2007-2008 Season
Madrigalia
Friday, November 30, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
First Church, Cambridge
Church of St. John the Evangelist, Boston
As we lead into the holiday season, the BCE is delighted to present a program consisting entirely of madrigals. Come join us for this festive musical romp, and revel in some shocking and creative examples of this popular genre. The centerpiece for this program will be a 20th century American take on Madrigals: Ross Lee Finney's Spherical Madrigals (1947). We hope that you'll join us for this bold auditory feast!
Amor vittorioso — Giovanni Gastoldi
Anchor che col partire — Cipriano de Core
Sospirava il mio core — Carlo Gesualdo
Fyre, fyre — Thomas Morely
Ohimé, se tanto amate — Claudio Monteverdi
Se sì alto pon gir mie stanche rime — Luca Marenzio
Weep O mine eyes — John Bennet
Lamento d’Arianna —Monteverdi
Lasciatemi morire — Monteverdi
Moro, lasso, al mio duolo — Carlo Gesualdo
Death hath Deprived Me — Thomas Weelkes
Spherical Madrigals — Ross Lee Finney
When again all these rare perfections meet
All-circling point
His body was an orb
On a round ball
Nor doe I doubt
See how the Earth
O metaphysical Tobacco — Michael East
Le chant des oiseaux — Clément Janequin
So trinken wir alle — Arnold von Bruck
Trudge away quickly — Thomas Ravenscroft
Lagrime di San Pietro
Friday, March 7, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
First Church, Cambridge
Church of St. John the Evangelist, Boston
Come experience the moving beauty of Orlande de Lassus’s final and greatest work: Lagrime di San Pietro, or Tears of St. Peter (1594). Lagrime is a prime example of the less common genre of madrigale spirituale, or spiritual madrigal. The work—a set of Italian poems centering on St. Peter after his denial of Christ—is a culmination of de Lassus’s compositional language and is considered “one of the most remarkable artistic testaments in the history of music” (James Haar).
Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter) — Orlando di Lasso
Peaceable Kingdom
Friday, May 30th, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
First Church, Cambridge
Church of St. John the Evangelist, Boston
This program highlights Randall Thompson’s Peaceable Kingdom (1936), a beloved tour de force for unaccompanied choir that explores the powerful dynamic between the dramatic and the serene. Featured in between movements are various smaller works that explore the emotional complexity of loss during times of war and conflict. Join us for this bold musical conversation, underscored by a powerful yearning for peace.
Included in the performance will be the premiere performance of Look Down, Fair Moon, a new work written for the Boston Choral Ensemble by composer Zachary Wadsworth. Last fall, Wadsworth was announced winner of our first annual Commission Competition. His vivid setting of two Whitman poems is an ideal companion to Thompson’s work from some 70 years earlier.
The Peaceable Kingdom — Randall Thompson
Absalon fili mi — Josquin de Prez
When David Heard that Absalom was Slain — Thomas Tomkins
Kaddish — Salamone Rossi
Look down, fair moon — Zachary Wadsworth
World premiere, Winner of BCE’s 2008 commission competition
”Peace, gentle peace” from Coronation Ode, Op. 44— Edward Elgar