"The Little Church Around the Corner"
One East 29th Street, New York
MUSIC NOTES:
The Third Sunday of Advent - December 16, 2001
The historical periods represented in today's music (the 16th, 18th and 20th centuries) brought forth artistic styles that are vastly different from one another, each shaped by social and philosophical forces specific to its own period. The composers whose works are heard today, Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Orlando di Lasso (1532-94) and Healey Willan (1880-1968) were prolific in many different genres, but sacred music remained their primary preoccupation. Each had his own emphasis: harmony and counterpoint for Bach; marriage of text and music for di Lasso; purity of sound and integration of music and liturgy for Willan. When the works of these three composers are brought together in the context of the Mass, the effect is not three distinct musical styles, but rather a splendidly unified whole, even as the many artistic components of our church's interior, themselves spanning many centuries, combine to a single visual effect.
Sebastian Bach's organ preludes on the chorale Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (Come now, Savior of the world) are highly decorative treatments of this popular Advent chorale, well-known to Lutheran congregations at the time of Bach. BWV 659 in particular brings out the great wealth of beauty that lies within the startlingly simple melody of this chorale.
One of the great masters of renaissance music, Orlando di Lasso was also one the best traveled musicians of that period. Born at Mons in the Low Countries (Belgium), he spent much of his career traveling throughout the European continent, at once influencing musicians in the countries he visited and absorbing the genres and idioms he encountered on these travels. In 1563, he was placed in charge of music at the Bavarian court in Munich, with a vast array of musical resources at his disposal, as Albrecht V was keen to establish a Netherlandish/Venetian style in his court and chapel. With the decrees of the Council of Trent, the scope of this music was scaled back. The motet Confortamini is an example of the musical style urged by the Council of Trent, a style often associated with di Lasso's contemporary Palestrina (1525-1594).
Much can be said of the life and work of Healey Willan, who was organist and choirmaster at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Toronto for almost 50 years (1921-1968). Gregorian chant, renaissance polyphony, 19th-century grandeur and 20th-century sparseness were all subjects of great interest to Willan, and all were incorporated into the style that became his own. Mass No. 2 in F minor is a fine example not only of this style, but of Willan's remarkable sensitivity to the place of music within the liturgy.
— David Henry
(Music Notes will resume in January.)
Sebastian Bach's organ preludes on the chorale Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (Come now, Savior of the world) are highly decorative treatments of this popular Advent chorale, well-known to Lutheran congregations at the time of Bach. BWV 659 in particular brings out the great wealth of beauty that lies within the startlingly simple melody of this chorale.
One of the great masters of renaissance music, Orlando di Lasso was also one the best traveled musicians of that period. Born at Mons in the Low Countries (Belgium), he spent much of his career traveling throughout the European continent, at once influencing musicians in the countries he visited and absorbing the genres and idioms he encountered on these travels. In 1563, he was placed in charge of music at the Bavarian court in Munich, with a vast array of musical resources at his disposal, as Albrecht V was keen to establish a Netherlandish/Venetian style in his court and chapel. With the decrees of the Council of Trent, the scope of this music was scaled back. The motet Confortamini is an example of the musical style urged by the Council of Trent, a style often associated with di Lasso's contemporary Palestrina (1525-1594).
Much can be said of the life and work of Healey Willan, who was organist and choirmaster at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Toronto for almost 50 years (1921-1968). Gregorian chant, renaissance polyphony, 19th-century grandeur and 20th-century sparseness were all subjects of great interest to Willan, and all were incorporated into the style that became his own. Mass No. 2 in F minor is a fine example not only of this style, but of Willan's remarkable sensitivity to the place of music within the liturgy.
(Music Notes will resume in January.)
