The Tallis Scholars

CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM NOTES Friday, December 4, 2009, 8pm Beata Virgine this mass; from examining the many sources, it First Congregational Church is apparent that Josquin wrote it—and that it was HE TERM “Renaissance polyphony” is applied distributed—as separate movements and not as a Tto an enormous amount of different kinds of group of five. Unlike most mass settings written music. Of course, we only have other terms, such in the Renaissance which were based on a single The Tallis Scholars as “Baroque” or “Romantic,” to compare it with, model—either a melody drawn from plainchant or Peter Phillips, director but it is the great breadth and variation of style, a secular song or an entire polyphonic framework aesthetic and, of course, historical and cultural taken from a motet—this “chant paraphrase” mass Soprano background exhibited by different types of “po- takes as its inspiration the collection of plainsong Janet Coxwell Amy Haworth lyphony” when compared with other, later styles melodies associated with the Mass Ordinary texts. Alto that makes the term only a blunt categorization The movements lack the characteristic unity of me- Patrick Craig Caroline Trevor tool at best or a colloquialism at worst. During lodic theme and sonority found in later masses but the last 150 years of the Renaissance, the pace of because of this they stand on their own as indi- Tenor cultural change, and the intensity of the cultural vidually conceived and performed works. The ab- Christopher Watson Simon Wall George Pooley Will Balkwill conflicts which resulted, increased remarkably and solute clarity so characteristic of Josquin’s music is Bass the musical manifestations of these changes and apparent from the start, imitative passages worked Donald Greig Rob Macdonald conflicts necessarily reflected this. so thoroughly that it is often difficult for the lis- Josquin des Prez was one of the most famous tener to distinguish imitation from canon. Strict composers of his day. Today, he overshadows com- canon, a favorite of Josquin, does indeed appear in pletely his contemporaries from the final third of the Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei movements of Beata Virgine the 15th century and is mentioned in the same this work. Austerity, logic and Josquin’s complete breath as Palestrina or William Byrd as one of a command of compositional form and contrapuntal handful of composers who defined “Renaissance symmetry permeate this music, suggesting a purity PROGRAM polyphony.” Born in the early 1450s, however, he of conception meant to please God in its perfec- lived most of his life free from the religious turmoil tion, not excite the passions of men. Josquin des Prez (c.1450–1521) Missa de Beata Virgine of the 16th century which would have such a great There is a good chance that John Nesbett was influence on later music. He brought late-Medie- older than Josquin. However, so little is known of Kyrie val music very much up to date, pioneering most his biography, other than that he was an English Gloria of the major genres which followed and bringing composer active in Canterbury in the 1470s and Credo both an intense clarity and passionate humanity to 1480s, that any meaningful description of his Sanctus music in a way unknown to his predecessors. His temporal or musical relation to the Flemish com- Agnus Dei Missa de Beata Virgine displays all of these charac- poser is impossible. Only two pieces of music by teristics; it appears, either whole or in part, in no Nesbett survive, but his Magnificat survives in INTERMISSION fewer than 69 different sources—in manuscripts the two most famous musical sources of the first originating in 5 countries, 8 printed publications decade of the 16th century in the British Isles, the spanning nearly 30 years, 2 theory treatises and Carvor Choirbook compiled in Scotland and the John Nesbett (d.1488) Magnificat 15 tablatures. Compared with his contemporar- much more important Eton Choirbook compiled ies, this is an enormously varied and thorough at Eton College in Berkshire, England. As a mem- Thomas Tallis (c.1505–1585) Tunes for Archbishop Parker’s Psalter distribution, indicating that Josquin’s fame had ber of the Eton Choirbook composers, Nesbett is spread completely throughout Europe by the be- considered part of a unique musical tradition, the William Byrd (c.1540–1623) Ye sacred muses ginning of the 16th century and that both his in- “florid English style,” identified as a self-contained dividual reputation and that of this piece in par- musical movement which differed greatly from Byrd Tribulationes civitatum ticular continued long after his death. The regular continental music written at the time. This con- singing of the Ordinary of the Mass (the Kyrie, trast is immediately obvious here when comparing Byrd Vigilate Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei movements Nesbett’s Magnificat with the Josquin mass which with which we are familiar) to a polyphonic set- precedes it on tonight’s program. This music blasts ting was only just becoming commonplace dur- sound at the listener, rhythmically overwhelming Cal Performances’ 2009–2010 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. ing Josquin’s lifetime and that fact is reflected in the Josquin in terms of exuberance and flare. The 4 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 5 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES pre-meditated predictability of the Josquin is no- perhaps a lute. The intimacy and simplicity of the the final punctuation to a chapter describing the watching! The forthright, energetic, and powerful where to be found here; this music impresses and top line, colored with slight madrigalian touches cultural degredation, falsity and—specifically— setting of these words makes Byrd’s intentions shines with an energetic pomp and swagger. giving each individual word attention and care, oppression and strife preceeding the triumphal clear. Watch out! Your time is coming. Although Thomas Tallis’s earliest music does displays the deep, tender and personal connection return of of the Messiah, who would judge the evil Comparing this tortured, passionate and vivid not quite reach these heights of exuberance, he Byrd felt with this text. Byrd’s ability to wrap woe doers and restore righteousness. The subtext here is music with the serenity and undisputed confidence wrote much which can easily be traced to its Eton and misery in such beautiful polphonic packages is that Byrd implies to his listeners that the Protestant of Josquin’s mass highlights precisely the sort of Choirbook influences. Tallis, however, is the per- here displayed with poignancy and sincerity. political climate in England, and the oppression of contrasts in “Renaissance polyphony” which make fect example of a composer caught in cultural If Ye sacred muses represented a personal ex- the Catholic failthful, are precisely what was being listening to and understanding this music and its chaos. Born around 1505, living 80 years, and al- pression of grief for a lost friend, Tribulationes proficied. Byrd warns both his Catholic bretheren culture so richly rewarding. most always employed by the English crown, Tallis civitatum is much more like what we are accusto- and English society at large that their judgment is sang and wrote music under four monarchs and— med to from Byrd; a politically charged lament for just around the corner and that a vengeful God is © 2009 Greg Skidmore crucially—two warring religious ideologies. His the state of Protestant England. Byrd remained a Tunes for Archbishop Parker’s Psalter were included Catholic throughout his life and the large number in a book published in 1567 of all 150 psalms trans- of anguished works bemoaning the plight of the lated and versified in English by Matthew Parker, Catholic recusancy in England has come to vir- the first Archbishop of Canterbury appointed by tually summarise for many Byrd’s entire life and Elizabeth I. These versified psalm books were com- work. It is indeed impossible to truly understand mon in Elizabethan England, but a remarkable fea- Byrd’s music without understanding his political ture of Parker’s book was that he divided the psalm affiliations and the real oppression he no doubt -ex texts into eight groups, based on the emotional perienced in his life and that of his friends. Byrd’s moods of their texts, said to be inherent in each of political audacity is sometimes overlooked, howe- the eight musical modes. Tallis wrote a simple tune ver, as he would choose specific and often obscure for each of these eight groups. Printed in the book texts, such as Tribulationes civitatum—drawn from are the words sung tonight, but it is clear that many four responsories of the old Sarum rite, the English different psalms could be sung to each tune, de- Catholic liturgy—tailor them as he saw fit to exag- pending on the emotional character of the words. gerate their political significance (the term civita“ - The ninth tune was written to provide a musical tum” and all the derivations of civic imagery that setting for a few other texts which appear after the occur in this collection and his work as a whole psalm texts in the volume. These include trans- are largely believed to refer to England as a state), lations of the Te Deum, Benedictus, Magnificat, set them to music, and then publish them using Nunc Dimitis and other service texts. This ninth the monopoly on music printing granted to him by tune, as well as the eighth, are popular hymn tunes Queen Elisabeth herself! Both Tribulationes civita- today, and the third tune, “Why fumeth in fight,” tum and Vigilate come from his first published col- was immortalized by Ralph Vaughan Williams in lection of music after Tallis’s death, his Cantiones his Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.

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