The second book of the Responsoria stands as the central arch of a much

longer work: the complete set of Responses for Holy Week - nine each for

Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, arranged in three

“books,” one for each day, the totality comprising a vast (145 minutes) choral

symphony. Written for six-part chorus (SSATBarB)accompanied by piano,

double bass, and metal percussion (tubular bells, glockenspiel, and tam-tam),

the entire work is diatonic (the only chromatic pitch used in the entire set is a

G sharp in the final motet of Book III) and modal. The instruments interact

with the singers, sometimes as melody, sometimes harmony, sometimes as

punctuation; they rarely accompany. Variety of timbre is created through

solo-chorus alternation or changes in numbers of singers, or contrasts

between chorus and solo sound. Tonal variety is achieved by changing the

pitch centers; in Book II the first four motets are centered on B (the pure, and

tonally unstable “Locrian” mode); with the arrival of motet V “Tenebrae

factae sunt” the pitch center shifts to A (Aeolian mode) and remains there for

the remainder of the book.

The Latin texts for the various responses are taken primarily from the

Gospels and the Psalms. All have to do with the Passion of Christ; the texts

for Book I deal primarily with His betrayal; Book II, the Crucifixion, and Book

III, the Burial. The music reflects the various emotions connected with this

sombre theme: terror, anger, pathos, suffering, and loss in a manner which

the composer intends to be both restrained and compelling.

St John’s Anglican Cathedral

Good Friday 2014

The Cathedral Chamber Choir

Responsoria Bk II Richard Toensing

Piano

Andrej Kouznetsov

Double Bass Dušan Walkowicz

Percussion Ben Heim

Soprano

Elodie Geertsema, Colleen Guilfoyle, Laura Haaima, Amata Ring

Alto

Emma Hutchins, Fiona White, Kathryn Morton, Laura Williams

Tenor

Peter Garrett, Jonathan Hargreaves, Daniel Jess, Alexander Mason, Morgan Roberts,

Bass

Zach Kelly, John Rotar, Jason Schoutrop, Tim Whittle

Director

Graeme Morton

In keeping with the devotional nature of this music the performers request no applause

G

I Omnes amici mei dereliquerunt me, et praevaluerunt insidiantes mihi:

tradidit me quem diligebam: Et terribilibus oculis plaga crudeli

percutientes, aceto potabant me.

V. Inter iniquos projecerunt me, et non pepercerunt animae meae.

I. All my friends have forsaken me, and my enemies have prevailed

against me: he whom I loved has betrayed me: with terrible eyes they

persecuted me, and gave me vinegar to drink.

V. They have cast me out among the wicked, and have not spared my life.

II. Velum templi scissum est, Et omnis terra tremuit: latro de cruce

clamabat, dicens: Memento mie, Domine, dum veneris in regnum

tuum.

V. Petrae scissae sunt, et monumenta aperta sunt, et multa corpora

sanctorum, qui dormierant, surrexerunt.

II. The veil of the temple was torn in two: and the whole earth trembled:

the thief on the cross cried out, saying: Remember me, O Lord, when

thon comest to thy kingdom.

V. The rocks were split; the tombs opened, and many of the bodies of

the saints who had been sleeping arose.

III. Vinea mea electa, ego te plantavi: Quomodo conversa es in

amaritudinem, ut me crucifigeres, et Barabbam dimitteres?

V. Sepivi te, et lapides elegi ex te, et aedificavi turim.

III. O my chosen vineyard, I planted you: How you have turned to

bitterness, that you crucify me and release Barabbas!

V. I have hedged you in, picked the stones out of you, and built a tower.

IV. Tamquam ad latronem existis cum gladiis et fustibus comprehendere

me: Quotidie apud vos eram in templo docens, et non me tenuistis: et

ecce flagellatum ducitis ad crucifìgendum.

V. Cumque injecissent manus in Jesum, et tenuissent eum, dixit ad eos.

IV. You are come our as against a thief, with swords and clubs to take me: I

was with you daily in the temple teaching, and you held me not: and

behold, after I have been scourged, you lead me out to be crucified.

V. When they laid hands on Jesus and took him, He said to them:

V. Tenebrae factae sunt, dum crucifixisscet Jesum Judaei: et circa horam

nonam exclarmavit Jesus voce magna: Deus meus, ut quid me

dereliquisti? Et inclinato capite, emisit spiritum.

V. Exclamans Jesus voce magna, ait: Pater, in manus tuas commendo

spiritum meum.

V. Darkness covered the earth when Jesus was crucified by the Jews: and

about the ninth hour Jesus cried in a loud voice: My God, why hast thou

forsaken me? And He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.

V. And Jesus tried in a loud voice: Father, into thy hands I commend my

spirit.

VI. Animam meam dilectam tradidi in manus iniquorum, et facta est mihi

hereditas mea sicut leo in silva: dedit contra me voces adverarius,

dicens: Congregamini, et properate ad devorandum ilium: posuerunt

me in deserto solitudinis, et luxit super me omnis terra: Quia non est

inventus qui me agnosceret, et faceret bene.

V. Insurrexerunt in me viri absque misericordia, et non pepercerunt

animae meae.

VI. My beloved soul was delivered into the hands of the wicked, and my

inheritance had become to me like a lion in the wilderness: my

adversary spoke against me, saying: Gather together, and haste to

devour Him: they placed me in a solitary desert, and all the earth

mourned for me, because there was none that would know me, and do

me well.

V. Men without mercy rose up against me, and did not spare my life.

VII. Tradiderunt me in manus impiorum, et inter iniquos projeccerunt me,

et non pepercerunt animae meae: congregati sunt adversum me fortes:

Et sicut gigantes steterunt contra me.

V. Alieni insurrexerunt adversum me, et fortes quaesieruut animam

meam.

VII. They delivered me into the hands of the impious, and cast me out

among the wicked, and did not spare my life: the mighty gathered

together against me: and like giants they stood against me.

V. Strangers rose np against mc, and the mighty sought my life.

VIII. Jesum tradidit impius sunimis principibus sacerdotom, et senioribus

populi: Petrus autem sequebatur cum a longe, ut videret finem.

V. Adduxerunt autem eum ad Caiapham principem sacerdotum, ubi

scribae et pharisaei convenerant.

VIII. An impious man betrayed Jesus to the chief priests and elders of the

people: and Peter followed Jesus from afar, to see the end.

V. And they led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and

pharisees were met together.

IX. Caligaverunt oculi mei a fletu meo: quia elongatus est a me, qui

consolabatur me: Videte, omnes populi, Si est dolor similis sicut dolor

meus.

V. O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte.

IX. My eyes are darkened by my tears: For He is far from me, who

comforted me: see, all you people, if there is any sorrow like my

sorrow.

V. O all you that pass by, look and see.

Richard Toensing was a member of the Composition faculty at the University of Colorado at

Boulder (1973-2005), and department chair from 1984 to 2001. In addition to his duties as a

teacher of composition and analysis, he directed the electronic music studio, conducted the

New Music Ensemble, and organized the biennial University of Colorado Festival of New Music.

He is currently Professor Emeritus of Composition at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Toensing has received numerous awards for composition, including grants from the National

Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, the Jerome Foundation, the Neodata

Foundation, the Argosy Foundation, and the Mary Flagler Cary Trust. He has been a MacDowell

Colony Fellow three times, and received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Composition in 1987.

He has composed for chorus, piano, organ, electronic media, and chamber groups as well as

large ensembles. His works have been performed in major concert venues throughout the

United States, including premieres at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the John F. Kennedy

Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. His music has also received performances at

festivals both in the United States and abroad, including the Aspen Music Festival, the

International Contemporary Organ Music Festival, the International Wind Ensemble

Conference, the VII Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva, and Forfest 2006, 2007,and 2009

(Czech Republic).

Richard Toensing’s monumental choral Responsoria was recorded by the Choir of the Church

of St.Luke in the Fields (NYC) and was released as a 3 CD set by North/South Recordings in

2000. His latest large choral work, Kontakion on the Nativity of Christ, was commissioned and

recorded by the critically-acclaimed Cappella Romana in 2009.Dr. Toensing’s works also appear

on Golden Crest , Owl, and CRI records. His music is published by Carl Fischer and Troparion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coming Event at St John’s Cathedral

The Resurrection And Ascension Of Jesus

(Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu)

4 May 2014, 2pm - St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane

Australia’s first orchestral performance of Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu. This

performance follows the successful premiere of Der Tod Jesu by C. H. Graun in the Cathedral in

2012. With Shelli Hulcombe, soprano; Iain Henderson, tenor; Shaun Brown, bass; Brisbane

Chamber Choir(director Graeme Morton) and UQ’s Pulse Chamber Orchestra (director Patrick

Murphy) augmented by members of the UQ Symphony Orchestra (director Warwick Potter).

Conducted by Michael O’Loghlin. To be recorded by ABC Fine Music for national broadcast.

In the range and power of his expression, C.P.E Bach left the baroque world of his great father

J.S. Bach behind, laying the foundation for the romantic era. He found a perfect partner in the

poet Karl Friedrich Ramler, whose text depicts emotions from the poignant and painful to the

triumphant. First performed in Hamburg in 1778, Auferstehung was revived ten years later in

Vienna by Mozart. Bach described the work as a dramatic cantata, not an oratorio; indeed the

individual numbers are shorter, and the overall scale of the work smaller, than J .S.

Bach’s famous Passions. The rather large orchestra (by early classical standards) does,

however, provide a great variety of instrumental colour to match the mercurial emotional

changes.