The 21th Galway Early Music Festival May 12 - 15, 2016
LADY OF SORROWS
Helen Hasset, soprano; Jacob Herringman, lute; Sarah Groser, viol; Andrew Robinson, viol; Malachy Robinson, viol; Laoise O’Brien, recorders; Patrick Goyvaerts and Debbie Wright, actors
SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2016 4:00 pm
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LADY OF SORROWS myn hert altyt
Piere de la Rue 1460-1518
et qui la dira
Alexander Agricola 1446-1506/ Heinrich Isaac 1450-1521
vray dieu que me confortera Antoine Bruhier fl.early 16c tous le regretz
Antoine Brumel 1460-1512
dance de cleves
Anon 1450
doleo super te
Pierre de la Rue 1460-1518
plaine de duel
Josquin des Prez 1440-1521
comment peult
Josquin des Prez 1440-1521
pour ung jamais
Piere de la Rue 1460-1518
que vous ma dame-in pace in pace
Josquin des Prez 1440-1521 Chant
Musical Programme by Sarah Groser and Patrick Goyvaerts Script and Direction by Patrick Goyvaerts
MARGARET OF AUSTRIA Margaret of Austria was born in Brussels in 1480, the daughter of the Hapsburg emperor Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. At three years old she was married to the dauphin of France for political reasons, and sent to France when she was twelve. The dauphin decided to marry Anne of Brittany and annulled the marriage. This caused political conflict between the Hapsburg empire and France, and Margaret spent many months imprisoned as a hostage before being sent home to Flanders. After several other disastrous marriages Margaret established her court in Mechelen (between Antwerp and Brussels) where she became a great patron of the arts. She played music and wrote poetry herself, and at her court employed many of the finest Flemish composers of the time. After her brother, the Archduke Philip, died she brought up his children including her nephew the future emperor Charles V. She became regent of the Netherlands and became greatly involved in administration. Her greatest triumph was the ladies’ peace, when she arranged a meeting with the mother of the king of France and brought peace to a warring Europe. Her health declined and at age 50 she entered her last illness and spent her last few days in her chambers settling her affairs before dying in the night of 30 November, 1530.
NOTES ON THE MUSIC Most of the songs are taken from Margaret’s two very beautiful music manuscripts now in Brussels. They are MS 228 written between 1508 and 1516, and Margaret’s 'little' manuscript MS 11239. MS 228 - Margarets ''big'' chansonnier is one of the many lovely manuscripts written and brilliantly illustrated by Petrus Van Den Hove, also known as 'Alamire' who was based in Antwerp, an interesting man who among many other things was also an international spy Alamire was responsible for spreading much great Flemish polyphony throughout Europe. 'Myn hert altyt' (Pierre de la rue) is the only song in MS 228 set to a Flemish text – the ''international'' language for such songs being French. De la Rue was Margaret’s favourite composer. The song opens our program, it is a love song Mine heart is always longing for you my beloved your love has captured me I want to be your very own There are several lute settings of the song as it was very popular. Doleo super te also by De la rue is the fourth part of Considera israel, a longer poem written by Margaret and is based on the biblical lament of David on the death of his friend Jonathan. I grieve for thee, my brother Jonathan... how are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished!
Our last De la rue song in the program is his very beautiful Pour ung Jamais also found in MS 228 – It is Pierre's setting of a poem written by Margaret in classical verse – it is a sad comment on the sorrows of broken love. Forever there remains with me a sorrow which, without ceasing, night and day, at every moment so torments me that I would gladly die for my life is naught but languishing, which in the end must lead to my death. Antoine Brumel's tous les regretz is from Margaret’s ''little'' manuscript MS 11239 All the sorrows there ever were in the world, come to me, where ever I may be. Take my heart in its deep sorrow and leave it so that my lady may see The first seven songs in this manuscript are on the topic of remorse and sorrow, and include the word regretz in their titles, aluding to Margaret’s misfortunes. It can also symbolically be a reference to the seven sorrows of Mary – El que la dira and Vray dieu are both taken from MS 11239 and are a reminder that not everything in Margaret’s life was sadness and sorrow. Both are lively songs which work well as instrumental pieces. El que la dira is a light hearted love song: I love a beautiful maiden, but I know not if she will love me. I would need a trusty servant to go and talk to her and tell her of the pain that my heart feels La dance de cleves is taken from another of Margaret’s manuscripts, the so called ''Bassedanse manuscript'' MS 9085. It dates from around 1500, and is written with gold and silver ink on black parchment. beside bassedanse tunes it contains a treatise on the dances. Josquin dez prez's song Plaine de duel is a lovely sad lament in the five parts from MS 228. Full of pain and saddness seeing my ills forever multiply until at last i can no longer bear them Josquin's Comment peult is a more joyful song - with the line he cares not to sing who lives in disappointment Margaret did sing and play music – her life was not all dissappointment. In Josquin’s que vous ma dome / in pace – we have a lovely three part piece played here on three viols as a lament to Margaret. It is based on the chant in pace in idipsum sung in monasteries every normal Sunday during compline, the night prayer – the chant melody is heard in the baseline. Next you will hear the chant sung solo, the words are from psalm 4 and psalm 131: in peace i will immediatly fall asleep and rest, if i will give sleep to my eyes
PERFORMERS Helen Hassett commenced her singing studies at the Cork School of Music with renowned singing teacher Robert Beare in 1990. Upon obtaining an honours BMus in 1993, she secured a place at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music in London where she completed a post-graduate diploma in Early Music Performance in 1995. Helen then returned to Cork and earned a first-class honours teaching diploma from the Cork School of Music. Since her first solo professional performance at the age of 19, Helen emerged as one of Ireland's finest young sopranos. A string of performances during her earliest years with the RTE Concert Orchestra, Orchestra of St Cecilia, Cork Symphony Orchestra and Dublin Baroque Players re-enforced her reputation of excellence as a recitalist and concert soloist. Sarah Groser first played the viol as a nine year old when her father lent her one to keep her happy while she was waiting to start on the cello. She didn’t play a viol again until her late teens when she heard a viol consort and fell in love with the sound of viols playing together. At Manchester University she was able to study both baroque cello and viol with Charles Medlam, then went on to Rotterdam Conservatorium to study baroque cello with Jaap ter Linden. Since her studies Sarah has concentrated on the viol and more recently the violone. She has been a member of the Rose Consort of Viols for fifteen years, Sonnerie for three years and has worked with many other ensembles including Fretwork, Charivari Agreable, London Baroque, Dowland Consort and The Irish Consort. The American-born lutenist Jacob Heringman studied with Jakob Lindberg at the Royal College of Music in London, and later with Pat O'Brien in New York. Based in England since 1987, he has established himself as one of the world’s most respected and most innovative solo lute players, and as a much sought-after ensemble player performing regularly throughout Europe and North and South America, and making many CD and radio recordings of medieval and renaissance music with leading English ensembles, including The Rose Consort of Viols, Fretwork, Musicians of the Globe, The Kings Singers, The New London Consort,Virelai and The Dufay Collective. Malachy Robinson is a dedicated chamber musician, as passionate about Early Music as he is about New Music. He is a founder of the Gregory Walkers, a group performing “Early Music from Ireland and beyond” in which he plays the violone, and is director of the Robinson Panoramic Quartet, a revelatory alternative to the standard string quartet. Principal double-bass with the Irish Chamber Orchestra since 1995, he is also a founder member of the cutting-edge Crash Ensemble as well as appearing with period-instrument orchestras such as The Sixteen, the English Concert, the OAE and the Academy of Ancient Music.
Laoise O'Brien has a growing reputation as a virtuosic performer and imaginative concert programmer. Laoise studied recorder at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam having completed an undergraduate degree on concert flute at the College of Music in Dublin. She also holds a Masters degree in Performance and Musicology from NUI Maynooth. Laoise enjoys both solo and ensemble playing and performs repertoire from the 12th to the 21st centuries. She has performed and recorded with all the major early music groups in Ireland including the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Camerata Kilkenny, and the Irish Consort and with ensembles such as the Irish Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra and Vanbrugh Quartet. Laoise has also performed with international ensembles such as the Royal Wind Music, Amsterdam, and is currently exploring instrumental dance music with The Gregory Walkers and contemporary music as part of the duo Temenos with clarientist, Paul Roe. Andrew Robinson took his MusB at Trinity College Dublin and his MA in Renaissance Music at Queen's University Belfast. He studied viola da gamba with José Vázquez, after taking his LRAM as a guitar teacher. He was a co-founder and co-director with Barra Boydell of The Consort of St Sepulchre, a Renaissance-music ensemble that performed all over Ireland in the 1970s. The Consort recorded two albums for EMI (Ireland), which were produced by Donal Lunny. He has performed Bach's Passion solos, as well as his Actus Tragicus and sixth Brandenburg Concerto with various orchestras, including the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Andrew also studied chamber music with John Beckett, and continues to teach the Royal Irish Academy of Music viol consort class begun by John. He directs and performs with The Dublin Viols, and is a regular teacher in the continental Orpheon Summer Academy run by José Vázquez. Debbie Wright has worked in theatre in the Uk, Spain and Ireland since graduating from Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance in 1990. She has completed further study in Arts Administration and has a MA in Festive Arts. She works as a freelance Director, Performer and Production coordinator and has many years experience in drama and dance facilitation working with various community groups. She has worked with Galway based street arts company, Macnas since 2002 in all areas of theatre performance and production. She recently toured to the Lebanon with ‘Clowns without Borders’ performing in Palestinian and Syrian refugee camps.
Patrick Goyvaerts grew up in Antwerp and moved to Ireland as a teenager in 1965. He started to play guitar and got involved in the folk music scene. He studied in Cork School of Music and started to study classical guitar with James O Brien in Cork before going to London to study guitar with Anthea Gifford . On coming back to Ireland, he abandoned modern classical guitar technique and started to teach himself the lute and early guitar technique while also playing other guitar styles. He now concentrates on medieval and other "early" music but does not often play in public. He has started to play the medieval harp and is making a medieval hurdy-gurdy. He has a lifelong interest in cultural and social history and the Lady of Sorrows project came out of his desire to bring music out of a modern concert setting into a different context by using the idea of narrative, acting and poetry as a way of bringing the music closer to our understanding of its social period. Besides writing and directing, this is his first time acting on stage.