MENDELSSOHN Choral Music Sechs Sprüche • Hear my prayer • Motets, Op. 39 Magnificat and Nunc dimittis • Ave Maria • Psalm 43 Peter Holder, Organ • St Albans Abbey Girls Choir Lay Clerks of St Albans Cathedral Choir • Tom Winpenny Felix Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) MENDELSSOHN Choral Music (1809-1847) Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg in 1809 into a marred by ill health, the result of over-work: distressed by Choral Music distinguished Jewish family. The grandson of philosopher the death of his sister Fanny a few months earlier, he died Moses Mendelssohn and the son of a banker, he was in November 1847. Sechs Sprüche, Op. 79 10:06 recognised as a prodigious pianist at a young age. The The significant output of smaller sacred choral works 1 I. Frohlocket, ihr Völker auf Erden 1:27 family moved to Berlin in 1811, later adopting the name is set against Mendelssohn’s towering achievements – 2 II. Herr Gott, du bist uns’re Zuflucht für und für 2:29 Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and being baptised into the the oratorios St Paul (1836) and Elijah (1846). The 3 III. Erhaben, o Herr, über alles Lob 1:34 Lutheran Church. influence of Palestrina prevails in the smaller works, 4 IV. Herr, gedenke nicht unser Übeltaten 1:21 Mendelssohn began composing around 1819 under inspired by Mendelssohn’s participation in the Berlin 5 V. Lasset uns frohlocken 1:35 the tutelage of Carl Friedrich Zelter, director of the Berlin Singakademie, and by his experience attending the Holy 6 VI. Um uns’rer Sünden willen 1:38 Singakademie. Zelter was a flagbearer for the Bach Week services in the Sistine Chapel in 1831. Few works 7 How lovely are the messengers tradition, then in a time of neglect. He instilled in were composed to commission with a specific liturgical (from St Paul, Op. 36) 3:24 Mendelssohn rigorous contrapuntal discipline and rôle: in a letter of 1835, Mendelssohn declared, ‘True harmonic flair, based on the study of Baroque and church music, i.e. music that has a place in the Protestant 8 Hear my prayer 11:14 Classical works. Early works, including the String Church service, seems impossible to me – not only 9 Three Motets, Op. 39: No. 1 Veni Domine 4:05 Symphonies, were frequently performed by a private because I cannot see where in the service music should 0 Allegro, Chorale and Fugue in D 8:20 orchestra at the family home to the local intellectual elite, have a place, but because I cannot conceive that any whilst the Octet in E flat (1825) and the Overture to A such place should exist.’ These works can perhaps best Three Motets, Op. 69 14:35 Midsummer Night’s Dream (1826) demonstrate be viewed as contemporary re-imaginations of the artistic ! No. 3 Magnificat 9:46 remarkable compositional maturity. and religious ideals of church music of past centuries. @ No. 1 Nunc dimittis 4:49 In 1829, with Zelter’s backing, Mendelssohn gave the A period of reform in the German Protestant Church Three Motets, Op. 39: No. 3 Surrexit pastor bonus 8:59 first Berlin performance of J.S. Bach’s St Matthew was the impetus for much of Mendelssohn’s German # I. Surrexit pastor bonus 3:18 Passion. The event was influential in the Bach revival in sacred music. King Wilhelm IV of Prussia, wishing to $ II. Tulerunt Dominum meum 2:36 Germany (and subsequently worldwide), helping secure establish Berlin as a centre of musical excellence, % III. Surrexit Christus spes mea 3:04 Mendelssohn’s reputation as a fine musician and his first appointed Mendelssohn Generalmusikdirektor. Accepting professional position as music director in Düsseldorf the post reluctantly (because the duties were unclear), ^ Ave Maria, Op. 23, No. 2 6:29 (1833-5). He travelled widely throughout Europe and Mendelssohn nevertheless had oversight of the Three Motets, Op. 39: No. 2 Laudate pueri Dominum 5:53 regularly to Britain, his travels in Scotland inspiring the Cathedral’s music, allowing him to compose works for a & I. Laudate pueri Dominum 3:35 Hebrides Overture and the Scottish Symphony. He liturgy that, prior to its recent revision, had presented few * II. Beati omnes 2:18 gained the friendship of influential figures including Albert, opportunities for music. The Anglican choral tradition in Prince Consort, produced editions of Handel oratorios Britain was also experiencing a revival from the 1840s: ( Three Psalms, Op. 78: No. 2 Richte mich, Gott 4:04 and Bach organ works, and composed the oratorio Elijah choruses from works including Elijah, given its first Laura Hicks, Soprano 8 • Philip Salmon, Tenor ^ for the Birmingham Music Festival. performance in the country, quickly found favour as Mendelssohn’s last years were spent mainly in anthems in services. Mendelssohn’s skill as a composer Peter Holder, Organ 7-9 !-* Leipzig, where he developed the musical life of the city. in adapting to the appropriate religious tradition has As conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra he ensured longevity for his sacred output. 1-8 !-@ ^ ( Lay Clerks of St Albans Cathedral Choir introduced contemporary music and revived interest in The Sechs Sprüche date from Mendelssohn’s time in St Albans Abbey Girls Choir 1-9 !-( composers such as Schubert. After a short period working Berlin (1843-6). These six short motets, concluding with in Berlin, he returned to Leipzig, founding the city’s an Alleluia, were each intended to follow the reading of Tom Winpenny, Conductor / Organ 0 Conservatory of Music in 1843. His last years were the epistle in the reordered Prussian Liturgy of 1843 and represent some of the King’s favourite scriptural verses. work aside) he grouped together, publishing them as Scored for eight-part a cappella choir, they express Sonatas. The tempestuous Allegro, in D minor, precedes Laura Hicks succinctly and with great sonority the liturgical season for the statement of the D major chorale (Mendelssohn’s which they were composed: for example, joy at own) from which the fugue, a clear sign of the composer’s Born and educated in St Albans, Laura Hicks was a chorister in St Albans Abbey Girls Christmas, penitence at Passiontide and prayerful debt to Bach’s works, takes root. Choir from 1996 until 2003, as well as attending Junior Guildhall as a singer and flautist. expectation at Advent. The Magnificat and Nunc dimittis were the result of a Whilst studying Physics and Chemistry at Durham University she sang with many of the How lovely are the messengers, a chorus from St request to write settings of the morning and evening chapel choirs and also the University Chamber Choir, Durham Cathedral Consort and Paul which sets a text appropriate for saints’ days, canticles for the Anglican Church. The invitation came the Rodolfus Choir. She teaches science while maintaining her love of music by singing exemplifies an oratorio movement that has become a initially from Vincent Novello in 1832, but Mendelssohn with many church choirs in London. She has appeared with chamber choirs including staple of the Anglican choral repertoire. It was first did not begin work on the evening setting until shortly Philharmonia Voices, Surrey Voices and Mosaic at venues around the South East performed (in German) at the 1836 Lower Rhenish before his death. Published originally in English by Ewer including the Royal Festival Hall, St Albans Cathedral and many others. Festival, Düsseldorf; the composer’s friend Karl and Co. and subsequently in a German a cappella version Photo: Jonathan Bungard Klingemann provided a translation for its British première by Breitkopf & Härtel, the extended settings of the texts in Liverpool later the same year. The movement, which are rare examples of a foreign composer writing for the expresses the words of peace brought by the apostles, Anglican liturgy, and show Mendelssohn’s imaginative Philip Salmon demonstrates Mendelssohn’s great gift for melody, here treatment of the verses. In the Magnificat (the song of accompanied by lilting figures. Mary), ‘He hath shewed strength’ is rhythmic and strong, Philip Salmon was a boy chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral and an Exhibition Scholar at the Composed in 1844, Hear my prayer contains perhaps for example, whilst the Nunc Dimittis (the song of the Royal College of Music. His career began recording with Emma Kirkby and the Consort of Mendelssohn’s most famous sacred melody – the solo ‘O aged Simeon) is quiet and lyrical. Musicke, also performing and recording under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and with the Hilliard for the wings of a dove’. The text, by William Completed in 1830 as part of a set of three motets Ensemble. He has developed a wide concert repertoire, having sung with most of the principal Bartholomew, is a paraphrase of verses from Psalm 55, composed for the Berlin Singakademie, Ave Maria is a orchestras of Britain and Europe, and performed around the world. Operatic appearances and the work could be viewed as a miniature cantata. The setting of the famous text of the Angelic Salutation, and include the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the major British companies, houses chorus accompanies and responds to the enchanting solo was written with the voice of Eduard Mantius in mind. A throughout Europe, and New York City Opera. He has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, line, whilst the psalmist’s evocative images provide in turn favourite tenor of the Berlin public, Mantius was well Philips, Erato, Virgin, Chandos, Hyperion and others, with numerous national broadcasts in contrasting depictions of anxiety, terror and peaceful known to the Mendelssohn family. The lyrical solo Britain and Europe. Television includes the award-winning BBC “opera soap-opera” The security. phrases alternate with rich eight-part choral writing and Vampyr (Marschner), The Turn of the Screw (Britten) for Scottish Opera and Mentorn Films, Mendelssohn’s visit to Rome in December 1830, this work, modelled to an extent on renaissance Photo: Hilary Shedel and a recital of Chabrier songs from the Edinburgh International Festival.