Nowell Synge We Bothe Al and Som - Gothic Voices

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Saturday, December 16th, 2023
7:30 PM to 9:00 PM

Doors open at 6:45; pre-concert talk at 7:00. Seating is limited, so buy your tickets in advance. Youth and students are admitted free at the door.

A medieval Christmas celebration by the ensemble that, probably more than any other, has defined the modern approach to performance of vocal music of the Middle Ages.

A gathering of music-lovers during the Christmas season today will often result in a hearty carol singing evening, with its focus on the wonderful melodies of the past. Imagine such an event 600 years ago, complete with some of the music we call old being utterly modern, and when their music ‘from the past’ reached back a further 300 years… Hear the fervour of known and unknown carols in their original 15th century form, and the elegance of their ingenious forerunners in this celebratory interplay of narrative and symbolic poetry picturing the biblical stories of Mary and Jesus, and bound together with a mark of festive ritual by large-scale mass movements by early English celebrities Dunstaple and Power.

Program:

Part I – Annunciation

Anon. (13th C.): Veni, O sapientia

Anon. (14th C.): Angelus ad virginem

John Dunstaple: Gaude virgo salutata

Anon. (15th C.): Nowell, nowell, nowell

Anon. (15th C.) Alma redemptoris mater: As I lay

John Cooke: Ave regina caelorum

Anon. (12-13th C.): In natali novi regis

Anon. (15th C.): Alleluya: a newe werk is come on honed

Anon. (15th C.): Mervele not, Joseph

Anon. (13th C.): Edi be thu, heven queene

Trad.: O sapientia

John Dunstaple: Magnificat

Walter Frye: Ave regina caelorum

Part II – Nativity

Anon. (14th C.) Lullay, lullay: Als I lay

Anon. (15th C.): Ecce, quod natura

Anon. (15th C.): Ave rex angelorum

Queldryk: Gloria Motet

Anon. (15th C.) : Benedicite Deo

Leonel Power: Sanctus

Anon. (15th C.): Ther ys no rose of swich virtu

Anon. (12-13th C.): Resonet, intonet

Anon. (15th C.): Nowell syng we

Trad.: Puer natus est nobis

Anon. (15th C.): Nowell: Owt of your slepe (vv. 1-2)

Trad.: Cantate domino

Anon. (15th C.): Nowell: Owt of your slepe (vv. 3-4)

Musicians:

Catherine King, mezzo soprano

Steven Harrold, tenor

Julian Podger, tenor

Simon Whitely, bass-baritone