Chanticleer

A Chanticleer Christmas

Tavian Cox, Luke Elmer*, Cortez Mitchell*,
Bradley Sharpe, Logan Shields, Adam Brett Ward – countertenor
Vineel Garisa Mahal*, Matthew Mazzola, Andrew Van Allsburg – tenor
Andy Berry*, Jared Graveley, Matthew Knickman – baritone and bass

Tim Keeler – Music Director

Program

I.

Ave maris stella
Guillaume Du Fay (1397–1474)
John Dunstaple (c.1390–1453)
Alexander Agricola (c.1445–1506)
Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548–1611)

Ave Maria, mater Dei†
William Cornysh (d.1523)

II.

This endris night
Sarah Quartel (b.1982)

Now make we joy†
English, 15th c.

Make we joy now in this fest
William Walton (1902–1983)

III.

Ther is no rose of swych vertu†
English, 15th c.

There is no rose from A Ceremony of Carols
Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)

Balulalow from A Ceremony of Carols
Britten

The Oxen
Jonathan Rathbone (b.1957)

Suo Gân†
Traditional Welsh, arr. Lance Wiliford

IV.

Nowell sing we
English, 15th c.

Noel Canon†
Steven Sametz (b.1954)

A Christmas Fanfare (Angelus ad Virginem)
Anonymous, 13th c., arr. Steven Sametz

-Intermission-

V.

O come, all ye faithful
John Francis Wade (1711–1786),
arr. Amanda Taylor
Arrangement commissioned by Chanticleer in 2022

Ave Maria†
Franz Biebl (1906–2001)

VI.

Wassail Song
Traditional English, arr. Gladys Pitcher

Tomorrow shall be my dancing day†
Traditional English, arr. Dale Grotenhuis

Good King Wenceslas
Traditional English, arr. Jared Graveley

Joy to the world
Lowell Mason (1792–1872), arr. Adam Brett Ward

VII.

I Am Snow† from The Rivers Are Our Brothers
Majel Connery (b.1979), arr. Majel Connery and Doug Balliett
Arrangement commissioned by Chanticleer and Musica Sierra in 2023 with support from Ken Grant

And the trees do moan
Traditional Appalachian, arr. Tim Keeler

Silent night
Franz Xaver Gruber (1787–1863),
arr. Graveley

VIII.

(Everywhere I go) Somebody talkin’ ‘bout Jesus†
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Joseph H. Jennings

Oh, Jerusalem in the mornin’†
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Jennings

†These pieces have been recorded by Chanticleer.

*Andy Berry occupies the Eric Alatorre Chair, given by Peggy Skornia. Luke Elmer occupies the Ning G. Mercer Chair for the Preservation of the Chanticleer Legacy, given by Ning and Stephen Mercer. Vineel Garisa Mahal occupies the Tenor Chair, given by an Anonymous Donor. Cortez Mitchell occupies the Cortez Mitchell Chair, given by James R. Meehan.

Program Notes

 “Ave maris stella” is an early Christian hymn of praise and supplication to the Virgin Mary in which she is asked to “make our journey safe” and is compared to the “star of the sea.” The chant first appears in a 9th-century Swiss manuscript from the Abbey of St. Gall and has been the inspiration for countless musical settings since that time. In our concert, we explore various arrangements of the melody by a few Renaissance masters. We begin with Guillaume Du Fay’s simple parallel triads (a technique known as fauxbourdon) and move to John Dunstaple’s version, which shows slightly more creativity with three independent vocal lines. Alexander Agricola’s arrangement demonstrates true polyphony and a clever inner voice canon, while Tomás Luis de Victoria gives us refined, late Renaissance harmony and structure.

William Cornysh’s “Ave Maria, mater Dei” is an homage to Mary that showcases the wandering part-writing and sudden harmonic shifts that are characteristic of late 15th-century English polyphony. Cornysh’s setting comes from the Eton Choirbook, which is a richly illuminated manuscript that originally contained around 90 pieces of early-Tudor Latin polyphony by 24 different English composers. During the English Reformation, many collections of Latin church music were discarded; the Eton Choirbook is one of the few remaining sources from this period.

“This endris night” begins our exploration of early English carols, this one set by the contemporary Canadian composer Sarah Quartel. A prolific and celebrated choral composer, Quartel has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, the National Children's Chorus of the United States of America, and New Dublin Voices, among others. She has been exclusively published by Oxford University Press since 2018.

We find “Now make we joy” in the Ritson Manuscript, which is a 15th-century collection of carols, masses, and motets held by the British Library. This piece demonstrates a few trademarks of early English carols. We hear a choral burden, or refrain, that sets up the story and mood. A duet verse follows. The text then oscillates between English and Latin, with the Latin text either progressing the story or acting as commentary. The 20th-century English composer, William Walton, demonstrates a modern take on this form with his “Make we joy now in this fest.”

The English carol pattern holds for “Ther is no rose of swych vertu,” which comes from the Trinity Carol Roll, another 15th-century manuscript held at the Wren Library in Trinity College, Cambridge. In a modern version of “There is no rose,” Benjamin Britten avoids the standard burden repetition and instead uses the repeated Latin texts to structure the piece. He seamlessly cycles through several keys during the English verses, while the Latin interpolations repeat the same unison pitch every time they return. “There is no rose” and “Balulalow” both come from Britten’s 1942 collection, A Ceremony of Carols, originally scored for harp and treble choir. In “Balulalow,” the soloist promises an intimate form of praise by saying “The knees of my heart shall I bow.”

In “The Oxen,” by Thomas Hardy, the narrator hears a story about oxen kneeling in the manger, honoring the baby Jesus. The image sparks a yearning for peace and for the divine, a yearning best understood when we recognize that Hardy wrote his poem in 1915 during the first World War. Jonathan Rathbone, a former music director of the Swingle Singers, sets Hardy’s text with lush harmonies and a gently rocking meter. We stay close to the manger with a setting of the Welsh lullaby, “Suo Gân,” by Lance Wiliford. While not explicitly about Christmas, the piece is often associated with the season as we envision Mary rocking the baby Jesus to sleep.

The celebratory carol “Nowell sing we” comes from the Trinity Carol Roll, and Steven Sametz’s “Noel Canon” takes its text from our final carol source for the evening, the 15th-century Selden Manuscript, which is held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Sametz has a long relationship with Chanticleer and has written many pieces for the group over the years. He recently retired from Lehigh University, where he had been the Director of Choral Activities since 1979. His setting of “Angelus ad virginem” in “A Christmas Fanfare” is a joyful retelling of the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she will be the mother of Jesus.

Amanda Taylor brings us to more familiar carols with her arrangement of “O come, all ye faithful,” which she wrote for Chanticleer in 2022. She takes an intimate approach to the familiar hymn and changes the meaning of the text from a command to a warm and personal invitation. Taylor is a two-time GRAMMY Award-nominated arranger and one fourth of the vocal jazz supergroup, säje. In addition to her arrangements for säje, Taylor has also written for groups like Manhattan Transfer and Kings Return.

Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria” has become synonymous with Chanticleer. Every Christmas season we look forward to sharing this gem with our audiences around the country. Biebl’s setting is actually a version of the “Angelus,” a Catholic devotional prayer, which tells the story of the annunciation and incarnation. The TTBB arrangement we sing in these concerts, as well as two other editions for SATB chorus, are published by Hinshaw Music as part of the Chanticleer Choral Series.

The remainder of our Christmas program features a collection of contemporary Christmas songs, some well-known and some brand new. These include familiar arrangements of “Wassail Song” and “Tomorrow shall be my dancing day,” as well as new arrangements of “Good King Wenceslas,” “Joy to the world,” “And the trees do moan,” and “Silent night,” all written by members of Chanticleer. “I am Snow” is a new wintry composition that comes from Majel Connery’s song cycle, The Rivers Are Our Brothers, the entirety of which was recorded and released by Chanticleer in October.

Finally, A Chanticleer Christmas always concludes with a selection of Christmas spirituals arranged by our music director emeritus, Joseph H. Jennings. This year, we feature “(Everywhere I go) Somebody talkin’ ‘bout Jesus” and “Oh, Jerusalem in the mornin’.” In 2014, Jennings was the first recipient of Chorus America’s Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award acknowledging his contribution to the African American choral tradition. His 25-year tenure with Chanticleer as singer and music director transformed the group, and his gospel and spiritual arrangements became part of Chanticleer’s identity. We are honored to maintain and continue that legacy today.

Program notes by Tim Keeler

About Chanticleer

Known around the world for its eclectic repertoire and dazzling virtuosity, the Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer—under the leadership of Music Director Tim Keeler— has been hailed by the Boston Globe as “breathtaking in its accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, of color and swagger of style.” Founded in San Francisco in 1978 by singer and musicologist Louis Botto, Chanticleer quickly took its place as one of the most prolific recording and touring ensembles in the world, an “orchestra of voices” performing thousands of live concerts and selling more than one million recordings.

Rooted in the Renaissance, Chanticleer’s repertoire has expanded to include a wide range of classical, gospel, jazz and popular music. With a deep commitment to the commissioning of new compositions and arrangements, Chanticleer foregrounds American repertoire and a distinctively American sound, complementing the group’s signature diversity in terms of membership and genre. The ensemble has dedicated much of its vast recording catalogue to these commissions, garnering Grammy Awards for its recordings of Sir John Tavener’s Lamentations & Praises and the ambitious collection of commissioned works entitled Colors of Love. Chanticleer is the recipient of Chorus America’s Dale Warland Commission Award and the Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. The group’s Music Director Emeritus, Joseph H. Jennings, received the Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award for his contribution to the African American choral tradition during his 25-year tenure as both singer and Music Director.

Chanticleer—named for the “clear-singing” rooster in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales—was named Ensemble of the Year by Musical America in 2008 and inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. The group’s award-winning education programs were recognized with the 2010 Chorus America Education Outreach Award, and have engaged tens of thousands of students since the ensemble began.

Chanticleer is a non-profit organization, governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees, administered by a professional staff with a full-time professional ensemble. In addition to the many individual contributors to Chanticleer, the Board of Trustees thanks the following Foundations, Corporations and Government Agencies for their exceptional support:

San Francisco Grants for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The Bob Ross Foundation
Dunard Fund USA
E. Nakamichi Foundation
Negaunee Foundation
The Owsley Brown III Philanthropic Foundation, Inc.

CHANTICLEER STAFF

Philip Wilder, President & General Director

Zachary Burgess, Director of Development

Brian Hinman, Director of Operations and Touring

Lisa Seischab, Development Advisor

Colby Smith, Patron Services Manager / Development & Marketing Associate

Matthew Knickman, Road Manager / Social Media Manager

Cortez Mitchell, Merchandise Manager

Tim Keeler, Music Director

Matthew Mazzola, Assistant Music Director

Artist Management: Opus 3 Artists, Ltd.

Founder: Louis Botto (1951 – 1997)

Music Director Emeritus: Joseph H. Jennings

www.chanticleer.org