PROGRAMMES
2025/2026
Programme I - Glorious Creatures
Vivanco: Sicut lilium
Palestrina: Sicut lilium II
Muhly: Marrow
Lassus: Vinum bonum
Lassus: Missa Vinum bonum
***Interval***
Muhly: A Glorious Creature
de Rore: Descendi in hortum meum
Dunstable: Descendi in hortum meum
Palestrina: Descendi in hortum meum
Vivanco: Magnificat Octavi toni (a 8)
This programme is formed around how nature beautifies our lives, from the sun in the sky to the flowers that grow in our gardens. By extension we include the grapes that make the vinum bonum we enjoy. The title is taken from a substantial new setting of words by Thomas Traherne, commissioned by the Tallis Scholars from Nico Muhly.
Some of these pieces (like de Rore's Descendi in hortum meum) involve canon, which is the musical equivalent of the kind of artifice we may associate with horticulture. To draw both strands together we end with a grandly canonic setting of the Magnificat by the Spanish master Sebastián de Vivanco, whose setting of a text from the Song of Songs opens our performance.
Programme II. Mysteries and Miracles
Victoria: Missa O magnum mysterium
Wert: Egressus Jesus
Wert: Ascendente Jesu
***Interval***
Tallis: Videte miraculum
Gallus: Mirabile mysterium
Guerrero: Maria Magdalena
Pärt: Tribute to Caesar
Pärt: Virgencita
This programme consists entirely of music which was inspired by a miraculous event in the life of Jesus, as set by a host of differing composers. The texts tell their own story. In the first half Victoria's Missa O magnum mysterium is based on his motet of the same name, in which Christ's miraculous birth is described, with the animals looking on. In the two De Wert motets which follow - both madrigalian in style - Egressus Jesus tells the story of Christ curing a girl who is possessed of a demon, while Ascendente Jesu illustrates in music (rather graphically) how Christ calmed the waves of the sea in the midst of a raging storm.
The second half begins with Tallis's Videte miraculum, which is based around the most potent miracle of all, the virgin birth. This theme is taken up in the extraordinary motet Mirabile mysterium by the Slovenian composer Jacob Gallus, who evokes in sound the sense of wonder which might be felt by anyone hearing this story. Guerrero's Maria Magdalena recounts in narrative form the biblical story of the two Marias visiting Christ's tomb to anoint his body and find that he has risen. The moment they discover this, Guerrero's music takes on an extraordinary dimension.
The final settings are by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. His Tribute to Caesar describes how the Pharisees reacted to Christ's teaching. The words 'they marvelled' inspired one of the great turns of phrase in modern music. In Virgencita he hymns the miraculous Virgin of Guadalupe, whose image has recently been found to have survived, like that of the Turin image, imprinted on a shroud.
Programme III. Four Palestrina progs
1. Palestrina and Victoria
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli
***Interval***
Victoria: Dum complerentur
Palestrina: Dum complerentur
Victoria: Versa est in luctum
Victoria: O sacrum convivium
Palestrina: Magnificat Primi Toni
Victoria: Magnificat Primi Toni
2. Palestrina and Lassus
Palestrina: Missa Ut re mi fa sol la
***Interval***
Palestrina: Laudate pueri
Lassus: Media vita
Palestrina: Tribulationes civitatum
Lassus: Timor et tremor
Palestrina: Tu es Petrus (a 6)
3. Palestrina and Byrd
Palestrina: Missa In te domine speravi
***Interval***
Palestrina: Ad dominum cum tribularer
Byrd: Ad dominum cum tribularer
Palestrina: Domine in virtute
Byrd: Tribue domine
4. Palestrina and Pärt
Palestrina: Surge illuminare
Palestrina: Missa Brevis
***Interval***
Palestrina: Lamentations a 6 (Lectio III Sabbato Sancto)
Pärt: Da Pacem
Palestrina: Nunc dimittis
Pärt: Nunc dimittis
Pärt: Which was the son of...
Programme IV - Chant
Plainchant by Hildegard von Bingen: In principio omnes
Obrecht: Salve regina
Plainchant by Hildegard: O virtus sapientiae
Pärt: Magnificat antiphons
***Interval***
Plainchant by Hildegard: O ignis spiritus
Franco: Salve regina
Pärt: Da pacem
Plainchant by Hildegard: O ecclesia
Lassus: Nunc dimittis 'Il Magnanimo Pietro'
Victoria: Salve regina (a 8)
There is only one theme underlying this programme, which is chant. We present this in three different ways: the 12th century interpretation of it by Hildegard of Bingen (these are her own compositions); the living Gregorian tradition as shown in these settings of the Salve regina and Nunc dimittis; and Arvo Pärt's reimagining of this tradition, partly in the Orthodox view. In particular there is his Da pacem, where the alto voice quotes a whole chant melody, running from start to finish of the piece. For a thousand years, chant represented all there was of 'classical' music. It went on to influence some of the greatest music ever written in its image.
Programme V - Inspired by the Sistine Chapel
Palestrina: Missa In te domine speravi (a 6) (Kyrie)
Morales: Regina caeli
Palestrina: Missa Tu es Petrus (a 6) (Gloria)
Festa: Quam pulchra es
Carpentras: Lamentations
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli (Credo)
***Interval***
Allegri: Miserere
Palestrina: Missa Confitebor tibi domine (Sanctus)
Josquin: Praeter rerum seriem
Palestrina: Missa Brevis (Agnus)
All these Renaissance composers worked in the Sistine Chapel and wrote for the choir there. Quite a number of the pieces in this programme can be identified as having been specifically written for that building - the Carpentras is especially interesting in this regard, since he is said to have gone back there later in life and found they were using faulty copies. Morales was there for much of his life. The framework is a composite mass by Palestrina.
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