Bach:Magnificat, Roth: Time to Dance

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Union

Bach: Magnificat Roth: A Time to Dance

Georgie Malcolm Soprano

Patrick Craig Alto

Chris Willoughby Tenor

Alex Bower-Brown Baritone

Goldsmiths Choral Union

Imperial College Chamber Choir

Affinity 415 Chamber Orchestra, featuring period instruments

Jack Apperley Conductor

Tuesday 28 March 2023 at 7.30pm Cadogan Hall , 5 Sloane Terrace, SW1X 9DQ

Programme £4

Goldsmiths Choral
90TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

Goldsmiths Choral Union is one of London’s leading choirs, giving quality performances of great choral works in London’s major venues, and rehearsing in central London.

Goldsmiths Choral Union has brought the finest classical music to London since 1932. We’re a friendly choir with around 100 members based in South Kensington. We enjoy singing and appreciate the chance to sing in great venues. We work hard to continue to promote concerts in London’s major venues with professional soloists and orchestras.

GCU’s performances of works from the traditional choral repertoire, ranging from Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation and Bach’s B Minor Mass to Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, have been praised for their freshness, clarity and emotional commitment.

Equally, GCU has performed less familiar works, such as Franz Liszt’s oratorio Christus and Sir Michael Tippett’s The Mask of Time. British premières given over the years include Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied, and the first UK broadcast of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana

TENORS

Christopher BARNARD

Christopher BEELS

Michael BOWMER

BASSES

John ALLINSON

GCU was founded in 1932 in South London by Frederick Haggis at Goldsmiths College, University of London. At the outbreak of World War II the college was evacuated, but while other choirs disbanded, GCU continued to rehearse and perform in central London. Since then, GCU has built up an enviable reputation, first under the baton of Frederick Haggis and later under Brian Wright.

Nicholas BUCKLEY

Paul CHAMBERS

Liam CONNERY

Francoise DRAPER

Robin HAPPÉ

John CUMMING

Patrons: Sir Thomas Allen, Neil Jenkins, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths

Damien D’ARCY

Mike DAY

Music Director: Jack Apperley

Robert SHAW

Marc FRESKO

Accompanist: Stephen Jones

Oli SHEFFIELD

Guy VOGEL

Hugh MARCHANT

James PIERCY

David WILLINGHAM

Michael WOODS

Please see the back cover for Future Concert dates.

Clive RICHARDS

Brian ROSEN

Ian STEPHENSON

Charles THOMSON

Chris WATTS

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Goldsmiths Choral Union presents a wonderful evening of music for choir and orchestra.

Bach: Magnificat Roth: A Time to Dance

Our 90th ANNIVERSARY SEASON continues with a performance of Bach’s much-loved Magnificat, and Alec Roth’s A Time To Dance, a joyous celebration of times and seasons, and composed as a companion piece to the Magnificat.

Georgie Malcolm Soprano

Patrick Craig Alto

Chris Willoughby Tenor

Alex Bower-Brown Baritone

Goldsmiths Choral Union

Imperial College Chamber Choir

Affinity 415 Chamber Orchestra, featuring period instruments

Jack Apperley Conductor

INTERVAL – 25 MINUTES

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Georgie Malcolm soprano

Georgie Malcolm studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, gaining both her MMus and PGDip with distinction under Susan Roper and Elizabeth Ritchie. She received second prize at the National Mozart Singing Competition 2022, also winning their Schubert prize, and is fast establishing herself as a versatile singer of opera, oratorio and song.

Her operatic roles include La Contessa Di Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro at the RNCM (for which she was called ‘superb’ and praised for her ‘confident legato’), Venus in Blow’s Venus and Adonis in a touring production in Italy with L’Offerta Musicale di Venezia, and Monica in Menotti’s The Medium also at the RNCM. In 2022 she appeared as an emergency cover in Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park for Waterperry Opera, having learnt the role (Aunt Norris) previously at the RNCM. She was also a Young Artist at Buxton International Festival last summer, singing in the chorus of Rossini’s La Donna Del Lago and covering the role of Cleopatra in Antonio e Cleopatra by Hasse. In the Autumn of 2022 she joined the chorus of Opera North for a tour of Verdi’s La Traviata.

Georgie is gaining recognition on the concert platform, regularly performing as a soloist in oratorios and other concert works throughout the UK. Recent highlights include her Royal Albert Hall debut in Handel’s Messiah with The Really Big Chorus, conducted by Brian Kay, Handel’s Athalia (singing Josabeth) at Dartington Festival conducted by Laurence Cummings, Haydn’s Creation at Buxton International Festival, and Haydn’s Harmoniemesse with the BBC Philharmonic at the Bridgewater Hall under Ben Gernon, which was later broadcast on Radio 3. This evening marks her debut at Cadogan Hall.

Patrick Craig alto

Patrick Craig has had a varied and unique career combining singing, conducting and lecturing. He has sung countertenor with St Paul’s Cathedral Choir for over twenty-five years and is also a member of the award-winning group The Cardinall’s Musick. For twenty years he also toured the world singing a thousand concerts with The Tallis Scholars.

Patrick studied at the Royal College of Music with Ashley Stafford, where he sang lead roles in two Handel operas. He regularly sings Messiah, St John Passion and Nelson Mass solos in St Paul’s Cathedral, and has enjoyed recent solo opportunities singing Bach’s B minor Mass in St John’s Smith Square alongside Mary Bevan and Messiah solos in Etchingham alongside Emma Kirkby. He has also performed regular Passiontide recitals with Lucy Winkett in St James’ Piccadilly including performances of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. He founded and directs this country’s foremost professional all-female choir Aurora Nova, who have led worship at St Paul’s Cathedral for the past 25 years, commissioning new music from many of this country’s leading choral composers.

He has guest conducted the City of London Sinfonia in St Paul’s, The Tallis Scholars at the BBC Proms in the Royal

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Albert Hall, and The Cardinall’s Musick at the Brighton, Aldeburgh and Lichfield Festivals. He also leads workshops for amateur singers across the world and lectures on sacred choral music in its historical and cultural context.

Christopher Willoughby tenor

Christopher Willoughby was born in the UK where he began his musical training as a chorister at Westminster Abbey. He is currently completing his studies at the MDW in Vienna under the tutelage of Florian Boesch and Margit Klaushofer before beginning a new contract in the International Opera Studio at Zürich Opera House for the 2023-24 season. With a passion for both lied and oratorio Christopher has a varied schedule exploring multiple disciplines.

The 2021-22 season saw appearances as Grimoaldo in Handel’s Rodelinda, Osmida in Holzbauer’s Der Tod der Dido in the Schlosstheater, Schönbrunn Palace and First Sailor in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in Stift Melk. Oratorio highlights included performances as the Evangelist in Bach’s St John Passion in Bristol and the Brandenburg Festival in London.

Christopher won the Charles Wood Song Competition in Northern Ireland and was a finalist in the Marilyn Horne Song Competition in California. The 2022-23 season will see him performing the title role in Mozart’s Idomeneo at Schlosstheater, Schönbrunn Palace, Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and oratorio appearances include tenor soloist in Die Schöpfung by Haydn in Vienna, and the Bach St Matthew Passion in the Netherlands.

Alex Bower-Brown baritone

Alex Bower-Brown is a British baritone, currently studying with a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music. Alex studies with the professors Glenville Hargreaves and Iain Ledingham. Whilst at the Academy, Alex has been a regular performer in the Royal Academy Bach consort, performing with some of the best conductors of our age including Philippe Herreweghe, John Butt and Jane Glover. A highlight of the series was singing ‘Pilate’ in a production of Bach’s great work, the St John Passion, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe. He has also performed in the Royal Academy operas production of Massenet’s Cherubin. In 2020 Alex performed the title role in Michael Finnissy’s new opera Mankind in a series of premiere performances around Norfolk.

Alex has a wealth of experience singing both as a soloist and in choirs. He has performed as a soloist in a wide variety of works including Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Brahms’ Requiem and Die Sprecher in Mozart’s opera Die Zauberflöte (Cavatina Opera Company). As a member of professional choirs Alex has toured much of the USA and Europe, singing in some of the most illustrious venues in the world including the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Sheldonian Theatre, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and St Thomas’ 5th Avenue in New York.

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Jack Apperley conductor

Jack graduated from the Royal Academy of Music where, under the tutelage of Patrick Russill, he obtained a Masters in Choral Conducting. He was awarded a Distinction and received the Sir Thomas Armstrong Choral Leadership Prize. He studied Music at the University of Birmingham where he was mentored by Simon Halsey CBE.

Since taking up his position as Music Director of Goldsmiths Choral Union, he has conducted the choir in performances of Haydn’s The Creation, McDowall’s Da Vinci Requiem, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs, Faure’s Cantique de Jean Racine, and Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass.

He is the Music Director and Conductor of the Imperial College Chamber Choir and Concordia Voices. He is also the conductor of University Upper Voices at the University of Birmingham. He is an assistant Chorus Director of the London Symphony Chorus where he has helped prepare the chorus for conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano and John Adams.

Affinity 415 Chamber Orchestra

The Affinity Chamber Orchestra is a professional Londonbased orchestra working in partnership with choirs, composers and event organisers. Founded in early 2022 by its current musical director, Matthew Down, it performed its successful debut concert with Goldsmiths Choral Union at Cadogan Hall, the programme consisting of Cecilia McDowall’s Da Vinci Requiem (2019), Joseph Haydn’s Mass in Time of War and Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite.

The orchestra’s players are highly skilled musicians, many of whom are respected teachers of their instruments, who perform with leading London and international orchestras, seasoned chamber groups and as soloists. The orchestra aims to showcase its musicians, bringing life to creative ideas and projects in all styles of music.

Matthew Down musical director

In addition to being the founder and musical director of the Affinity 415 Chamber Orchestra, Matthew has many years’ experience as a conductor, trumpetplayer and teacher. He has a broad range of musical tastes, ranging from baroque to pop, performing music with great musicians and friends being at the heart of his musical life.

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Hello and welcome to this evening’s concert - two uplifting and inspiring compositions written 300 years apart, both bursting with dancing, energetic rhythms, stimulating texts and vibrant musical images.

This is a programme that I have wanted to perform for a long time. Familiar with Bach, I was introduced to Alec Roth’s music at the Association of British Choral Directors summer convention several years ago. Since then, I have performed and recorded his music with the Imperial College Chamber Choir, and it was this that made me think it was a wonderful opportunity to establish a collaboration between ICCC and GCU.

A Time to Dance was originally commissioned to share a concert with Bach’s Magnificat. Both works use the same orchestral forces and can be performed at either modern pitch A440, or Baroque pitch which is a little lower at A415. We have chosen Baroque pitch which enables the contemporary piece to take on a different sound quality. Roth substitutes the timpanist for an elaborate percussion section that includes a washboard, a desk-bell and a fly swat.

There is a further connection between the two pieces. Bach was a contemporary of Vivaldi’s and often copied down scores of his concertos. The opening chorus of Magnificat with its intricate and rhythmic energy is reminiscent of Vivaldi’s influence. So, too, in Roth’s A Time to Dance, with its whole structure taken from the seasons of the year, there are four occasions when hints of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons have worked their way into the music.

Both works are incredibly rhythmically demanding for the choir. The long baroque runs of semi-quavers in the Bach require great agility from the singers and the persistent syncopations in the Roth need great mental concentration and panache. However, there are also great moments of poise and grandeur in both pieces.

It gives me great pleasure to share the stage with Goldsmiths Choral Union, the Imperial College Chamber Choir, the Affinity Chamber Orchestra and a stellar line-up of soloists to present this glorious programme of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Magnificat and Alec Roth’s A Time to Dance.

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Bach transformed from

Orphaned at ten, Bach had lived in several German towns earning a living playing the violin and organ. By 1721 he had buried his first wife Marie and several of their seven children, married Anna Magdalena and together they had begun a second family. In 1723 the family moved to Leipzig where Bach took up a position as organist and teacher at St. Thomas’s Church, where he remained for the rest of his life.

His Lutheran faith had a profound effect on his music. He was expected to write sacred music for every Sunday and feast-day of the year. Magnificat in D performed in 1733 was a revision of his earlier work Magnificat in E flat, but transposed downwards to a brighter key better suited to the trumpets with an extra pair of flutes and two oboes d’amore. Vespers was the platform for this jewel amongst Bach’s sacred works.

Bach chose as his text the uplifting Latin verses from the Gospel of Luke, 1:46-56 the hymn of praise that came straight from Mary’s heart, in which she expresses her jubilation in telling her cousin Elizabeth that she is to be the mother of the Son of God.

Magnificat is one of the most thrilling and technically demanding pieces Bach wrote for a chorus. It is very concise; it had to fit into the Vespers service. Each line of text is treated as a complete, self-standing idea. He was a master at repeating a melody with slight variations to invoke a different mood.

The rhythmic energy of the opening chorus is evidence of Vivaldi’s influence and the whole work is full of Bach’s delightful word painting.

The rising notes of the soprano’s Et exultavit depict rejoicing, and the tenor’s violent descending scale of Deposuit (He hath put down the mighty) plunge us into the depths. In the chorus Fecit potentiam, the choral texture fragments at the word dispersit (He hath scattered).

Bach highlights his supreme mastery of composition by reintroducing the music of the work’s opening bars at the end Sicut erat in principio (Thus it was in the beginning) where he brings back the music from the beginning of the work with a wonderfully symmetric sense of balance.

Of his twenty children, he had buried ten. Struggling with failing eyesight but continuing to compose for his last ten years, in 1750 he had surgery, but the operation left him completely blind and later that year he died of a stroke.

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Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
‘a twenty-yearold teacher, with a reputation for drinking, intolerance and fighting, to becoming a genius of the Baroque and the greatest composer the world has yet seen.’
Horatio Clare

Magnificat

Magnificat anima mea Dominum.

Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.

Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.

Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est et sanctum nomen eius.

Et misericordia eius a progenie in progenies timentibus eum.

Fecit potentiam in bracchio suo dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.

Deposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles.

Esurientes implevit bonis et divites dimisit inanes.

Suscepit Israel puerum suum recordatus misericordiae suae.

Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros Abraham et semini eius in saecula.

Gloria Patri, et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.

Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

My soul doth magnify the Lord.

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden. For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

For He that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is His name. And His mercy is on them that fear Him throughout all generations.

He hath shown strength with His arm. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich He hath sent empty away.

He, remembering His mercy, hath holpen His servant Israel. As He promised to our forefathers Abraham and his seed for ever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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St. Thomas’s Church, Leipzig

Alec Roth 1948 - present

Alec Roth, one of our finest living composers, was born near Manchester. A keen singer, he spent his early adult years in various jobs (research scientist, maths teacher, film animator) but as his musical vocation grew, he went to Durham University and specialised in conducting. He accepted an opportunity to study at the Academy of Indonesian Performing Arts and learn gamelan.

Roth wrote this highly original fresh oratorio A Time to Dance ten years ago. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 provided the inspiration for the four themes of the work: Times; Seasons; Love; and Dance.

He turned to a rich selection of predominantly British poets including John Donne, William Blake, Edward Thomas, Christina Rossetti, Aphra Behn and Ovid.

Over a year, he chose and whittled down one hundred poems, which became a group of twenty-nine favourites. Within a four-part structure of Spring Morning; Summer Noon; Autumn Evening; and Winter Night, the work took shape - solo voices soprano, tenor, alto and bass accompany each part.

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‘Music comes into being when the air is made to dance’.
‘The experience profoundly challenged my thinking about my own musical culture’.
Photo CreditSally Corrick

By the time Roth had settled on the libretto, composing the music came quickly, much of which he feels had being going on subconsciously. He has an extraordinary talent for giving musical life to words of every mood and texture - haunting melodies with unpredictable harmonic progressions and rhythmic energy.

Dance there - what could be a more perfect musical description of words, taken from Yeats’ poem (To a child dancing in the wind)? Roth, in his instructions for singing, gives explicit information about interpretation, ‘Very little tone; mostly consonants, like a stage-whisper: clear, distinct, cold and harsh.’

Nothing could be more heady, even steamy, than Ovid’s poem (Marlowe’s translation) and Roth’s music for In summer’s heat. It has a snake-charming quality provided by the sensual oboe d’ amore. The ‘quick and flighty’ tenor solo Thirsty Fly, (On a fly drinking out of his cup by William Oldys), is beautifully rendered, with Roth’s witty ending.

It would be difficult to write a piece of music about the four seasons without Vivaldi’s aura seeping into the orchestral staves; listen out for influences particularly in Humdrum. For added drama, offstage trumpets pierce through the dusk to herald William Blake’s The Evening Star.

The work ends in joyful ebullience - so much so that finally it is difficult to sing without dancing.

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‘I followed my usual practice of taking the poems for a walk, listening to their melodies and rhythms, and learning how they might dance.’

A time to dance

PROCESSIONAL: Times and Seasons choir

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.

ECCLESIASTES 3: 1-3, 5-8, 4 (King James Version, 1611)

PROLOGUE: Sunrise

1 — Out of the wood solo bass

Out of the wood of thoughts that grows by night

To be cut down by the sharp axe of light, — Out of the night, two cocks together crow, Cleaving the darkness with a silver blow: And bright before my eyes twin trumpeters stand, Heralds of splendour, one at either hand….

EDWARD THOMAS (1878-1919), from Cock-crow

2 — Rise up solo bass, choir

Rise up, rise up, And, as the trumpet blowing Chases the dreams of men, As the dawn glowing The stars that left unlit The land and water, Rise up and scatter The dew that covers The print of last night’s lovers –Scatter it, scatter it!

While you are listening

To the clear horn, Forget, men, everything On this earth newborn, Except that it is lovelier Than any mysteries.

Open your eyes to the air That has washed the eyes of the starts Through all the dewy night: Up with the light, To the old wars; Arise, arise!

EDWARD THOMAS (1878-1919), from The Trumpet

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PART I: SPRING MORNING

3 — Awake choir

Awake, my heart, to be loved, awake, awake! The darkness silvers away, the morn doth break, It leaps in the sky: unrisen lustres slake

The o’ertaken moon. Awake, O heart, awake!

Awake, the land is scattered with light, and see, Uncanopied sleep is flying from field and tree: And blossoming boughs of April in laughter shake; Awake, O heart, to be loved, awake, awake!

ROBERT BRIDGES (1844-1930) from Awake my heart

4 — Infant Joy solo soprano & choir

‘I have no name: I am but two days old.’

What shall I call thee?

‘I happy am, Joy is my name.’

Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty Joy!

Sweet Joy, but two days old. Sweet Joy I call thee: Thou dost smile, I sing the while, Sweet joy befall thee!

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827), Infant Joy

5 — Dancing on the hill-tops solo soprano

Dancing on the hill-tops, Singing in the valleys, Laughing with the echoes, Merry little Alice

If her father’s cottage Turned into a palace, And he owned the hill-tops And the flowering valleys, She’d be none the happier, Happy little Alice.

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI (1830-94), from Dancing on the hill-tops

6 — Dance there choir

Dance there upon the shore: What need have you to care For wind or water’s roar? And tumble out your hair

That the salt drops have wet; Being young you have not known The fool’s triumph, nor yet Love lost as soon as won.

O you will take whatever’s offered And dream that all the world’s a friend, Suffer as your mother suffered, Be as broken in the end. But I am old and you are young, And I speak a barbarous tongue.

W B YEATES (1865-1939), from To a child dancing in the wind

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7 — Nothing is so beautiful soprano solo

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring. What is all this juice and all this joy?

A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning In Eden garden. Have, get, before it cloy!

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS (1844-89) from Spring

8 — Let them love choir

Let them love now – those who have never loved; And those who have loved – let them love again!

Spring is young, spring is melodious, now is the world re-born. Love is truly harmonious; now all the birds sing a marriage song; and the trees let down their tresses after the rain’s wedding-night caresses.

Love now binds all together, down in the shady woodland grove. Love entwines, weaving together her green myrtle boughs; and now the lovely Dione from on high lays down the law: Let them love now – those who have never loved; And those who have loved – let them love again!

ANON (2nd/3rd century), from Perviligium Veneris (lines 1-6)

Translated from Latin by ALEC ROTH

PART II: SUMMER NOON

9 — In summer’s heat solo tenor

In summer’s heat and mid-time of the day To rest my limbs upon a bed I lay, One window shut, the other open stood, Which gave such light as twinkles in a wood. Then came Corinna in a long loose gown, Her white neck hid with tresses hanging down: Resembling fair Semiramis going to bed Or Laïs of a thousand wooers sped.

Stark naked as she stood before mine eye, Not one wen in her body could I spy. What arms and shoulders did I touch and see, How apt her breasts were to be pressed by me? How smooth a belly under her waist saw I? How large a leg, and what a lusty thigh?

Judge you the rest: being tired she bade me kiss, Jove send me more such afternoons as this.

OVID (43BC-AD17), from The Fifth Elegy

Translated from Latin by CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (1564-93)

10 — A something choir

A something in a summer’s Day As slow her flambeaux burn away Which solemnizes me.

A something in a summer’s noon –A depth – an Azure – a perfume –Transcending ecstasy.

EMILY DICKINSON (1831-84), from A something

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11 — Thirsty fly solo tenor

Busy, curious, thirsty fly! Drink with me and drink as I: Freely welcome to my cup, Couldst thou sip and sip it up: Make the most of life you may, Life is short and wears away. Both alike are mine and thine Hastening quick to their decline: Thine’s a summer, mine’s no more, Though repeated to threescore. Threescore summers, when they’re gone, Will appear as short as one!

WILLIAM OLDYS (1696-1761), On a fly drinking out of his cup

12 — Little fly choir

Little fly, Thy summer’s play My thoughtless hand Has brush’d away.

Am not I A fly like thee? Or art not thou A man like me?

For I dance, And drink, and sing, Till some blind hand Shall brush my wing.

If thought is live And strength and breath, And the want Of thought is death; Then am I A happy fly, If I live Or if I die.

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827), The Fly

13 — Come, let us go solo tenor

Come, let us go, while we are in our prime, And take the harmless folly of the time! We shall grow old apace, and die Before we know our liberty. Our life is short, and our days run As fast away as does the sun.

ROBERT HERRICK (1591-1674), from Corinna’s going a-Maying

14 — Give all to love choir

Give all to love; Obey thy heart.

‘Tis a brave master; Let it have scope: Follow it utterly, Hope beyond hope: High and more high It dives into noon.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-82), from Give all to love

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PART III: AUTUMN EVENING

15 — O Autumn solo alto

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’s rest, And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe, And all the daughters of the year shall dance!

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827), from To Autumn

16 — Humdrum choir (ladies)

When maidens are young, and in their spring, Of pleasure, of pleasure, let ‘em take their full swing. Full swing, full swing, And love, and dance, and play, and sing. For Silvia, believe it, when youth is done, There’s nought but hum-drum, hum-drum, hum-drum. There’s nought but hum-drum, hum drum, hum-drum. Then Silvia be wise, be wise, be wise, The painting and dressing for a while are supplies, And may surprise –But when the fire’s going out in your eyes, It twinkles, it twinkles, it twinkles, and dies, And then to hear love, to hear love from you, I’d as lief hear an owl cry, Wit to woo! Wit to woo! Wit to woo!

APHRA BEHN (1640-89), from The Emperor of the Moon (Act II Scene 5)

17 — Autumn choir (gentlemen)

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace As I have seen in one autumnal face.

Were her first years the golden age? That’s true, But now she’s gold oft tried and ever new. That was her torrid and inflaming time, This is her tolerable tropic clime.

Here where still evening is, not noon nor night, Where no voluptuousness, yet all delight. In all her words, unto all hearers fit, You may at revels, you at council, sit.

If we love things long sought, age is a thing Which we are fifty years in compassing; If transitory things, which soon decay, Age must be loveliest at the latest day.

JOHN DONNE (1572-1631), from The Autumnal

18 — Fall, leaves, fall choir

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away; Lengthen night and shorten day; Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

EMILY BRONTÉ (1818-48), from Fall, leaves, fall

19 — The Evening Star solo alto & choir

Thou fair-haired angel of the evening, Now, while the sun rests on the mountains, light Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!

Smile on our loves; and, while thou drawest the Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew

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On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes In timely sleep. Speak silence with thy glimmering eyes, and wash the dusk with silver.

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827), from To the Evening Star

PART IV: WINTER NIGHT

20 — Deep Midnight solo bass

The sun is spent, and now his flasks Send forth light squibs, no constant rays; The world’s whole sap is sunk; The general balm, the hydroptic earth hath drunk, Whither, as to the bed’s-feet, life is shrunk… since this Both the year’s and the day’s deep midnight is.

JOHN DONNE (1572-1631) from A Nocturnal upon St Lucy’s Day, being the shortest day

21 — Snowflakes choir

Out of the bosom of the Air, Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken, Over the woodlands brown and bare, Over the harvest-fields forsaken, Silent, and soft, and slow Descends the snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take Suddenly shape in some divine expression, Even as the troubled heart doth make In the white countenance confession, The troubled sky reveals The grief it feels

This is the poem of the air, Slowly in silent syllables recorded; This is the secret of despair, Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded, Now whispered and revealed To wood and field.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-82) from Snow-Flakes

22 — Dregs solo bass

The fire is out, and spent the warmth thereof, (This is the end of every song man sings!) The golden wine is drunk, the dregs remain, Bitter as wormwood and as salt as pain; And health and hope have gone the way of love Into the drear oblivion of lost things. With pale, indifferent eyes, we sit and wait For the dropt curtain and the closing gate: This is the end of all the songs man sings.

ERNEST DOWSON (1867-1900), from Dregs

23 — A glee for winter choir

Hence, rude Winter! crabbed old fellow, Never merry, never mellow! Well-a-day! in rain and snow What will keep one’s heart aglow? Groups of kinsmen, old and young. Oldest they old friends among;

17

Groups of friends, so old and true That they seem our kinsmen too; These all merry all together

Charm away chill winter weather.

What will kill this dull old fellow?

Ale that’s bright, and wine that’s mellow! Dear old songs for ever new; Pleasant wit, and harmless fun, And a dance when day is done. Music, friends so true and tried, Whispered love by warm fireside, Mirth at all times all together, Make sweet May of winter weather.

ALFRED DOMETT (1811-87), A Glee for Winter

24 — Lights out choir

I have come to the borders of sleep, The unfathomable deep Forest where all must lose Their way, however straight, Or winding, soon or late; They cannot choose.

Many a road and track

That, since the dawn’s first crack, Up to the forest brink, Deceived the travellers, Suddenly now blurs, And in they sink.

Here love ends, Despair, ambition ends; All pleasure and all trouble, Although most sweet or bitter, Here ends in sleep that is sweeter Than tasks most noble.

There is not any book Or face of dearest look That I would not turn from now To go into the unknown I must enter, and leave, alone, I know not how.

The tall forest towers; Its cloudy foliage lowers Ahead, shelf above shelf; Its silence I hear and obey That I may lose my way And myself.

EDWARD THOMAS (1878-1917), Lights Out

EPILOGUE: Sunrise

25 — Elder by a year solo bass

All kings, and all their favourites, All glory of honours, beauties, wits, The sun itself, which makes times, as they pass, Is elder by a year now than it was When thou and I first one another saw: All other things to their destruction draw, Only our love hath no decay; This no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday, Running it never runs from us away.

JOHN DONNE (1572-1631), from The Anniversary

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26 — The secret of the sun soloists & choir

Love, from whom the world begun, Hath the secret of the sun. Love can tell, and love alone, Whence the million stars were strewn, Why each atom knows its own, How in spite of woe and death, Gay is life, and sweet is breath: This he taught us, this we know…

ROBERT BRIDGES (1844-1930), from My delight and thy delight

27 — Love, all alike choir & soloists

Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

JOHN DONNE (1572-1631), from The Sun Rising

AFTERDANCE: Proper Exercise soloists & choir

Dancing, bright lady, then began to be, When the first seeds whereof the world did spring, The fire, air, earth and water, did agree By Love’s persuasion, nature’s mighty king, To leave their discorded combating, And in a dance such measure to observe, As all the world their motion should preserve.

This wonderous miracle did Love devise, For dancing is love’s proper exercise.

For that brave sun, the father of the day, Doth love this earth, the mother of the night; And, like a reveller in rich array, Doth dance his galliard in his leman’s sight, Both back and forth and sideways passing light. His gallant grace doth so the gods amaze, That all stang still and at his beauty gaze.

This wonderful miracle … etc

And thou, sweet music, dancing’s only life, The ear’s sole happiness, the air’s best speech, Lodestone of fellowship, charming rod of strife, The soft mind’s paradise, the sick mind’s leech, With thine own tongue thou trees and stones canst teach, That when the air doth dance her finest measure, Then art thou born, the gods’ and men’s sweet pleasure.

This wondrous miracle … etc

Only the earth doth stand forever still: Her rocks remove not, nor her mountains meet, Although some wits enriched with learning’s skill Say heaven stands firm and that the earth doth fleet, And swiftly turneth underneath their feet; Yet, though the earth is ever steadfast seen, On her broad breast hath dancing ever been.

This wondrous miracle … etc

JOHN DAVIES (1569-1626), from Orchestra, or a Poem of Dancing

19

Affinity 415 Chamber Orchestra

Strings

Leader Sarah Moffat

2 Kirra Thomas

3 Anna Curzon

4 Liz Partridge

Second Leader Sophie Simpson

2 Sam Kennedy

3 Guy Button

4 Charlotte Fairbairn

Viola Leader John Rogers

2 Michael Bennett

3 Dan Manante

Cello Leader Samuel Ng

2 Alex Rolton

Bass Leader Rosie Moon

2 Kate Brooke

Flutes

1 Beth Stone

2 Neil McLaren

Oboe/oboe d’amore

1 Geoff Coates

2 Oonagh Lee

Basson

1 Chris Rawley

Trumpets

1 Simon Munday

2 Katie Hodges

TENORS

3 Mat Down

Christopher BEELS

Timpani Steve Burke

Michael BOWMER

Imperial College Chamber Choir SOPRANOS

Janice CHAK

Daria DITRI

Carolina ESCALER

Urbi MODHURA

Ella PARSONS

Alexandra PAVIC

Olivia PRIESTLAND

Priyasha SEN

Emma WALMSLEY

Natalie WU

CONTRALTOS

Clarisse BONACINA

Amy COLLIS

Peter COSTELLO

Alys DALY

Aditi MEHENDALE

Maria PORTELA

TENORS

Pallav BAGCHI

Alex CHRISTOPHERSON

Jack FINNIS

Robin FLOWER

Felix GIDEONSE

Arun RAMANATHAN

Harry TOMLINS

BASSES

BASSES

Owen BROOK

John ALLINSON

Pablo EGERIQUE G.C.

Simon BRANDES

Robert FIELD

Mike COWLEY

Continuo - organ

Nicholas BUCKLEY

Kit GORDON-BROWN

Francoise DRAPER

Stephen Jones

Robert SHAW

Chamber Organ hire

Guy VOGEL

Peter Twitchin

David WILLINGHAM

Michael WOODS

Peter COLEMAN

Martin HAAMER

John CUMMING

Gilbert JACKSON

Damien D’ARCY

Tom RICHARDSON

Muye XIAO

Mike DAY

Marc FRESKO

Hugh MARCHANT

John MARTIN

James PIERCY

Clive RICHARDS

Ian STEPHENSON

Charles THOMSON directdesign.co.uk

20

Goldsmiths Choral Union

SOPRANOS

Christina ARBENZ

Margaret BARRETT

Sue BATES

Margaret BEELS

Susan BELL

Alison BUCKLEY

Irene CLUGSTON

Catherine COOKE

Jane CORKILL

Katherine DALEY

Elizabeth EDWARDS

Adrienne FRESKO

Jenny GARRETT

Honor GAY

Olivia GRANT

Tanya HUEHNS

Paula JONES

Kia KIELTY

Brenda LARGE

Jenny LEACH

Jessie LENTON

Hilary LINES

Frosso MILTIADOU

Margaret MOORES

Susie PETRI

Silvia RESEGHETTI

Jennifer RUHLE

Sarah SAYSELL

Celia SIMPSON

Emily STUART

Jill TYLER

Nancy WOOD

Jenny WU

CONTRALTOS

Lindsey ALLEN-MERSH

Anna BROWN

Rosemary BURKE

Jayne CALVERT

Alison CAMPBELL

Anne COURTNEY

Liz ELLAWAY

Hazel ELLIS

Mariana FARAH

Mona FRANKBERG

Gloria GEE

Lauren HOLMAN

Jane HOULDSWORTH

Sherry HUTCHINSON

Irene ILIAS

Elin JONES

Sheila LABATT

Alison LEGGATT

Sue LUSH

Caroline MACREADY

Rebekah MASON

Sue MILLAR

Betty NEWBURY

Dinah NICHOLS

Jane PATTON

Sharon PIERSON

Heather RAYNER

Judith SIMPSON

Arabella STUART

Sonya TAYLOR

Margaret THOMAS

Anna WALTON

Victoria WARE

Polly WATTS

Janet WILLIAMS

Lotie WORSLEY

Jenny YOUNG TENORS

Michael BOWMER

Francisco DIEGO

Françoise DRAPER

Robin HAPPÉ

John LARNER

Robert SHAW

Guy VOGEL

Philip WALLER

David WILLINGHAM

Michael WOODS

BASSES

John ALLINSON

David BALICA

Geoffrey BARNES

Simon BRANDES

Nicholas BUCKLEY

Charlie CARTER

Damien D’ARCY

Mike DAY

Quincy DILLARD

Marc FRESKO

Oscar HEALY

Stephen LAI

Hugh MARCHANT

John MARTIN

James PIERCY

Clive RICHARDS

Ian STEPHENSON

Charles THOMSON

Chris WATTS

Benedict WILLI

21

Goldsmiths Choral Union GCU SUMMER SINGS 2023

Come and sing with us – all are welcome!

Our annual Summer Sings are an opportunity for you to join us to sing through two choral works, to get to know GCU as a choir, and perhaps to join us in the Autumn. Wine and soft drinks will be served before, during and after the singing, and you can be sure of a warm reception from our friendly members. They will be conducted by Jack Apperley with Stephen Jones as accompanist.

Wednesday 28 June

EDWARD ELGAR

Dream of Gerontius

Wednesday 5 July GIUSEPPE VERDI

Requiem

For more information please contact gcu.victoria@talktalk.net

JOIN US

Goldsmiths Choral Union is a high-quality choir that is still small enough to feel welcoming and inclusive.

We’re looking for singers with good voices and reasonable sight reading, who would relish the opportunity to perform wonderful music with top orchestras in fantastic venues. We’re welcoming new singers (all parts) or those who just want to give us a try and see if we might be the choir for you.

Being part of Goldsmiths is a great way to continue your passion for music after you leave college or university, and an opportunity to meet like-minded people from across London and the South-east.

www.goldsmithschoralunion.org/join-us

FRIENDS OF GCU

Enjoying this concert?

Why not become a Friend of GCU?

GCU promotes and funds its own highly varied and adventurous concert programmes. Friends of GCU support the choir by making an annual donation, currently a minimum of £90. In recognition of their generosity and their valuable support, GCU offers Friends a complimentary ticket for each concert promoted by the choir.

For more information please contact:

Friends Membership Secretary

Email: gcufriends@btopenworld.com

We thank the following for their continuing support:

FRIENDS

Anonymous

Anonymous

Anonymous

Andrew Calvert

John Dempster

Hamish Donaldson

Caroline Green

Elizabeth Grimsey

Barbara Janes

Joanna Kenny

Carole Lewis

Godfrey Rock

Jane Sawyer

Marylin Smith

Duncan Stuart

Tony Stuart

Clive Tucker

David Willingham

HONORARY LIFE FRIENDS

Sarah Dorin

William Gould

David Hayes

Denzil Jarvis

Mike Lock

Jan Lowy

Sue Peacock

SPONSOR GCU

Enjoying this concert? Would your business benefit from becoming a Sponsor of GCU?

We have a clear strategy of working with sponsors and partners to help us achieve our ambition of performing at the BBC Proms in our 100th Anniversary Year in 2032. To find out more visit our website.

www.goldsmithschoralunion.org/sponsorship

23

Goldsmiths Choral Union Future Concerts

Friday 23 June 2023

At 7.30pm

Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square

FOLK SONGS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

RUTTER The Sprig of Thyme

WHITACRE Five Hebrew Love Songs

CONTE Three Mexican Folksongs

HOGAN Hear my Prayer

BARBER Sure on this Shining Night

Sunday 29 October 2023

At 3.00pm

Royal Albert Hall

CARL ORFF Carmina Burana (promoted by Raymond Gubbay Ltd)

Tuesday 7 November 2023 At 7.30pm

Cadogan Hall

HAYDN Te Deum

MOZART Mass in C Minor K427

HAYDN Symphony

For more information about Goldsmiths Choral Union please visit goldsmithschoralunion.org directdesign.co.uk

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