Joie de vivre A concert of French choral and organ music

Exultate Singers conducted by David OgdenWith Richard Johnson organSaturday 27th September at 7.30pm

O sacrum convivium! Olivier Messiaen

O salutaris hostia Pierre Villette

Kyrie from Messe Solonnelle Jean Langlais

O sacrum convivium Pierre Villette Vers lesprance Thierry Escaich

Litanies la Vierge Noire Francis Poulenc

Salve Regina Francis Poulenc

Exultate Deo Francis Poulenc

Gloria from Messe Solonnelle Jean Langlais

Interval

Sanctus from Messe Solonnelle Jean Langlais

Quatre motets sur des thmes Grgoriens Maurice Durufl - Ubi caritas - Tota pulchra es - Tu est Petrus - Tantum ergo

Toccata: Finale from Symphonie no 5 Charles Marie Widor

Salut Dame Sainte Two motets by Francis Poulenc Seigneur, je vous en prie Conducted by Martin Le Poidevin

Hymn la Vierge Pierre Villette

Panis angelicus Pierre Villette

Agnus Dei from Messe Solonnelle Jean Langlais

Exultate Singers conducted by David Ogden with organist Richard Johnson

Joie de vivre A concert of French choral and organ music

A taste of Francein St Mary RedcliffePrograMMe noteS by DavID ogDen

The Seine, Paris

The art music of 20th century France was dominated by composers who were organists. From the legacy of Faur, Franck, Widor and Vierne a strong line of composers emerged who drew on each other for inspiration and developed each others ideas. Much of their music was inspired by the Roman Catholic liturgy: settings of the Mass and popular religious texts.

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) wrote O sacrum convivium! whilst he was organist at Sainte-Trinit in Paris. The rich slow moving harmonies create a profound mystical and almost ecstatic sound world. o Sacrum Convivium is a Latin prose text honouring the Blessed Sacrament

written by Saint Thomas Aquinas. Refer to the enclosed sheet for translations of all tonights sung texts.

The Messe Solennelle by Jean Langlais (1907-1991) provides a framework for tonights concert. The piece clearly shows the influence of the other composers whose work will be heard this evening. Langlais was blind from the age of two and thanks to the generosity of a cousin he was able to attend a blind school where his musical talent was recognized. In 1927 he won a place to study organ, composition and improvisation at the Paris Conservatoire where he met fellow student Olivier Messiaen. After graduating he began a career as an international concert artist and

was appointed Organist of Ste Clotilde in Paris in 1945 where he remained until 1987.

His music is almost exclusively sacred and fuses together the polytonality of Poulenc, the modal modulations and dissonances of Messiaens music and Durufles use of quasi-plainsong melodies.

Langlais had a special devotion to the Virgin Mary, so it is particularly appropriate that tonights performance takes place in a church dedicated to her. Langlais friend Marie Bigot had been cured from her blindness after visiting Lourdes but the composer was not tempted to visit: If I could see like everyone else, I would have followed in my Fathers footsteps as a stone-cutter. One must believe that the Virgin Mary had other plans for me, which came about because of my blindness. So may her will be done.

Pierre Villette (1926-1998) was a contemporary of Pierre Boulez at the Conservatoire National Superieure de Musique in Paris. Unlike Boulez he focussed much more on intimate and small-scale works for chamber ensembles and choirs.

He drew on early music, especially Gregorian chant, which he had sung as a child, and combined it with the exotic textures and harmonies inherited from Messiaen and Poulenc. After the death of his father, Villette went home from Paris to run the family business. The strain took its toll on his health and for the rest of his life he spent long periods in the Alps recuperating and composing.

Both O salutaris hostia and Hymne la Vierge date from this period. The former sets words by St Thomas Aquinas and is notable for its jazzy harmonies. The latter was

dedicated to the composers future wife, Josette, and is a setting of a poem by Roland Bouheret.

Villettes choral music is both sensual and spiritual. The motet O sacrum convivium is clearly influenced by Messiaen in its shifting complex harmonies and it even quotes from Messiaens setting. The music constantly changes tempo, echoing the inflections of the text.

Towards the end of his life Villettes music became much less complex. In his last motet, Panis Angelicus, a flowing melody

is accompanied by more straightforward harmonies. As the words point towards the hope of eternal life and a chance to glimpse the light of heaven, the music shifts upwards in semitones to a clear C major chord.

Vers lesprance by Thierry Escaich (b. 1965) is the third movement from a set of poems for organ based on extracts from Alain Suieds collection Le pays perdu. A well known recitalist, Escaich is now organist of Saint-

Etienne-du Mont in Paris.

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) first entered Parisian musical circles as a member of Les Six. Heavily influenced by Debussy, his music is a cocktail of frivolity and sensuality but with roots in his Roman Catholic faith. In 1936 Poulenc was on holiday with the baritone Pierre Bernac, when news reached them of the sudden death in a car accident of their friend, the composer and critic Pierre-Octave Ferroud. Shocked and devastated, Poulenc and Bernac went ahead with their planned trip to Frances most important pilgrimage site, Rocamadour, the home to the famous shrine of the Vierge Noire - the Black Madonna, believed to have miraculous powers.

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The atrocious extinction of this musician so full of vigour had left me stupefied. Pondering on the fragility of our human frame, the life of the spirit attracted me anew.

Rocamadour led me back to the faith of my childhood. This sanctuary, certainly the most ancient in France, had everything to subjugate me. Clinging in full sunlight to a steep craggy rock. Rocamadour is an extraordinary place. With a courtyard in front, a very simple chapel, half hollowed into the rock, shelters a miraculous figure of the Virgin, carved in black wood by Saint Amadour, the little Zacchaeus of the gospel who had to climb a tree to see Christ.

Poulenc began writing the Litanies la Vierge Noire on the evening of his return and in just seven days wrote this simple and deeply personal litany. In it, he tried to depict the mood of peasant devotions that struck me so deeply. The invocation must be sung simply, without pretension. The piece marks a turning point from the irreverence and flippancy of Poulencs youth to a greater understanding of, and response to, his Roman Catholic faith.

The two motets Salve Regina and Exultate Deo show the contrasting elements of

Poulencs style: on the one hand a deep lyricism and simplicity reminiscent of plainsong and on the other a complex and quirky angular style with vibrant rich harmonies but with the phrasing and brilliance of Palestrina.

Salut Dame Sainte and Seigneur, je vous en prie are part of the Quatre petites prires de Saint Franois dassise for unaccompanied mens voices. They express the saints unconditional devotion and love for God.

The organist Maurice Durufle (1902-1986) looked to plainsong for inspiration in almost all of his works. The four motets of 1960 are each based on the requisite Gregorian chant. All four pieces have the sense of timeless flow of plainsong whilst containing the warmth created by simple and delicate harmonies.

The Toccata from the Symphonie no 5 by Charles Marie Widor (1844-1937) is probably the most well known piece in the organ repertoire. An organ symphony was a collection of pieces rather than a self contained work. This piece has overshadowed not only the rest of the movements in the work but Widors organ output as a whole.

Above: glise de la Sainte-Trinit, Paris Above right: the pilgrimage site of Rocamdaour

O sacrum convivium! in quo Christus sumitur: recolitur memoria passionis ejus: mens impletur gratia: et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur. Alleluia.

O sacred banquet! in which Christ is received, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory to us is given Alleluia.

Translations Oliver Messiaen and Pierre Villette O Sacrum Convivium!

Pierre Villette O Salutaris Hostia

O salutaris Hostia,Quae caeli pandis ostium:Bella premunt hostilia,Da robur, fer auxilium.Uni trinoque DominoSit sempiterna gloria,Qui vitam sine terminoNobis donet in patria.Amen.

O saving Victim, open wideThe gate of Heaven to man below;Our foes press on from every side;Thine aid supply; Thy strength bestow.All praise and thanks to thee extend,For ever more, blessd one in three.O grant us life that shall not end,In our true native land with thee.Amen.

Jean Langlais Messe Solonnelle - Kyrie

Kyrie eleison Christe eleison Kyrie eleison

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

Seigneur, ayez piti de nous. Jesus-Christ, ayez piti de nous. Jesus-Christ, coutez-nous. Jesus-Christ, exaucez-nous.

Dieu le pre, crateur, ayez piti de nous. Dieu le fils, rdempteur, ayez piti de nous. Dieu le Saint-Esprit, sanctificateur, ayez piti de nous.

Trinit Sainte, qui tes un seul Dieu, ayez piti de nous.

Sainte Vierge Marie, priez pour nous. Vierge, reine et patronne, priez pour nous

Lord, have pity on us. Jesus Christ, have pit