Tuesday, March 12, 2002

Practice tape Table Of Contents

Small Group Listings

Welcome John Poole! We are honored to work with John Poole this evening. Please make him feel welcome!

Dress Rehearsal Date has changed from Friday, May 17 to Wednesday, May 15, 7pm at St. Joseph the Worker church. Please mark your calendars!

Volunteers for Mozart Requiem Sing-a-long: Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers, singers! In particular, I would like to thank Tom, Lyrie, Barbara M (sop), Barbara M (tenor), Chris, Joan, Henry, Jody, Jordan, Jeff, Ronni, Christiane, We really couldn't do it without you! Many thanks too to orchestra members and soloists who donated their time, Thank them when you see them! And of course, thank you to Arlene!

Reminder to singers in small group pieces Remember that you need to rehearse on your own as time in chorus rehearsals will be limited. There will likely be sectionals. Arlene should have tapes tonight. Please try to work on them before the next rehearsal. Please check the list next to the sign-in sheet. Make sure you have music for, & intend to sing in everything you are signed up for.

Spring Repertoire list: (in no particular order) In case there is any question, all singers should have the following music: 1) "Bergerette" (Josquin), 2) "Ecco" (Monteverdi), 3) "Revecy" (Le Jeune) 4) "Keduscha" (Rossi) 5) "Lobet" (Bach) 6) "The Gardener" (Callaway), 7) "Sumer" (Anon), 8) "Stella Splendens" (Anon). The full program list including small groups was handed out last week, check the back if you didn't get one.

Erata The Gardener Remember page 4, 2nd system, cross out "Some dreams" (it shows up on p5). In the Bach, remember to fix your underlay. Ask if you need help.

Marcelle says: Keep your mouth open when you sing! Open mouth. Insert unpeeled kiwi standing on its bum. Now, do you really want all that fuzz scritching the roof of your mouth? (For the faint of heart, raw eggs work, too.)
P.S. Marcelle thanks you for the Mozart and wonders if you noticed that the rain commenced during the Lacrymosa.

(not so) Random Music term defined: cantus firmus
A previously composed melody that is heard in long notes in one voice part of a polyphonic composition. Many settings of the Mass are based on sacred or secular melodies treated in this way, while Lutheran cantata movements often make similar use of chorale melodies. (see Bach, +/- m77 can you identify other places this occurs?) (Sadie, 356)

The poplar's trunk (from Monet's Poplars in Spring detail to right)unites the ground to leafy canopy and sky above. The tree is analogous to a preexisting melody stitching the elements of a composition together. In music, we call this melody a cantus firmus. Because Bach used the chorale, his cantus firmus works for organ are called chorale preludes. But, as a procedure, the techniques of chorale prelude apply to any polyphonic elaboration of a preexisting melody. A great course on Musical Form & Analysis

Meet the composers: Orlande de Lassus (1532-1594) One of the most prolific and versatile of 16th century composers, Lassus wrote over 2000 works in almost every current genre, including masses, motets, psalms, hymns, responsorial Passions and secular pieces in Italian, French and German. Most of his masses (60 still survive) are parody masses based on motets, chansons or madrigals by himself or others. The large number of Magnificats (over 100!!) is unusual. His motets include didactic pieces, ceremonial works for special occasions, settings of classical texts (some secular e.g. Prophetiae Sibyllarum, 1600), liturgical items (offertories, antiphons, psalms, e.g. Psalmi...poenitentiales, 1584) and private devotional pieces. He issued five large volumes of sacred music as Patrocinium musices (1573-6), and after his death his sons assembled another (Magnum opus musicum, 1604).
Admired in their day for their beauty, technical perfection and rhetorical power the motets combine the features of several national styles - expressive Italian melody, elegant French text-setting and solid northern polyphony - enhanced by Lassus's imaginative responses to the texts. His secular works reveal a cosmopolitan with varied tastes. The madrigals range from lightweight villanellas (Matona mia cara) to intensely expressive sonnets (Occhi, piangete); the chansons include 'patter' songs and reflective, motetlike works; and among the German lieder are sacred hymns and psalms, delicate love-songs and raucous drinking-songs. This versatility and wide expressive range place him among the most signincant figures of the Renaissance. http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/lassus.html