• Aboriginals in North America
  • Beast Literature
  • Canadiana.1
  • Dances & Music
  • Europe: Ukraine & Russia
  • Fables and Fairy Tales
  • Fables by Jean de La Fontaine
  • Feasts & Liturgy
  • Great Books Online
  • La Princesse de Clèves
  • Middle East
  • Molière
  • Nominations
  • Posts on Love Celebrated
  • Posts on the United States
  • The Art and Music of Russia
  • The French Revolution & Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Voyageurs Posts
  • Canadiana.2

Micheline's Blog

~ Art, music, books, history & current events

Micheline's Blog

Tag Archives: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

Les Tendres Souhaits (Tender Wishes)

18 Saturday May 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Music

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Claire Lefilliâtre, English translation, French song, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, John William Godward, Le Poème harmonique, Pastoral, Vincent Dumestre

Godward
The Favourite, by John William Godward, 1901
John William Godward (9 August 1861 – 13 December 1922)
Photo credit: Wikipaintings
 
 

Here is a lovely little song.  The music is by Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (4 January 1710 – 16 March 1736).  My translation is mostly literal.  So, please do not expect a beautiful poem.  I wanted to translate the words.  This song is a very simple pastoral.

  1. Que ne suis-je la fougère
  2. Où, sur la fin d’un beau jour,
  3. Se repose ma bergère
  4. Sous la garde de l’amour ? Under the watch of
  5. Que ne suis-je le zéphyr
  6. Qui rafraîchit ses appas,
  7. L’air que sa bouche respire,
  8. La fleur qui naît sous ses pas ?

Why am I not the fern/ Where, towards the end of a beautiful day,/ My shepherdess rests/ And love watches over her?/  Why am I not the gentle breeze,/ That refreshes her charms,/ The air her mouth breathes,/ The flower born under her steps.

  1. Que ne suis-je l’onde pure
  2. Qui la reçoit dans son sein ?
  3. Que ne suis-je la parure
  4. Qui la couvre après le bain ?
  5. Que ne suis-je cette glace,
  6. Où son minois répété
  7. Offre à nos yeux une grâce
  8. Qui sourit à la beauté ?

Why am I not the pure mist/ That receives her into its bosom/ Why am I not the ornament/ That covers her after her bath?/ Why am I not that mirror,/ Where her sweet little face repeats itself/ Offering to our gaze a grace/ That smiles at beauty?

  1. Que ne puis-je, par un songe,
  2. Tenir son cœur enchanté ?
  3. Que ne puis-je du mensonge
  4. Passer à la vérité ?
  5. Les dieux qui m’ont donné l’être
  6. M’ont fait trop ambitieux,
  7. Car enfin je voudrais être
  8. Tout ce qui plaît à ses yeux !

Why am I not, as in a dream,/ Holding her heart bewitched?/ And why can I not from a lie/ Go on to the truth?/ The gods who gave me life/ Made me too ambitious,/ For I would like to be/ All that pleases her eyes!

Le Poème harmonique
Vincent Dumestre
Claire Lefilliâtre
art: 
Autumn, by John William Godward, 1900 (video)
Nerissa, by John William Godward, 1906 (below video)
  
 
 
Godward-Nerissa (1)© Micheline Walker
May 18, 2013
WordPress

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Music for Easter

31 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Easter, Music

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Claudio Abbado, Easter, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, London Symphony Orchestra, Lucia Valentini Terrani, Margaret Marshall, Michel-Richard de Lalande, Regina Cæli

Archetypal Gothic Lady of Sorrows from a triptych by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace c. 1455

Archetypal Gothic Lady of Sorrows from a triptych by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace c. 1455, Musée d’Unterlinden, Colmar. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I wish all of you a very Happy Easter.  Let it be musical.  The new Marian antiphon is the “Regina Cæli.”  Michel-Richard Delalande (or de Lalande) , whose “Regina Cæli” I selected, was the finest composer of French

  • A Portrait of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (20 December 2011)

The second selection is Pergolesi’s French grands motets. The second selection is Pergolesi’s “Quando Corpus Morietur.”

Regina Cæli

The authorship of the Regina Cæli is unknown.  It was composed in the twelfth century and was in Franciscan use after Compline a century later.  According to Wikipedia, “legend has it that St Gregory the Great heard angels chanting the first three lines one Easter morning in Rome, while following barefoot in a great religious procession of the icon of the Virgin painted by Luke the Evangelist.  He was thereupon inspired to add the fourth line.”  (See Regina Cæli, Wikipedia.)

The Regina Cæli is one of the four Antiphons or Antiphonies (Anthems in the Anglican Church) dedicated to Mary.  It is sung during the Easter season.

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
For He whom you deserved to bear in your womb, alleluia.
Has risen, as He promised, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.
 
 
Michel-Richard Delalande (15 December 1657 – 18 June 1726)
Regina Cæli
 
 
 
 
composer: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (4 January 1710 – 16 March 1736)
piece: “Quando Corpus Morietur”
performers: Margaret Marshall, Soprano and Lucia Valentini Terrani, Contralto 
orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra (1985)
conductor: Claudio Abbado 
 
  
Detail of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece – Dead Christ

Detail of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
31 March 2013
WordPress
 

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

From the Magnificat to the Stabat Mater

06 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Music

≈ 269 Comments

Tags

Benedictus, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Hymns to Mary, Luke, Magnificat, Marian, Mary, Stabat Mater

Pietà (detail), William-Adophe Bouguereau, 1876

The Stabat Mater is a hymn expressing the sorrow of Mary as her son, Jesus of Nazareth, is being crucified and then taken down from the Crucifix, the descent.

According to Wikipedia, the Stabat Mater usually refers to a 13th-century Catholic hymn to Mary, the first Stabat Mater, variously attributed to the Franciscan Jacopone da Todi and to Innocent III.

The Stabat Mater is associated with the Magnificat, one of several canticles sung at Vespers.  We are therefore moving from antiphons (antiennes) to canticles (cantiques).  Moreover, with the Magnificat, we are travelling back to the earliest days of Marian hymnology.  The Magnificat is an ancient canticle.

From Antiphons to Canticles

Canticles are hymns sung during the Canonical Hours.  Seven find their origin in the Old Testament and are sung at Lauds. Three, however are contained in the Gospel according to Luke.  I will list the three borrowing from Wikipedia.  We have

  • at Lauds, the “Canticle of Zachary” (Luke 1:68-79), commonly referred to as the “Benedictus” (from its first word);
  • at Vespers, the “Canticle of the Bl. Mary Virgin” (Luke 1:46-55), commonly known as the “Magnificat” (from its first word);
  • at Compline, the “Canticle of Simeon” (Luke 2:29-32), commonly referred to as the “Nunc dimittis” (from the opening words).
Virgin with Child, Claude-Louis Vassé (1722) © NDP
Claude-Louis Vassé (Paris: 1717 – 1772)
 

At Notre-Dame de Paris the Magnificat is sung every day before the four Marian antiphons and after the Ave Maria (Hail Mary) and the Angelus.

The Magnificat is Mary’s song of praise upon learning that her cousin Elizabeth, Zachary’s wife, is with child.  She will be the mother of St John the Baptist.  This event is recorded as The Visitation.  As for Mary, she has been visited by the archangel Gabriel and knows she is bearing the Saviour: The Annunciation.

In fact, all three New Testament canticles tell the story of the birth of John the Baptist and that of Jesus.  Zachary is the father of John the Baptist and at the moment of the Presentation of Jesus to the Temple, Simeon recognizes the Saviour in the baby Jesus.  But, combined with the Stabat Mater, the Canticles also tell a story of death and rebirth.  The two are juxtaposed as they express the perpetual cycle of birth and death, a cycle akin to that of the Four Seasons, spring eternal, celebrated by composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741).

Handel’s Messiah: the Cycle

Also expressing the link between the Nativity, starting with the Annunciation, and Easter is Handel‘s Messiah, an oratorio.  It is performed at Christmas and at Easter, the latter feast being, to my knowledge the more important of the two.  I will not discuss the Messiah in this post.  Basically, we are dealing with songs, albeit liturgical songs, the exception being JS Bach’s Magnificat, a substantial work.

In an earlier blog, I wrote about Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (4 January 1710 – 16 March 1736).  Pergolesi composed a beautiful Magnificat and a masterful Stabat Mater, as well as other liturgical pieces. Although he died at the age of 26, he had already written several masterpieces. The above link, his name, takes the reader to my post, but for information on the composer, organist and violinist, I would suggest you click on Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (Wikipedia). It is not insignicant that among his compositions, there should be both a Magnificat, a canticle, and the Stabat Mater.

With respect to the Marian hymns, to view the complete list, antiphons, canticles and other hymns, please click on Hymns to Mary.  The words Marian hymnology constitute an ‘umbrella’ term encompassing all the music dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.

For the text of the Stabat Mater, Latin and English, click on Stabat Mater. To read the English text of the Magnificat, click on Magnificat.

You will find below several pieces of Marian sacred music.  There is little for me to add, the language of tones being more expressive than national languages.  So I will leave you to listen and perhaps to marvel at the place given Mary in the arts and in music.  You will hear canticles, psalms, parts of the Mass, etc.  Moreover, I have listed, at the bottom of the page, all my posts on the subject of Marian hymnology in sacred music.

  • Vivaldi: Stabat Mater, Marie-Nicole Lemieux (1)
  • Vivaldi: Stabat Mater, Marie-Nicole Lemieux (2)
  • Stabat Mater Dolorosa (live)
  • Pergolesi:  Stabat Mater, Quando corpus morietur
  • Pergolesi:  Magnificat in C Major
  • JS Bach: Magnificat in D-dur BWV 243, Chorus Viennensis Concertus musicus Wien (Nikolaus Harnoncourt, dir.)
  • Monteverdi: ‘Sì dolce è ‘l tormento , SV 332, Jaroussky (a Lament)
  • Pergolesi: Laudate pueri Dominum (2) a Psalm
  • Mozart: Laudate Dominum (Vesperae solemnes de confessore) a Psalm
  • Mozart: Agnus Dei (Coronation Mass K317), Kathleen Battle (The Vienna Philharmonic & The Vienna Singverein, Herbert von Karajan) a Mass
 
 
  • Raphael and Marian Liturgy at NDP 04/04/2012
  • Fra Angelico & the Annunciation 03/04/2012
  • On Calendars & Feast Days 02/04/2012
  • Nunc Dimittis, Simeon’s Song of Praise 02/02/2012
  • The Blessed Virgin: Mariology
  • A Christmas Offering: Hymns to Mary 25/12/2011
  • A Portrait of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi 20/12/2011
  • The Canonical Hours and the Divine Office 19/11/2011

Pietà,by Michelangelo(1498–1499)

  • © Micheline Walker
  • April 6th, 2012
  • WordPress
0.000000 0.000000

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Europa

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,507 other subscribers

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Epiphany 2023
  • Pavarotti sings Schubert’s « Ave Maria »
  • Yves Montand chante “À Bicyclette”
  • Almost ready
  • Bicycles for Migrant Farm Workers
  • Tout Molière.net : parti …
  • Remembering Belaud
  • Monet’s Magpie
  • To Lori Weber: Language Laws in Quebec, 2
  • To Lori Weber: Language Laws

Archives

Calendar

February 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728  
« Jan    

Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • WordPress.org

micheline.walker@videotron.ca

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker

Social

Social

  • View belaud44’s profile on Facebook
  • View Follow @mouchette_02’s profile on Twitter
  • View Micheline Walker’s profile on LinkedIn
  • View belaud44’s profile on YouTube
  • View Miicheline Walker’s profile on Google+
  • View michelinewalker’s profile on WordPress.org

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker
Follow Micheline's Blog on WordPress.com

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

  • Follow Following
    • Micheline's Blog
    • Join 2,475 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Micheline's Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: