Prom 22 - 31.07.17: Monteverdi's Vespers

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Monday 31 July 2017
Royal Albert Hall

Claudio Monteverdi: Vespers of 1610


Giuseppina Bridelli, soprano
Eva Zaïcik, mezzo-soprano
Emiliano Gonzalez‐Toro, tenor
Magnus Staveland, tenor
Virgile Ancely, bass
Renaud Bres, bass
Geoffroy Buffière, bass
Ensemble Pygmalion
Raphaël Pichon, director

Before there was Bach's Mass in B minor or Beethoven's Missa solemnis there was Monteverdi's Vespers, a choral masterpiece of unprecedented musical scope and audacious beauty. The work's textural extremes, multiple choirs and sonic effects are brought to life in a performance marking the 450th anniversary of the composer's birth.
Award-winning French Baroque ensemble Pygmalion makes its Proms debut under its director Raphaël Pichon, together with an exciting line-up of young soloists.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I do hope this will not sound like a "line-up of young soloists".

[Pulcinella]

I do hope this will not sound like a "line-up of young soloists".

Well, I think that our friend teamsaint plans on being there, so he'll be able to tell us how exciting it is (as well as what they're all wearing).

[doversoul1]

I do hope this will not sound like a "line-up of young soloists".

What makes you think it might/could be? [ed.] Oh I see. I’ve just seen ‘an exciting line-up of young soloists’ bit
You/we can find out tomorrow morning on Record Review.

9.00pm
Stravaganza d'Amore!
BRUNELLI, BUONAMENTE, CACCINI, MARENZIO and more
Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphael Pichon (conductor)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08zd07q

It’s good to see this work performed at the Prom by a ‘new to the Proms’ group.

[BBMmk2]

Anyone heard of this group before?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

You/we can find out tomorrow morning on Record Review.

9.00pm
Stravaganza d'Amore!
BRUNELLI, BUONAMENTE, CACCINI, MARENZIO and more
Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphael Pichon (conductor)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08zd07q

Many thanks.

[Nevilevelis]

Anyone heard of this group before?

Yes. They are fabulous!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmso48VSIww

[Serial_Apologist]

Before there was Bach's Mass in B minor or Beethoven's Missa solemnis there was Monteverdi's Vespers,

Was, or were?

One for Pedants' Paradise?

[Pulcinella]

Was, or were?

One for Pedants' Paradise?

Was, if it's thought of as one piece of music.
(IMHO, of course!)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Was, if it's thought of as one piece of music.
(IMHO, of course!)

- the individual movements making up a single, composite work.

[Nevilevelis]

"Vespers "sixth canonical hour" is attested from 1610s, from plural of Latin vespera "evening;" the native name was evensong (Old English æfen-sang)."

In the liturgy it's a collective term for the prayers and psalms sung or recited at that hour.

vesper (n.)

"late 14c., "the evening star," from Old French vespre "evening, nightfall" (12c., Modern French vêpre), from Latin vesper (masc.), vespera (fem.) "evening star, evening, west," related to Greek hesperos, and ultimately from PIE root *wes-pero- "evening, night" (source also of Old Church Slavonic večeru, Polish wieczór, Russian vecherŭ, Lithuanian vakaras, Welsh ucher, Old Irish fescor "evening"), perhaps an enlarged form of root *we- "down" (source of Sanskrit avah "down, downward"), thus literally "direction in which the sun sets." Meaning "evening" is attested from c. 1600."

Of course, Monteverdi's collection cannot be performed liturgically in it's entirety because the motets have nothing to do with the liturgy, and are really replacements for the appropriate Marian antiphons which should be heard twice (before and after) their respective psalms in the Roman Rite.

NVV

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Was, or were?

One for Pedants' Paradise?

I wondered about that when I cut and paste from the Radio 3 website. The only changes I normally make are the obliteration of details about presenters.

[Richard Barrett]

Regarding Pedants' Paradise...

Before there was Bach's Mass in B minor or Beethoven's Missa solemnis there was Monteverdi's Vespers, a choral masterpiece of unprecedented musical scope and audacious beauty

... only one of those three pieces may properly be described as "choral". I wonder how many singers this performance will feature. The seven named soloists are not quite enough to perform the whole work.

While Monteverdi's Vesper psalms with their various interpolations don't form a liturgical unity, so that there's no point in trying to shoehorn them into some kind of quasi-liturgical performance, the publication does form a unity in an encyclopaedic sense, a little like the Kunst der Fuge especially in its basing all the psalm settings and Magnificat on plainsong, which Monteverdi as far as I know didn't do in any of his other works. The idea of performing them "complete" is a modern idea (as again with the KdF) - while such a thing presumably wouldn't have taken place in the 17th century, it does powerfully illuminate aspects of Monteverdi's musical thought which would otherwise be missed.

[Pulcinella]

I'm looking forward to a singular performance tonight!

[Bryn]

Tonight's Prom was shown as being one of those to be made available 'live' in binaural sound. Sadly it is a bit of a mess. It comes and goes, the web page switching between the current Prom, Sundays, and the stored Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique. Hopefully they wil sort it for later for later access. It's back at the moment, and very good, but I await it collapsing again without warning.