This four-part infinite canon at the unison (rota), with its accompanying two-part rondellus (pes), has been widely published. Although time has rendered the composer anonymous, the date of c1280 seems widely accepted. Controversy still remains over whether the Medieval English text sung in this performance, or a sacred Latin text, is the original.

Singt und Klingt
Praetorius (1571-1621)
Es ist ein Ros Entsprungen

Michael Praetorius was a prolific composer whose works show the influence of contemporaries Samuel Scheidt and Heinrich Schütz as well as the Italians. Included in his compositions are the nine volume Musae sioniae (1605-10), a collection of over a thousand chorale and song arrangements and many other works for the Lutheran church. Terpsichore (1612), a compendium of over 300 instrumental dances, is his most widely-known, and sole surviving, secular work.

Singt und Klingt is a vigorous carol in simple time, with sustained parts reminiscent of church bells. The mixture of Latin and high German text is not uncommon in German carols of this era.

Sing your psalms to Christ, The begotten Son of God,
Sing your psalms to the Redeemer,
To the Lord, the little Child lying in a manger bed.
A small Child lies in the manger. All the blessed angels fall before Him and sing.

Es ist ein Ros Entsprungen is a traditional German carol evoking the image of Jesus as the rose.

Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.
Isaiah ’twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright, she bore to men a Saviour,
When half spent was the night.
This Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air, Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere;
True Man, yet very God, from sin and death
He saves us, and lightens every load.

In Dulci Jubilo
Robert Lucas de Pearsall (1795-1856)
(adapted by Reginald Jacques)

Pearsall was an English composer, a Romantic in the true sense of the word. He had antiquarian interests, a noted rejection of the modern industrialising world around him and pursued an older aesthetic in his composition.

The original melody, employed as a cantus firmus in this piece, is to be found in an old German book published in 1570. Even in this book, it is referred to as “a very ancient song for Christmas-eve” so there can be no doubt that it is one of those Roman Catholic melodies that Luther, on account of their beauty, retained in the protestant service. It was sung in processions, and still is in those remote parts of Germany where people yet retain old customs. The words are written half in Latin and half in the upper German dialect.
(Notes are paraphrased from Pearsall’s own writing, 1837).

Mary and Child

O Magnum Mysterium
Morten Lauridsen (1943 – )

Morten Lauridsen is an American composer of Danish ancestry. He is a long-time professor of Composition at University of Southern California, and also held the position of Composer in Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001. Lauridsen is arguably one of America’s most-performed contemporary choral composers, and writes both sacred and secular music.

O Magnum Mysterium is a responsorial chant from the Matins of Christmas.

O most awesome mystery and sacrament divine and most wondrous:
That animals should look and see the Lord a babe newborn beside them in a manger laid.
O how truly blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear and bring forth the Lord Christ Jesus. Alleluia!

Hymn to the Virgin
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

Britten was born in Lowestoft in Suffolk, the son of a dentist and a talented amateur musician. His birthday is the feast-day of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, and he showed musical gifts very early in life, composing prolifically, so that by the age of 11 he had composed six string quartets and ten piano sonatas. In 1927, he began private composition lessons with Frank Bridge. He also studied, but less happily, at the Royal College of Music under John Ireland and to a lesser extent, Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Of all Britten’s choral works, A Hymn to the Virgin (dated 1930) perhaps comes nearest to the traditional conception of English Church music. Based on an anonymous text, its antiphonal echo effects (by way of a semi-chorus sung in Latin) and regular bar-groups give this delightful work a naïve and gentle form of expression that is direct in its appeal and totally persuasive in its language.

Magnificat
Arvo Pärt (1935- )
Bogoroditse Djevo

Arvo Pärt was born in Paide, Estonia. His compositions can be divided into three distinct periods, the latest of which appears to have arisen out of a deep personal crisis in the early 1970s. His response to this religious impasse was to immerse himself in plainsong, Gregorian chant and early Renaissance polyphony. He also joined the Russian Orthodox Church. The music that emerged from Pärt in this period is often identified as “mystic minimalism”. He is considered a pioneer of this style, along with contemporaries Henryk Górecki and John Tavener. Pärt himself describes this style as tintinnabuli — like the ringing of bells. The music is characterised by simple harmonies, straight forward rhythms, frequent unadorned single notes, or triad chords which form the basis of western harmony.

The Magnificat, set in Latin, is a typical example of tintinnabuli, with sopranos providing a meditative bell-like repetition.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, My spirit rejoices in god my saviour. He has looked with favour on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed; the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.

He has mercy on those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his are and has scattered the proud in their conceit, casting down the mighty from their thrones and lifting up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has come to the aid of his servant Israel to remember his promise of mercy, the promise made to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children for ever.

The second of Pärt’s pieces, the brief Bogoroditse Djevo is sung in Church Slavonic. Also a setting of a Marion text, it contrasts with the previous piece, employing punctuated rhythms and strident, doubled-octave chords.

Rejoice Virgin Mother of God, Fount of grace.
Mary, the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
You have given birth to the saviour of our souls.

New Zealand Christmas Works

Ballulalow
I sing of a Maiden
Richard Madden (1953- )

Richard Madden was born in Dunedin, and educated at Otago Boys’ High School (1966-71) and the University of Otago (1971-6). He studied composition with Don Byars and Edwin Carr and singing with Honor McKellar, graduating BMus (Hons).
Madden was Head of Music at St Hilda’s Collegiate for many years and now teaches at Columba College. He currently directs both the Knox Choral Scholars and the Royal Dunedin Male Choir, and conducts the Sinfonia Academy Strings.

Both of Madden’s settings for these beautiful texts employ lilting melodies and close harmonies, conveying a sense of peace and devotion. Madden notes that he was inspired to write I sing of a Maiden by his childhood memories of singing Patrick Headley’s setting, and the image of dew settling softly, gradually becoming apparent.

People Look East
Jack Body (1944- )

Jack Body studied at Auckland University with Ronald Tremain and at Victoria University of Wellington with Douglas Lilburn in the electro-acoustic studio before working with Kagel in Cologne and the Institute of Sonology, Utrecht, Netherlands. He then attended the Ferien Kurse fur Neue Musik, and, for two years, was a guest lecturer at the Akademi Musik, Indonesia. Since 1980 he has lectured at the School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington.
Body’s music covers many genres, including solo and chamber music, opera, orchestral music, music-theatre, music for dance and film as well as electroacoustic music and ethnomusicological recordings. Music traditions from Asia, especially Indonesian and parts of China, have had a profound influence on his works. His music has been played widely and by such performers as Lontano, Kronos Quartet, the New Zealand String Quartet, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He has been involved in a wide variety of projects around New Zealand, and he has received a range of awards including the OMNZ in 2001.

People Look East was originally written in 1963 and has been performed by a range of choirs around New Zealand ever since. The words, whose meter inspires the lively rhythms of Body’s setting, come from a poem written by Eleanor Farjeon in 1928.

English Carols

The Blessed Son of God
Ralph Vaughan Williams, OM (1872 –1958)

After attending Charterhouse School, Vaughan Williams attended the Royal College of Music (RCM) under Charles Villiers Stanford. He read history and music at Trinity College, Cambridge before returning to the RCM, studying composition with Hubert Parry. He did not begin publishing until he was 30, but is now regarded as a highly influential English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. Vaughan Williams uncovered and transcribed many English folk songs, some of which he later incorporated into his own music. The arrangement of The Blessed Son of God is based on the fifth piece from his Christmas cantata, “Hodie”.

The Three Kings
Peter Cornelius (1824-1874)
arr. Ivor Atkins (1869-1953)

Peter Cornelius was a native of Mainz, Germany and a member of the Weimar circle of the mid-nineteenth century. He was both a poet and a composer, and influenced musically by Liszt and later Wagner.

Cornelius set his first poem “Die Könige” in a simple ballad-like style. A choral setting was sketched in 1859 and published in a set of six Weihnachtslieder (carols) in 1871. The most popular arrangement, which we shall hear today, is for soloist and eight-part choir by Ivor Atkins (1869-1953) who was organist of Worcester Cathedral from 1897-1950. In this setting, the accompaniment is provided by a choir singing the first verse of the chorale under a soloist singing the Three Kings.

Soloist: Tim Hurd

The Holly and the Ivy
Reginald Jacques (1894-1969)

Reginald Jacques was a British orchestra conductor and musical educator. From 1931 to 1960, he conducted the Bach Choir in London, including its annual performance of the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. In 1936, he formed the Jacques String Orchestra and arranged many works for it.

The Holly and the Ivy is a traditional Christmas carol, which is among the most lightly Christianized carols of the Yuletide: holly and ivy being among the most familiar druidic plants. The music and most of the modern text was collected by Cecil Sharp from a woman in Chipping Camden, Gloucestershire. This carol is probably related to an older carol: “The Contest of the Ivy and the Holly”, a struggle between the traditional emblems of woman and man respectively.

Director: Daniel Kelly

Born in 1969, Daniel Kelly grew up in Palmerston North where he completed his M.Sc. As a secondary school teacher, Daniel has conducted a variety of school choirs, acted as vocal director for several musicals, and led a number of adult singing groups since the early 1990’s. In 1997, he joined the Southern Consort of Voices (SCV) under Jack Spiers, taking singing lessons from Maureen Smith. Upon moving to Boston in 1999, he was accepted into a specialist early music choir, Musicum Convivium, formed under the umbrella of the Longy School of Music (Harvard) and directed by Scott Metcalfe.

Returning to Dunedin in 2001, Daniel rejoined the SCV and began his tenure as director with the SCV for the 2006 Christmas concert, having been assistant conductor to the Anthony Ritchie for the midyear concert. In 2007, Daniel was one of three who participated in a mentoring programme designed for conductors established by Southern Sinfonia, in collaboration with the Southern Youth Choir. The programme involved working with the international conductors Luke Dollman, Tecwyn Evans and Werner Andreas Albert.

The Southern Consort of Voices

Sopranos: Kirsten Bevin, Brenda Burton, Susanne Gebhard, Zoe Hawke,
Jean Simpson, Abby Smith, Cherie Stayner, Kathryn Whitwell

Altos: Clare Adams, Catherine Cameron, Sophie Fern, Jo Fielding, Alison Tait, Eleanor Whitwell, Sarah Wilson

Tenors: Douglas Black, Tim Hurd, John Hale, Cameron Kerr, Andrew Moore

Basses: Peter Catterall, Roger Noonan, Marlyn Jakub, Jim Ross, Peter Tozer

Today’s concert ends a busy and successful year for the Southern Consort of Voices. 2007’s programme included three regular concerts, an extra performance courtesy of the Opoho Presbyterian Church’s Springtime series, setting the scene on opening night at the Fortune Theatre for “Mum’s Choir” and performing as the semi-chorus for the City of Dunedin Choir in Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius.”

Mendelssohn stood at the forefront of German music during the 1830s and 40s, as conductor, pianist, organist, and above all, composer.  He composed a set of three sacred pieces that were published after his death. The Kyrie Eleison of 1846 is one of these pieces and was written for the choir of the Domkirche in Berlin. Although Mendelssohn was on the verge of a total physical breakdown, the piece is characterised by a sense of inner peace and warmth.

Benedictus (Two 2-part settings)
Orlando di Lassus

di Lassus was a Franco-Flemish composer of late Renaissance music and along with Palestrina, he is considered to be the chief representative of the mature polyphonic style of the Franco-Flemish School, and he was the most famous and influential musician in Europe at the end of the 16th century.

The first Benedictus is sung by Soprano and Alto sections, while the second is sung by the Tenor and Bass sections.

Alma Redemptoris
Palestrina

Palestrina’s historical reputation resembles that of no other composer in the history of music. Palestrina’s music is often considered “perfect” sacred music and it is no surprise that his contemporaries often called him “The Prince of Music.  Alma Redemptoris mater is an antiphon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is sung during Advent and until the Feast of the Purification. Palestrina made three settings of this text, a paribus vocibus setting for four high voices, which was included in his second book of four-part motets published in Venice in 1596, and two eight-part settings, which were not issued in printed editions in Palestrina’s lifetime.

(Soloist – Cherie Stayner)

Alma Redemptoris
Peter Phillips

Seven lieder for mixed choir op.62
Johannes Brahms

From 1872 to 1875 Brahms was director of the concerts of the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Its official charter, drafted in 1814, states that the purpose of the Society was to promote music in all its facets.

The seven lieder for mixed choir op.62 (1873–4) employ a chordal, rhythmically straight forward texture and strophic form, as befits their legendary and folk themes. Each of these seemingly simple songs is characterized by one or two very sophisticated devices.

The choir sings:

Waldesnacht                                op.62 no.3
All Meine Herzgedanken        op.62 no.5

O Magnum Mysterium
Poulenc

Poulenc was a member of Les Six, a group of young French composers, Milhaud, Auric, Durey, Honegger and Tailleferre, who also had links with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau. He embraced the Dada movement’s techniques, creating melodies that would have been appropriate for Parisian music halls. Later in his life, the loss of some close friends, coupled with a pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Rocamadour, led him to rediscovery of the Catholic faith and resulted in compositions of a more somber, austere tone.

O Magnum Mysterium comes from Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël, composed in 1952.

O Magnum Mysterium
David N. Childs (1969 – )

New Zealand composer David Childs wrote this Christmas Day Responsory in 1997 for Havelock North’s Colla Voce in 1997 and was, as he puts it, “the first serious work of mine to be published”. He uses plainsong chant and full-bodied ‘added-note’ chords so that two harmonic languages are explored – the old and the new.

Herr, Erhore Meine Worte
Schumann

Psalm 138 (Genevan Tune)
Claude Le Jeune

Of Le Jeune’s sacred music, a total of 347 psalm settings, 38 sacred chansons, 11 motets, and a mass setting have survived. Probably Le Jeune’s most famous sacred work is his Dodécacorde, a series of 12 psalm settings, including Psalm 138, which he published in La Rochelle in 1598. Each of the psalms is set in a different one of the 12 modes as given by Zarlino. Le Jeune’s 12 psalm settings use texts and melodies from the Genevan Psalter as cantus firmi.

Psalm 138
Arcadelt

Arcadelt was a Franco-Flemish composer of the middle to late Renaissance, principally of madrigals and chansons. Most likely he was born in Liège, and he died in Paris.
Arcadelt’s style is refined, pure, melodious, and simple, and his music was immensely popular. His first book of madrigals was reprinted 58 times between c1538 and 1654, a spectacular print run for the time.

The choir sings a setting of Psalm 138, published in 1555.

Ave Maria
Franz Biebl (1906-2001)

In 1964, Biebl was approached by a fireman from his church choir and asked to compose something for a choral competition that the fire station choir was to perform in.  Biebl wrote the Ave Maria for a double male choir. The Ave Maria has subsequently been rearranged to suit other vocal groupings. The piece gained practically no attention in Germany for many years. When the American group Chanticleer recorded it, it became a hit in the US and then also in Germany.

Cantor:    Peter Tozer

Semi-chorus:  Sopranos:   Cherie Stayner, Kathryn Whitwell; Alto:  Ulrika Harris, Alison Tait;  Tenors:      Andrew Moore, Cameron Kerr

Song for Athene
Tavener

Song for Athene was born from a musical phrase that came to the composer’s mind as he left the funeral of Athene Harides, daughter of family friends who was killed in a cycling accident. “Her beauty,” Tavener wrote, “both outward and inner, was reflected in her love of acting, poetry, music, and of the Orthodox Church.”

Song for Athene is a mixture of lines from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and words from the Orthodox liturgy, both set to monodic chant with a continuous drone. It was sung during the funeral for Princess Diana in 1997.

(Cello : Jonathan Drummond;  Soloist: Peter Tozer)

Daisies Won’t Tell
Owen

Anita Owen is an American composer of the 19^th century. Her long list of song compositions began in 1898 with “Only One Daisy Left”, and several of her later songs included daisies in their titles: “When the Daisies Bloom”, “Daisies Won’t Tell”, “Just a Chain of Daisies”.

3 Maori Pieces
Hoki Hoki
Akoako te Rangi
Pokarekare
Douglas Mews (arr)

Douglas Mews was born at St Johns in Newfoundland in 1918 and died in New Zealand in 1993. Mews moved to Auckland in 1969, joining the staff of the Music Department at the University of Auckland where, in 1974, he was made Associate Professor of Music. He was director of Music at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Auckland from 1970-82. He retired from the University of Auckland in 1984. In 1990 Mews received a Papal Knighthood.

These three Maori songs have been arranged for 4-part choir by Mews

Lily of the Valley
Traditional

The spiritual constitutes one of the largest bodies of American folksong that survived into the 21st century, and are probably the best known. Lily of the valley is an example of this form.

Cheryl Camm was born in Worksop, England, and travelled to New Zealand in 1987, after completing an honours degree in Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. She has since completed Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees (both specialising in composition) at Auckland University. Between 1993 and 1994, the Arts Council of New Zealand employed Cheryl as their Composer in Schools, firstly in Auckland, then Dunedin. It was during this time she completed Hodie Christus Natus Est. During 1996, Cheryl was the Mozart Fellow (a fellowship for established composers) at Otago University in Dunedin and is currently resident in Northumberland, England.

Coventry Carol
Trad. (16^th Century)
Modern version by Martin Shaw

The Coventry Carol is a Christmas carol dating from the 16th Century. The author is unknown, but the carol has been performed in Coventry as part of a play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Massacre of the Innocents, an episode from the Gospel of Matthew in which Herod orders all male infants in Bethlehem to be killed.

Balulalow
Richard Rodney Bennett
(1936-)

Richard Rodney Bennett was born in Broadstairs (England). He has been an active performer, especially as a jazz pianist/singer. He is a prolific composer of a wide range of styles. This lilting cradle-song is sung by the women of the Southern Consort of Voices.

Three Christmas Carols
Vinicius Grefiens
(1916-2000)

Vinicius Grefiens was educated, and later taught score reading at the Budapest Conservatory. Grefiens composed mostly choral music, which is characterised by a harnmonically modal treatment of original folk tunes with asymetric meters (5 or 7 beats). The first two of Grefiens’ Three Christmas Carols belong to his cycle “The Time of Caroling”. The final piece is part of another group of “Carols from Romana?i”. These are all carols with a religious connotation, without necessarily being sacred.

Ave Maria
by Franz Biebl (1906-2001)

In 1964, Biebl was approached by a fireman from his church choir and asked to compose something for a choral competition that the fire station choir was to perform in.  Biebl wrote the Ave Maria for a double male choir. The Ave Maria has subsequently been rearranged to suit other vocal groupings. The piece gained practically no attention in Germany for many years. When the American group Chanticleer recorded it, it became a hit in the US and then also in Germany.

Cantor: Peter Tozer (Bass)
Semi-chorus: Cherie Stayner, Kathryn Whitwell (Soprano), Alison Tait, Ulrika Harris (Alto), Andrew Moore and Rhys Thorn (Tenor).

Los pastores a Belen
Trad. (Spanish)
arr. Gregory Rose

Los pastores a Belen is a traditional Spanish Christmas carol telling of the shepherds running to Bethlehem to see Jesus in the manger. This is the fifth carol in a set of five arranged by Gregory Rose.

Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
Trad. (16^th century)
harmonised by Michael Praetorious

Michael Praetorious included this harmonisation in his collection entitled Musae Sioniae (1609). The text first appeared in the Al­te Ca­thol­ische Geist­liche Kirch­en­ge­säng (Köln, Ger­ma­ny: 1599). The first version has two verses, but there have been several more added over time. Theodore Baker provided an English translation in 1894. It is commonly sung as the hymn “A great and might wonder”.

Past Three a clock
Trad. (English)
harmonised by Charles Wood

The tune for  “Past three a clock” was printed in the 3^rd edition of The English Dancing Master (1665) as a simple tune called “The call of the London waits”.  The London waits were town watchman in the middle ages and then became a band of civic musicians in the 17^th century. William Chappell supplied  the (authentic) words to the first section of the call. Charles Wood took the London call from Chappell, reharmonised it, and G. R. Woodward set words to the verse section.
Soloist: Peter Tozer (Bass)

Ceremony of Carols  op.28
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Arranged by Julius Harrison

The Ceremony of Carols was inspired by Britten’s discovery of “The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems”, which he purchased in Nova Scotia.  He composed seven of the carols during the remaining voyage to Britain in 1942. The final version was completed in 1943 and premiered by the Morriston Boys’ choir on December 4^th. The immense popularity of “A Ceremony of Carols” led later to the SATB version heard today arranged by Julius Harrison and published in 1955. The choir also marks the 30^th anniversary of Britten’s death (December 4th, 1976).
 

2. Wolcum Yole
3. There is no rose
4b. Balulalow                             Soloist: Cherie Stayner     (Soprano)
5. As dew in Aprille
6. This little babe

L’Adieu des Bergers (Shepherds farewell)
Hector Berlioz from L’Enfance du Christ
(1803-1869)

The chorus of shepherds in the second part of L’ Enfance du Christ was the origin of the work. Composed casually, on the corner of a table during a party, it was attributed to Pierre Ducre, director of music at the Sainte Chapelle in 1679. Warmly welcomed at its first performance, the chorus was augmented by the addition of two other pieces, to make up the Fuite en Egypte (The Flight into Egypt). In 1854 Berlioz added the Songe d’ Herode (Herod’s Dream) and the Arrivee a Sais (Arrival at Sais), giving the work its definitive form.

Sussex Carol
Trad. (English)
Arranged by David Willcocks

Sussex Carol is a Christmas carol popular in Britain. Its words were first published by an Irish bishop, Luke Wadding in a work called Small Garland of Pious and Godly Songs. Both the text and the tune to which it is now sung were discovered and written down by Cecil Sharp and Ralph Vaughan Williams, who heard it being sung by a Harriet Verrall of Monk’s Gate, Sussex (hence “Sussex Carol”). The tune Williams took down from Mrs Verrall was published in 1919.