Seattle Bach Choir presents: Abide With Us
$20 ($18 senior/student)
Thomas Tallis — If ye love me keep my commandments
Anton Bruckner — Locus iste, WAB 23
Josef Rheinberger — Abendlied, Op. 69, No. 3
Rosephanye Powell — Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
Ola Gjeilo — Ubi Caritas
Shawn Kirchner — "Unclouded Day" from Heavenly Home: Three American Songs
Frank Martin – Mass for Double Choir
Thomas Tallis – If Ye Love Me
Anton Bruckner – Locus Iste
Josef Rheinberger – Abendlied
Rosephayne Powell – Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
Ola Gjeilo – Ubi Caritas
Shawn Kirchner – Unclouded Day
Reception & pre-concert lecture – 2:30 pm
Concert – 3:00 pm
The Seattle Bach Choir under the artistic direction of Dr. Anne Lyman presents "Abide With Us," a concert of a cappella music to calm the spirit and soothe the soul.
The concert highlights the great 20th-century masterwork Mass for Double Choir by Frank Martin. Additional works include a cappella choruses by Rheinberger, Bruckner, Gjeilo, Tallis, and others.
Frank Martin was a French composer greatly influenced by Debussy and Ravel. He composed this setting of the Ordinary of the Mass in the turbulent years immediately following World War I. Generally considered one of the most sublime pieces from this period, the Mass has modal melodies and lyrical lines reminiscent of Renaissance polyphony. When he finished composing it, Martin set it aside, untouched for over 40 years. It premiered when the composer was over 70 years old.
To compliment Martin’s work, additional pieces from the great choral canon include Tallis’s famous If Ye Love Me, Bruckner’s Locus Iste, and Rheinberger’s tender setting of Abendlied. Rosephayne Powell’s woeful arrangement of Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child and Ola Gjeilo’s contemporary setting of Ubi Caritas add to the subtle images of the peace that follows unrest. Finally, with Shawn Kirchner’s spirited arrangement of Unclouded Day, the quiet is released into ecstatic, uncontained joy.
The Seattle Bach Choir performs great choral music at the highest artistic level under the direction of Dr. Anne Lyman in the beautiful sanctuary of Trinity Parish Church. A scholar of early music, director Lyman begins each concert with an informative discussion about the music to be performed. Seattle Bach Choir concerts are educational and uplifting, a voyage of discovery for a choral newcomer and inspirational for the aficionado. Please join us!