LIBERA NOS in some of the great Catholic houses. Byrd LIBERA NOS The Cry of the Oppressed employed the genre of the as his principal THE CRY OF THE OPPRESSED political tool. Among the most famous of these Music lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem works is Civitas sancti tui (published in his and captivity under a foreign power, or praying Cantiones sacræ collection of 1589), a poignant for the coming of a deliverer, was used to express lament for the ‘city made desolate’ in which Byrd the plight of Catholics in England and of the turns to stark and sombre chordal declamation 1 Civitas sancti tui [5.02] Portuguese under Spanish rule in the late 16th for the phrase ‘Sion deserta facta est’ (‘Sion 2 Libera nos Thomas Tallis [2.08] and early 17th centuries. This recording explores has become a wilderness’). More daring in terms 3 Super flumina Babylonis Philippe de Monte [5.41] such musical ‘cries of the oppressed’ from of its message (and more dramatic in musical 4 Quomodo cantabimus William Byrd [8.38] opposite ends of Europe, which include some language) is Plorans plorabit: after weeping for 5 Sitivit anima mea Manuel Cardoso [4.22] of the most powerful works composed in England the captivity of ‘the Lord’s flock’, the speaker 6 Laboravi in gemitu meo Martin Peerson [5.29] and Portugal during this period. foresees the downfall of the king and queen. 7 Miserere mei Deus William Byrd [3.20] Byrd published the piece in his Gradualia of England’s most highly regarded of the 1605, and so the king and queen in question 8 Lachrimans sitivit anima mea Pedro de Cristo [5.54] period, William Byrd (1540–1623), gave voice are presumably to be identified as James I and 9 Plorans plorabit William Byrd [5.07] through his compositions to the suffering and Anne of Denmark. Before James’s accession to 0 In jejunio et fletu Thomas Tallis [4.54] hopes of Catholics under the Protestant regimes of the throne in 1603 he had been the focus of q Salvator mundi Thomas Tallis [2.50] Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. Byrd was hopes for a return of the country to Catholicism, w Inter vestibulum Pedro de Cristo [2.33] a member of the royal household chapel from but such hope came to nothing and James e Infelix ego William Byrd [13.34] the early 1570s, and enjoyed the of maintained the Protestant regime in England: Elizabeth, but was also the most senior musician in November 1605, the year in which Byrd Total timings: [69.33] within the English Catholic community at this had published the piece, the Catholic time: he maintained close links with members Gunpowder Plot aimed to kill the king and queen of the Catholic nobility and with the Jesuit in Parliament. priests educated on the Continent who were CONTRAPUNCTUS sent back to England to work for the English On a much larger scale than Civitas sancti tui OWEN REES DIRECTOR Mission, and he provided music for the covert or Plorans plorabit is Byrd’s Infelix ego, which celebrations of Catholic liturgy which took place sets the first part of a famous psalm meditation www.signumrecords.com www.contrapunctus.org.uk - 3 - written 100 years earlier by the Dominican of ‘et dicam’ (‘and I shall say’) and then silence the pieces might be linked is suggested by the In jejunio et fletu, could be viewed in this light. reformer Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498): in all the voices. At this point, musical fact that Byrd’s text picks up the psalm from Tallis responds to the Lenten text – in which Savonarola had presided over attempts to elaboration disappears, the words ‘Miserere mei the fourth verse – set by Monte – and continues the priests call upon God to spare his people transform Florence into a theocratic republic, a Deus’ being declaimed in simple homophony. with the next three verses of the psalm. For and preserve his inheritance from destruction New Jerusalem, but having defied and denounced For this phrase Byrd quotes the ostinato motive further detail about the connection between – with startlingly unsettled harmonies, which Pope Alexander VI he was excommunicated to which these words are sung in the famous the pieces we have to rely on an 18th-century plunge into ever darker depths during the three and imprisoned, and wrote his meditation on setting of the psalm Miserere mei Deus by musical antiquarian, John Alcock (1715–1806), statements of the opening words. Tallis’s ability Psalm 50 (‘Miserere mei Deus’) in prison Josquin Desprez. Byrd incorporates a similar who copied the works: he wrote on the copy that to employ repetition powerfully for rhetorical shortly before his execution: he and two fellow quotation of Josquin’s motive in his shorter motet Monte’s Super flumina Babylonis was ‘sent by emphasis is apparent also in the setting of Dominicans were subjected to a public hanging Miserere mei Deus. The Miserere was reported him, to Mr Bird in 1583’, and he reported that the plea for aid – ‘auxiliare nobis’ – in Salvator in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, and as being recited at the scaffold by a number of Quomodo cantabimus was ‘made by Mr Wm mundi, the motet to which he chose to give the bodies burned. Savonarola’s meditation the English Catholic martyrs in Byrd’s time, Byrd, to send unto Mr Philip de Monte, 1584’. pride of place at the head of the only printed achieved wide circulation and lasting renown, including the Jesuit Robert Southwell. Byrd responds to the question in his (and collection of his , the Cantiones sacræ of and the opening section, Infelix ego, was set Monte’s) text ‘how shall we sing the Lord’s 1575 (a joint enterprise with his pupil Byrd). to music by a number of , including The plight of English Catholics seems to be song in a strange land’ by adopting a texture William Byrd, whose motet was published in echoed also in a remarkable musical exchange very different from the two-choir antiphony The remaining work by Tallis on this recording, 1591. Byrd’s music uses kaleidoscopic changes involving Byrd and the Flemish composer characterizing Monte’s motet: Byrd instead Libera nos, has previously been treated as of vocal scoring to reflect vividly Savonarola’s Philippe de Monte (1521–1603), chapelmaster maintains rich eight-voice writing almost an instrumental piece, and this is the first inner torment as he interrogates himself, to the Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian II throughout, with three of the eight voices in reconstruction of the piece as a splendid, if consumed by awareness of his sin, and seeking and Rudolf II in Vienna and Prague. The two . This makes all the more telling Byrd’s brief, example of Tallis’s vocal polyphony based the courage finally to ask God for forgiveness in musicians may have met when Monte came to switch to antiphony (after a silence in all on plainchant. The piece survives in a British the opening words of the Psalm: ‘Miserere mei England in 1554–5 as a member of the chapel of voices, and with a striking change of harmony) Library manuscript, without any text other than Deus’. The power with which Byrd highlighted Prince Philip of Spain. Monte’s eight-voice motet for ‘memor esto Domine filiorum Edom’ the word ‘Libera’. However, this does not in these words represents one of his most Super flumina Babylonis – setting the first four (‘Remember the children of Edom, O Lord’). itself indicate that the piece was conceived remarkable achievements; he builds up energy verses of Psalm 136, a lament of the Babylonian for instruments, since most of the items in this gradually through the richly imitative setting of exile – is found in English sources from There is evidence that Byrd’s teacher Thomas manuscript collection are vocal pieces with – the preceding soaring phrase ‘misericordiam Byrd’s lifetime or soon after, sources which Tallis (c. 1505–1585) likewise remained loyal as in the case of Tallis’s work – only the incipit tuam implorabo’ (‘I shall beg for your mercy’), also contain Byrd’s Quomodo cantabimus, to the Catholic faith following the of the text given. (Tallis’s ‘Libera’ is preceded culminating in a dense and urgent series of cries which is likewise scored for eight voices. That in England, and his most extraordinary motet, and followed in the source by vocal works by

- 4 - - 5 - Byrd.) Tallis’s music is based on the plainchant the rule of the Spanish Hapsburg kings, a Cristo, Inter vestibulum et altare, sets a John as potential saviour of the nation and antiphon ‘Libera nos, salva nos’, as set also by situation which gave strength to the messianic text related to that of Tallis’s In jejunio future king, in an era when belief in divine John Sheppard, and the work is performed on cult of ‘Sebastianism’, belief in a national et fletu, but ending with a plea that the kingship was ubiquitous. this recording with the relevant text restored to saviour (identified as the Portuguese King Lord’s people and heritage be saved from the five vocal parts. Sebastian, lost in battle in north Africa shortly foreign domination. The group of Portuguese Owen Rees © 2013 before the Spanish invasion), who would free composers closely associated with John, Duke The Catholic sympathies of Martin Peerson (b. the nation from the Spanish yoke and restore of Bragança – who would become King John between 1571 and 1573; d. 1651) – a fine but it to glory. It is this belief which is vividly IV at the restoration of Portuguese independence still little-known composer from the generation evoked in the motet Lachrimans sitivit in 1640 – likewise employed their skills in after Byrd – are revealed by the fact that he anima mea by Pedro de Cristo (c. 1550–1618), support of independence and therefore of was convicted for recusancy (i.e. refusal to an Augustinian canon who directed the music John’s claim to the throne. Of these attend Anglican worship) in 1606, and suggested at the great monasteries of São Vicente de composers, the musician in closest contact with by some of the choices of texts for his Fora in Lisbon and Santa Cruz in Coimbra. the Duke (and later King) was Manuel Cardoso collection Private Music (1620), although The extraordinary text of Lachrimans sitivit (1566–1650), chapelmaster and sub-prior of when he took the BMus degree at Oxford anima mea combines and refashions elements the prestigious Carmelite convent in Lisbon. he would have had to avow Protestant from the Office of the Dead, the Song of Cardoso published Sitivit anima mea in his beliefs. His motets survive in manuscript, but Songs, and the opening of Psalm 41, ‘Sitivit first book of Masses in 1625, a volume without the topmost voice. (For this anima mea’, prefaced by the word ‘Lachrimans’ dedicated to the Duke, and it is telling recording a reconstruction by Richard Rastall in order to intensify immediately the plaintive that Cardoso makes reference to John’s is used.) Laboravi in gemitu meo well tone. In one source the piece is evocatively ‘royal house’ in the very first sentence of represents the madrigalian expressive entitled ‘Lamentatio Job’ (‘the lamentation of his letter of dedication which opens the power of his writing, with plunging lines for Job’), evoking the biblical tale of a righteous volume. Although the text of Sitivit anima ‘gemitu’ (‘groaning’), and contorted and dissonant man deprived by misfortune of his belongings, mea is appropriate to rituals for the dead, harmonies portraying the speaker’s agony of mind. children, and health, but whose patient faith this haunting invocation of desire to see the is eventually rewarded by a restoration of divine face – the opening words of which During the same period in Portugal, sacred wellbeing. The motet’s text and music chime with those of de Cristo’s Lachrimans polyphony was likewise employed to express poignantly express suffering and the pain of sitivit anima mea – could well have carried the people’s suffering and political aspirations. prolonged exile, and longing for the return of also a contemporary meaning in the context Between 1580 and 1640 Portugal was under a saviour lord. Another motet by Pedro de of Portuguese aspirations and the belief in

- 6 - - 7 - TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS 4 Quomodo cantabimus William Byrd 1 Civitas sancti tui William Byrd Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini How shall we sing the song of the Lord in terra aliena? in a strange land? Civitas sancti tui facta est deserta. Your holy city has become a wilderness. Si oblitus fuero tui, Jerusalem, oblivioni detur If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand Sion deserta facta est, Sion has become a wilderness, dextera mea. forget her cunning. Jerusalem desolata est. Jerusalem has been made desolate. Adhæreat lingua mea faucibus meis, si non If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to meminero tui. the roof of my mouth. 2 Libera nos Si non proposuero Jerusalem in principio Yea if I prefer not Jerusalem Thomas Tallis lætitiæ meæ. in my mirth. Memor esto, Domine, filiorum Edom, Remember the children of Edom, O Lord, Libera nos, salva nos, justifica nos, Free us, save us, justify us, in die Jerusalem. in the day of Jerusalem. O beata Trinitas. O blessed Trinity. 5 Sitivit anima mea 3 Super flumina Babylonis Manuel Cardoso Philippe de Monte Sitivit anima mea ad Deum fortem vivum: My soul thirsts for the living strong God: Super flumina Babylonis Upon the rivers of Babylon, quando veniam et apparebo when shall I come and appear illic sedimus et flevimus, there we sat and wept, ante faciem Dei mei? before the face of my God? dum recordaremur Sion. when we remembered Sion. Quis dabit mihi pennas sicut columbæ et volabo Who will give me wings as of a dove, and I shall Illic interrogaverunt nos There they that led us into captivity et requiescam? fly and be at rest? qui captivos duxerunt nos required of us verba cantionum. the words of songs. 6 Laboravi in gemitu meo Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini How shall we sing the song of the Lord Martin Peerson in terra aliena? in a strange land? In salicibus in medio ejus On the willows in the midst thereof Laboravi in gemitu meo; I have laboured with my groaning; suspendimus organa nostra. we hung up our instruments. lavabo per singulas noctes lectum meum; I will wash my bed every night; lachrimis meis stratum meum rigabo. I will water my coverlet with my tears.

- 8 - - 9 - 7 Miserere mei Deus 0 In jejunio et fletu William Byrd Thomas Tallis

Miserere mei Deus, Have mercy upon me O God, In jejunio et fletu orabant sacerdotes, dicentes: Fasting and weeping, the priests prayed, saying: secundum magnam misericordiam tuam: according to your great mercy: Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo, et ne des Spare, O Lord, spare your people, and do not give et secundum multitudinem miserationum and according to the multitude of your mercies hereditatem tuam in perditionem. your inheritance away into destruction. tuarum dele iniquitatem meam. wipe out my iniquity. Inter vestibulum et altare plorabant sacerdotes, Between the entrance-court and the altar the dicentes: Parce populo tuo. priests were crying, and saying: Spare your 8 Lachrimans sitivit anima mea people. Pedro de Cristo q Salvator mundi Lachrimans sitivit anima mea Weeping, my soul has thirsted to see thee, Thomas Tallis videre te fontem vivum teque frui. the living source, and to have joy in thee. Heu me exulem, Alas for me, an exile, Salvator mundi, salva nos, qui per crucem et O Saviour of the world, save us, who through your quia incolatus meus prolongatur nimis. for my banishment lasts too long. sanguinem redemisti nos; cross and blood redeemed us; Audivit lamentationes et gemitus He has heard the lamentation and groaning auxiliare nobis, te deprecamur, Deus noster. help us, we beseech you, our God. exterminii tui. of thy exile. Convertere, convertere O Sulamitis, revertere, Return, return, O Shulamite, return, return, w Inter vestibulum revertere, ut intuearis et mei fruaris in æternum. so that you may look upon me and have joy in Pedro de Cristo me for ever. 9 Plorans plorabit Inter vestibulum et altare plorabant Between the entrance-court and William Byrd sacerdotes, ministri Domini, dicentes: the altar the priests were crying, Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo, the ministers of the Lord, saying: Plorans plorabit, et deducet oculus meus Weeping my eye shall weep, and shall let fall my et ne des hereditatem tuam in opprobrium, Spare, O Lord, spare your people, lachrimas meas, quia captus est grex Domini. tears, because the Lord’s flock is taken captive. ut dominentur eis nationes. and do not give your inheritance away into Dic regi et dominatrici, humiliamini, sedete, Say to the king, and to her that rules: disgrace, that the nations might have dominion quoniam descendit de capite vestro corona Be humbled, sit down, because the crown of your over them. gloriæ vestræ. glory is come down from your head.

- 10 - - 11 - e Infelix ego Contrapunctus work – including the discovery of long-lost William Byrd music and reconstructions of original performing Director: Owen Rees contexts – allows audiences to experience the Infelix ego, omnium auxilio destitutus, qui cœlum How unhappy I am: I am bereft of all help, as I have Soprano: Esther Brazil, Amy Moore, first performances of many works in modern terramque offendi: Quo ibo? Quo me vertam? broken the laws of both earth and heaven. Whither Roya Stuart-Rees, Katie Trethewey times. Since its foundation in 2010, the group Ad quem confugiam? Quis mei miserebitur? Ad shall I go? Which way shall I turn? To whom can I Alto: Rory McCleery, Matthew Venner has appeared in the AMUZ Festival in Antwerp, cœlum levare oculos non audeo, quia ei graviter flee? Who will take pity on me? I dare not look up Tenor: Benedict Hymas, Andrew McAnerney the Festival van Vlaanderen in Mechelen, the peccavi. In terra refugium non invenio, quia ei to heaven, as I have sinned against it grievously. Bass: Greg Skidmore, Giles Underwood Eboræ Musica Festival and Setúbal Festival scandalum fui. I can find no refuge on earth, as I have been a in Portugal, the concert series at De Bijloke in scandal to it. Coupling powerful interpretations with path-breaking Ghent, and in the Martin Randall Festival of scholarship, Contrapunctus presents music by Spanish Music (Seville Cathedral). As Vocal Quid igitur faciam? Desperabo? Absit. Misericors What then shall I do? Shall I despair? I shall not. the best-known composers as well as unfamiliar Consort in Residence at the University of est Deus, pius est salvator meus. Solus igitur Deus God is merciful, my Saviour is pitying. Therefore masterpieces. The group’s repertoire is drawn Oxford, the group will be collaborating with the refugium meum: Ipse non despiciet opus suum, God alone is my refuge: he will not despise the from England, the Low Countries, Spain, Portugal Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in 2013. non repellet imaginem suam. work of his own hands, his own image he will not and Germany, particularly in the 16th and 17th turn away. centuries. The scholarly facet of the group’s www.contrapunctus.org.uk

Ad te igitur, piissime Deus, tristis ac mœrens To you then, most merciful God, I come in sadness venio: Quoniam tu solus spes mea, tu solus and penitence. For you are my only hope, my only refugium meum. Quid autem dicam tibi? refuge. But what shall I say to you? Since I dare not Cum oculos levare non audeo, verba doloris look up to heaven, I shall pour out words of sorrow, effundam, misericordiam tuam implorabo, et I shall beg for your mercy and say: dicam: Miserere mei Deus, secundum magnam Have mercy on me O God, according to your misericordiam tuam. great mercy.

- 12 - - 13 - OWEN REES

Owen Rees is both performer and scholar, his repertory from the Renaissance to contemporary scholarship consistently informing his performances. music, and his work has been shortlisted for the Through his extensive work as a choral director, Gramophone Early Music Award. he has brought to the concert hall and recording studio substantial repertories of magnificent Renaissance and , including many previously unknown or little-known works from Portugal and Spain. His interpretations Recorded in the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Oxford, 26-28 November 2012 of these repertories have been acclaimed Producer - Adrian Peacock Recording Engineer - Dave Hinitt as ‘rare examples of scholarship and Editing - Dave Hinitt and Will Brown musicianship combining to result in performances that are both impressive and Cover Image - © Shutterstock Design and Artwork - Woven Design www.wovendesign.co.uk immediately attractive to the listener’, and he P 2013 The copyright in this recording is owned by Signum Records Ltd. has been described as ‘one of the most © 2013 The copyright in this CD booklet, notes and design is owned by Signum Records Ltd. energetic and persuasive voices’ in this field. Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording of Signum Compact Discs constitutes an infringement of copyright and will render the infringer liable to an action by law. Licences for public performances or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any He has been Director of Music at The Queen’s means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Signum Records Ltd. College, Oxford, since 1997, and is Reader in Music at the . He began SignumClassics, Signum Records Ltd., Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Middx UB6 7JD, UK. +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 E-mail: [email protected] his conducting career while studying at www.signumrecords.com Cambridge, and after graduating directed the Cambridge Taverner Choir from 1987 and A Capella Portuguesa from 1990. He has conducted at festivals worldwide, and is in demand as a leader of workshops on performance of Renaissance polyphony. His numerous CD recordings encompass a wide variety of choral

- 14 - - 15 - ALSO AVAILABLE on signumclassics

1605: Treason & Dischord The Word Unspoken The King’s Singers, Concordia Gallicantus

SIGCD061 SIGCD295

“this is a serious project, which, like the plotters themselves, has “… delivered with such intelligence and rhetorical persuasiveness been skilfully executed. Strongly recommended.” that the cumulative weight of their Byrd, in particular, is International Record Review well-nigh symphonic in effect … ‘Domine’ is here as moving as it’s ever been.” Gramophone, Vocal Disc of the Month

Available through most record stores and at www.signumrecords.com For more information call +44 (0) 20 8997 4000

- 20 - CTP Template: CD_INL1 COLOURS Compact Disc Back Inlay CYAN MAGENTA Customer SignumClassics YELLOW Catalogue No.SIGCD338 BLACK Job Title: Libra Nos

SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD338

LIBERA NOS THE CRY OF THE OPPRESSED LIBERA NOS LIBERA 1 Civitas sancti tui William Byrd [5.02] 2 Libera nos Thomas Tallis [2.08] 3 Super flumina Babylonis Philippe de Monte [5.41] 4 Quomodo cantabimus William Byrd [8.38] 5

Sitivit anima mea Manuel Cardoso [4.22] REES OWEN / CONTRAPUNCTUS 6 Laboravi in gemitu meo Martin Peerson [5.29] 7 Miserere mei Deus William Byrd [3.20] 8 Lachrimans sitivit anima mea Pedro de Cristo [5.54] 9 Plorans plorabit William Byrd [5.07] 0 In jejunio et fletu Thomas Tallis [4.54] q Salvator mundi Thomas Tallis [2.50] CONTRAPUNCTUS / OWEN REES w Inter vestibulum Pedro de Cristo [2.33] e Infelix ego William Byrd [13.34]

Total timings: [69.33] LIBERA NOS

LC15723

Signum Records Ltd, Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, SIGCD338

CLASSICS Perivale, Middx UB6 7JD, United Kingdom. P 2013 Signum Records DDD SIGCD338 © 2013 Signum Records www.signumrecords.com 24 bit digital recording 6 35212 03382 1 SIGNUM