The university of Texas at Austin

Presents Rachel Davis, conductor

A Masters Recital

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Veni creator spiritus Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina c. 1525-1594 Steven Knell, cantor

Mass No. 2 in G Major, D. 167 Franz Schubert 1797-1828 Lauren Gibson, soprano Ryan Breaux, baritone Steven Knell, tenor

Drei Quartette, opus 31 Johannes Brahms 1. Wechsellied zum Tanze 1833-1897 2. Neckereien 3. Der Gang zum Liebchen

Three Scottish Folksongs arr. Mack Wilberg 1. O Whistle and I’ll Come to Ye b. 1955 2. My Love’s in Germany 3. I’ll Ay Call in by Yon Town

Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 7:30pm | University Christian Church

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of the Masters of Music degree in Choral Conducting. Program notes

Veni creator spiritus [Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina] – Veni creator spiritus is a prayer dedicated to the third power of the Divine Trinity—the Holy Spirit. This prayer has been set by some of the greatest composers of the Medieval and Renaissance eras, including Tallis, Praetorius, Dufay, and Victoria, along with Romantic composers Berlioz and Liszt. This particular setting by Palestrina, although not one of his more famous works, demonstrates the same compositional techniques that make Palestrina so complex and beautiful through the ages. The Cantor presents the chant between the choral settings of texts, which Palestrina masterfully composes into alternating voices. Fragments of the chants can be heard throughout the choral texture, mainly in the soprano and tenor voices. Through highlighting the chant fragments, one can piece together the full chant in each movement in the vocal lines, creating a sense of foundation for Palestrina’s beautiful setting of “Veni creator spiritus”.

Mass No. 2 in G Major, D. 167 [Franz Schubert] – Schubert’s masterful setting of the traditional Mass texts in Mass No. 2 in G Major pushes the boundaries of traditional Mass settings from the Baroque and Classical eras. Orchestrated for strings, trumpets, timpani, and organ, this thin yet compelling texture supports the vivacious choral texture above. Uniquely, Schubert begins the Kyrie with only choir and strings and without introduction, setting a tranquil tone for the Mass. This, however, quickly changes when the soprano enters with the “Christe eleison”, desperately pleading “Christ, have mercy upon us”. The choir’s entrance relaxes into the final “Kyrie eleison”, closing the movement with a peaceful plea for mercy. This peace is quickly disrupted by the fiery opening arpeggio of the Gloria, leading into a fortissimo choral entrance. This exclamation of “Glory to God in the highest” from the choir is quickly followed by a tender duet between the soprano and the baritone. The choir softly cries “Miserere nobis” underneath, gently praying for mercy until Schubert returns to the proclamatory opening of the movement to close. The “Credo” that follows, colloquially known as “The Apostle’s Creed”, features a peaceful walking bass to compliment the soft choral texture above. The longest of the movements, this “Credo” presents the foundations of the Christian faith, and Schubert masterfully translates these beliefs into music. Through a tumultuous middle and proclamatory climax, the “Credo” finally returns to the peaceful tones of its opening. Similarly to the “Kyrie”, this peace is disrupted by the “Sanctus” that follows, using another declamatory arpeggio to begin the movement. This slow, powerful opening is followed by the first and only fugue in the piece: “Osanna in excelsis”. Schubert’s fugue is unconventionally short and simple in nature; where other composers use the fugue to highlight the complexity of the piece, Schubert uses the fugue as a means to drive the orchestration to a powerful end of the “Sanctus” movement. This leads to Schubert’s elegant setting of the “Benedictus”, featuring a gorgeous trio with soprano, tenor, and baritone. This rather romantic setting utilizes more ornamentation and expression than previous solo appearances in the Mass, and therefore provides the most abruptly beautiful answer to the fiery “Sanctus” that precedes it. This magnificent trio finally finishes with the sudden return of the fugue from the “Sanctus” in the choir—an exact repetition of the fugue. The fugue closes and Schubert presents the

final movement of his mass setting: the “Agnus Dei”. Marked Lento in the orchestration, this slow, dramatic closing movement features powerful solos from both the soprano and the baritone. Each soloist cries out “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”, to which the choir quietly responds “Have mercy on us”. This is coupled with a beautiful duet between the first and second violins, which Schubert composes to highlight the more extreme highs and lows of the instrument’s range. The final soprano entrance changes with the first iteration of the text “Dona nobis pacem”, or, “Grant us peace”. This is echoed by the choir in the same way that the previous text was stated, however, here we have finally returned to the key of G major. The strings softly echo the choir’s soft pleas before tenderly closing the movement with three soft chords. Schubert’s Mass in G Major, while utilizing quite a few loud and fiery passages of text and orchestration, ultimately retains a soft and peaceful quality that evokes a prayer-like mindset in the listener.

Drei Quartette, opus 31 [Johannes Brahms] – Known for his extensive choral works, Brahms published this set of three choral quartets in 1864. Although there is much debate over whether or not Brahms composed these three quartets together, these pieces compliment each other in the Opus 31 set. The first quartet, “Wechsellied zum Tanze”, couples the alto-bass sections an soprano-tenor sections together to personify a couple at a ball. The man, called “The Indifferent Ones”, suggests that his sweetheart should join him in a dance. The woman, called “The Affectionate Ones”, responds with whimsical romanticisms and would rather bask in the light of the moon than engage in the dance. After a long back and forth, it is implied that the “Indifferent Ones” win the argument and the couple finally joins in the dance. In the second quartet, titled “Teasing” or “Flirting”, the man proclaims his love to his sweetheart and makes a vow to make her his wife. The woman refuses his pleas, rotating through various incarnations of animals to evade the man’s advances. The man rebuts these incarnations with his proclamations of love, but the woman holds firm to her refusal. Finally, the third quartet personifies the love that the speaker has for his sweetheart, thinking of her fondly although it is implied that she is gone from him. He wonders if she still loves him and thinks of him fondly too, but in the end the reality becomes clear—she has gone away from him, presumably forever.

Three Scottish Songs [arr. Mack Wilberg] – Mack Wilberg’s arrangements of these three folksongs personifies the Scottish air of the texts. The first of the three, “O Whistle” describes a secret romance between two young lovers. The pair will whistle to each other to signal where to meet and keep away from the disapproving eyes of their parents. The second movement, “My Love’s in Germany”, abruptly replaces the lightness of the first movement with the dark sadness of lost love. The speaker in this movement laments over her love “Willie” who has gone off to war and perishes over seas. Wilberg gives this melody to the altos and utilizes their lower register to enact the heart-wrenching cries for the lost love. The final movement, “I’ll Ay Call in by Yon Town”, returns to the lightheartedness of the first movement with a spirited melody presented by the tenors. Wilberg’s witty setting of this text is playful and fun to sing with a melody that is sung over and over again. These settings of Scottish folk songs feature a four- hands piano accompaniment with just serves to enrich the texture of the arrangements.

Singers

Kathleen Krysher Kylie Jensen Natalie Brennan Rachel Lootens Sabrina Ellis Sarah Spitler Sabrina Mari Uriegas Sara de la Vega Hannah Barnard Sarudzai Chigubu Emma Thrower McKenna King Nicole Elefante Emma Zahniser Paige Cook Veronica Lopez Anneliese Sandoval Alessio Nachtergaele Lizzie Jouett Michael Follis Christopher Auchter Steven Knell Weston McCoy Yang Lei John MacKay Chun-Yi Wu Jim Hall Andrew Vernon

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Players

Hoi Ting Davidson, violin Donald Livingston, organ Elizabeth Kilpratrick, violin Jonathan Klausman, trumpet Kenneth Holmes, viola Cameron Marquez, timpani Lauren Aldana, cello DoYoun Kim, bass Thanakarn Limtham, pianist Yixuan Wang, pianist