UMS Concert Program, April 1, 1976: The Waverly Consort --

Concert: Eighth
Complete Series: 3996
Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The University Musical Society
of
The University of Michigan
Presents
The Waverly Consort
Thursday Evening, April 1, 1976, at 8:30 Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Las Cantigas de Santa Maria
Medieval Music and Verse In the Court of Alfonso X, "el Sabio"
(performed without intermission)
Benedicamus Verbum patris
Today the Father's word has come forth from the virgin; you angelic powers, let us bless the Lord in jubilant melody.
Prologue to the Songs of Holy Mary
The First Song of Praise to Holy Mary
Recalling the seven joys received from her Son: the Annunciation, Nativity, Epiphany, Resurrection, Ascension, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and Mary's coronation as Queen of Heaven.
Five Miracles of Holy Mary
How Holy Mary freed a knight from captivity and commanded him to go to her sanctuary at Rocamadour. Pilgrim song: O Virgo splendens
How Holy Mary avenged herself of the cleric who stole silver from a cross
How Holy Mary guided the pilgrims who were going to her shrine in Soissons and lost their way in the night. Pilgrim song: Stella splendens in monte
How Holy Mary had a candle come to rest on the viol of a minstrel who sang to her at Rocamadour
How a woman who had promised to keep the Sabbath sinned by working on that day and so was paralyzed in the hands. However, she was told to visit Saint Mary's of Chartrcs, and there she was cured.
Song of Praise: Virgcn, Madrc Gloriosa Instrumental Interlude
Five Miracles of Holy Mary
How Holy Mary caused five roses to grow from the mouth of a monk upon his death because of the five hymns he used to pray in honor of her name
How Holy Mary delivered of her child the pregnant abbess who, weeping, had fallen asleep before her shrine
How Holy Mary cured the cleric whose legs had turned back for having made underwear from an altar cloth he had stolen
How God made helpless a Moor who had stolen an offering to Holy Mary from an altar. Pilgrim songs: Laudemus virginem Splendens ceptrig,era
How Holy Mary, in her church at Salas, cured a man crippled throughout his body
Song of Praise: Rosa das Rosas
Eighth Concert Thirteenth Annual Chamber Arts Scries Complete Programs 3996
PROGRAM NOTES
Kenneth C. Ritchie and Michael Jaffee
The more than four hundred Marian songs known as the Canligas de Santa Maria preserve the spirit of the cosmopolitan Western Christianity of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, caught in unusual relief at the Castilian court of Alfonso X (12211284) at Toledo. This "Learned King" of Castile and Leon, through his enthusiastic encouragement of learning in law, mathematics, science, and the arts, provided an enduring cultural foundation for the future kingdom of Spain, whose military and political base at Castile had been secured by the victories of Alfonso's predecessors over rival Christian and Moorish kingdoms on the Iberian peninsula.
In literature, King Alfonso treasured as his finest achievement the Canligas de Santa Maria, or Songs oj Holy Mary, most likely partially composed and certainly commissioned and compiled by the king himself. Because of the great prestige of the Galician and Portuguese lyric poets, the Castilian Alfonso chose for his verse their language, known today as Portuguese, preferring its softness and phonetic richness over Castilian, now called Spanish, which he preferred for his prose writings.
The collection's size, unity of theme and purpose, and the fact that it contains every representative type of monophonic vocal music current in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, makes it one of the most important sources of European monophony surviving today. For a long time the transcription of the Cantigas into modern notation was problematical because of the difficulty in determining the rhythmic values of the original notation. The music was written on a fiveline staff using squareshaped notes indicating pitch but not rhythm. The poetic rhythm and stress of the words generally determine the choice of the rhythmic mode. Although the original manuscript gives no written information concerning performance practice, much can be inferred from the many illuminations and drawings found throughout the book of the Cantigas. These show a variety of instruments, both of European and Arabic origin, which were no doubt used to accompany singers or, in some cases, might have played the melodies alone.
Most of the music lor this program was selected from the Cantigas de Santa Maria; we have also included four polyphonic compositions from two other Spanish sources of music compiled after the reign of Alfonso X. The Benedicamus "Verbum patris" is taken from Las Huelgas Codex, which, although written down in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries for use in the nunnery of Las Huelgas near Burgos, contains music dating largely from the thirteenth century. The Latin pilgrim songs--"O Virgo splendens." "Stella splendens in monte," and "Laudemus virginemSplendens ceptigera"--are found in the Libre Vermeil ("Red Book"), a fourteenthcentury manuscript from the monastery at Montserrat.
The collection of Cantigas, Marian miracles in verse and song, is exquisitely illuminated and preserved at the Escorial library near Madrid. The brilliantly colored miniatures document with unfailing precision the physical reality of daily life in the thirteenth century from its meanest concrete details to its loftiest aspirations, with no embarrassment in its combination
of acutely observed reality and rarefied stylization. Emperors, beggars, bishops, merchants and animals are all worthy of Mary's love. Moorish musicians bring their exotic instruments to Christian court and church to praise Holy Mary. Melodies old and new, Latin hymns, courtly secular, folkloric, and Moorish songs accompany the endless assortment of miracles narrated with perfect candor and dignity. The love of the Maidservant and Queen of Heaven knows no social barriers; the medieval poet knows no precious conceits of lofty classical style. All of earthly reality is ennobled by Mary's love. Cantigas, verse and song inseparable in the Middle Ages, transform all who offer them to Holy Mary: the carnal cleric, the crippled and diseased, the imprisoned, the lost, the hardened, and the poet himself. The lowly minstrel's craft is now miraculous once his magic is turned to the glory of Holy Mary.
THE WAVERLY CONSORT MICHAEL JAFFEE, Director
Troubadour James Selby
Musicians oj the Court
Jane Bryden, soprano
Earnest Murphy, tenor
Judith Davidoff, medieval fiddles
Kay Jaffee, recorder, rauschpjcije, psaltery, organetto
Sally Logemann, shawm, recorder, nun's fiddle
Michael Jaffee, Moorish guitar, psalteries
Percussion instruments and handbells played by members of the ensemble.
Staged by Philip Minor
Costumes designed by Robert Pusilo
Lighting by Chris J. Dorsey
Narration translated from the original GalicianPortuguese
by Kenneth C. Ritchie Vanguard Records
REMAINING EVENTS
Don Cossacks of Rostov..........Sunday, April 4
Sitara, Kathak Dancer..........Tuesday, April 6
Vladimir Horowitz, Pianist.........Sunday, April 11
May Festival
Four Concerts in Hill Auditorium--April 28, 29, 30 and May 1
The Philadelphia Orchestra Eugene Ormandy, Conductor
The Festival Chorus Aaron Copland, Guest Conductor
Andre Watts, Pianist Marilyn Horne, Soprano
-Festival Prelude -The Start of a Perfect Evening
A cocktail and dinner party in the Power Center Lobby
at 6 o'clock preceding the Wednesday night concert
(Dinner ticket, $15 per person)
Wednesday: Haydn: Symphony No. 31 ("Hornsignal"); Leslie Bassett: "Echoes from an Invisible World"; Weber: Invitation to the Dance; Copland: Suite from Billy the Kid; Ravel: La Valse.
Tickets from $4 to $12
Thursday: Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 in C; MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. 2; Strauss: Death and Transfiguration; Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue. (Sold out.)
Friday: Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man, Clarinet Concerto (Anthony Gigliotti), Suite from The Tender Land (Festival Chorus) ; Barber: "School for Scandal" Overture; Ives: Decoration Day; Schuman: New England Tryptich. (Sold out.)
Saturday: Beethoven: Overture to "Coriolanus"; Persichetti: Symphony No. 4; Ravel: "Sheherazade" Song Cycle; Rossini: "Una voce poco fa" from Barbiere di Siviglia; Strauss: Rosenkavalier Waltzes.
Tickets from $4 to $12
New 197677 Season International Presentations of Music and Dance
will be announced in April. Inquire in our Burton Tower office for new brochure with complete information.
Encore!
To insure the ongoing cultural presentations of the University Musical Society in these times of increasing financial demands, a new membership organization called Encore has been formed, embracing all current contributors to the gift program (established in 1968) and reaching out to all concertgoers who wish to see these many fine performances continued. The privilege of advance notice for all events is given to Encore members, in addition to other courtesies extended throughout the year. For further information about Encore and membership categories, contact the office of the Musical Societv in Burton Tower.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Phones: 6653717, 7642538