Renaissance choral music for Holy Week
various composers: sacred works by Allegri, Bach, Victoria and Gibbons

The season of Lent, and the week leading up to Good Friday in particular, has inspired some of sacred music's finest composition. This meditation through music presents a selection of the Renaissance's most moving music for Lent by that period's finest composers, including the first performance in New Zealand of the authentic Sistine Chapel reconstruction of Gregorio Allegri's famous Miserere mei, Deus. As the sun sets and the light fades, the German chorales from Bach's St Matthew Passion return between each polyphonic piece as a litany to the life of Christ.

This performance was part of the 2003 Subscription Series (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 196kb)

Download first poster for this performance (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 201 Kb)
Download second poster for this performance (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 101 Kb)
Download programme order and text & translations for all items except the Allegri Miserere (Microsoft Word document, 55 Kb)
Download text & translation, plus historical commentary, on the Allegri Miserere (Microsoft Word document, 40 kb)
Read The Dominion Post's review of this performance (JPEG image, 195 Kb)
Read The Capital Times's review of this performance (JPEG image, 199 Kb)

Programme

Chorale: Herzliebster Jesu: Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
Drop, drop slow tears: Orlando Gibbons 1583?-1625
When Jesus Christ was yet a child: Piotr Tchaikovsky 1840-1893
O vos omnes: Tomas Luis de Victoria 1548-1611
Chorale: Ich will hier bei dir stehen: J S Bach
O Lord, in Thy wrath: Orlando Gibbons 1583?-1625
I call and cry to Thee: Thomas Tallis 1505?-1585
Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts: Henry Purcell 1659-1695
Chorale: Wer hat dich so geschlagen: J S Bach
Ich aber bin elend: Johannes Brahms 1833-1897
Crux fidelis: Felice Anerio 1560?-1614
Chorale: Befiehl du deine Wege: J S Bach
O crux splendidior: Peter Philips 1561-1628
Victimae paschali laudes: William Byrd 1540?-1623
Chorale: O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden: J S Bach
Miserere mei, Deus: Gregorio Allegri 1582-1652

Medius Pepe Becker
Treble Andra Patterson
Countertenor Christopher Warwick
Bass Timothy Hurd

Chorale: Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden: J S Bach

Good Friday, 18 April 2003
Wellington Cathedral of Saint Paul
Molesworth Street, Wellington
9pm (no pre-concert talk)

$25 / $15

dir. Alastair Carey

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