 Wisconsin
Chamber Choir's spring concert will
feature the inspiring works of two 20th
century French composers: Requiem
composed by Maurice Duruflé and the
Quatre Motets by Francis Poulenc.
The performance is set for March
23, 2012 at First Congregational Church,
1609 University Avenue in Madison,
Wisconsin at 7:30 p.m.
Ted Reinke will accompany the choir on
organ and Robert Gehrenbeck will
conduct.
French composer, Maurice Duruflé (1902 -
1986), composed the Requiem in
1947
on the occasion of his father's death.
Best described by the composer:
"This Requiem is entirely composed on
the Gregorian themes of the Mass for the
Dead. Sometimes the musical text
was completely respected, the
[accompaniment] intervening only to
support or comment on it; sometimes I
was simply inspired by it or left it
completely, for example in certain
developments suggested by the Latin
text, notably in the Domine Jesu
Christe, the Sanctus and
the Libera. In general, I have
sought above all to enter into the
characteristic style of the Gregorian
themes. Therefore, I have done my best
to reconcile, as far as possible,
Gregorian rhythm as it has been
established by the Benedictines of
Solesmes with the demands of modern
meter. As for the musical form of
each of these pieces, it is generally
inspired by the same form presented in
the liturgy. The organ’s role is merely
episodic: it intervenes, not to support
the chorus, but solely to underline
certain accents or to replace
temporarily the sonorities of the
orchestra which sound all too human. It
represents the idea of peace, faith, and
hope."
Francis
Poulenc (1899-1963) was a contemporary
of Duruflé. He completed
Quatre Motets pour un temps de pénitence
in 1939 dedicated to his compositional
mentor Nadia Boulanger. Poulenc’s
trademark choral style is established in
sharply defined dynamic contrasts,
unsettled meter, and often ingenious
chord progressions. Poulenc was
described in a 1950 Paris-Presse
article as "half monk, half
deliquent" ("le moine et le voyou"), yet
the four movements of Quatre Motets
are sombre and serious as they progress
from the simple unison melody in the
first movement to a tearful depiction in
the fourth movement of Jesus being taken
in the garden of Gethsemane.
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