Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks Richard Pygot’s Missa Veni sance siritus

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2018 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018 First Church in Cambridge, Congregational S. Stephen’s Church, Providence Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks Music from the Peterhouse partbooks, continued… Richard Pygot’s Missa Veni sance siritus

With today’s program, Blue Heron continues Reformation in 1547. (Compare this to, for Kyrie fons bonitatis treble its exploration of music from one of the example, the sixteen choirbooks owned Sonja DuToit Tengblad Sarum chant largest and most important extant sources by Magdalen College alone in 1524.) Te Brenna Wells of sacred English polyphony from before rest were deliberately destroyed afer the Shari Alise Wilson Missa Veni sancte spiritus the Reformation, the Peterhouse partbooks Reformation or were simply lost to neglect or mean (so called because they are now housed at decay. Indeed, the tenor book and part of the Gloria & Credo Jennifer Ashe Peterhouse, the oldest and smallest of the Richard Pygot (c. 1485-1549) Pamela Dellal treble book of the Peterhouse set disappeared Martin Near Cambridge colleges). Te partbooks were centuries ago, and it is only through the copied around 1540 by Tomas Bull of astonishing creative eforts of the English Ave vulnus lateris contratenor Owen McIntosh Magdalen College, Oxford, for Canterbury musicologist Nick Sandon, who has restored Walter Erle (c. 1515-1581) Mark Sprinkle Cathedral, which had recently been dissolved the missing parts, that we are able to sing this by Henry VIII as a monastic foundation and music today. tenor Michael Barret refounded shortly aferwards as a secular intermission Jason McStoots cathedral that boasted a topnotch new choral Detailed accounts of the history of the bass establishment consisting of ten choristers, Peterhouse partbooks and their restoration, Cameron Beauchamp their master, and twelve professional singing as well as lengthy essays on many aspects of Missa Veni sancte spiritus Paul Gutry men. Among the twelve adult singers were performance practice of English polyphonic Sanctus & Agnus dei David McFerrin Tomas Tallis and Bull himself, who lef his music, from pitch to scoring to pronunciation, Pygot post at Magdalen College in order to join may be found on Blue Heron’s website, where Scot Metcalfe the new choir at Canterbury, bringing with one may also download PDFs of most of our director him a large repertoire of music for its use. past programs. Rather than reprint all that Te Peterhouse partbooks contain 72 works, material here, I refer the interested reader to including large-scale setings of the Ordinary www.blueheron.org. of the Mass, Magnifcats, and antiphons Missa Veni sance siritus and Ave vulnus lateris edited and resored by Nick Sandon. addressed mostly to Mary, some to Jesus or Richard Pygot to another saint. Pre-concert talk by Scot Metcalfe sonsored in part by Te Cambridge Society for Early Music Richard Pygot was a member in turn of two of Very few sources of English church music the very best choirs in England, the household Blue Heron is funded in part by the Massachusets Cultural Council, a sate agency. remain from this period. A mere three chapels of Cardinal Tomas Wolsey and choirbooks (including the famous Eton Henry VIII. He may have been a singer at Choirbook, more than one-ffh of which has Magdalen College, Oxford (the source of been lost), four sets of partbooks (including most of the Peterhouse repertoire) and there Peterhouse), and one organ book transmit caught the eye of Cardinal Wolsey, who was a almost all of the music which survives from former member of Magdalen College and the between the late ffeenth century and the founder of Cardinal College, Oxford. By 1517 Blue Heron 950 Watertown St., Suite 8, Wes Newton, MA 02465 (617) 960-7956 [email protected] www.blueheron.org 3 Pygot was Master of the Children in Wolsey’s intact, a four-voice respond and the relatively tenor, mostly in unornamented long notes. a courtier from a family of minor gentry in household chapel, responsible for the training of-performed three-voice carol Quid petis o It is heard seven times in the Gloria, seven Devon who became a chamber servant in and supervising of ten choristers. He was fli? Two large-scale pieces are transmited in the Credo, three in the Sanctus, and the households of two of Henry VIII’s wives, so efective in this job that the King became uniquely, and partially, in the Peterhouse four in the Agnus, perhaps alluding to the Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, and jealous of the qualities of Wolsey’s boys, and in partbooks: the Missa Veni sancte spiritus, sevenfold gifs of the Holy Spirit (mentioned in those of his children Edward, Mary, and the spring of 1518 the Dean of Henry’s chapel lacking one voice of fve, and the antiphon in the Kyrie fons bonitatis) and to the three Elizabeth during their respective reigns. Erle “requested” that one of them be transferred Salve regina, lacking two. (Te later appears persons of the Trinity. Dr. Sandon remarks frst turns up in 1541 as a “page” or atendant to the royal household, assuring Wolsey on Vol. 2 of our 5-CD series Music fom the that “Pygot’s rather idiosyncratic style… in an entry-level position; likely he was in (not, perhaps, without a certain undertone of Peterhouse Partbooks.) Te bass parts of may give an impression of relaxation and his early 20s at the time, mature enough menace), that “if it were not for the personal another antiphon and another carol also waywardness; but his lines have their own as a musician to have already composed love that the King’s highness doth bear unto survive, as well as a two-voice fragment of a sense of integrity, ofen characterized by the antiphon Ave vulnus lateris, which was your grace, surely he would have out of your larger work, which was quoted without text concealed motivic argument.” He is fond copied into the Peterhouse partbooks right chapel not children only, but also men; for his by Tomas Morley in A Plaine and Easie of ornate melodic writing and busy, doted around then, but still in the early stages grace hath plainly shewed unto Cornysche Introduction to Practicall Musicke of 1597. rhythms, which feature in his Salve regina as of his career at court. He proved adept at [i.e. William Cornysh, master of the children well as in the Mass; here they are especially navigating the turbulent waters at court in in Henry’s chapel] that your Grace’s Chapel is Missa Veni sancte spiritus on display in lengthy duets between treble those years, not only surviving religious and beter than his.” Te boy was duly transferred, and contratenor in the Gloria at “Qui tollis political upheaval and serving monarchs and Pace wrote again to say that “Cornyshe Te cantus frmus or plainchant scafolding peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem both Catholic and Protestant, but rising doth greatly laud and praise the child of of Pygot’s Mass consists of the f rst eleven nostram” and in the third petition of the to a position of some privilege, acquiring a your chapel sent hither, not only for his sure notes of an antiphon for First Vespers on Agnus dei. Tis is music composed on a modest fortune, and dying a prosperous man and cleanly singing but also for his good and Pentecost. Its original intent, then, was surely wonderfully spacious scale, exulting in rich in 1581. Dr. Sandon observes that his musical crafy descant and doth in like manner extol as the Mass on the great feast of Pentecost in sonorities, sometimes surprising harmonies, skill, which he exercised non-professionally Mr. Pygote for the teaching of him.” A dozen May. As usual for English polyphonic setings and long-drawn out melismas. As so ofen as a gentleman, may have assured his success years later, some time afer Wolsey’s fall from of the Ordinary, this one does not set the happens in the long Masses from the at court, but his record as a musician is grace and death in November 1530, Pygot Kyrie. In the Sarum rite, a troped Kyrie is the Peterhouse partbooks, things culminate in scant. All we know is that he owned at least followed the path taken by his erstwhile norm for all high feasts, and the rite specifes an Agnus dei that, without any change in one musical manuscript and played the charge, becoming a Gentleman of the Royal which is to be used; this perhaps explains scoring or style, feels elegaic, sweeter, and keyboards. Besides Ave vulnus lateris, the Household Chapel. He died in London in why composers opted not to set it as part of more peaceful, a powerful emotional efect only piece of his that survives is a pavan in November 1549. their festal masses, for absent the Kyrie, a accomplished by the subtlest of means both the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book and two other, mass could be reused on any festal occasion. melodic and harmonic. later sources. Pygot enjoyed a very successful career and Te Sarum rite specifes that on Pentecost was a highly accomplished composer. He the troped Kyrie fons bonitatis should be sung, Walter Erle Ave vulnus lateris must have writen numerous pieces, but his as we do today to introduce our performance music almost didn’t survive at all, a fact that of Pygot’s Mass. Walter Erle the composer (spelled Erley Ave vulnus lateris is one of the last additions must be put down to the extensive loss of and Erell in the Peterhouse manuscripts to the Peterhouse partbooks, perhaps musical sources from 16th-century England. Te Mass Veni sancte spiritus states its cantus and several other ways in contemporary suggesting that Bull acquired the music in Only two of Pygot’s works are completely frmus twenty-one times, always in the documents) appears to be the same man as London en route to Canterbury from Oxford,

4 5 though a slight bit of evidence also connects Texts & Translations Erle to Oxford itself, where he may have spent “Full” section for “the multitude” of some time without earning a degree. Te text all fve voices, seting the shorter pater ingenite a quo is an indulgenced prayer customarily found salutation that opens the second Kyrie fons bonitatis Lord, fountain of goodness, unbegoten father bona cuncta procedunt eleyson. from whom all good things proceed, have mercy. in English books of hours, where it was noted stanza and the frst phrase of its that “Pope Innocent II granted forty years of petition: “Hail, the wound in the side, Kyrie qui pati natum mundi pro crimine Lord, who sent his son to sufer for the crimes ipsum ut salvaret misisti eleyson. of the world that it might be saved, have mercy. indulgence to anybody devoutly reciting the / generous and fruitful. / Wash and following prayer.” Each of the two eight-line make clean / the flth of the multitude.” Kyrie qui septiformis dans dona neumate a Lord, giver of the seven-fold gifs of the Spirit stanzas adheres to the standard formula for 25 bars of much less forid writing and quo celum terra replentur eleyson. with which heaven and earth are filled, have mercy. such prayers: salutation and praise, followed more slowly changing harmonies. by petition. Erle distributes the text in an Christe unice dei patris genite quem de Christ, only begoten of the father, asymmetrical fashion that emphasizes its Trio for the middle voices (mean, virgine nasciturum mundo mirifce sancti wondrously born into the world of a virgin rhetorical structure, with each petition contratenor, tenor), seting the predixerunt prophete eleyson. as foretold by the holy prophets, have mercy. divided into two phrases, the second of continuation of the petition: “Do not Christe agie celi compos regie melos glorie Christ, holy one, master of the kingdom of which reiterates or intensifes the sentiments let a second death / harm thy people cui semper astat pro numine angelorum heaven, to whom the highest orders of angels of the frst: here below, / but in the sight of the decantans apex eleyson. forever sing songs of glory, have mercy. godhead / make the mind joyful.” 25 Christe celitus nostris assis precibus pronis Christ, whom we worship with our foreheads Trio of high voices (treble, mean, bars, the melodies becoming more and mentibus quem in terris devote colimus ad pressed to the earth that our prayers might contratenor), seting the frst more forid, and ending in a melisma te Jesu clamamus pie eleyson. reach to heaven, to you we cry, merciful Jesus, salutation and the frst part of the frst on the the penultimate syllable of the have mercy. petition: “Hail, the wound in the side last word, jocunda. Kyrie spiritus alme coherens patri natoque Lord, Holy Spirit, of one substance with the / of our savior, / from which fowed unius usie consistendo fuens ab utroque Father and the Son and proceeding from a spring / of water and blood. / Be Full: “Amen.” 19 bars2more than a eleyson. both, have mercy. thou now a remedy / for the sorrows sixth of the length of the entire piece. Kyrie qui baptizato in Jordanis unda Lord, who at the baptism of Christ in the of those who sufer.” 30 bars, ending Christo efulgens specie columbina Jordan appeared in the form of a radiant in a long melisma on the penultimate apparuisti eleyson. dove, have mercy. syllable of the last word, doloris. Among the Peterhouse composers Erle Kyrie ignis divine pectora nostra succende Lord, divine fre, ignite our hearts that we stands apart as a gentleman amateur among ut digni pariter proclamare possimus might always be able to praise you worthily, Duet of low voices (tenor and bass), professionals, but this, his sole extant semper eleyson. have mercy. seting the continuation of the frst vocal work, is an accomplished, atractive, petition and bringing the frst stanza and winning piece of music, “fuent and to a close: “At the same time heal remarkably enterprising,” as Dr. Sandon / the wound of sin and error.” 16 remarks, “if rather erratic in pace and style bars, ending in a melisma on the the and sometimes a litle rough in technique.” penultimate syllable of the last word, erroris. 2 Scot Metcalfe

6 7 Gloria in excelsis deo, et in terra pax Glory to God in the highest, and on earth Ave vulnus lateris Hail, the wound in the side hominibus bone voluntatis. Laudamus peace to all of good will. We praise you. Nostri salvatoris of our savior, te. Benedicimus te. Adoramus te. We bless you. We adore you. We glorify Ex quo fuxit fuminis from which fowed a spring Glorifcamus te. Gratias agimus tibi propter you. We give thanks to you for your great Fonsque cruoris. of water and blood. magnam gloriam tuam. Domine deus, rex glory. Lord God, heavenly king, almighty Medicina miseris Be thou now a remedy celestis, deus pater omnipotens. Domine God the Father. Lord Jesus Christ, only Esto nunc doloris, for the sorrows of those who sufer; fli unigenite, Jesu Christe. Domine deus, begoten Son. Lord God, lamb of God, Son Sana simul criminis at the same time heal agnus dei, flius patris. Qui tollis peccata of the Father. Who takes away the sins of the Plagam et erroris. the wound of sin and error. mundi, miserere nobis. Qui tollis peccata world, have mercy on us. Who takes away mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Ave plaga lateris Hail, the wound in the side, Qui sedes ad dexteram patris, miserere Who sits at the right hand of the Father, Larga et fecunda. generous and fruitful. nobis. Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus have mercy on us. For you alone are holy, Lavas multitudinis Wash and make clean dominus, tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe, you alone are the Lord, the Most High, Jesus Sordes et emunda. the flth of the multitude. cum sancto spiritu in gloria dei patris. Christ, with the Holy Spirit in the glory of Ne ledat inferius Do not let a second death Amen. God the Father. Amen. Tuos mors secunda harm thy people here below, Sed in visu numinis but in the sight of the godhead Fiat mens jocunda. make the mind joyful. Credo in unum deum, patrem I believe in one God, the Father almighty, Amen. Amen. omnipotentem, factorem celi et terre, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visibilium omnium et invisibilium. Et in visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Translated by Nick Sandon. unum dominum Jesum Christum, flium Christ, the only Son of God, eternally dei unigenitum: et ex patre natum ante begoten of the Father. God from God, omnia secula. Deum de deo, lumen de Light from Light, true God from true God. lumine, deum verum de deo vero. Genitum Begoten, not made; of one being with Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Holy, Holy, Holy, non factum, consubstantialem patri: per the Father, through whom all things are dominus deus sabaoth. Lord God of hosts. quem omnia facta sunt. Et incarnatus est made. He was born of the Holy Spirit and Pleni sunt celi et terra gloria tua. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. de spiritu sancto ex Maria virgine: et homo the Virgin Mary, and was made man. He Osanna in excelsis. Hosanna in the highest. factus est. Crucifxus etiam pro nobis sub was crucifed for our sake under Pontius Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Pontio Pilato: passus et sepultus est. Et Pilate, died, and was buried. On the third Osanna in excelsis. Hosanna in the highest. resurrexit tertia die secundum scripturas. day he rose again, in accordance with the Et ascendit in celum: sedet ad dexteram Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria seated at the right hand of the Father. He judicare vivos et mortuos: cujus regni non will come again to judge both the living and Agnus dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the erit fnis. Amen. the dead, and his kingdom shall have no miserere nobis. world, have mercy on us. end. Amen. Agnus dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the miserere nobis. world, have mercy on us. Agnus dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the dona nobis pacem. world, grant us peace.

8 9 Summary Chronology of the Henrician Partbooks now at Peterhouse, Cambridge (Peterhouse Mss 31-32 & 40-41)

1500 1509 • Henry VIII becomes King of England on April 21 at age 17, and marries Catherine of Aragon, his 1540 1540 • January 6 Henry marries Anne of Cleves (arranged by Cromwell); the marriage is never brother’s widow, on June 11. consummated. • April Monastic foundation at Canterbury Cathedral dissolved. 1510 1516 • Henry and Catherine’s only surviving child Mary b. February 18. • In Oxford, Tomas Bull makes copies (most likely in loose gatherings) of masses, Magnifcats, 1517 • October 31 Martin Luther’s 95 Teses nailed to the door of the church at Witenberg Castle. and votive antiphons from Magdalen College repertory, then leaves for Canterbury, where he will add several more items to his collection and recopy the music into a set of fve partbooks. 1520 1525-6 • William Tyndale’s translation of New Testament published abroad; Old Testament follows. • Undated staf list of new foundation cathedral at Canterbury (?late summer 1540) includes 10 1527 • Henry seeks papal annulment of marriage to Catherine of Aragon; he is denied by Pope Clement VII. “queresters” (choristers), their master, and 12 “vyccars” or lay-clerks including Tomas Tallis and Tomas Bull. 1528 • Tomas Bull frst listed as lay-clerk (professional singer) at Magdalen College; he stays on lists through 1539. During his time at Magdalen Bull is ofen paid for copying music. • Cromwell charged with treason and heresy and executed July 28. Henry marries Catherine Howard the same day. 1529 • Fall of Tomas Wolsey, Henry’s Lord Chancellor (d. 1530). Tomas More becomes Lord High Chancellor. 1541 • April Canterbury refounded as a secular cathedral. 1542 • Catherine Howard beheaded for adultery 1530 1532 • More resigns as Lord Chancellor rather than support Henry’s campaign for an annulment. Tomas 1543 • Henry m. Catherine Parr Cromwell becomes chief minister. 1544 • Publication of Cranmer’s English Litany in May; fve-part polyphonic seting (presumably by Tallis) 1533 • In January, Henry weds Anne Boleyn in secret. Tomas Cranmer is consecrated Archbishop of printed in June. Canterbury on March 30 and in May he annuls marriage of Henry to Catherine of Aragon. Anne 1547 • January 28 Henry VIII dies; succeeded by Edward VI, then nine years old. Te Lord Protector Boleyn crowned queen on June 1. Her daughter Elizabeth b. September 7. Somerset is a Protestant reformer. 1534 • William Marshall publishes A Prymer in Englyshe, with certeyn prayers & godly meditations. 1549 • First Book of Common Prayer authorized by the Act of Uniformity on January 21, in use at St Paul’s • November 3 Te Act of Supremacy declares the king of England to be the supreme head of the and some London parishes by Lent, in force countrywide on Whitsun. Church of England. • Tomas More is sent to the Tower in April 1534; he refuses to take the Oath of Supremacy. He is 1552 • Second Book of Common Prayer authorized April, printed September, in force from November 1. eventually charged with treason and executed in 1535. 1550 1553 • Edward d. July 6; Mary proclaimed Queen July 19. Catholicism is restored as the ofcial religion of 1536 • May 19 Anne Boleyn executed. England. • May 30 Henry weds Jane Seymour. 1558 • November 17 Mary dies; Elizabeth succeeds to the throne. • August Te Ten Articles, the frst ofcial formulation of the doctrines of the Church of England, 1559 • Act of Uniformity is passed April and comes into force June 24, abolishing the Mass and is followed by an Act “for the abrogation of certain holydayes” which abolishes a large number of reintroducing the second Book of Common Prayer. saints’ days. • October Lincolnshire rebellion, followed by the traditionalist Pilgrimage of Grace in most of northern England (from October into early 1537). Nothing is known of the whereabouts of the partbooks afer the middle of the 16th century.

1536–40 • Dissolution of the monasteries: Henry dissolves most monastic foundations and seizes their property, destroying monastic life across Great Britain. Eleven monastic cathedrals will be dissolved 1600s 1633 • Peterhouse, Cambridge, oldest and smallest of the colleges in University of Cambridge, builds 1539-40, including the Benedictine foundation at Canterbury. its chapel; members of the college had hitherto worshipped next door at Litle St Mary’s. 1537 • Publication of Mathews’s Bible in English, rev. and reissued 1539 as the Great Bible 1635 • John Cosin, prebendary of Durham Cathedral, a theologian and bibliophile with strong High • October 12 Edward born to Henry and Jane Seymour. Jane d. October 24. Church convictions, becomes Master of Peterhouse. Bull’s partbooks may arrive at Peterhouse with Cosin, part of his collection of books relating to the history of the English church. 1538 • In September, a set of Injunctions issued by Tomas Cromwell decrees that the Creed, Ten • By 1643, all choral services at Peterhouse have ceased under Parliamentarian rule. Commandments, and Lord’s Prayer be taught in English and includes further reforms concerning pilgrimages, Purgatory, images, and the saints. • September Tomas Becket’s shrine at Canterbury is pillaged, his bones scatered and burnt by 1800s 1856 • Te Peterhouse partbooks are described and catalogued for the frst time by John Jebb. Four Cromwell. partbooks remain: the tenor is missing. • November 16 A royal Proclamation whose overall tendency is traditional and a setback for the reforming cause nevertheless declares Becket not a saint but a traitor and commands that his name be erased from the liturgy and his images destroyed. 1539 • June 10 Act of Six Articles, a “victory for traditional piety”

10 11 About the Artiss Mustering up “rock solid direcor of Convivium Musicum since 2007. He technique” and “the kind of also direcs the Meridian Singers, a vocal ensemble vocal velvet you don’t ofen based at MIT. Michael is currently an Assisant hear in contemporary music” Professor at the Berklee College of Music, where he (Boston Phoenix), soprano teaches conducing courses for undergraduates, and Jennifer Ashe has been a Lecurer in Music at Boson University, where he praised for performances that teaches seminars in Renaissance and Baroque choral are “pure bravura, riveting repertoire for graduate choral conducing sudents. the audience with a radiant and opulent voice” (Te Boston Globe). A strong Grammy Award-winning advocate of new works, she has sung with Boston bass Cameron Beauchamp Musica Viva, Sound Icon, Fromm Festival, Boston is active throughout the Microtonal Society, Harvard Group for New Music, country as a soloist, chamber New Music Brandeis, New Gallery Concert Series, musician, clinician, and Guerilla Opera, Ludovico Ensemble, and the experimental artist. Cameron Blue Heron has been acclaimed by Te Boston Founded in 1999, Blue Heron presents a concert Callithumpian Consort. Recent projects include is an original member of Globe as “one of the Boston music community’s series in Cambridge, Massachusets, and has Boulez’s Le marteau sans maitre with Boston Roomful of Teeth and indispensables” and hailed by Alex Ross in appeared at the Boston Early Music Festival; Musica Viva and Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire with the artistic director of Te New Yorker for its “expressive intensity.” in New York City at Music Before 1800, Te Ensemble Parallax. Ashe holds a DMA and an Austin-based Convergence, and he was named Commited to vivid live performance informed by Cloisters (Metropolitan Museum of Art), and MM from the New England Conservatory and a best singer in the 2013-14 Austin Critics’ Table the study of original source materials and historical the 92nd Street Y; at the Library of Congress, BM from the Hart School of Music. Formerly on Awards. Cameron has been an artist in residence performance practices, Blue Heron ranges over the National Gallery of Art, and Dumbarton the faculties of the College of the Holy Cross and at numerous universities and museums around a wide repertoire from plainchant to new music, Oaks in Washington, D.C.; at the Berkeley Early Eastern Connecticut State University, she currently the US, has been featured as a soloist with the with particular specialities in 15th-century Music Festival; at Yale University; and in San Luis teaches voice, piano, and ukulele at the Dana Hall Austin, Dallas, Seatle, New World, and Colorado Franco-Flemish and early 16th-century English Obispo, Seatle, St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, School of Music in Wellesley and preschool music Symphonies, and has recorded for Sony Classical, polyphony. Blue Heron’s frst CD, featuring music Cleveland, Milwaukee, Pitsburgh, Philadelphia, at Music Together Arlington. Harmonia Mundi, New Amsterdam Records, 4AD, by Guillaume Du Fay, was released in 2007. In and Providence. Tis season’s highlights include and PBS. An artist who pledges no allegiance to 2010 the ensemble inaugurated a 5-CD series of an October tour to England, with performances Michael Barret is a Boson- genre, Cameron has collaborated with TuNeYaRdS, Music fom the Peterhouse Partbooks, including at Peterhouse and Trinity College in Cambridge based conducor, singer, Kanye West, Holly Herndon, Sam Amidon, Te Silk many world premiere recordings of works copied and at Lambeth Palace Library, at the London multi-insrumentalis, and Road Ensemble, Justin Sherburn, Olga Bell, Tigran c. 1540 for Canterbury Cathedral; the ffh disc residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Blue teacher. He has performed Hamasyan, Maynard Ferguson, Glenn Kotche, and was released in March 2017 and was just selected Heron has been in residence at the Center for with many professional early Peter Sellars. He has performed on three Grammy as a Critic’s Choice of 2017 by Gramophone. Early Music Studies at Boston University and at music ensembles, including Award-winning albums, ten Grammy-nominated Blue Heron’s recordings also include a CD of Boston College, and has enjoyed collaborations Blue Heron, the Boson albums, and one Downbeat Award-winning album. plainchant and polyphony to accompany Tomas with A Far Cry, Dark Horse Consort, Les Délices, Camerata, the Huelgas When not making music, he passionately lives his Forrest Kelly’s book Capturing Music: Te Story Parthenia, Pifaro, and Ensemble Plus Ultra. Ensemble, Vox Luminis, life as a husband and father in Austin, Texas, where of Notation and the live recording Christmas in In 2015 the ensemble embarked on a multi- the Handel & Haydn Society, Boson Baroque, he polishes his cowboy boots and dreams of a cure Medieval England. Jessie Ann Owens (UC Davis) season project to perform the complete works of Nederlandse Bachvereniging (Netherlands Bach for type 1 diabetes. and Blue Heron won the 2015 Noah Greenberg Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1420-1497). Entitled Society), L’Académie, Seven Times Salt, Schola Award from the American Musicological Society Ockeghem@600, it will wind up around 2021, in Cantorum of Boson, and Exsultemus. He can be Pamela Dellal, mezzo-soprano, has enjoyed a to support a world premiere recording of Cipriano time to commemorate the composer’s circa-600th heard on the harmonia mundi, Blue Heron, and distinguished career as an acclaimed soloist and de Rore’s frst book of madrigals (1542), which it birthday. Coro record labels. Michael has served as music recitalist. She has performed in Symphony Hall, will complete over the next two seasons.

12 13 the Kennedy Center, Avery with the Boston Camerata, and on Emmanuel Chantants, New Vintage include Lully’s Pysché, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Fisher Hall, and the Royal Music’s Bach CDs. Baroque, Staunton Music Blow’s Venus and Adonis, and Charpentier’s Albert Hall, and premiered Festival, TENET, Trident Acteon with BEMF (CPO), Fischer’s Vespers a chamber work by John Hailed for his “voice of Ensemble, True Concord, (Toccata Classics), Awakenings with Coro Allegro Harbison in New York, seductive beauty” (Miami San Diego Bach Collegium, (Navona), and all of Blue Heron’s recordings. San Francisco, Boston, and Herald), baritone David and the Grammy- London. With Sequentia, McFerrin has won critical nominated Choir of Trinity Scot Metcalfe has gained Dellal has recorded the acclaim in a variety of Wall Street. Recent solo wide recognition as one of music of Hildegard von repertoire. His opera credits engagements include North America’s leading Bingen and toured the US, Europe, and Australia. include Santa Fe Opera, Mozart’s Die Zauberföte with Boston Baroque, specialists in music from Passionate about chamber music, early music, Seatle Opera, Florida Haydn’s L’isola disabitata with the American the ffeenth through and contemporary music, she has appeared Grand Opera, the Rossini Classical Orchestra, Monteverdi’s Vespers of seventeenth centuries and frequently with Dinosaur Annex, Boston Musica Festival in Germany, and numerous appearances 1610 with Apollo’s Fire and with Green Mountain beyond. Musical and artistic Viva, Ensemble Chaconne, Blue Heron, and in and around Boston. As concert soloist he Project, Bach’s St. Mathew Passion with Grand director of Blue Heron, the Musicians of the Old Post Road. She has has sung with the Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Rapids Symphony, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria he was music director of been a regular soloist in the Emmanuel Music Philharmonic, and Boston Pops, and in recital at with Opera Omnia and Boston Baroque, and the New York City’s Green Mountain Project (Jolle Bach Cantata series for over thirty years and has the Caramoor, Ravinia, and Marlboro Festivals. Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion with Tucson Greenleaf, artistic director) from 2010-2016 performed almost all 200 of Bach’s extant sacred Recently Mr. McFerrin was an Adams Fellow at Chamber Artists. and has been guest director of TENET (New cantatas. She has recorded for Arabesque, Artona, the Carmel Bach Festival in California, debuted York), the Handel & Haydn Society (Boston), BMG, CRI, Dorian, Meridian, and KOCH. Dellal with Boston Baroque (as Achilla in Handel’s Described by reviewers as Emmanuel Music (Boston), the Tudor Choir serves on the faculty at the Boston Conservatory Giulio Cesare) and Apollo’s Fire in Cleveland, and “the consummate artist, and Seatle Baroque, Pacifc Baroque Orchestra at Berklee and at the Longy School of Music of performed with the Handel & Haydn Society in wielding not just a sweet (Vancouver, BC), Quire Cleveland, the Dryden Bard College. Boston, New York, and California. He was also tone but also incredible Ensemble (Princeton, NJ), and Early Music runner-up in the Oratorio Society of New York’s technique and impeccable America’s Young Performers Festival Ensemble. Bass-baritone Paul 2016 Lyndon Woodside Solo Competition. Tis pronunciation” (Cleveland Metcalfe also enjoys a career as a baroque violinist, Gutry has performed season’s highlights include the world premiere Plain Dealer), with an playing with Les Délices (dir. Debra Nagy), throughout the USA of Te Nefarious, Immoral, yet Highly Proftable “alluring tenor voice” Montreal Baroque (dir. Eric Milnes), and other and internationally with Enterprise of Mr. Burke and Mr. Hare with Boston (ArtsFuse), Jason McStoots ensembles, and directing the baroque orchestra at Sequentia, Chanticleer, the Lyric Opera, a debut with the Arion Baroque is a respected interpreter of early music whose Oberlin Conservatory. He taught vocal ensemble Boston Camerata, and New Orchestra in Montreal, solo appearances with the recent solo appearances include Les plaisirs de repertoire and performance practice at Boston York’s Ensemble for Early Handel & Haydn Society, and various programs Versailles by Charpentier, Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse University from 2006-2015, taught a class in vocal Music. A founding member with Blue Heron. in patria, and the Vespers of 1610 by Monteverdi, ensemble performance at Harvard University this of Blue Heron, he has also Te Abduction fom the Seraglio by Mozart, Bach’s fall, and is at work on a new edition of the songs appeared in and around Boston as soloist with Acclaimed as a “lovely, tender high tenor” by Te Christmas Oratorio and St. Mark Passion, Purcell’s of Gilles Binchois. He holds degrees from Brown Emmanuel Music, the Handel & Haydn Society, New York Times, Owen McIntosh enjoys a diverse Dido and Aeneas, and Handel’s Messiah. He has University and Harvard University. the Boston Early Music Festival, the Tanglewood career of chamber music and solo performance performed with Boston Lyric Opera, Emmanuel Music Center, Cantata Singers, Boston Cecilia, ranging from bluegrass to reggae, heavy metal to Music, Pacifc MusicWorks, TENET, San Juan Martin Near has been acclaimed for the “sweet Prism Opera, Boston Revels, Collage, the Boston art song, and opera to oratorio. A native of remote Symphony, Bach Ensemble, Casals Festival, limpidity” (Te New York Times) of his singing, Modern Orchestra Project, and Intermezzo. Paul Northern California, Mr. McIntosh has shared Seatle Early Music Guild, Tragicomedia, and with a “cool, beaming countertenor” commended can be heard on all Blue Heron’s recordings, the stage with the country’s fnest ensembles, Tanglewood Music Center. He was proud to for its “crystal clear…beautiful, blooming on discs of medieval music by Sequentia, Kurt including Apollo’s Fire, Blue Heron, Boston appear on BEMF’s Grammy-winning 2015 top notes” (New York Classical Review). He Weill’s Johnny Johnson and French airs de cour Baroque, Carmel Bach Festival, Les Canards Charpentier recording; other recording credits enjoys a varied career exploring twin passions

14 15 for early music and new music. Highlights of among others. Mr. Sprinkle was a member of the Choral Artists, and the Handel & Haydn (Austin), Santa Fe Desert Choral, the Grammy- recent solo performances include a concert Cambridge Bach Ensemble and a fellow of the Society. She has appeared nominated Crossing Choir (Philadelphia), version of Machaut’s Remede de Fortune, created Briten-Pears School and has recorded for Dorian, in many festivals world- Spire Ensemble (Kansas City), Publick Musick as a collaboration between Blue Heron and Koch, Harmonia Mundi, Decca, Arabesque, and wide, including the London (Rochester), and Boston’s Blue Heron and Cleveland’s Les Délices (Debra Nagy, director), Telarc. Handel Festival, Aldeburgh Emmanuel Music. She can be heard on Blue and Richard Rodney Festival, Connecticut Early Heron’s 5-CD set of Music fom the Peterhouse Bennet’s Ophelia (1987) Recent solo highlights for Music Festival, Amherst Partbooks, Conspirare’s Grammy-award winning with Boston’s Odyssey soprano Sonja DuToit Early Music Festival, BBC Sacred Spirit of Russia, Craig Hella Johnson’s Opera, under the artistic Tengblad include Mahler’s Proms, and the Fondazione Considering Mathew Shepard, and Gavin Bryars’s direction of Gil Rose. 2nd Symphony with the Giorgio Cini in Venice, The Fifh Century with Te Crossing Choir. Mr. Near maintains a Boston Philharmonic, Italy. Recent highlights include performances parallel career in the pipe Barber’s Knoxville: Summer with Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Sammamish organ industry, providing of 1915 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, services in organ pipe Landmarks Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra Miami, St. Cecilia reconditioning and repair, voicing, tonal Vivaldi’s Juditha triumphans Festival, Seraphic Fire, Brookings Harbor Friends fnishing, and tuning for Spencer Organ Company (Abra and Ozias), Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse Series, Vancouver Early Music Festival, Ensemble of Waltham, and he has also been known to in patria (La Fortuna and Giunone; Grammy- Viii, and the Pacifc Musicworks production compose, arrange, and engrave using Finale. nominated recording with Linn Records) and of Dido and Aeneas. Tis season she can be Mozart’s Die Zauberföte (First Lady) with heard performing with Pacifc MusicWorks Tenor Mark Sprinkle’s Boston Baroque; Bach’s St. John Passion with the Underground, the Early Music Guild of Seatle, singing has been described Handel & Haydn Society, Knussen’s Symphony Seraphic Fire, Ensemble Viii, and the Emerald as “expressive,” “very No. 2 with the Boston Modern Orchestra Ensemble, among others. rewarding,” “outstanding,” Project, and her Carnegie Hall and Lincoln “vivid,” and “supremely Center debuts with the New York City Chamber Shari Alise Wilson specializes in early and stylish.” He has collaborated Orchestra. In 2014 she was awarded second place modern music. Recent highlights include with the Boston Early in the American Prize Competition’s art song performances with Te Music Festival, the and oratorio division. A champion of modern Crossing Choir at Lincoln Boston Camerata, the music, Ms. Tengblad curated the award-winning Center’s Mostly Mozart Mark Morris Dance Group, Emmanuel Music, touring program Modern Dickinson (www. Festival, David Lang’s Boston Baroque, the Handel & Haydn Society, moderndickinson.com), launched the recital Litle Match Girl Passion and many others, performed at festivals in project BeatSong for soprano and percussion, with Sydney Skybeter & Bergen (Norway), Vancouver, Edinburgh, and and premiered Shirish Korde’s Questions for the Associates and Ear Heart Aldeburgh (UK), and worked as a soloist and Moon with members of the Silk Road Project. She Music, Bach’s St. Mathew ensemble singer under Seiji Ozawa, Christopher sings with the Grammy-winning ensemble Passion with Conspirare at Hogwood, William Christie, Roger Norrington, Conspirare and the Lorelei Ensemble. the Victoria Bach Festival, Buxtehude’s Membra John Nelson, Andrew Parrot, Grant Llewellyn, Jesu nostri with Pegasus Early Music and New and Craig Smith. He has appeared as a soloist with Soprano Brenna Wells is known for her varied York Baroque, a world premiere performance and Concerto Palatino and has sung the Evangelist in operatic and concert performances and has sung recording of music by Gavin Bryars with Crossing Bach Passions with the Handel & Haydn Society, and recorded with such ensembles as the Boston Choir and Prism Quartet, and a world premiere the Boulder Bach Festival, the Oriana Singers Early Music Festival, Blue Heron, Briten-Pears performance of John Luther Adams’s Sila at of Vermont, Seraphim Singers, Boston’s Chorus Baroque Orchestra, Boston Baroque, Opera the Lincoln Center. Ms. Wilson performs with Pro Musica, and the Andover Choral Society, Boston, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Yale Conspirare (Austin), Texas Early Music Project

16 17 BLUE HERON CDS on sale at this concert

Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks Guillaume Du Fay Chrismas in Medieval England vol. 1 vol. 2

“one of the discoveries of the year”

2 Fabrice Fitch, Gramophone november 2017

Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks vol. 3 vol. 4 vol. 5

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