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1 CD -
SK 45 861 - (p) 1990
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VIVARTE - 60
CD Collection Vol. 2 - CD 1
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Ave Maris Stella - Life
of the Virgin Mary in Plainsong -
Marienleben im Choral |
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75' 19" |
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Ave
maris stella |
2' 07" |
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1
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I.
Immaculata conceptio B.M.V. |
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- Gaudens gaudebo
in Domino |
3' 22" |
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2
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Benedicta es tu, Virgo Maria |
2' 30" |
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3
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II.
In nativitate B.M.V. |
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Ave Maria, gratia plena |
1' 51" |
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4
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Nativitatis tua |
1' 16" |
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5
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III.
In annuntiatione B.M.V. |
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Ave Maria |
1' 59" |
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6
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- Ave Maria,
gratia plena |
4' 07" |
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7
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- Ecce Virgo
concipiet |
3' 04" |
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8
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IV.
Visitatio B.M.V. |
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Cum audisset salutationem Mariae |
5' 36" |
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9
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Magnificat |
2' 47" |
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10
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Magnificat |
4' 13" |
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11
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V.
In nativitate Domini |
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- Kyrie -
virginitatis amator |
4' 07" |
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12
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- Salve sancta
Parens |
2' 21" |
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13
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- Alma redemptoris
Mater |
4' 09" |
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14
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VI.
In purificatione B.M.V. |
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Lumen ad revelationem gentium /
Canticum Simeonis |
2' 52" |
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15
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- Adorna thalamum
tuum |
2' 25" |
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16
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VII.
In festo septem dolorum |
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Stabat sancta Maria |
2' 40" |
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17
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Stabat Mater dolorosa
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5' 14" |
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18
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- Recordare Virgo
Mater
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1' 51" |
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19
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VIII.
In assumptione B.M.V. |
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- Gaudeamus omnes
in Domino |
2' 53" |
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20
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- Lectio libri
sapientiae
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4' 13" |
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21
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Assumpta est Maria in caelum |
1' 54" |
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22
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Additional
pieces |
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Sancta Maria, succurre miseris |
1' 42" |
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23
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Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae |
2' 38" |
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24 |
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Niederaltaicher
Scholaren |
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Konrad
Ruhland, conductor |
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Luogo
e data di registrazione |
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Ursulinenkloster,
Niederaltaich, Bavaria (Germany) -
2-5 November 1989 |
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Registrazione:
live / studio |
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studio |
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Producer /
Recording supervisor |
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Wolf
Erichson |
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Recording engineer
/ editing
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Stephan
Schellmann (Tritonus) |
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Prima Edizione LP |
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Prima Edizione CD |
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Sony
/ Vivarte - SK 45 861 - (1 CD) -
durata 75' 19" - (p) 1990 - DDD |
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Cover Art
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Hinrik
Funhof, Maria im Ahrenkleid
(Kunsthalle Hamburg)
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Note |
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Ever
since the appearance of the
Gospel according to St. Luke,
where, in the Magnificat
(Luke 1, 46-55), the Virgin
Mary herself sings: “Behold,
from henceforth all
generations shall call me
blessed” the anthems praising
her have not ceased to
resound. Countless poets,
scholars and travelling
students have sung Mary’s
praises in their poems, songs
and prayers.
Generations of the faithful
have taken part in
celebrations of the holidays
devoted to her that take place
with fixed regularity in the
course of the church year.
Along with the holidays
devoted to the Lord and the
name days of the saints, the
holidays of the Mother Mary
occupy an especially prominent
place in the calendar of the
ecclesiastical year.
Although following local
traditions, the number of
these holidays was much
greater than we can imagine
today, only the Marian
holidays with central
significance are to be of
concern to us here.
The eight holidays devoted to
the Virgin Mary presented in
our musical selections are
framed by the title hymn of
our collection, Ave maris
stella, one of the most
widely-known and popular hymns
to Mary of the Middle Ages.
Our selections are also framed
by the pieces closing the
holiday cycle, the two prayers
to Mary Sancta Maria
succurre miseris and Salve
Regina, Mater misericordiae.
In this way, a metamorphosis
from anthem of praise to
prayer for intercession,
discernible in many Marian
hymns, can also be observed
here. While Sancta Maria
succurre miseris plainly
represents an archetypal
prayer of enormous urgency, Salve
Regina, Mater misericordiae
can well be considered the
most important of the four
great Marian antiphons,
performed here in the festive
style of singing attributed to
the monk Hermannus Contractus
(Hermann the Lame, 1013-1054)
of Reichenau.
Texts of praise or entreaty to
the Virgin Mary have provided
an inexhaustible source of
inspiration for musicians of
all ages. Especially in the
compositions of hymns,
sequences, tropes and canzone,
the Middle Ages witnessed the
development of a richness of
invention that demonstrated a
very high level of achievement
in both poetic and musical
terms The collection of pieces
on this recording is meant to
present as great a variety in
form, content and style of
musical composition as
possible within the framework
of the chosen area of
interest, the Marian holidays.
Thus, neither a compilation of
the oldest sacred songs nor
the presentation of a complete
mass for the Virgin Mary was
considered. This recording
contains instead a variety of
sacred songs of different
periods and origins and
includes more than one setting
of the same text, for example,
of the Magnificat.
Some of the holidays devoted
to Mary are very closely
related to the holidays of the
Lord. The sequence of the
pieces performed on this
recording does not follow the
occurence of the holidays in
the ecclesiastical year, but
instead, the chronological
order of events in Mary’s
life.
After the opening hymn Ave
maris stella in the
Cistercian tradition, which
has venerated the Virgin Mary
for centuries, the selections
concerning the individual
holidays follow.
I. The Immaculate
Conception ofthe Blessed
Virgin Mary (December
8th)
This holiday, in which Mary
was chosen by the Lord to be
the Mother of Christ, marks
the beginning of the healing
work of the Saviour. This
feast is opened by the
powerful and joyful Introit Gaudens
gaudebo, in the phrygian
mode and continues in the
radiant Gradual Benedicta
es tu Virgo Maria in the
fifth, the lydian mode. The
solo verse of the Gradual
describes Mary in the most
noble terms: “Tu gloria
Jerusalem, tu laetitia Israel,
tu honorificentia populi
nostri.”
II. The Nativity of the
Blessed Virgin Mary
(September 8th).
This is one of the three
birthdays celebrated by the
church, the others being
Christmas and the birthday of
St. John the Baptist. The
short Responsory in the sixth
mode, Ave Maria — one
of the most beautiful examples
of melodic composition for
sacred songs - and the
Antiphon Nativitas tua,
sung to the canticles Magnificat
and Benedictus, here
represent this feast.
III. The Annunciation of
the Blessed Virgin Mary
(March 25th)
The angel’s message at the
Annunciation of the Blessed
Virgin, the “angelic
greeting”, became the most
famous of all prayers to Mary,
the Ave Maria.
Numerous hymns to Mary
emphasize this feast’s
relationship to the
celebration of Christmas on
December 25th. Many tropes and
sequences also underline this
connection, so that in the
Feast of the Birth of Jesus
Christ, the Mother of Our Lord
is also accorded a prominent
place, in the poetry as well
as in the music. The three
sacred songs chosen for
presentation here demonstrate
this relationship and have
especially joyful melodic
contours, expressing clearly
the meaning of this feast.
IV. The Visitation of the
Blessed Virgin Mary
(July 2nd)
The visit of the Virgin Mary
to her cousin Elizabeth makes
references to passages of the
Magnificat. This text
has been set more often than
all other Marian texts in the
history of music - much more
often than the Ave Maria.
This text appears in the hymn
repertoire, as well - as an
antiphon/responsory and even
as an independent, most solemn
setting of the Gospel. The
latter can be found in a 14th
-century Prague manuscript,
while the Magnificat
responsory has been taken from
the Cistercian repertoire.
V. Advent and Christmas
(December 25th)
Naturally, the Advent season
and the Feast of the Birth of
Jesus Christ provide ample
opportunities to remember the
Mother of God. Many hymns give
examples of the veneration of
Mary in this period. Our Kyrie-trope
is drawn from a late
manuscript in a hymnal setting
from the Prémontré Seminary
Schlägl dating from the
beginning of the 16th century.
This trope is completely
devoted to Christmas. The
commonly-known Marian Introit
Salve sancta parens by
Sedulius (5th century), which
is the only Introit setting
using a hexametrical
structure, and the Marian
Sequence Alma redemptoris
Mater represent on this
recording the Christmas
season. The sequence, drawn
from a collection of such
pieces found in Rheinau,
quotes at the beginning and at
the end both the melody and
text of the corresponding
antiphon. This citation
justifies “the melisma at the
beginning, unheard-of for a
sequence” (Peter Wagner). It
is yet another example of how,
also in Germany, the medieval
veneration of the Mother Mary
found its most direct
expression in the form of
sequences.
VI. The Purification afthe
Blessed Virgin Mary
(Candlemas Day, February 2nd).
The Feast of the “Presentation
of Our Lord in the Temple” 40
days after his birth,
according to Mosaic Law and
related to His Mothers
“Purification” ritual, was
celebrated in Germany by the
blessing of candles and a
procession of the faithful
carrying lighted candles,
making this holiday a
“Candle-Mass” (= Candlemas
Day). Here, the famous
antiphon Lumen ad
revelationem, together
with the canticle of the old
man Simeon Nunc dimittis
servum tuum are
obligatory parts of this
celebration. In the repertoire
of the entire ecclesiastical
year there is no more
prominent example of
responsorial singing with
recurring antiphon and
psalmody than is shown in this
piece. The theme of “light”
clearly articulates the
relation of Epiphany to
Easter. Adorna thalamum,
one of the most important and
remarkable antiphons, was
probably never connected with
the psalmody, that is, it was
always performed as an
independent piece, by itself.
This work conveys the
impression of being a “Kings
hymn" (D. Johner) through its
melody’s constant revolving
around the note C, on a tonal
level thus operating
simultaneously as a final and
as a tenor.
VII. Feast of the Seven
Dolors of the Blessed Virgin
Mary (Friday in Passion
Week and September 15th)
The feast of the suffering of
Mary in union with the Passion
of Her Son was not celebrated
in Germany until the 15th
century, when it was
introduced in connection with
the Order of the Servites
(originally
from Italy). Not only the
Tract, with a melody that
probably originated in the
11th century, but also the
more famous sequence Stabat
mater dolorosa portray
the moving situation of Mary
at the cross of Her Son. The
poet of this once so popular
sequence has remained unknown
to this day. Although the
version of the melody
performed here is a late
product of the Renaissance of
sacred song in France, it does
make reference to an ancient
sequence melody, which is
quite unusual. The Offertory Recordare
virgo mater also
represents a rarity among
pieces of its kind. During the
last extended melisma on “a
nobis” a trope suddenly
appears in the form of a short
sequence, containing a prayer
for intercession in the
suffering of the Holy Mother.
Truly a most unusual
phenomenon within the
framework of an Offertory.
VIII. The Assumption of
the Blessed Virgin Mary
(August 15th).
This most significant of all
Marian Feasts underwent
several changes, especially in
terms of its music, in the
course of liturgical history.
On several occasions almost
all of the hymns of this
holiday’s Proper of the Mass
were exchanged for other
pieces. This may appear
strange at first; it becomes
understandable, however, when
one considers the inner
theological dynamics of this
holiday. The Introit Gaudeamus
was older in origin and often
subjected to adaptation: it
also appears as an Introit on
other holidays. Its joyful,
festive character and its
naturally balanced
compositional structure mark
this piece with distinction.
The Offertory was also not
originally conceived for this
holiday, but instead was taken
from the Proper of the Mass
for Easter Monday.
Nonetheless, this hymn makes
an extremely striking
impression on the listener,
especially in the settings of
the words “gaudent” and
“collaudantes": the joy of the
angels is portrayed in the
heightened melismatic writing
of these passages.
Among the selections presented
here, the setting of this
day’s reading provides the
only example of the manner in
which composers extended the
use of early polyphonic
practices to the composition
of masses, thereby creating
very remote forms. In this
piece, drawn from a Bavarian
manuscript of the Order of St.
Augustine, principles of
bourdon and of melodic
variation play equal roles in
the compositional makeup. The
nature of this composition
reveals more about Gregorian
polyphonic perfomance practice
than it does about the
compositional techniques used
for organum.
Konrad
Ruhland
(Translation: Deborah
Hochgesang)
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