Claudio Monteverdi
Vespers of 1610

The Vespers of 1610 are regarded by many as one of the greatest glories of the baroque choral repertory. Appropriately, Southampton Philharmonic Choir is performing this fascinating early work in the glorious surroundings of the Romanesque Winchester Cathedral.

Monteverdi was employed at the court of the Gonzagas in Mantua (present day Mantova) as a musician and composer from 1580 until 1612, being appointed Maestro di Capella in 1601. It was during this period, in 1610, that the Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, together with a setting of the Mass for the same festival was published. It was shortly after this publication, in August 1613, that Monteverdi was unanimously elected to the post of first organist and Maestro di Capella at St Mark's, Venice, the most highly-regarded musical appointment in Italy, which he held for the rest of his life.

The early seventeenth century was a time of radical change in musical styles, with a strong reaction against the serene polyphonic style of the Renaissance in favour of an emotionally violent and highly ornamented solo line over a continuo bass, with inner parts serving merely to fill out the harmony. However, although the development of the new style carried with it a reaction against the old, the old style was never done away with completely, as had happened previously when a new fashion in taste had come to prevail. Thus in the Vespers we can hear examples of both the old, polyphonic and the new, monodic styles. Furthermore, the contrast between the two styles is extremely striking, whereas in works composed later in the Baroque period they were to some extent assimilated into one another.

The work open with a chorus, 'Domine, ad adiuvandum' (O Lord, make haste to help me) which is unequivocally in the new style. One of the inventions of the early Baroque period was the opera, of which Monteverdi was a leading exponent and the instrumental toccata, which the chorus accompanies, is adapted from his Orfeo. This movement is thus clearly dramatic in conception, evoking the majesty of God.

This is followed by the 'Dixit Dominus' (The Lord said unto my Lord). This is a psalm which, in its literal meaning, deals with military victory and kingly power. The setting opens in a polyphonic style and then becomes more typically Baroque, with solos and some choral and instrumental sections which are essentially decorated chordal progressions.

‘Nigra Sum’ (I am black but comely) is set for solo voice and continuo and is in a declamatory style with the music closely following the sense of the words. The rising phrase on ‘surge’ (arise!) and the starkly unadorned ‘tempus putationis advenit’ (the time of pruning is at hand) are instances of word painting which particularly commend themselves to the attention.

‘Laudate pueri Dominum’ (Praise the Lord, ye servants) starts, like ‘Dixit Dominus’, in the old style, which quickly gives way to the new. The setting of the word ‘Amen’ repeats this process in microcosm with the imitative choral parts fading out to leave two solo voices with quasi-improvisatory lines over a dominant pedal.

‘Pulchra es’ (Thou art fair, my love) is for two voices and continuo. In the text the daughter of Jerusalem is both ‘suavis’ (pleasant) and ‘terribilis’ (terrible) and her eyes have made me ‘avolare’ (flee away). In other words, it might have been written with Baroque monody in mind. ‘Laetatus sum’ (I was glad when they said unto me ‘We will go into the house of the Lord’) is another movement which starts with a brief taste of polyphony before breaking out into Baroque extroversion.

‘Nisi Dominus’ (Except the Lord build the house) is in a very traditional style, with a plainsong cantus firmus in the tenor, but is interesting to note that, except at the beginning and the end, the other parts move together. One of the complaints that the early Baroque theorists had against the polyphonic style was that it was difficult to make out the words with all the parts moving independently. Apparently Monteverdi felt that to write a complete number in true polyphony would do too much violence to the text, even though the style was intended to be an old-fashioned one.

‘Audi caelum’ (Heaven hear my words) makes use of echo effects, not only as a musical device (a common one in the Baroque era), but as a prosodic device as well. The echo answers the main singers in a textual sense. For example, ‘Audi caelum verba mea, plena desiderio et perfusa gaudio’ (Heaven hear my words, full of desire and suffused with joy) is answered by ‘Audio’ (I am listening). In ‘Lauda Jerusalem’ (Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem) the tenors carry a plainsong-like intonation, as in ‘Nisi Dominus’, but in this case the independence of the other parts is kept to a minimum right from the beginning.

In ‘Ave maris stella’ the first and last verses are set in a stately polyphony. In the inner verses, however, this is transformed into a dance tune and the light-heartedness of the voice settings is pointed up by the pert little instrumental ritornelli. The ‘Magnificat’ combines all the elements of the previous numbers including declamatory style, polyphony, plainsong, dance tunes and echo effects, both vocal and instrumental (but only as a musical effect this time) and provides an appropriately sumptuous ending to crown the work.

Programme note by Chris Watts, courtesy of the Programme Note Book of Making Music.

Natasha Marsh
Soprano

Natasha Marsh was born in Brecon, Wales and began singing with April Cantelo in Oxfordshire. She spent four years with the National Youth Music Theatre and later studied at Birmingham University where she gained a first class honours degree in music and drama. She was awarded a Barber Scholarship and studies with a scholarship in the Opera department in the Royal College of Music. Her operatic roles have included Suzanna The Marriage of Figaro at the Teatro Calderón de Valldolid in Spain, Acis in Acis and Galatea and Polyphemus at Birmingham Early Music Festival, Polly The Threepenny Opera at the Barber Concert Hall, Belinda Dido and Aeneas and Vespina L’infedelta delusa at the Snape Maltings. She regularly appears at different festivals each year including the Beaumaris Festival and the London Handel Festival where she has sung the role of Polissena in Radamisto, Adelaide Lotario and Flavia in Silla (recently recorded for Hyperion) at the Britten Theatre, London. Other roles have included Pamina Die Zauberflöte and Micaëla Carmen for English Touring Opera and covering Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Polissena Radamisto for Opera North. Natasha will be returning to Opera North in the 2002/2003 season to make her debut as Ilia Idomeneo in Tim Albery’s new production.

Natasha’s Oratorio work includes Tippett’s A Child of Our Time under David Hill, Bach’s B Minor Mass under Nicholas Kraemer, the Messiah at the Arlosen Festival, the Mozart Requiem with the BBC Scottish Symphony Chorus and Silete Venti with the London Handel Festival Orchestra at Windsor Castle. Natasha has recently returned from performances of Mozart Requiem and Exsultate Jubilate with Harry Christophers and The Sixteen in Spain. Future engagements include her Proms debut as Israelite Woman in Handel’s Samson with Harry Christophers and The Sixteen this autumn.

Natasha won the ´M.O.C.S.A. Young Welsh Singer of the Year 1999`, and has since created the title role in Michael Berkeley’s new opera Jane Eyre to great success for Music Theatre Wales. In 2001 Natasha performed Une Education Manquée by Charbrier for Les Azurales Opera and sang Jacqueline in Fortunio by André Messager for Grange Park Opera to great acclaim. She returned to Grange Park in the summer of 2002 to sing the role of Governess in Britten’s Turn of the Screw, with much critical success. After singing the role of Ilia in Idomeneo with Opera North in early 2003, Natasha will make her WNO debut next season as Iphis Jephtha in a new production by Katie Mitchell, conducted by Paul McCreesh.

Frances Bourne
Soprano

Frances was born in Harrow and began studying singing as a chorister at Trinity College, Cambridge. She continued her training at the Royal Academy of Music where she was awarded many prizes including the David Kelly oratorio prize in the National Mozart Competition.

Since graduating in 2000, Frances has performed extensively on the oratorio platform under conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Trevor Pinnock and Sir Roger Norrington in prestigious concert halls in the UK and abroad. In recital, she has performed in venues as varied as Chelmsford Cathedral and the National Portrait Gallery, and in community projects around the country as a member of the Live Music Now! Scheme.

In opera, recent performances include the title role in Oreste (Handel) at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Covent Garden, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte (Mozart) in Cambridge, and Puck in Oberon (Weber) in the Chatelet Theatre, Paris and the Barbican Concert Hall in London, under Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

Forthcoming performances include the Nelson Mass (Haydn) and Rachmaninov Vespers both in St John’s, Smith Square, London, B minor Mass (Bach) with the Northern Sinfonia in Sheffield City Hall and St Matthew Passion (Bach) with The Sixteen, under Harry Christophers. She will also play the role of Cherubino in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro with Eastern Opera.

William Kendall
Tenor

William Kendall was born in London and educated at the King’s School, Canterbury and St John’s College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar. He has performed regularly in the world’s leading concert and recital halls and opera houses. He has sung three times at the Edinburgh Festival since 1993: as Florestan in Beethoven’s Leonore; as Ctirad in Janacek’s first opera Sarka; and as Orestes in Gluck’s Iphigenie auf Taurus, to considerable acclaim. The year 2000 marked his 25th anniversary of continuous collaboration with the Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, for whom he has performed in over 100 concerts and nine recordings. In 1998 he recorded Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with David Hill. In 1998 he again sang Gerontius with the Philharmonia Orchestra in Westminster Cathedral and later in the same year with the Bach Choir. In the following year he performed in Verdi’s Requiem and Elgar’s The Kingdom at the Worcester Three Choirs Festival with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin. He recently appeared on MDR television in Leipzig, Germany, performing Elgar’s The Kingdom, and will shortly take part in the official Centenary performance of Gerontius in Worcester Cathedral.

Joseph Cornwell
Tenor

Following studies at the University of York and the Guildhall School of Music, Joseph Cornwell made his Proms debut singing the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 with Andrew Parrott, which he later recorded for EMI. He has performed the title-role in Monteverdi’s Orfeo, a pivotal role in his career, for the Boston Early Music Festival, Oslo Summer Opera and in Brazil. His many recordings include Evangelist St Matthew Passion under Eric Ericsson for Vanguard, Acis and Galatea, the Monteverdi Vespers 1610 and Mozart C Minor Mass with Les Arts Florissants under William Christie for Erato and Messiah under Andrew Parrott for EMI.

Most recently released is Fairest Isle with Catherine Bott and the Parley of Instruments for Hyperion. Awaiting release is Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the London Philharmonic.

Recent highlights have included Snout A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples ; Polimone Il Tito for the Opera du Rhin, Strasbourg ; Pilade Oreste (Handel) for the English Bach Festival at the Linbury theatre Covent Garden ; Judas Maccabaeus in Nimes ; Messiah with the Irish Chamber Orchestra ; Theodora in Montpelier ; Eumete Il Ritorno d’Ulisse In Patria at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and the Monteverdi Vespers 1610 at the Edinburgh Festival. Future engagements include a further 35 performances of Ulisse on tour in Europe and the USA with Les Arts Florissants, Tamese Arsilda Vivaldi at the Barga Festival, the Bach Magnificat at the Fishguard Festival,The Dream of Gerontius in Stratford and Messiah with the Yorkshire Bach Choir. He also performs the roles of Thespis and Mercure in Platee, Rameau in Lisbonand, Mitridate in Il Pompeo Magno, Cavalli in a world premier in Croatia.

Benjamin Bevan
Baritone

Benjamin Bevan won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, where he studied singing with David Pollard. His operatic roles have included Alidoro in La Cenerentola for Lausanne Opera, Podesta (cover) in La Gazza Ladra for Garsington Opera. For Opera Holland Park he has sung the roles of Hanezo in L'Amico Fritz, Silvano in Un Ballo in Maschera and Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin and for English Touring Opera he sang Escamillo in Carmen, Speaker in Magic Flute and Truelove in Rake's Progress. Benjamin has given numerous performances on the concert platform including Carl Orff's Carmina Burana with the BBC Concert Orchestra. He was recently singing the role of Marcello in La Boheme for Scottish Opera. The future highlights include an invitation to sing as soloist in a concert with the Scottish Opera Orchestra, the role of Yakuside in Madame Butterfly for Raymond Gubbay at The Albert Hall, the role of Leporello in Mid-Wales Opera's new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni and Papageno (cover) for Scottish Opera in Magic Flute.

Simon Birchall
Bass Baritone

Simon Birchall began his singing career as a chorister at Oxford. He became a choral scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied with John Carol Case, and then went to the Guildhall School of Music, where his teacher was Bryan Drake.

His repertoire ranges from Bach and Handel to the music of the present day. His performances of Bach's Passions with the London Handel Orchestra have been particularly acclaimed, and he makes regular oratorio appearances throughout the country, singing works by Mendelssohn, Brahms and Elgar as well as the baroque repertoire. His membership of several vocal consorts has enabled him to travel widely, singing in places as far afield as Japan, Malaysia and East Africa. He is a member of the Amaryllis Consort, with whom he has recently performed Bach's St. Mark Passion in Paris.

Simon's recordings include Monteverdi's Vespers and Handel's Israel in Egypt with Harry Christophers and the Sixteen, Handel's Dixit Dominus with Simon Preston and the Choir of Westminster Abbey and recordings of Purcell's music for Harry Christophers and Martin Neary. Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri with the Sixteen has recently been released.

David Gibson
Conductor

David Gibson began his musical education as a chorister and then lay clerk at Chichester Cathedral before taking up organ scholarships at the universities of London and Sussex.

His conducting career began during postgraduate study with coaching from Laszlo Heltay and an invitation to conduct Elgar's Enigma Variations at the Gardner Arts Centre in Brighton. After further study with George Hurst, he worked with many well-known conductors including Norman del Mar, Sir Charles Groves and Roger Norrington.

Currently David is conductor of the Basingstoke Choral Society, associate conductor of the Guildford Choral Society and director of the Occam Singers. As an opera conductor he has been closely associated with Opera South since its inception, and has conducted opera throughout the UK and many other countries, notably with the D'Oyly Carte company. He has worked a great deal on radio, from singing the solo treble part in Bernstein's Chichester Psalms to conducting in a performance of Berlioz' The Trojans on BBC Radio 3. He has worked occasionally on television as an organist and as a conductor.

The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble

Cornett
Fiona Russell
Adrian Woodward

Sackbut
Abigail Newman
Tom Lees
Adrian France

Violin
Katherine Macintosh
Francis Turner

Viola
Rachel Bryt
Peter Collyer

Cello
Abigail Wall

Chamber Organ
Gary Cooper