Frank Martin's "Mass" appeal

“I felt that a personal expression of religious belief should remain secret and hidden from public opinion. ”

— Frank Martin (1890-1974)

Of all the works in Swiss composer Frank Martin's catalogue, one of the most celebrated and performed is his unaccompanied Mass for Double Choir. Completed in 1926, the composer would not allow the work to be performed until 1963; he considered the work to be a 'matter between God and myself'. Since its premiere, the work has gained a tremendous following, and has become a staple of contemporary choral repertoire.

Frank Martin (1890-1974)

So what makes the Mass for Double Choir so special? Three conductors of Alberta-based, award-winning choirs -- Leonard Ratzlaff, Jordan Van Biert and Timothy Shantz -- offer their scholarly insights and experience on the work, and why it deserves such praise.

Leonard Ratzlaff and Jordan Van Biert sing the Mass with us this weekend, conducted by Timothy Shantz, to kick off our fifth-anniversary season. Tickets are still available: http://berlinermesse.bpt.me

Enlightenment on a sacred Brahms motet

One of the a cappella works we will feature at our season-opening concert on Sunday 15 October is the sacred Johannes Brahms motet "Warum ist Licht gegeben dem Muhseligen", from his Opus 74. The motet, which translates as "Why is light given to him that is in misery", uses Biblical texts with added text from Martin Luther. If you are familiar with and enjoy Brahms' German Requiem, you will love this motet.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) is widely regarded as one of the preeminent German composers of the 19th century.

Background

Brahms wrote this motet in 1877, during what has been described as a period of "high maturity". After 15 years, Brahms felt inspired to compose unaccompanied sacred choral music, and the "Warum" motet from his Opus 74 is a real standout.

Brahms describes the motet as “A little essay about the great ‘Why’, especially in stark contrast to his sunnier Symphony No. 2. The "Warum" motet as a whole has a great emotional impact, whether it be the anguished cries of “Warum?” in the first section or the joyous six-voice counterpoint in the second and third sections.

The motet has four distinct sections.

1. The opening section is severe and imposing in the key of D minor, the key often used during the 19th century to characterize melancholy. Listen to how Brahms sets the Biblical texts from the Book of Job, particularly for the anguished cries of "Warum" throughout.
    
2. A canonic setting in six parts in the key of F major, the key of complaisance and calm. Here, Brahms sets text from the Book of Lamentations by the prophet Jeremiah, Lasset uns unser Herz samt den Händen aufheben zu Gott im Himmel (Let us lift up our heart
   with our hands unto God in the heavens).
    
3. The third section (Siehe, wir) is in two parts, set to words from the Letter of St. James in the New Testament. The second part of this section begins with the words Die Geduld Hiob (The Patience of Job), which echoes back to the text of the first section. Melodically, this second part also develops into a recap of the second section (Lasset uns).
    
4. The final section is a chorale that sets the words of the Lutheran Nunc Dimittis by Martin Luther. In it, death is seen not as something to be feared, but rather as a will of God and the fulfillment of a promise. Perhaps it's fitting that Brahms sets this section in the key D major, which is the key of Handel's "Glory to God", "Worthy is the Lamb" and "Hallelujah" movements from Messiah, and the triumphant conclusion to Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

Forming musical roots

For Timothy Shantz, founder and artistic director of Luminous Voices, the "Warum" motet is a beloved choral work. "It is music that seemingly forms my own musical roots in counterpoint and romanticism," says Shantz. "He was a composer who carried the great German musical and choral traditions of Schütz and Bach deep into the 19th century yet with his own rhythmic style and personal sense of expression. Those musical ideas are encapsulated in this motet." Indeed, Bach's influence is strong in this motet, such as the use of counterpoint and the structure of the motet, right down to its concluding harmonized chorale.

YOUTUBE: Watch and listen to the La Maîtrise de l'Académie Vocale de Paris, directed by Iain Simcock, perform the motet in 2011.

Translations:

Accessed 06 October 2017, http://www.kellydeanhansen.com/opus74.html

From Job 3:20-23

Warum ist das Licht gegeben dem Mühseligen,
und das Leben den betrübten Herzen,
Die des Todes warten und kommt nicht,
und grüben ihn wohl aus dem Verborgenen,
Die sich fast freuen und sind fröhlich,
daß sie das Grab bekommen,
Und dem Manne, deß Weg verborgen ist,
und Gott vor ihm denselben bedecket?

Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery,
and life unto the bitter in soul;
Which long for death, but it cometh not;
and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad,
when they can find the grave?
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid,
and whom God hath hedged in?
 

From Lamentations 3:41

Lasset uns unser Herz
samt den Händen aufheben
zu Gott im Himmel.

Let us lift up our heart
with our hands
unto God in the heavens.

From James 5:11

Siehe, wir preisen selig,
die erduldet haben.
Die Geduld Hiob habt ihr gehöret,
und das Ende des Herrn habt ihr gesehen;
denn der Herr ist barmherzig,
und ein Erbarmer.

Behold, we count them happy
which endure.
Ye have heard of the patience of Job,
and have seen the end of the Lord;
that the Lord is very pitiful,
and of tender mercy.

From Martin Luther

Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin,
in Gottes Willen,
getrost ist mir mein Herz und Sinn,
sanft und stille.
Wie Gott mir verheissen hat:
der Tod ist mir Schlaf worden.

With peace and joy I travel to that place,
according to God's will;
my heart and soul are comforted,
gently and quietly.
As god has promised me,
death has become sleep to me.

Tackling Tarik's Triptych

One of the works on our Sunday 15 October program is the third movement of Tarik O'Regan's Triptych, entitled "From Heaven Distilled a Clemency". The song, for string orchestra and chorus, represents the most contemporary of the four works on our program.

Tarik O'Regan

About Tarik O'Regan

Tarik O’Regan, born in London in 1978, has written music for a wide variety of ensembles and
organizations; these include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Sydney Dance Company, Chamber Choir Ireland, BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, and the Royal Opera House, London.

Currently he is working on a commission by the Houston Grand Opera for release in 2019: a full-scale opera about the life of Lorenzo Da Ponte, the famed librettist of three of Mozart's most treasured operas (Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte). Highlights of the 2017/18 season include the Amsterdam revival of Mata Hari, an evening-length ballet commissioned by the Dutch National Ballet, and performances by the Orchestra of the Opéra de Rouen, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and the Alexander String Quartet.

O’Regan’s work, recognized with two GRAMMY® nominations and two British Composer Awards, has been recorded on over 30 albums and is published exclusively by Novello & Co. Ltd, part of the Music Sales Group.

Tackling the Triptych

Composer Tarik O'Regan shares some insights and stories with Distinguished Concerts International of New York (DCINY) about his popular choral works Triptych and The Ecstasies Above. Courtesy of DCINY, November 2015.

O'Regan's Triptych -- from which "From Heaven Distilled a Clemency" comes -- is one of the composer's most popular works. Started in 2004 and completed in 2005, the three-movement work sets poetry from numerous sources: William Penn, William Blake, the Psalms of David and Muhammad Rajab Al-Bayoumi, an Egyptian poet of the early twentieth-century.

O'Regan composed Triptych upon moving to the United States from Oxford. In his programme note for the work, O'Regan writes, "Relatively new to living in New York, I am much more aware of the independent, vibrant cultural plurality that exists today; it’s probably the single most dazzling facet of the City and is largely responsible for the infamous ‘edginess’ that pervades daily life there. With this in mind, I set to work on Threnody (movement I of Triptych) in 2004; I wanted to write something that was relevant to the Israeli/Palestinian issue without losing that City ‘edge’."

The latter two movements were originally commissioned and written as one movement. When O'Regan completed it in 2005 for a Remembrance Sunday concert, he realized the link it would have with Threnody. "Musical works connected with commemoration or memorials are often suitably pensive and slow," he writes in the programme note for Triptych. "I wanted to start with that concept, but to bring in some of the relentless urban rhythms that had been such a large influence on my life in the preceding two years. The result is that that the second movement (As We Remember Them) is quiet and gentle (a moment of recollection), while the final movement (From Heaven Distilled a Clemency) is much faster and vibrant, returning to a more openly elated rendering of the start of Triptych." It is this faster, vibrant final movement that Luminous Voices will perform.

An echo back to the Great War

The title "From Heaven Distilled a Clemency" is a couplet from the final stanza of the Thomas Hardy poem And There Was a Great Calm. Hardy wrote the poem to commemorate the signing of the Armistice that ended World War One in November 1918.

"A lot of cultures don’t memorialize death in a slow manner," O'Regan said in 2011. "I’m thinking of music for an Irish wake or dances performed at funerals in many cultures. I tried to piece together the 'beyond' without coming from any particular religious or secular angle. How do people get on with their lives beyond the initial sadness, and what happens to the lost loved ones?"

Come hear Luminous Voices sing "From Heaven Distilled a Clemency" with the Luminous String Orchestra. Arrange your tickets now: http://berlinermesse.bpt.me.

“Calm fell. From Heaven distilled a clemency;
There was peace on earth, and silence in the sky;
Some could, some could not, shake off misery:
The Sinister Spirit sneered: ‘It had to be!’
And again the Spirit of Pity whispered, ‘Why?’”

— Thomas Hardy, from "And There Was a Great Calm" (1918)

The Tintinnabuli of Arvo Pärt

On 15 October 2017, Luminous Voices will open its 2017-18 season with four works, one of which is the Berliner Messe by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. Beginning in 1976, some of Arvo Pärt's compositions features a unique style known as tintinnabuli.

Arvo Pärt (courtesy Orthodox Arts Journal)

“Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers – in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, and I must search for unity. What is it, this one thing, and how do I find my way to it? Traces of this perfect thing appear in many guises – and everything that is unimportant falls away.”

— Arvo Pärt

Pärt developed tintinnabuli following his own research and experience with chant music. The word tintinnabuli itself derives from the Latin tintinnabulum, which means "bell". The use of tintinnabuli is quite effective with slow and meditative tempo, such as those used in his Berliner Messe.

Tintinnabuli features two musical voices.

1. An arpeggio of the tonic triad. For example, if the tonic key is C major, the first voice will feature the notes C, E, and G, which make up the tonic triad. The three notes of the triad, according to Pärt, represent the pealing of bells.
2. A diatonic movement in step-wise motion. For example, if the tonic key is C major, the second voice could include C, D, E and F (if the motion ascends), or C, B, A and G (if the motion descends).

In a four-voice context, listen for how one or two voices will sound only notes of a single triad, while the other voices move in a step-wise fashion. The triad is, in most cases, the tonal center of the piece from which Pärt rarely departs.

DID YOU KNOW... The "Kyrie" movement from Pärt's Berliner Messe is featured on the soundtrack of the hit movie Avengers: Age of Ultron. Listen for it toward the end of the movie, after the death of the character Quiksilver.

The Elora Festival Singers (Noel Edison, conductor) perform the Kyrie movement from Arvo Pärt's Berliner Messe.