choral works by Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Stravinsky ...

choral works by
Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Stravinsky
performed by candlelight
Saturday 15th january 2011 at 7.30pm
st teresa’s church, 16 Clairmont Road,
Colchester CO3 9BE
programme
£1
Colchester
Chamber Choir

Colchester Chamber Choir was established in autumn 2009 and performed its inaugural
concert at St Leonard’s Church, Colchester in January 2010.
The five composers whose music we are singing in this programme were attracted to the
setting of religious texts for various reasons and produced works of great beauty, power and
appeal, yet not one of them was particularly religious in inclination.
Rachmaninoff wrote his All Night Vigil in less than two weeks in 1915, partly to benefit the
Russian war effort. By this time he no longer attended Church services and
although received with great enthusiasm by concert audiences, it was regarded
with some suspicion by the Russian Orthodox Church and is seldom performed
liturgically. Rachmaninoff used the Orthodox chants as the basis for his
composition in most movements, but in movements 1,3 and 6 he wrote pieces
that he described as ‘conscious counterfeits’. Herein lay an issue for the church authorities.
Written in between four and eleven parts the lush harmonies were also considered to go
beyond the scope of the Orthodox devotional style. Rachmaninoff, however, always held the
work in great affection and being written just before the Revolution it has been seen as the
last flowering of the great musical tradition of Holy Mother Russia. The All Night Vigil is sung
on the eves of Sundays and major church feasts in the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic rites,
and is essentially a combination of Greater Vespers and Matins. The first six movements,
which we are singing, constitute the Greater Vespers.
To complement the repertoire of other choirs in the area, the
choir seeks to promote and perform challenging works suitable
for the smaller choir, particularly from the pre-baroque era and
19th and 20th centuries. Lesser known works and works in
their original language are given special attention.
Musical Director Michael Roderick Earle studied as a Choral
Scholar in the renowned St. John’s College Choir, Cambridge. He was a principal baritone
with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for twenty-one years singing over sixty solo roles
and has sung in opera and concerts all over the world. In October he created the role of King
Lear in the world premiere of Alexander Goehr’s Promised End at the Royal Opera House. In
April he sings Nekrotzar in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre at the Teatro La Colon, Buenos Aires.
He is also a part-time singing professor at The Royal College of Music.
The choir is delighted to have the services of Peter Humphrey as rehearsal pianist.

Lange-Müller was born in Fredericksberg, Denmark into a well-to-do family. His parents
wanted him to follow a career in politics, but it soon became clear that his
future would lie in music. Ill health plagued him for most of his life and it is
his shorter compositions, such as the Three Madonna Songs, which are
amongst his most successful and delightful works. The poems (the first and last
transcriptions of Latin hymns) were written by his friend Thor Lange.
Grieg, like Rachmaninoff, had ceased to be a church goer when he wrote his last composition,
the Four Psalms and in fact had become quite hostile to the Lutheran Church
of Norway, preferring the more liberal theology of Unitarianism. Yet, fascinated
by the seventeenth century poetry of the three poets, Hans Adolf Brorson,
Hans Thomissøn and Laurentius Laurentii Laurinus, he created four settings
of considerable intensity and musical invention, based on old Norwegian folk-
like church melodies. In the second, the baritone soloist sings in the key of B major whilst
the lower voices sing in B minor and in other places he illustrates a most progressive use of
harmony without losing sight of the simple verse structure of the texts he is setting.
In 1926 Stravinsky was experiencing a renewed interest in his Russian Orthodox upbringing
and wrote a simple setting of the Church Slavonic Lord’s Prayer, which mimics
the traditional Orthodox style but with his own characteristic austerity. The piece
is short and simple in marked contrast to the harmonic language of Tchaikovsky
and Rachmaninoff.
Tchaikovsky first wrote his Legend, a Russian translation of an English poem, Roses and
Thorns by Richard Henry Stoddard (1825–1903), in 1883 as one of his 16
Songs for Children for solo voice and piano. The piece is best known to English
audiences as the Crown of Roses and in the later four-part choir version of
1889. The Cherubic Hymn No 3 (from Nine Liturgical Hymns, written for and
dedicated to the Tsar) was written in Davos in Switzerland in 1884. Of the
three settings (four including his setting from the whole of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom)
Tchaikovsky considered this to be his best. Written in eight parts, the simple accumulation
from three repetitions of the invocation is completed with a faster stretto which brings the work
to a thrilling conclusion.

Programme
From the All Night Vigil (Church Slavonic) Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943)
Priidite poklonimisia
Blagoslovi, dushe moya (mezzo solo Tessa Freebairn)
Blazhen muzh
Svete tihiy (tenor solo Paul Burt)
Nine otpushchayeshi
Bogoroditse devo
Tre Madonnasange (Danish) Peter Lange-Müller (1850 - 1926)
Ave Maris Stella
Madonna over bølgerne
Salve Regina
Interval
wine and soft drinks available (included in ticket price)
Four Psalms op.74 Edvard Grieg (1943 - 1907)
(baritone solo Sean Moriarty) (English translation by Percy Grainger)
How fair is thy face
God’s Son has set me free
Jesu Christ our Lord has risen
In heav’n above
Otche nash (Church Slavonic) Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
Legend (Russian) Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)
Hymn of the Cherubim No. 3 (Church Slavonic)

From the All Night Vigil
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943)
Priidite poklonimsia
Priidite, poklonimsia Tsarevi nashemu Bogu.
Priidite, poklonimsia i pripadem
Hristu Tsarevi nashemu Bogu.
Priidite, poklonimsia i pripadem
samomu Hristu Tsarevi i Bogu nashemu.
Priidite, poklonimsia i pripadem Yemu.
Blagoslovi, dushe moya
Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Ghospoda,
blagosloven yesi, Ghospodi.
Ghospodi Bozhe moy, vozvelichilsia yesi zelo.
Blagosloven yesi, Ghospodi.
Vo ispovedaniye i v velelepotu obleklsia yesi.
Blagosloven yesi, Ghospodi.
Na gorah stanut vodi.
Divna dela Tvoya, Ghospodi.
Posrede gor proydut vodi.
Divna dela Tvoya, Ghospodi
Fsia premudrostiyu sotvoril yesi.
Slava Ti, Ghospodi, sotvorivshemu fsia.
Come, let us worship God, our King.
Come let us worship and fall down
before Christ,our King and our God.
Come, let us worship and fall down
before the very Christ, our King and our God.
Come, let us worship and fall down before Him.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
blessed art Thou, O Lord.
O Lord my God, Thou art very great.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord.
Thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord.
The waters stand upon the mountains.
Marvellous are Thy works, O Lord.
The waters flow between the hills.
Marvellous are Thy works, O Lord.
In wisdom hast Thou made all things.
Glory to thee, O Lord, who hast created all.

Blazhen muzh
Blazhen muzh, izhe ne ide na sovet
nechestivih.
Alliluya, alliluya, alliluya
Yako vest Ghospod put pravednih, i put
nechestivih pogibnet.
Alliluya, alliluya, alliluya
Rabotayte Ghospodevi so strahom i
raduytesia Yemu s trepetom.
Alliluya, alliluya, alliluya
Blazheni fsi nadeysushchiisia nan.
Alliluya, alliluya, alliluya
Voskresni, Ghospodi, spasi mia, Bozhe moy.
Alliluya, alliluya, alliluya
Ghospodne yest spaseniye, i na liudeh Tvoih
blagosloveniye Tvoye.
Alliluya, alliluya, alliluya
Slava Otsu, i Sinu, i Sviatomu
Duhu, i nine i prisno i vo veki vekov.
Amin.
Alliluya, alliluya, alliluya Slava Tebe, Bozhe.
Svete tihiy
Svete tihiy svyatiya slavi, Bessmertnago,
Ottsa Nebesnago,Sviatago Blazhennago,
Iisuse Hriste.
Prishedshe na zapad solntsa, videvshe svet
vecherniy,
poyem Ottsa, Sina i Svyatago Duha, Boga.
Dostoin yesi vo fsia vremena pet biti glasi
prepodobnimi,
Sine Bozhiy, zhivot dayay,
temzhe mir Tia slavit.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the
counsel of the wicked.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice in him
with trembling.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Salvation is of the Lord; and thy blessing is
upon thy people.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the
Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto ages
of ages. Amen.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Glory to thee, O God.
Gladsome light of the holy glory of the
Immortal One,
the Heavenly Father, holy and blessed,
O Jesus Christ.
Now that we have come to the setting of the
sun and behold the light of evening,
we praise the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God.
Thou art worthy at every moment to be praised
in hymns by reverent voices.
O Son of God, thou art the giver of life;
therefore all the world glorifies thee.

Nine otpushchayeshi
Nine Otpushchayeshi raba Tvoyego, Vladiko,
po glagolu Tvoyemu s mirom:
yako videsta ochi moi spaseniye Tvoye,
yezhe yesi ugotoval pred litsem vseh liudey,
svet vo otkroveniye yazikov,
i slavu liudey Tvoih Izrailya.
Bogoroditse devo
Bogoroditse devo, raduysia,
Blagodatnaya Mariye, Ghospod s Toboyu.
Blagoslovenna Ti v zhenakh,
i blagosloven Plod chreva Tvoyego,
yako Spasa rodila yesi dush nashih.
Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant
depart in peace, according to thy Word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation
which thou hast prepared before the face of
all people.
A light to lighten the Gentiles
and the glory of thy people, Israel.
Rejoice, O Virgin God-bearer,
Mary full of grace, the Lord is with Thee.
Blessed art Thou among women,
and blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb,
for Thou has borne the Saviour of our souls.

Tre Madonnasange
Peter Lange-Müller (1850 - 1926)
Ave maris stella
Hil Dig, Havets Stjerne, Stjerne klare, milde,
Redningsblus paa Verdens mørke Vover vilde!
Stærke Lys i Natten, alle Blindes Øje,
Havets Stjerne, hjælp, Guds Moder Høje!
Hjælp os Vej at finde hjem til Ham,
hvem alle vaadestedte Sjæle dybt til Fode falde
Hil Dig, Havets Stjerne, med din Søn tilsammen,
Sol, Alverdens Gud og Frelser
Amen!
Three Madonna Songs
Hail, you star of the sea, you bright gentle star
You life saver of the wild waves of the world’s
darkness
you strong light of the night, eye of all the blind
You star of the sea, God’s mother up on high!
Help us to find the way home to Him
before all lost souls kneel.
Hail you star of the sea, together with your son,
the sun, almighty God and Saviour
Amen!
from old Latin psalm

Madonnna over bølgerne
Hil Dig, Du Lys over Havet,
tindrende Blus paa den skummende Strand,
o hil Dig, de Ængstedes Frelse,
der lindrende aabner din Favn for hver Skibbrudt.
Du, som paa Rvet omkring Opatija
sprang som et Under af Fjeldblokken ud,
o hil Dig, Mysteriets Dronning,
o hil Dig, vor Dronning Maria,
Sjælenes Moder, Søster og Brud!
Her, Hvor min jordiske Længsel forstummede,
daler et Hjerte saa glad her ned
for din snehvide, bølgeomskummede,
Jomfrufod tyst som et Blad.
Du Ungmø, Lillie, gratiæ via,
Du Elskov evindelig pletfri og prud.
O hil Dig, Mysteriets Dronning,
hil Dig, vor Dronning Maria,
Sjælenes Moder, Søster og Brud! Hil Dig!
Salve Regina
Glæd Dig, Engles herskerinde,
Glands fra hellig Højheds tinde,
Væld, hvorfra et uudgrundet
Lys, hvorfra et uudgrundet
Lys er over Verden rundet.
Hil Dig, Alles altid nære Hjælp og Trøst,
Du, hvem Gud lod bære frem paa Jorden
Himmeriges Julegave, Christe milde!
Intet Liv gar mer til Spilde,
ingen Sjæl gaar tabt ved Dommen,
thi Du er kommen.
Madonna over the waves
Hail you light of the sea,
the twinkling flame on the foaming beach
oh hail you saviour of the fearful, you who
soothingly embrace each shipwrecked man.
You, who on the reef around Opatija,
who like a miracle sprang from the rock.
Hail you, Queen of mystery,
Hail you, our Queen Maria,
mother of souls, Sister and Bride.
Here, where my earthly longing became silent,
my heart is falling so happily, kneeling before
your snow white, foaming virgin’s foot,
silently like a leaf.
You maiden, lily, graties via,
You my love, forever pure and perfect.
Hail you, Queen of mystery,
Hail you, our Queen Maria,
Mother of souls, Sister and Bride. Hail You!
Hail, Queen of all angels,
you brilliant light
of the holy heaven’s pinnacle,
from whence an inscrutable light
flows round the world.
Hail, you who forever gives help and comfort,
you whom God made appear on the earth,
Heaven’s Christmas gift. Gentle Christ!
No longer will life be wasted,
no longer will souls be lost on Judgement Day.
Thou are forever present.
from old Latin psalm

Four Psalms op.74
Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907)
English translation by Percy Grainger
How fair is Thy face
How fair is Thy face, yea fair, yea fair,
Thou Son of God, Thou Prince of Grace,
Oh Thou my Shulamite, sweet and kind,
Yea Kind, yea kind,
All that I have is also Thine.
My Friend, thou art mine, yea mine, yea mine,
For evermore let me be Thine,
Thou canst me save, canst me save,
Yea save, yea save,
Both here on earth and ‘yond the grave.
Remember my plight, yea plight, yea plight,
Around me hostile swords flash bright,
Fly hither, Dove of Grace, Dove of Grace,
Apace, apace!
Among the rocks are peace and space.
How fair is Thy face, how fair Thy face,
Thou Son of God, Thou Prince of Grace,
My Shulamite, so sweet and kind,
O Thou my Shulamite,
All that I have is Thine!
Hans Adolf Brorson (1694 - 1764) Denmark

God’s son has set me free
God’s son has set me free
from Satan’s tyranny,
from base desire, enslavement dire,
from fear of death and hell’s hot fire.
Lord Christ did intercede,
with God for me did plead;
He underwent my punishment
to torture, death was sent.
I cannot fathom love so great
how ever much I contemplate.
That he could be so merciful to me,
a sinner frail when nought could suit
but tasting the forbidden fruit;
by day, by night, old Satan’s might
my soul have captured quite.
But now I’m in God’s care
In spite of Satan’s snare;
no longer sad I wander glad
in liberation purple clad.
How deeply I rejoice to follow Jesu’s voice:
He bids me cleave to Him and leave
all sin forget to grieve.
Let Mammon not expect to find
me e’er again so weak, so blind.
Nay, nay! I’ll stray no more from off the way.
For my salvation Christ did pay;
I shall not gamble it away.
I do despise the tempter’s lies
to heaven lift my eyes.
For now I’m in God’s care.
My heart laughs blithe and bold
when I my grave behold;
nor flow’ry bed, nor princely stead
can show a couch so free from dread.
To where God’s castle stands
in Death-less Life’s fair lands.
Death pilots me across the sea
towards Eternity.
Though stormy winds about me still
are blowing contrary and chill
my soul is whole and craves the perfect goal.
My spirit leaps, like deer or hind,
to think of leaving sin behind:
Oh blessed sign! Christ’s cross doth shine,
makes bliss eternal mine.
God’s son has set me free
God’s son has set me free
yea free, yea free, free, free, free,
God’s son has set me free!
Hans Adolf Brorson (1694 - 1764) Denmark

Jesus Christ our Lord is risen
Jesus Christ our Lord is risen
heavenward from out death’s prison
with angel legions
He captured hell’s dread regions
Kyrie eleison
Jesus Christ our Lord is risen
Saviour Jesus we thank Thee, Lord,
for Thy great blessings us toward,
through Thy ascending
our fears of death found ending.
Kyrie eleison
In heav’n above
In heav’n above, in heav’n above,
where God almighty dwells;
what bliss to reach that realm of love,
my heart with longing swells,
for there in all eternity
in dazzling radiance we shall see
the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of Sabaoth.
From darkest night, from darkest night,
our bodies ‘neath the mould,
shall then become all shining bright,
as bright as purest gold.
Our wounds assuaged by heav’nly grace,
we’ll see our Maker face to face
the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of Sabaoth.
Jesus Christ our Lord is risen
Thy ascension, in joyeous lays,
with heart and mouth and tongue we praise
and join the chorus
of angels singing o’er us
Kyrie eleison
Hans Thomissøn (1532 - 1573) Denmark
Each soul shall find its comfort there
as promised long ago;
the wreath of righteousness shall wear,
as robe as white as snow
Oh God! What rapture will be mine,
to see Thee in Thy radiance shine,
O Lord of Sabaoth, O Lord of Sabaoth.
Laurentius Laurentii Laurinus (1573 - 1665) Sweden

Otche Nash
Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
Otche nash izhe yesi na nebeseh
da sviatitsia imia Tvoye
Legend
Director Roderick Earle
da priidet Tsarstviye Tvoye
da budet volia Tvoya
yako na nebesi i na zemli
Hleb nash nasushchniy dazhd nam dnes
i ostavi nam dolgi nasha,
yakozhe i mi ostavliayem dolzhnikom nashim
i ne vvedi nas vo iskusheniye
no izbavi nas ot lukavago.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)
Bil u Hrista mladentsa sad,
i mnogo roz vzrastil on v niom...
On trizhdi v den ih polival,
shtob splest venok sebe potom.
Kogda zhe rozi rastsveli,
detey yevreyskih sozval on;
oni sorvali po tsvetku,
i sad bil ves opustoshon.
“Kak Ti spletiosh sebe venok?
f Tvoyom sadu net bolshe roz?”
“Vi pozabili, shto shipi ostalis mne,” -
skazal Hristos.
I iz shipov oni spleli
venok koliuchijy dlia Nevo,
i kapli krovi vmesto roz
chelo ukrasili, ukrasili Yevo.
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
When Christ was a child He had a garden,
and many roses He grew therein...
Three times a day did He water them,
For He planned to weave Himself a wreath
someday.
When the roses came into full bloom
He summoned the neighbour Hebrew children;
they each plucked a flower
and the garden was bare
“How will You weave yourself a wreath?”
they asked.
“Your garden has no more roses.”
“You have forgotten that the thorns are left for
me,” Christ said.
And from the thorns
they pleated Him a prickly wreath;
and drops of blood, instead of roses
adorned His brow.
Aleksei Nikolaevich Pleshcheev (1825–1893) Russia

Hymn of the Cherubim No. 3
Izhe heruvimi tayno obrazuyushche,
i zhivotvoriashchey Troytse
trisviatuyu pesn pripevayushche,
fsiakoye nine zhiteyskoye
otlozhim popecheniye;
yako da Tsaria fseh podimem,
Angelskimi nevidimo dorinosima chinmi.
Alliluiya, alliluiya, alliluiya.
Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim,
and who sing the thrice-holy hymn
to the life-creating Trinity,
and now lay aside
all the cares of this life;
that we may receive the King of All,
who comes invisibly borne by the angelic host.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
from the liturgy of St John Chrysostom

colchester chamber choir
Director Roderick Earle
Gabrieli, Schütz, Purcell and Bruckner
with brass ensemble
Saturday 18th June 2011 at 7.30pm
St Botolph’s
church walk, colchester CO1 1PG
tickets £12 (students £6) available from
Mann’s Music, 123 High Street Colchester 01206 572783
or 01206 820813
www.colchesterchamberchoir.org

sopranos
Joy Burnford
Liz Curry
Jill Newton
Lesley Orrock
Linda Pearsall
Hilary Sellers
Olivia Surguy
colchester chamber choir
altos
Lehla Abbott
Meg Calas
Eleanor Campbell
Patsy Cosgrove
Tessa Freebairn
Lynne McKay
Mary Stamp
tenors
Terry Blunden
Paul Burt
John Clibbens
Stephen Jenkins
Andrew Marsden
Amrit Nasta
Thomas Welsh
To join our mailing list or for further information please visit our website
colchesterchamberchoir.org
or email colchesterchamberchoir@googlemail.com
basses
Dennis Bowen
Andy Burnford
John Campbell
Harold Miller*
Sean Moriarty
Peter Newton
Paul Torrington
*Rachmaninoff only