Last update: 13/05/2006
Autumn Concert 2003
Click the links below for more information:
Programme notes & words: Magnificat Pergolesi; Beatus Vir; Dixit Dominus
Biographies: Choir; Robin Walker; Michelle Hayes; Margret Sigudardottir; Abbie Marsden; Paul Hopwood; David Milner-Pearce;The Sweelinck Ensemble
Charity information: Cherry Trees
Our Autumn Concert 2003 Photo Album ....
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George F Handel (1685-1759)
In 1707, at the age of 22, Handel began his first three-year vist to Rome, and, in spite of his Protestant background, was soon taken up by the cream of Catholic, Italian society. Dixit Dominus, a setting of Psalm 110, was completed in April 1707.
The piece, resplendent with bright colour, vocal virtuosity, expansive structure, and driving energy, was clearly designed by Handel to demonstrate his ability to write in the Italian style, and has marked resonances with the choral works of Vivaldi. John Eliot Gardiner has suggested that it was 'almost as though this young composer, newly arrived in the land of virtuoso singers and players, was daring his hosts to greater and greater feats of virtuosity.'
The vivid images of the psalm text are set for five-part chorus, soloists, strings and continuo and take the form of a sacred cantata set in eight movements. Like Durante, Handel unifies the composition with a cantus firmus, a fragment of Gregorian chant, that appears in majestic, sustained notes in the opening movement and returns in the same way in the closing movement, appropriately on the words 'as it was in the beginning.' Throughout the rest of the piece, Handel uses the chorus and soloists alternately and together to illustrate the emotive passages of the psalm.
Barry Creasy, Collegium Musicum of London
The Ensemble’s programmes aim to recreate the vibrant musical life of the 17th Century by choosing German and Italian music of the Baroque period before 1700. The Ensemble features Swedish tenor Johan Linderoth, with two violins, viola da gamba, organ/harpsichord and theorbo. The make up of the Ensemble can vary according to the music that is being performed. Principal guest players are Jamie Savan on cornett and Keith McGowan on dulcian.
The group was a finalist in the 1999 York Early Music Network Competition and since then has performed in many venues. They have broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and throughout Europe on the station Euroclassic Notturno.
At the centre of the Ensemble’s vocal repertoire are the composers Heinrich Schutz, who studied with Gabrielli in Venice, and Monteverdi who influenced a generation of composers in both Italy and Germany. Italy, and in particular, Venice, was the main centre of musical life in the 17th Century. Many German composers (including Handel) studied in Italy and took Italian influences back to German speaking countries. Tonight we include works by Monteverdi and Vivaldi. The orchestra for this concert will comprise 4 violins, 2 violas, 1 cello, 1 doublebass, and organ.
