The university of Texas at Austin

Presents

Rachel Davis, conductor

A Masters Recital
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Veni creator spiritus Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

c. 1525-1594
Steven Knell, cantor

Mass No. 2 in G Major, D. 167 Franz Schubert

1797-1828
Lauren Gibson, soprano
Ryan Breaux, baritone
Steven Knell, tenor

Drei Quartette, opus 31 Johannes Brahms

1. Wechsellied zum Tanze 1833-1897
2. Neckereien
3. Der Gang zum Liebchen

Three Scottish Folksongs arr. Mack Wilberg

1. O Whistle and I’ll Come to Ye b. 1955
2. My Love’s in Germany
3. I’ll Ay Call in by Yon Town

Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 7:30pm | University Christian Church

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of the Masters of Music degree in Choral Conducting.
 Program notes

Veni creator spiritus [Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina] –

Veni creator spiritus is a prayer dedicated to the third power of the Divine Trinity—the Holy
Spirit. This prayer has been set by some of the greatest composers of the Medieval and
Renaissance eras, including Tallis, Praetorius, Dufay, and Victoria, along with Romantic
composers Berlioz and Liszt. This particular setting by Palestrina, although not one of his
more famous works, demonstrates the same compositional techniques that make Palestrina
so complex and beautiful through the ages. The Cantor presents the chant between the
choral settings of texts, which Palestrina masterfully composes into alternating voices.
Fragments of the chants can be heard throughout the choral texture, mainly in the soprano
and tenor voices. Through highlighting the chant fragments, one can piece together the full
chant in each movement in the vocal lines, creating a sense of foundation for Palestrina’s
beautiful setting of “Veni creator spiritus”.

Mass No. 2 in G Major, D. 167 [Franz Schubert] –

Schubert’s masterful setting of the traditional Mass texts in Mass No. 2 in G Major pushes
the boundaries of traditional Mass settings from the Baroque and Classical eras. Orchestrated
for strings, trumpets, timpani, and organ, this thin yet compelling texture supports the
vivacious choral texture above. Uniquely, Schubert begins the Kyrie with only choir and
strings and without introduction, setting a tranquil tone for the Mass. This, however, quickly
changes when the soprano enters with the “Christe eleison”, desperately pleading “Christ,
have mercy upon us”. The choir’s entrance relaxes into the final “Kyrie eleison”, closing the
movement with a peaceful plea for mercy. This peace is quickly disrupted by the fiery
opening arpeggio of the Gloria, leading into a fortissimo choral entrance. This exclamation of
“Glory to God in the highest” from the choir is quickly followed by a tender duet between
the soprano and the baritone. The choir softly cries “Miserere nobis” underneath, gently
praying for mercy until Schubert returns to the proclamatory opening of the movement to
close. The “Credo” that follows, colloquially known as “The Apostle’s Creed”, features a
peaceful walking bass to compliment the soft choral texture above. The longest of the
movements, this “Credo” presents the foundations of the Christian faith, and Schubert
masterfully translates these beliefs into music. Through a tumultuous middle and
proclamatory climax, the “Credo” finally returns to the peaceful tones of its opening.
Similarly to the “Kyrie”, this peace is disrupted by the “Sanctus” that follows, using another
declamatory arpeggio to begin the movement. This slow, powerful opening is followed by the
first and only fugue in the piece: “Osanna in excelsis”. Schubert’s fugue is unconventionally
short and simple in nature; where other composers use the fugue to highlight the complexity
of the piece, Schubert uses the fugue as a means to drive the orchestration to a powerful end
of the “Sanctus” movement. This leads to Schubert’s elegant setting of the “Benedictus”,
featuring a gorgeous trio with soprano, tenor, and baritone. This rather romantic setting
utilizes more ornamentation and expression than previous solo appearances in the Mass, and
therefore provides the most abruptly beautiful answer to the fiery “Sanctus” that precedes it.
This magnificent trio finally finishes with the sudden return of the fugue from the “Sanctus”
in the choir—an exact repetition of the fugue. The fugue closes and Schubert presents the
final movement of his mass setting: the “Agnus Dei”. Marked Lento in the orchestration, this
slow, dramatic closing movement features powerful solos from both the soprano and the
baritone. Each soloist cries out “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”, to
which the choir quietly responds “Have mercy on us”. This is coupled with a beautiful duet
between the first and second violins, which Schubert composes to highlight the more extreme
highs and lows of the instrument’s range. The final soprano entrance changes with the first
iteration of the text “Dona nobis pacem”, or, “Grant us peace”. This is echoed by the choir in
the same way that the previous text was stated, however, here we have finally returned to
the key of G major. The strings softly echo the choir’s soft pleas before tenderly closing the
movement with three soft chords. Schubert’s Mass in G Major, while utilizing quite a few
loud and fiery passages of text and orchestration, ultimately retains a soft and peaceful
quality that evokes a prayer-like mindset in the listener.

Drei Quartette, opus 31 [Johannes Brahms] –

Known for his extensive choral works, Brahms published this set of three choral quartets in
1864. Although there is much debate over whether or not Brahms composed these three
quartets together, these pieces compliment each other in the Opus 31 set. The first quartet,
“Wechsellied zum Tanze”, couples the alto-bass sections an soprano-tenor sections together
to personify a couple at a ball. The man, called “The Indifferent Ones”, suggests that his
sweetheart should join him in a dance. The woman, called “The Affectionate Ones”, responds
with whimsical romanticisms and would rather bask in the light of the moon than engage in
the dance. After a long back and forth, it is implied that the “Indifferent Ones” win the
argument and the couple finally joins in the dance. In the second quartet, titled “Teasing” or
“Flirting”, the man proclaims his love to his sweetheart and makes a vow to make her his
wife. The woman refuses his pleas, rotating through various incarnations of animals to evade
the man’s advances. The man rebuts these incarnations with his proclamations of love, but
the woman holds firm to her refusal. Finally, the third quartet personifies the love that the
speaker has for his sweetheart, thinking of her fondly although it is implied that she is gone
from him. He wonders if she still loves him and thinks of him fondly too, but in the end the
reality becomes clear—she has gone away from him, presumably forever.

Three Scottish Songs [arr. Mack Wilberg] –

Mack Wilberg’s arrangements of these three folksongs personifies the Scottish air of the
texts. The first of the three, “O Whistle” describes a secret romance between two young
lovers. The pair will whistle to each other to signal where to meet and keep away from the
disapproving eyes of their parents. The second movement, “My Love’s in Germany”,
abruptly replaces the lightness of the first movement with the dark sadness of lost love. The
speaker in this movement laments over her love “Willie” who has gone off to war and
perishes over seas. Wilberg gives this melody to the altos and utilizes their lower register to
enact the heart-wrenching cries for the lost love. The final movement, “I’ll Ay Call in by Yon
Town”, returns to the lightheartedness of the first movement with a spirited melody
presented by the tenors. Wilberg’s witty setting of this text is playful and fun to sing with a
melody that is sung over and over again. These settings of Scottish folk songs feature a four-
hands piano accompaniment with just serves to enrich the texture of the arrangements.
 Singers

Kathleen Krysher Kylie Jensen

Natalie Brennan Rachel Lootens
Sabrina Ellis Sarah Spitler
Sabrina Mari Uriegas Sara de la Vega
Hannah Barnard Sarudzai Chigubu
Emma Thrower McKenna King
Nicole Elefante Emma Zahniser
Paige Cook
Veronica Lopez
Anneliese Sandoval
Alessio Nachtergaele Lizzie Jouett
Michael Follis
Christopher Auchter Steven Knell
Weston McCoy Yang Lei
John MacKay Chun-Yi Wu
Jim Hall Andrew Vernon

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Players

Hoi Ting Davidson, violin Donald Livingston, organ

Elizabeth Kilpratrick, violin Jonathan Klausman, trumpet
Kenneth Holmes, viola Cameron Marquez, timpani
Lauren Aldana, cello
DoYoun Kim, bass Thanakarn Limtham, pianist
Yixuan Wang, pianist