SACRED & PROFANE A Rite of Passage for Brass Septet

Friday 19th September 2014, 7.30pm Royal Academy of Music, London Septura! SACRED & PROFANE: A !Rite of Passage for Brass Septet ! Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) - Geistliches Lied (Op. 30) arr. Matthew Knight Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856) - Vier Doppelchörige Gesänge (Op. 141) arr. Simon Cox

Ungewisses Licht Zuversicht ! Talismane ! Anton Bruckner (1824 - 1896) - Two Motets Ave Maria (WAB 6) arr. Simon Cox ! Os Justi meditabitur (WAB 30) arr. Stephen Hicks ! Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847) - Sonata in C minor (Op. 65 No. 2) arr. Simon Cox ! ~ interval ~ Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 - 1764) - Suite from ‘Dardanus’ arr. Simon Cox

Overture Marche pour les différente nations Menuet tendre ! Tambourin John Blow (1649 - 1708) - and Adonis: A Mournful Masque arr. Matthew Knight

Chorus of the Graces Gavatt Sarabande for the Graces A Ground Act Tune Aria: With Solemn Pomp Let Mourning Bear ! Chorus: Mourn for They Servant ! George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759) - Suite from ‘Rinaldo' (HWV 7) arr. Simon Cox Overture Aria: Sibillar gli angui d’Aletto (solo: Matthew Gee) Aria: Il vostro maggio (solo: Alan Thomas) Sinfonia ! March Trumpets: Huw Morgan, Alan Thomas, Simon Cox Trombones: Matthew Gee, Matthew Knight, Daniel West Tu b a : Sasha Koushk-Jalali : Sacred and Profane Love

To those who revere the great composers of the with Brahms’ Geistliches Lied, the text of which past, their works are practically sacred. implores us to forget the worldly woes of the Transcribing these for brass is an almost criminal human condition, principally grief, and put our profanity, and Septura is the culprit. trust in the will of God. The likely recipient was ! Clara Schumann: Brahms composed the piece, Why brave the wrath of the music lover? Well, his earliest accompanied choral work, in 1856 as the brass septet is a brand new creation, so we Schumann was on the brink of death in an have no choice: driven to thieving by the paucity asylum. Meeting Schumann in 1853 had of the established repertoire. The aim is not to instigated Brahms’ interest in historicism, and in produce cheap counterfeits though; rather it is to particular the intense study of counterpoint, and shed new light on masterpieces, to re-imagine the text of the Geistliches Lied is set as a double them as if they had been written for brass, and so canon. It is this technical mastery, along with the to instigate in our audience a rite of passage: a re- clear ternary (ABA) structure, that makes the evaluation of what the essence of a piece of music piece work in a purely instrumental context: cup is, how brass instruments can illuminate it; in mutes are used to recreate the organ short, what is sacred and what profanes? accompaniment, and paired trumpets and ! trombones play the choral canons. And of course In fact, that distinction has always been the strict counterpoint doesn’t preclude heartfelt somewhat blurred — think of Titian's Sacred and emotion — nowhere more evident than in the Profane Love (above), a painting which begs the soaring lines of the ‘Amen’ coda, in which the obvious question, which figure is which? — and order of the canons is reversed. this programme explores the two concepts ! through the music of Septura’s first two Schumann, influenced by the humanist works of recordings for Naxos: the broadly religious writers like Goethe, described himself as late as nineteenth-century choral and organ works of 1830 as "religious without religion", and the Vier our first disc; and the secular suites from baroque Doppelchörige Gesänge demonstrate that sacred opera of our second. and profane does not simply equate to religious ! and secular: whilst a spiritual quality permeates Perhaps the most concerted effort to define the the set, only the last, Talismane, has an overtly sacred and profane dichotomy came from French religious text. The ‘sacred’ element in the first sociologist Emile Durkheim, who proposed that two is very much of the nineteenth-century it lay at the root of all religion: religion existed to Humanist kind. Ungewisses Licht follows an bridge the gap between the sacred — numinous, intrepid traveller through the stormy wilderness, other-worldly, collective — and the profane — the dramatic power of the septet enhanced by phenomenal, worldly, individual. And so it is antiphonal effects, before he is “drawn mightily” towards a mysterious light, about which the final dedicated to a prominent Cecilianist, Ignaz line asks “is it love, is it death?”, intoned here by Traumihler. Bruckner wrote to him: “I should be a lone trombone. Zuversicht mirrors the Geistliches very pleased if you found pleasure in the piece. It Lied in advising the grieving to put their trust in is written entirely without any sharps or flats… something greater, but it is not God here: the and also without any chordal combinations of pervasive rocking rhythms give way to peaceful four and five simultaneous notes.” But despite all harmonies underpinned by a lengthy tuba pedal this the work is profoundly emotional, imbued for the lines “how could you be forsaken if you with Bruckner’s Romanticism, demonstrated not still have love?”. Despite all this, in January 1851 least by the huge chains of melismatic Schumann wrote that “to devote his powers to suspensions. And even when it is pared down at religious music probably remains the artist’s its culmination to the ultimate simplicity, a ultimate goal”, and Talismane is a joyous unison plainchant Alleluia, it seems like mere lip- celebration of God’s omnipotence, a musical service to the Cecilian ideals. microcosm of sacred and profane: every mention ! of His name heralded by a cascade of bell-like Religious tension was a significant feature of rising fourths through the ensemble; by contrast, Mendelssohn’s early life: his father, responding man’s fallibility (“my errors bewilder me”) is to the pressures of an anti-Semitic environment, represented in an intensely chromatic six-note decided to abandon his family’s Jewish heritage, motif, with a legato solo trombone initiating a and so from the age of 7 Mendelssohn was raised series of imitative entries. as a Catholic. This Christian conversion brought ! him to the music of J. S. Bach, and in time he In Durkheim’s analysis, a common thread of all became an exceptional organist. Mendelssohn religion was the use of idols, and rituals was commissioned by an English publisher to surrounding them, the purpose of which was to write a set of organ sonatas, and the second reaffirm the sacred by maintaining its distinction works most successfully for brass: the 6-part from mundane everyday life (the profane). The homophonic writing of the opening Grave, the Catholic Church is no exception, with a rich interweaving contrapuntal lines of the following tradition of liturgy — and, in particular from a Adagio, and the dramatic ending of the fugal ritual point of view, musical liturgy — a mainstay finale are a perfect fit, musically and technically, of which is the Ave Maria. Bruckner was a devout for the natural compass of the septet. There is a Catholic, and set the Ave Maria three times; in 'rite of passage' of sorts as these movements this setting he alternates passages for high and progress, as organist William Whitehead notes: low voices in the opening bars, and our the opening two movements evoke Bach (the alternation of trumpets and trombones adds an Ruht wohl of the John Passion in the first, the final antiphonal aspect. The two groups come together chorus of the Matthew Passion in the second), to unleash the full power of the septet for the but the third movement shifts to an ‘English’ ecstatic pronouncement of the blessed name influence, and, originally penned in the ‘trumpet “Jesus”; by contrast, the closing section (“pray and drum’ key of D “resolutely turns to tuneful, for us sinners”) again uses the full group, but in march-mode Handel”. Thus for Whitehead the quiet dynamics, creating a rich, blended warmth. sonata describes “a westbound arc from Luther ! to Albion”, but for our purposes we might recast The second half of the Nineteenth Century saw this as a downwards spiral, from Sacred to the establishment of the Cecilian Movement in Profane. Germany, which aimed to restore to church ! music chant and the purer modality of early A brief, but interesting interlude in our sacred polyphony. The Cecilians objected to the lack of and profane exploration is provided by a small piety and the “unduly profane seductiveness” of collection of vibrant dances from the prologue of modern ecclesiastical works, and Bruckner, with Rameau’s opera Dardanus. Whilst the main his Wagnerian harmonic language, must have opera was so absurd (a convoluted love story been seen as a principal offender. In response he with sea monsters, magicians and dream wrote Four Graduals in 1886, and Os Justi was sequences) that it had to be extensively Titian: Venus and Adonis re-written after its premiere, the prologue, rhythmic quirks, and range of emotional f o l l o w i n g a L u l l i a n c o n v e n t i o n , i s a expression that conservative ‘Lullistes’ found so straightforward allegory rooted in classical grotesque. mythology. banishes Jealousy, but Love ! can’t survive without her — Cupid and the Widely regarded as the earliest English opera, Pleasures fall into a deep sleep, and Venus has to B l o w ’ s Venus & Adonis w a s a t r u l y recall Jealousy to bring them all back to life. The groundbreaking work: the model for Purcell’s allegory itself is not particularly interesting for more famous Dido & Aeneas, it is largely through- our purposes; what perhaps is, though, is the composed, rather than resorting to separate set- deification of elements of human nature in pieces and distinct arias, and this greatly classical mythology — almost everything heightens its dramatic impact. The story of represented by a particular deity — further Venus and Adonis, as told by both and blurring the distance between sacred and Shakespeare, is interesting for us specifically profane. Maybe more important, though, is the because it bridges the gap between sacred and music: the classic ‘French’ overture, with its profane: Cupid accidentally pricks his mother, grandiose dotted-rhythm opening giving way to a Venus, with one of his arrows, and she falls in compelling energetic movement, is a musical love with mortal Adonis — even the goddess of highlight of the opera; and as the mortals pay love is not immune from her own domain, and homage to Cupid through dance, Rameau’s ballet succumbs to love’s destructive power. In the music, for which he was rightly renowned, is earlier versions Adonis snubs Venus to go on a especially colourful — demonstrating the fatal hunting trip; in Blow’s account, by contrast, revolutionary use of harmony, melodic and Venus encourages Adonis to go hunting despite his protestations: honest and true Rinaldo; Jerusalem falls, Armida ! and Argante undergo a Christian rebirth and are Adonis: forgiven. Argante’s affair and the Christian Adonis will not hunt today: conversion are additions to the myth by the I have already caught the noblest prey. librettist, casting the plot unquestionably a ! triumph of Christianity over Islam — and for Venus: 18th-century London we can surely read that as No, my shepherd haste away: Sacred over Profane, painting that dichotomy in a Absence kindles new desire, wholly new subjective light. I would not have my lover tire. ! ! Handel composed the opera in just two weeks, The significance of this alteration is that it places aided by the recycling of much existing material Venus at the centre of the tragedy, with her — so much that it has been described as an hubris, rather than that of the human Adonis, “anthology” of his Italian period. Our two arias culminating in her downfall. Thus the sacred is are recycled: “Sibillar gli angui”, here an aria for profaned, the goddess exposed as fallible, and the solo trombone, was lifted completely from a deity re-cast as human. dramatic cantata, and has a “ludicrously ! inappropriate” text for Argante’s grand Act I Our ‘mournful masque’ focuses on this mortal entrance; also from an earlier cantata, “Il vostro end of the opera, beginning with the Act II maggio” is here a trumpet solo, in which Chorus of the Graces, which emphasises the mermaids lead Rinaldo astray with a song about human element of love, mirroring the intense love’s delights. So the story serves as a loose eroticism of Shakespeare’s version (Venus will pretext for virtuoso vocal numbers, and the “beget desire and yield delight”). The form of supernatural subject also gives Handel an Blow’s opera was heavily influenced by Lullian opportunity to demonstrate his orchestral French opera, not least in the instrumental prowess: after a gripping and incredibly varied dances that follow the chorus: an energetic overture, a particular instrumental highlight is Gavatt, a portentous Sarabande, and a fateful the Act III Sinfonia — the film music of its day, Ground. The unfolding tragedy is ushered in by portraying the horror of Armida’s magic the mournful Act II Tune, after which Adonis, mountain, and culminating in two shocking rests gored by a boar, dies in Venus’ arms. Struck by for the entire group, moments of terrifying grief she laments her lover in a heart-rending suspense, perhaps just before Goffredo’s soldiers Aria; not only does her intense grief humanise are swallowed up by the mountain. The opera her, but she explicitly renounces her immortality: was particularly noted for Handel’s innovative “[Adonis] shall adorn the heavn’s, here I will use of brass instruments, harnessing their weep till I am fall’n into as cold a sleep”. The uniquely expressive powers for the war and final G minor chorus (“Mourn for thy servant”) pageantry scenes. Argante’s entrance is a fine takes the form of a funeral march and offers scant example, and according to Dean and Knapp, the consolation for the fallen goddess, “the wretched sudden blast of trumpets provides “an effect of Queen of Love in this forsaken grove”. splendour and exhilaration that time has not ! dimmed”. If Blow cuts the sacred down to size, Handel’s ! Rinaldo, the first Italian-language opera Matthew Knight composed for the London stage, aims at precisely the opposite. Set in Jerusalem during the first crusade, its theme is fairly transparent: the Christian Rinaldo is pitted against the Muslim King of Jerusalem, Argante, and his powerful sorceress lover Armida; these two use their dark magic for trickery but, having been unfaithful to each other, are ultimately vanquished by the !Septura Founder & Artistic Director: Simon Cox !Artistic Director: Matthew Knight Trumpets: Philip Cobb, Simon Cox, Huw Morgan, Alan Thomas Trombones: Matthew Gee, Edward Jones, Matthew Knight, Daniel West !Tu b a : Sasha Koushk-Jalali, Peter Smith Septura aims to redefine the brass ensemble as a serious artistic medium by creating a canon of classical art-music for brass septet, through transcriptions, arrangements and an ever-increasing number of new !commissions. Currently Ensemble in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music, London, the group is recording a series of 10 discs for Naxos over the next 5 years, each focused on a particular period, genre and set of composers, creating a ‘counter-factual history’ of brass chamber music. The first disc—Brahms, Bruckner, Mendelssohn, Schumann: Music for Brass Septet—was released August 2014, reaching No. 3 in the UK Specialist Classical Chart in its first week. The second—Baroque theatre music by Blow, !Purcell, Handel and Rameau—was recorded in May 2014 for release in 2015. Septura’s members are the leading players of the new generation of British brass musicians, holding principal positions in the London Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, City !of Birmingham Symphony, Scottish Opera and Aurora orchestras. They share a passion for live performance, and believe in the idea of the concert as a real event: drawing people into their (perhaps unfamiliar) ever-increasing repertoire with imaginative and interesting !programming, built around strong concepts and themes, and presented in a captivating manner. !Septura is represented worldwide by Percius Artists and Project Management. www.septura.org

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