Lewisham Choral Society

Cherubini: Requiem in C minor

Rossini 3 Motets: Salve Regina, Ave Maria and O salutaris hostia Mendelssohn Capriccio brillante for piano & orchestra Mozart 12 solo piano variations on “Ah ! Vous dirai-je, maman”

Nico de Villiers – Piano Forest Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Dan Ludford-Thomas

Great Hall, Goldsmiths Saturday, 14 November 2015

Gioachino Rossini Three Motets: Salve Regina Ave Maria O salutaris hostia

Felix Mendelssohn Capriccio brillante in B minor for piano & orchestra, Op 22 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 12 variations on “Ah ! Vous dirai-je, maman” for piano solo, K265

Interval Luigi Cherubini Requiem in C minor

GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792-1868) Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born in Pesaro on

Italy's Adriatic coast on 29 February 1792. When Austrian troops crossed into Italy in 1799, his father was imprisoned and his mother Anna moved with her young son to Bologna to lodge with a pork butcher (Rossini Senior was an inspector of slaughterhouses by profession). Anna pursued a singing career in local theatres while her son started musical studies on the harpsichord, going on to also study the piano, singing and later the cello and composition. At the age of 12 he composed in only three days a highly accomplished set of six string sonatas which reflect the music of his heroes Haydn and Mozart but also look forward in their melodies to his future as an opera composer.

Rossini photographed by Félix Nadar in 1858. It is for that role that Rossini is today principally known: by the time he retired from opera at only 37, he had produced 39 such works and his tunes were whistled in the street, such was their popularity. His most famous example is an operatic setting of Beaumarchais' play The Barber of Seville, written in just two or three weeks in 1816. Buoyed up by its success and that of his equally popular setting of the story of Cinderella, La Cenerentola, Rossini began touring the musical capitals of Europe, Vienna, London and Paris, where he took up an appointment as musical director of the Théâtre-Italien. However,

after his mother’s death, Rossini returned to Italy in 1829 where, having finished entirely with operas, he wrote a choral and orchestral setting of the Stabat Mater. But little else followed. The Stabat Mater was to be his last major work until his very

final years. He eventually returned to Paris in 1855 to settle there with his second wife, Olympe Pélissier, artists' model, one-time lover of the French writer Honoré de Balzac (who described her as “the most beautiful courtesan in Paris”) and holder of a renowned Paris salon during the restoration of the French monarchy in the early

1800s. Rossini was certainly well-off by now – he had been granted a lifetime annuity by Charles X, although after the latter's overthrow the composer faced a long battle to keep it. The couple lived in an apartment in the city centre, with a villa in the village of Passy to which they moved in the summer when the upheaval caused by the restyling of the capital by Baron Haussmann got too much for them. Once safely installed, Rossini could settle down to enjoy his retirement to the full. He and Olympe played hosts to the great and the good of the artistic world, including Wagner, Liszt, Gounod, Saint-Saëns, Verdi and Meyerbeer, and held weekly soirées in their apartment or at Passy. But Rossini could not entirely turn his back on composition, which after all had made him the illustrious, renowned and wealthy celebrity that he was in the artistic world and far beyond. But he seemingly had neither the energy nor the inclination to produce large-scale works anymore.

He contented himself instead with miniatures written for a variety of chamber ensembles, for voice and for piano solo and intended for private performance. They may have been small in scale but not in quantity: Rossini produced 150 salon pieces in fourteen volumes under the overall title of Péchés de Vieillesse or Sins of Old Age. They may have been whimsical in content and by title (including such pieces as Prélude inoffensif (Inoffensive prelude), Mon prélude hygiènique du matin (My morning constitutional prelude) and Une caresse à ma femme (A caress for my wife)). But they showed the maestro's ease of composition and boundless gift for melody. Two of the motets we sing tonight came from these volumes. The site of Rossini's town apartment in Paris © Martin Bull Three motets: Salve Regina, Ave Maria and O salutaris hostia The Salve Regina appears in the Péchés de Vieillesse collection, as number 9 of

Volume 11. It exists in two slightly different versions: the first bears the dedication “To my most beloved friend Abbot Gordini. Gioachino Rossini, Florence 20 March 1850”. This version begins with the words “Salve o Vergine Maria” (Hail, o Virgin Mary) and it is this which we shall be singing tonight. The second, later, version, although practically identical to the first, begins with the words “Salve amabilis Maria” and bears the title Mottetto dedicato a Maria Santissima Annunziata “Salve amabilis Maria” per quartetto soprano, contralto, tenore e basso (Motet dedicated to the Most Holy Mary of the Annunciation “Hail, o amiable Mary” for soprano, alto, tenor and bass quartet). And just to make things more complicated, there also exists a counterfeit version of the motet entitled Hymne à la Musique (Hymn to Music) which begins “Chantons! Toi par qui règne le Génie” (Let us sing! You through whom Genius reigns). But the confusion doesn't end there: the notebooks of the Rossini Foundation give this piece the title Ave Maria, a title which even appears on some recordings and on the score which our conductor had found for us to sing tonight. Some judicious digging which I undertook among various tomes about Rossini revealed however that this assignation is entirely spurious; the version we shall sing should for certain bear the title Salve Regina! It is as number 4 in Volume 3 of the Péchés de Vieillesse collection that the real Ave Maria appears as a four-part setting (for soprano, alto, tenor and bass) with organ accompaniment. The volume itself bore the title Morceaux réservés (Reserved Pieces) and it seems that the Ave Maria was indeed reserved for a special purpose. Rossini had written it in 1852 and later presented it to the consort of the French Emperor Napoleon III, the Empress Eugénie, partly as an attempt to obtain the restoration of a pension for Rossini's dear friend, the composer Michele Carafa, who had studied under Cherubini at the Paris Conservatoire and had ended his career there as a professor in 1858. Richard Osborne in his book on Rossini wittily describes Rossini's dedication of the piece as “a case of God joining hands with Mammon”! It was the 13

th century philosopher and theologian St Thomas Aquinas who penned the

words of O salutaris hostia as part of a Eucharistic hymn for the feast of Corpus Christi.

Many composers were to set these words to music through the ages (Cherubini did so twelve times!). Rossini's setting formed an unaccompanied four-part motet (so again for soprano, alto, tenor and bass) and bore the following inscription: “A little souvenir offered to my friend J. d'Ortigue. Gioachino Rossini, Paris 29 November 1857”. Joseph d'Ortigue, an author and music critic, was co-founder of the new religious music journal La Maîtrise, in which a facsimile of the score of O salutaris hostia was printed a month after the dedication was written. It was the Swiss composer Louis Niedermeyer, a leader in the movement to revive religious music in the nineteenth century, who had asked his friend Rossini to compose an O salutaris to print in La Maîtrise, of which he was the other co-founder. The aim was to offer to readers stylistic examples of church music, both ancient and modern. The motet also became a model for Rossini's later work for soprano and piano Arietta all'antica, which appeared in the Péchés de Vieillesse. Salve o Vergine Maria, Salve o Madre in ciel Regina; Sulla terra il guardo inchina, de' tuoi figli abbi pietà.

Tu di sol tutta vestita, tu di stelle incoronata, tu speranza, tu avocata de tuo popolo fedel.

Salve o Vergine Maria, salve o Madre in ciel regina; Sulla terra il guardo inchina, de' tuoi figli abbi pietà. Salve, salve!

Hail to Thee O Virgin Mary, Hail O Mother Queen of Heaven; Look down to us on Earth, take pity on Thy Son.

Thou who art robed by the sun, crowned with stars, Thou art our hope, the advocate of Thy faithful people.

Hail to Thee O Virgin Mary, hail O Mother Queen of Heaven; Look down on us on Earth, take pity on Thy Son. Hail to Thee, hail!

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus. Et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

O salutaris hostia, quae caeli pandis ostium, bella premunt hostilia: da robur, fer auxilium.

O redeeming victim, who opens the door to heaven, our foes close in: give us strength, bring us aid.

Translation of Salve Regina & O salutaris hostia © Martin Bull 2015

FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was born in

the then independent city-state of Hamburg on 3 February 1809, the second of the four children of the banker Abraham Mendelssohn and the linguist, musician and artist Lea Salomon. With the steady advance of Napoleon across Europe, Hamburg soon fell under French domination and with Felix aged only two, the Mendelssohns all moved to Berlin, where this highly intelligent and successful family would flourish. By the age of nine Felix was already performing on the piano in public, an instrument his mother had started to teach him to play only three years before.

Mendelssohn aged 29 With his sister Fanny, another precocious musician, he by J W Childe studied counterpoint and composition from the age of 10, under the composer Carl Friedrich Zelter, a friend of the famous poet and playwright Goethe, who was soon himself to meet and be deeply impressed by the young musician. One year later Felix began to compose a string of works including five concertos, four operas and thirteen string symphonies, completing them and much more over a period of only five years. A piano quartet was published when Felix was only 13 and his remarkable Octet followed three years later. Mendelssohn was not only gifted in music: he translated Latin literature and wrote poetry; he was an accomplished amateur artist, a linguist like his mother and an excellent athlete; and his interest in philosophy (his grandfather Moses having been a renowned philosopher) led him to attend lectures by the leading philosopher Hegel. Relatives and teachers had introduced their pupil to Baroque music and in particular the works of Bach, at the time a little performed and virtually forgotten composer. By the age of 20, Mendelssohn had taken up the challenge of reintroducing the world to the master's works by conducting the first performance of the St Matthew Passion

since its author's death over eighty years before. In the same year, Felix came to Britain for the first of a total of ten visits during his short lifetime, travelling now as far as the Scottish Highlands where the scenery was to inspire to write his Hebrides Overture (Fingal's Cave) and his Scottish Symphony. Although he called London the “most

complicated and grandiose monstrosity in the whole world” he clearly felt drawn to the city, for he added: “that smoky nest is fated to be forever my favourite city; my heart swells when I think of it”.

Capriccio brillante in B minor for piano and orchestra, Opus 22

1. Andante 2. Allegro con fuoco

Mendelssohn was back on these shores for a second time, in 1832, armed not only with his new Hebrides Overture but also with a new piece for piano and orchestra, the Capriccio brillante. He wasn't however in the best of health: before crossing the Channel he had visited Paris, where not only did he meet Liszt and Chopin in person for the first time but also encountered a cholera epidemic. Luckily he only contracted a mild case of the disease, requiring treatment with a daily vinegar backrub! His friend the diplomat, writer and poet Karl Klingemann had arranged for his friend to stay at the

same London lodgings he had used on his first trip to London, at 103 Great Portland Street. His landlord, a German locksmith named Heincke had six years earlier had a rather less fortunate encounter with a famous composer, just a few doors away from his home. He had been called out to unlock the door of 91 Great Portland Street, where in the second floor bedroom he found the lifeless body of Carl Maria von Weber. Despite being gravely ill with tuberculosis, Weber had come to London to conduct his opera Oberon at the Royal Opera House. The London smog ensured, however, that he

would never make it home. As for Mendelssohn, he managed to regain full health by eating midnight feasts after his concerts of mutton chops and bread and butter pudding, prepared and left for him by his landlady. He was here to perform as a piano soloist for the Philharmonic Society, an august institution founded in 1813 of which ironically Weber had been made the first Honorary Member in 1826 and which had commissioned an overture and a symphony from Cherubini some nineteen years before Mendelssohn's visit. As a result of this visit, Felix was to become the Society's first elected Honorary Member. The Society still exists to this day under the title of the Royal Philharmonic Society. On this second trip, Felix presented the British première of his first piano concerto and the first performance of his Opus 22, the Capriccio brilliant in B minor for piano and

orchestra. Mendelssohn had produced an earlier work, his Rondo capriccioso, Op14, for solo piano as a showpiece for the young piano prodigy Delphine von Schauroth, by adding together a disguised mixture of an earlier Etude with an introduction, a mixture which he disparagingly called “sauce and mushrooms”. With its slow opening and brilliant conclusion, the Rondo nevertheless was to serve as a model for the later Capriccio, mixed with the strong influence of Weber's Konzertstück (Concert Piece) for piano & orchestra. The Capriccio had initially appeared as a two-part solo piano work, an Andante followed by an Allegro, again to be played by Delphine von Schauroth, who by now was being romantically linked through rumour with the young composer. That relationship, if it ever existed, came to nothing but the Capriccio brillante lived on in its orchestrated format, written in Munich in September 1831. At the end of the concert, the delighted Philharmonic Society presented Mendelssohn, “in admiration of his talents as a composer and their admiration of him as a man”, with a silver 'standish with full garniture', that is an inkstand with accessories, engraved with an especially composed inscription by the English musician William Dance, also the Society's treasurer. The sparkling vivacity of the Capriccio brillante

obviously left a lasting impression on its first audience in July 1832, an experience which will doubtless be repeated tonight! 103 Great Portland St © Martin Bull

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) On 27 January 1756, the 35-year old Anna Maria, wife of the composer and music teacher Leopold Mozart, gave birth to their seventh child at their home in Salzburg, Austria. Five of their children had not survived infancy and Anna Maria herself nearly died giving birth to this their second but sole surviving son. The next day the child was baptised in St Rupert's Cathedral as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, later known to the world as Wolfgang

Amadeus Mozart. It was not long before Wolfgang began to show signs of his musical

genius, faultlessly playing keyboard pieces from the age of four and composing small pieces from the age of five. He surprised his father with his prowess and Leopold soon realised that his own work as a composer had been far outshone by his son's output. Father and son, joined by Wolfgang's sister Nannerl (also a child prodigy), then began a series of tours to display their musical expertise to European aristocracy and royalty. In his late teens Wolfgang followed his father's example by taking up employment as a court musician to his home town's Prince-Archbishop, although his concert tours continued and Mozart epitomised the prophet honoured everywhere except in his own land.

12 variations on “Ah ! Vous dirai-je, maman” for piano solo, K265 Originally supposed to have been penned during Mozart's stay in Paris in 1778, these variations are now thought to date from 1781 or 1782, when the composer had returned to Austria. He fell out with his employer and began a new life in Austria, where he would settle down and start a family with his newly-married wife Constanze. The original melody of this work's theme is thought to be an anonymous French pastoral song dating from 1740 and first published 21 years later. Then, in 1774 came the earliest known publication of the tune with lyrics. These were those of an anonymous love poem, La Confidence, turned into a rather strange parody which became the nursery rhyme Ah! Vous dirai-je, maman (Oh, shall I tell you, Mama). In 1806 the melody appeared on this side of the Channel as accompaniment to a poem by Jane Taylor entitled The Star, better known by its first line Twinkle, twinkle, little star. It has also found its way into Christmas, folk and children's music in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Turkey and the USA. Mozart took the melody as his theme and added 12 variations, thereby creating a substantial piece from the simplest of sources while ensuring that the basic tune was recognizable throughout. The work was published in 1785.

Interval

LUIGI CHERUBINI (1760-1842) Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini was born in Florence in September

1760, the tenth of twelve children. He started to learn music at age of six under his father Bartolomeo, who directed a local ensemble from the harpsichord. Luigi had already composed several religious works by the age of 13 and continued his studies in Bologna and Milan. He then turned to the composition of operas but in doing so he soon felt that convention and tradition were tying him down and he needed to experiment. In 1785 he travelled first to London and then to Paris, where he was presented to Marie Antoinette and took part in a concert Portrait of Cherubini by Ingres organised by her at Versailles. France obviously appealed to him, as he was to spend the rest of his life there. Under continued royal patronage, his appointment in 1789 as Director of a leading Parisian opera house gave him the opportunity he was seeking to choose his opera libretti and develop an original musical style to set them to. He succeeded spectacularly with his opera Lodoïska which avoided the starchy formality

of operas by earlier composers and turned instead to more realistic scenes. Feeling financially secure, in 1794 he married Anne Cécile Tourette, whose father had been a countertenor in Louis XVI's Chapel Royal; the couple had three children. In 1797 Cherubini wrote what became, long after his death, his best known work, the opera Medea. Maria Callas was memorably to revive its very taxing title role in the composer's birthplace in 1953. But socially and politically these were troubled times and Cherubini had to tread a delicate path, disguising his initial allegiance to the monarchy. On one occasion he only escaped a lynching by the revolutionary mob by reluctantly heading their parade through Paris while playing the violin! Napoleon wasn't altogether fond of him and his complex yet austere style, calling his music “noisy and complicated”. Cherubini retorted that the Emperor was only really interested in lighter music which he could comfortably listen to while pondering on affairs of state and planning his next military campaign. Musical fashion was changing and a mixture of Italian grand opera and the music of younger composers, such as Cherubini's own pupil Boieldieu, was coming into favour. The bloodthirsty plot of Cherubini's masterpiece Medea, rather than entertaining his

public, reminded them too much of what was happening in real life on the streets of Paris. The composer became depressed and turned his back on music, choosing instead to fill his time by studying botany and by painting, for which he sought the guidance of his friend, the great artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Ingres in turn took up music, becoming a proficient amateur violinist. Indeed the French expression “Violon d'Ingres” (Ingres' violin) has come to mean “hobby” in French! Despite his depression, Cherubini remained an extremely organized person: he numbered his handkerchiefs and used them in strict order! Slowly he began to recover and take up his pen again to write music: not opera now but his first love, church music. The political situation also changed in the composer's favour: Napoleon was soon gone and under the restored

monarchy, the Italian came back into political favour. In 1816 he was to be appointed Superintendant of the Chapel Royal, the top post in French musical life of the time. The previous year he had also received a commission from the Philharmonic Society in London to write an overture and a symphony, which he himself conducted in the British capital. He remained here long enough to avoid the brief 100-day restitution of Napoleon's reign and on his return to Paris with Louis XVIII safely back on the throne, he composed one of his greatest ever successes: his Requiem in C minor.

Requiem in C minor It must be said that Cherubini's personality was not universally appreciated. In his memoirs, Berlioz portrayed him as a crotchety pedant; the young, fiery student had frequently crossed swords with Cherubini when he was Director of the Paris Conservatoire where the younger man studied. One story tells of Berlioz openly flouting the rule laid down by Cherubini that male and female students should enter the Conservatoire by separate entrances: Berlioz could not be bothered to walk round the building and took the quicker route. He was spotted. The Director chastised him but Berlioz dared to answer back and the reprobate was promptly chased around the library, upsetting tables, chairs and books. Many contemporaries also alluded to Cherubini's irritable nature: the composer Adolphe Adam waspishly wrote that “some maintain his temper was very even, because he was always angry”. Nevertheless, he had many friends, including Rossini and Chopin, and musical admirers. Haydn, whom he had met in younger days in Vienna, praised his music (despite the fact that the Italian had prematurely commemorated the Austrian master's death in music, on the strength of a false rumour of Haydn's demise!). Beethoven at first regarded Cherubini as 'Europe's foremost dramatic composer' and later as 'the greatest living composer of his time'; he jealously guarded his copy of the score of Medea. And Brahms called that opera “the work we musicians recognise among ourselves as the highest piece of dramatic art". Mendelssohn and even Berlioz became great admirers of much of Cherubini's music, although in the latter's case, this praise by no means stretched to Cherubini's final opera Ali Baba. Berlioz was in the orchestra at the première of that work and was soon to be heard yelling out: “20 francs for an idea?” before finally storming out in disgust.

But that was opera and not one of his best. Cherubini was however to excel in producing sacred music: Adolphe Adam nicknamed him “the Palestrina of the nineteenth century”. He wrote a total of seven settings of the Mass and numerous smaller pieces. But it was for his settings of the Requiem Mass that he was to be remembered. The Requiem in C minor was written in 1815 under the full title of Messe de Requiem à quatre parties en chœur avec accompagnement à grand orchestre

(Requiem Mass for four-part choir accompanied by full orchestra). The reinstalled French monarchy had not only brought Cherubini back into favour but had also brought him back under the wing of a former patron: just before the 1789 Revolution the then King's brother, the Count of Provence, had given him much needed financial backing. By 1814 the Count had become the new king, Louis XVIII, and promptly decreed the reinterment in 1815 of the mortal remains of his brother Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette, in the crypt of the Basilica of Saint Denis to the north of Paris, thereby joining a long line of French kings stretching back nine centuries. Then the king commissioned Cherubini to write a Requiem to commemorate the execution of his brother. This was first performed on 21 January 1816, the twenty third anniversary of Louis XVI's death, at a special memorial service in the Basilica. As you can see from this contemporary drawing of the event, the church's walls and columns were covered in heavy funeral drapes bearing royal coats of arms and fleurs de lis. The royal family were seated on a monumental dais observing the archbishop

officiating at the altar, surrounded by clergy bearing lighted candles. In fulfilling the commission, Cherubini had demonstrated once again his prowess at managing a delicate political balancing act: after all, only twenty years previously he had conducted the choir during an official ceremony to celebrate the decapitation of the self-same

monarch!

The work was greatly admired by many: Beethoven said that if he were to write a Requiem, Cherubini's would be his only model; consequently, the work was performed at Beethoven's funeral in Vienna in 1827. Schumann said the work was 'without equal in the world'. Even Berlioz considered that 'the decrescendo in the Agnus Dei

surpasses everything that has ever been written of the kind'. In the Requiem Cherubini demonstrated his detachment from the operatic stage by not employing vocal soloists. Instead he used only a four-part choir (sopranos, altos, tenors and basses) accompanied by an orchestra of strings, woodwind, brass, timpani and a gong. The woodwind included no flutes: Cherubini detested the instrument. “The only thing worse than one flute is two” he said. Sixteen extra singers and seventeen extra instrumentalists had to be found to supplement the usual forces of the Chapel Royal.

The Requiem begins with a pianissimo opening Introit and Kyrie, which maintain their peaceful tone throughout and into the following movement, the Graduale. Thus there is an obvious contrast with the fanfare entry of the brass at the start of the Dies irae, dramatically punctuated by a single strike of the tam-tam gong, a single strike which would have surprised the work's first audience and set the piece apart from its more conventional predecessors. Even this small piece of drama, although admittedly effective, brought criticism from religious devotees for its inclusion in a setting of sacred words. The movement ends with a further brazen blast, to be followed by an Offertorium made lighter at mid point by use of the three highest voices alone, accompanied by high strings and woodwind. A short and simple Sanctus and Pie Jesu follow. The final Agnus Dei has a strong opening but gradually fades to its peaceful pianissimo conclusion. The work continued to win many plaudits and much popularity, leading Berlioz to wonder if its composer had taken out a monopoly on settings of the Requiem Mass! In 1834 however the Archbishop of Paris criticized a performance of the work at the funeral of François-Adrien Boieldieu, who had been Cherubini's pupil before becoming his colleague at the Conservatoire. The reason was the work's inclusion of women's voices, a practice frowned upon by the Church for performances in a church. Cherubini was thereby breaking a rule which nearly 50 years later was also to dog Rossini when he included female singers in his Petite Messe solennelle (which you may remember we performed last year). Indeed the criticism ultimately led Cherubini in 1836 to pen a Requiem in D minor for male voices only which could be performed at the composer's own state funeral, six years later. Cherubini died at the age of 81, wreathed in honours: he had been Director of the Paris Conservatoire for some twenty years, his writing on, and teaching of, counterpoint was renowned and he became the first musician to be made a Commander of the Legion d'Honneur. 'Wreathed' is perhaps an unfortunate choice of words: he notoriously disliked the figure of the Muse Polymnia crowning him in the famous portrait by his friend Ingres. And yet ironically on his tomb in Paris's Père Lachaise cemetery, his bust stands for ever being crowned with a wreath! Cherubini's grave © Martin Bull

All programme notes © Martin Bull 2015

N°1: Introitus et Kyrie

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis; te decet hymnus, Deus in Sion,

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. Thou, O God, art praised in Zion,

et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem; exaudi orationem meam, ad te omnis caro veniet. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.

and unto Thee homage shall be paid in Jerusalem. Hear my prayer, to Thee all flesh shall come. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. Lord, have mercy on us, Christ, have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us.

N°2 : Graduale

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis; in memoria aeterna erit justus, ab auditione mala non timebit.

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. the righteous shall forever be remembered, and shall fear no evil report. .

N°3 : Dies irae

Dies irae, dies illa solvet saeclum in favilla, teste David cum Sibylla. Quantus tremor est futurus, quando judex est venturus, cuncta stricte discussurus. Tuba mirum spargens sonum per sepulcra regionum, coget omnes ante thronum. Mors stupebit et natura, cum resurget creatura, judicanti responsura. Liber scriptus proferetur, in quo totum continetur, unde mundus judicetur. Judex ergo cum sedebit, quidquid latet, apparebit; nil inultum remanebit. Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus, cum vix justus sit securus? Rex tremendae majestatis, qui salvandos salvas gratis, salve me, fons pietatis. Recordare, Jesu pie, quod sum causa tuae viae, ne me perdas illa die. Quaerens me, sedisti lassus, redemisti crucem passus; tantus labor non sit cassus. Juste judex ultionis, donum fac

On the day of wrath, on that day the world will dissolve into ashes, as David and the Sibyl foretold. How much dread will there be when the Judge arrives to examine all before Him. The trumpet will blazen its wondrous sound throughout the country of the dead and drive all before His throne. Death and nature will be astounded, when all creation rises again to answer the judgement. A book will be brought forth, in which all will be contained, from which the world will be judged. The Judge then takes his place, what is hidden is revealed; nothing stays unavenged. What then shall a wretch like me say? Who will appeal on my behalf, when even the just are barely secure? King of tremendous majesty, who freely saves the worthy, save me, O source of mercy. Remember, kind Jesus, that though I am the cause of Thy suffering, not to forsake me on that day. Thou hast sought me, though faint and weary, redeemed me by Thy suffering on the cross; may such great effort not be in vain. Righteous judge of vengeance, grant me

remissionis ante diem rationis. Ingemisco tamquam reus, culpa rubet vultus meus; supplicanti parce, Deus. Qui Mariam absolvisti, et latronem exaudisti, mihi quoque spem dedisti. Preces meae non sunt dignae, sed tu bonus fac benigne, ne perenni cremer igne. Inter oves locum praesta, et ab haedis me sequestra, statuens in parte dextra. Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis, voca me cum benedictis. Oro supplex et acclinis, cor contritum quasi cinis, gere curam mei finis. Lacrymosa dies illa, qua resurget ex favilla, judicandus homo reus. Huic ergo parce, Deus, pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem! Amen!

the gift of forgiveness before the day of reckoning. I groan like a culprit, my face blushes with guilt; spare Thy supplicant, O God. Thou, who absolved Mary, and listened to the thief, give me hope also. My prayers are not worthy, but, good Lord, be gracious, lest I be burnt by everlasting fire. Grant me a place among the sheep, and separate me from the goats, setting me at Thy right hand. When the accursed are confounded, and doomed to acrid flames, call me to join the blessed. I kneel and prostrate myself, my contrite heart is like ashes, help me in my final hour. That day of tears, when from the ashes shall arise, all mankind to be judged. Spare us through Thy mercy, God, O gentle Lord Jesus. Grant them rest! Amen!

N°4. Offertorium

Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae! Libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu. Libera eas de ore leonis, Ne absorbeat eas tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum. Sed signifer sanctus Michael Repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam. Quam olim Abrahae promisisti, et semini ejus. Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus; Tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quaram hodie memoriam facimus: fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam, quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory! Free the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the bottomless lake. Free them from the lion's jaw, lest Hell swallows them up, lest they fall into darkness. Let the standard-bearer, holy Michael, bring them into holy light. As was once promised to Abraham and his descendants Sacrifices and prayers, O Lord, we offer to Thee; Receive them on behalf of those souls we commemorate today. And let them, O Lord, pass from death to life, as was once promised to Abraham and his descendants.

N°5. Sanctus

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth, pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts! Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.

Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.

Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!

N°6. Pie Jesu

Pie Jesu, Domine, donna eis requiem sempiternam.

Dear Lord Jesus, grant them eternal rest.

N°7. Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem. Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem sempiternam. Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es. Requiem aeternum dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, grant them rest. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them eternal rest. Let eternal light shine on them, O Lord, as with Thy saints in eternity, for Thou art merciful. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. Translation © Martin Bull 2015

Nico de Villiers – Piano South Africa-born pianist Nico de Villiers is based in London and in demand as soloist, accompanist and coach in the UK as well as abroad. He holds degrees from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, University of Michigan and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Recent débuts include performances at the Barbican in London, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Mozarteum Grosser Saal in Salzburg and the Beethoven-Haus Kammermusiksaal in Bonn. Future concert engagements include recitals across the UK, the Netherlands, South Africa and China. Nico is currently undertaking his doctoral research at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, focusing on the songs of Dutch-born American composer Richard Hageman. He is grateful for the generous support of the Guildhall School and the International Opera Awards.

Dan Ludford-Thomas - Conductor Dan began singing as a chorister at St Matthew’s Church, Northampton, and in 1986 became ‘Choirboy of the Year’ which led to radio and television broadcasts, and concerts at many of the major venues throughout the UK. He won choral scholarships to the cathedrals at Wells and Durham, where he read music at the University. On arrival in London he continued his vocal studies with Richard Smart and Nicholas Powell and conducting with Rumon Gamba and Mark Shanahan. As a tenor, Dan has performed regularly with many major ensembles, including Chapelle du Roi, The King's Consort, The Academy of Ancient Music, Florilegium, and The Sixteen and has sung with many choral societies as a soloist. As a conductor he performs regularly in major concert venues including Birmingham Symphony Hall and The Royal Albert Hall. In 2012 he conducted over 300 singers and the Forest Philharmonic in a performance of Handel Messiah in the Royal Festival Hall and in 2014 conducted over 200 singers in a performance of Verdi Requiem in the

Fairfield Halls. Dan is in demand as a choral animateur, directing workshops and projects in the UK and internationally. He was at the forefront in the delivery of the national singing initiative ‘Singup’ in collaboration with Ex Cathedra with whom he enjoys a long association as part of a team delivering singing programmes and concerts. In 2012 Dan worked as a choirmaster on BBC2’s The Choir: Sing While You Work

series and has continued as Artistic Director of the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir. He returned in 2013 to work on series 2 as Choirmaster to Citibank choir with whom he has continued as the Musical Director. Work with these choirs has led to performances at the Hammersmith Apollo and recent concerts in New York. Dan was the chorus master for the Choir of the Enlightenment, preparing them to sing Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Marin Alsop at the 2013 BBC Proms. He returned as Chorus Master for Marin, preparing the Choir of the Enlightenment to perform Brahms Alto Rhapsody and Triumphlied at the 2015 BBC Proms. Dan is currently Head of Singing at Dulwich College, and is a singing teacher at Eton College. He is the Musical Director of The Hackney Singers, Conductor of the Senior Choir of the National Children's Choir of Great Britain, Musical Director of Concordia Chamber Choir and the Director of Music of Lewisham Choral Society.

Forest Philharmonic Orchestra

Under the direction of Artistic Director Mark Shanahan, Forest Philharmonic Orchestra has gained an impressive reputation for the high quality and vitality of its performances, and celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. Originally the Leyton Municipal Orchestra, it was reconstituted under its current name in 1963 by its first Artistic Director, Frank

Shipway and gave its first full season of concerts in 1964/65. Today the orchestra continues to perform with top artists such as soprano Susan Bullock and pianist Stephen Hough, and also gives opportunities to young musicians in the local Waltham Forest community through open rehearsals, creative projects in local schools and its Explorers participation programme. As has been the case for the last 50 years, each string section is led by a professional player, whose input in rehearsals enables the orchestra to fulfil its aim of coaching the musicians of tomorrow while providing a forum for the leading amateur players of today. In addition to its regular season at Walthamstow Assembly Hall, Forest Philharmonic performs within the borough and surrounding areas, including at the Stow Festival and chamber concerts in local churches. It was invited by Waltham Forest Council to perform for HM The Queen for her visit to Walthamstow as part of her Diamond Jubilee Tour, and most recently performed the live music accompaniment to Hitchcock’s film Blackmail as part of Beyond Barbican. The orchestra has also performed in Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican Centre, St John’s, Smith Square and St Albans Cathedral. The orchestra regularly performs with choral societies and also took part in the BBC 2 programme Maestro. Lewisham Choral Society is one of

London’s most popular community choirs, performing at local venues and major concert halls such as Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, the Cadogan Hall and the Fairfield Halls. It has provided the chorus for two shows at the Young Vic and was honoured to take part in the opening ceremony for the Paralympic Games in 2012. It is a large, lively community-based choir, with almost two hundred singers. Founded in 1950 by a group based at Lewisham’s parish church, it grew in size and ambition, marking its transformation by a change of name to Lewisham Choral Society in the early 1980s. The Society is a member of Making Music - the National Federation of Music Societies. We are a performing choir, staging four concerts a year and taking part in other choral singing events when opportunities arise. Under the professional direction of Dan Ludford-Thomas and his deputy Nico de Villiers, the choir’s repertoire ranges from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first - Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 through to contemporary works by Will Todd and Eric Whitacre.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US?

Lewisham Choral Society offers a warm welcome to new joiners. We are open to

singers in all voice parts, but given the need to maintain a good balance across the choir we are targeting our recruitment at tenors and basses. Although we do not audition, the choir performs to a high standard and tackles some complex pieces which require a level of experience and musical ability. Rehearsals are relatively fast-paced, so may not suit complete beginners. We rehearse on Monday evenings from 8 to 10 at St Laurence Church, 37 Bromley Road, Catford, SE6 2TS: five minutes' walk from Catford and Catford Bridge stations; buses 47, 54, 136, 171, 199 and 208 stop outside. Parking is relatively easy on nearby residential streets and there is limited parking within the church grounds. Rehearsals of Mendelssohn's Elijah for the Spring 2016 term start on Monday 4 January and continue until the concert on 19 March. We shall schedule additional rehearsals as and when necessary. Singers are welcome to join as new members on 4, 11 or 18 January.

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Lewisham Choral Society would like to thank:

The team at Goldsmiths Trevor Jarvis, Ben Leslie, Ian Russell & Jim Toohill for concert management Rosemary Savinson for publicity planning and coordination Ben Leslie for poster design Martin Bull for programme notes and translations & Trevor Jarvis for production Lara Ruffle Coles for digital media marketing All the LCS volunteers for assistance on the day of the concert Photography is not permitted without the prior agreement of the Committee of Lewisham Choral Society Please ensure that your mobile, pager or digital watch is switched off.

Lewisham Choral Society, Registered Charity Number 1040570

Forest Philharmonic, Registered Charity Number 1026792

Lewisham Choral Society acknowledges the support of the London Borough of Lewisham.

Forest Philharmonic acknowledges the support of the London Borough of Waltham Forest

Lewisham Choral Society and Forest Philharmonic

are both affiliated to Making Music

Lewisham Choral Society – Future performances

Please visit our website for updates www.lewishamchoralsociety.org.uk Ticket enquiries to 020 8309 0439 or website

Saturday 19 December 2015

at 7.30 pm Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Street,

SW1X 9BZ

“In Terra Pax” Music for Christmas with carols for choir and audience

Saturday 12 March 2016 at 7.30 pm Highfields School, Matlock, Derbyshire

and

Saturday 19 March 2016 at 7.30 pm Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon CR9 1DG

Mendelssohn – Elijah Joint concerts with The Derbyshire Singers

Saturday 9 July 2016 at 7.30 pm

Venue to be announced

Lili Boulanger – Vieille prière bouddhique Vierne – Messe solennelle

Britten – Rejoice in the Lamb; Deus in adjutorium meum