Table Of ContentMusic & Art @ Trinity presents
Ross W. Duffin, Artistic Director
C Q W
arols for uire from the Old & New orlds
Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland December 22-23, 2011
— Please hold your applause until the end of each set. —
Out from lands of Orient (Orientis partibus) Anonymous French, 13th century
Gabriel from heaven’s king (Angelus ad virginem) Anonymous English, 13th century
There is no rose Anonymous English, 15th century
Ave rex angelorum Anonymous English, 15th century
Nowell sing we Anonymous English, 15th century
Quid petis, o fili? Richard Pygott (ca.1485–1549)
E la don don Anonymous (Cancionero de Upsala, 1556)
Dadme albricias Anonymous (Cancionero de Upsala, 1556)
A solis ortus cardine Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–1594)
This day Christ was born William Byrd (ca.1540–1623)
— Intermission —
Joseph est bien marié French 17th century, arr. R. Duffin
Quelle est cette odeur agréable? French ca.1700, arr. RD
Tous les bourgeois de Châtre French 17th century, arr. RD
Tous les bourgeois de Châtre (noël pour orgue) Claude-Bénigne Balbastre (1727–1799)
Jonathan William Moyer, organ
Canite tuba in Sion Jakob Handl (1550–1591)
Personent hodie Anonymous (Piae cantiones, 1582), arr. RD
Puer natus in Bethlehem Anonymous (Piae cantiones, 1582), arr. RD
Verbum caro factum est Anonymous (Piae cantiones, 1582), arr. RD
Gaudete Anonymous (Piae cantiones, 1582), arr. RD
Quiet Promise (2011) Jennifer Conner (b.1962)
In the bleak midwinter Gustav Holst (1874–1934)
The holly and the ivy arr. Henry Walford Davies (1869–1941)
A spotless rose Herbert Howells (1892–1983)
Q
ABOUT UIRE
Quire Cleveland is a professional choral ensemble founded in 2008 to perform the glorious choral masterpieces
of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras, and beyond. Members of the ensemble are highly-trained
musicians, collectively representing nearly 500 years of choral experience. In addition to being soloists and choral
leaders at many of the major churches in the Greater Cleveland area, including the Cathedral of St. John, Church
of the Covenant, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and Trinity Cathedral, among others, they have sung together in
historically-informed ensembles, such as the Case Western Reserve University Early Music Singers and Apollo’s
Singers of Apollo’s Fire. Quire performs nine centuries of a cappella repertoire. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has
praised “the inspired voices of Quire Cleveland” and the group’s “exceptional purity of pitch” and, according to
Cool Cleveland, “the joyful sounds could easily have soared to the very heavens.”
Q
UIRE CLEVELAND
Sopranos: Donna Fagerhaug, Elena Mullins, Judith Overcash, Lisa Rainsong, Sian Ricketts, Gail West
Altos: Tracy Cowart, John McElliott, Debra Nagy, Beverly Simmons
Tenors: Evan Bescan, Frank Blackman, Peter Hampton, Tyler Skidmore
Basses: Jonathan F. Cooper, Ian Crane, José Gotera, Nathan Longnecker, Ray Lyons, Jonathan Moyer
Board of Directors:
John West, esq, President; Ross W. Duffin, dma, Artistic Director; Beverly Simmons, dma,
Executive Director; John McElliott, Secretary/Treasurer; Richard Rodda, ph.d.
Quire Cleveland is registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization.
Artistic Director and tenor Ross W. Duffin was born in London, Ontario, and attended the University of Western
Ontario there. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University, where he specialized in the
performance practice of early music. He came to Case Western Reserve University in 1978 to direct the nationally
recognized historical performance program there. Ross has made a name for himself as a scholar in a wide range
of repertoires, publishing articles on music from the 13th to the 18th centuries. His edition of DuFay chansons
won the Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society for work of benefit to both scholars and
performers, and his Shakespeare’s Songbook won the inaugural Claude Palisca Prize, also from the AMS.
Other “vocal” publications include his edition of Josquin motets from Oxford University Press, an edition of
motets from the Jacobean period, and a reconstruction of the early Tudor St. Matthew Passion by Richard Davy,
both from A-R Editions. Ross’s love of vocal ensemble singing has a familial background, since his grandfather,
William Nelson, was a professional countertenor in London, England, and was soloist for Harold Darke and later
Herbert Murrill, and his mother conducted her church choir, making him a third-generation choral conductor. He
has sung with Apollo’s Fire since its inception in 1992. He also directs the Early Music Singers at CWRU.
Composer Jennifer Conner was a Regents scholar at the University of California Irvine, where she received
three undergraduate degrees in music, dance, and fine arts disciplinary. She did her master’s and doctoral work at
the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying under Donald Erb. She also studied with New York composer George
Tsontakis and participated in the Aspen Music Festival Center for Advanced Compositional Studies under
Bernard Rands. Her orchestral music has been performed by the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as the Oregon,
Akron, Canton, and Grand Rapids Symphonies; she has had performances by soloists and chamber ensembles,
including Panaramicos, Cleveland Chamber Collective, Myriad, and Epicyle New Music Ensemble; and several of
her works appear on CD. Jennifer teaches theory and composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music and is head
of the Suzuki music theory program there. She is also on the faculty at Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory
of Music. She is author of the theory curriculum, Foundations in Music. A member of ASCAP, her works are
published through Imaginings Publishing.
P
ROGRAM NOTES
by Ross W. Duffin
Christmas has traditionally been a feast of music, and we hope that, after performances in 2009 and
2010, our audiences are looking forward to a third serving of Christmas fare from Quire Cleveland.
Once again, we bring you a cornucopia of musical works expressing the joy and hope of the season, from
chant and sophisticated solemn motets to danceable villancicos, from Medieval and Renaissance Europe
all the way to Cleveland, Ohio, in 2011!
Since around the middle of the nineteenth century, the medieval carol Orientis partibus has been
popularly known as the “Song of the Ass.” It tells the story of the donkey on which Mary rode into
Bethlehem, and was apparently sung as part of the Epiphany celebrations at Beauvais, France, from
the Middle Ages to at least the seventeenth century. A manuscript with the musical setting as used in
Beauvais survives in the British Library and seems to have been copied in the thirteenth century. Six
stanzas survive in that manuscript, each with slight musical variants (though these are typically ignored
in modern editions and performances), and another four stanzas of text in other manuscripts of the
period. Our performance presents the music to the entire song as it appears in the original manuscript,
but we are using the rhyming English translation by Henry Copley Greene. Greene wrote an article about
the piece in 1931 and included such a delightful translation that I decided to use it for our performance
as an alternative to the original Latin.
Dating from around the same time as Orientis partibus but from across the Channel is Gabriel from
Heven King, which also exists in Latin, as Angelus ad virginem. That title is actually named by Chaucer in
The Canterbury Tales, as sung by Nicholas the Clerk in “The Miller’s Tale.” The song tells the story of the
dialog between Mary and the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, and we are highlighting the dialog by
having men sing Gabriel’s part and women sing Mary’s. The Middle English text is comprehensible but
slightly hard to follow, so we are fortunate that the romantic poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889),
made a rendering of it that has formed the basis of our singing version. The musical text is taken from
two manuscripts of the fourteenth century.
From the next century in England come several Christmas songs in a popular form for lyric works at the
time—the carol. In fact, so common did the use of this form become for Christmas works that nowadays
we use the term “carol” by itself to denote a Christmas song, although it did not originally have that
connotation. The typical carol uses a refrain, or “burden,” which alternates with several verses, as can
be heard in the first and third of these selections. Another feature of these delightful English carols is
what is called “macaronic” text, meaning lyrics that move back and forth between Latin and another
language—in this case, English. They also feature use of a fauxbourdon texture, where the outer voices
are frequently in parallel at a distance of a sixth, and the middle voice is exactly a fourth below the top,
making a texture of sweet, parallel first-inversion triads that we strongly associate with late-Medieval
polyphony, and that seems related to what the French writer Martin le Franc referred to ca.1440 as “La
contenance angloise”—the English Guise.
An English carol from the early sixteenth century is Quid petis, o fili?, which survives as the most
substantial musical work in a manuscript copied for the court of Henry VIII. Like the earlier Gabriel
from Heven King, it uses imagined details and dialog to tell the story. Here, the long, Latin “burden” for
the chorus alternates with florid soloists’ verses in English that tell the story of Mary interacting tenderly
with the baby Jesus.
The next set features two Spanish works from a collection of anonymous villancicos printed in Venice
in 1556, which includes a special section of Christmas songs. The volume survives in only a single copy,
now in the University Library in Uppsala, Sweden, so it has been dubbed the Cancionero de Upsala. One
of its handful of Christmas songs is E la don don, in which monophonic verses for men alternate with a
polyphonic refrain sung by the full group. The second piece, Dadme albricias, features soprano solos and
duets with tenor, alternating with the chorus.
Palestrina’s A solis ortus cardine is a setting of a chant hymn for Christmas morning, at the service
of Lauds. One highly unusual feature of the piece is that Palestrina sets a version of the chant that
follows the contour of the well-known Gregorian melody, but puts it in a different mode (Dorian rather
than Phrygian), even though such a version does not survive in any period chant books. We have
used a reconstruction of this apparent source melody for our chant. Palestrina’s setting uses alternatim
technique, where verses of the chant alternate with polyphonic verses variously for three, four, and
ultimately five voices. It was published in 1589, during which time Palestrina was maestro di cappella at
St. Peter’s in Rome, but two of its other sources are manuscripts copied by Palestrina himself, so it seems
to be a work of which he was especially fond.
William Byrd’s This day Christ was born is “A Carroll for Christmas Day” from his Psalmes, Songs,
and Sonnets of 1611. In keeping with Byrd’s Catholic background in Protestant England, the text is a
translation of the antiphon to the Magnificat for the Second Vespers of the Nativity. However, rather
than sounding like a stately motet, it is instead in a full madrigalian style, with angelic voices entwining,
and thrilling alleluias.
Around 1694, Marc Antoine Charpentier composed his Messe de Minuit pour Noel (Midnight Mass for
Christmas), which used popular tunes as themes for the movements of the mass. The first Kyrie is based
on the tune of Joseph est bien marié, which, unlike some of the other tunes Charpentier borrowed, at least
was originally a Christmas song to begin with! Our arrangement is based on harmonizations in the Messe
de Minuit. One lovely French Christmas song that did not make it into Charpentier’s mass—probably
because it wasn’t yet composed—is Quelle est cette odeur agréable. It began to appear around 1700, and
by 1728, in fact, had been hijacked by John Gay as the melody for the drinking song, “Fill every glass,”
from his ballad-based Beggar’s Opera. It’s a sweet tune and perfectly suited to its original Christmas
setting. The last song from the set is also from the Messe de Minuit, though in a somewhat modified form
in the Laudamus te section of the Gloria. Charpentier also did more straightforward arrangements of it
as a “noel,” meaning a Christmas work for organ solo or for an ensemble of instruments, and those have
formed the basis of our harmonization. From the second half of the eighteenth century, we also present
a delightful organ “noel” based on this tune by Claude-Bénigne Balbastre.
Jakob Handl (also known as “Gallus”) was born in Slovenia and worked mainly in Austria before
spending his last few years in Prague. His Canite tuba in Sion is a based on an Office antiphon for the
Fourth Sunday of Advent, and features an unusual scoring for low voices which interweave in close
counterpoint. It was published in 1586 in the first volume of Handl’s monumental four-volume edition
of his own motets, which he began to publish shortly after his arrival in Prague.
The next set consists of four works that were published in the 1582 Latin collection Piae Cantiones though
there was also a Finnish version published in 1616, reflecting the apparent origin of the collection.
Personent hodie, which is monophonic in the original print, appears in the Oxford Book of Carols in an
arrangement by Gustav Holst (which is what I grew up with), but the four-voice harmonization for this
evening’s performance is my own, based on Medieval and Renaissance contrapuntal procedures. The
set continues with Puer natus in Bethlehem, a strophic hymn based on the Introit for Christmas Day,
set in the Piae Cantiones as a rather unusual duo. I have expanded the texture to include a four-voice
arrangement, though our performance will show an array of textures in presenting the many stanzas,
with solos, duos, and quartets. Verbum caro is another hymn based on a famous Christmas chant. This
charming, lilting work is again monophonic in the original source, and I have harmonized it using
period contrapuntal techniques. The vigorous last work of the set, Gaudete, is given in Piae Cantiones
only as a four-voice refrain. The lyrics to the stanzas are printed in the source but, oddly, there is no
music for them at all, so I have created a monophonic verse, and harmonized it to match the refrain for
our last stanza.
In 2011, Quire Cleveland held a competition for members of the Cleveland Composers Guild to
compose a work for possible performance on this program. Quiet Promise by Jennifer Conner was the
winner of that competition, and this performance is its world premiere. Here are the composer’s notes
on the piece:
Each year at Christmas, I usually make my own cards with the message that speaks to me most that
year. Being a composer, my cards have often been short compositions. Thus, several years ago I wrote
a short poem entitled Quiet Promise which I then set as a solo for piano and voice. The idea I wanted
to communicate that year was the incredible simplicity, humility, and lack of fanfare behind the birth
narrative, in light of the insatiable need for the spotlight that permeates our present culture. This past
summer I decided to expand this poem, adding several more verses to the narrative—but still with
the same thematic intent. I then set this work as a Carol specifically for Quire Cleveland’s Christmas
concerts. This new a cappella setting retains the melodic theme in all of the verses but with different
counterpoints and textures with each new occurrence. The work gradually builds reaching a climax
of divisi voices in the penultimate verse where the Magi mistakenly search for the new King at the
center of power. Following this build, the work closes with a simple restatement of the original verse
and tune.
Our final set includes three works from twentieth-century England, a choral tradition that we explored
in our recent concerts under the British guest conductor Timothy Brown. First is the touching In the
bleak midwinter by Gustav Holst, a 1906 setting of a Christmas poem by Christina Rossetti (sister of
the artist/poet, Dante Gabriel Rossetti), published originally in Scribner’s Monthly magazine in January
1872. The setting of the same poem by Harold Darke (my grandfather’s long-time choral director) was
voted the most beloved Christmas work by choral directors in the US and UK in 2008, but Holst’s setting
is the one I remember most fondly from my youth, and Darke clearly took the rhythm of his setting
directly from Holst’s of five years earlier. The second piece is H. Walford Davies’s memorable 1913 carol,
The holly and the ivy, with its captivating solo-duo verse opening. We conclude with Herbert Howells’s
1919 carol, A spotless rose, in which he sets an English version of Praetorius’s Es ist ein Ros entsprungen,
that was published in 1869 by the English translator and hymnwriter, Catherine Winkworth (1827–
1878). (The Praetorius setting can be heard on our Carols for Quire CD.) With its soaring baritone solo
verse in the middle, A spotless rose is quite simply one of the most exquisite carols for choir from the
twentieth century.
— Ross W. Duffin
S
INGERS BIOGRAPHIES
Tenor Evan Bescan holds a Bachelor of Music degree Cantores Cleveland. She serves as choir director at Celebration
from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, along with Lutheran Church in Chardon. Donna resides in Richmond
a Methodology Diploma from the Kodály Institute in Heights with her husband and three children.
Kecskemét, Hungary. He sings with the Cathedral Choir
Baritone José Gotera began his choral training at age eight
at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist and is currently
at St. Michael’s Choir School in Toronto. He sang with the
a member of Cantores Cleveland and Trinity Chamber
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and Tafelmusik while completing
Singers. He has also performed with Opera Columbus and
degrees at the University of Toronto. In Cleveland, he has sung
the Kecskeméti Fesztival Korous. Evan is currently a full-
with Apollo’s Fire, Cleveland Opera on Tour, Opera Circle,
time elementary/middle school music teacher at Stockyard
Opera Cleveland, and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. He
Community School in Cleveland.
completed an MA in Early Music at CWRU. At present, José
Tenor Frank Blackman is currently in the second year of is a music instructor at Hiram College, where he teaches voice
his undergraduate degree, studying Music Education at Case and directs opera/musical theater workshop and the Hiram
Western Reserve University. At Case, Frank studies voice men’s chorus. He is also the baritone section leader for the
with Marla Berg and has participated in the Case Concert chancel choir at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights.
Choir, Early Music Singers, and Collegium Musicum, as well
Tenor Peter Hampton teaches K-5 general music in the
as the Church of the Covenant choir.
Lakewood Public Schools. He also sings with the Cathedral
Baritone Jonathan F. Cooper is in his final year studying Choir of St. John the Evangelist and the early music and
at Baldwin-Wallace College. He has performed the roles of arts ensemble Cantores Cleveland. Peter has a bachelor’s
Mr. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium, Unnamed Bass in degree in music education (vocal emphasis) from Otterbein
Too Many Sopranos by Edwin Penhorwood, Dr. Gibbs in College in Westerville, Ohio, where he studied voice with
Ned Rorem’s Our Town (Ohio premiere), and Colline in La Robert Nims. His choral experience includes singing in the
Bohème. He will sing Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni United States premier of the Lord of the Rings Symphony
at B-W this spring. Locally, Jonathan has performed with with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Howard Shore
the Trinity Chamber Orchestra, Trinity Chamber Singers, conducting; and tours with choral ensembles to Austria, the
Cantores Cleveland, Opera Cleveland, and Apollo’s Fire. Czech Republic, Switzerland, and France (which included a
He has been featured on the emerging artist recital series at performance in Notre Dame Cathedral).
Trinity Cathedral, and has been heard live on WCLV.
Bass Nathan Longnecker also sings with Apollo’s Singers and
Praised by the New York Times as “the real attraction” with a Cantores Cleveland. When not singing, Nathan is proprietor
voice that is “light and lithe,” mezzo-soprano Tracy Cowart of The Quiet Gardener, providing gardening service to
has performed with many period ensembles, including homeowners.
Apollo’s Fire, La Donna Musicale, the Newberry Consort,
Baritone Ray Lyons does statistical programming
Opera Lafayette, Trinity Cathedral Chamber Orchestra,
and independent consulting in library performance
Washington Bach Consort, and the choir of the Church of
measurement. He has performed in a number of local choral
the Advent. Also known for her interpretations of new music,
groups, including the Old Stone Singers, Cleveland Orchestra
Tracy recently performed the world premiere of Armando
Chorus, Cleveland Opera Chorus, CWRU Early Music
Bayolo’s Kaddish: Passio: Rothko and the role of “Hadewijch”
Singers, Cleveland Music School Settlement Vocal Chamber
in Louis Andriessen’s Die Materie, both with the Great Noise
Ensemble, and in church choirs at the Cathedral of St. John
Ensemble. She is currently pursuing a DMA in Historical
the Evangelist, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Temple Emanu
Performance Practice at CWRU.
El, Church of the Covenant, Immaculate Conception, and
Bass Ian Crane is a high school music teacher and performer. St. James Anglican Church, as well as the Church of the
He teaches choir and band at Holy Name High School in Ascension and St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York.
Parma, and previously spent five years on faculty at Edinboro
Baritone Jonathan William Moyer maintains a dynamic
University of Pennsylvania, as instructor of bagpipes. He has
career as organist, pianist, harpsichordist, and conductor.
performed with many local groups, including Apollo’s Fire, the
He is organist and director of music of the Church of the
Cleveland Carolers, and the Choir of the Cathedral of St. John
Covenant in University Circle and a lecturer in organ and
the Evangelist. Ian earned a bachelor’s degree in music education
harpsichord at the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory
from Cleveland State University and his master’s in conducting
of Music. Currently pursuing an artist diploma in organ at
from Kent State University. He resides in Lakewood, with his
the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, he holds a Doctor of
wife, Tricia, and children, Phoebe and Alexander.
Musical Arts degree in organ from the Peabody Conservatory
Soprano Donna Fagerhaug holds a Master of Arts degree in of Music. Winner of second prize in the 2008 International
Church Music from Trinity Lutheran Seminary and a Bachelor Musashino Organ Competition in Tokyo, most recently he
of Music from the Conservatory at Capital University, both in performed the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen
Columbus, Ohio. Locally, she sings with Apollo’s Singers and in Baltimore. He serves on the executive committee of the
Cleveland AGO, and resides in Shaker Heights with his wife, Indiana University Institute of Early Music. As lecturer and
organist Kaori Hongo, and two sons. adjunct faculty, she has taught music history, vocal pedagogy,
graduate research methods, and applied voice at Hiram
John McElliott, countertenor, holds undergraduate degrees
College and CWRU.
in voice and organ performance from the University of Akron
and spent a year abroad as a choral scholar at Winchester Soprano Lisa Rainsong’s musical life integrates composition,
Cathedral in the UK. He sings with several choral ensembles education, vocal performance, and natural history. She
in Northeast Ohio, including Apollo’s Fire and Trinity earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from
Cathedral’s Chamber Singers, in addition to Quire Cleveland. Cleveland Institute of Music and is a member of CIM’s Music
John is president of Karen McFarlane Artists, where he Theory faculty. She is also a professional singer who performs
manages concert careers for many of the world’s great concert as both a soprano soloist and as a choral musician, singing
organists and choirs. A versatile vocalist, he sings alto, tenor, with ensembles including Quire Cleveland and Ensemble
and baritone parts in Quire Cleveland, and also serves as the Lautenkonzert. Lisa earned a Naturalist Certificate from
organization’s Secretary/Treasurer. the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and now teaches
classes on bird song and insect song identification throughout
Soprano Elena Mullins is a second-year master’s student in
Northeast Ohio.
Historical Performance Practice at CWRU, studying voice
with Ellen Hargis. Her interest in early music was sparked as Soprano Sian Ricketts is currently pursuing a master’s degree
an undergraduate at the Eastman School of Music, where she in Historical Performance Practice from CWRU. She is a
performed in the Collegium Musicum under Paul O’Dette soprano section leader at Trinity Cathedral and also sings
and the Schola Cantorum under Stephen Kennedy. She
in the Trinity Cathedral Chamber Choir. She will make her
appeared with the CWRU Baroque Chamber Ensemble at
début performance with the Newberry Consort in January.
the 2011 Boston Early Music Festival and with the Baroque
Dance Ensemble at Cornell University and at Eastman. In Mezzo-soprano Beverly Simmons is a singer, graphic
addition to singing with the CWRU Early Music Singers and designer, and Executive Director of Quire Cleveland. Born
Collegium, she toured with Apollo’s Fire’s national tour of in Denver, she earned a doctorate in early music at Stanford
Monteverdi’s Vespers last fall, and appears with the Newberry University, and moved to Cleveland in 1978. Her career
Consort next January. includes stints as a CWRU music professor, WCLV radio
Mezzo-soprano Debra Nagy has been called a “musical announcer, international artist manager, executive director,
polymath” (San Francisco Classical Voice) for her accomplished and mother of two. She has sung with Apollo’s Fire since its
performances as a singer and historical wind player. As one of inception; founded the CWRU Early Music Singers, which she
the country’s top baroque oboists, Debra frequently performs directed for 21 years; sang with the Cleveland Opera Chorus
with Apollo’s Fire (among other ensembles on both coasts), and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Senior Choir; and also sings
is the founder and director of Cleveland-based chamber at Temple Tifereth-Israel. Bev was founder/manager of the
ensemble Les Délices, and is a member of Ciaramella. She
concert series Chapel, Court & Countryside: Early Music at
has also appeared as a guest multi-instrumentalist and singer
Harkness and is also half of the cabaret duo, Rent-a-Yenta.
with such groups as the Newberry Consort, Piffaro, Baroque
Northwest, and Blue Heron Renaissance Choir. Debra has Tenor Tyler Skidmore is an active music educator and
recorded for the Capstone, Bright Angel, Naxos, Hänssler, performer. Teaching now at the same high school he
Chandos, and ATMA labels, and her live performances have attended, Tyler attempts to share the joys and challenges
been featured on radio in North America and Europe. Debra of choral music with the students at Medina High School.
currently teaches in the Historical Performance Practice He holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from
Program and conducts the Collegium Musicum at CWRU,
Mount Vernon Nazarene University and a master’s in voice
where she earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree.
performance from Kent State University. Tyler has performed
Praised for her “excellence of style and ease of expression” with other area choral ensembles, including Opera Cleveland,
(Austin-American Statesman), soprano Judith Overcash is The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Chorus, and
known for a repertoire which ranges from medieval song Apollo’s Singers of Apollo’s Fire.
to opera and oratorio to American musical theater. She has
appeared across North America and abroad, as featured Soprano Gail West has worked with such eminent artists as
soloist with leading period and modern ensembles and Julianne Baird, Emma Kirkby, Suzie LeBlanc, Paul Hillier, and
at international workshops and festivals. In addition to Benjamin Bagby. Currently a voice student of Ellen Hargis,
appearing as soloist in large oratorio and dramatic works, she has been a member of Apollo’s Singers since its founding.
she is celebrated for her interpretations of early music and Gail has been a member of CWRU’s Early Music Singers for
chamber works, and is also active in musical theater. Judith over 20 years and is a soprano soloist at Church of the Good
holds both master’s and doctoral degrees in Early Music Shepherd. She lives in Cleveland Heights with her husband
Performance Practices from CWRU, with additional post-
and three children.
graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin and the
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Quire Cleveland has just been awarded a grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture to record music
that hasn’t been heard since the beginning of the 17th century and we need your help. In
order to match the CAC grant, we need to raise $5,000 in donations to make this project work.
Here’s what’s so exciting: The music is by leading madrigal composers from the time of
King James I of England — such celebrated masters as William Byrd, Thomas Weelkes, and
Thomas Ravenscroft — but most of the music has never been professionally performed or
recorded. It’s beautiful sacred music with Latin texts, the original partbooks for some are
held in Special Collections at Case Western Reserve University. Not all the parts survived
the centuries, but — lucky for Quire — artistic director Ross Duffin is an internationally
recognized expert in the repertoire, so he has reconstructed them.
Quire Cleveland is in a perfect position to bring this exquisite repertoire to the ears of
modern-day music-lovers. Since 2008 the ensemble has earned popular and critical acclaim for
“inspired voices,” “sophisticated artistry,” and “joyful sounds.”
Won’t you help Quire meet this challenge by making a tax-deductible donation, to match
the CAC grant? You’ll feel richly rewarded for your participation. But you’ll also BE richly
rewarded with bonuses:
• Donors of $250 or more will receive an autographed copy of the recording;
• Donors of $500 or more will receive an autographed CD and be invited to dinner with
the artists;
• Donors of $1,000 or more will have their names listed as a sponsor in the CD booklet,
of which they’ll receive an autographed copy, and be invited to dinner with the artists.
But every gift, in any amount, is valuable and appreciated — and brings us one step closer to
make this project a reality.
Please use the remittance envelope in your program or go to our website QuireCleveland.org
and donate through PayPal. Thank you for your generosity!
With YOUR HELP, this equation adds up to SUCCESS!
T
EXTS & TRANSLATIONS
1. Out from lands of Orient 6. Higher leaped than goats can bound,
Was the Ass divinely sent. Doe and roebuck circled round,
Strong and very fair was he, Median dromedaries’ speed
Bearing burdens gallantly. Overcame, and took the lead.
Heigh, oh heigh, Sir Ass, oh heigh.
7. Red gold from Arabia,
2. Hey, Sir Ass, you sing hee-haw, Frankincense and, from Sheba,
Your fair mouth’s a sulky maw; Myrrh he brought and, through the door,
You shall have your fill of hay, Into the Church he bravely bore
Oats enough to cast away.
8. While he drags long carriages
3. Slow he went on lagging feet Loaded down with baggages,
Till the rod began to beat, He, with jaws insatiate,
And the pointed goad to prick, Fodder hard doth masticate.
Thigh and sides, and make him kick.
9. Chews the ears with barley corn,
4. In the hills of Sichem bred Thistle down with thistle corn.
Under Reuben nourished On the threshing floor his feet
Jordan stream he traversed Separate the chaff from wheat.
Into Bethlehem he sped.
10. Stuffed with grass, yet speak and say
5. With his flapping ears and long Amen, Ass, with every bray:
Lo the harnessed son of song. Amen, amen, say again:
He is chosen: hear his call, Ancient sins hold in disdain.
Ass of asses, lord of all. —tr. Henry Copley Greene
1. Gabriel, from heaven’s king I am, that here above us is:
Sent to the maiden sweet, Concerning me fulfilled be thy saw;
Brought to her blissful tiding That I, since His will is,
And fair ‘gan her to greet. Be, out of nature’s law
“Hail be thou, full of grace aright! A maid with mother’s bliss.”
For so God’s Son, the heaven’s light,
4. The angel went away thereon
Loves man, that He a man will be and take
And parted from her sight
Flesh of thee, maiden bright,
And straightway she conceived a Son
Mankind free for to make
Through th’ Holy Ghost His might.
Of sin and devil’s might.”
In her was Christ contain’d anon,
2. Gently to him answer gaveThe gentle maiden then: True God, true man, in flesh and bone;
“In what wise should I bear Born of her too when time was due; who then
Child, that know not man?” Redeemed us for His own,
Th’ angel said to her: “O dread thee nought. And bought us out of pain,
‘Tis through the Holy Ghost that wrought And died for us t’atone.
Shall be this thing whereof tidings I bring:
5. Filled full of charity,
Lost mankind shall be bought
Thou matchless maiden-mother,
By thy sweet childbearing,
Pray for us to him that He
And out of torment brought.”
For thy love above other,
3. When the maiden understood Away our sin and guilt should take,
And th’ angel’s words had heard, And clean of every stain us make
Gently, of her own mild mood, And heaven’s bliss, when our time is to die,
The angel she answered: Would give us for thy sake;
“Our Lord His handmaiden, I-wis, With grace to serve him by
Till He us to him take.
—Gerald Manley Hopkins, S.J. (1844–1889)
There is no rose of such virtue as is the rose that bare Jesu.
1. There is no rose of such virtue as is the rose that bare Jesu. Alleluia
2. For in this rose contained was heaven and earth in little space;
Res miranda. Wonderful things.
3. By that rose we may well see that he is God in persons three,
Pari forma. In such fashion.
4. The angels sungen the shepherds to: Gloria in excelsis deo: Glory to God in the highest.
Gaudeamus. Let us rejoice.
5. Leave we all this worldly mirth, and follow we this joyful birth;
Transeamus. Let us cross over.
Ave rex angelorum, Ave rexque caelorum, Ave, princepsque polorum. Hail, king of the angels, and hail, king of the heavens, and hail, prince
Hail, most mighty in thy working, hail, thou lord of all thing; from pole to pole.
I offer thee gold as to a king; Ave, rex angelorum.
Ave rex angelorum, Ave rexque caelorum, Ave, princepsque polorum.
Nowell sing we, both all and some, now Rex pacificus is y-come. King of peace-making.
1. Exortum est in love and lysse. It arose …
Now Christ, his grace he gan us gysse,
and with his body us bought to bliss, both all and some.
2. De fructu ventris of Mary bright, Of the fruit of the womb …
both God and man in her alight,
out of disease he did us dight, both all and some.
3. Puer natus to us was sent, A boy born …
to bliss us bought, fro bale us blent,
and else to woe we had ywent, both all and some.
4. Lux fulgebit with love and light, The light will shine …
in Mary mild his pennon pight,
in her took kind with manly might, both all and some.
5. Gloria tibi ay and bliss, Glory to thee …
God unto his grace he us wysse,
the rent of heaven that we not miss, both all and some.
Quid petis, O fili? mater dulcissima, ba, ba. What do you seek, O my son? says the sweetest mother, kiss, kiss.
O pater, O fili, michi plausus oscula, da, da. O father, O son, give me, give me kisses of praise.
The mother, full mannerly, and meekly as a maid,
Looking on her little son, so laughing in lap laid,
So prettily, so pertly, so passingly well apay’d,
Full softly and full soberly unto her sweet son she said :
Quid petis, o fili? …
I mean this by Mary, our Maker’s mother of might.
Full lovely looking on our Lord, the lantern of light,
Thus saying to our Saviour ; this saw I in my sight;
This reason that I rede you now, I rede it full right.
Quid petis, o fili? …
Musing on her manners so nigh marr’d was my main,
Save it pleasëd me so passingly that past was my pain;
Yet softly to her sweet son, me-thought I heard her sain :
Now gracious God and good sweet babe, yet once this game again :
Quid petis, o fili? …
Description:Carols forQuire from the Old & NewWorlds. Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland. December 22-23, 2011. — Please hold your applause until the end of each
