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Saturday 22nd November 2008, 7.30 p.m.
 Mendelssohn - Elijah

Soloists
Siân Winstanley-soprano
Martha McLorinan-alto
Wilhelm Theunissen-tenor
Nicholas Perfect-bass

at the Castle School, Thornbury

Part I of Mendelssohn's popular oratorio Elijah opens in dramatic fashion with Elijah proclaiming the curse, much as the prophet himself abruptly appeared to Ahab. The people plead for rain ("Help, Lord" and "Lord, bow Thine ear") while Obadiah urges them to repent. An angel sends Elijah to the widow of Zarephath ("Elijah, get thee hence.") Elijah's duet with the widow ("What have I to do with thee") provides the first great dramatic moment, when Elijah prays to the Lord three times that her son might be restored to life. The magnificent chorus "Blessed are the men who fear Him" provides Mendelssohn with an opportunity for some wonderfully evocative writing.

Elijah returns to face Ahab ("As God the Lord of Sabaoth") and places his challenge to the priests of Baal. The priests invoke Baal ("Baal, we cry to thee") while Elijah mocks them ("Call him louder"). This is the dramatic high point of the oratorio, with Elijah's calm contrasting with the increasingly frenetic music of the chorus. Their invocation ends with a fortissimo "Hear and answer!" which is followed by dead silence, surely one of the most dramatic and effective moments in oratorio. By contrast, Elijah then invokes the Lord with music of great nobility and simplicity ("Draw near, all ye people.") There is a brief interpolation by a quartet ("Cast thy burden upon the Lord") before the fire comes down from heaven ("O Thou, who makest thine angels spirits.") Obadiah pleads with Elijah to send rain ("O man of God, help thy people.") Three times Elijah prays to the Lord for rain ("Thou hast overthrown thine enemies") and sends a young boy to the top of a hill to look out over the sea for rain. At the third time the rain comes, and the people join in an exuberant hymn of praise ("Thanks be to God.")

Part II of /Elijah/ begins with hymns of reassurance ("Hear ye, Israel!" and "Be not afraid"), but Elijah is soon embroiled in controversy again. He confronts Ahab, taking him to task for his idolatry ("The Lord hath exalted thee") while Jezebel stirs up the people against Elijah ("Woe to him.") Obadiah advises him to flee ("Man of God") and Elijah, alone in the desert, is in despair ("It is enough.") Angels come and comfort him ("Lift thine eyes" and "He watching over Israel") and Elijah makes his way to Mount Horeb to await the Lord. Here Mendelssohn again uses some vividly descriptive music depicting the fury of the wind, the earthquake and the fire, contrasting that with the simplicity to which he sets the text "and in that still voice, onward came the Lord." There follows another hymn of praise ("Holy is God the Lord") and a choral recitative ("Go, return upon thy way") as Elijah is sent back to Israel refreshed in spirit ("For the mountains shall depart.") Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind ("Then did Elijah") followed by an invitation to come to the Lord ("O come, everyone that thirsteth") and the final choral hymn of praise ("And then shall your light break forth"), ending the oratorio with a majestic fugue.

 

16th May 2009
Duruflé Requiem
Rutter Magnificat
Soloists
Peter King - organ
Mezzo-soprano soloist to be announced
at the Castle School, Thornbury

Duruflé's gentle requiem is one of very few works by this student of Paul Dukas and the organist Charles Tournemire. He made three versions of the Requiem which he dedicated to the memory of his father, that with organ accompaniment only being extremely pure and clear and extremely rich in its organ writing. This is the version Thornbury Choral Society will be perfoming with a mezzo-soprano soloist. The Duruflé Requiem is often compared with that of Fauré as both omit the Dies Irae but include the Pie Jesu and at the end an ethereal In Paradisum.

John Rutter’s initial inspiration for his Magnificat was another great masterpiece – that of J.S.Bach, though he has also revealed that he found the task of following in Bach’s footsteps a somewhat daunting prospect, as indeed any composer might. Despite the fact that the two works are about as different in style as they could possibly be, they nevertheless do share some basic similarities. For instance, both pieces conclude with a reiteration of the music of their opening movements, both make use of traditional Gregorian plainsong melodies, and in both works the focus is on the soloist for the more reflective verses, while the chorus is called upon to provide some appropriate vocal muscle in robust sections of the text such as ‘Fecit potentiam in brachio suo’ (He hath showed strength with his arm). And just as Bach included several additional Christmas movements in the original E-flat version of his Magnificat, so too Rutter incorporates three extra elements into the standard Latin text. Particularly memorable is his haunting setting of the beautiful 15th century poem, ‘Of a Rose, a lovely Rose’, which uses the image of a rose as an allegory for the Blessed Virgin Mary and her powers to intercede for mankind. The other two supplementary texts are the Sanctus from the Ordinary of the Mass, and a Marian antiphon,‘Sancta Maria’ (Holy Mary).


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