the summer is coming - godwine choirgodwinechoir.org/summer-is-coming-programme.pdf · the...

the summer is comingEnglish Madrigals

for Midsummer’s Eve

Saturday 21st June 2014

Programme

Founded by graduates from Cambridge chapel choirs, the Godwine Choir was set

up to capture the atmosphere of chamber music at university and bring it to

London as part of professional life.

The group is made up of sixteen enthusiastic young singers who rehearse together

weekly at St George the Martyr in Borough. We encourage every member to develop

vocally by selecting a wide range of challenging repertoire, both well-known and

little-heard.

This evening, The Godwine Choir performs its inaugural concert in celebration of

Midsummer’s Eve. The Summer is Coming features a mix of religious and secular

English madrigals from the Renaissance to the modern day. We're incredibly excited

to perform these pieces in St George the Martyr, a church of great majesty with a

reverberant acoustic.

We hope you enjoy the concert.

We begin with a Renaissance masterpiece by Thomas Tallis. In a career

overshadowed by the religious turmoil of the Tudor period, Tallis skilfully adapted his

style to suit the demands of successive monarchs. This Salvator Mundi dates from

1575 – around the time that intricate polyphony was coming back into fashion after

years of pedestrian puritanical music.

The emotional intensity is redoubled by Thomas Weelkes as we encounter Thule,

The Period of Cosmography. He transports us to the volcano at the edge of the

world, somewhere in the frozen north. As the six voices interweave, Thule is

compared to the Icelandic volcano Hecla, which erupts with dramatic scales.

Harmonically Weelkes is equally inventive, with strange chords accompanying this

wond’rous sight.

Our next piece has an altogether more introverted mood. When David Heard is a

devastatingly stark depiction of grief dating from 1622. Thomas Tomkins was a

prolific composer, his canon encompassing a plethora of madrigals, anthems and

services. In this setting of II Samuel, Tomkins’ bittersweet coda is particularly

poignant, the major tonality clashing with heartrending sobs for Absalom, my son.

In the remainder of our first half, two Renaissance madrigals are separated by one of

the most beautiful 19th Century part-songs. Both My Bonny Lass she Smileth and

Mother I Will Have a Husband are light-hearted, energetic works; the Vautor is

particularly vivacious in its depiction of wilful adolescence. The contrast with Robert

Pearsall's Lay a Garland is stark. Pearsall was largely self-taught in composition,

working primarily as a barrister, but Lay a garland is a true masterpiece of intricately

NOTES

layered writing, building into aching suspensions and resolutions.

Our second half opens with a setting of Robert Bridges' glorious text, My spirit sang

all day. Here, Gerald Finzi's fluid metre and deeply expressive word painting carry

through to the exultant climax: 'Thou art my joy!'. This is followed by the stillness of

The Blue Bird, an evocative picture of a serene lake; the passing bird is represented

here by an evanescent soprano solo.

Full Fathom Five is a lively setting of words from Shakespeare's The Tempest, but

Gustav Holst's arrangement of I Love my Love, a Cornish folk-song, is one of the

most moving works in the programme. Over six verses, the music evokes a story of

love lost and rediscovered, ingeniously dramatised by the composer, as the choir

take on the roles of narrator and the two protagonists.

Sir Arthur Sullivan set the words of Henry Chorley’s poem The Long Day Closes to

music with meditative simplicity in 1868. There are undoubtedly elements of

contemplation on death and rebirth. But at heart this piece remains a peaceful

reflection on the beauty of eventide.

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry might well be described as the forefather of 20th

century English music: Vaughan Williams, Holst and Ireland numbered among his

students, while his contemporary Elgar described him as “the head of our art in this

country”. His music is often deeply personal, as in his valedictory motet My Soul,

There is a Country. Parry sets Henry Vaughan’s text with dreamlike hope, a plea for

salvation during the darkest days of World War I.

Our penultimate work echoes the concert title, The Summer is Coming, and was

composed in 1964 in memory of Arnold Bax. Rather than stereotypical summer

imagery, Bryan Guiness’ text conveys a curious nostalgia for the past Spring, with its

wild geese and young cows. Appropriately, Herbert Howells conjures an atmosphere

of pagan mysticism in the opening solo exchanges. Although this haunting mood

never entirely abates, the enveloping warmth of nature eventually shines through

courtesy of some characteristically dense harmony.

We finish with a lullaby; Richard Rodney Bennett composed A Good Night in 1999

for Paul McCartney in memory of his late wife Linda.The work maintains a childlike

innocence throughout, reminiscent of twilight birdsong at bedtime. Keen listeners will

also notice parallels with Rodney Bennett’s most famous film score, “Four Weddings

and a Funeral”. His love of jazz pervades the texture, particularly in the serene closing

bars.

Salvator mundi

Thomas Tallis

Salvator mundi,

salva nos, qui per crucem

et sanguinem redemisti nos:

auxiliare nobis, te deprecamur,

Deus noster.

Thule, the period of cosmography

Thomas Weelkes

Thule, the period of cosmography,

Doth vaunt of Hecla, whose sulphurious fire

Doth melt the frozen clime and thaw the sky;

Trinacrian Etna's flames ascend not higher:

These things seem wond’rous, yet more wond’rous I,

Whose heart with fear doth freeze, with love doth fry.

When David heard

Thomas Tomkins

When David heard that Absalom was slain

he went up to his chamber over the gate and wept;

and thus he said: O my son, my son, Absalom my son,

would God I had died for thee, O Absalom my son.

My bonny lass she smileth

Thomas Morley

My bonny lass she smileth,

when she my heart beguileth.

Smile less, dear love, therefore,

and you shall love me more.

When she her sweet eye turneth,

O, how my heart it burneth!

Dear love, call in their light,

or else you burn me quite!

Saviour of the world,

who by Thy cross

and blood has redeemed us:

save us and help us, we beseech Thee

our Lord.

Lay a garland

Robert Pearsall

Lay a garland on her hearse

Of dismal yew.

Maidens, willow branches wear,

Say she died true.

Her love was false, but she was firm

Upon her buried body lie

lightly, thou gentle earth.

Mother, I will have a husband

Thomas Vautor

Mother, I will have a husband,

And I will have him out of hand.

Mother, I will sure have one,

In spite of her that will have none.

John-a-Dun should have had me long ere this,

He said I had good lips to kiss.



For I have heard 'tis trim when folks do love,

By good Sir John I swear now I will prove,

Mother I will sure have one,


To the town therefore will I gad,

To get me a husband good or bad.

Mother I will have a husband,

And I will have him out of hand.



INTERVAL

My spirit sang all day

Gerald Finzi

My spirit sang all day

O my joy.

Nothing my tongue could say,

Only my joy!

My heart an echo caught

O my joy

And spake,

Tell me thy thought,

Hide not thy joy.

My eyes gan peer around,

O my joy

What beauty hast thou found?

Shew us thy joy.

My jealous ears grew whist;

O my joy

Music from heaven is't,

Sent for our joy?

She also came and heard;

O my joy,

What, said she, is this word?

What is thy joy?

And I replied,

O see, O my joy,

'Tis thee, I cried, 'tis thee:

Thou art my joy.

The blue bird

Charles Villiers Stanford

The lake lay blue, below the hill.

O’er it, as I looked there flew

Across the waters cold and still,

A bird whose wings were palest blue.

The sky above was blue at last.

The sky beneath me blue in blue;

A moment, ere the bird had passed,

It caught his image as he flew.

The lake lay blue below the hill.

Full fathom five

Charles Wood

Full fathom five thy father lies,

Of his bones are coral made;

Those are pearls that were his eyes:

Nothing of him that doth fade,

But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange.

Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:

Hark! now I hear them - ding-dong bell.

I love my love

Gustav Holst

Abroad as I was walking, one evening in the spring,

I heard a maid in Bedlam so sweetly for to sing;

Her chains she rattled with her hands, and thus replied she:

"I love my love because I know my love loves me.

O cruel were his parents who sent my love to sea,

And cruel was the ship that bore my love from me;

Yet I love his parents since they're his although they've ruined me:

I love my love because I know my love loves me.

With straw I'll weave a garland, I'll weave it very fine;

With roses, lilies, daisies, I'll mix the eglantine;

And I'll present it to my love when he returns from sea.

For I love my love, because I know my love loves me."

Just as she sat there weeping, her love he came on land,

Then hearing she was in Bedlam, he ran straight out of hand;

He flew into her snow-white arms, and thus replied he:

"I love my love, because I know my love loves me.“

She said: "My love don't frighten me; are you my love or no?"

"O yes, my dearest Nancy, I am your love, also

I am return'd to make amends for all your injury;

I love my love because I know my love loves me."

So now these two are married, and happy may they be

Like turtle doves together, in love and unity.

All pretty maids with patience wait that have got loves at sea;

I love my love because I know my love loves me.

The long day closes

Arthur Seymour Sullivan

No star is o'er the lake,

Its pale watch keeping;

The moon is half awake,

Through grey mist creeping.

The last red leaves fall round

the porch of roses,

The clock hath ceased to sound,

The long day closes.

Sit by the silent hearth

In calm endeavour,

To count the sounds of mirth,

Now dumb for ever.

Heed not how hope believes,

And fate disposes.

Shadow is round the eaves.


The lighted windows dim

Are fading slowly.

The fire that was so trim

Now quivers lowly.

Go to the dreamless bed

Where grief reposes.

Thy book of toil is read,


My soul, there is a country

Charles Hubert Hastings Parry

My soul, there is a country

Far beyond the stars,

Where stands a winged sentry

All skilful in the wars:

There, above noise and danger

Sweet Peace sits crowned with smiles

And One, born in a manger

Commands the beauteous files.

He is thy gracious friend,

And, O my soul, awake!

Did in pure love descend

To die here for thy sake.

If thou canst get but thither,

There grows the flow'r of Peace,

The Rose that cannot wither,

Thy fortress and thy ease.

Leave then thy foolish ranges,

For none can thee secure

But One who never changes,

Thy God, thy life, thy cure.

The summer is coming

Herbert Howells

The summer is coming over the hills.

The milk of the blackthorn

Is bursting and spills;

All day the cuckoo in County Mayo

Breathes like a flute

As he flits high and low.

Dark is the turf,

And grey is the stone

And sad is the sky,

Sad for the wild geese gone.

But the gleaming coat

Of the grass begins

Under the golden

Brooch of the whins.

The black boats walk

On the silver strand,

Like beetles that go

On the edge of the land;

The black boats tilt

On the western waves;

Black heifers stand

Over the old green graves.

The summer is coming over the sea,

And lights with soft kisses

On you and on me.

All day the cuckoo in County Mayo

Breathes like a flute

As he flits high and low.

A good-night

Richard Rodney Bennett

Close now thine eyes and rest secure;

Thy soul is safe enough, thy body sure;

He that loves thee, he that keeps

And guards thee, never slumbers, never sleeps.

The smiling conscience in a sleeping breast

Has only peace, only rest;

The music and the mirth of Kings

Are all but very discords when she sings.

Then close thine eyes and rest secure;

No sleep so sweet as thine, no rest so sure.

CHOIr

Soloists: Camilla Biggs, Emily Tidbury, Helen Hugh-Jones and Sophie Henstridge

Conductors: Edward Hughes and Alex Davan Wetton

Soprano Sara Anderson

Camilla Biggs

Sophie Hopkins

Helen Hugh-Jones

Emily Tidbury

Alto Hannah Fiddy

Jo Hale

Sophie Henstridge

Ellen Reading

Tenor Alex Davan Wetton

Jamie Hodgson

Edward Hughes

Bass Hugh Collins

Richard Pelmore

William Robertson

Tom Sharp

OUR THANKS

We would like to thank the staff at St George the Martyr for all their kind

assistance and for allowing us to rehearse and perform in their church.

We would also like to thank Revd Stephen Stavrou and The Guy’s Chapel

for providing us with a rehearsal space.

COMING NEXT

Autumn concert

7.30pm Saturday 13 September

Join us as we follow the changing seasons with music for autumn.

Music and readings for remembrance

7.30pm Saturday 15 November

In November we take time to reflect with music for hope and remembrance.

Carol concert: Darkness into Light

8.00pm Saturday 13 December

In December we anticipate the coming light of Christmas with Advent carols.

Keep up to date with our events at www.godwinechoir.org

the summer is coming - godwine choirgodwinechoir.org/summer-is-coming-programme.pdf · the...

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