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3 Duo seraphim Juan Esquivel A pupil of Juan Navarro, Esquivel was maestro de capilla at Oviedo, Calahorra and Ciudad Rodrigo. He deserves to be better known, ranking equally in musical ability with Victoria and Guerrero of the previous generation. His works combine the older cantus firmus techniques with more modern and expressive use of dissonance and accidentals to highlight textural points. ‘Duo seraphim’ opens with two voices (representing the two seraphs) in close harmony, with the rest of the choir entering loudly at ‘clamabant’ (from which we get the word ‘clamour’). A setting of Isaiah 6: 3, the work comes from Esquivel’s 1608 publication of Motecta festorum et dominicarum. Duo seraphim clamabant, alter ad alterum: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Plena est omnis terra gloria ejus. Two seraphs cried out, one to the other: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts. All the earth is full of his glory. 4 Tibi laus Orlande de Lassus After a brief appointment to St John Lateran in Rome, and a few years around Antwerp, Lassus spent most of his active compositional life attached to the court of Duke Albrecht in Munich. One of the most widely known and respected musicians of his age, his extensive output includes 60 masses, 101 Magnificats and over 500 motets, as well as hundreds of madrigals, chansons and lieder. This short motet for Trinity Sunday sets only the first part of the text (set in full by Philips, for example, below) for four lower parts (ATTB); it is here sung only by male voices. Lassus often pairs the voices, or sets three voices together – a common technique in works about the Trinity – against the remaining one (usually the highest), rather than engaging in imitative counterpoint, thus giving point to the strong text. The motet is difficult to date as it appeared first only in the huge Magnum opus musicum, a compendium of Lassus’ works published by his sons in 1604, ten years after his death. Tibi laus, tibi gloria, tibi gratiarum actio in saecula saeculorum, O beata Trinitas. To you be praise and glory, and thanksgiving for ever and ever, O blessed Trinity. 5 Vox Dei Philip Wilby Since Wilby sees musical composition as an act of Christian worship, the majority of his works are for church use, or inspired by sacred texts. He studied at Keble College, Oxford, before joining the staff of the University of Leeds, under the distinguished composer Alexander Goehr. Along with two symphonies and several large-scale works for brass and wind band, his church anthems show his interest in expressing opposing ideas: light and dark; old and new; chaos and order. The short but expansive ‘Vox Dei’ was written in 1993 for the divided double choir (SSAATTBB on each side) of Norwich Cathedral. It speaks directly and convincingly to the hearer. At the opening, the choirs alternate in presenting each of God’s statements in a simple, homophonic style over a harmonically shimmering repetition of the words ‘It is I’ from the other choir. This pattern breaks down for the powerful central statements ‘I am the Trinity; I am the Unity,’ before repeated triumphant declarations of ‘It is I’ by two opposing (but identical and so ultimately unified, as is the Trinity) soprano soloists. The words are by the 14th-century abbess Julian of Norwich who, in 1373, received 16 revelations, of which this is part of the 14th. Thus spake our God: ‘It is I who am the strength and goodness of Fatherhood; I who am the wisdom of Motherhood; I who am the light and grace and blessed love; I am the Trinity; I am the Unity; I who am the sovereign goodness of every single thing. It is I that enable you to long. It is I who enable you to love. It is I, the eternal satisfaction of every genuine desire.’ 6 Tibi laus Peter Philips Second only in reputation to William Byrd in the early years of the 17th century, Philips actually spent the greater part of his life in the Netherlands, which imparts a more Continental style to his works. He was a choirboy at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, and may well have been Byrd’s pupil. Philips left for Rome in 1582 to avoid the persecution of Roman Catholics. Like most composers of his age, he wrote many secular madrigals as well as sacred works and keyboard pieces, but it is for his several hundred motets (particularly antiphons and responds), published in large collections of Cantiones sacrae – this 6 7
one appearing in Antwerp in 1612 – that Philips is best remembered. The five-part (SSATB) ‘Tibi laus’ for Trinity Sunday shows the influence of the Italian madrigal style, with explicit word painting and chordal rather than polyphonic harmony until the final extended setting of the magnificent word ‘superexaltatum’. Tibi laus, tibi gloria, tibi gratiarum actio in saecula saeculorum, O beata Trinitas. Caritas Pater est, gratia Filius, communicatio Spiritus Sanctus, O beata Trinitas. Verax est Pater, veritas Filius, veritas Spiritus Sanctus O beata Trinitas. Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus una substantia est, O beata Trinitas. Et benedictum nomen gloriae tuae sanctum, et laudabile, et superexaltatum in saecula. 8 To you be praise and glory, and thanksgiving for ever and ever, O blessed Trinity. The Father is love, the Son grace, imparted by the Holy Spirit, O blessed Trinity. The Father is truth, as is the Son, and the Holy Spirit, O blessed Trinity. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are of one substance, O blessed Trinity. And blessed is the glory of your holy name which is praised and exalted for ever. 7 O beata et benedicta Giovanni da Palestrina Palestrina was a choirboy in Rome, and held a number of important posts there, including being in the service of Cardinal Ippolito d’Este and serving as director of the choir – known as the Cappella Giulia – of St Peter’s Basilica. His surviving 400 or so motets include six for 12 voices, 56 for eight voices and 79 for five voices. There are also 35 Magnificats and almost 100 masses. While he may have lacked the inventiveness of Lassus (whom he succeeded as director of music at St John Lateran in Rome in 1555), Palestrina nonetheless was a master of the imitative motet, whose smooth lines and faultless part writing are today still held up as models of contrapuntal art. This five-part (SSATB) motet was published in his Liber primus motettorum in Rome in 1569. Although he opens with superb five-voice imitation, Palestrina underlines the unity of the Trinity by setting the rest in a more homophonic style, becoming florid once more only for the final repetition of ‘Alleluia.’ O beata et benedicta et gloriosa Trinitas. Pater et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. O beata et gloriosa Unitas. Pater et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. 9 O blessed and glorious Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. O blessed and glorious Unity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. 8 Libera nos John Sheppard After a period of service at Magdalen College, Oxford, Sheppard was appointed to the Chapel Royal around 1549. His compositions for the Latin rite in the college, and in the chapel under the reign of Queen Mary (whose death preceded Sheppard’s own by mere weeks), grow out of a style familiar to us from the Eton Choirbook and John Taverner. ‘Libera nos’ is set for seven voices (SSAATTB) and is typical of Sheppard’s style, setting a plainchant cantus firmus in longer notes (although, unlike usual practice, here it appears in the bass part) against a contrapuntal interweaving of contrasting rhythmic and melodic material in the other six voices. The text is an antiphon for Matins on Trinity Sunday. Libera nos, salva nos, justifica nos, O beata Trinitas. Deliver us, save us, make us worthy, O blessed Trinity. 9 O lux beata Trinitas Louis Halsey Best known as the founder of the Elizabethan Singers and the Louis Halsey Singers, Halsey was for many years a producer for BBC Radio. He was professor and head of choral music at the University of Illinois from 1982 to 1985, before returning to England as Director of Music at Regent’s College, London. ‘O lux beata Trinitas’ for double SATB choir was published in 1995. For the first verse, Halsey alternates the choirs with varied repetitions of the same material. For the second, he employs old
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