ANU Choral Society in association with Canberra Children's Choir and
Canberra Church of England Girls' Grammar School
Programme | Programme Supplement
ANU Choral Society in association with
Canberra Children's Choir and
Canberra Church of England Girls' Grammar School
SAINT NICOLAS
School of Music
31 October 1976
Programme Gaudeamus Igitur - Traditional 1 Hymn to St. Cecilia Benjamin Britten Unaccompanied SATB Chorus 2 The True Samaritan Nigel Butterley Unaccompanied Chamber Chorus Interval 3 Saint Nicolas Benjamin Britten Cantata for tenor solo, trebles, chorus of girls, mixed chorus, two pianos, strings, percussion and organ Soloist: David Parker, Tenor Directed by Brian Hingerty The 1976 Committee President Alison Whish Secretary Robert K.L. Taylor Treasurer Fiona Smith Immediate Past President Kathy Warth Librarian Colin Loughhead Publicity Officer Gillian Dooley First Year Representative Richard Barrett General Representative Annabel Wheeler Concert Manager Richard Dixon
Notes on the Programme
Hymn to St Cecilia Op 27
I In a garden shady this holy lady
II I cannot grow;
III 0 ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall
In 1942 Britten, a conscientious objector during
World War II, made a journey by ship from America to
England. The seas must have been calm and placid
despite the threat of war, for Britten emerged at the
end of his voyage with two of his most radiant scores,
the popular Ceremony of Carols for treble voices and
harp, and the Hymn to St. Cecilia for unaccompanied
mixed chorus.
Hymn to St. Cecilia is set to enigmatic verses by
W.H. Auden. The work is in 3 sections, each ending
with an accompanying refrain-like invocation to the
Saint herself, patron saint of music. The first section
sets a slow incantation in the male voices against the
three upper parts moving in a lilting, ecstatic process-
ion of block harmonies. The second section is in a
light dancing fugato style against which the alto and
bass parts sing a cantus firmus somewhat in the style
of plainchant. The monumental third section comm-
ences mysteriously, in an exploration of the sonorities
of Auden's verbal music. The soprano solo which
follows is set in lyrical phrases over a pedal point in
the lower part. The solo passage is succeeded by one
of Britten's most striking pieces of writing: the choir
sings in turn of four instruments - violin, drum, flute,
and trumpet, and each instrument imitated in style
by a soloist from each of the four parts of the choir -
alto, bass, soprano and tenor respectively. The follow-
ing invocation ends in eerie disintegration, to be
resolved by the serenity of the final E-major chord.
The words to the Hymn to St Cecilia appear in the Programme Supplement below. - Val
The True Samaritan
1 Morning Fanfare
2 The True Samaritan
3 My Wishes
4 Surrexit Dominus
Nigel Butterley's setting of four poems for unaccomp-
anied four-part chorus received its premiere performance
in Hobart earlier this year at the 27th Intervarsity Choral
Festival. The verses of the outer sections are respectively
by William Austin and William Dunbar, the words of the
inner sections are anonymous. The initial fanfare provi-
des the work with a splendid and fanciful introduction.
The following two sections are restrained and contempl-
ative for the most part, only rarely departing from a
piano dynamic level. In striking contrast is the final
movement, a remarkable choral tour-de-force in which
vigorous, syncopated rhythms and clashing, almost
barbaric harmonies depict the victory of Christ over
Satan. The repeated chant of "Surrexit Dominus" -
"the Lord is risen" leads eventually to the vibrant,
exciting climax which ends the work.
The Society is honoured to have Mr. Butterley in
attendance at this performance.
Further information, and the words to the True Samaritan, appear in the Programme Supplement below. - Val
Saint Nicolas Op 42
I Introduction
II The Birth of Nicolas
III Nicolas Devotes Himself to God
IV He Journeys to Palestine
V Nicolas Comes to Myra and is Chosen Bishop
Congregation sing:
1 All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice:
Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell,
Come ye before Him and rejoice.
2 0 enter then His gates with praise,
Approach with joy His Courts unto,
Praise, laud and bless His name always,
For it is seemly so to do.
3 For Why? The Lord our God is good:
His mercy is for ever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure. Amen
VI Nicolas from Prison
VII Nicolas and the Pickled Boys
VIII His Piety and Marvellous Works
IX The Death of Nicolas
Congregation sings:
1 God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
2 Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up his bright designs
And works his sovereign will.
3 Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head. Amen
The cantata St Nicolas was written for the Centenary
Celebrations of Lancing College, Sussex in 1948, although
it was given its first performance earlier in the same year
at the Aldeburgh Festival. It is therefore fitting that this
is a joyous work involving and concerning children, and
giving opportunity for audience or congregation to
participate.
St. Nicolas, patron saint of children, seamen and
travellers lived in the 3rd and 4th centuries in Asia Minor.
He reputedly showed signs of exceptional grace from
babyhood, refusing to feed on canonical fast-days, and
fulfilled this promise by being made Bishop of Myra at
an early age.
Britten's setting of words by Eric Crozier, for tenor
solo, trebles, chorus of girls, mixed chorus, two pianos,
strings, percussion and organ treats the light-hearted
side of the saint's life as well as its more serious aspects:
Nicolas's remarkable calling of the three pickled boys
to life, his precocious cry of "God be Glorified" on
appearing from his mother's womb are described, as
well as his devotion to God and his death. Twice the
audience are asked to join in the singing of a hymn -
once after Nicolas is crowned bishop, and again at the
end, after Nicolas's death.
Mark Hyman
ANU CH0RAL SOCIETY - OCTOBER 31, 1976
PROGRAMME SUPPLEMENT
The Performers
Tenor Soloist: David Parker
Treble Soloist: Chris White
The Orchestra Pianos: Marie Van Hove, Joan Ivanoff
Organ: Laurence Murchison
Violins: Robert John (Leader), Janet Gilby,
Pauline Griffith, Ben Newsome
Viola: David Dixon
Cello: Greg Johns
Bass: Keith Wilson
Percussion: Becky Lagos, Hans Kuhn, Janet Currie
The ANU Choral Society Sopranos: Altos:
Robyn Bennett Heidi Anker
Trudi Bennett Liz Aplin
Alison Currie Sue Baldwin
Gillian Currie Sue Flannery
Fran Dixon Doris Neubauer
Gillian Dooley Eve Newsome (CCC)
Margot Haenke Helene Phillips
Neidra Jennaway Coralie Rockwell
Meg Macdonald Annabel Wheeler
Elaine Ramsay
Fiona Smith Basses:
Val Thomson Tony Dooley
Alison Whish Mark Hyman
Stefan Karpiniec
Tenors: Philip Linford
Cris Bogg (CCC) Colin Loughhead
Ian Bollen Mark Penman
Richard Dixon Michael Sawer
Raymond Gorringe Peter Stolz
Chris McDermott George Szuty
Phil Thomas Jim Woolnough
Gallery Choir Students from Canberra Church of England Girls Grammar School and
Members of the Canberra Childrens Choir
HYMN TO ST. CECILIA
I
In a garden shady this holy lady
With reverent cadence and subtle psalm,
Like a black swan as death came on
Poured forth her song in perfect calm:
And by ocean's margin this innocent virgin
Constructed an organ to enlarge her prayer,
And notes tremendous from her great engine
Thundered out on the Roman air.
Blonde Aphrodite rose up excited,
Moved to delight by the melody,
White as an orchid she rode quite naked
In an oyster shell on top of the sea;
At sounds so entrancing the angels dancing
Came out of their trance into time again,
And around the wicked in Hell's abysses
The huge flame flickered and eased their pain.
Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.
II
I cannot grow,
I have no shadow
To run away from,
I only play.
I cannot err,
There is no creature
Whom I belong to,
Whom I could wrong.
I am defeat
When it knows it
Can now do nothing
By suffering.
All you lived through,
Dancing because you
No longer need it
For any deed.;
I shall never be
Different. Love me.
Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.
III
0 ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall,
0 calm of spaces unafraid of weight,
Where Sorrow is herself, forgetting all
The gaucheness of her adolescent state,
Where Hope within the altogether strange
From every outworn image is released.
And Dread born whole and normal like a beast
Into a world of truths that never change:
Restore our fa1len day; 0 re-arrange.
0 dear white children casual as birds,
Playing among the ruined languages,
So small beside their large confusing words.
So gay against the greater silences
Of dreadful thing you did: 0 hang the head,
Impetuous child with the tremendous brain.
0 weep, child, weep, 0 weep away the stain.
Lost innocence who wished your lover dead.
Weep for the lives your wishes never led.
0 cry created as the bow of sin
Is drawn across our trembling violin.
0 weep, child, weep, 0 weep away the stain.
0 law drummed out by hearts against the still
Long winter of our intellectual will.
That what has been may never be again.
0 flute that throbs with the thanksgiving breath
Of convalescents on the shores of death.
0 bless the freedom that younever chose.
0 trumpets that unguarded children blow
About the fortress of their inner foe.
0 wear your tribulation like a rose.
Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.
W.H. Auden
THE TRUE SAMARITAN (1958)
For the first performance of this work at the 27th Australian Intervarsity Choral
Festival in Hobart this year, Nigel Butterley wrote the following:
At 23, I was still very strongly influenced by English music; Vaughan Williams had
been my special enthusiasm for some years. All my life I'd been singing in choirs,
and two years experience of the Anglican cathedral repertoire and some major
choral works, at St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, gave me the urge to write some-
thing more substantial than the small choral pieces I'd written up to that time.
It will bc strange to hear this music after so many years. I went through the score
recently and tidied up a few places, without of course altering the style. It's so dif-
ferent from the way I've gradually come to write since then that it seemed almost
like someone else's music. Yet it's me at that time, and I think I can recognise a few
developing personal traits - if only a fondness for the word "shine"!
l. Morning Fanfare -- William Austin (1587-1634) Hail, 0 Sun, 0 blessed Light! All this night shrill chanticleer, Day's proclaiming trumpeter, Claps his wings and loudly cries, Mortals, mortals, wake and rise! See a wonder Heaven is under; From the earth is risen a Sun Shines all night, though day be done. Wake, 0 earth, wake everything! Wake and hear the joy I bring; Wake and joy; for all this night Heaven and every twinkling light, All amazing, Still stand gazing. Angels, Powers, and all that be, Wake, and joy this Sun to see, Hail, 0 Sun, 0 Blessed Light,e Sent into the world by night! Let thy rays and heavenly powers Shine in these dark souls of ours; For most duly Thou art truly God and man, we do confess; Hail, 0 Sun of Righteousness! 2. THE TRUE SAMARITAN - Anon No balm from Gilead, no physician can Heal me but Christ the True Samaritan. When I am sick and when my wounds are foul, He hath his oil and wine to cleanse my soul. My sins the thieves which wounded me have been; Help, Lord, conduct me to Thy Peaceful Inn. 3. MY WISHES -- Anon I wish no wit to wrong my brother, I wish no wealth to wrong another, I wish no beauty to enthrall, I wish no worldly wish at all. I wish from sin God would me bring; I wish for heav'n at my ending. 4. SURREXIT DOMINUS - William Dunbar (l465?-1530) Done is the battle on the dragon black, Our champion Christ confounded has his force; The gates of Hell are broken with a crack, The sign triumphal rais'd is of the cross, The devils tremble with a hideous voice, The souls are borrowed and to bliss can go, Christ with his blood our ransom does endorse; Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro. Done in is the deadly dragon Lucifer The cruel serpent with the mortal sting; The old keen tiger, with his teeth ajar, Wluch in await has lain there for so long, Tanking to grip us in his claws so strong; The merciful Lord would not that it were so, He made him for to fail to gain that thing: Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro. He for our sake that suffered to be slain, And like a lamb in sacrifice did lie, Is like a lion risen up again, And as a giant raises him on high. Sprung is Aurora radiant and bright, On loft is gone the glorious Apollo, The blissful day departed from the night: Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro. The great victor again is risen on height, That for our quarrel to the death was wounded; The sun that wax'd all pale now shines so bright, And darkness cleared, our faith is now re-founded, The knell of mercy from the heav'n is sounded, The Christians are delivered of their woe, The heathen and their error are confounded: Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro. The foe is chased, the battle is done cease, The prison broken, the jailers fled and banned, The war is gone, confirmed is the peace, The fetter loosed and the dungeon rent; The ransom made, the prisoners redeemed; The field is won, and overcome the foe, Deprived of the treasure that he gain'd: Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro.