Greatest Hits of the Medieval Women's Choir: Program & Notes

Program:

Notes:

When I started with a group of twelve women some twenty years ago, I certainly could not have foreseen today's event. What impresses me even more is how many women have stayed with the choir since those early years! I decided that after all their hard work it was time for the women to have a say in the programming. Hence this concert features the pieces they have chosen - the pieces they have loved and remembered.

It was no surprise to me that Hildegard of Bingen came up as the favorite composer. From the beginning of the choir we have sung her works. Through the years we have gone through many changes in the notation and interpretation we used, but we have always loved her songs, challenging as they are. Hildegard's music was the focus of our first CD, River of Red. We sold every last copy, but parts or all of the CD can still be downloaded from our website. Hildegard (1098-1179) was possibly as famous in her own times as she is now: highly regarded for her writings on a vast array of topics, from the theological to the mystical to the healing properties of minerals and herbs. Abbess of her own monasteries in Rupertsberg and Eibingen (near Mainz), she corresponded with all the luminaries of her time, from Frederick of Barbarossa to Pope Eugene III.

That the women in the choir love not only medieval music is clear from their choice of two modern compositions from our new Laude Novella CD: Peter Seibert's "Il canto delle creature," on Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Sun, and my "Venite adorare," a setting of a 14th-century Italian text.

Several French songs made the list, in particular those by Adam de la Halle (1237?-1288). De la Halle was one of the last trouvères, famous for his musical play Le Jeu de Robin et Marion and for his contributions to the "fixed forms," especially the rondeau. A rondeau-such as "Bonne amourette" and the following four songs-is an eight-line poem, set to two different musical phrases, in the pattern ABAAABAB. Also French, although it is found in a manuscript in Spain (the Huelgas Codex), is the three-part conductus "Mater patris."

Music from medieval Spain-a true melting pot of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim cultures-has always featured prominently on our programs. The two Sephardic songs ("La rosa enflorese" and "Como la rosa en la guerta") share with music from all places and times the allegorical invocation of the rose, with its beauty and fragrance. The two Cantigas de Santa Maria come from a collection of over 400 songs to the Virgin Mary, compiled by King Alfonso X. He drew to his court musicians, poets, and performers from Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy to collaborate. The stories in the Cantigas are wonderful records of everyday life, and especially of the many mishaps that can occur. Of course the Virgin has a solution for all of them!

The Virgin plays an important role in the English carols as well. Although we have come to associate the word carol with Christmas, originally carols were sung at other times as well. What makes them carols is the fact that they all alternate verses with a refrain, called a "burden." English three-part music stands out for its warm, sensuous, and mellifluous harmonies, not only beautiful to listen to but also very satisfying to sing. No wonder Lionel Power's "Beata progenies" won the popularity contest in a landslide!

~Margriet Tindemans