UMS Concert Program, October 29, 1961: New York Pro Musica -- Noah Greenberg

Season: Eighty-third
Complete Series: 3331
Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor

1961 Eighty-third Season 1962
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Charles A. Sink, President Gail W. Rector, Executive Director Lester McCoy, Conductor
Special Concert Complete Series 3331
NEW YORK PRO MUSICA
NOAH GREENBERG, Musical Director
Sunday Afternoon, October 29, 1961, at 2:30 Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor
P R O G R A M
I
Missa de Martyribus .... Heinrich Isaac (c. 1450-1517) Kyrie Agnus Dei
Ensemble
II
Else, el se mundo . . . The Glogauer Liederbuch (c. 1480)
Ensemble
Elslein, liebstes Elselein........Liederbuch
Brayton Lewis and Instruments
Salve Virgo...........Liederbuch
Sheila Schonbrun, Carolyn Backus, and Instruments
Ich bins erfreut..........Liederbuch
Charles Bressler and Instruments
III La mi la sol.............Isaac
Instruments En l'ombre.............Isaac
Instruments
Zwischen Berg und tiefem Tal........Isaac
Robert White and Instruments J'ay pris amours............Isaac
Instruments In meinem sinn............Isaac
Instruments
Decca Gold Label Records ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
IV
Quis dabit capiti meo aquam........Isaac
(Ode on the death of Lorenzo de'Medici) Men's Voices
Donna di dentro............Isaac
(Florentine Carnival Song) Ensemble
INTERMISSION
V
Ich weiss nit......Ludwig Senfl (c. 1490-c. 1543)
Charles Bressler, Robert White, and Instruments
Gross Weh ich leid'...........Senfl
Gordon Myers and Instruments
Suzanne un jour.....Orlandus Lassus (1532-1594)
Paul Maynard, Harpsichord
VI
Missa Paschalis............Senfl
Kyrie Gloria Agnus Dei
Ensemble
SOURCES OF THE MUSIC
I. Isaac, 5 Polyphonic Masses, edited by Louise Cuyler II. Das Erbe deutscher Musik, I, Band 4 and 8
III. Denkmdler der Tonkunst in Oesterreich, XIV, Band 28 Zeitschrijt jiir Spielmusik, No. 9
IV. DTO, XIV, Band 28, Das Chorwerk, No. 43
V. Senfl, Werke, Vols. 2 and 4; G. B. della Gostena, Intavolatura di Luito VI. Senfl, Werke, Vol. 1
NEW YORK PRO MUSICA PERSONNEL Noah Greenberg, Musical Director
Sheila Schonbrun, Soprano Carolyn Backus, Soprano Robert White, Countertenor
Charles Bressler, Tenor Gordon Myers, Baritone Brayton Lewis, Bass
LaNoue Davenport: Recorders, krummhorn, alto sackbutt Shelley Gruskin : Flute, recorders, krummhorn
Barbara Mueser: Bass viola da gamba Paul Maynard : Harpsichord, portative organ
The instrumental consort rehearses under the direction of LaNoue Davenport
PROGRAM NOTES by Joel Newman
Heinrich Isaac
Of the many Flemish master musicians who flourished around 1500, a few figures stand out clearly. Josquin des Prez has slightly obscured the name of Isaac, a man whose originality and distinctiveness are apparent on even slight acquaintance with his music. Isaac is the very model of the migrating Fleming whose life in Italy, Germany, and Austria anticipates the cosmopolitan type exemplified in Orlandus Lassus and George Frederick Handel. The most talented heads of state kept him at their courts, men like Lorenzo "the Magnificent" at Florence and Emperor Maximilian I at Vienna. Every national style interested him and provoked masterly compositions.
The major musical forms of the Renaissance were the Mass and the motet. Isaac has left us twenty-three settings of the Ordinary of the Mass plus the Choralis Constanlinus, a cycle of settings of the Offices for the entire liturgical year. The Missa De Marlyribus, like several other Isaac Masses, alternates between traditional plainsong and sections of polyphony based on the chant.
Isaac's secular music is the perfect reflection of the courtly humanism of his time. These compositions, whether grave or gay, are written with a skill that is rarely matched in any period, but the craft does not obtrude. His chansons, represented by the instrumental pieces on this program, are models of compactness in which not a phrase is wasted or misused. The lament on the death of Lorenzo, a setting of Politian's poem mourning the great patron's passing in 1492, is a tragic ode incom?parable in the poise and control of its passions.
The Glogauer Liederbuch
This important Renaissance musical document consists of a set of three part-books written between the years 1477 and 1488. It was found in the Cathedral library of Glogau, a Silesian town near Germany's eastern border. The 294 compositions which make up this fine collection include sacred and secular German part songs, sacred Latin works, and dance and instrumental pieces, some of the latter identifiable as chansons by Burgundian-Flemish composers.
The Glogauer Book has suffered undeserved neglect. Its Latin pieces have been almost completely overlooked, perhaps because they are in a more courtly, less popular vein than the more robust German ones. Characteristic of the high-art style is the Salve Virgo, written in the Burgundian manner. The better known pieces in the collec?tion are the German compositions--hearty dances and sentimental pieces like Elslein and Ick bins erjreut. They have the same directness we find in German woodcuts and wood carvings.
Ludwig Senfi
Ludwig Senfl was a pupil of Heinrich Isaac and succeeded his master as composer to the court of Maximilian I of Austria, a post he held until the Emperor's death in 1519. From there he went to Munich where he became composer to the Duke of Bavaria. Senfl was born in Switzerland and it was in Constance that he met Isaac and began his studies with him. The influence of his teacher is apparent in his work, but Senfl was more than a follower. He developed a style and technique of composing that distinguished him from his contemporaries and produced an important body of sacred and secular music which won him fame in his time.
The secular pieces on this program are elaborately wrought part-song versions of German tunes that were popular in the XVIth century. Some of the lines, though not scored specifically for instruments, are clearly non-vocal. Performance by a mixed vocal and instrumental ensemble is in keeping with the musical practices of the Bavarian and Austrian courts of the Renaissance. The Missa Paschalis is an outstanding example of Scnfl's ornate style and brilliant use of color. Based on the plainsong Paschal melody, it is an almost dramatic treatment of the Mass text. The excitement of the Gloria with its closing Amen is as intense music as one can find anywhere.
1961 UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY CONCERTS 1962
Choral Union Concerts
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra .... Friday, November 3
Herbert von Karajan, Conductor
Bayaniiian (Philippine Songs and Dances) . . Monday, November 6 Yehudi Menuhin, Violinist . . . . 2:30, Sunday, November 12 Galina Vishnevskaya, Soprano .... Tuesday, November 21
Emil Gilels, Pianist.......Tuesday, February 13
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra . . . 2:30, Sunday, Alarch 4
Stanislaw Skkowaczewski, Conductor ?American Ballet Theatre......Saturday, March 24
Tickets: $4.00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.25--$1.50 Standing room only.
Extra Series Concerts
The Cleveland Orchestra.....Thursday, November 16
George Szell, Conductor
Rudolf Serkin, Pianist.......Monday, November 27
Boston Pops Tour Orchestra .... 2:30, Sunday, February 18
Arthur Fiedler, Conductor Leontyne Price, Soprano.......Monday, March 12
Tickets: $4.00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.25--$1.50
Annual Christmas Concerts
Messiah (Handel)......8:30, Saturday, December 2
2:30, Sunday, December 3
Ilona Kombrink, soprano Elaine Bonazzi, contralto Richard Miller, tenor
Ara Berberian, bass
Mary McCall Stubbins, organist
Lester McCoy, conductor
University Choral Union and University Symphony Orchestra
Tickets stil! available: Saturday concert: S1.50, 75c and 50c. Sunday concert: S1.50 and 50c.
Chamber Music Concerts
Richard Dyer-Bennet, Classical Folk Singer . . Saturday, January 13 Tickets: $2.50 and $2.00--on sale November 10
Chamber Music Festival (3 concerts) .... February 23, 24, 25 Juilliard Quartet; Eger Players; Beaux Arts Trio
Series Tickets--$5.00 and $4.00, Single Concerts--$2.50 and $2.00 On sale beginning November 10.
For tickets and information, address: University Musical Society, Burton Memorial Tower