by Marvin J. Ward

Northampton, MA, 21 December 2008.  Arcadia Players’ offering for the holiday season this year was the Vespro della beate Vergine by Claudio Monteverdi, first performed in 1610 in Mantua, where he was employed by Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga.  He used it again in 1613 in Venice (where it was also published) as his audition piece of sorts, successful since he was hired as maestro de cappella at St. Mark’s Cathedral, succeeding Giovanni Gabrieli in that post, because Francesco Gonzaga succeeded his father in 1612 and left Monteverdi unemployed.

The “Vespers of 1610,” like Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” of about 30 years later, are relatively infrequently performed live, and, also like them, represent a sort of pinnacle in the history of music in their use of earlier styles with hints of ones yet to reach their zenith rather than being hugely revolutionary new developments, as was Beethoven’s 9th symphony, for example.  Both engage the listeners’ emotions more by inspiring admiration for their architecture and structure than for their engaging, emotionally gripping, lyrical melodies.   Both also provide immensely satisfying experiences when heard live in thoughtful, considered interpretations, and listened to attentively.

Vespers are a religious service, originally a daily office sung near dusk in monastic settings.  They consist of a set of 5 Psalms (Nos. 109, 112, 121, 126, and 147 in the Vulgate Bible; 110, 113, 122, 127, and 147, vv. 12-20 in the King James Version), each concluding with the “Gloria Patri…” (Doxology), and separated with call and response antiphons.  Marian Vespers, those dedicated to the Virgin Mary, intersperse the Psalms with motets and hymns in a set order: “Nigra Sum,” “Pulchra es, amica mea,” “Duo seraphim,”  “Audi cœlum,” and conclude with the Magnificat.  Sometimes these supplement, sometimes they replace, as they did in this performance, the standard antiphons.  Monteverdi adds 2 more items to this sequence, between Psalm 147 and the Magnificat: the “Sonata sopra Sancta Maria,” an instrumental piece over which the “Hail Mary” is intoned 11 times, and the hymn “Ave maris stella” (“Hail, star of the sea”), especially relevant for a performance in Venice, even though this was not the site of the première.

During the Middle Ages, specific monophonic plain chants became associated with each of these texts.  In the Renaissance, these airs were embellished into flowery productions to the extent that the words often became incomprehensible amidst the polyphony.  Monteverdi’s innovation was to give primacy to the comprehension of the texts again without ever losing sight of the base chants, and to introduce variety in their treatment, so that no two numbers are handled in the same way, thereby maintaining the listener’s interest.  They range from solos with basso continuo accompaniment to double 5-voice choirs with many different combinations of forces in between.  There are often direct relationships between the words and the music: for example, in the concluding doxologies, where “Sicut erat in principio…” (“As it was in the beginning…”) occurs, the musical line of the opening of the Psalm is reintroduced; and the line “et hi tres unum sunt.” (“and these three are one.”) in the “Duo Seraphim” motet is shared by a trio and a solo, divided at its center.  Other musical devices, including an echo, are used to augment the variety, and the treatment of some solo lines is virtuosic as in later Baroque works rather than chant-like.  In short, this work is actually a different kind of set of variations.

This performance exploited the potential of the appropriately sonorous space of the 20th century Gothic St. Mary’s Church to underscore the variety and the sense of the texts by having some singers, together with theorbo player, Cathy Liddell, when accompanied, move to the rear, either in or beneath the balcony, to perform their numbers.  Others moved up to the pulpit to proclaim theirs.  Originally scored for 10 voices, 1 singer per part, in a small, intimate venue (possibly the ducal chapel), here 18 singers were deployed, with some doubling parts for added strength in the larger space, overall effectively, especially when all 6 sopranos sang the “Hail Mary…” over the instrumental sonata.  However, the words were lost in some verses in the concluding Magnificat.  The score’s orchestral forces of 13 were not expanded, but a few substitutions were made since the original called for 4 viole da brazzo, replaced here by a combination of violas da gamba, violone, and cello.

Gregory Hayes said in his pre-concert talk that the work has a “superficial surface brilliance or shine,” that is immediately attractive, and this is certainly true for its opening movement and for other moments scattered throughout.  Again, it reminds one of the sublime Aria that opens and closes the Goldberg Variations.  There is no return of the opening call and response antiphon here, however, just a brief “Amen,” glorious in its simplicity when one compares it with the flowery ones that will come later in the Baroque era in such works as Handel’s Messiah, for example.  The work is thrilling in a quiet, elegant, but no less stunning way, and the Arcadia Players forces rendered that serenity superbly.  This was not the 1st time I had heard this work live; I was in the audience when Arcadia Players offered it 3 years ago, and looked forward to the opportunity to be there again and to be able to write about the sublimely moving experience that hearing it live is when I saw it announced for this year.  Readers might want to be there the next time they put it on their season.  Unfortunately, the repeat performance scheduled for Springfield this afternoon had to be canceled because of a winter storm.

In November, Arcadia Players’ Consort of Viols, together with the a cappella sextet Cantabile , offered a program of 17th-century (mostly from the 1st half) English “Music for Evensong “in the very modern, 2-year old Wesley United Methodist Church in Hadley.  This was an equally lovely performance, and made for an interesting “compare and contrast” experience for those who attended both.  All the Cantabile singers were members of the Vespers chorus.