King Solomon’s Singers present

Love Me Tender Jesus: Pop Songs and Sacred Polyphony

Saturday, August 17, 8PM St. Josaphat Parish, Chicago

LOVE ME TENDER JESUS: POP SONGS AND SACRED POLYPHONY

Nesciens mater plainchant

Nesciens mater John Trouluffe (d. ca. 1473)

Nesciens mater Jean Mouton (1459-1522)

L'homme armé Anon. (15th century)

Kyrie (Missa L'homme armé) Johannes Ockeghem (d. 1497)

Agnus Dei III (Missa L'homme armé sexti toni) Josquin des Pres (d. 1521)

Entre vous filles Jacobus Clemens non Papa (ca. 1510 – 1568)

Kyrie and Gloria (Missa Entre vous filles) Orlande de Lassus (1532 – 1594)

D'ung aultre amer Ockeghem

Tu solus qui facis mirabilia Josquin

Selections from fragmentum bipartitum IV Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474)

Sanctus and Benedictus (Missa Octavi toni) Lassus

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

Many of you will remember the episode of South Park in which Cartman starts a Christian rock band whose entire repertoire consists of "normal" (i.e., secular) love songs with the object of affection replaced by "Jesus." To my knowledge, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are not scholars of the Renaissance, so they might be amused to know that the most acclaimed musical genius of that era did exactly what Cartman did. And most of the great composers of the era borrowed heavily from popular, secular music to create some of their sacred masterworks.

The most common Renaissance method of borrowing secular music for sacred purposes was the so-called "parody" mass. In this musical form, all elements of a secular composition except the text (i.e., full harmony, rhythm, tempo) were transposed directly to the sacred composition, so that the mass movements sound like a "parody" of the secular song. This form flourished particularly in the glory years of the Franco-Flemish Renaissance, from the late 15th to mid-16th centuries, and perhaps its greatest practitioner was Josquin des Pres. We begin our concert, however, with some of our favorite examples of the form that eventually grew into the parody mass, the technique of cantus firmus. In this technique, only the primary tune of the secular song is used in the sacred composition, and it is not usually recognizable as a tune. Instead, it is used as a basis for the harmonic progression in the accompanying polyphony, and, as such, the notes of the tune generally occur far more slowly in the sacred composition, and often out of rhythm. While many sacred compositions use secular cantus firmus tunes, the technique originated with harmonization of plainchant, in a yet earlier technique known as faux bordon or faburden. Our first three pieces show the progression from plainchant to faburden to cantus firmus of a particularly beautiful chant melody and text, the Marian Christmas antiphon Nesciens mater. This text was extremely popular in the late Medieval and Renaissance periods, with settings by Lambe, Byttering, Trouluffe, Mouton, Lassus, and possibly others. The chant melody also captivated at least some of these composers: Trouluffe and Mouton based their motets (which we perform tonight) on the chant melody, and Taverner used it as the basis for a Magnificat setting. The Trouluffe and Mouton settings demonstrate two extremes of the art of harmonized chant: Trouluffe’s setting is a simple three-voice faburden, in which the cantus firmus is sung by the middle voice, with the top and bottom voices harmonizing, often in 6-3 chords. Mouton adds a fourth voice to the polyphony, but then he performs one of the

more dazzling feats of contrapuntal acrobatics I have ever witnessed: he doubles the entire four-part setting up a fifth and delayed by four beats. The result is an eight-part quadruple canon which should by all rights sound forced at best and a complete train wreck at worst. But like any truly great trick, you don’t even notice it. Instead of hearing the gears of a giant piece of machinery grinding, you hear one beautiful sonority after another, building to an ecstatic pinnacle at “ubera de caelo plena.”

One of the most famous secular tunes of the Renaissance was "L'homme armé," and basically any Franco-Flemish composer of the late 15th or early 16th century worth their salt composed a mass with this tune as the cantus firmus. Josquin, of course, did two. One curiosity of the various L'homme armé mass settings points out a fundamental difference in the way music was apprehended in the Renaissance vs. the modern era. Though the various settings nominally use the same tune as the cantus firmus, the masses themselves are in different musical modes, and the actual relationship between the notes in the cantus firmus are different. For example, the mass setting by Johannes Ockeghem is in Mixolydian or seventh mode (septimi toni), while the Josquin setting is in Hypolydian or sixth mode (sexti toni). In more familiar terms, the tune in the Josquin sounds like it's in a major key, with a sharp seventh, while the Ockeghem tune has a natural or flatted seventh but a raised third (so it doesn't quite sound fully major or fully minor). It's not clear whether the popular tune itself was commonly sung in different modes, but the casual way in which a familiar tune was shifted around by composers indicates that hearing the same tune in different modes was not jarring to the Renaissance ear, or at least not as much as it is to us (if you've ever heard someone sing "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" in a minor key, you'll know what I mean). Tonight we sing the popular tune itself (in the mode in which Josquin sets it), then we sing one movement each from Ockeghem's and Josquin's mass settings (and only a partial movement in Josquin's case). In this pair of mass movements, we hear how the still-Medieval sound of the late Renaissance eventually grew into the seamless harmonies of high Renaissance counterpoint. The Agnus III of Josquin's L'homme armé sexti toni mass is, like Mouton's Nesciens mater, a feat of contrapuntal complexity (a six-voice canon at the half-note or fuga ad minim) that sounds like nothing but effortless beauty. It is said to be the single favorite piece of Tallis Scholars' founder and director Peter Phillips.

The first true parody composition we sing tonight is a work by one of the later Franco-Flemish masters, Orlande de Lassus (or Orlando di Lasso, or one of several other names, depending on which country he was working in). Lassus was enormously successful in his lifetime, obtaining fame and lucrative positions in his native land, Italy, Germany, and Austria. Lassus was fluent in all genres of Renaissance vocal music, and his prolific output includes both near-perfect examples of high-Renaissance counterpoint and groundbreaking experiments in harmony and text setting. He was known for playful, somewhat naughty aspects to his compositions, particularly his chansons and lieder, and in the mass setting we will sing excerpts from tonight, he shows this playful, even somewhat perverse side. For this mass, Lassus chooses to "parody" a secular song which is, even by the earthy standards of many Renaissance songs, a bit shocking. The song, attributed to Jacobus Clemens non Papa, is an ode to the physical attributes of 15-year-old girls, and the catalog is specific and offensive. But the mass Lassus spins out of this crude work is quite divine. In particular, the Kyrie eleison movement rivals the setting at the end of Victoria's Requiem for beauty and serenity. It is as if Lassus set himself a challenge of elevating the lowest tune he could find, and he succeeded. It is notable, however, that only in the Gloria does he touch the part of the tune which contains the most objectionable text, and even he does not quite have the nerve to set sacred text to the very worst lines of the chanson. We will sing the chanson on a neutral syllable (Google will tell you the text if you're really curious) and then sing the Kyrie and Gloria of Lassus's mass setting.

We now come to the boldest, most egregious "borrowing" of the evening. The two early Franco-Flemish Renaissance giants we encountered earlier, Ockeghem and Josquin, were deeply connected, musically and (we believe) personally. Ockeghem was Josquin's greatest influence and probably his teacher, and, importantly for this section of the concert, Ockeghem composed one of the most popular chansons of the 15th century, one with which Josquin became rather obsessed. The song is the rondeau D'ung aultre amer ("To love another"), which you will hear one verse of for unaccompanied soprano voice. In addition to writing an entire parody mass on this work, Josquin also incorporates it into his elevation motet Tu solus qui facis mirabilia in a manner which my amateur musicological sleuthing has concluded is unique. In the middle of the sacred Latin text (which is not based on the chanson tune), he inserts a full quotation of the chanson, IN FRENCH, with the full harmony and rhythm of the song. It truly is as if the Papal Choir, in the middle of a Palestrina mass, turned to the congregation and sang a verse of "Love me tender" in English.

A similarly shocking moment probably did not happen but definitely could have in the performance of mass movements by another of Josquin's direct predecessors and influences, Guillaume Dufay. A practice that was mostly extinct by Josquin's time but still quite common in Dufay's was the insertion of "tropes" or alternate text into mass movements. Depending on the liturgical strictness of the particular church at which mass was being celebrated, this practice ranged from perfectly acceptable to banned outright. The tropes were always devotional and usually referred to the particular occasion for which the mass was composed. But in at least one Gloria and one Credo (from masses of which no other movements nor the name of the mass survive), Dufay used tunes for tropes in the "Amen" sections that were recognizable as popular songs in French or Italian. The scribe or scribes who copied these movements for the famous Q15 manuscript in Bologna apparently caught the musical references and, for their own amusement and/or that of the singers who would read the parts, wrote the words to the original songs underneath the trope text Dufay intended to be sung. We now have three successively impudent ways of performing these pieces: 1) just sing "Amen" all the way through; 2) sing Dufay's intended tropes; 3) sing the original words to the songs. We of course choose the third. This would almost certainly never have happened unless a truly clueless (and not-French-or-Italian-fluent) choirmaster was preparing these movements from the Q15 manuscript without understanding the full context. But who knows? We might not be the very first choir to sing "Tu m'a monté sur la paunce et rien ne faits" and "La vilanella non e bella se non la dominica" during an extremely solemn "Amen." (We thank Erika Honisch for pointing out these delightful tropes and the scribal naughtiness they inspired.)

We conclude this evening's concert with an example of material flowing in the other direction, over a span of 400 years. On the Simon & Garfunkel album Wednesday Morning, 3AM, there is a track called simply "Benedictus." It is not mentioned in the liner notes, and the writing credit is "arranged and adapted by P. Simon - A. Garr." I owned this album as an 11-year-old and wore out the grooves, as they say, but it never occurred to me to wonder where this beautiful little duet came from. Fast forward 30 years to a rehearsal at Bill Chin's house: Bill had chosen as the ordinary of the mass our quartet would sing the next day Lassus's Missa Octavi toni. When we came to the Benedictus movement, I was surprised to see it was a tenor/bass duet, then I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard Bill and Matt Dean singing the Simon & Garfunkel song. Bill and Matt will recreate that moment tonight, and we will sing the Sanctus movement that precedes it (as well as the concluding Hosanna, which Simon & Garfunkel omitted).

— Tom Crawford, August 2019

References: Erika Honisch, "The transmission of the polyphonic Amen in the early fifteenth century," Plainsong and Medieval Music, 21, 1, 41–72 (2012); Joseph Sargent, "Morales, Josquin and the 'l'homme armé' tradition," Early Music History, 30, 177-212 (2011); Wikipedia.

TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

Nesciens mater (plainchant; John Trouluffe, d. ca. 1473; Jean Mouton, 1459-1522)

L'homme armé (Anon., 15th century)

Kyrie (Missa L'homme armé, Johannes Ockeghem, d. 1497)

Agnus Dei III (Missa L'homme armé, Josquin des Pres, d. 1521)

Entre vous filles (Jacobus Clemens non Papa, ca. 1510 – 1568)

Kyrie and Gloria (Missa L'homme armé, Orlande de Lassus, 1532 – 1594)

Nesciens mater virgo virum peperit sine dolore salvatorem saeculorum. Ipsum regem angelorum,sola virgo lactabat, ubera de caelo plena.

The virgin mother who knew not a man bore the Savior of the world; the virgin alone suckled the very King of the angels, her breasts were filled from heaven.

L’homme armé doibt on doubter. On a fait partout crier Que chascun se viegne armer D’un haubregon de fer. L’homme armé doibt on doubter.

The armed man should be feared.Everywhere it has been proclaimed That each man shall arm himself With a coat of iron mail.The armed man should be feared.

Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona nobis pacem.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Gloria in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. Laudamus te. Benedicimus te. Adoramus te. Glorificamus te. Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite, Iesu Christe. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris. Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis. Quoniam tu solus Sanctus. Tu solus Dominus. Tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe. Cum Sancto Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.

Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men. We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee, we give thanks to thee for thy great glory, O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty. O Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ; O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us. For thou only art holy; thou only art the Lord; thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

D'ung aultre amer (Ockeghem)

Tu solus qui facis mirabilia (Josquin)

Sanctus and Benedictus (Missa Octavi toni, Lassus)

D'un aultre amer mon cueur s'abesseroit; Il ne fault ja penser que je l'estrange Ne que pour rien de ce propos me change, Car mon honneur en appetisseroit.

By loving another my heart would demean itself, no one should ever think that I will estrange him or that for any reason I shall break this promise, for my honor would thus be harmed..

Tu solus qui facis mirabilia, Tu solus Creator, qui creasti nos, Tu solus Redemptor, qui redemisti nos sanguine tuo pretiosissimo.

Ad te solum confugimus, in te solum confidimus nec alium adoramus, Jesu Christe.

Ad te preces effundimus exaudi quod supplicamus, et concede quod petimus, Rex benigne.

D'ung aultre amer, Nobis esset fallacia: D'ung aultre amer, Magna esset stultitia et peccatum.

Audi nostra suspiria, Replenos tua gratia, O rex regum, Ut ad tua servitia Sistamus cum laetitia in aeternum.

You alone can do wonders, You alone are the Creator, and created us; You alone are the Redeemer, and redeemed us With your most precious blood.

In you alone we find refuge, In you alone we trust, None other do we worship, Jesus Christ.

To you we pour out our prayers, Hear our supplication, and grant us our request, O King of kindness!

To love another would be deceitful; To love another would be great madness and sin.

Hear our sighing, fill us with your grace, O King of kings! So we may remain in your service With joy for ever.

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria Tua. Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

PERFORMERS

Heather Ahrenholz Mike Byrley Bill Chin Tom Crawford Stephanie Sheffield Culica

Matthew Dean Tammy Ghattas Joseph Hubbard Joe Labozetta Amy Mantrone

Jessica Melger Keith Murphy Peter Olson

ABOUT THE ENSEMBLE

And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the king’s palace, and harps and psalteries for singers; and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah. (2 Chronicles 9:10–11)

Founded in 2010, King Solomon’s Singers is an ensemble dedicated to the performance of Renaissance polyphony and chant. The members of the ensemble are professional and semi-professional singers from the Chicago area—members of ensembles such as The Rookery, Chicago Chorale, Schola Antiqua of Chicago, The Oriana Singers, The Newberry Consort, and Chicago a cappella—who share a love of this particular repertoire. For more information, visit our website at http://www.king-solomons-singers.org, or find us on Facebook.

SPECIAL THANKS

King Solomon’s Singers wish to thank Cathryn Crawford for help with concert logistics, First United Church of Oak Park for rehearsal space, and most of all the clergy and staff of St. Josaphat for their continuing hospitality.