2014 programmes lucernarium

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The Galway Early Music Festival May 8 - 11, 2014 Mystical Union: Medieval Songs of Brides & Bridegrooms and SPONSUS: the play of the wise & foolish virgins

LUCERNARIUM Sunday, May 11, 2014 16:00 Augustinian Church, Middle St

Samuel L. Westerman Foundation

Galway Early Music would like to thank its sponsors and friends, without whose support the Festival would not happen.

SUPPORTED

BY

Samuel L. Westerman Foundation

MEDIA SPONSOR GOLD PATRONS Adare Guesthouse The Stop

SILVER PATRONS Tom Grealy

Seán & Lois Tobin

FRIENDS & FUNDIT SUPPORTERS Michael & Claire Cuddy June Grey Smith Anam Theatre Máire Ní Chionna Ronan Browne Matthew Walsh Seán Ó Meallaigh

Gwen Dring Brendan Murray Deirdre Ní Conghaile Máire Greaney Daly Ann Mallaghan John Rogers Ionia Ní Chróínín

Kate Costello Jo Cummins Jacopo Bisagni Birrell Walsh Ruth Frederico Maria Caswell Six Anonymous Patrons

Tonight’s concert is in collaboration with:

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO St Nicholas Collegiate Church, Nuns of the Poor Clares, Nuns Island Augustinian Church, Middle St Galway Early Music

@gwy_earlymusic

See our general Festival Promo on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fveRZSI1pi8 or scan this QR code:

Mystical Union: Medieval Songs of Courtship, Brides & Bridegrooms Lucernarium Wolodymyr Smishkewych, director Sarah Groser , vielle Caitriona O’Leary, voice Norbert Rodenkirchen, flutes, harp Wolodymyr Smishkewych, voice, organistrum, harp

Presented in collaboration with the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (University of Limerick) and the MA in Ritual Chant & Song

Epithalamica F-Pn NAL 3126 f. 90v

Sequence, 12c. attr. Peter Abelard (reconstruction: Chrysogonus Waddell)

O quam pulchra

Unknown provenance, late medieval, Germany

From a transcription by Barbara Thornton, copyright ca. 1995

Amice de adventu Ripoll 14(33) (contrafact: St Gall, Sang 484 p289-90]

Anonymous, Carmina Rivipullensia (12-13c.)

Reconstruction: W. Smishkewych

Gaude Coelestis sponsa Instrumental piece based on Frankish sequence melodies (9th c.)

Source: München, clm.10075 xiii in Reconstruction: N. Rodenkirchen De Somnio Ripoll MS 7(26) (contrafact: CSM 52 [Escorial j.b.2])

Anonymous, Carmina Rivipullensia (12-13c.)

Reconstruction: W. Smishkewych

Samson dux fortissime London, British Library MS Harley 978 f. 2r *

*

Lai, 13c.

Transcription: John Stevens

*

Epithalamia decantans dulcia London, Trinity College Cambridge MSB.1.16_f001v Sponsus Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale fonds lat. 1139 f. 53r

sequence, 12c.

Transcription: Bryan Gillingham liturgical drama, 12c.

Moir'e faço dereito / E mal día non ensandeci Cantigas d’amor, early 14c.

El Escorial, MS Escorial j.b.2 Text:Vidal, Judeu d’Elvas (Reconstruction: W. Smishkewych) Sicut pratum picturatur Assisi, Biblioteca Comunale MS 695 f. 236r

2-voice conductus, 13c.

Transcription: W. Smishkewych

About the programme Imagery and poetic description of nuptial love permeates the world’s sacred traditions, and in most literary cultures there are allegorical—if not fairly literal—descriptions of sensuality and sacred union present in scriptural or apocryphal sources. Shiva and his consort Parvati, the doomed lovers Layla and Majnun, and of course Solomon and the Shulamite, protagonists of the Song of Songs of the Hebrew Bible. Both the Jewish and the Christian traditions adopted (or similarly co-opted) the poetry of sacred spousehood and crafted allegories wherein the lovers in Solomon’s book were to be understood as God and the children of Israel, or Christ and the Church, respectively. In whichever way these poems have been interpreted, the words themselves have delighted and stimulated with their sensual (and often, only barely metaphorical) language.

In the hands of theologians, exquisitely sensual descriptions of earthly lovemaking—such as evoked by the language of the biblical Song of Songs—was explicated as purely allegorical, while specific words of love for God, Jesus, or Mary were couched in amorous terms by religious poets. However, in all centuries, these writings existed concurrently with secular modes of expression, variously profane (in all senses of the word) and ranging from somewhat allegorical to explicitly sexual, sometimes graphic depictions of carnal pleasure.This program explores—through Medieval musical visions—the manifold expressions of love—for God, Jesus, or Mary specifically; for the “Beloved” as a face of the Divine; for a specifically named maiden or domna, or the many poetically amorous names for the Virgin Mary—as well as the complications of love: falsehood, deceit, the lover’s worries of the other’s constancy. From pious sincerity to spicy daydreams to lusty frolicking, poets and composers from the eleventh to seventeenth centuries have never been at a loss for subject material when it comes to love, sacred and/or profane.

Sponsus—the Latin word for ‘Bridegroom’—is the thematic name of this concert programme as well as the title of the medieval Aquitanian play that is its centerpiece. Also included are two bridal canticles (epithalamiæ) based on poetic imagery from the Song of Songs: one attributed to the poet-cleric Peter Abelard, another taken from a manuscript collection (notable for its use of alphabetic notation).The melodic core phrases of this song are strongly reminiscent of the world of Frankish sequences, exemplified by the contrafactum upon which one of the Ripoll Goliardic texts (see below) has been reconstructed. In addition, the flute solo Gaude celestis sponsa, based upon the Notkerian sequence known as Adducentur, also belongs to this world of primarily oral-tradition, archetypal source melodies which may form part of a pre-Christian musical fabric from which later chant and song traditions were woven.

Ripoll Manuscript 74, a collection of 81 texts of over 2000 verses, is generally considered as the only known contribution from south of the Pyrenees to the corpus of the so-called “Goliard” literary-poetic tradition, a body of works to which the Carmina Burana and the Carmina Cantabriagensis (Cambridge Songs) belong. Amice de adventu is a text that brings to the forefront the sometimes serious, sometimes satirical connections between sacred and secular poetry: replete with usage of laudes and descriptio pulchritudinis, the song heralds the arrival of the lover using language more familiar from religious lyric as exemplified by the tradition of St. Martial of Limoges (to which, indeed, the Ripoll monastery is connected culturally and historically). In De somnio— for which the anonymous Ripoll poet likely drew

inspiration from the Latin epic poem Versus Eporedienses I, by the North-Italian Guido of Ivrea—the origins of the older Latin form of pastorela come to the fore, in what philologist Peter Dronke describes as “a humorous piece of wishful thinking.” The contrafactæ to which these are set represent two spheres of influence that bore upon Ripoll: the Central European/Southern French tradition of the Notkerian sequence, and the Iberian model, as exemplified by cantigas.

The devices of simile and metaphor—less likely in cantigas de amor but more typical of the satirical genre of cantigas d’escarnho—finds employ in the two cantigas of the Jewish jograr (troubadour) Vidal, from the Portuguese town of Elvas (west of the Spanish city of Badajoz). His poems utilise certain motifs that, according to scholar Frede Jensen, are unusual for this genre: the lady’s white bosom, the rose amongst the grasses, and the wounded stag (çervo lançado). This last image, due to its likeness to certain biblical references, has suggested to some scholars that trovadores who employed it—such as Vidal’s near contemporaries—might have been Jewish as well, although it is more likely to stand in for the image of male sexuality.

Sicut pratum, the 2-voice conductus which closes our programme, belongs to the poetic and sound world between the Notre Dame and St. Martial schools.The poetry is attributed to Adam of St. Victor, one of the foremost writers of sequences of the 12th century. In these verses dedicated to the Virgin Mary, she is described in allegorical and alliterative terms that recall the Song of Songs’ manyfaceted similes, symbols and topographical images. She is specifically referred to as “the Shunnamite” and “the spouse of Solomon,” making direct reference to the biblical love poem; at the same time, the poem is replete with images typical of the school of St.Victor—unguent, balsam, towers, cedars—all of which are references not only to psalm verses and New Testament parables and stories, but belong to the cosmopolitan exegetic vocabulary of Adam’s monastic and intellectual milieu. The two winding, often-crossing voices in Sicut Pratum bring alive in sound (and in what could almost border on 12th-century “word painting”) the medieval theme of sacred union, as do the other songs on our programme—revealing that in the so-called ‘dark ages,’ the way in which corporeal and carnal desires were dealt with was perhaps not as primitive as we may imagine.

Artists’ Biographies Hannah Fahey is an Irish vocalist, musician and educator. She performs regularly as a soloist and with vocal trio Sionna and early music ensemble Cantoral. Hannah recorded ‘Songs for an age of Sorrow’ with postmodern chant ensemble Hibernia, with whom she has also performed internationally. She received her training in vocal performance from the University of Limerick where she graduated with first class honours in both her scholarship funded M.A. in Ritual Chant and Song (2014) and B.A. in Voice and Dance (2012). Most recently Hannah received a scholarship to study at the Vancouver Mediaeval Programme, where she studied intensively with with Sequentia and performed in the festival concert ‘Songs From the Carmina Burana’ with the renowned medieval ensemble.

Sarah Groser first played the viol as an eight year old, encouraged by her viol-playing father, whilst waiting to start on the cello. She concentrated on the cello until her late teens when she heard viols playing in consort, and was captivated by the sound. At Manchester University she was able to study both Baroque cello and viol with Charles Medlam of London Baroque, and continued on to Rotterdams Conservatorium to study Baroque cello with Jaap ter Linden. Later she had lessons with Jordi Savall as an external student at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Since her studies, Sarah has concentrated on the viol, and more recently: the violone. She was a member of the Rose Consort of viols for 15 years and of Sonnerie under Monica Huggett for three years. She has also played with London Baroque, Fretwork, Charivari Agreable, and the Dowland Consort. In 2001 Sarah moved from England to West Cork, Ireland, where she is in frequent demand as both a solo bass viol player and as a continuo player. In Ireland, she has played with The Irish Baroque Orchestra, the IBO Concert Soloists, Camerata Kilkenny, Morisca, The Orchestra of St Cecilia, Madrigal 75, and as a duo with Sarah Cunningham.

Caitríona O’Leary is known for her intense and passionate performances of Early Music and Traditional Irish song. She is the founder and artistic director of eX, early music performance company, and Dúlra, traditional Irish band, and has conceived, led and performed in several of their critically acclaimed projects including, Shipwrecked, Possessed, The Rape of the Lock, Christ Lag in Todesbanden and Ecstasy. With these groups and as a member of the The Harp Consort and Sequentia, Caitríona has toured throughout extensively throughout the world.

Recent recordings include Ecstasy (Dúlra), Shipwrecked (eX) and Motion of the Heart/¡Viva Frida! (Dublin Drag Orchestra) (all on Heresy Records).

Norbert Rodenkirchen, who studied flute and Baroque traverso with Hans Martin Mueller and Günther Hoeller at the Staatliche Musikhochschule Köln, has been the flute player of Sequentia since 1996 and also works regularly with the French ensemble Dialogos directed by Katarina Livljanic. With both ensembles he has been invited to numerous international festivals.

He is also much in demand as a composer of music for theater and film as well as a producer for CD projects, most of them in coproduction with the WDR/ West German Radio. From 2003 to 2011 Norbert Rodenkirchen was artistic director of the concert series „Schnuetgen Konzerte – Musik des Mittelalters“ in the medieval museum of Cologne where he founded Candens Lilium, a project ensemble - specialized on medieval music from the Rhineland. Additionally he has given workshops on medieval instrumental improvisation at the Mozarteum Salzburg, at the festivals of Vancouver and Ambronay as well as at the Musikhochschule Köln, the conservatories of Lyon and Liege. In 2012 he released his third own CD, “Hameln Anno 1284 / Medieval flute music on the trail of the Pied Piper,” on the label Christophorus/note1.

Tenor Wolodymyr Smishkewych has specialised in medieval song, chant, and new music since the mid-1990s, singing throughout Europe, North and South America, Australia, and Israel, and at acclaimed festivals such as BBC Proms, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Musikfest Berlin, the Edinburgh Festival, Sacrum+Profanum Krákow, Festival Internacional Cervantino, and the Early Music Festivals of Barcelona, Utrecht, San Francisco, and Boston. As a soloist he has performed in opera productions at Amsterdam’s Carré and Muziektheater, as well as with the New York Collegium, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and Ars Nova Copenhagen. As a member of ensembles Sequentia and Theatre of Voices, he has recorded for Sony/BMG and Harmonia Mundi. Radio, TV, and film credits include NPR (US/Canada), RTVE (Spain), RTÉ (Ireland), the national television of Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Canal 22 TV-México, and Universal Pictures.A sought-after pedagogue in medieval, contemporary, and world vocal music, he has lectured at universities in the United States, South America, Canada, and Europe. He holds the degree of Doctor of Music in Voice from Indiana University, and is currently director of the MA Ritual Chant and Song at the Irish World Academy, University of Limerick, where he is the director of the ensemble Lucernarium.

AD*BC CORACLE May 8, 8pm, St Nicholas Church

ENSEMBLE MARE BALTICUM May 9, 8pm, St Nicholas Church

NORBERT RODENKIRCHEN

May 9, 1pm, Chapel of the Poor Clares

LUDI SCAENICI

ANCIENT MUSIC IRELAND

May 10, 8pm, St Nicholas Church

LUCERNARIUM May 11, 4pm, Augustinian Church

SIMON O’DWYER JOHN KENNY PETER HOLMES

May 9, pm, Mechanics Institute MOONFISH THEATRE May 10, 12pm, Kelly’s Bar

CAJSA LUND / ÅKE EGEVAD May 10, 3pm, Mechanics Institute ECSTATIC CULT OF CIONYSUS May 11, 2:30pm, Mechanics Institute

FREE APPS Carolan’s Lost Tune - Galway Ghost Hunt Musical Tour of Medieval Galway Throughout Festival and Beyond!

LEGION IRELAND May 10, 2-4pm, Streets & Museum

TICKET BOOKING Online: www.galwayearlymusic.com From 1 May: Charlie Byrnes Bookshop At door of concerts FESTIVAL TICKET: €56 / €45 concession (includes all concerts)