Robert Worth, conductor
Sonoma County Bach Choir

Sopranos: Jenni Samuelson & Carol Menke
Tenors: Brian Staufenbiel & Scott Whitaker
Basses: Hugh Davies & Boyd Jarrell

December 1, 2, 3, 2006
Locations vary, see below
All tickets $20

At the junction between Renaissance restraint and Baroque splendor, we find Monteverdi’s Vespers: psalms, hymns, canticles and chants which are grand and dramatic in style. Cornetti and harpsichord join the winds and strings, soloists echo in rhapsodic stereo, choral voices blend in vital, dance-like energy.

Monteverdi’s festive music celebrates the angel’s annunciation to the Virgin Mary and is perfect for the holiday season. Enjoy the Sonoma County Bach Choir, an array of soloists and members of the Santa Rosa Symphony in a multi-faceted gem of the early Baroque!

Friday, December 1, 2006 8pm
St. Vincent De Paul Church
35 Liberty Street, Petaluma

Saturday, December 2, 2006 8pm
St. Eugene's Cathedral
2323 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa

Sunday, December 3, 2006 8pm
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
8400 Old Redwood Hwy, Windsor

Underwritten by Maureen & Donald Green and the Donald and Maureen Green Foundation.

Decisions, decisions! I have never had to make so many decisions for a concert in my life! A conductor’s life, like most of our lives, is of course filled with many decisions. Normally in producing a choral-orchestral concert, many choices have to be made at the beginning: selection of repertoire; selection of venue; hiring of orchestra and soloists; and a whole raft of logistical details. In rehearsing and eventually performing a work, musical decisions large and small must be made, including elements such as dynamics, tempos, phrasing, articulation, balance, and many more. This process of decision-making comes with the turf, and of course represents the heart of the conductor’s job, in that the decisions shape the music so that it is effective and (hopefully) moving. With the 1610 Vespers, however, the scope of this decision process is expanded to include virtually every aspect of the music.

The first big decision concerns whether to perform the work in concert form or in the form of a liturgical reconstruction. -Monteverdi’s publication of 1610 includes many pieces which can fit in with a Vespers liturgy; but there are many questions and loose ends, and one valid solution is to simply perform a concert version of the 13 musical selections which Monteverdi composed.

Having settled upon a liturgical reconstruction, which I believe creates a more powerful performance, as well as a sense of the context for the music, the next step was to select a specific liturgy. Monteverdi’s choice of psalms and hymns is appropriate for any of the high feasts in honor of the Virgin Mary, but could also fit high feasts for any female saint. A popular solution in recent years has been to perform a Vespers in honor of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of the ducal basilica at Mantova, where Monteverdi was working when he wrote the 1610 Vespers. Since our performance falls just before Christmas, however, we took a different tack, constructing a liturgy for the Feast of the Annunciation, which, while it actually falls on March 25, is of course an event closely associated with the Christmas season, since it celebrates the appearance of the Angel Gabriel to announce to Mary that she is to bear the child Jesus.

The canon of the Roman Catholic Church specifies chant antiphons for use on the Feast of the Annunciation; but modern chants do not always match the ancient forms, and many decisions have to be made with regard to chant selection and also to chant transposition. Each of the antiphons flows into and out of a specific psalm setting, and certain requirements of tonal unity and smooth flow must be met.

In addition, there exists a major set of problems surrounding the sacred concertos which appeared in the 1610 publication. These are the pieces Nigra sum, Pulchra es, Duo seraphim, Audi coelum and the Sonata sopra Sancta Maria. Although these pieces are carefully alternated with the psalm settings in the publication, none of them are in fact liturgical. Many theories have been propounded to explain the presence of these pieces, and some performances actually omit some or all of them. Although there is substantial support for the idea that the concertos substituted for the repeated antiphon after each psalm, we have chosen (with scholarly support) the alternate approach which calls for maintaining the antiphon repeats, and using the sacred concertos to provide moments of meditation.

The liturgical elements in Monteverdi’s publication are presented in the appropriate order; but the non-liturgical items do not necessarily need to be performed in the given order. We have made one major alteration of sequence: the Sonata sopra Sancta Maria, which appears in the 1610 Vespers after Lauda Jerusalem, has been moved to follow the Magnificat. There is scholarly support for this position, and it makes for a very satisfying musical and spiritual finale to the service.

Monteverdi provided very little information about the orchestration for the music, and none at all concerning which parts are to be performed by vocal soloists and which by a choral ensemble. Many decisions need to be made regarding these aspects of the music, and in fact the overall scope and effect of the piece can be greatly altered depending upon the approach used. We have started with the participation of a choir (not necessarily what Monteverdi would have expected), and worked from that point to a hybrid type of performance in which soloists sing the more florid and obviously soloistic music, while the orchestra supports the choir judiciously for purposes of color and affect. In addition, we are blessed with a large continuo section of lute, cello, bass, organ and harpsichord, and so have been able to select many timbral variations appropriate to each musical passage.

Because of all of these decisions which must be made to mount a production, each performance of Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers is a wholly unique event. We hope that you enjoy the fruit of our many decisions, and we offer in addition our most sincere wishes for a joyful holiday season.