Low Notes 8
By David Ward
June 2017. This is the latest in an erratic series of newsletters about the choir that will include information about what we are singing plus irrelevant ramblings and observations from the back row of the basses.
I wonder if other choir members suffer as I do on the day after a concert: snatches from the works we have performed sing incessantly in my brain; it’s like having a manic cd player in my head that knows only forte and can’t be switched off.
So I’ve spent the day soaring on eagles’ wings, dodging howling whirlinds, dancing round the oak of Herne and imploring someone to send us another Shakespeare. It’s enough to drive me to jolly good ale and old.
Performing in the Arts Centre has its good points: it’s a compact space and the acoustic is fine; but it’s a bit tight on the platform and we were all kebabbed by the stage lights.
Having said all that, and despite my personal and inevitable brain fades, the night seemed to be a bit of a triumph. We went for it, put at least some final consonants in the right places, observed most of the dynamics and tried not do unwanted rallentandos. So congratulations all round and thanks to Rosalind for a piano marathon and to Donald for once again taking this disparate group and turning it into a capable ensemble. I’m sure Shakespeare enjoyed it.
So now we have Tuesday nights free until September 5 when we start singing carols before autumn has got fully underway and take our first look at a new Donald masterwork and the Christmas Oratorio by Saint-Saëns (who had perfect pitch from the age of two, wrote his first symphony at 16, loved butterflies and his mum, and married a woman 21 years his junior).
The oratorio was written in 1858 when S-S was just 23 and first performed in Paris on Christmas Day that year. At least eight recordings seem to be available.
My extensive research (ie, I’ve looked at Wikipedia) tells me that S-S sets the familiar bit of the Christmas story from St Luke’s gospel and other biblical texts from St John, Isaiah, the Book of Lamentations and the Psalms. It’s all in Latin rather than French, which suits me, and was intended to be used in church, presumably during mass. It calls for five soloists and the sops and altos will be pleased to learn that the women’s voice divide into four parts at one point.
Mr Wikipedia adds: “Saint-Saëns divided the work into 10 movements, a prelude followed by nine vocal numbers. After the prelude, opening recitatives and chorus, the work gradually builds from a single soloist accompanied by a small ensemble to involve the entire instrumental and vocal forces. The full chorus sings in the second, sixth, and final movements and the women of the chorus accompany the tenor soloist in the fourth.”
“While there are brief episodes of grandeur in the solo parts and one frenetic section for the chorus, most of the work is subdued and lyrical in character. Saint-Saëns’s study of the choral music of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Berlioz and others had a great influence on the work, with the most significant influences being Part II of J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass.”
I like the sound of the frenetic bit. The work is another example of the choir’s pleasure in wandering off the beaten track to discover and perform pieces that other choirs rarely look at, such as the Shakespeare Ode by Thomas Linley the Younger. I’m very glad that we sang his three choruses and I don’t mind them zinging around in my ageing head for a bit longer.
Have a great summer and we’ll meet again on those hard chairs (unless the rumours of new ones are true) in the revamped Arts Centre in the autumn. Meanwhile here is a warning in code.
Внимавай. Доналд отиде на почивка в България и вероятно ни задава нещо. Всички ние ще трябва да пеем, използвайки кирилицата.