St Albans Chamber Choir Golden Jubilee Celebrations with Wormser Kantorei Saturday 27 April 2019 at 7.30pm, in
the Cathedral and Abbey Church of Saint Alban, St Albans AL1 1BY
John Gibbons and Stefan Merkelbach conductors
Ealing Symphony Orchestra
To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the association between St Albans Chamber Choir and the Wormser Kantorei from St Albans’ twin town of Worms in southwestern Germany, the two choirs combine with Ealing Symphony Orchestra to present a concert of the following works:
Mozart – Krönungsmesse (Coronation Mass)
Vaughan Williams – Dona nobis pacem
Handel – Zadok the Priest
Alwyn – The Innumerable Dance
Mozart’s Mass No.15 in C major, K. 317, later known as the Krönungsmesse (Coronation Mass), was first performed on Easter Sunday, 4 April 1779 in Salzburg Cathedral. The 23-year-old Mozart had just taken up the post of court organist and composer to the exacting Archbishop Colloredo and was required to write a missa brevis (short Mass) but with full orchestral accompaniment and four soloists. His response was to create a 30-minute masterpiece capable of filling a huge cathedral and creating an atmosphere of great joy. The nickname Krönungsmesse was added in 1862 but its origin is obscure. It may stem from the Mass having been performed in Prague in 1791 at the coronation of Leopold II and also of Francis I the following year. It certainly became popular at the Imperial Court in Vienna in the early nineteenth century as the preferred music for coronations.
Vaughan Williams served with the Royal Army Medical Corps on the Western Front in World War 1. He wrote the cantata Dona nobis pacem (Grant us peace) in 1936 amid widespread anguish that the worsening political situation in Europe would lead again to war. His passionate, heartfelt plea for peace uses texts from poems by Walt Whitman, himself a hospital volunteer during the American Civil War, a speech given in the House of Commons in 1855 by John Bright in an attempt to prevent the Crimean War, sections of the Bible and part of the Mass. From its initial anguished cry, the work dramatically depicts the violence of war then moves into a quieter reflective sequence of reconciliation. The work is scored for choir, large orchestra and soprano and baritone soloists.
Zadok the Priest is the most popular of the four anthems which Handel composed for the coronation of King George II and Queen Caroline in Westminster Abbey on 11 October 1727. The words from the Book of Kings have been sung at every English coronation since that of King Edgar in Bath Abbey in 973, and Handel’s setting has been sung at every British one since 1727.
Several of Alwyn’s pieces were inspired by the poetry of William Blake. The Innumerable Dance: an English Overture, written in 1933, is a tone poem for orchestra in praise of Spring. The score is prefaced by some verses from Blake’s poem Milton, including ‘every tree and flower and herb soon fill the air with an innumerable dance’ – Blake’s vision of nature in all its glory.
The link between the two choirs began in 1969 with a town-sponsored visit to Worms by the Chamber Choir. This was followed by a visit to St Albans in 1971 by the choir now known as the Wormser Kantorei, and the first joint concert in what has become the longest-established link in St Albans’ town-twinning programme. For fifty years the two choirs have met and made music together every other year, alternately here and in Germany, and there are many friendships between individual choir members that have been running nearly as long. Today the link is stronger than ever and we celebrate fifty years of music-making together with a concert conducted by both current Musical Directors.
Tickets and Booking:
Premium £25 – Centre front with full view
Classic £20 – Centre middle with full view or slightly restricted view
Standard £15 – Centre back with full view or restricted view
No View £10 – Centre or side aisles (No View seats will only be released when seats with views have sold out)
Concessions:
Children (under 16) £5 in any seat class
Students (with ID) £5 in Classic or Standard class
Wheelchair spaces at face value, with carer going free
Cathedral Box Office: 01727 890290 or online at www.stalbanscathedral.org or visit the Cathedral