SequentiaParis, France

Concerts at the Cathedral Basilicapresents

January 29, 2014 • 7:30 PMCathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul

18th and Benjamin Franklin ParkwayPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania

SequentiaBenjamin Bagby— director

Agnethe Christensen, Lydia Heather KnutsonEsther LabourdetteSabine LutzenbergerChristine Mothes Elodie Mourot Lena Susanne Norin

Instrumentalists:Norbert Rodenkirchen- fluteBenjamin Bagby- harp

ProgramMystical Voices of Medieval Germany

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179): Celestial HierarCHy

Audite, o lucis filie anonymous,12th centuryEpithalamium from the Speculum Virginum

Agnethe Christensen, Ensemble

~Tranlsation~

Listen, daughters of light! Listen, fellow heirs of our king and savior!The night is over and the day is approaching: The day of endless grace, The day of beauty and glory, The day that the Lord has made, in which all the adornment of heaven and earth is made perfect, When the native beauty of humankind is restored and the chain of death is vanquished, When the bride of the eternal king, the dove, the sister and beloved, is united to her bridegroom in the most perfect fire of love, when the bride rejoices with the bridegroom, and the one glories eternally in the One. Alleluia!

o splendidissimA gemmA Antiphon to the Virgin Maria with canticum: Magnificat anima mea dominum

Lena Susanne Norin, Ensemble

O all-splendid gem and clear glory of the sun that was poured into you, fountain leaping from the heart of the Father, which is his only Word, through which he created the first matter of the world, which Eve unsettled. This Word the Father made human for you, and by it you are that bright matter through which that very Word breathed out all virtues, as in the first matter it drew out all creatures.

Magnificat

My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

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o dulcis electe Responsory to St. John the EvangelistSabine Lutzenberger, Ensemble

O sweet, O chosen one, who in the ardor of the Ardent shone forth as root;and who in the splendor of the Father elucidated the mysterious things, and who entered the chamber of chastity in the golden city the king constructed when he took up the scepter of the lands: lend aid to pilgrims.For you increased the rain with your predecessors,who sent it in the greenness of the cosmetics-merchants. Lend aid to pilgrims.

o speculum columbe Antiphon to St. John the EvangelistLydia Heather Knutson,

Norbert Rodenkirchen, Flute

O mirror of that dove of all-chaste form, who looked upon the mysterious abundance of the purest of fountains.O wondrous flowering that never fell withering because the high gardener set you in place there.O sweetest quiet of the sun’s embraces: you are the special son of the Lamb in the elect friendship of the new generation.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,As it was in the beginning, also now, and always, and to ages of ages. Amen.

o spectAbiles viri Antiphon to the Patriarchs and ProphetsChristine Mothes, Ensemble

O men of vision, who passed through the hidden things, seeing with the eyes of the spirit and proclaiming in bright shadow the sharp and living light budding on that branch that only came to flower when entered by the rooting light.

O ancient saints, you foretold the salvation of exiled souls submerged in death; you went round like wheels, wondrously speaking the mysteries of that mountain which touches the sky,passing through many waters in your anointing, while in your midst the bright lantern arose that shows forth the mountain and precedes it.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful, just as he promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and his descendants forever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,As it was in the beginning, also now, and always, and to ages of ages. Amen.

o cohors militie floris Antiphon to the ApostlesAgnethe Christensen, Ensemble

O cohort of the army of the flower of the branch unthorned, you are the sound of the world,going about the regions of the maddened senses that feast with swine, which you stormed through the helper infused into you, placing roots into the tabernacles of the entire work of the Word of the Father.

You are also the noble tribe of the Savior, entering the way of the water of regeneration through the Lamb, who sent you in the sword among the most savage of dogs, who destroyed their own glory in the works of their fingers, placing the one not made by hands within the subjection of their hands, where they did not find him.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, As it was in the beginning, also now, and always, and to ages of ages. Amen.

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Kyrie eleison Hildegard von BingenEsther Labourdette, Ensemble

o vos imitAtores excelse Responsory to the ConfessorsSabine Lutzenberger, Ensemble

O imitators of the exalted person in the most precious and glorious signifying, O how abundant is your adornment when a man steps forth loosing and binding in God the sluggish and the straying:And adorning both white and black, and easing the great burden.

For you possess also the offices of the order of angels, you foreknow the strong foundations wherever they are to be established, whence great is your honor.

And adorning both white and black, and easing the great burden.

sol oritur occAsus nescius anonymous, 12th century, 2-voice versusLena Susanne Norin, Agnethe Christensen, Ensemble

The sun rises, the one that never sets, and the Father is made Son of his Daughter,Oh, for the salvation of the people. His Father is God in heaven; he came to this world to seek a mother, Oh, for the salvation of the people. Humankind rejoices in this revelation which unites it in the deity,Oh, for the salvation of the people.

Angeli deo ministrAntes InstrumentalNorbert Rodenkirchen, Flute

Benjamin Bagby, Harp

omnis genus instrumentorum Instrumental

Norbert Rodenkirchen, Flute

o victoriosissimi triumphAtores Antiphon to the MartyrsLena Susanne Norin

Benjamin Bagby, Harp

O all-victorious conquerors, who in greeting the building of the Church with the shedding of your blood entered into the blood of the Lamb, feasting with the slaughtered calf: O how great is your reward!

For even in life you disdained your bodies, imitating the Lamb of God, adorning his torment, by which he brought you into the restoration of the inheritance.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, As it was in the beginning, also now, and always, and to ages of ages. Amen

Kyrie eleison.Christe eleison.

Kyrie eleison.

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

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o gloriosissimi lux Antiphon to the AngelsElodie Mourot, Ensemble

O most glorious angels, O living light, who beneath divinity behold the divine eyes in the mysterious darkness of every created thing, in ardent desires by which you can never be satisfied.

Oh how glorious are the joys your form possesses, that form in you which is untouchedby every wicked work, by that work which first arose in your fellowship, through the fallen angelwho sought to fly above the inwardly hiding castle of God, down from which he plunged by crooked path to destruction; but the instruments of his fall he set in place for the counseling of the fabrication of God’s finger.

o vos Angeli Responsory to the AngelsLena Susanne Norin, Sabine Lutzenberger,

Agnethe Christensen, Lydia Heather Knutson, Ensemble

O angels who guard the peoples, your beauty shining in your countenance; and O Archangels who receive the souls of the just, and you as well, O Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominations, and Thrones, who are counted towards the fifth secret number; and you, O Cherubim and Seraphim, seal of the secret things of God: Praise to you, who behold in the fountain the strongbox of the ancient heart.

For you see the inward force of the Father, which breathes from his heart like a face.Praise to you, who behold in the fountain the strongbox of the ancient heart.

English translations of Hildegard von Bingen’s texts by: Lawrence Rosenwald © 2012, Used with permission. Other translations by Benjamin Bagby English texts of Magnificat and Gloria patri from liturgical sources.

Program NotesHildegard von Bingen's biography has been well-known since the Middle Ages. She was born in 1098 to an aristocratic family in Bermersheim, in the region not far from Mainz. As the tenth and last child, she was dedicated to a religious life by her parents Mechthild and Hildebert, entrusted at the age of eight to the noble widow Jutta von Sponheim, who lived in meditative seclusion near the Benedictine monastery of Saint Disibod. From Jutta, the girl learned to read and write Latin, especially the Psalter, although later in life she maintained that she was lacking in education; and she also learned to sing the liturgy. She tells us that she had unusual visionary gifts, already as a child, and that her health was unstable. Important mo-ments in her subsequent long life were always accompanied by serious illness, with symptoms that some modern scholars would associate with severe migraine. Hildegard lived and worked in Jutta's hermitage -- which had grown and was eventually incorporated into the monastery of Saint Disibod -- until Jutta's death many years later. At age 43, Hildegard was chosen as the new magistra, an election which attested not only to her aristocratic position in society, but also her talent for leadership and her spiritual gifts. In the years following this change in her life, Hildegard received a divine call to 'tell and write' what she ex-perienced in her visions. At first, out of humility, she refused this calling, but then illness struck her again and she was finally persuaded by her closest friends, the noble nun Richardis von Stade and the provost of her convent, Volmar, to allow them to help her. Volmar became her secretary, writing down the visions as Hildegard described them, a task he would continue for the next 32 years. The first text to be written down was a huge visionary cycle entitled Scivias (Know the Ways). Before she had finished the work, and with the aide of the Cistercian Bernard de Clairvaux, Scivias came to the attention of high church prelates in Germany and was presented to Pope Eugenius III at the Synod of Trier. He gave Hildegard his apostolic blessing and declared her visions to be genuine (a more recent pope declared her to be an official 'teacher of the church' in 2011). She became a celebrity, much in demand for advice and counsel, and exchanged letters with emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, Aliénor of Aquitaine, and other important figures. The theolo-

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gian Odo of Soissons, writing from Paris in 1148, declared that she was famous, even in Paris, not only for her visions, but also for the new songs she had created. In fact, she was at that time collecting her poetic cycle, which she called the Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum [symphony of the harmony of celestial revelations], a title meant to indicate their divine inspiration as well as the idea that music is the highest form of human activity, mirroring the ineffable sounds of heavenly spheres and angel choirs.

Pilgrims flocking to Saint Disibod to see her could no longer be accommodated. In her new position as a celebrated prophetissa teutonica and 'Sibyl of the Rhine', she needed to establish her own convent, a new foundation to be built on the banks of the Rhine near Bingen, and dedicated to Saint Rupert: the Ruperts-berg. After difficult struggles with the abbot of Saint Disibod, and using her powerful connections, she finally succeeded in moving her nuns to the new convent in 1150 -- some think that her music-drama Ordo Virtutum, which has its roots in the Scivias vision-cycle, was first sung there to celebrate the dedication of the abbey church in 1152, in the presence of the archbishop of Mainz and other high prelates. There followed a decade of enormous creative energy for Hildegard, in which she completed several other ma-jor theological, visionary and scientific works. Her later years were occupied with triumphant preaching tours to Mainz, Würzburg, Cologne, Trier and Metz, but she also encountered trouble -- in her 80th year her convent was put under interdict during a disagreement with the church authorities in Mainz, and for a time all singing was forbidden to them until she prevailed. Although Hildegard may have continued to cre-ate music until her death in 1179, it is probable that most of her musical output was finished years earlier.

What was this new music, this Symphonia which Hildegard created? Of course, as in any Benedictine convent, the nuns were occupied with singing for many hours during each day of the liturgical year, in-cluding the daily mass but also the many liturgical hours, sung services at various appointed times during the day and night, when the entire community would come together in the church to hear readings, and to chant psalms, hymns, antiphons and responsories. According to the venerable 'Rule of Saint Benedict', all 150 psalms were to be chanted each week. All of this singing, with a few exceptions, would have been an orally-transmitted music which we today call 'Gregorian chant', much of it sung from memory by the full community, with the more difficult solo chants sung -- also from memory -- by the small group of vocally-gifted nuns who formed the schola cantorum. The Symphonia which Hildegard created for her convent were certainly intended to magnify and supplement the daily liturgy of chant, especially on certain feast-days for important saints such as Rupert, Disibod, or Ursula, and of course the Virgin Mary. But she also created music in celebration of the patriarchs and prophets, the apostles, the angels, the martyrs, virgins, widows, innocents, the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son, and the Church itself. The principal musi-cal forms are well-known from medieval liturgical practice: antiphons intended to be sung together with psalms, responsories with their solo verses, and sequences (which she sometimes called hymns), long and ambitious pieces which suited Hildegard's unique poetic gifts most ideally. There are also a small number of songs for the mass, including a Kyrie Eleison and an Alleluia. And finally, there is the long and virtuo-sic music drama Ordo Virtutum, which acts out the soul's voyage from innocence to corruption and finally -- with the aid of the personified virtues -- to salvation. All of this music has survived in notated form: in the period just before and after her death at least two large manuscripts were copied containing the notated Symphonia, and both of these are still accessible today, in libraries in Dendermonde (Belgium) and Wies-baden (Germany).

- Benjamin Bagby

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About the PerformersVocalist, harper and medievalist Benjamin Bagby, who was captivated by medieval music as a boy, has been an important figure in the field of medieval musical performance for over 30 years. Born near Chi-cago, he studied at Oberlin Conservatory and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where Sequentia was founded in 1977. Since then his time has been almost entirely devoted to the research, performance and recording work of Sequentia. Apart from this, Benjamin is deeply involved with the solo performance of Anglo-Saxon and Germanic oral poetry: an acclaimed performance of the Beowulf epic continues to be heard worldwide and was released as a DVD in 2007. In 2010 he received the Howard Mayer Brown Lifetime Achievement Award from Early Music America. In addition to researching and creating over 70 programs for Sequentia, Benjamin has published widely, writing about medieval performance practice; as a guest lecturer and professor, he has taught courses and workshops all over Europe and North America. Since 2005 he is an associate professor at the Sorbonne, University of Paris, where he teaches medieval music performance practice.www.BagbyBeowulf.comwww.sequentia.org

SequentiaFounded in 1977 by Benjamin Bagby and the late Barbara Thornton, Sequentia is among world’s most respected and innovative ensembles for medieval music. Under the direction of Benjamin Bagby, Sequen-tia can look back on almost 37 years of international concert tours, a comprehensive discography span-ning the entire Middle Ages (including the complete works of Hildegard von Bingen), film and television productions of medieval music drama, and new generations of young performers trained in professional courses given by members of the ensemble.

Sequentia has performed throughout Western and Eastern Europe, the Americas, India, the Middle East, East Asia, Africa and Australia, and has received numerous prizes (including a Disque d’Or, several Dia-pasons d’Or, two Edison Prizes, the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis and a Grammy nomination) for many of its thirty recordings on the BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi (SONY), Raumklang and Marc Aurel Edition labels. In 2013 Sequentia released on the SONY label the final CD of Hildegard von Bingen’s complete works: Celestial Hierarchy, which received a Diapason d’Or in France. The complete works of Hildegard as recorded by Sequentia (9 CDs) will be released by SONY in 2014. Other recent CD releases feature reconstructions of music from lost oral traditions of the Middle Ages (The Lost Songs Project), including 9th and 10th century Germanic songs for the Apocalypse (Fragments for the End of Time), the ensemble’s acclaimed program of music from the Icelandic Edda: The Rheingold Curse, as well as the earliest-known European songs (Lost Songs of a Rhineland Harper) and medieval liturgical chant (Chant Wars, a co-production with the Paris-based ensemble Dialogos). Sequentia has created over 70 innovative concert programs that encompass the entire spectrum of medieval music, giving performances all over the world, in addition to their creation of music-theater projects such as Hildegard von Bingen’s Ordo Virtu-tum, the Cividale Planctus Marie, the Bordesholmer Marienklage, Heinrich von Meissen’s Frauenleich, and the medieval Icelandic Edda. The work of the ensemble is divided between a small touring ensemble of vocal and instrumental soloists, and a larger ensemble of men’s or women’s voices for the performance of chant and polyphony. After many years based in Cologne, Germany, Sequentia’s home was re-estab-lished in Paris in 2003.

www.sequentia.org

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Sequentia: The Hildegard von Bingen Project (1982-2014)

Since the early 1980’s, Sequentia’s name has been closely linked with the music of Hildegard von Bingen, the visionary abbess whose musical compositions are among the most astonishing and unique creations from the dynamic milieu of 12th-century Benedictine monasticism. Under the general artistic direction of the late Barbara Thornton (1950-1998), many of the world’s foremost vocalists and instrumentalists active in historical music performance joined Sequentia to perform and record Hildegard’s works on a regular basis between 1982 and 1999, and again under Benjamin Bagby’s direction in 2012-2014. Performances of Hildegard’s music have been given by Sequentia all over Europe, North America, Japan and Australia.In 2012 the final recording of the complete works, Celestial Hierarchy, was brought to life by Sequentia’s co-founder and director Benjamin Bagby to commemorate the elevation of Hildegard von Bingen to Saint-hood and Doctor Ecclesiae (2012), to finish Sequentia’s complete works project on the DHM label, and thus to honor the life’s work of Barbara Thornton. For this recording and the subsequent concert tours, a multi-generational ensemble of seven women’s voices was assembled under Bagby’s direction, together with the flautist Norbert Rodenkirchen, and Bagby playing harp. Two of the singers in the group had been members of Barbara Thornton’s legendary ensemble, while some others were not yet born when the first recording was made in 1982.

The Sequentia recordings of Hildegard’s complete musical works are now contained on 8 releases for the DHM label and include all of Hildegard’s 77 symphoniae as well as her music drama Ordo Virtutum -- almost 12 hours of music. One of these releases, Canticles of Ecstasy, received numerous international awards (including an Edison Prize, a Disque d’Or, and a Grammy nomination for best choral record-ing) and sold more than a million copies worldwide. The CD of Celestial Hierarchy was released in 2013 (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / SONY, 88765468642) and received a Diapason D’Or in France. The box-set of the complete works is scheduled for release by DHM/Sony in March 2014.

Ars Sacra

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13 - 2014 SeasonSaturday, Oct. 26 *Chestnut Street Singers “In His Care: Six Centuries of Sacred Song” works by Betinis, Josquin des Prez, Rachmaninoff 8 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 1 Advent Choral Vespers Old St. Joseph’s Schola Cantorum 4 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 14 *Handel’s “Messiah” Part I Old St. Joseph’s Schola Cantorum and Friends 8 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 23 *Theology of Sacred Art Lecture on the Sacred and Devotional Art of Old St. Joseph’s Church with artist, Anthony Visco 3 p.m.

Sunday, March 9 Lenten Choral Vespers Old St. Joseph’s Schola Cantorum 4 p.m.

Sunday, March 30 *Rejoice, Jerusalem! A “Laetare” Sunday celebration of song, prayer, and reflection featuring the combined choirs of Old St. Joseph’s, St. Peter’s, and Christ Church 3 p.m. Old Saint Joseph’s Church

Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniawww.oldstjoseph.orgCelebrating the sacred arts in the heart of Society Hill

* Reception to follow this event.

The Concert Series of

THE CHURCH OF SAINT MONICA 63 MAIN AVENUE • BERWYN, PENNSYLVANIA 19312

610.644.0110 • WWW.SAINTMONICACHURCH.ORG

THE REVEREND CHARLES ZLOCK, Pastor FRANK K.J. ORMAN, Director of Worship & Music 

 

g{x áxtáÉÇ vÉÇà |ÇâxáAAA Sunday, 15 December at 3 p.m.

THE PRINCETON SINGERS: A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES

Sunday, 2 February at 3 p.m. PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA CONCERT MASTER DAVID KIM

with Jeffrey Uhlig, piano

Sunday, 16 March at 3 p.m. THE PYXIS PIANO QUARTET

Meredith Amado, violin; Amy Leonard, viola; Jie Jin, cello; Hiroko Yamazaki, piano

May 2014 THE ESSENCE OF JOY ALUMNI SINGERS

OF PENN STATE UNIVERSITY: GOSPEL & SPIRITUALS

Our Donors 2013-2014We thank the following patrons whose generosity ensures Concerts at the Cathedral Basilica can make a

real difference in the lives of Philadelphians and reach the broadest possible audience.

Founders Circle $10,000.00+Dr. Edward V. Gill

Composers Circle $5,000.00+ Wyncote Foundation

at the recommendation of Frederick Haas

Conductors Circle $2,500.00+John and Karen Romeri

Artists Circle $1,000.00+ Rev. Gerald Dennis Gill

Benefactor $500.00+ David L. Ball

Dr John E. RichardsonMaria A. Innocenti, OFS

Keith and Margaret BarnetteBeneficial Bank

Lou Terrenzio and Pat Gallo-TerrenzioSaint-Gobain Corporation Foundation

Associate $100.00+Anonymous (2)Sally CranneyGisela A. High

Law School Admission CouncilCharlene Angelini and Stephen Lukach III

Jean MaddenNicholas and Louise Pascale

Mark, Teresa and Michael ZubertMary R. Dugery in Memory of John D. Dugery

Pat Gallo-Terrenzio Christmas gift to St. Christopher Parish Cantors

Friend $20.00-$99.00 Pat Gallo-Terrenzio-in memory of Derek David DelQuadro

Pat Gallo-Terrenzio-in recognition of John RomeriPat Gallo-Terrenzio-in memory of John Maikner

John and Karen Romeri-in memory of Andrew AndresJean Madden-in honor of John Romeri

Monsignor D’AddezioEd Mortka

Domenico DiMartinoNancy Stezzi- in Honor of Susan DiFlorio

Nancy Stezzi -in Honor of Pat Gallo-Terrenzio

Concerts at the Cathedral Basilica

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215-587-3696

Concerts at the Cathedral Basilica

2013-2014 Season

Choral arts PhiladelPhiaand the archdiocesan Girls choir

St. Nicolas by Benjamin Brittensunday, november 17, 2013 3:00 Pm

tallis sCholars of londontuesday, deCember 10, 2013 7:30 Pm

Christmas on logan squareThe Philadelphia Singers

sunday, deCember 15, 2013 3:00 Pm

sequentiaMystical Voices of Medieval Germany in

Honor of the Sainthood of Hildegard von BingenWednesday, January 29, 2014 7:30 Pm

vox ama deusRenaissance Candlemas Concert

friday, february 7, 2014 8:00 Pm

ameriCan boy Choirsunday, marCh 30, 2014 3:00 Pm

the PhiladelPhia singersMozart Vespers and Schubert Mass

sunday, may 18, 2014 3:00 Pm

For Tickets Call 215.587.3696 or go onlinewww.CathedralPhilaConcerts.org