christmas in medieval Friday, December 18 & Saturday, December 19, 2015 First Church in Cambridge, Congregational Sunday, December 20, 2015 S. Stephen’s Church, Providence CHRISTMAS IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

I.

Veni, veni, Emanuel DM & MEN 13 th-century French?

II.

Angelus ad virginem DT SM Arundel MS (late 13th century)

Gabriel fram Heven-King PD MB SM Cotton Fragments (14th century)

Gaude virgo salutata / Gaude virgo singularis MN / GP / SR JM / MB MS (d. 1453) / Isorhythmic for Annunciation

Hayl Mary, ful of grace MN GP / SR JM / MB MS / SM Trinity Roll (early 15th century)

Quam pulcra es MN SR MB Dunstaple / Processional for the Blessed Virgin Mary

Gloria (Old Hall MS, no. 21) JM MS SR DM PG (d. 1445)

Ther is no rose of swych vertu DT MB PG SM Trinity Roll

Ibo michi ad montem mirre GP JM MS Leonel Power / Antiphon for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

III.

Veni redemptor gencium PG & men Sarum plainchant / Hymn for first Vespers of the Nativity on Christmas Eve

INTERMISSION IV. Christmas Day

Dominus dixit ad me DM & men Sarum plainchant / Introit for the Mass at Cock-Crow on Christmas Day

Nowel: Owt of your slepe aryse DT PD GP Selden MS (15th century)

Gloria (Old Hall MS, no. 27) MN GP PD / SR JM / MB MS Pycard (?fl. 1410-20)

Ecce, quod natura PD SR MB Selden MS Sanctus / Missa Veterem hominem Anonymous English, c. 1440

Ave rex angelorum MB DM PG Egerton MS (15th century) Agnus dei / Missa Veterem hominem Anonymous English, c. 1440 Nowel syng we bothe al and som Trinity Roll

Blue Heron cantus Pamela Dellal, Martin Near, Gerrod Pagenkopf, Daniela Tošić tenor & contratenor Michael Barrett, Jason McStoots, Stefan Reed, Mark Sprinkle bassus Paul Guttry, David McFerrin Scott Metcalfe, , director

Pre-concert talk by Daniel Donoghue sponsored in part by The Cambridge Society for

Blue Heron is funded in part by the Cultural Council, a state agency.

Blue Heron PO Box 372 Ashland MA 01721 (617) 960-7956 [email protected] www.blueheronchoir.org Christmas in Medieval England The medieval commemoration of Christ’s or alongside the liturgy, carols, of which some nativity began with the preparatory and 130 survive, many for Christmas. Carols are penitential season of Advent, beginning with found mostly in manuscripts of church music the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. and were clearly the province of professional After Christmas itself came a series of saints’ musicians and learned clerics, as witness their days, including those of St. Stephen, St. John sophisticated musical notation and frequent use the Apostle, and St. Thomas of . of Latin alongside the vernacular. If not exactly Ritual observances reached another climax popular music in our sense, however, they were on the feast of the Circumcision on January at least popular in character—cast in strophic 1, the Octave or eighth day of Christmas, the form and set to simple and highly memorable traditional first day of the New Year and, until tunes—and “popular in destination” (in the the thirteenth century, also the feast day of the words of the preeminent twentieth-century Virgin Mary. Celebrations continued through student of their texts, R. L. Greene). They Epiphany on January 6, marking the revelation might have provided entertainment and to the Gentiles and the Adoration of the Magi, edification to educated cleric and uneducated and its Octave, and extended to Candlemas on congregant alike, within, around, and outside the fortieth day after Christmas, February 2, of the liturgy, for processions and banquets when Christians observed both the feast of the and celebrations of all kinds. Presentation of Christ in the Temple and the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. This program offers a small selection of music for the Christmas season that might have Throughout the Christmas season, the official been heard in England in the 1440s, when the liturgy of the Church was embellished and most modern of the works on the program expanded with tropes both textual and musical, were composed. We begin with the familiar adding color and ceremony to the festivities Advent hymn Veni, veni Emanuel. Probably while establishing a closer connection French in origin, the hymn could have made between the universality of fixed ritual and its way to England as early as the thirteenth the particularity of a specific sanctuary century, when Franciscan friars in France and or congregation. Textual tropes included England maintained extensive connections substitutes for items such as and and an evangelizing member of the order versicles, or for parts of the of the might have carried such a song across the Mass; in England a troped Kyrie was the rule Channel. The text is a metrical version of five for all major feasts. A polyphonic setting of of the seven so-called O-antiphons, which an item from the Ordinary such as the Gloria date back to the eighth century or earlier. One or Sanctus might be considered a purely of the O-antiphons was sung before and after musical trope, replacing the plainchant. the at Vespers on each of the seven Fifteenth-century England evolved its own days before the eve of Christmas, December unique repertoire of texts and music outside 17-23. They address the to come in

4 his various attributes: O Sapientia (wisdom), ad virginem is probably by the poet and O Adonai (Lord), O Radix Jesse (root of Jesse), theologian Philippe (d. 1236), chancellor of O Clavis David (key of David), O Oriens (the Paris, nearly all of whose Latin lyrics survive morning star), O Rex (king), O Emanuel with music. Text and tune probably came to (“God with us”). The initial letters, after the O, England with travelling Franciscans in the spell out the promise of redemption in a reverse thirteenth century, just as we have imagined acrostic, SARCORE, ero cras: “Tomorrow I happened with Veni, veni Emanuel. The song shall be there.” (Medieval English tradition quickly became popular in England: all of the began the series on December 16 and added an extant sources are British and there are two eighth antiphon, “O virgo virginum,” making thirteenth-century versions in English verse, the acrostic vero cras: “Truly, tomorrow!”) fram Heven-King and The angel to the Vergyn said. We sing the former in a two- The Annunciation is formally commemorated voice setting from the next century, inserted nine months before Christmas, of course, but between verses of the monophonic Latin song. the miracle is remembered and celebrated at the Christmas season with retellings of The polyphonic carols on our program are the archangel Gabriel’s appearance to Mary, drawn from three manuscripts whose contents their conversation—brief, yet charged with overlap somewhat, despite the two decades import—and the divine conception. Our set between their likely dates of copying, from of Annunciation music opens with one of the after 1415 to the 1440s. With the exception of most famous songs of the English Middle the more ambitiously contrapuntal Epiphany Ages, Angelus ad virginem. The song figures carol Ave rex angelorum, the carols are written in in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in the Miller’s a robust popular style with graceful melody and Tale, where it is sung to a by a poor simple harmonies and generally take the form of scholar at Oxford by the name of Nicholas: a three-voice refrain with a two-voice verse. The rollicking Nowel: Owt of your slepe aryse inverts And al above ther lay a gay sautrie, the normal pattern, with a brilliant three-voice On which he made a-nyghtes melodie verse and a refrain whose two parts roll from So swetely that al the chambre rong, voice to voice. For Nova nova, transmitted as a And Angelus ad virginem he song, monophonic song, I have added two parts to the And after that he song the Kynges Noote. refrain and one to the verse.

(In the tale, a notably rude one, Nicholas “Isorhythmic motet” is a prickly modern term goes on to cuckold his landlord, an elderly for a medieval compositional technique that carpenter with an eighteen-year-old wife was extensively cultivated in the fourteenth named Alison. A medieval reader would century. The form was mostly abandoned presumably have relished the ironic reference after 1400 but was exceptionally used in the to a song about a virgin conceiving a son in fifteenth century by John Dunstaple and his the absence of her husband, also a carpenter.) contemporary . The term Christopher Page has shown that the text of “” means that the tenor part (or parts—

5 Gaude virgo has two: a tenor whose melody is virgo salutata” is juxtaposed with “Gaude taken from a plainchant, and a contratenor or virgo singularis” in the opening measures, for part written “against the tenor”) is constructed instance, “Angelus” with “Mater heres Dei” at on a rhythmic pattern that repeats exactly: this the beginning of the third and final section. is called a talea, meaning a slice or a measure. The tenor’s melody is also constructed from a Another technique of construction underlies repeating pattern of pitches, the color, usually the Gloria by Pycard (whoever he may have a fragment of plainchant. Typically the talea, been). Here two of the upper three voices the isorhythmic unit, starts out in long note sing in canon at the distance of five breves values which diminish proportionally as the (or measures). The canon is complicated and motet proceeds. In Gaude virgo the color partially obscured by the third voice moving at contains twice as many notes as the talea; the the same speed and in the same range. Towards color occurs three times, each over two runs of the end, when the three upper voices trade the talea, in the accelerating proportion 3:2:1, hockets (the term, related to the English hiccup, creating an irresistible, yet almost subliminal describes a rapidfire back-and-forth exchange forward momentum. of single notes), the entire ensemble locks into a regular pattern of five measures, like waves The amazing thing about an isorhythmic motet rising and breaking on the shore. in the hands of a master like Dunstaple is that such an elaborately mechanized structure The decades between the 1410s and the 1440s undergirds such compelling music. It is at saw striking changes in the compositional once rigorously mathematical in conception style of learned polyphony. In some instances and deeply sensuous in realisation, glorying we can hear the change in the works of a single in sheer beauty of sonority and exuberant composer. Listen to the craggy dissonances melodic invention. One of the pleasures offered and bristly cross-rhythms of Leonel Power’s by Gaude virgo is the constant alternation of astonishing Gloria from the Old Hall G minor and G major sonorities produced manuscript of c. 1415, for two, four, and finally by different signatures in the two lower parts, five voices—Christopher Page likens the effect one with a B flat, the other without. The tenor to sticking your head into a beehive—and is the fifth stanza of the plainchant sequence compare it to his Ibo michi ad montem mirre, “Ave mundi spes Maria,” while each of the transmitted in a continental manuscript from other three voices—including the contratenor, the 1440s. The latter work is fluid, tuneful, which moves at the speed of the tenor and and almost entirely consonant—sweeter, a takes on some of its contrapuntal functions— fifteenth-century musician would probably say, carries a separate poetic text meditating on the just as Ecce quod natura, Hayl Mary, or Ther is Annunciation. The meanings conveyed by such no rose are sweet. Power’s later music has lost an artistic construction cannot possibly be none of its ability to dazzle with complex cross- apprehended in a single hearing. The attentive rhythms, as the dancing Alleluia demonstrates, listener, however, may perceive the interplay but the effect is suave and sensual rather than of key words in the upper two parts: “Gaude glittering and prickly. The canonic example

6 of this quintessentially English sweetness is About the harp another motet addressing the Virgin Mary in the words of the Song of Songs, Dunstaple’s The strings on a harp clang by striking rapturous Quam pulcra es; here a change in the the lower nail where they are connected mensuration (the time signature, more or less) to the body… In common parlance this sets off an exuberant gallop to the end. is called “harping” the string. Heinrich Glarean, Dodecachordon (1547) The most modern of the works on our program The fifteenth-century harp sounds rather are the Sanctus and Agnus dei from the Missa different from its modern counterparts due to Veterem hominem. Composed in the 1440s by the presence of brays, small wedges set atop the an anonymous English composer, this Mass pins in the sound board: when the string is was part of the great wave of English works plucked, it vibrates against the narrow end of that crashed onto the European continent in the wedge, creating a buzzy or snappy sound the mid-fifteenth century, inspiring a host of which is both louder and more sustained than imitations by French and Flemish composers. that of a harp without brays. The harp played It, like Power’s Ibo michi and Dunstaple’s today was made by Lynne Lewandowski of Gaude virgo salutata and, indeed, most mid- Bellows Falls, Vermont, from Vermont cherry, century English music, survives only in and is based on various surviving originals and continental copies, the English originals paintings, especially the tall and slender having disappeared almost without exception. portrayed in the paintings of Hans Memling. The Missa Veterem hominem takes as its cantus Its 26 gut strings are tuned diatonically with firmus an antiphon for Lauds at the Octave of both B-natural and B-flat. the Epiphany (“The Savior comes to baptism, bringing renewal to old man”), and its Kyrie (not recorded here) sets the trope Deus creator omnium, which was sung on all principal and major double feasts, like Christmas, in the Sarum rite. These features make it a perfect choice for a festive Mass during the Christmas season, while its vigorous rhythms, dashing melodies, and clangorous harmonies offer an apt musical counterpart to the blazing candles, the bright colors of festal vestments, the flashing gold, silver, and jewels of the ceremonial vessels, the swirling smoke and intoxicating odor of frankincense, and all the rest of the liturgical drama of High Mass on one of the most glorious feast days of the Christian year. —Scott Metcalfe

7 TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS Veni, veni, Emanuel! Come, O come, Emmanuel! Captivum solve Israel, Redeem captive Israel, Qui gemit in exilio, who laments in exile, Privatus Dei filio. deprived of the son of God. Gaude! gaude! Emanuel Rejoice! rejoice! Emanuel nascetur pro te, Israel. shall be born to you, O Israel. Veni, O Jesse Virgula! Come, O Rod of Jesse! Ex hostis tuos ungula, From the enemy’s claws, De specu tuos tartari from the pit of hell Educ, et antro barathri. lead your people, and from the maw of the abyss. Veni, veni, O Oriens! Come, come, O Morning Star! Solare nos adveniens, Console us with your coming, Noctis depelle nebulas, dispel the gloom of night, Dirasque noctis tenebras. and pierce the nocturnal shadows. Veni, Clavis Davidica! Come, Key of David! Regna reclude celica, Open wide the heavenly kingdom, Fac iter tutum superum, make safe the road above, Et claude vias inferum. and bar the ways to hell. Veni, veni, Adonaï, Come, come, Adonai, Qui populo in Sinaï who on the mount of Sinai Legem dedisti vertice gave your people the Law In maiestate glorie. in glorious majesty. 13th century French?

Angelus ad virginem The angel, coming secretly subintrans in conclave, to the Virgin, virginis formidinem calming the Virgin’s demulcens, inquit: —Ave! fear, said: —Hail! Ave Regina Virginum! hail, Queen of Virgins! Celi terreque Dominum You shall conceive the Lord of Heaven and Earth concipies, et paries intacta and give birth, remaining a virgin, salutem hominum; to the salvation of mankind; tu porta celi facta, you are made the gateway of heaven, medela criminum. the cure for sin. Gabriel, fram Heven-King Gabriel, sent from the King of Heaven Sent to the maide sweete, to the sweet maiden, Broute his blisful tiding brought her happy news And fair he gan hir greete: and greeted her courteously: —Heil be thu, ful of grace aright! —Hail be thou, full of grace indeed! For Godes Son, this Heven-Light, For God’s Son, this Light of Heaven, For mannes love will man bicome and take for love of man will become man and take Fles of thee, Maide bright, human form from thee, fair Maiden, 8 Manken free for to make to free mankind Of sen and devles might. of sin and the devil’s might.

Mildelich him gan andswere The gentle maiden then The milde maide thanne: gently answered him: —Wichewise sold ich bere —In what manner should I bear A child withute manne? a child without a husband? Th’angel hir seid: —Ne dred tee nout: The angel said to her: —Fear nothing: Thurw th’Oligast sal ben iwrout through the Holy Ghost shall be done This ilche thing warof tiding ich bringe; this very thing of which I bring news; Al manken wurth ibout all mankind shall be redeemed Thurw thine sweet childinge through thy sweet child-bearing And ut of pine ibrout. and brought out of torment.

Wan the maiden understood When the maiden understood And th’angels wordes herde, and heard the angel’s words, Mildelich, with milde mood, gently, with gentle spirit To th’angel hie andswerde: she answered the angel: —Ure Lords thewe maid iwis —I am indeed the bond-maid Ich am, that heer aboven is; of our Lord, who is above: Anentis me fulfurthed be thi sawe, concerning me may thy words be fulfilled, That ich, sith his wil is, that I, since it is His will, A maid, withute lawe, may, as a maiden, outside natural law, Of moder have the blis. have the joy of motherhood.

Angelus disparuit The angel disappeared, et statim puellaris and at once the girl’s uterus intumuit womb swelled up vi partis salutaris. by the power of the birth of salvation. Qui, circumdatus utero He, having been contained in the womb novem mensium numero, for nine months, hinc exiit et iniit conflictum came out from it and entered the conflict, affigens humero taking on his shoulder crucem, qua dedit ictum the cross, by which he gave a blow hosti mortifero. to the mortal enemy.

Eya, Mater Domini, O Mother of the Lord, que pacem reddidisti who restored peace angelis et homini to angels and men cum Christum genuisti, when you gave birth to Christ, tuum exora filium beg of your son ut se nobis propicium that he may show himself favorable to us exhibeat et deleat peccata, and wipe away our sins, prestans auxilium offering help vita frui beata to enjoy the blessed life post hoc exilium. after this exile. Latin by ? (d. 1236), Translations from English version anonymous 13th century The New Oxford Book of Carols 9 triplum triplum Gaude virgo salutata angelicore latu, Hail virgin, greeted by the angel’s report, mox es gravida libera omni reatu; pregnant yet free of all sin: in te deitas humanata celesti flatu, in you deity is made human by heavenly inspiration, virgo manens illibata re et cogitatu. virgin undiminished by act or thought.

Quod mirum si paveas, dum conceptus pandit, And if you tremble at the miracle while the child develops, quanto magis caveas, cum ad partum scandit. how much warier are you when it comes to be born. Dum virgo permaneas, mens hec verba pandit; While you remain a virgin, the mind offers these words, dicens “Ne timeas,” te mulcendo blandit. and saying “Be not afraid,” charms and eases you.

Nondum contentaris, cum dicit parituram: You do not contest it when he says you will bear a child, quomodo miraris fietque curam; however much you wonder and are troubled. nescisse virum flaris, sed semper esse puram, You are proclaimed not to have known a man, but to be credo, quod miraris, mutasse naturam. ever pure, and—a thing to wonder at, surely—to have changed nature.

Angelus: “Concipies de superis celestem The angel: “You shall conceive the heavenly god deum et tu paries filium terrestrem. from the realms on high, and bear a child of earth. In te non est caries, natum habes testem. There is no fault in you, as your son is witness. Leviatan insanies, hic fert tibi pestem.” You shall torment Leviathan, and he will plague you.”

motetus motetus Gaude virgo singularis, mater nostri salvatoris, Rejoice, unique maiden, mother of our savior, radix vite popularis, germen novi floris. Root of the people’s life, seed of the new flower. Ex te sumpsit hinc tu paris ampullam liquoris He drew from you, you then bear, the flask of nectar, que virtute aquas maris tenes stilla roris. by your virtue you hold the sea’s waters in a drop of dew.

Dic, quo verbo concepisti, angeli vultui Say by what word you conceived! You heard, “dominus tecum” audisti dicens, “fui tui.” “The Lord is with you,” and answered the angelic Presentem conclusisti, tunc naturam sui, countenance, “I am yours.” You contained his presence, messiam invenisti de natura tui. then his nature; you found the Messiah in your own nature.

O celestis armonia, in hac junctione, O heavenly harmony in this joining, caro nostre cum sophia in unum persone; flesh of our person united with Wisdom: qualiter ex qua via studeas colone, how and by what path you are so zealous, hec sola mater novit pia et tu Jesu bone. these things only the pious mother knew, and you, good Jesus.

Mater heres dei mundi redemptoris, Mother and heir of God, world’s redeemer, pia tu memento mei in extremis horis; recall me faithfully in my last hours, ne coartent mei rei, secum suis horis let my acts not constrain me with them in their hours, et presentas faciei mei plasmatoris. as you show me to the face of my maker.

10 contratenor contratenor Virgo mater comprobaris, matrem partus indicat, You are proved the virgin mother: the birth shows the mother, claustrum ventris virginalis intactam te judicat. the seal of your virginal womb judges you untouched. Virginem cum divinalis natus ille benedicat, When your divine child blesses you as virgin, celum, tellus, unda maris laudes tuas predicat. then heaven, earth, and ocean waves preach your praises. Non est partus hic penalis qui matrem letificat. This birthing is no penance, it gladdens the mother. Christus factus fraternalis sic ut exemplificat. Christ is made our brother, as his example teaches. tenor tenor Ave gemma celi luminarium. Hail, jewel of the lights of heaven! Ave sancti spiritus sacrarium. Hail, sacred place of the Holy Spirit!

Translation by Larry Rosenwald

Hayl Mary, ful of grace, moder in virgynyte.

The Holi Goste is to the sent the thee from the Fader omnipotent; now is God withyn the went Whan the angel seide “Ave.”

Whan the angel “Ave” byganne, flesh and blode togedre ranne; Mary bare bothe God and manne throw vertu and throw dyngnyte. throw through

So seith the Gospel of Syn Johan: Saint John God and man is made but one in flesch and blode, body and bone, O God in personys thre.

Moche joye to us was graunt and in erthe pees yplaunte and peace planted on earth whan that born was this faunte faunte infant in the londe of Galile.

Mary, graunte us the blys ther thy Sonys wonynge ys; wonynge dwelling of that we han ydone amys for what we have done wrong pray for us, pur charite. pur charite “pour charité,” out of love

11 Quam pulcra es et quam decora, carissima, How beautiful you are, and how fair, dearest, in your in deliciis. Statura tua assimilata est palme, delights! Your stature is like to a palm tree, and et ubera tua botris. Caput tuum ut Carmelus, your breasts the clusters of its fruit. Your head is collum tuum sicut turris eburnea. Veni, dilecte like Mount Carmel, your neck a tower of ivory. mi, egrediamur in agrum, et videamus si flores Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, fructus parturierunt, si floruerunt mala punica. let us see if the blossoms have budded, if the Ibi dabo tibi ubera mea. Alleluya. pomegranates are in flower. There I will give you my love. Alleluia.

Gloria in excelsis deo, et in terra pax Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to hominibus bone voluntatis. Laudamus te. all of good will. We praise you. We bless you. We Benedicimus te. Adoramus te. Glorificamus te. adore you. We glorify you. We give thanks to you Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam for your great glory. Lord God, heavenly king, tuam. Domine deus, rex celestis, deus pater almighty God the Father, Lord Jesus Christ, only omnipotens. Domine fili unigenite, Jesu Christe. begotten Son, Lord God, lamb of God, Son of Domine deus, agnus dei, filius patris. Qui the Father. Who takes away the sins of the world, tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Qui tollis have mercy on us. Who takes away the sins of the peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. world, receive our prayer. Who sits at the right Qui sedes ad dexteram patris, miserere nobis. hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For you Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus dominus, tu alone are holy, you alone are the Lord, the Most solus altissimus, Jesu Christe, cum sancto spiritu High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in the in gloria Dei Patris. Amen. glory of God the Father. Amen.

Ther is no rose of swych vertu swych such as is the rose that bare Jhesu. Alleluya. For in this rose conteynyd was Heven and erthe in lytyl space, res miranda. a marvellous thing Be that rose we may weel see be by means of that he is God in personys thre, pari forma. of the same form The aungelys sungyn the shepherdes to: “Gloria in excelsis Deo!” Glory to God in the Highest! Gaudeamus. Let us rejoice.

Ibo michi ad montem mirre et ad colles libani, I will go into the mountain of myrrh and to the et loquar sponse mee: Tota speciosa es et macula hills of Lebanon, and say to my bride: You are non est in te. Veni de Libano; venies et transibimus all beautiful, and there is no flaw in you. Come ad montem Seir et Hermon, a cubilibus leonum et from Lebanon; you will come and we will cross to a montibus leopardorum. Alleluya. Mount Senir and Mount Hermon, from the dens of lions and the mountains of leopards. Alleluya. Antiphon for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Song of Songs 4:6-8

12 Veni, redemptor gencium, Come, savior of the gentiles, Ostende partum virginis. And manifest your birth to a virgin. Miretur omne seculum; All the world shall marvel: Talis decet partus Deum. God decreed such a birth.

Non ex virili semine Not of man’s seed Sed mistico spiramine But of the Holy Spirit Verbum Dei factum caro, Is the word of God made flesh, Fructusque ventris floruit. And the fruit of the womb flowers.

Alvus tumescit virginis, The womb of the virgin did swell, Claustra pudoris permanent; Yet remained a cloister of chastity; Vexilla virtutum micant; The banners of virtue shine forth: Versatur in templo Deus. God dwells in his temple.

Procedens de thalamo suo, He goes forth from his chamber, Pudoris aula regia, A royal hall of purity, Gemine gigas substancie A giant of twofold substance, Alacris ut currat viam. Eager to run his course.

Deo Patri sit gloria, Glory be to God the Father Eiusque soli Filio, And to his only Son, Cum Spiritu Paraclito, With the Holy Spirit, Et nunc et in perpetuum. Amen. Now and forevermore. Amen.

St. Ambrose (c. 340-97)

13 Dominus dixit ad me filius meus es tu: ego The Lord said to me, Thou art my Son: this day hodie genui te. have I begotten thee. Quare fremuerunt gentes: et populi meditati sunt Why do the nations rage, and the people imagine a inania? vain thing? Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto: sicut erat Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy in principio et nunc et semper, et in secula Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and seculorum. Amen. forever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Introit, First Mass at Christmas (Sarum rite); Hebrews 1:5, Psalm 2:1

Nowel, nowel nowel! Owt of your slepe aryse and wake, For God mankynd nowe hath ytake, For God has now taken on human nature Al of a maide without eny make; eny make any spot Of al women she bereth the belle. bereth the belle is the most excellent And thorwe a maide fair and wys thorwe through Now man is made of ful grete pris; pris worth Now angelys knelen to mannys servys, And at this tyme al this byfel. this tyme i.e. Christmastime Now man is bryghter than the sonne, Now man in heven an hye shal wone; in heaven on high shall dwell Blessyd be God this game is begonne, game action, sequence of events And his moder emperesse of helle. That ever was thralle, now ys he fre; He who was in thrall forever is now free That ever was smalle, now grete is she; Now shal God deme bothe the and me deme judge Unto hys blysse, yf we do wel. do wel act righteously Now, blessyd brother, graunte us grace blessyd brother i.e. Christ A domesday to se thy face A domesday At Judgement Day And in thy courte to have a place, That we mow there synge Nowel! mow may

Gloria (see above)

14 Ecce, quod natura Behold, Nature Mutat sua jura: changes her laws: Virgo parit pura a pure virgin gives birth Dei filium. to the son of God. Ecce novum gaudium, Behold, a new joy, Ecce novum mirum: behold, a new wonder: Virgo parit filium a virgin gives birth to a son, Que non novit virum. she who knew not man. Que non novit virum, She knew not man, Sed ut pirus pirum, but bore as the pear tree bears a pear, Gleba fert saphirum, a clod of earth a sapphire, Rosa lilium. the rose a lily. Mundum Deus flebilem Seeing the wretched world Videns in ruina, in ruin, God Florem delectabilem brought forth a delightful flower Produxit de spina; from a thorn; Produxit de spina from a thorn Virgoque regina, a virgin and queen brought forth Mundi medecina, healing for the world, Salus gencium. the salvation of the peoples. Nequivit divinitas Divinity could not have been Plus humiliari, more humbled, Nec nostra fragilitas nor our fragility Magis exaltari: more exalted: Magis exaltari more exalted Quam celo collocari than to be raised to Heaven Deoque equari and made equal to God Per conjugium. through this union.

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Holy, Holy, Holy, dominus deus sabaoth. Lord God of hosts. Pleni sunt celi et terra gloria tua. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Osanna in excelsis. Hosanna in the highest. Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Osanna in excelsis. Hosanna in the highest.

Ave rex angelorum, Hail, King of Angels, Ave rexque celorum, Hail, King of Heaven, Ave princepsque polorum. Hail, Prince of the poles of the earth. Hayl, most myghty in thi werkyng, Hail, most mighty in thy deeds, Hayl, thou Lord of all thing, Hail, thou Lord of every thing, Y offer the gold as to a kyng. I offer thee gold, as to a king. Ave rex angelorum… Hail, King of Angels… 15 Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, miserere nobis. have mercy on us. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, miserere nobis. have mercy on us. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, dona nobis pacem. grant us peace.

Nowel syng we bothe al and som, Let us sing Noel, each and every one, Now Rex Pacificus is ycome. Now the King of Peace is come.

Exortum est in love and lysse: He is arisen in love and joy: Now Cryst hys grace he gan us gysse, now Christ has prepared his grace for us And with hys body us bought to blysse, and with his body redeemed us unto bliss, Bothe al and sum. each and every one.

De fructu ventris of Mary bright, From the fruit of the womb of radiant Mary Bothe God and man in here alyght: both God and man alight in her: Owte of dysese he dyde us dyght, from disease he rescued us, Bothe al and sum. each and every one.

Puer natus to us was sent, A boy-child was sent to us, To blysse us bought, fro bale us blent, redeemed us unto bliss, turned us aside from evil, And ellys to wo we hadde ywent, and else to woe we would have gone, Bothe al and sum. each and every one.

Lux fulgebit with love and lyght, The light will shine with love and light; In Mary mylde hys pynon pyght, in gentle Mary he raised his banner, In here toke kynde with manly myght, in her assumed humanity with manly boldness, Bothe al and sum. each and every one.

Gloria tibi ay and blysse: Glory to Thee always, and bliss: God unto his grace he us wysse, may God guide us to his grace, The rent of heven that we not mysse, that we shall not lose the reward of heaven, Bothe al and sum. each and every one.

16 17 ABOUT THE ARTISTS The vocal ensemble Blue Heron has been California at Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo acclaimed by The Globe as “one of the Boston and at the Berkeley Early ; in music community’s indispensables” and hailed Seattle, St. Louis, , Cleveland, Milwaukee, by Alex Ross in The New Yorker for the “expressive Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia; and for a visit of His intensity” of its interpretations. Combining a Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Massachusetts commitment to vivid live performance with the Institute of Technology. Blue Heron has been study of original source materials and historical ensemble in residence at the Center for Early performance practices, Blue Heron ranges over a Music Studies at Boston University and at Boston wide repertoire, including 15th-century English College. In 2015 the ensemble embarked on a and Franco-Flemish polyphony, Spanish music long-term project to perform the complete works between 1500 and 1600, and neglected early of (c. 1420-1497); entitled 16th-century English music, especially the Ockeghem@600, it will wind up around 2020, just unique repertory of the Peterhouse partbooks. in time to commemorate the composer’s circa- Blue Heron’s first CD, featuring music by 600th birthday. Guillaume Du Fay, was released in 2007. In 2010 the ensemble inaugurated a 5-CD series of Music Michael Barrett has collaborated with from the Peterhouse Partbooks, featuring music by the , Huelgas Ensemble, Blue Hugh Aston, Robert Jones, Nicholas Ludford, Heron, Vox Luminis, , John Mason, Robert Hunt, and Richard Pygott, L’Académie, Seven Times including many world premiere recordings; four Salt, and Exsultemus, discs have been released to date and Volume 5 and can be heard on the will follow in 2016. Blue Heron has also recorded harmonia mundi and Blue a CD of music from circa 800-1400 to accompany Heron record labels. Mr. Thomas Forrest Kelly’s book Capturing Music: The Barrett directs Convivium Story of Notation, and the live recording Christmas Musicum, a chamber in Medieval England, released this fall. Jessie Ann for music. He Owens (University of California, Davis) and has taught courses at Boston Blue Heron have won the 2015 Noah Greenberg University and the Cambridge Center for Adult Award from the American Musicological Society; Education and served as a choral director at the prize will help fund the preparation and a Bridgewater State University. With his wife world premiere recording of ’s Anney he is co-owner of The Green Room, complete first book of (1542). a multi-purpose arts studio in Union Square, Somerville, where he teaches voice, piano, and Founded in 1999, Blue Heron presents a concert music theory. Mr. Barrett earned an AB in music series in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has from Harvard, an MM in choir appeared at the Boston Early Music Festival; from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, in New York City at Music Before 1800, The and a diploma in Baroque and Classical singing Cloisters (Metropolitan Museum of Art), and from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, and the 92nd Street Y; at the Library of Congress he recently received a DMA in choral conducting and Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., in from Boston University.

18 Pamela Dellal, mezzo- and Intermezzo. Paul can be heard on all Blue soprano, has enjoyed a Heron’s recordings, on discs of distinguished career as by , Kurt Weill’s Johnny Johnson and an acclaimed soloist and French airs de cour with the Boston Camerata, recitalist. She has appeared and on Emmanuel Music’s Bach CDs. in Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center, Avery Baritone David McFerrin has achieved critical Fisher Hall, and the Royal acclaim in a wide variety of repertoire. On the Albert Hall, and premiered stage this season he sings three roles with Boston John Harbison’s chamber work The Seven Ages in Lyric Opera, including the New York, San Francisco, Boston, and London. Officer in Phillip Glass’s two- With Sequentia Ms. Dellal has recorded the music character drama In the Penal of Hildegard von Bingen and toured the US, Colony. Past opera credits Europe, and Australia. Passionate about chamber include Santa Fe Opera, music, early music, and contemporary music, Seattle Opera, Florida Grand she performs frequently with Dinosaur Annex, Opera, and the Rossini Boston Musica Viva, Ensemble Chaconne, Blue Festival in Germany. Earlier Heron, and the Musicians of the Old Post Road. this fall Mr. McFerrin was a She has been a regular soloist in the Emmanuel soloist on the Handel & Haydn Society’s California Music Bach Cantata series for over twenty- tour, made his debut with the Vermont Symphony five years and has performed almost all 200 of in Schubert’s Mass in G, and performed a program Bach’s extant sacred cantatas. She has recorded of Praetorius with New York’s early music ensemble for Arabesque, Artona, BMG, CRI, Dorian, TENET. Past concert highlights include a Carnegie Meridian, and KOCH. She serves as faculty at the Hall debut with Gustavo Dudamel and the Israel Boston Conservatory and at the Longy School of Philharmonic, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 at St. Music of Bard College. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, and appearances with the Boston Pops. Mr. McFerrin has also performed Bass-baritone Paul Guttry has performed at the Blossom, Caramoor, and Ravinia Festivals throughout the USA and internationally with and completed four summer residencies at the Sequentia, Chanticleer, the Boston Camerata, Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. and New York’s Ensemble for Early Music. A founding member of Blue Heron, he has also Jason McStoots has performed around the appeared in and around Boston as soloist with world and the US with such groups as Boston Lyric Emmanuel Music, the Opera, Pacific MusicWorks, Handel & Haydn Society, Les Délices, The Boston the Boston Early Music Camerata, TENET, San Juan Festival, the Symphony, Pablo Casals Music Center, Cantata Festival, Tragicomedia, Singers, Boston Cecilia, and the Tanglewood Music Prism Opera, Boston Center. He has recently Revels, Collage, the Boston appeared as Tabarco in Modern Project, Handel’s Almira and Apollo

19 in Monteverdi’s Orfeo with the Boston Early in Handel’s Jephtha with Music Festival and he can be heard on BEMF’s Boston Cecilia, and 2015 Grammy-winning recording of Charpentier, was noted for his “fine their Grammy-nominated recording of Lully’s work” in Buxtehude’s Heut Pysché, and a disc of music by John Blow. Also triumphieret Gottes Sohn with a voice teacher and stage director, he teaches at Boston Baroque. He sings Brandeis University, where he recently restarted regularly with Emmanuel the opera workshop project. Music, Boston Baroque, and the Handel & Haydn Society. Scott Metcalfe has gained wide recognition Mr. Near was Music Director of Exsultemus from as one of North America’s leading specialists in 2009 to 2012. music from the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries and beyond. Musical and artistic Countertenor Gerrod Pagenkopf, a native director of Blue Heron, he is also music director of rural Wisconsin, received a Bachelor’s degree of New York City’s Green in Music Education from the University of Mountain Project (Jolle Wisconsin-Madison and a Master’s of Music in Greenleaf, artistic director) Voice Performance from and has been guest director the University of Houston. of TENET (New York), the He made his professional Handel & Haydn Society operatic debut in October (Boston), Emmanuel Music 2008 with Amarillo Opera. (Boston), the Tudor Choir As a concert soloist, and Seattle Baroque, Pacific Gerrod has performed (Vancouver, BC), Quire with Mercury Baroque, Cleveland, the Dryden Ensemble (Princeton, Masterworks Chorale of NJ), and Early Music America’s Young Boston, Exsultemus, Blue Heron, La Donna Performers Festival Ensemble. Metcalfe also Musicale, Cape Symphony, and the Rhode enjoys a career as a baroque violinist, playing Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, as well as with Les Délices (dir. Debra Nagy) and other ensembles throughout Wisconsin and Texas. ensembles. He teaches vocal ensemble repertoire Pagenkopf also sings frequently with the Handel and performance practice at Boston University & Haydn Society and is a member of the Choir of and is at work on a new edition of the songs of the Church of the Advent. He has been praised by . the Boston Musical Intelligencer for his “gorgeous mellifluousness” and is at home performing Countertenor Martin Near enjoys a varied baroque opera, cantatas, and oratorios. career exploring his twin passions for early music and new music. Mr. Near recently sang Stefan Reed is delighted to join Blue Heron in the solo quartet of Arvo Pärt’s Passio with once again. Originally from Glasgow, Virginia, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, was the Mr. Reed is currently based in Jamaica Plain, countertenor soloist in the premiere performance Massachusetts and is enjoying an active career of Dominick DiOrio’s Stabat mater with Juventas in , oratorio, and recording, with New Music Ensemble, sang the role of Hamor performances and projects in New England and

20 throughout the country. Mr. of Vermont, Seraphim Singers, Boston’s Chorus Reed has been characterized Pro Musica, and the Andover Choral Society, as an “intense, focused, lyric among others. Mr. Sprinkle was a member of the tenor” (Miami Herald) and Cambridge Bach Ensemble and a fellow of the his performances have been Britten-Pears School and has recorded for Dorian, described as “dramatically Koch, Harmonia Mundi, Decca, Arabesque, and expressive and technically Telarc. impressive” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). He performs Mezzo-soprano Daniela Tošić, praised for her regularly with Boston Baroque, Blue Heron, “burnished and warm sound” (Boston Musical Conspirare, the Handel & Haydn Society, Intelligencer), is a soloist and chamber musician and Seraphic Fire. Recent and upcoming solo who specializes in early, contemporary, and engagements include performances with the world music repertories. She Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Coro Allegro, the has performed in concerts Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, and throughout the U.S., Europe, Boston Cecilia. Mr. Reed spent two summers and South America. Ms. as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival Tošić is a founding member and holds performance degrees from the New of the internationally England Conservatory and George Mason renowned vocal ensemble University. Tapestry, winners of the Echo Klassik and Chamber Tenor Mark Sprinkle’s singing has been Music America Recording of the Year awards. described as “expressive,” “very rewarding,” Most recently she has joined Rumbarroco, a “outstanding,” “vivid,” and “supremely stylish.” Boston-based Latin-Baroque fusion ensemble He has collaborated with the Boston Early using period, folk, and contemporary popular Music Festival, the Boston Camerata, the Mark instruments. Ms. Tošić can be heard on Telarc, Morris Dance Group, Emmanuel Music, Boston MDG, and several independent labels. Baroque, the Handel & Haydn Society, and many others, performed at festivals in Bergen (Norway), Vancouver, Edinburgh, and Aldeburgh (UK), and worked as a soloist and ensemble singer under Seiji Ozawa, Christopher Hogwood, William Christie, Roger Norrington, John Nelson, Andrew Parrott, Grant Llewellyn, and Craig Smith. He has appeared as a soloist with Concerto Palatino and has sung the Evangelist in Bach Passions with the Handel & Haydn Society, the Boulder , the Oriana Singers

21 acknowledgements Richard L. Schmeidler Joan Margot Smith Blue Heron’s existence as a performing ensemble Erin E. M. Thomas is made possible by the devotion, hard work, James Catterton & Lois Wasoff Charitable Gift Fund and financial support of a community of Guarantor board members, staff, volunteers, donors, and ($1,000 – $2,499) concertgoers. We offer our grateful thanks to Anonymous (2) all those who join us in creating, nurturing and Peggy & Jim Bradley sustaining an organization dedicated to making John Paul Britton & Diane Britton the music of the 15th and 16th centuries come John A. Carey alive in the 21st. John & Ellen Harris Anne H. Matthews & Edward Fay, Jr. Our programs, postcards, season brochure, Scott Metcalfe advertisements, and CD booklets are designed Susan S. Poverman by Melanie Germond and Pete Goldlust. Erik Peter Belknap & Jennifer Snodgrass Bertrand maintains and recently rebuilt our Taylor House Catering website; the site was originally built by Evan William J. Vaughan Ingersoll (Angstrom Images), who also designed Michal Truelsen & Jody Wormhoudt our programs for many years. Nicholas H. Wright

Thanks to the Cambridge Society for Early Music Patron ($500 – $999) for supporting the pre-concert talks. Thom & Rebecca Barrett Many thanks to our board and to all our volunteers Marie-Hélène Bernard for their help this evening and throughout the year. H. Franklin & Betsy Bunn Katie and Paul Buttenwieser We are honored and grateful to have so many The Cambridge Society for Early Music generous donors. Helen Donovan & Holly Nixholm David R. Elliott Marie-Pierre & Michael Ellmann Jean Fuller Farrington DONATIONS RECEIVED Laurie J. Francis betwee n December 8, 2014–December 8, 2015 Joel Gordon Eiji Miki & Jane Hever ARCHAngel ($10,000 +) Arthur Hornig Harry J. Silverman Richard O'Connor & Julianne Lindsay Willie Lockeretz Angel ($5,000 +) Mastwood Charitable Foundation Anonymous Michael P. McDonald Philip H. Davis Susan Miron Fred Franklin & Kaaren Grimstad Cheryl K. Ryder William & Elizabeth Metcalfe Robert Schuneman Ann Besser Scott Benefactor ($2,500 – $4,999) Andrew Sigel Peggy Badenhausen & Tom Kelly Rachael Solem Mary Briggs & John Krzywicki John Yannis Diane L. Droste Laura Zoll Mary Eliot Jackson Cindy & Peter Nebolsine

22 Sponsor ($250 – $499) Mark Davis John Adams Lynda Ceremsak & F. George Davitt Anonymous (2) Carl & May Daw Daryl Bichel Winifred Dick Thomas N. Bisson Alan Durfee Barbara Boles Nancy Eligator & Keith Pirl, in honor of Scott Metcalfe Elizabeth Davidson Brenda & Monroe Engel Elizabeth C. Davis Nicole Faulkner Pamela Dellal Judy & Henry Feldman John F. Dooley Carol Fishman Samuel Engel & Anne Freeh Engel GE Foundation Susan Hockfield & Tom Byrne Constance & Donald Goldstein Kathleen Fay & Glenn KnicKrehm Nancy Graham Paul Guttry W. Miniscalco & S. M. Guilford Hope Hare Michelle Gurel Terrie Harman Ivan Hansen Lydia Knutson & Fred Langenegger David Harrison Neal Plotkin & Deborah Malamud Margot Dennes Honig Andrew Manshel & Heidi Waleson Peter & Jane Howard Paul LaFerriere & Dorrie Parini Jean & Alex Humez Richard & Janet Post Joseph Hunter & Esther Schlorholtz Tom Regan Jane Wegscheider Hyman Michael Scanlon Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Ronald V. Lacro & Jon P. Schum Stone & Paul Jasie Keith & Catherine Stevenson Tom and Kathy Kates Robert B. Strassler David Kiaunis Bettina Siewert & Douglas Teich Kip & Kally Kumler Judith Ogden Thomson Carole Friedman & Gail Koplow Susan Pettee & Michael Wise Penelope Lane Alex Yannis Jackie Lenth Karin Levy Supporter ($100 – $249) Tod Machover Gail & Darryl Abbey James Martin Joseph Aieta, III Amy Meltzer & Philip McArthur Alan Amos & Chris Toy Owen McIntosh Anonymous (5) Jim Meyer Margaret & Charles Ashe Amy Mossman Pamela Bartter Perry & Susan Neubauer Noël Bisson Stephen H. Owades Susan Hockfield & Tom Byrne James M. Paisner Carnegie Corporation of New York David Pitt Mary & Kenneth Carpenter Katherine Raia C. C. Cave & Peter Rothstein Rosemary Reiss Robert Cochran Jennifer Farley Smith & Sam Rubin Nathaniel S. & Catherine E. Coolidge Dr. David L. Sills Corning Incorporated Foundation An Sokolovska Catherine Davin, in memory of Joe Davin Polly S. Stevens

23 Richard Tarrant Huguette Shepard Suzanne Teich Lari Smith Dr. E. K. Thomas Richard Turbet Anne Umphrey Ann Van Dyke Martha Weisberg Binney & Bob Wells Carol Wetmore, in memory of Joan Yannis Patricia Wild Chris Whent Heather Wiley & Peter Renz T. Walley Williams III Martin & Phyllis Wilner Linda C. Woodford Bernard Ziomkiewicz Elizabeth Wylde

Friend ($50 – $99) Board of Directors Julie Rohwein & Jonathan Aibel Anonymous (2) John Yannis, president Jeffrey Del Papa & Susan Assmann Peter Belknap, treasurer Joan Boorstein Richard Schmeidler, clerk Jill Brand & Thomas Nehrkorn Mary Briggs Edward & Matilda Bruckner Philip Davis Linda Clark Scott Metcalfe John & Cindy Coldren Harry Silverman Martha W. Davidson Jennifer Farley Smith Judith Drew General Manager John Yannis Priscilla Drucker Rita S. Edmunds Office Administrator Gail Abbey Katherine Ellis Intern Holly Druckman Lorinda Gayle Steve Grathwohl Volunteers Sarah Higginbotham & Chris Neurath Darryl Abbey Kenneth Hoffman Meg Abbey Anne Huntington & Lorna Cohen Daryl Bichel Joann Keesey Jaime Bonney Rob & Mary Joan Leith Dan & Sheila Clawson Catherine Liddell Sue Delaney Erin Doherty & David McFerrin David Fillingham Ken & Karen Near Alexandra Hawley Virginia Newes Anne Kazlauskas Scott Clugstone & Wallace Norman Mary Kingsley Beth Parkhurst Bob, Hannah and Elena Loomis Brad Peloquin John Nesby Dr. Joseph Pesce Beth Parkhurst Christopher Petre Christopher Petre Brian Rehrig Samuel Rubin Mary Lynn Ritchey Alan Seoighe Sue Robinson Susan Singer Allen Rossiter Jennifer Farley Smith Katy Roth Charlotte Swartz Stuart Schaffner Sonia Wallenberg

24 colophon Graphic Design Melanie Germond Photos (Blue Heron, Scott Metcalfe & A Far Cry) Liz Linder Program Content © 2015 Blue Heron Renaissance Choir, Inc. Cover image Miniature of the Annunciation: The Beaufort / Beauchamp Hours (London and Bruges, 1401-1415). London, British Library, Royal 2 A. xviii, f. 23v. © The British Library Board. All rights reserved.