Songs of Joy and Sorrow

Concerto in F Major, Op. 4, No. 5 (1735)

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)

Kindly hold applause until the end of all movements

Larghetto

Allegro

Alla Siciliana

Presto

Zadok the Priest (HWV 258) (1727)

George Frideric Handel; 1 Kings 1: 38-48

—INTERMISSION—

Requiem, Op. 48 (1893)

Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924); traditional text

Kindly hold applause until the end of all movements

Introit and Kyrie

Offertory

Sanctus

Pie Jesu

Agnus Dei

Libera me

In Paradisum

The composer George Frideric Handel, often thought of as an English composer, was born in Germany as Georg Friedrich Händel. Though he spent much of his life and career in England, there is an almost innate German quality to his music.

Born in the same year as Bach, Handel’s music fits in well with the first half of the program. This concert gives a unique opportunity to showcase another joyful piece of music not typical of HPCC’s concerts: Handel wrote several collections of organ concertos for organ and orchestra. These concertos were often performed between the acts of Handel’s operas as both an auditory palate-cleanser and as a chance for Handel to show off his keyboard skills.

The concertos would not generally have been played on a larger organ with many stops and manual (keyboard) divisions, but rather with a portativ organ, a small, portable chamber instrument, typically with four stops, one manual, and no pedals. It is because of this type of organ that the use of a harpsichord to play the organ solo is equally as effective and is the instrument of choice for tonight’s performance.    

To conclude the first half of tonight’s program we will sing another coronation anthem, written by Handel many years before Parry’s coronation piece. Zadok the Priest was written in 1727 for the coronation of King George II and has been sung prior to the anointing of the sovereign at the coronation of every British monarch since its composition. The text is derived from the biblical account of the anointing of Solomon by the priest Zadok (1 Kings 1:38-40).

The second half of our program focuses on the aforementioned Songs of Sorrow. The French composer Gabriel Fauré was a pianist, organist, and teacher, and was one of the foremost composers of his time, equally adept at writing for voices, solo instruments, and orchestra. His musical talents were noticed at an early age, and at the age of nine he was sent to study in Paris, where Camille Saint-Saëns was one of his greatest influences. Fauré’s Requiem is certainly his most famous choral work, if not one of his most famous works altogether. Its focus is on eternal rest and consolation, though his reasons for composing the work are unclear. He composed Requiem in the late 1880s and revised it in the 1890s. Some final alterations occurred in 1900; we are performing the 1893 iteration. The seven-movement work is scored for soprano and baritone soloists, choir, orchestra, and organ. The piece is somewhat different from typical Requiem settings: the full Dies Irae is abbreviated and replaced by just one of its sections, Pie Jesu. The final movement, In Paradisum, is based on a text that is not part of the liturgy of the funeral Mass but, rather, of the burial. 

Fauré commented on the work, “Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.” 

The piece premiered in its first version in 1888 in La Madeleine in Paris for a funeral Mass.

BASS

Gin Allcock

Ross Bradshaw

Kurt Disney

Stephen Greenwood

Robin Lee...soloist

Lucas Marin

James Nichols

Kevin St. Martin

Connor Talty

Will Vining...Vice President

TENOR

Barbara Cooper

Alexander Mason...soloist

Marcia Olander

Anya St. Martin

Joseph Stahley

David Tulloch

Richard Weidmann

Amy Vames...Vice President