Tuesday, April 9, 2002

Ads for the Program: Go get 'em! See Vivian for more information.

Part-time job opening: Manager See Vivian for more information.

CD's of Bach Mass in C (last season) available for $10.

Singers in small group pieces: I am looking for a 'leader' for each group to be a contact person and sectional coordinator. Please let me know are willing to volunteer. Thank you to Marta for stepping forward for Columba, Priscilla for leading people "In the fields, and Jody for heading Sto Si Goro.

Instrumentalists Sally (cello) is here! Let's show her what we can do! Other instrumentalists will be here April 16.

Solos: There are solos/duets? in both Hildegard pieces, Stella Splendens and Rossi. Tell Erica if you are interested.

Sectionals

PIECE	PART	DATE	LOCATION
Ann (Gardener)	S	Tue. Apr 9, 6:30	Grace North
Ann (Gardener)	B/A	Tue. Apr 16, 6:30	Grace North
Sto Si Goro	all	Thurs, Apr 11, 7:30pm	Jody's
Morley, In the Fields	all	Thurs, Apr 11, 7:30pm	Arlene's

Era of the Week: The Fourteenth Century, Part I (Late Middle Ages)

Whereas the thirteenth century marked the high point of the Middle Ages, with flourishing new cities, increasing trade, and progressive technology, the fourteenth was haunted by all four “Horsemen of the Apocalypse": Famine, War, Plague, and inevitably, Death.

Famine. For 400 years the European population had grown steadily, but toward the end of the 1200’s the population began to outpace the food supply. Then the weather patterns changed, causing major crop failures. Between 1314 and 1322, some 10-15% of the population died from starvation and from disease due to poor nutrition and hygiene. Contemporary Johannes de Trokelowe wrote, “There can be no doubt that the poor wasted away when even the rich were constantly hungry." The bad conditions affected humans, crops, and livestock alike, including a cattle plague in 1319.

War. The Crusades were essentially over in 1291, but war remained a favorite local pastime throughout the 1300's. The Byzantine Empire was torn from within by civil war and from without by battles with the Ottoman Turks. Under William Wallace (“Braveheart") and Robert the Bruce, Scotland fought bitterly for independence from England. Meanwhile, the English kings strove to keep or regain their French territories, while the French kings regularly attempted to take over various English regions. By 1337 the “Hundred Years' War" between England and France broke out in earnest.

The Great Schism. In 1305 the papacy moved from Rome to Avignon, a city technically within the Holy Roman Empire but effectively under French dominion. Thus began the “Babylonian Captivity" of the Roman Catholic Church. For most of the century the French made up a majority of cardinals and popes. It was a time of power and increasing wealth for the Church, but rampant corruption and the lavish lifestyle of the papal court drew harsh criticism. Pope Urban V tried unsuccessfully to return the papal seat to Rome, but by 1378 there were two separate popes, one at Rome and one at Avignon. Each would-be “Shepherd of Christendom" was backed by a complex network of powerful cardinals and heads of state, and the two promptly excommunicated each other. This was the “Great Schism," a war within the Church that weakened both its stability and its authority.

Secular governments were quick to take advantage of the disorder: the English began refusing to pay feudal dues to the pope, and in the Holy Roman Empire the Licet Juris asserted the Emperor's independence from the Church in creating and maintaining law.

Plague. If famine, war, and disarray among the religious authorities were not enough, next on the agenda was the Black Death. First appearing in Sicily in 1347, this highly contagious plague swept Europe on the backs of rats and their fleas. With a fatality rate of 35-95% (depending on its form), the plague brought Europe to its knees. It is estimated that between 1347 and 1351 one-third to one-half the population died (20-25 million people), and some 200,000 villages were extinguished. Neither church nor civil authorities could keep order as farming, trade, and normal activities came to a halt and the streets were filled with the stench of death.

Starvation, disease, war, heavy taxation, and confusion within both church and state authorities had a profound affect on social structure. Peasants throughout Europe were finally frustrated enough to rebel against the aristocracy, with major peasant revolts occurring throughout Europe. In France, the aristocrats banded together to keep the lower classes in check. In England, King Richard II held parley with the peasants, promised to meet their demands for lower rents and the abolition of serfdom, then had the peasant leaders killed and ignored his promises. Likewise, rebellion against a Church weakened by dissent and corruption was growing. John Wyclif of England (1324-1384) challenged major tenets of the church (including belief in transubstantiation) and advocated major reforms. His followers, the Lollards, were brutally oppressed, but their eventual legacy would be the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation.

It was a time of pain and chaos. Amazingly, not only would the Europe survive, but the flower of the Renaissance would grow from seeds sown in the fourteenth century. More on that next week.

Contrary to common portrayal, people did bathe during the Middle Ages, and public bathhouses were common. But wood as well as food was in short supply, and fuel was too scarce to be used for heating bathwater. (From http://www.ku.edu/kansas/medieval/108/lectures/black_death.html) Writings of Johannes de Trokelowe at HYPERLINK http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/famin1315a.html http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/famin1315a.html Timeline, http://www.greece.org/projects/Romiosini/chronology.html http://orb.rhodes.edu/textbooks/Muhlberger/edwardIII.html on the origins of the Hundred Years’ War. http://www.ku.edu/kansas/medieval/108/lectures/great_schism.html Text of the decree at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/licetjuris.html http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~hanly/chaucer/coursematerials/14thcent.html For contemporary accounts, see http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1w.html. Granted, Richard was only 14 years old at the time. (See http://orb.rhodes.edu/textbooks/Muhlberger/14c_economy.html.) http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1l.html. Also recommended: Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired, by Benson Bobrick (Simon & Schuster, 2001).

"Shameless Plugs"
# Berkeley Broadway Singers "Another Op'nin', Another Show", at St.Jerome Church in El Cerrito (308 Carmel Ave.) on April 14th at 5 PM (free). This event is wheelchair accessible.
# Berkeley Broadway Singers A benefit concert for St. Ambrose Church (1145 Gilman Street in Berkeley). April 21st at 4 PM. Requested Donation is $10.
For more information, or tickets for either event, contact (510) 525-7815 or singbroadway@yahoo.com.
# Schumann Frauenlieben und Leben song cycle A "free and short" concert at noon at Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Wednesday, April 17. Featuring mezzo-soprano Christina Schiffner, who performed the alto solos in our recent Mozart Requiem Sing-Along.
# Women's Antique Vocal Ensemble (WAVE) ÁELVAS LIVES! a concert of music from Spain and Portugal.
Friday, May 17, 2002,7:30 pm at Calvary Presbyterian Church 1940 Virginia St., Berkeley, CA (corner of Milvia) - Tickets $10 General, $5 Students. Flyers are in the back. For more information:
# Lynx Quicksilver (tenor), is a professional, experienced piano tuner with reasonable rates. Lynx is now offering private music lessons for guitar and electric bass. To make an appointment to have your piano tuned, or for music lessons, contact Lynx: Lynxsilver@aol.com or (510) 523-2799.