Repertoire

CONCERT PROGRAM

A complete and itemized program, including texts, translations and notes is available from the links below.  A printed program will be made available at the concert, but if you would like to access this program with your smartphone during the concert you are cordially invited to do so.  

Please mute the audio on your phone!

Part One text, translatations	Part Two text, translatations	Part Three text, translatations

Directors program notes

Over the past two millenia the human race has told hundreds of stories about the angelic characters that appear in tonight's performance.  These stories are told in many ways - through poetry, music, the visual arts, ritual, Scripture, and the prose of religious doctrine, just to name a few.  Tonight, we present some of our favourite tales, which we have plucked from this vast store.  We begin by exploring traditional, occult, and religious representations of angels.  

Although "angel" has become a generic term that is now applied to a vast array of spiritual beings, it has a more specific meaning within the context of most religious traditions.  For instance, Roman Catholic doctrine describes an angelic hierarchy, whose ranks descend from Seraphim to Cherubim, to Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and, eventually, to Angels.  This formulation puts angels and archangels at the bottom of the line, dirtying their hands (and frequently their swords) with human business.  

The human-angel interaction is what we explore in the second and third parts of tonight's concert, in which we focus on contemporary responses to angel stories.  A number of themes have emerged from our exploration of this material - and I hope that you will take from this event many more of your own, and that you will communicate some of those to us via our website and blog and through post-concert conversation.  

Just to get that conversation started, the concept that has most inspired me throughout the preparation of this event comes from Bruce Cockburn's "Waiting for a Miracle," in which the poet speaks of emulating "the ones who've died / trying to set the angel in us free."  Does that mean that within each of us lives a creative force, compassionate and just, that works for positive change?  When I say "angel" that is what I think of. 

This concert is our way of telling angel stories and asking angel questions.  It is also our way of inviting you to join in the discussion so that, together, we can contribute to the harvest of tales, rituals, and feasts.

Daniel Cabena, Artistic Director, Chestnut Hall Camerata

Part I: A Service of Readings for Michaelmas

This section of the program is modeled after a “Liturgy of the Word” service, and it also resembles the Anglican “Lessons and Carols” service format.  The music of this part is drawn from the English sacred repertoire.  It consists of works for solo voices and instruments by Barrie Cabena, Richard Derring, John Dunstable, and two anonymous folk balladeers.  The choral repertoire will also be represented here, our choir being composed not only of voices but also of flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, cello, organ and lute.  We will perform verse anthems and polyphony by Byrd, Gibbons, Tomkins and Weelkes.  There will also be excerpts of ancient and contemporary plainchant.

The texts of these works, which have in some cases been adjusted to support our theme, are from sources as diverse as the works of Joseph the Hymnographer, St. Rabanus Maurus of Fulda, and the poetry of William Butler Yeats.  Tara Kathleen Murphy, our literary advisor, has helped us to adapt these texts and to  compose some new ones for this section of the program.

The spoken Lessons will be taken from the Qur’an, the Midrash Rabba on the Book of Exodus, and the Bible, and from the poetry of Arvia MacKaye Ege, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Christina Rossetti.

PART II: Francesca’s Folly; A Morality Play in Music

This section of the program consists of a new work by composer, Timothy Corlis, and librettist, Tara Kathleen Murphy.  Corlis and Murphy’s morality play unfolds in four scenes, which feature the heroine, Francesca, and the archangels Raphael and Michael.  God and Lucifer will also make important appearances. 

The work is scored for soprano, alto, tenor and baritone voices, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, cello, violin, organ, percussion, lute, and nyckelharpa, a Scandinavian keyed fiddle which our Francesca, Toronto soprano, Katherine Hill, will play.

PART III: A Michaelmas Celebration in Contemporary songs

The final section of our Michaelmas program features songs by Bruce Cockburn, Ben Harper, Sarah McLachlan, Paul Simon, Styx and Neil Young.  These songs will be interpreted under the direction of guitarist and arranger, Kevin Ramessar.