Exeter College Chapel

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) – Vexilla regis

Bruckner was a modest and diffident man, fortified by a strong and traditional religious faith. He wrote many masses, and a considerable number of motets, some with trombone accompaniment. This setting of the Passion Sunday hymn Vexilla regis, written in 1892, was the last of Bruckner’s motets. Modal in its opening, it is a modified strophic setting of the hymn, meditative in mood, and ending with a hushed Amen.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) – Stabat mater

Verdi is best known for his operas, but wrote a few pieces of sacred music: the Requiem and four individual pieces which were written near the end of his life. These four pieces are not related, but were gathered together by his publisher as the Four Sacred Pieces. One of these pieces is the Stabat mater, a setting of a medi æ val poem which was used as a sequence on Good Friday, and has been set by very many composers. Verdi composed his setting in 1896-97, and it was one of the last pieces he wrote. The setting has been described as a mixture of the purity and simplicity of the sixteenth century version of Palestrina, with the drama and pathos of Il Trovatore; the text is set with no repetition.

Théodore Dubois (1837-1924) - The Seven Last Words of Christ

Dubois was a distinguished French teacher (he was head of the Paris Conservatoire from 1896 to 1905, and his books on theory are still in some use) and organist (he became choirmaster at Sainte Clotilde in 1971, and organist at the Madeleine in 1877). In 1861 he was awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome for composition, but i n 1905 he was forced to resign from the Conservatoire after his refusal to award the same prize to Ravel created a substantial public outcry. His own output is distinguished by quantity rather than quality – he was overshadowed in composition by his contemporaries such as Gounod, Fauré and Saint-Sa ë ns. Only a few organ works and the oratorio The Seven Last Words of Christ survive in use today.

Musical settings of the passion narrative and meditations on it have been composed regularly throughout musical history. One of the commonest texts to be set is the Stabat mater dolorosa, but the Seven Last Words have been used only rarely. The late nineteenth century produced a number of such works with an exaggerated religiosity, including Liszt’s Via crucis, Stainer’s The Crucifixion, Maunder’s Olivet to Calvary, and Dubois’ Seven Last Words of Christ. These works have tended to stay at home, becoming well-loved by amateur choirs in their countries of origin (but also, in the case of the Dubois, Canada and the United States of America).

The Seven Last Words of Christ has eight movements: an introduction followed by a movement for each word of Christ from the cross. Dubois used other phrases from the gospels and elsewhere in the bible, together with traditional texts from the Roman Catholic Holy Week liturgies as meditations on the scriptural account. The introduction is the antiphon O vos omnes traditionally sung at Tenebrae services; following the third word, two verses taken from the 13th-century sequence Stabat mater are sung; after the fourth word he uses the liturgical text Omnes amici mei; and he concludes with a hymn-like setting of the medieval antiphon Adoramus te, Christe, much like a chorale at the end of an 18th century cantata.

Dubois’ setting is somewhat four-square, but with considerable drama. There are frequent echoes of his contemporaries such as Fauré and Verdi. The work was originally orchestrated, but has as often been performed with organ, harp and timpani, as tonight.

Introduction: All ye that pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow.
The Lord hath dealt bitterly with me; call me not Naomi, call me Mara.

First word: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do

The people cried out: away with him, crucify him! His blood be on us, and on our children! And they did crucify Jesus, and with him two thieves; one at his right hand, and the other at his left.

Second word: Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise

Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

Third word: Woman, behold thy son!

At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to Jesus to the last.

Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ's dear Mother to behold?

Fourth word: My God, why hast thou forsaken me?

All my friends have forsaken me, and my enemies prevail; one that I loved betrayed me. My chosen vine, that I planted, how is it that you have turned to bitterness, so that you would crucify me?

Fifth word: I thirst!

And the Jews that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying: Thou that destroyest the temple, if Thou be Christ, the Son of God, come down from the cross that we may see and believe. If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.

Sixth word: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit

For Thou art my God and my Father; Thou art my Saviour.

Seventh word: And Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying: It is finished!

and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. And it was about the sixth hour; and the sun was darkened, and there was darkness over all the earth. And the veil of the temple was rent, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened.

Prayer: We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee:
because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Lianne-Marie Skriniar soprano

Lianne-Marie Skriniar studied voice and piano at Trinity College of Music. She has performed numerous operatic roles under conductors including Nicholas Kok, Charles Farncombe and Christopher Field. In 2001 she won the Second Prize and the Song Prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Competition. She last sang with the Cherwell Singers in their concert in December.

Daniel Turner tenor

Daniel Turner is currently studying voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. A former organ scholar of Queen's College, Oxford, he has also sung with the choir of New College. Daniel is Director of Music at Wolvercote Parish church.

Stephen Foulkes bass

Stephen Foulkes is a lay clerk in the choir of Wells Cathedral and formerly sang with Bristol Cathedral Choir for ten years. He is a regular soloist with choirs and choral societies throughout the UK, though tonight is his first performance with the Cherwell Singers.

James Brown conductor

James Brown is Organist of the University Church, Oxford and a lay clerk in the choir of New College. He also sings with Collegium Vocale, Ghent (conductor Phillipe Herreweghe), and next weekend begins a three week tour with them around Europe performing Brahms Requiem with the Orchestre des Champs Elysees. This is his second concert as director of the Cherwell Singers.

Carleton Etherington organ

Carleton Etherington has been Organist of Tewkesbury Abbey since 1996. A former student of the Royal Academy of Music, he was a first prizewinner at the 1992 Paisley International Organ festival competition and the Royal College of Organists Performer of the year in 1993. He has travelled widely as a recitalist, has made several recordings both as soloist and accompanist, and has broadcast on BBC Radio and TV.

Rachel Wick harp

Justin Rhodes timpani

The Cherwell Singers