B.E. (Brittney) Boykin is an Atlanta-based composer, conductor, and pianist, who serves on the faculty of the School of Music at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Of her compositions, she writes: “I would hope that my compositions evoke some type of emotional response from the performer/listener. I’m doing my best to connect deeper with each text that is set because composing is normally a very spiritual experience for me. If it doesn’t resonate with me, it doesn’t make it to the paper.”

O magnum mysterium

O magnum mysterium,
O great mystery,

et admirabile sacramentum,
and wonderful sacrament,

ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,
that animals should see the new-born Lord,

jacentem in praesepio!
lying in a manger!

Beata Virgo, cujus viscera
Blessed is the Virgin whose womb

meruerunt portare Dominum Christum.
was worthy to bear Christ the Lord.

Alleluia.
Alleluia!

Josquin des Prez (1450–1521) was one of the towering composers of the Renaissance, attaining prominence during his lifetime as the greatest composer in Europe. His music spans the transition between the sound-world of the late Middle Ages and that of the High Renaissance, and served as a model for much of the 16th century. During his lifetime Josquin's compositions were widely published and regarded as models of composition by other composers and theorists: music printing made its appearance in the last 20 years of his life, thus enabling the dissemination of his music. Josquin worked both in Italy and France and his music bridges the Northern and Southern styles. He was the favorite composer of Martin Luther, who said of him: "Josquin is master of the notes, which must express what he desires; on the other hand, other choral composers must do what the notes dictate."

Today’s program recognizes the 500th anniversary of his death by presenting three of his sacred works – each varied in voicing and complexity, but all displaying his mastery of counterpoint, harmony, melody, and formal structure.

Ave Verum

Ave verum corpus
Hail, true body,

natum ex Maria Virgine,
born of the Virgin Mary,

vere passum, immolatum
having truly suffered, sacrificed

in cruce pro homine
on the cross for humankind,

cuius latus perforatum
from whose pierced side

unda fluxit et sanguine:
water and blood flowed:

esto nobis prægustatum
be for us a foretaste

mortis in examine.
in the trial of death.

O dulcis, o pie,
Oh sweet, oh gentle,

O Jesu fili virginis Mariae.
Oh Jesus, son of the virgin Mary.

Don Macdonald is an award-winning composer of film and concert music, and he has an eclectic musical background as a violinist, producer, educator, and conductor. Macdonald has been active as a choral singer since a very young age, and many of his works use voice in some way. He also writes music for theatre and dance, and has written in rock, jazz, and folk music idioms.

The composer writes about When the earth stands still:

“I wrote this for my wife Allison Girvan’s small but advanced youth choir, Laline, the smallest of 3 ensembles that she directs. I decided to compose a song much as a contemporary songwriter would, with my own lyrics and a form based around repeating verse and chorus. This is probably one of the easiest pieces of mine to learn yet one of the hardest to perform since the long phrases require a great deal of attention to dynamics, breathing, and consistency of tone.”

When the earth stands still

Come listen in the silence of the moment before rain comes down.
There’s a deep sigh in the quiet of the forest and the tall tree’s crown.

Now hold me.
Will you take the time to hold me and embrace the chill?

Or miss me.
Will you take the time to miss me when the earth stands still?

‘Cause there’s no use running
‘cause the storm’s still coming
and you’ve been running for so many years.

Come listen in the silence of the moment before shadows fall.
Feel the tremor of your heartbeat matching heartbeat as we both dissolve.

Now hold me.
Will you take the time to hold me and embrace the chill?

Or miss me.
Will you take the time to miss me when the earth stands still?

‘Cause there’s no use running
‘cause the storm’s still coming
and you’ve been running for so many years.

So stay with me, held in my arms.
Like branches of a tree,
they’ll shelter you for many years.

A prolific composer, Eleanor Daley has a remarkable gift for melody, and her works are notable for their sensitive interweaving of text and music. The Toronto-based composer has over one hundred published choral compositions and is commissioned extensively throughout North America.

Daley’s beautiful setting of Love came down at Christmas was composed in 2004 for the Victoria Scholars of Toronto, Canada. The text is by Christina Rossetti, who published the poem without a title in 1885. A tenor soloist begins by introducing the melody, which is developed by the choir throughout the piece.

Love came down at Christmas

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Stars and angels gave the sign.
Alleluia. Gloria in excelsis Deo.*

Worship we the Godhead,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?
Alleluia. Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and love to all,
Love for plea and gift and sign.
Alleluia.

*Hallelujah. Glory to God in the highest.

See the earlier bio for Josquin des Prez (1450–1521) with his piece Ave Verum sung by the Chroma ensemble.

The four-part Gaude Virgo Mater Christi is an early work, probably written in the 1470s or early 1480s. It is thought to be a small-scale study for his Ave Maria...Virgo serena, which is heard later in this program. It opens with paired, imitative duets, one of Josquin’s favorite textures, first between soprano and alto, then answered by tenor and bass.

Gaude Virgo mater Christi

Gaude, virgo mater Christi,
Quae per aurem concepisti,
Gabriele nuntio.
Rejoice, virgin mother of Christ
who hast conceived by ear,
with Gabriel as messenger.

Gaude, quia Deo plena
Peperisti sine poena,
Cum pudoris lilio.
Rejoice, for full of God
thou gavest birth without pain,
with the lily of purity.

Gaude, quia tui nati
Quem dolebas mortem pati,
Fulget resurrectio.
Rejoice, for the resurrection
of thy Son now shines,
whose death thou mourned.

Gaude Christo ascendente,
Et in coelum te vidente,
Motu fertur proprio.
Rejoice, as Christ ascends,
and, in thy sight, is carried
into heaven by his own strength.

Gaude quae post ipsum scandis,
Et est honor tibi grandis,
In caeli palatio.
Rejoice, thou who riseth after him
and to whom great honor is due
in the palace of heaven,

Ubi fructus ventris tui,
Nobis detur per te frui,
In perenni gaudio. Alleluia.
Where the fruit of thy womb
is granted us, through thee, to enjoy
in eternal rejoicing. Alleluia.

Roderick Williams is a celebrated Welsh-Jamaican composer and baritone who studied music and composition at Oxford University. His operas, and his instrumental, vocal, and choral works have been commissioned and performed by such groups as The Sixteen, the BBC Singers, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

The star has come is an illustrative and imaginative setting of a poem by Robert Seatter. In response to the evocative text, Williams uses portamenti (gliding from one pitch to another) techniques to create musical imagery, and explores cross-rhythms, chromatic harmony, and energetic dynamics in an ever-changing texture.

The star has come

The star has come with a flash and a zoom,
the star has come out of the night now into this room.

The star has come to all who waited here,
the star has come which burned so bright, now it burns so near.

The star has come straight as a winning dart,
the star has come, which is made of light now here in my heart.

José Mauricio Nunes Garcia (1767–1830) was an Afro-Brazilian composer who wrote the first Brazilian opera, as well as hundreds of choral and orchestral works. As a child, he likely sang in the choir of Rio Janeiro cathedral, and was noted for having “a beautiful voice and a great musical memory” as well as “creating his own melodies” at the harpsichord and the guitar. He was influenced by the music of Haydn and Mozart, and is documented as being the conductor of the first Brazilian performance of Mozart’s Requiem.

Domine Jesu

Domine, Jesu,
Lord Jesus,

te desidero, te volo, te quæro.
I long for you, I want you, I seek you.

Ostende mihi faciem tuam,
Show me your face,

et salvus ero.
and I shall be saved.

In Qilak, First Nations composer Andrew Balfour expresses his wonder at experiencing the vast expanse of sky and the shimmering of sun on snow during a visit to Baffin Island in northern Canada. Inspired by travels in Baffin Island in 2009 and a collaboration with Iqaluit folk singer and songwriter Madeleine Allakariallak, Qilak was composed as part of a concert project for Winnipeg-based Camerata Nova entitled Medieval Inuit: Stories of the North. The theme of the concert explored the early contact between Scandinavian explorers and the Inuit 1000 years ago. Balfour tells us: “Qilak is about the northern sky which is so breathtaking up in the Arctic. I loved the open space, the Inuit’s relationship with the land, and the musical sound of Inuktitut.”

The aesthetic of the piece reflects the expanse of sky and the shimmering reflection of sun on snow. Balfour’s composition hints at influences of Inuit throat singing and hauntingly echoes the vocables of traditional Ayaya songs of Southern Baffin Island.

Qilak

Qilak*
There is the sky.
Tunguniq**
Ayaya.

*The sky, the heavens, paradise
**Reflection of open water in the sky at the horizon

See the earlier bio for Josquin des Prez (1450–1521) with his piece Ave Verum sung by the Chroma ensemble.

Ave Maria...Virgo serena is regarded as Josquin's most famous motet and one of the most famous pieces of the 15th century. It rose to extreme popularity in the 16th century, even appearing at the head of the first volume of motets ever printed (published by Ottaviano Petrucci in 1502). Its revolutionary open style featuring early imitative counterpoint and two-voice parts has added to its acclaim as one of the most influential compositions of its time. The work was composed during Josquin's service at the North Italian court at Milan, perhaps in 1476, and published around 1485.

The work includes most of Josquin’s characteristic traits: points of imitation, transparent paired duets, and exquisite four-part counterpoint. The final lines are sung in homophony, in a beautiful closing plea, O Mater Dei, in sustained notes that contrast with the imitative polyphony of the rest of the piece.

Ave Maria...Virgo serena

Ave Maria, Gratia plena,
Dominus tecum, Virgo serena.
Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with thee, serene Virgin.

Ave, cuius Conceptio,
Solemni plena gaudio,
Caelestia, Terrestria,
Nova replet laetitia.
Hail, thou whose Conception,
Full of great joy,
Fills heaven and earth
With new gladness.

Ave, cuius Nativitas
Nostra fuit solemnitas,
Ut lucifer lux oriens
Verum solem praeveniens.
Hail, thou whose Nativity
Became our great celebration,
As the light-bearing Morning Star
anticipates the true Sun.

Ave pia humilitas,
Sine viro fecunditas,
Cuius Annuntiatio
Nostra fuit salvatio.
Hail, faithful humility,
Fruitful without man,
Whose Annunciation
Was our salvation.

Ave vera virginitas,
Immaculata castitas,
Cuius Purificatio
Nostra fuit purgatio.
Hail, true virginity,
Immaculate chastity,
Whose Purification
Was our cleansing.

Ave, praeclara omnibus
Angelicis virtutibus,
Cuius fuit Assumptio
Nostra glorificatio.
Hail, glorious one
In all angelic virtues,
Whose Assumption
Was our glorification.

O Mater Dei,
Memento mei. Amen.
O Mother of God,
Remember me. Amen.

This contrasting, chromatic setting of the Ave Maria text is by the famed Canadian-American Black composer, pianist, conductor, and poet, Nathaniel Dett (1882–1943). In 1926 he became the first black director of music at the Hampton Institute in Virginia. During his nearly twenty-year tenure there, he founded the Hampton Choral Union, Musical Arts Society, Hampton Institute Choir and its School of Music. Internationally-recognized, the Hampton Institute Choir specialized in African American sacred music and performed Dett's own compositions and arrangements.

Ave Maria

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum;
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee;

benedicta tu in mulieribus,
blessed art thou among women,

et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Sancta Maria, mater Dei,
Holy Mary, Mother of God,

ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
pray for us sinners,

nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Dr. Mitchell B. Southall held positions as professor of music at Southern University in Louisiana, Rust and Miles Colleges in Georgia, and Lane College in Tennessee before chairing the music department at Langston University. Southall was known for his a cappella choral arrangements of spirituals. In his setting of In silent night, he explores the use of jazz-like voice leading in a prayerfully simple four-part texture.

In silent night

In silent night, when all is calm and all is bright, in silent night, O holy night,
the Baby from heaven is born on this night. The child, innocent Child is born.

In silent night, as darkness flies and all is light, in silent night, O holy night,
the Baby in radiance lay sleep on this night. The Child, the holy Child is born.

Alexander L’Estrange is an English composer and arranger of choral music and music for television. He is also an accomplished jazz musician (piano and double bass). L'Estrange is also the consultant editor and chief arranger for the Choral Basics series, published by Faber Music. His arrangements for vocal ensembles including The Swingle Singers, The King's Singers, Amarcord, Voces8, and Tenebrae are highly acclaimed.

The lyrics of Epiphany Carol, written by Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, implore us to protect the earth by giving not gold, frankincense or myrrh but “a present for the future.”

Epiphany Carol

Is it gold that you bring? Is that your present for the King?
Is that your special offering?
But far more precious than the gold, so often have we heard it told,
is our beloved blue-green world.
O bring me a present for the future.

Is it frankincense you bring? Is that your present for the King?
Is that your special offering?
However fair the frankincense, its perfume warming to our sense,
Our planet’s need remains immense.
O bring me a present for the future.

Is it myrrh that you bring? Is that your present for the King?
Is that your special offering?
If only could those drops of myrrh a sense of longing in us stir
to make Earth’s blessings as they were.
O bring me a present for the future,
a present for our future.

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47) produced a prodigious oeuvre of symphonic, chamber, vocal, and choral music. From an early age he was caught up in the spirit of revival of older styles of choral music, and had a keen interest in the music of Palestrina, Schütz and Bach. This interest found its greatest expression in Mendelssohn's famous first revival of Bach's St. Matthew Passion in 1829, and the influence of Bach is certainly evident in much of his sacred choral music.

Weihnachten (Christmas) is from a collection of six cathedral anthems, short works commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm IV for high feast days in the Berlin Cathedral.

Weihnachten

Frohlocket, ihr Völker auf Erden
und preiset Gott!
Rejoice, O ye people on earth,
and praise God!

Der Heiland ist erschienen,
den der Herr verheißen.
The Saviour has appeared
as the Lord had promised.

Er hat seine Gerechtigkeit
der Welt offenbaret, Halleluja!
He has revealed his justice
to the world. Halleluja!

Helen Anderson
Jordan Berg *+
Lauren Carr
Marisa Dahlman *+
Ann Gilcrease
Katie Skovholt *+
Jenny Spence *+
Jordyn Updyke *+

Lillian Balmforth
Jonna Farley
Elly Hale *+
Carole Jones
Shadia Kawa
Meaghan Leferink
Tami McTaggart +
Emi Nakamura *+
Teresa Nemeth
Jenn Newland
Amy Peer *+
Kristin Percy Calaff
Joy Portella
Jan Strand +

Audra Anderson
Sarah Bergquist
Jordan Brattain
Marissa Burkey
Nancy Haver
Helen Lafferty
Teena Littleton *+
Rose Morrison +
Corina Rahmig +
Marit Trelstad
Hannah Won *+

Liz Adams
Shirley Beresford
Gail Broder
Cathy Federici
Mara Forster-Smith *
Karen Maneman
Liz Reed Hawk *+

Jacob Bernado *^
Jacob Buys *^
David Dodman *^
David Horton

Peter Budny *^
Geoff Cunard
Lee Maneman *^
Luke Raffanti
Danny Szydlo *^
Vésteinn Þórsson ^

Jim Bartscher *^
David Carpman
Ryan Gao *^
Peter Hemmen
Grant Vandehey
Robin Wyatt-Stone *^

Matthew Bosley *^
James Mayclin
Ernie Omondi *^
Jon Repp *^
Chris Rule *^

Karen P. Thomas, Artistic Director & Conductor

Katie Skovholt, Executive Director

Dwight Beckmeyer, Accompanist

Jenn Newland, Stage Manager

Wes Kim, President
Anne Clamoungou, Vice President
Rick Johnson, Treasurer
Jan Strand, Corporate Secretary
Beth Alley
Paul Henderson
Shadia Kawa
Meaghan Leferink
Briana Schwartz
Kenn Sebastian
Kacey Stevens
Robert Wade

Dean Arnold
Keith Axelsen
Mona Dworkin
Samuel F. Dworkin
Mike Evans
Phil Haas
Noreen King
Teena Littleton
Terri Lords
Katie Oman
Joy Portella
John Schilling
Dale Whitehead