Senior Recital Christ Chapel, Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, MN 21 April 2013 | 7:30 PM Michael Asmus, Organ and Conductor with LE GRANDE BANDE & CHORUS Programme Organ Sonata No. 2, Op. 151 (1917) CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD (1852-1924) I. Rheims: Allegro moderato Rubrics (1988) DAN LOCKLAIR (b. 1945) IV. The peace may be exchanged Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem, Op. 123 (1910) C. V. STANFORD O Mensch, bewein' dein Sünde groß, BWV 622 (1713-5) JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) INTERVAL Organ Concerto Op. 4, No. 4, HWV 292 (1733) GEORGE FREDRIC HÄNDEL (1685-1759) I. Allegro Sinfonia in d minor, W I/3 (1768) JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH BACH (1732-1795) I. Allegro II. Andante amoroso III. Allegro assai The King Shall Rejoice, HWV 260 (1727) G. F. HÄNDEL I. The King shall rejoice II. Exceeding glad shall he be III. Glory and great worship IV. Thou hast prevented him V. Alleluia DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC | 1 Programme Notes or George Fredric Händel, the year 1727 Music suite for the King‟s trip on the River F began like many of the previous years: with Thames in July 1717. It is likely that Händel‟s Italian opera. Händel had almost singlehandedly connection with the Hanoverian court, and introduced the genre of Italian opera to England subsequently the English court, provided him with his first arrival in London during the winter with the opportunity to compose the four of 1710. (He began his permanent residency of Coronation Anthems for the 1727 Coronation of England by mid-October 1712.) Indeed, much of George II. his compositional output through the late 1710s and the entire 1720s would prove to be THE ENGLISH CORONATION numerous operas for either the Queen‟s (later Coronations as a whole are steeped in age-old King‟s) Theatre or the Royal Academy of Music, tradition—their forms having been shaped and an Italian opera company which was established moulded throughout the centuries with each by Letters Patent in late July 1719. Händel ceremony taking on its own unique shape and would have some success in Italian opera until its form, depending on the needs of each King or eventual decline in popularity and afterwards in Queen. And in this respect, the English the oratorio genre with such works as Messiah Coronation ceremony is no different. and Esther. The earliest written form of Though not every one In Short: the English coronation is in a set of manuscripts dating back of his operas was a major Born: 23 February 1685, Halle, Germany success, Händel‟s name to ca. 900 A.D. The major Died: 14 April 1759, London, England undoubtedly became well- structures of the coronations known throughout Eng- Work composed: The King shall rejoice are quite straight forward: 1. along with the remaining three land and the rest of Biblical readings and a full Mass Coronation Anthems Zadok the priest, My connecting the reign of the Europe. His connection heart is inditing, and Let thy hand be with the English Court King to the approval of God; 2. strengthened between September 1727 to The King swears a three part likely helped him gain October 1727. some popularity in the oath—the tria praecepta—to his World premiere: 22 October 1727 in people; 3. The king is invested ranks of English nobility. Westminster Abbey during the with the regalia of the previous Händel had been Coronation of King George II. Kings; and 4. The anointing of employed as Kapellmeis- Text: Psalm 21: 1-2, 5 ter by George, Elector of the King‟s head and heart with Instrumentation: 2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, Hanover (the future holy oil following the tradition 3 Trumpets, Timpani, SAATBB Chorus, established by Salomon and George I), from 16 June Strings, Continuo 1710 to June 1713 and Zadok the priest in I Kings also composed intermit- 1:39. By 1727 only one aspect tently for Queen Anne from February 1713 until of the original ceremonial had become irrelevant: her death in August 1714. During the reign of the King‟s swearing of the tria praecepta. George I, Händel composed his famous Water 2 | GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE Of the remaining aspects listed above, each of Parliament. Through this act, the one has its own reason for inclusion, though it is commissioning of Händel to write the four too lengthy to discuss here. Furthermore, the Anthems was not as taboo as it might have been 1727 Coronation ceremony includes several months earlier. parts which were used only in more recent The commissioning of Händel to write these Coronations—these parts are not even Anthems is not surprising: not only because mentioned in the Eighth Century manuscript Greene had hardly been in office for a few weeks discussed above. Nevertheless, the purpose of before the official order of service was printed in the Coronation service remained the same in mid-September, but also because of Händel‟s 1727 as it did 850 years prior: the anointing with almost twenty year connection with the holy oil and installation of the monarch by the Hanoverians. Whatever the reason, the Church. commission proved to be yet another stamp of approval for Händel‟s compositional talents by A REGAL OCCASION the Crown and the public. After the sudden death of King George I, A printed order of the Coronation was preparations for the Coronation of King George delivered to Händel on 20 September, 1727. By II started somewhat haphazardly in August, two this time, Händel surely had already begun months after the former King‟s death. composing the four Anthems. (The original date Traditionally, the chosen for the Coronation, 4 October, had to be music for the moved to 22 October because of a forecast threat Coronation was of flooding.) The late arrival of the printed to be provided by service, combined with Händel‟s early start, the Organist and likely explains the vast difference between Composer of the Händel‟s and the „approved‟ text. For The King Chapel Royal; shall rejoice, in particular, the major differences and after the appear to be in the chosen translation and the death of his suc- complete deletion of the sixth verse of Psalm 21 cessor, Maurice from Händel‟s version. Greene was ap- With the Anthems completed, and the Balthasar Denner, George Fredrich pointed to the Coronation date approaching, Parker’s Penny Post Handel, oil on canvas, ca. 1726-1728, position on 4 printed a notice on 4 October 1727 about a 74.9 cm. x 62.6 cm., National September 1727. Portrait Gallery, London, UK. rehearsal that was to take place on 6 October Händel had (there was an additional rehearsal, but the date previously been appointed on 25 February 1723 for this is not known): as “Composer of Musick for his Majesty‟s Mr Hendle [sic.] has composed the Musick for the Chappel Royal,” a post which was mostly Abbey at the Coronation, and the Italian Voices, nominal (as a non-citizen was not able to hold an with above a Hundred of the best Musicians will official post). Händel‟s non-citizen status was perform; and the Whole is allowed by those Judges erased on 20 February 1727 when he became a in Musick who have already heard it, to exceed any “naturalized Englishman” by the customary Act Thing heretofore of the same Kind; It will be DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC | 3 rehearsed this Week, but the Time will be kept result. Even Händel himself is said to have private, lest the Crowd of People should be an “lamented his not having that part of the Altar Obstruction to the Performers. taken away, as He, and all the Musicians Westminster Abbey was transformed for the concerned, experienced the bad effect it had by occasion, with two specially built platforms that obstruction.” erected for the musicians along with an organ that was specifically built for the Coronation. In A CENTURIES-LONG LEGACY all, the ceremony proved to be a grand spectacle, Even though the premiere performance of the at least on paper. Anthems may not have gone as planned, the four In June 1727, five of the ten boys from the pieces have retained Chapel Royal were excused from their posts. a lasting legacy in Their voices broke and they were no longer able England. Zadok the to sing as trebles. This event likely caused quite a priest (HWV 258) dilemma as the Coronation approached. On the became the most autograph score of The King shall rejoice Händel popular of the four indicates the number of singers which was Anthems just a few preferred for each voice part—12 trebles, 7 first years after its initial and 7 second altos, 7 tenors, 7 first and 7 second performance. In basses. These numbers likely represented the fact, every sub- expected size of the combined forces of both the sequent coronation Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey choirs. has included Zadok Thankfully, the boys who left the Chapel Royal the priest and it has “arranged for deputies to take their places with even been used for the [Westminster Abbey] choir.” The “Italian some royal occa- Voices” which are mentioned in the Parker Penny sions outside of the Studio of Charles Jervas, King Coronation. Wil- George II, oil on canvas, ca. 1727, Post notice were members of the Royal Academy 219.7 cm. x 128.3 cm., National of Music, the Italian opera company for which liam Boyce (1711- Portrait Gallery, London, UK. Händel was a composer-in-residence. The 1779), who com- addition of these singers likely helped to bolster posed the Coronation music for George III in the withering forces, though it is doubtful that 1761 did not even attempt to outdo Händel‟s the Italian sopranos were used to help support Zadok and he even remarked, “the First Grand the trebles.