UMS Concert Program, February 14, 15, 16, 1964: New York Pro Musica -- Noah Greenberg

Season: Eighty-fifth
Concert: Second
Complete Series: 3417
Rackham Auditorium Ann Arbor, Michigan

1963 Eighty-fifth Season 1964
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Charles A. Sink, President Gail W. Rector, Executive Director Lester McCoy, Conductor
Second Concert Complete Scries 3417
Twenty-fourth Annual CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
New York Pro Musica
NOAH GREENBERG, Musical Director
SHEILA SCHONBRUN, Soprano
ELIZABETH HUMES, Soprano
EARNEST MURPHY, Countertenor
RAY DE VOLL, Tenor
ARTHUR BURROWS, Baritone
BRAYTON LEWIS, Bass
LaNOUE DAVENPORT: Recorder, Krummhorn, Cornett SHELLEY GRUSKIN: Flute, Recorder, Krummhorn, Schryari
JUDITH DAVIDOFF: Bass Viol PAUL MAYNARD: Harpsichord, Portative Organ, Regal
The instrumental consort rehearses under the direction of LaNoue Davenport
February 14, 15, 16, 1964 Rackham Auditorium Ann Arbor, Michigan
a r s l o n g a vita b r e v i s
PROGRAM Saturday, February 15, 8:30 p.m.
MUSIC OF BURGUNDY, FLANDERS, AND SPAIN
GUILLAUME DUFAY (ca. 1400-1474) Kyrie.............Ensemble
Lord have mercy .. . Gloria . Sheila Schonbrun, Elizabeth Humes, and Ensemble
Glory be to God on High
And on earth peace, good will toward men. Supremum est mortalibus........Ensemble
The supreme good to mankind is peace,
God's best gift.
GUILLAUME DUFAY
Bon jour, bon mois . . . Elizabeth Humes and instruments
Good day, good month ... good fame, a beautiful lady, good wine, to keep a man in spirit.
Craindre vous..........Instruments
Je ne vis onques la pareille . . Ray De Voll and instruments
I have never seen the equal of thce, my gracious lady.
Your beauty to me is, on my soul, unequalled by any other.
Vostre bruit...........Instruments
Malheureux cueur . . . Sheila Schonbrun and instruments
Unfortunate heart, what would you have
Will you lament forever so that I can never have a day's peace
JOSQUIN DES PREZ (ca. 14SO-1S21)
Planxit autem David (David's lament for Jonathan and Saul) Ensemble And David lamented ... over Saul and over Jonathan his son: Consider, O Israel, for them that are dead ...
INTERMISSION
ANONYMOUS SPANISH (16th century) E la don, don, Verges Maria . Arthur Burrows and ensemble
E la don, don, sweet Virgin Mary.
Let's all dance and sing,
For our loving Queen ...
MARTIN DE RIVAFRECHA (d. 1528)
Salve Regina..........Men's voices
Hail Queen, Mother of mercy;
Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope.
ANONYMOUS SPANISH
Dadme albricias, hijos d'Eva.......Ensemble
Sons of Eve, reward my tidings. Born is He, the Adam new ... For tonight is born our Saviour ...
DIEGO ORTIZ (16th century) Recercada . . . Judith Davidoff, bass viol, and harpsichord
ANTONIO DE CABEZON (1510-1566)
Tiento........Paul Maynard, harpsichord
ALONSO MUDARRA (early 16th century)
Triste estava el rey David . Earnest Murphy and harpsichord David's lament for Absalom.
ANONYMOUS SPANISH (16th century) Pase el aqua, ma Julieta........Instruments
JUAN DEL ENCINA (1469-1529)
Oy comamos y bebamos y cantemos.....Instruments
ANONYMOUS SPANISH (16th century) Si la noche haza escura
Sheila Schonbrun, Elizabeth Humes, and Ensemble If the night is dark and the road so short, Why do you not come, amigo
Riu, riu, chiu, la guarda ribera . Brayton Lewis and men's voices God kept the wolf from our lamb.
NICHOLAS GOMBERT (ca. 1490-1556)
Dezilde al caballero..........Voices
Tell the knight not to grieve
For I give him my troth, may he never forsake it ...
ANONYMOUS SPANISH (16th century) Vesame y abragame marido mio.......Ensemble
Kiss me and hug me, husband dear,
And in the morning I'll give you a clean shirt ...
The New York Pro Musica records exclusively for Decca Gold Label Records, available in monaural and stereo.
SOURCES OF THE MUSIC
I. Kyrie and Gloria from Dufay, Opera Omnia, Vol. IV (ed. by H. Besseler, American Institute of Musicology). Supremum. Unpublished transcription by Denis Stevens.
II. Chansons are in Vol. 19 of Chorwerk (Besseler, Moseler Verlag). III. Brooklyn College Choral Series (ed. by Mason Martens, Leeds Music Corp.).
IV, VI. The pieces with Spanish texts are all taken from the Cancionero de Upsala (modern ed. by Jesus Bay y Gay, El Colegio de Mexico). Practical editions of E la don, don, Dadme albricias, and Riu, riu, chiu are available (Noah Greenberg, Associated Music Publishers). The Rivafrecha Salve is included in Anlologia Musical (cd. by Elustiza and Hernandez, Casulleras).
V. Antonio de Cabezdn. Tientos und Fugen (ed. by M. S. Kastner, Schott). Instrumental transcriptions of the Villancicos (by Joel Newman, Associated Music Publishers). The Recerceda is from Ortiz, Tratado de Glosas (modern ed. by Max Schneider, Barenreiter, Kassel and New York).
ABOUT THE INSTRUMENTS
Music written for a specific instrumental ensemble was a rarity in the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. But it is untrue to infer from this that the art of orchestration was unknown or that a variety of instruments did not exist in these periods. Contem?porary accounts relate that the striking characteristic of orchestral sound was an infinite variety of instrumental colors.
The musical sources do not indicate any specific instrumentation until the begin?ning of the 17th century, and not always even then. The scoring used by New York Pro Musica is as close as possible to the performance practice contemporary with the compositions. The instruments used in this concert are listed below, with brief descrip?tions. All, except the bass viol and flute are modern constructions, modeled after old instruments in various collections.
Recorders are members of the flute family and were made in consorts or families. Praetorius in his Syntagma Musicum of 1619 shows eleven sizes, but states that the higher voices were seldom used "... as they shriek so."
Viols of all sizes, even the smallest, are held between the legs. In general they have six strings and sloping shoulders in contrast to the straight shoulders of the violin family. The body is thicker than that of the violin, the strings more loosely strung, and the fingerboard is fretted.
The Krummhorn, a soft wind instrument, derives its name from its curved body. Its double reed is encased in a wooden cap, the cap having a hole at the top through which the player blows.
The Schryari or Rauschpfeif is a loud wind instrument, also with a capped double reed. Having a most piercing sound, it was made in families for use in outdoor performances.
The Transverse Flute, still in regular orchestral use, has been changed consider?ably from its original state. Made of wood, not silver, it did not acquire its elaborate key system until the late 19th century.
The Cornett combines characteristics of both the brass and woodwind families. The sound is produced via a cup mouthpiece, somewhat like our trumpet, but the instrument is made of wood and is fingered after the manner of a recorder. There are two versions of this instrument; one is straight (Ital., cornetto diritto), while the other, and more popular, is curved. The curved treble cornett has a thin leather cover?ing and its lowest note is either c' or a'. Contrary to other instruments of the time, cornetts were rarely used in families. Besides the treble instrument there was a tenor cornett (Ital., torto) in c, which was used in consort with sackbuts and other mixed ensembles.
The Portative is a small organ consisting of one rank of stopped flue pipes. The Regal is also a one rank organ whose tones are produced by reed pipes with wooden resonators. Both were widely used as ensemble instruments during the middle ages and Renaissance.
The Harpsichord is a single manual keyboard instrument with two sets of strings at eight foot pitch and a harp stop. There are two ranks of jacks; one with leather plectra, the other with quill plectra.
Parts for Percussion instruments were not indicated in early music. However, the countless paintings depicting percussion of every variety attest to its use in early music.
LaNoue Davenport