Libera nos….Libera me – A workshop for singers
VOICES
Tutor: Peter Syrus
Location: St Mary’s Parish Church, Cilcain
Reviewer: Mark Flinn
Libera nos….Libera me a workshop for singers
A coolish Spring day saw a welcome return to the fine medieval church of St Mary’s, Cilcain, on the slopes of the Clwydian Hills outside Mold. David Allen, who lives locally and who had booked the church for us, gave a brief talk about the history of the church and the wonderful 16th century carved angels in the roof.
Peter Syrus, our leader on the day, had selected a programme of English sacred music written between 1475 and 1575, encompassing a range of styles, but all of a solemn and penitential nature. With 35 singers well distributed across voices, we were able to tackle some quite challenging music in up to seven parts.
Despite the severe and penitential nature of the music, Peter approached the day with his customary blend of humour and scholarship, providing his own meticulously edited performing editions. We started with one of William Byrd’s great five part settings from the Cantiones, quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur of 1575, Emendemus in melius. This mainly chordal setting allowed the singers to adjust to the acoustic, listen to each other and focus on intonation. We moved on to two further five part settings from the same collection: Libera me, Domine, et pone me and Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna. The latter piece drew substantially on the eponymous plainchant which Peter had provided for reference in both original and transposed versions.
Now came some serious challenges from an earlier period of English music. John Sheppard (c.1515-1558) came from the generation before Byrd, but his life of 43 years saw (almost) four monarchs and three changes in the state religion. Thanks to recordings and performances by groups such as the Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen and Stile Antico, his music is probably now better known than it ever has been. We studied two seven part settings of the text Libera nos, salva nos, the Bassus line providing a monumental cantus firmus as a foundation. Sheppard has his own sound world, maybe his masterpiece Media Vita could be the subject of a future NWEMF workshop?
The real musical challenge of the day came with John Sutton’s Eton Choirbook setting, from the late 1470s, of Salve Regina for seven voices. This was a huge piece in authentic Eton Choirbook style, with long melismas and huge ranging lines for all voices. Tough work, but someone had to do it, and I think we managed pretty well. Thanks again to Peter for choosing wonderfully appropriate music for the season and the location.
Mark Flinn
Editorial Note. I am very grateful to Mark Flinn for writing the above report. This was after I omitted to seek, reasonably early during the workshop, a volunteer to write a report; for that I apologise. It remains my policy to try to obtain “independent” reports, i.e. from participants who are not NWEMF committee members.
First published in April 2016 Newsletter
