A Musical Journey Through Central & Eastern Europe

TONIGHT'S PROGRAMME

Zoltán Kodály: Pange Lingua Pange lingua gloriosi Corporis mysterium Sanguinisque pretiosi Quem in mundi pretium Fructus ventris generosi Rex effudit gentium.

Nobis datus, nobis natus Ex intacta Virgine Et in mundo conversatus Sparso verbi semine Sui moras incolatus Miro clausit ordine.

In supremae nocte coenae Recumbens cum fratribus, Observata lege plene Cibis in legalibus, Cibum turbae duodenae, Se, dat suis manibus.

Verbum-caro panem verum Verbo carnem efficit, Fitque sanguis Christi merum; Etsi sensus deficit Ad firmandum cor sincerum Sola fides sufficit.

Tantum ergo sacramentum Veneremur cernui Et antiquum documentum Novo cedat ritui, Praestet fides supplementum Sensuum defectui.

Genitori genitoque Laus et jubilatio, Salus, honor, virtus quoque Sit et benedictio, Procedenti ab utroque Comparsit laudatio.

Sing, my tongue, the Saviour's glory, Of His Flesh, the mystery sing; Of the Blood, all price exceeding, Shed by our Immortal King, Destined, for the world's redemption, From a noble Womb to spring.

Of a pure and spotless Virgin Born for us on earth below, He, as Man, with man conversing, Stayed, the seeds of truth to sow; Then He closed in solemn order Wondrously His Life of woe.

On the night of that Last Supper, Seated with His chosen band, He, the Paschal Victim eating, First fulfils the Law's command; Then as Food to all his brethren Gives Himself with His own Hand.

Word-made-Flesh, the bread of nature By His Word to Flesh He turns; Wine into His Blood He changes: What though sense no change discerns. Only be the heart in earnest, Faith her lesson quickly learns.

Down in adoration falling, Lo, the sacred Host we hail, Lo, o'er ancient forms departing Newer rites of grace prevail: Faith for all defects supplying, When the feeble senses fail.

To the Everlasting Father And the Son who comes on high With the Holy Ghost proceeding Forth from each eternally, Be salvation, honour, blessing, Might and endless majesty.

[Freely translated into English by Fr. Edward Caswall]

Zoltán Kodály: Evening Song

Peaceful woods, the dusk descending, Fragrant now with Summer's ending; There I rested, and e’er sleeping Praying, sought His sweet safe-keeping. Thus I lay there, silent, praying; Lord, I wander ever straying; Wand'ring through the world, yet knowing. Thou wilt guard me, and my going. Let not darkness from Thee hide me, May Thine angels watch beside me. Guard us all while we are sleeping, Safe forever in Thy keeping, Ever, ever, in Thy keeping.

Kodály & his wax cylinders for recording folk songs

[English words by Geoffry Russell-Smith]

Johannes Brahms: Rhapsody in G minor for

piano solo, Op 79 No 2

Ernő Dohnányi: Rhapsody in C major for piano solo, Op 11 No 3

Arvo Pärt: Alleluia-Tropus

Алелуя. Правило веры и образ кротости, воздержания учителя яви тя стаду твоему яже вещей истина ; сего ради стяжал еси смирением высокая, нищетою богатая, отче священноначальниче Николае, моле Христа Бога спастися душам нашим.

Aleluya. Pravilo vyerï i obraz krotosti, vozdyerzhaniya uchityelya yavi tya stadu tvoyemu yazhe vyeshchey istina ; syego radi styazhal yesi smiryeniyem vïsokaya, nishchetoyu bogataya, otche svyashchennonachalniche Nikolaye, moli Hrista Boga spastisya dusham nashim.

Alleluia. A rule of faith and a model of meekness, a teacher of abstinence hath reality shewn thee unto thy flock; therewithal hast thou acquired: by humility – greatness, by poverty – riches; O Father hierarch Nicholas, intercede before Christ the God that our souls may be saved.

Arvo Pärt: Which Was the Son of…

And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph, Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge, Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda, Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri, Which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er, Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim, Which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David, Which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson, Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda, Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor, Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala, Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech, Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan, Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

Interval

Refreshments will be available at the side of the church. Choose from: White wine – Silver Ghost Sauvignon Blanc 2016 Central Valley, Chile (‘fruity with crisp acidity’)

Rosé wine – Vallée des Pins 2014 Côteaux d’Aix en Provence, France (‘pale & delicate with great depth of flavour & aroma’)

Red wine – Valle Antigua Merlot 2016 Chile (‘soft, plummy with a touch of oak’) Orange juice & water

Suggested contribution: £3 per glass of wine; 50p for soft drinks

Henryk Górecki: Totus Tuus, Op 60

Totus Tuus sum, Maria, Mater nostri Redemptoris, Virgo Dei, Virgo pia, Mater mundi Salvatoris. Totus Tuus sum, Maria!

I am wholly yours, Mary, Mother of our Redeemer, Virgin of God, Virgin of virtue, Mother of the Saviour of the world. I am wholly yours, Mary!

Zoltán Kodály: Missa Brevis

1. Introit for organ

2. Kyrie

Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

3. Gloria

Gloria in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te. Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe, Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris.

Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis.

Quoniam tu solus Sanctus, tu solus Dominus,

tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe.

Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace to men

of good will. We praise Thee, we blessThee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee for

Thy great glory.

O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty. O Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us. For Thou only art holy, Thou only art the Lord, Thou only art most high, Jesus Christ.

Cum Sancto Spiritu,

in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.

With the Holy Ghost, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

4. Credo

Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium, et invisibilium. Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum. Et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,

Deum verum de Deo vero. Genitum non factum,

consubstantialem Patri:

per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem, descendit de caelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine; et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub

Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas. Et ascendit in caelum: sedet

ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, judicare vivos et mortuos:

cujus regni non erit finis. Et in Spiritum sanctum, Dominum, et vivificantem: qui ex Patre Filioque procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio

simul adoratur et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per Prophetas. Et unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam.

Confiteor unum baptisma.

in remissionem peccatorum.

Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum

Et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.

5. Sanctus

I believe in one God, Father almighty

maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ,

only begotten Son of God.

Begotten of His Father before all worlds. God of God, light of light,

very God of very God. Begotten not made,

of one being with the Father:

by whom all things were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven. And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary; and was made man. And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven: He sitteth at the right hand of the Father. And He shall come again with glory

to judge the living and the dead: His kingdom shall have no end. And in the Holy Ghost, Lord, and giver of life: who proceedeth from the Father and the Son. Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified: who spake by the Prophets. And in one holy catholic and

apostolic Church.

I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.

And I look for the resurrection of the dead And the life of the world to come. Amen.

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis.

Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna to God in the highest.

6. Benedictus

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.

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

7. Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

8. Ite, Missa est for organ

Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

TONIGHT'S COMPOSERS & THEIR WORKS ZOLTÁN KODÁLY (1882-1967)

Pange Lingua, Evening Song and Missa Brevis

Tonight we mark the 50th

anniversary of the death of Zoltán Kodály. It was on 6 March 1967, at the age

of 84, that he breathed his last in Hungary’s capital, Budapest. He had outlived his friends and fellow composers, Bartók and Dohnányi. Unlike them, he had lived in his homeland all his life, although his frequent travels abroad had given him a world-wide reputation, particularly in Britain. He was a highly educated and skilled musician, a teacher, a collector of folksongs, a linguist and a philosopher. One of his life’s missions was to improve musical education for the young through singing: the Kodály method is still used around the world today. On the day after Kodály died, Benjamin Britten said “A great man has gone from us….But what a legacy he has left us!”

Zoltán Kodály The house in the central Hungarian town of Kecskemét in which Zoltán was born no longer exists, having been demolished to make way for a new train station – ironic, given that his father was a railway official for 40 years! Kodály Senior’s job meant that the family was never long in one place; in fact they moved when the baby was just two months old. Zoltán was an extremely bright child: he passed all his school exams with distinction, learnt to play several musical instruments with very little tuition, sang in a cathedral choir and soon began to compose. He obtained a first degree and a doctorate in Budapest, spent six months in Berlin and Paris and then became a professor at, and later Director of, the Liszt Academy of Music. In earlier days he had studied here in what had once been Franz Liszt’s apartment. Constant political upheavals in his homeland

resulted in Kodály falling in and out of favour with the authorities. However, by the 1920s he was to enjoy great popularity and fame at home and abroad. This came with the appearance of his masterpieces Psalmus Hungaricus and the folk opera Háry János and in the 1930s with his work in musical education. More honours were heaped upon him through the succeeding decades so that in 1960 the Master of the Queen’s Music Sir Arthur Bliss could say of him: “The voice of Kodály in music is the voice of Hungary and in his works is enshrined the soul of a great

Liszt’s study in the old Academy* people”.

The musical origins of Kodály‘s Pange Lingua lie in his 1928 piece for female chorus Five Tantum Ergos. Three years later Kodály transcribed the work for a mixed chorus and organ and added an introductory Praeludium for solo organ to form the new work. The words are those of a hymn written by the Italian Dominican friar, Catholic priest and Doctor of the Church, St Thomas Aquinas. In August 1264 Pope Urban IV instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi across the whole of the Latin Church and had asked the great philosopher and theologian to write the texts for the Mass and Office of the feast. Pange Lingua formed part of this liturgy and, although Urban was not to reap much benefit from

his commission as he died only a few months later, the hymn is still sung today. Kodály‘s setting was first performed on 14 April 1929 in the Great Hall of the Music Academy in Budapest, sung by the choirs of two local schools. It is somewhat more traditional in form than his Missa Brevis, with hints of the choral music of Bruckner and of the composer’s

fellow Hungarian Franz or Ferenc Liszt. In 1937 Kodály published a short volume entitled Folk music of Hungary and the next year he made a choral arrangement of the Hungarian folk song Esti dal or Evening Song. He had collected the song in the early years of the 20

th century when, like his

contemporary Ralph Vaughan Williams in England and his friend Béla Bartók in Hungary, he toured his native land in search of such melodies. He recorded them on wax cylinders and transcribed almost 5000 during the course of his life. He often blended folk themes with his own romantic musical style to create choral, operatic and orchestral works. He set Esti dal in three different versions: for treble choir, male adult choir and mixed choir,

as we shall sing it tonight. It was published in 1939. The original Hungarian words tell the story of a young soldier praying for shelter and safe-keeping through the night. The tune is one of several pieces of Kodály’s music played every day on the 37-bell carillon of the town hall in Kecskemét, the composer’s birthplace.

Zoltán Kodály was at the height of his popularity during the Second World War. In honour of his 60th birthday and retirement as a professor in the Liszt Academy, 1942 had been designated Kodály Year across Hungary. The same year he wrote a large-scale Mass for solo organ which had its first performance two years later in Budapest’s St Stephen’s

Basilica. Meanwhile, in 1943, he was awarded the Hungarian Order of Merit and elected to the country’s Academy of Sciences. In spite of this popularity, Kodály still ran foul of the pro-Nazi regime over both his refusal to divorce his Jewish wife and his efforts to protect colleagues, friends, and former students. Although it had sided with Nazi Germany the Hungarian Government was also secretly negotiating an armistice with the

USA and Britain. When Hitler discovered this, his troops speedily invaded Hungary. But soon the might of the Soviet army was also bearing down on the country and they were at the gates of Budapest by early 1945. As their flat had been partly destroyed by aerial bombardment, Mr & Mrs Kodály took refuge in the air-raid shelter of a convent school in the capital and there he began writing a setting of the Organ Mass for choir with organ or

orchestral accompaniment.

With further advances by the Russians – and the Nazis bombing all the city’s bridges in an attempt to stop them – the couple moved to the basement of the capital’s late 19th century Opera House, where they were to stay for two weeks. It was during that time, in February 1945, that this revised Mass, the Missa Brevis, was first performed – in an

improvised concert hall in the building’s underground cloakroom, with just nine singers and a harmonium. On the score Kodály had written a dedication to his wife Emma: Coniugi et consorti carissimae in anniversario XXXV (to my dearest wife and consort on

our 35th wedding anniversary). It was said that during the premiere the audience and the

singers could hear the sound of shelling outside and someone commented that it was as if the bombs were providing a timpani accompaniment to the Mass. Once the war was over the work received its first performance in its version for choir and orchestra at the 1948 Three Choirs Festival in Worcester Cathedral under the composer’s baton.

The Mass’s composer & its dedicatee Budapest Opera House*

The work originally bore the sub-title In tempore belli (in time of war) but this attribution was dropped on publication. Kodály clearly intended the Missa Brevis to be an act of spiritual supplication rather than a gesture of nationalism. Nevertheless, the Mass hints,

with its powerful emotional drama, at the time of suffering and uncertainty which the Hungarians were going through. The music shows the influence of the polyphonic style of Palestrina, mixed with that of Bach and 19

th century romanticism and flavoured with

Kodály’s own individual, folk music-influenced style. As one of his most notable choral pieces, the Missa Brevis is a hymn to hope, a musical poem in praise of the Divinity and the comfort and strength which belief in Him can bring. In the work the traditional six fixed sections of the Roman Catholic Mass known as the Ordinary – the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei – are framed by two short movements for solo organ: an Introitus and an Ite, Missa est, thereby

recalling the piece’s original purely instrumental form. Bold chords from the organ at the very start of the Introitus contrast with more subdued moments which lead naturally into the calm simplicity of the Kyrie. There a hauntingly simple melody from the lower voices

contrasts with a high, angelic melody from the sopranos. The hymn of praise, blessing

and adoration of the Gloria is interposed with music reflecting the penitential quality of the

text before a more joyful sound returns, culminating in a resounding Amen. The Credo is by turns highly lyrical and emotional, sinking to the very depths of the lower voices before reflecting the resurrection with a rising phrase. The Sanctus and Benedictus movements both have a restrained opening followed by climactic hosannas. These quickly fade after giving a brief glimpse of heaven. A gradually ascending, heartfelt plea for peace in the following Agnus Dei movement recalls the circumstances

of the music’s composition while sheltering from bombardment. The spine-tingling high soprano notes instantly transport one to another, more peaceful world. And then the reworking of the work’s introductory Kyrie music brings the Missa Brevis full circle along with the Ite, missa est, a concluding instrumental dismissal which finally recalls the earlier affirmation of belief in the Credo.

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897) Rhapsody in G minor for piano solo, Op 79 No 2

Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg as the middle child

of an impecunious musician and a seamstress. Despite his family’s poverty, Johannes took piano lessons from the age of seven and by the age of 13 was making use of this skill to supplement his family’s meagre income by playing in Hamburg’s somewhat seedy dance halls and taverns, frequented mostly by sailors newly landed at the port. His renown both as pianist and composer increased and in 1853 the 20-year old made some key encounters: he met his fellow composer and pianist, the renowned Franz Liszt and the violinist Joseph Joachim. Joachim then introduced him to the husband and wife composers Robert and Clara Schumann, who were to leave a deep and lasting impression on the young Johannes.

Johannes Brahms After some professional setbacks – his first piano concerto was poorly received and he failed to secure the conductorship of the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra – he finally began to obtain critical acclaim in the mid-1860s with his choral masterpiece the German Requiem. In the following decade his Alto Rhapsody, his Song of Destiny and his first symphony were all warmly received. In 1877 Brahms discovered the lakeside resort of Pörtschach am Wörthersee in southern Austria; he wrote to Clara Schumann that Pörtschach am Wörthersee he had broken a journey to Vienna at a hotel there and “found the next day so pleasant that on the second day I decided to stay for the time being”. He penned his second symphony there that year and returned the

following summer to write his violin concerto. Both works were a great success and helped to make him a major figure in the musical world. So he was back in Pörtschach for a final stay in summer 1879 and settled down to writing a couple of piano rhapsodies, his opus 79.

He dedicated the rhapsodies to one of his former pupils, Lisl von Herzogenberg, whom the English composer Ethel Smyth described as: “a remarkable and most fascinating woman…lovely & gifted, dazzling & bewitching”. The Rhapsody in G minor, Op 79 No 2 was Lisl’s favourite of the two rhapsodies. She wrote to Brahms: “these pieces seem to me beautiful beyond measure — more and more beautiful as I come to know their bends and turnings, their exquisite ebb and flow, which affects me so extraordinarily, especially in the G minor…”.The second rhapsody is in classical sonata form, with a passionate first theme which contrasts with the second, marked misterioso. After a

sweeping, dramatic opening, more beguiling, pleading notes follow and a mysterious theme with an atmosphere of suspense. All this builds to the shattering climax with which the rhapsody ends. Brahms himself gave the first

Lisl von Herzogenberg performance of both rhapsodies on 20 January 1880 in the western German city of Krefeld, at a concert in which he also conducted his second symphony, Alto Rhapsody and Triumphlied.

ERNŐ DOHNÁNYI (1877–1960) Rhapsody in C major for piano solo, Op 11 No 3 Ernő Dohnányi was born in the Austro-Hungarian city

where the Kings of Hungary had been crowned for 300 years – a place then called Pozsony in Hungarian and Pressburg in German but which today is Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. As a good Austro-Hungarian, Ernő was brought up speaking both Hungarian and German. And later in his life he chose to use a German version of his name – Ernst von Dohnányi – on most of his published compositions. His use of the noble prefix ‘von’ links to a family story that the Dohnányis had in fact been ennobled almost 200 years before Ernst’s birth. His father however was a simple maths teacher in the local school, who taught not only his own son but also one of Ernő’s boyhood friends who like Ernő went on to become a distinguished composer: Bela Bartók. Dohnányi around 1905

Dohnányi senior was an amateur cellist and taught his son the rudiments of music. By the age of 17, Ernő was proficient enough to begin studies at the Hungarian National Academy of Music in Budapest. Dohnányi’s premature talents soon shone through: not yet 20 years old, he had already graduated from the Academy and won the prestigious Hungarian King’s Prize for composition. He was soon touring Europe and the USA to great acclaim as both a pianist and conductor and Johannes Brahms himself promoted the younger composer’s first published work, a piano quintet.

The dawning of the twentieth century brought much personal happiness to the young musician. In 1900 he married the pianist Elsa Kunwald and the following year the couple settled in Vienna, where in 1902 their first child, Hans, was born. Meanwhile Dohnányi continued a punishing schedule of concerts around the world and by 1904 he was back in Vienna, exhausted and under doctor’s orders to take rest and relaxation. That summer he set to work on a group of four piano rhapsodies which became his Opus 11, dedicating them to his old piano teacher at the Academy, István Thomán. He said that the Rhapsody in C major, Op 11 No 3 corresponded to a scherzo of a sonata; for he

admitted that the four rhapsodies as a whole could be considered as a sonata in four movements. But, he added, having a looser structure than a formal piano sonata, the four movements could be performed separately. In describing the pieces he said they “are not rhapsodies in the sense of the Hungarian Rhapsodies by Liszt, in which

Hungarian folksongs are elaborated. My themes are all original, and when people find that their style is Hungarian, it is because I am Hungarian”. Dohnányi’s young protégé Edward Kilenyi, Jr described the piece many years later as “a sardonic scherzo in 3/4 time with a soaring melody for contrast”. The composer gave the first performance of the rhapsodies in Vienna on 29 November 1904. They were praised by press and audience alike and soon became a world-wide success. In later years Dohnányi refused to play the highly popular third rhapsody, saying it was “too difficult to be an effective concert piece”. We are confident that Nico de Villiers will prove him wrong tonight!

ARVO PÄRT (1935–) Alleluia-Tropus and Which Was the Son of… It was in the central Estonian town of Paide in north-eastern Estonia that Arvo Pärt was born. But his parents were soon to separate and before the war mother and son moved to the northern town of Rakvere. When Arvo first started school, the country was under Nazi rule, but the Soviets had taken over by the time he began piano lessons at the age of nine. He moved to the Estonian capital, Tallinn, to further his studies and began to compose. It was said of him that “he just seemed to shake his sleeves and notes would fall out”. His early works toyed with the fashionable trend of dissonance, strongly rejected by the authorities of the Soviet Union, of which Estonia was then part. Despite persecution resulting in a long period of artistic silence, he continued to live in Estonia until 1980, when with his Jewish wife and their two children, he was allowed to leave for Israel. But he never arrived there; instead he took Austrian citizenship and stayed for 18 months in Vienna, then moved to West Berlin. In 2011 he returned to live in Estonia. His later compositions have at times been likened to the prayers of a musical anchorite: mysterious and simple, illuminating and full of love and in part inspired by Gregorian chant. The American composer Steve Reich has written of Pärt: “He’s completely out of step with the zeitgeist and yet he’s enormously popular, which is so inspiring. His music fulfils a deep human need that has nothing to do with fashion”. Tom Service, writing in the Guardian, tells of the epiphany which set Pärt on this course to reclaim emotion after

the stridency of modernism – an encounter with a street cleaner outside Pärt’s Tallinn home. To his question “What should a composer do?” the street cleaner replied “He should love every note”. In 1988 Pärt dedicated his choral work Triodion to St Nicholas, the 4

th century saint from

Myra in modern-day Turkey, whose legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the idea of Santa Claus. Twenty years later the opportunity arose for the composer to dedicate another work to the saint. In 2008 he produced Alleluia-Tropus for choir and

eight cellos, first performed the same year in the Romanesque cathedral of San Sabino in the southern Italian city of Bari. The occasion was the final concert in that year’s festival Le Voci dell’Anima (‘the Voices of the

Soul’), which had commissioned Pärt to write a piece in honour of St Nicholas. The saint’s tomb lies in the city’s 12

th century basilica, described by the composer as “one of

the largest sanctuaries in the Christian world”. The three-minute composition, embellished with alleluias as refrains, is a setting of an Orthodox Christian apolotykion or dismissal hymn whose words – here in Church Slavonic – summarise the feast being celebrated on the day it is sung, in this case the feast of St Nicholas which falls on 6 December.

Arvo Pärt in 2008 In the year 2000 the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, was celebrating its status as that year’s European Capital of Culture. Arvo Pärt was asked to produce a work for the youth choir Voices of Europe who were due to give a concert in the city. Which Was the Son of… was the result. It is a setting of the genealogy of Jesus Christ as it appears in Chapter 3, verses 23 to 38 of St Luke’s Gospel. Voices of Europe consisted of 10 singers from each of the nine previous European Capitals of Culture. The work was markedly suitable for the location of its premiere – the genealogy mirrored the Icelandic tradition of passing names down from generation to generation. But it was also the sacred nature of enunciating the ancient names in ascending order which attracted the composer. There was also a modern twist: rather than using the original Greek of the gospels, Pärt chose to use the European de facto ‘lingua franca’ – English. The long list may read as somewhat monotonous on the page but this is avoided through the varied character of the music, which is inevitably resolved in quiet simplicity with the final naming of the Almighty, followed by a loud Amen.

HENRYK GÓRECKI (1933–2010) Totus Tuus, Op 60 Henryk Mikołaj Józef Górecki’s life began on his family’s

farm in the village of Czernica, a rural setting despite being close to a vast steel-producing and coal-mining area in Upper Silesia, southern Poland. His father was a railway worker and amateur musician and his mother an amateur pianist who died on Henryk’s second birthday. Two years later the boy dislocated his hip after a fall and thereafter his life was dogged by pain and ill health. He was strictly forbidden to touch his dead mother’s piano but allowed to take lessons on the violin by the age of 10. Czernica was some 30 miles west of the city of Katowice, where he went on to study at the Academy of Music and later set up his home. By the early 1950s Górecki was a primary school teacher, using all his spare time to widen his musical knowledge and to develop his skills as an essentially Henryk Górecki self-taught composer. At first he followed the trend of

modernism like Pärt. By 1975 he had risen to the post of Rector of his old haunt, the Katowice Academy of Music. Even whilst writing highly experimental music, he kept an interest in the traditions of Polish Renaissance music and folksong. And then, again like Pärt, he moved away from serialism and dissonance. In 1976 he wrote his third symphony, the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, a work which eventually was to bring the

composer world-wide fame. Meanwhile, by 1979, he had distanced himself from the increasingly reactionary Academy to produce his Beatus vir in time for Pope John Paul

II’s first pilgrimage as Pontiff to his native Poland. Months later came the rise of the Solidarity movement and all that that was to entail.

Poland soon began to open up to the West and in 1987 Górecki was able to enter into a contract with the British music publishers Boosey & Hawkes. That same year John Paul II undertook his third pilgrimage to Poland, for which Górecki wrote his a capella choral work Totus Tuus, Op 60. This was

first performed during the celebration of a High Mass in Warsaw’s Piłsudski Square (then called

Piłsudski Square, Warsaw Victory Square) on14 June that year, sung by the choir of the Warsaw Catholic Theological Academy. The work’s libretto comes from a poem by the Polish writer and actress Maria Bogusławska (1868-1929) addressed to the Virgin Mary, Poland’s patron saint. The phrase Totus tuus – meaning ‘Wholly yours’ – was also the personal apostolic motto of

John Paul II. He himself wrote that it was “not only an expression of piety, or simply an expression of devotion. It is more.” He explained that during his childhood he had been devoted to the Virgin Mary but then thought that he should focus more on Christ. However, when he was a factory worker during the Second World War, he came to understand that “true devotion to the Mother of God…is very profoundly rooted in the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity and the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption”. As for Górecki’s music, it is simple and direct in style, referring explicitly to Polish Catholic chant. After an initial full-voiced call to Mary, Górecki uses slow repeated phrases to build up to a ringing paean to the Mother of God at the work’s centre – a rock on which the composer builds a telling affirmation of his personal faith – before letting the music fade away again to quiet contemplation.

In case you wondered…a rough guide to pronouncing the composers’ names:

Kodály = Code-eye Dohnányi = Doch*-naan-yee (*like loch)

Pärt = Pair-t Górecki = Goo-rets-key

And did you know…in Hungary, personal names appear in what we would consider reverse order, so:

Kodály Zoltán and Dohnányi Ernő

A postscript…

Encounters and memories of a musical kind

In doing research for our concert programmes, I am always on the look-out for connections between the choir and the composers whose music we are going to perform. On this occasion I came upon a real gem of a story. Catherine, one of LCS’s sopranos, told me how – back in 1998 – she had produced a short TV documentary presented by Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk. Björk was very keen to explore the music of Estonian composer, Arvo Pärt, so Catherine arranged an interview between the two in London.

Arvo the composer Catherine said “I had long been a Björk fan, but my introduction to Pärt, both his music and the man himself, was transformative. His humour and humanity, his sheer humility and profundity, shone through at every moment. He stirred and shared; he seemed to search his own soul whilst always reaching out to the rest of us as we made the film.” Since making the film, she has been reunited with the composer a couple of times, most recently with his family at the UK premiere of his 4

th symphony during the 2010 Proms

Season, part of a series of events world-wide to mark Pärt’s 75th birthday. Catherine says that on that occasion he too remembered fondly the experience of making the film with Björk. And, she adds: “at the beginning of that same year my son was born. I named him Arvo after the composer whose music had made a mark on my life and which continues to mean so much to me.” Catherine moved to Lewisham in 2012 and was delighted to see that LCS had programmed a number of Pärt’s works in their forthcoming concerts. And so she promptly joined the choir and will sing two of his pieces with us tonight! The full story Baby Arvo appears under “News” on the choir’s website: www.lewishamchoralsociety.org.uk. One more memory comes from tonight’s piano soloist, Nico de Villiers. He recalls, when he was aged 10, arriving at his piano teacher’s house at 3pm on a Thursday afternoon – “I know it was Thursday at 3, that’s when I always had my piano lessons”, he says – to hear the sound of a wonderful piece of music coming through the door. It turned out to be the third of four piano rhapsodies, Op 11, by Hungarian composer Ernő Dohnányi. Nico was bowled over and determined to one day play the piece in public. He did so and will do so again tonight, as we hear him play this rhapsody, together with another by Johannes Brahms.

TONIGHT'S PERFORMERS

Nico de Villiers – Piano

South Africa-born pianist Nico de Villiers is based in London and is in demand as soloist, accompanist and coach in the UK and abroad. He holds degrees from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, University of Michigan, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Recent debuts 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. Nico has a long association with the music of Ernst von Dohnányi (Dohnányi Ernő). In addition to various performances of his piano quintets in Sweden, South Africa and the United States, Nico performed Dohnányi’s complete piano chamber music in a three recital series at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2008. Focusing on another lesser-known composer, Nico recorded André Tchaikowsky’s Piano Sonata for the Toccata Classics label and he features in the EntertainmentTV documentary Rebel of the Keys, exploring Tchaikowsky’s life and music. Nico has also performed

Tchaikowsky’s works in England, Poland and South Africa. He 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. He has recently co-written and published the first ever biography on Richard Hageman entitled Making the Tailcoats Fit. Hageman conducted at the Metropolitan Opera and scored some of the

best-known westerns of John Ford. www.nicodevilliers.com

James Orford – Organ

James Orford is currently the Organ Scholar at both the Royal Hospital Chelsea and King’s College, London. He also studies the organ on a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, where David Titterington is his teacher. His past positions have included Organ Scholar at Truro Cathedral and Dulwich College, and Assistant Organist at St Mark’s Church, Bromley. An active performer, James has given many recitals across the UK in many notable venues, including St Paul’s, Westminster, Truro, Hereford, and St Albans Cathedrals, Christchurch Priory, the Chapels of both Clare and Queens’ Colleges, Cambridge, Lancing College Chapel, and the Royal Festival Hall. Forthcoming recitals include Truro and Liverpool Cathedrals and Bridlington Priory.

As a choral accompanist, James has worked with many professional choirs, chamber choirs, and choral societies. He is currently the accompanist for the Sloane Square

Choral Society, Concordia Chamber Choir, and the Hackney Singers, having previously held the same position with the Truro Choral Society and the Allegri Singers. He also regularly works with the London Choral Sinfonia, Lewisham Choral Society, the Ashtead Singers, and the Gower Street Singers. Engagements with these choirs and others have taken him to many venues across the UK and France, including Chartres Cathedral, Neresheim Abbey, Salisbury Cathedral, and in 2015, he was invited to be the Festival Organist for the Annual Swiss Archdeaconry Choral Festival, which was directed by David Hill. He also features as the organist on Carols from Chelsea, a Christmas CD

recorded by the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, directed by William Vann, on the SOMM Label. When not playing the organ, James is also a pianist. Working mainly as an accompanist, he has performed with many soloists, both instrumental and vocal, and regularly accompanies song recitals, most notably one given by Susan Bullock at Dulwich College in 2014 as part of the First World War commemorations. He has also won the accompanist prizes in the AESS Courtney Kenny Song Competition, the John Kerr English Song Competition and the Marjorie Thomas Singing Prize.

Dan Ludford-Thomas – Conductor Dan enjoys a busy schedule as a conductor, chorus master and singing teacher in London. He directs a wide variety of choirs from professional ensembles, church choirs, chamber choirs and large symphonic choruses. He performs regularly in major concert venues across the country 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's Messiah in the

Royal Festival Hall. In 2014 he conducted over 200 singers in a performance of Verdi's Requiem in the Fairfield Halls returning with the same forces to put on Mendelssohn's Elijah in 2016.

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. In 2012 Dan worked as a choirmaster on BBC2’s The Choir: Sing While You Work and then became the Artistic Director of the Lewisham

and Greenwich NHS Choir enjoying success as the co-producer and musical director for the Choir's 2015 Christmas Number One 'Bridge Over You'. He returned in 2013 to work on BBC2’s The Choir: Sing While You Work series 2 as choirmaster to Citibank Choir with whom he has continued as the Musical Director; highlights include performing at the Hammersmith Apollo and a series of concerts in New York. In 2015 Dan worked behind the scenes as choirmaster for The Choir: Gareth Malone's Great Choir Reunion. He is currently Head of Vocal Studies at Dulwich College, conductor of the Senior Choir of the National Children's Choir of Great Britain, Musical Director of Concordia Chamber

Choir, Musical Director of The Hackney Singers and Director of Music of Lewisham Choral Society.

Lewisham Choral Society

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 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. It is a performing choir, staging four concerts a year, frequently collaborating with other choirs 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 has a wide repertoire and performs music from the Renaissance to the twenty-first century, ranging from Tallis and Monteverdi to Arvo Pärt, Cecilia McDowall and Eric Whitacre.

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN LEWISHAM CHORAL SOCIETY AS A SINGER?

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’s 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 start again on Monday 4 September, continue until the autumn concert on 18 November and then run again without a break until the Christmas concert on 16 December. We shall schedule additional rehearsals as and when necessary. Singers are welcome to join as new members on 4, 11 or 18 September.

Programme notes, postscript & photos marked * by Martin Bull Design of concert posters and flyers by Ben Leslie

No flash photography please

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Lewisham Choral Society, Registered Charity Number 1040570 acknowledges

the support of the London Borough of Lewisham and is affiliated to Making Music

Kodály’s grave in Farkasréti Cemetery, Budapest *

Lewisham Choral Society – Future performances Please visit our website for updates www.lewishamchoralsociety.org.uk

Ticket enquiries to 020 8309 0439 or website

And

Saturday 16 December at 7.30 pm

Christmas music & carols for choir and audience Venue to be announced