Charles Stanford: Three Motets Op 38
Justorum Aminae, Caelos Ascendit, Beati Quorum Via
Sometimes described as “Brahms with an Irish accent”, Charles Villiers Stanford was born in Dublin in 1852, where as a boy he sang in the choir of St Patrick’s Cathedral, and received instruction in the piano, violin and organ. His father had intended for him to follow the family tradition and enter the legal profession, but on his gaining a choral scholarship to Queen’s College Cambridge, it became clear that music was to be his life’s work. In 1873, aged just 21, and after just three years’ study at Cambridge, Stanford was appointed organist and Director of Music at Trinity College, working in the shadow of the mighty chapel at King’s.
He was held in such regard that, after just a year’s work at Trinity, the college authorities granted him a sabbatical of 2 years, during which he travelled extensively, receiving tuition in composition from Brahms, Offenbach and Saint-Saëns amongst others. On his return, composition and teaching consumed his life, and works for the stage, the church and the concert hall followed thick and fast, as well as a prolific output of songs, part songs and chamber music. His church music, with its rich, continental harmonic language, full of free flowing modulations and fine melodic invention, was immediately popular, and recognised as being infinitely superior to the rather bland and unchallenging works of many of his Victorian predecessors and contemporaries.
When the RCM was opened by Royal Charter in 1883, at the initiation of Sir George Grove, Stanford was the first choice as Professor of Composition. In 1883 he was also made Professor of Composition at the University of Cambridge, and he held both of these posts concurrently until his death in 1924. From 1885 until 1902 he was Musical Director of the London Bach Choir. Stanford’s influence as a composer was immense. Regarded as the paramount British composer of his day, unlike the largely self-taught and reclusive Elgar, during his time in London and Cambridge, Stanford had a list of pupils which included, amongst others, Constant Lambert, Charles Wood, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Coleridge Taylor, Ireland, Bridge, Bliss, Harris, Howells, and Arthur Benjamin. Honorary doctorates from Durham and Cambridge and a knighthood were some of the many decorations he collected along the way. It is interesting and perhaps symbolic that, amongst musicians, his ashes were the first to be interred in Westminster Abbey since those of Purcell, 229 years earlier, right next to which they now lie.
This trilogy of motets, three wonderful unaccompanied miniatures, provide an insight into Stanford’s lyrical use of melody, and the influence gained from the a cappella choral motets of Brahms. Dedicated to Alan Gray, Stanford’s successor at Trinity College, and the Chapel Choir, they were written in 1892 and published in 1905.
Justorum animae, in four parts, takes its text from the Book of Wisdom:
| Justorum animae in manu Dei sunt, Et non tanget illos tormentum malitiae. Visi sunt oculis insipientium mori, Illi autem sunt in pace. |
The souls of the righteous
are in the hand of God, There shall no torment or malice touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seem to die, But they are at peace. |
The piece is in three short sections. The outer two reflect the contemplative nature of the first and last part of the text, whilst the central section is a vivid depiction of malice.
Cælos ascendit hodie is a motet for Ascensiontide. The text is anonymous, and is from the Cowley Carol Book, a late nineteenth century collection of poems and carols for Christmas, Easter and Ascensiontide, which was partly edited by Charles Wood.
Cælos ascendit hodie,
alleluia Iam finem habent omnia,
alleluia. In hoc triumpho maximo,
alleluia, |
Today Jesus Christ, the King
of glory, alleluia, Now all the songs of the
Patriarch David, alleluia, In this great triumph,
alleluia,
|
Beati quorum via, in six parts, takes its text from the first verse of Psalm 119, verse 1,
| Beati quorum via integra est, Qui ambulant in lege Domini. |
Blessed are the undefiled in
the way, |
With divided sopranos and basses, this motet is meditative in character. Effective use is made of contrasting the three upper and three lower voices antiphonally, and the main melodic motif, which rises and falls in a way reminiscent of a slow movement from a romantic symphony, is shared at various points around the lower voices.
Notes by Peter Parfitt
©2011 Aberdeen Bach Choir