Monday 30 September
The Bridgewater Hall Manchester
*****
Monteverdi’s choral masterpiece surprises and delights.
It’s been a good year for performances in Manchester of choral masterpieces from the Baroque era. Earlier this year the BBC Philharmonic performed the 1724 version of Bach’s St John Passion at the Bridgewater Hall. Yale Schola Cantorum and Juilliard415 performed Bach’s B Minor Mass at the Stoller Hall. On Monday evening at the Bridgewater Hall it was the turn of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, with The Sixteen conducted by Harry Christophers. Like the B Minor Mass, it appears that the Vespers was written as a summary of what the composer could do at the height of his powers, rather than a religious piece for liturgical use on a specific occasion. Although both pieces are based on the Roman Catholic Latin liturgy, they are too long for use in one religious service, although conveniently they perfectly fit the length required for the modern concert hall. Bach’s work didn’t have a complete public performance until 1859, and Monteverdi’s had to wait until 1930. But it does seem that Monteverdi’s Vespers had a pragmatic and practical use for the composer when he published it in 1610. As Lindsay Kemp says in his programme note,
‘ The work… was a careful summation of his skill as a writer of church music at a time when he most needed to advertise it.’
In 1610, Monteverdi was a composer in the court of the dukes of the House of Gonzaga in Mantua, northern Italy. He was reportedly unhappy there, although he had achieved some success with his madrigals, particularly his fifth book which was published in 1605. He had also written his opera Orfeo for a court performance in the annual carnival in Mantua in 1607, and his motet Duo Seraphim, which was published as part of the Vespers was probably performed in Mantua in 1605. He was hoping to obtain a post at the Papal chapel in Rome, but failed to do so, although Kemp says the Vespers, ‘almost certainly helped him gain a prestigious alternative’, the role of maestro di cappella at St Mark’s in Venice in 1613. Clifford Bartlett, writing in The BBC Proms Guide to Great Choral Works, goes further, stating that Monteverdi, ‘may have performed the Vespers at St Mark’s after he was appointed in 1613, perhaps even at his audition’, although he goes on the say, ‘he can hardly have conceived the work with that in mind.’
The Vespers was the daily evening service in the Roman Catholic church in the early 17th century. Monteverdi’s Vespers consists of an opening ‘Responsorium’, five psalms, the hymn ‘Ave Maris Stella’ and the final ‘Magnificat.’ Monteverdi chose the five psalms for the feast of the Mary, the Blessed Virgin, which was celebrated in the Vespers service, and ‘Ave Maris Stella’ a hymn celebrating her as ‘Dei mater’, the Mother of God. Although the Vespers were usually sung in plainsong, on special feast days the texts were often set to more elaborate musical arrangements, which provided Monteverdi with a precedent. He also added other items which don’t form part of the Marian Vespers – a ‘Sonata sopra Sancta Maria’ and four ‘sacred concertos’, two of which take their texts from the Biblical Song of Songs, ‘Nigra Sum’ and ‘Pulchra Es’. The Vespers could be seen as compilation of unrelated pieces on a Marian theme, but Kemp astutely points put that,
‘The unfolding alternation of solo and choral numbers has the logic of a Bach cantata or a Handel oratorio…’
Whatever the history is of writing and performing the Vespers, the strengths of the work are the virtuosity it requires from both singers and players, the variety of musical styles, and the subtlety of the word-setting – particularly in the ‘sacred concertos.’ On Monday evening, Harry Christophers with his choir The Sixteen (who also sang the solo parts), and his period instruments players, did full justice to Monteverdi’s masterpiece.
The opening ‘Responsorium’ demonstrated the virtuosity of the instrumentalists, with spirited winds and lilting strings, drawn from the opening of Monteverdi’s opera Orfeo, swirling around the choir’s static chants. In the next movement, ‘Dixit Dominus’, it was the choir’s turn to demonstrate its virtuosity, with the two soprano and tenor soloists beautifully balanced from within the choir.
An early highlight was the first of the sacred cantatas, ‘Nigra Sum’ sung by the tenor Mark Dobell accompanied by organ and gently-strummed theorbo, played by Eligio Luis Quinteiro. Dobell’s warm and expressive voice, with a lovely light tone at the top of the range, brought a very human approach to this piece. There was gorgeous word-painting on the rising phrases on the word ‘surge’ (‘arise’) from the King’s words to his lover, ‘Arise, my love, and come away.’ The full choir and a quartet of soloists brought joy and gorgeously fluid singing, with dancing rhythms, beautifully controlled, to ‘Laudate Pueri.’ This piece also demonstrated the variety of Monteverdi’s writing when compared with ‘Dixit Dominus’. The final Gloria in the earlier piece was sombre, simple and plaintive, whereas the latter was much faster and more playful, with a long, complex ‘Amen.’
Another highlight of the first half was ‘Pulchra Es’ the second of the ‘sacred concertos’, sung by sopranos Charlotte Mobbs and Katy Hill, who came to the front of the stage to sing the duet. They were accompanied by the harpist Joy Smith, whose playing was delicate and sensitive, sometimes sounding more like a lute than a harp. The two sopranos matched each other perfectly in tone and style, echoing each other with their light voices, with evocative expression on the words addressed to a lover,
Pulchra es, amica mea
Suavis et decora sicut Jerusalem.
You are beautiful my love,
Sweet and comely as Jerusalem.
The whole movement was exquisite. There was a different view of Jerusalem in ‘Laetatus Sum’, the words of which are better known in English as the Coronation anthem I was Glad by Hubert Parry. The tenor parts danced around the sprightly rhythms of the word ‘Jerusalem’, and the passage ‘Propter fratres meos…’ (For my brothers…) brought virtuosity from the whole choir. Alastair Ross provided a lovely, undulating organ part. There were more solos from within the choir in ‘Duo Seraphim’, tenors Mark Dobell and Jeremy Budd singing with tender majesty, with a heart-stopping moment when there was an unexpected key change around the word ‘clamabant.’
The second half began with a vigorous opening to ‘Lauda Jerusalem’, lively and fleet-footed with superbly-drawn polyphonic lines. The ‘Sonata Sopra Sancta Maria’ was another change of style, and a chance for the instrumental ensemble to shine. The two violinists, Sarah Sexton and Daniel Edgar, played a virtuosically fast duet, joined by florid sackbuts and cornetts. This contrasted with the simple repeated vocal line, ‘Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis’ (Holy Mary, pray for us) sung by the women of the choir, a delicate cry for help from the Virgin.
The two tenors, Mark Dobell and Jeremy Budd excelled themselves in the intensely dramatic duet ‘Audi Coelum’, one standing on stage addressing heaven while the other echoed from high up in the hall. Monteverdi adds to the drama of this piece by cleverly making the Echo only provide a partial echo of the last word sung by the onstage soloist, deliberately changing the meaning. So ‘gaudio’ (joy) becomes ‘audio’ (I hear), and ‘benedicam’ (I may bless thee) becomes ‘dicam’ (I shall tell you). When the choir joined at the end of the movement, with the words ‘benedicta es, Virgo Maria’ (blessed art thou, Virgin Mary), there was moment of contemplative beauty after the coup de théâtre of the two tenor soloists.
The hymn ‘Ave Maris Stella’ was graced by a duet for recorder players Rebecca Miles and Ian Watson and a stately dance from the instrumental ensemble. The concert ended with the ‘Magnificat’, in which the technique of slowly evolving vocal lines contrasting with energetic instrumental lines was used to great effect. The brass shone with bright, brittle flourishes and the two violinists played superbly again. The basses of the choir managed their complex runs with aplomb. There was a moment of calm in the ‘Et Misericordia’ section. And Monteverdi brought a final twist to the closing ‘Gloria’, another offstage echo, this time an exact echo of the word ‘gloria’. A splendid end to an excellent concert.
Performers
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers conductor
Katy Hill soprano
Charlotte Mobbs soprano
Jeremy Budd tenor
Mark Dobell tenor
Ben Davies bass
Eamonn Dougan bass
Sources
Kemp, Lindsay About the Music (Concert Programme book 30/09/24)
Whenham, John Monteverdi in Mantua (Concert Programme book 30/09/24)
Kenyon, Nicholas (Ed.) The BBC Proms Guide to Great Choral Works (Faber and Faber 2004)
Whenham, John Claudio Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 (Sleeve notes for Coro CD 2014)