. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: and he that keepeth thee will not sleep. Dies illa, dies irae, calamitatis et miseriae; That day, day of wrath, calamity and Behold, he that keepeth Israel: shall neither slumber nor sleep. misery; The Lord himself is thy keeper: he is thy defence upon thy right hand; dies magna et amara valde, momentous day, exceedingly bitter, So that the sun shall not burn thee by day: neither the moon by night. dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem. when thou shalt come to judge the The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul. world by fire. The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in: from this day forth and

for evermore. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, Eternal rest grant them, Lord, and

et lux perpetua luceat eis. let perpetual light shine upon them. Requiem aeternam Libera me, Domine . . . Deliver me, Lord . . . Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, and let perpetual light shine upon them. et lux perpetua luceat eis. In Paradisum In paradisum deducant angeli; May the angels lead you to Paradise; I heard a voice from heaven in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, and at thy coming may the martyrs I heard a voice from heav’n, saying unto me, Write, et perducant te welcome thee, and lead thee into From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem. the holy city of Jerusalem. Even saith the Spirit; For they rest from their labours. Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat, May a choir of angels welcome thee, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere and with Lazarus, once a beggar,

aeternam habeas requiem. may thou have eternal rest.

Domine Jesu Christe Maurice Duruflé was an incurable perfectionist: his official catalogue of Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae, Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, compositions has only a handful of opus numbers. But the pieces that he libera animas omnium fidelium free the souls of all the faithful deemed “good enough” to share with the world, though small in number, defunctorum de poenis inferni departed from the pains of hell are all masterworks, and the Requiem Mass, his magnum opus, is one of the et de profundo lacu; and from the deep abyss; finest pieces of the choral repertoire. libera eas de ore leonis; deliver them from the lion’s mouth; From the time he was a child the liturgical music and rituals of the ne absorbeat eas tartarus, let not hell swallow them up, Catholic Church were a hugely important part of Duruflé's life. Between ne cadant in obscurum. nor let them fall into darkness; 1912 and 1918 he studied at the choir school in Rouen, France, and sed signifer sanctus Michael but let Michael, the holy standard- regularly played organ for church services at the Rouen Cathedral. It was in bearer, repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam; bring them into the holy light, Rouen that Duruflé grew to love the plainchant tradition, which would Quam olim Abrahae promisisti which once thou promised to greatly influence his compositional style and ultimately set him apart from et semini eius. Abraham and to his seed. other composers of his time. During his school years his musical talent on Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, Sacrifices and prayers of praise the organ garnered him attention: in 1920, Duruflé was taken to play for the laudis offerimus; we offer to thee, O Lord; renowned Charles Tournemire, the organist at the Basilisque Ste-Clotide in tu suscipe pro animabus illis receive them on behalf of those souls Paris and professor at the Paris Conservatoire. He entered the Conserva- quarum hodie memoriam facimus; whom we remember today; toire that year, studying organ performance and composition in a more fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad grant them, Lord, to pass from death to rigorous educational setting than he had had in Rouen. Duruflé lived and vitam, life, worked in Paris for the rest of his life, as a professor at the Conservatoire quam olim Abraham promisisti which thou once promised to and the organist at the church of St. Etienne-du-Mont. et semini ejus. Abraham and to his seed. Duruflé worked slowly and meticulously on the Requiem. The piece

was commissioned by the collaborationist Vichy government in 1941, but Sanctus Duruflé did not complete it until 1947, three years after the regime's Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Holy, Holy, Holy, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Lord God of Hosts. collapse. He created three different orchestrations of the piece, to suit Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. whatever performing forces were at hand: one for chorus and organ solo; in excelsis. Hosanna in the highest. one for chorus with organ, string orchestra, and optional trumpets, harp, Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Blessed is he who comes in the name of and ; and one for chorus with full orchestra and optional organ. The the Lord. piece was well received at its premiere in 1947 with Roger Désormière Hosanna in excelsis. Hosanna in the highest. conducting, and it has enjoyed a rich performance history – often with Duruflé himself at the organ, during his lifetime – from that time until the Pie Jesu present day. The piece is in nine movements and is circa forty minutes long. Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem; Blessed Lord Jesus, grant them rest; What makes this work stand out among settings of the Requiem mass is dona eis requiem sempiternam. grant them eternal rest. Duruflé's use of Gregorian chant melodies. The melodic material of the Requiem is based almost exclusively on the plainchant, that Duruflé knew Agnus Dei and deeply loved, from the traditional mass for the dead. We hear Duruflé's Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the religious devotion and his love of this music by the way he incorporates the world’s sins, dona eis requiem. grant them rest. chants into his work, and by the ways in which he uses his modern Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the harmonic language to accompany them. world’s sins,

One result of Duruflé's use of the chant melodies is an extraordinarily sensitive setting of the text. It is not always the case that a setting of the Requiem depicts the literal and emotional import of the liturgical text so clearly and honestly: when we listen to the Duruflé Requiem we are hearing precisely what these texts mean. Not only that, but by putting each of the chant melodies in dialogue with contemporary orchestration, Duruflé invites us not only to hear the profundity inherent in the original chants but to reflect on what they mean to us in our modern world. Duruflé weaves the orchestra and other voices around the chant The “In Paradisum” is also the only time in the text of the Requiem where melodies like a tapestry, or a gloss in the margins of a medieval manuscript. the deceased is addressed directly: in translation, the text begins “May the The chants set the mood from the very beginning. The first movement angels lead you into paradise, and may the martyrs receive you at your opens with the men's voices singing the tender “Requiem Aeternam” chant. coming and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem.” Duruflé begins the In this case, Duruflé presents the chant relatively unadorned, recalling the movement with the sopranos singing the chant in unison surrounded by a simplicity and subtlety of the original chant, used for centuries, that Duruflé delicate, shimmering orchestration. What Duruflé does next is breathtaking: knew: the second half of the chant is taken over by the organ (or the , in performances without organ), while the full chorus sings a homophonic setting of the text. The chant melody, without the words, seems to float up to heaven, while the chorus (of heavenly angels? of human mourners?) accompanies it on its way. The piece comes to a close quietly and peacefully, as if the soul of the deceased, evoked by the textless chant, has indeed departed and found eternal rest. – Holly Druckman, MM Candidate, Musicology, 2017 As the piece goes on, Duruflé finds new ways to incorporate the chant melodies into the work. In the “Kyrie” (which begins immediately after the “Requiem Aeternam” ends), Duruflé uses the chant as a cantus firmus , Introit played by the brass instruments, around which he writes a lush polyphonic Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, texture for the voices and orchestra. The third movement, “Domine Jesu et lux perpetua luceat eis. and let perpetual light shine upon them. Christe,” begins with the solemn, simple chant and almost immediately Te decet hymnus, Deus in Sion, A hymn befits thee, O God in Zion, whips it up into a frenzy, as the text becomes more dramatic and et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. and a vow will be paid to Thee in Jerusalem. frightening. And movement seven, the “Lux Aeterna,” uses the chorus like Exaudi orationem meam; Hear my prayer; an organ, with the lower voices providing a quiet harmonic background ad te omnis caro veniet. for unto thee all flesh shall come. while the sopranos sing the chant, which seems to float gently above the texture. Kyrie The Requiem, however, is at its most transcendental in its final Kyrie eleison, Lord, have mercy, movement, “In Paradisum.” This chant, which occurs after the mass service, Christe eleison, Christ, have mercy, is sung during the procession to the gravesite before the burial. The chant Kyrie ele ison. Lo rd, have mercy. melody is notable for its meandering contour, its meditative affect, and its sense of lightness due to its high register.