PROGRAM NOTES
MUSICAL MASTERPIECES — Saturday, October 15, 2022, 7:00 PM
Featuring masterworks by French composer Gabriel Fauré, Requiem, and English composer John Rutter, Gloria
Featuring masterworks by French composer Gabriel Fauré, Requiem, and English composer John Rutter, Gloria
GABRIEL FAURÉ - Requiem, Op. 48
Gabriel Fauré was a fine organist, appointed in 1896 to the prestigious Madeleine church in Paris. He was also an excellent teacher but, perhaps because of his renowned expertise as organist and teacher, only slowly gained recognition as a composer. He eventually became professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire and its Director from 1905 to 1920.
Fauré deliberately avoided the grander kind of orchestral music that could easily have brought him fame and fortune; thus, many criticized him for lacking depth, a judgment made on the belief that the bigger and bolder a composer’s music the more worthwhile it must be. He instead embraced an elegant, subtle, and melodic musical language of which he is now a recognized master.
The Requiem was composed in 1888 when Fauré was in his forties, quite probably in response to the recent death of his father. Shortly after its first performance, Fauré’s mother also died, giving the work an added poignancy. In its sequence of movements the Requiem departs significantly from the standard liturgical text. Fauré included two new sections, the lyrical Pie Jesu and the transcendent In Paradisum, with its soaring vocal line and murmuring harp accompaniment. He also omitted the Dies Irae and Tuba Mirum—for most composers an opportunity to exploit to the full the dramatic possibilities of all the available choral and orchestral forces. Consequently, the prevailing mood is one of peacefulness and serenity, and the work has often been described, quite justly, as a Requiem without the Last Judgment.
Of the many settings of the Requiem, this is probably the most widely loved. In comparison with the large-scale masterpieces of Verdi, Brahms, and Berlioz, Fauré’s setting seems gentle and unassuming, yet it is this very quality of understatement that contributes so eloquently to the work’s universal appeal, and it is impossible not to be moved by the ethereal beauty of this humble masterpiece.
Gabriel Fauré was a fine organist, appointed in 1896 to the prestigious Madeleine church in Paris. He was also an excellent teacher but, perhaps because of his renowned expertise as organist and teacher, only slowly gained recognition as a composer. He eventually became professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire and its Director from 1905 to 1920.
Fauré deliberately avoided the grander kind of orchestral music that could easily have brought him fame and fortune; thus, many criticized him for lacking depth, a judgment made on the belief that the bigger and bolder a composer’s music the more worthwhile it must be. He instead embraced an elegant, subtle, and melodic musical language of which he is now a recognized master.
The Requiem was composed in 1888 when Fauré was in his forties, quite probably in response to the recent death of his father. Shortly after its first performance, Fauré’s mother also died, giving the work an added poignancy. In its sequence of movements the Requiem departs significantly from the standard liturgical text. Fauré included two new sections, the lyrical Pie Jesu and the transcendent In Paradisum, with its soaring vocal line and murmuring harp accompaniment. He also omitted the Dies Irae and Tuba Mirum—for most composers an opportunity to exploit to the full the dramatic possibilities of all the available choral and orchestral forces. Consequently, the prevailing mood is one of peacefulness and serenity, and the work has often been described, quite justly, as a Requiem without the Last Judgment.
Of the many settings of the Requiem, this is probably the most widely loved. In comparison with the large-scale masterpieces of Verdi, Brahms, and Berlioz, Fauré’s setting seems gentle and unassuming, yet it is this very quality of understatement that contributes so eloquently to the work’s universal appeal, and it is impossible not to be moved by the ethereal beauty of this humble masterpiece.
JOHN RUTTER - Gloria
The English composer John Rutter has become a veritable icon of contemporary choral music. His association with Clare College, Cambridge, first as a student, then as Director of Music, and later, as the organizer of the much-recorded Cambridge Singers, has led to international recognition.
Gloria is one of Rutter's most ambitious concert works, and its premiere was the occasion for his first visit to the US, in May 1974. The Voices of Mel Olson commissioned the work, and the composer conducted the performance by that chorale in its Omaha NE home. Rutter himself sees this work as analogous to a symphony, with three movements — allegro vivace, andante, vivace e ritmico — i.e., fast, slow, fast, in common with symphonic practice, and, says Rutter, "exalted, devotional and jubilant by turns." Gloria represents the second section of the Ordinary, the fixed-form portion of the Latin mass, i.e., the section following the Kyrie, and the introit, when the latter is used.
Many composers have set this text as an independent work. The practice of subdividing sections of the mass, such as the Gloria and the Credo, into separate movements dates from the time of Bach, who employed it in the B-Minor Mass, but it was popularized by early 18th-century composers. Rutter based his setting on one of many Gregorian chants which utilized this text. About the orchestration, he says, "The accompaniment is for brass ensemble with timpani, percussion and organ - a combination which in the outer movements makes quite a joyful noise unto the Lord, but which is used more softly and introspectively in the middle movement."
The English composer John Rutter has become a veritable icon of contemporary choral music. His association with Clare College, Cambridge, first as a student, then as Director of Music, and later, as the organizer of the much-recorded Cambridge Singers, has led to international recognition.
Gloria is one of Rutter's most ambitious concert works, and its premiere was the occasion for his first visit to the US, in May 1974. The Voices of Mel Olson commissioned the work, and the composer conducted the performance by that chorale in its Omaha NE home. Rutter himself sees this work as analogous to a symphony, with three movements — allegro vivace, andante, vivace e ritmico — i.e., fast, slow, fast, in common with symphonic practice, and, says Rutter, "exalted, devotional and jubilant by turns." Gloria represents the second section of the Ordinary, the fixed-form portion of the Latin mass, i.e., the section following the Kyrie, and the introit, when the latter is used.
Many composers have set this text as an independent work. The practice of subdividing sections of the mass, such as the Gloria and the Credo, into separate movements dates from the time of Bach, who employed it in the B-Minor Mass, but it was popularized by early 18th-century composers. Rutter based his setting on one of many Gregorian chants which utilized this text. About the orchestration, he says, "The accompaniment is for brass ensemble with timpani, percussion and organ - a combination which in the outer movements makes quite a joyful noise unto the Lord, but which is used more softly and introspectively in the middle movement."
