PROGRAM
Gregorian chant: Requiem aeternam
“Grant them eternal rest, O Lord”
Music from the funeral service in the Roman Catholic tradition. Dating from some time in the 9th or 10th centuries, Gregorian chant is among the first Western music to be written down. This music has been sung at countless funeral services and memorials for more than a thousand years.
Guillaume DuFay (1397-1474): Ave regina coelorum
Amanda Sidebottom, soprano; Tucker Bilodeau & Cody Arthur, tenors; Jason Awbrey, bass
“Queen of heaven, take pity on your dying DuFay, that he not be cast into the fire”
French early Renaissance composer Guillaume DuFay adapted the traditional Marian antiphon text “Hail, Queen of Heaven, inserting his own name and calling on the Virgin Mary to pray for him. He asked that the piece be sung over his body as he dies.
Josquin des Prez (1450-1521): Nymphes des bois
Michael Skarke, countertenor; Tucker Bilodeau & Cody Arthur, tenors;
Jason Awbrey, baritone; Warren Puffer Jones, bass
“Wood-nymphs and fountain-goddesses, composers of all nations, change your sweet songs to cries of lamentation.”
Generally considered the greatest musician of his generation and a leading composer of the Renaissance as a whole, Josquin des Prez wrote this moving lament after the death of Johannes Ockeghem, who had been Josquin’s teacher.
Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672): Musikalische Exequien
The “Musical Funeral Rites” were composed by Schütz for the funeral of Count Henry II of Reuss-Gera. Count Henry himself chose the various texts—from scripture and from his favorite hymns—and had them engraved on the outside of his coffin. The work is in three large sections: the first, and by far the longest, section alternates between the full choir and various groups of soloists; the second section is a motet for double choir, with music being passed back and forth from side to side. The third section features the main choir alternating with a distant group of three voices who represent angels and the blessed spirit.
Part I.
”Naked I came from my mother’s womb” (Job 1:21)
Tucker Bilodeau, Jason Awbrey, Rob Glaubitz
”Lord God, Father in Heaven” (Kyrie)
full choir
”Christ is my life” (Philippians 1:21)
Rachel Barnard, Kelly Holst
”Jesus Christ, God’s Son” (Christe)
full choir
”When we live, we live to the Lord” (Romans 14:8)
Courtney Crouse, Rob Glaubitz
”Lord God, Holy Spirit” (Kyrie)
full choir
”God So Loved the World” (John 3:16)
Tucker Bilodeau, Danielle Szabo, Stephanie Easley, Courtney Crouse, Jason Awbrey, Peter Keates
”He said to his beloved Son” (Martin Luther)
full choir
”The blood of Christ” (1 John 1:7)
Lenora Green, Cody Arthur
”Through Him our sins are forgiven” (Ludwig Hembold)
full choir
”Our path is toward heaven” (Philippians 3:20-21)
Amanda Sidebottom, Jason Awbrey
”Everywhere here is a vale of tears” (Johann Leon)
full choir
”If your sins are red as blood” (Isaiah 1:18)
Cody Arthur, Tucker Bilodeau
”His word, his baptism, his eucharist” (Ludwig Hembold)
full choir
”Go away, my people” (Isaiah 26:20)
Michael Skarke
”The souls of the righteous are in God’s hand” (Wisdom 3:1-3)
Kelly Holst, Amanda Sidebottom, Jason Awbrey
”Lord, if I only have you” (Psalm 73:25-26)
Cody Arthur, Michael Skarke, Jason Awbrey, Rob Glaubitz
”He is the salvation and blessed light” (Martin Luther)
full choir
”We live for seventy years” (Psalm 90:10)
Rob Glaubitz, Warren Puffer Jones
”Oh, how miserable is our time here on earth” (Johannes Gigas)
full choir
”I know that my redeemer lives” (Job 19:25)
Cody Arthur
”Because you were raised from the dead” (Nikolaus Hermann)
full choir
”Lord, I will not let you go” (Genesis 32:26)
Danielle Szabo, Stephanie Easley, Courtney Crouse, Tucker Bilodeau, Jason Awbrey, Peter Keates
”He said to me: hold on to me” (Martin Luther)
full choir
Part II.
”Lord, if I only have you” (Psalm 73:25-26)
double choir motet
Part III.
”Lord, now let your servant depart in peace” (Luke 2:29-32; Revelation 14:13; Wisdom 3:1)
full choir with distant chorus of angels and the blessed spirit
John Tavener (1944-2013): Song for Athene
“May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
British composer John Tavener composed “Song for Athene” as a tribute to a friend named Athene Hariades, who had been killed in a bicycle accident. The young women had been a lover of acting, particularly Shakespeare, and a member of the Orthodox church. Tavener draws on texts from Hamlet and the Orthodox funeral service to create this powerful work of music.
Rebecca Dale (b. 1985): In paradisum—If I should go
“…so sing as well.”
British composer Rebecca Dale wrote the Materna Requiem in memory of her mother, who died of breast cancer in 2010. The final movement, “If I should go,” is a setting of a poem by Joyce Grenfell that addresses loss and grief, but ultimately provides comfort.