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EX CATHEDRA
Eamonn Dougan conductor
Silas Wollston chamber organ
Gavin Kibble cello

Running order:

Johann Ludwig Bach Sei nun wieder zufrieden, meine Seele
Cecilia McDowall The Lord is good
William Byrd Ne irascaris Domine
Arvo Pärt Da pacem Domine
Johann Ludwig Bach Unsere Trübsal
Johannes Brahms Dem dunkeln Schoß der Heilgen Erden
Kerensa Briggs Media vita
Richard Rodney Bennett A Good-Night
Robert Ramsey How are they mighty fall’n
Guillaume Bouzignac – In pace, in idipsum
James MacMillan When you see millions of the mouthless dead
Arvo Pärt Nunc dimittis
Marc-Antoine Charpentier Agnus Dei (Messe pour les trépassés)

Scroll down for texts and translations

Programme Note

It is an enormous pleasure to come back to Birmingham and once again share a stage with Ex Cathedra. I was a member of the ensemble for several formative years and gained so much from singing alongside such dedicated, fun colleagues, in the nurturing environment fostered by Jeffrey Skidmore. I also learnt an enormous variety of new music and it’s some of this breadth of repertoire, a hallmark of Jeffrey’s inspired programming, which I’ve hoped to reflect in tonight’s programme.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday and the works we will perform this evening invite us all to recall with affection those who have gone before us, but also to take a moment to consider our own place in the world and how we relate to those who share our lives and the communities in which we live. I encourage you to read and enjoy the poems and translations.

The music of JS Bach is a cornerstone of Ex Cathedra’s musical year, but the works of his cousin, Johann Ludwig Bach, are less frequently heard. His counterpoint is always well crafted, while being less complex than that cultivated by his famous relative. However, he was held in high regard by Johann Sebastian, who made copies of several of his cantatas and integrated them into his own cantata series in Leipzig. Two works by Johann Ludwig bookend the first half of this concert: Sei nun wieder zufrieden is one of several works he wrote for double choir. The text, based on Psalm 116, is passed between the two choirs, with intricate moments of detail, imaginative word-painting and a real sense of rhetorical flair. This clarity of text presentation is also a feature of Unsere Trübsal, scored for six part choir, but employing the vocal textures in a way which suggests a double choir effect, often pairing the high voices who are in turn answered by the lower voices. This text contrasts our earthly difficulties and challenges with the promise of eternal life – that which is unseen – painted by the uplifting, expressive melismatic runs in the soprano, alto and bass voices. Between these two Germanic works come three contrasting pieces: Cecilia McDowall’s The Lord is good, a setting from the Book of Lamentations features two soprano soloists who declaim the name “Jerusalem” over a rich, exotic choral texture. Jerusalem is also central to William Byrd’s two part masterpiece Ne irascaris / Civitas sanct tui. As a recusant Catholic in Protestant England, Byrd returned repeatedly to themes of persecution: the catastrophe of the Israelite exile to Babylon and the destruction of Jerusalem being a metaphor for England leaving the Catholic faith, with Jerusalem representing Rome. The first part is a plea for divine forgiveness, before the wasteland of God’s holy cities is considered in second part, Byrd emphasising his own personal anguish in the word desolata (forsaken), which is given a staggering 54 separate entires. The music of Arvo Pärt, who celebrates his 90th birthday this year, is renowned for its clarity and emotional impact with Da Pacem Domine one of his most often performed works. Composed as a tribute to the victims of the Madrid train bombing of 2004, Pärt has also described it as a universal prayer for peace, making it a quietly understated anthem for our times.

The second half opens with another rarity, Dem dunkel Schoß by Johannes Brahms. Not all of Brahms’ works were published in his lifetime. Several works have come to light in more recent times, including this partsong, first published in 1927. The verses are funereal and apt for a service of remembrance, the chant-like nature of the opening, giving it a somewhat austere quality, before Brahms brings us comfort with his unmistakeable harmonies and voice leading. Kerenza Brigg’s atmospheric Media Vita was commissioned by the vocal ensemble Siglo de Oro to mark the 500th anniversary of the Renaissance composer John Sheppard, who set the same text in an epic work. Like Sheppard, Briggs uses a rich harmonic language, employing false relations (the clash of major and minor harmonies which creates a jarring dissonance), a feature of Sheppard’s works, and developing an intensity which mirrors the spirit of Sheppard’s setting, if not the scale. A Good-Night by Richard Rodney Bennett, was composed in 1999 and formed part of the collection A Garland for Linda, collated by Sir Paul McCartney as a tribute to his wife, who died of breast cancer in 1998. The words, by C17th English poet Francis Quarles, present sleep as a time of comfort, safety and spiritual protection, while Rodney Bennett’s music is simple and heartfelt, coloured by his characterful harmonic invention, adding spice to enhance the word “discords”, before returning to the meditative, serene atmosphere and, ultimately, falling asleep.

This consolatory mood is replaced with a more overt sense of tragedy, in Robert Ramsey’s How are the mighty fallen. Possibly written in response to the death of Henry, Prince of Wales in 1612, Ramsey does not shy away from twisting the emotional screw and harks back to an earlier age, with liberal use of false relations (again) for expressive purpose, particularly in the heart rending cry of “my brother Jonathan”. This dissonant style is a feature of the music of French baroque Guillaume Bouzignac, but in his setting of In pace, we see him harking back to an earlier age and style, where simplicity and emotional honesty are paramount. The text “In peace and into the same I shall sleep and rest” mirror the sentiment of Rodney Bennett’s A Good-night, while it’s spare texture and prayerful quality echo Pärt’s Da pacem.

James MacMillan’s music has been a huge part of my musical life for the last twenty years and I have been fortunate to give the premieres of several of his works, including When you see millions of the mouthless dead. Scottish war poet Charles Hamilton Sorley wrote this profound poem just before his death in the Battle of Loos in 1915. In it, he confronts the mass slaughter of war, instructing us to not offer sentimental remembrances as the dead have no need of them – a surprisingly unsentimental opinion, but one which shows how deeply the wartime experience affected him. MacMillan went on to include this motet as the central movement of his cantata All the hills and vales along, written to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice in 2018 and premiered that year at his Festival, The Cumnock Tryst.

The penultimate word in our programme goes to Arvo Pärt. His music is a unique blend of an ancient and modern, his voice instantly recognisable. Nunc dimitis was composed in 2001 and intended for use in liturgical services (it was commissioned by St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh), although, like so much of his music, it is also often to be found in concert programmes. It is a prime example of his signature tintinnabuli style – the bell-like quality on which so much of his music is based and which gives many of his works the mood of peaceful introspection and spiritual contemplation for which they have become renowned. A suitable work with which to celebrate, arguably, the most important composer of choral music of the last one hundred years. The final work in the programme brings us full circle. My first ever concert with Ex Cathedra was of works by Marc Antoine Charpentier. Jeffrey has done so much to promote the music of the French baroque in the UK and beyond and it is music which has always been close to my heart. The lush double choir textures of the Agnus Dei from the Messe pour les trépassés(Mass for the deceased) create a symmetry with the JL Bach at the beginning and feel like the ideal way to close our concert, the final phrases for the choir being full of comfort, consolation and, most importantly, hope.

Programme notes by Eamonn Dougan, 2025.

Performers

EX CATHEDRA
Eamonn Dougan conductor
Silas Wollston chamber organ
Gavin Kibble organ

Soprano: Marianne Ayling, Alexandra Burstow***, Naomi Hedges, Margaret Langford, Annabel Ledgard, Rebecca Ledgard, Margaret Lingas, Alice Madden^, Shirley Scott, Rachel Snape, Sally Spencer, Katie Trethewey,

Alto: Sarah Colgan, Sacha Fullerton Hannah Komedera^, Martha McLorinan, Lily Robson, Laura Toomey~

Tenor: Isaac Boulter, Nick Drew, Tom Hawkey-Soar~, Dan Marles*, Andrew Morton*, Iain Sloan, James Wells

Bass: Robert Asher, Oliver Barker, Jeremy Burrows, John Cotterill, Ryan Evans^, Richard Green, Matt Pandya*, Lucas Rebato***, William Swinnerton***, Lawrence White

* denotes Ex Cathedra Graduate Scholar
** denotes Ex Cathedra Student Scholar
*** denotes Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Student Scholar
^ denotes University of Birmingham Student Scholar
~ denotes Ex Cathedra Enhanced Scholar

Chamber organ: Silas Wollson
Cello: Gavin Kibble

Texts and Translations

Sei nun wieder zufrieden, meine Seele – J.L.Bach (1677-1731)

Sei nun wieder zufrieden, meine Seele,
Be now again at peace, my soul,
denn der Herr tut dir Guts.
for the Lord does good unto you.
Denn du hast meine Seele
You have snatched my soul
Aus dem Tode gerissen, meine Augen von Tränen,
From death, my eyes from tears
Meinen Fuß vom Gleiten,
And my foot from stumbling
Ich will wandeln für dem Herrn
I wish to walk before the Lord
Im Lande der Lebendigen.
In the land of the living.

The Lord is good – Cecilia McDowall (b.1951)
Text: Lamentations 2: 25-27, 31-33

Jerusalem, Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Jerusalem
convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum.
Turn to the Lord your God.

The Lord is good unto them the wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion, according to the multitudes of his mercies.
For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.

Ne irascaris Domine – William Byrd (1540-1623)

Ne irascaris Domine, satis,
Be not wrathful, Lord, any longer,
et ne ultra memineris iniquitatis nostrae.
and no longer remember our iniquity.
Ecce, respice, populus tuus omnes nos.
Behold, look, we are all your people.
Civitas sancti tui facta est deserta.
The city of your holy one is deserted.
Sion deserta facta est, Jerusalem desolata est.
Zion is abandoned, Jerusalem is forsaken.

Da pacem Domine – Arvo Pärt (b.1935)

Da pacem Domine
Give peace, O Lord,
in diebus nostris
in our time
quia non est alius
Because there is no one else
qui pugnet pro nobis
Who will fight for us
nisi tu Deus noster.
If not You, our God.

Unsere Trübsal – J.L. Bach

Unsere Trübsal, die zeitlich und leicht ist,
Our suffering, which is temporary and light,
schaffet eine Ewige
Gains for us
und, über alle Maß, wichtige Herrlichkeit,
And boundless glory that is beyond all measure,
die wir nicht sehen auf das Sichtbare,
That which can’t be perceived by what is seen,
sondern auf das Unsichtbare.
But by what is unseen.

Dem dunkeln Schoß der heilgen Erden – Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Dem dunkeln Schoß der heilgen Erde
To holy earth’s e’er-dark’ning bosom
Vertrauen wir der Hände Tat
Do we entrust our hands’ true deed
Vertraut der Sämann seine Saat
The sower doth entrust his seed
Und hofft, daß sie entkeimen werde
And hopes, indeed, that it will blossom
Zum Segen, nach des Himmels Rat.
To bless, as Heaven hath decreed.
Noch köstlicheren Samen bergen
Still more precious the seed we’ve buried
Wir trauernd in der Erde Schoß,
With sorrow in the womb of earth
Und hoffen, dass er aus den Särgen
And hope, that from the coffin carried
Erblühen soll zu schönerm Los.
‘Twill bloom to fairer fortune forth.

Media vita – Kerensa Briggs (b.1991)

Media vita in morte sumus
In the midst of life we are in death
quem quaerimus adjutorem
of whom may we seek for succour,
nisi te, Domine,
but of thee, O Lord,
qui pro peccatis nostris
who for our sins
juste irasceris?
art justly displeased?

Sancte Deus,
Holy God,
sancte fortis,
Holy mighty,
sancte et misericors Salvator:
Holy and merciful Saviour,
amarae morti ne tradas nos.
deliver us not unto bitter death.

A Good-Night – Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-2012)
Text: Francis Quarles (1592-1644)

Close now thine eyes and rest secure;
Thy soul is safe enough, thy body sure;
He that loves thee, he that keeps
And guards thee, never slumbers, never sleeps.
The smiling conscience in a sleeping breast
Has only peace, has only rest;
The music and the mirth of kings
Are all but very discords when she sings;
Then close thine eyes and rest secure;
No sleep so sweet as thine, no rest so sure.

How are the mighty fall’n – Robert Ramsey (1590-1644)
Text: 2 Samuel 1: 25-27

How are the mighty fall’n
in the midst of the battle,
O Jonathan.

Thou wast slain in thy high places.
O Jonathan, woe is me for thee,
O Jonathan, my brother,

Very kind hast thou been to me.
Thy love to me was wonderful,
passing the love of women.

How are the mighty fall’n,
and the weapons of war destroyed.

In pace, in idipsum – Guillaume Bouzignac (1587-1643)

In pace, in idipsum dormiam et requiescam.
In peace and into the same I shall sleep and rest.
Si dedero somnum oculis meis,
If I give slumber to my eyes
et palpebris meis dormitationem,
and to my eyelids drowsiness
dormiam et requiescam.
I shall sleep and rest.

When you see millions of the mouthless dead – James MacMillan (b.1959)
Text: Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895-1915)

When you see millions of the mouthless dead
Across your dreams in pale battalions go,
Say not soft things as other men have said,
That you’ll remember. For you need not so.
Give them not praise. For, deaf, how should they know
Is it not curses heaped on each gashed head?
Nor tears. Their blind eyes see not your tears flow.
Nor honour. It is easy to be dead.
Say only this, “They are dead.” Then add thereto,
“Yet many a better one has died before.”
Then, scanning all the o’ercrowded mass, should you
Perceive one face that you loved heretofore,
It is a spook. None wears the face you knew.
Great death has made all his for evermore.

Nunc dimittis – Arvo Pärt
Text: Luke 2: 29-32

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine,
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
secundum verbum tuum in pace,
according to thy word:
quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum,
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
lumen ad revelationem gentium
A light to lighten the Gentiles,
et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
and the glory of thy people Israel.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper,
Both now and always,
et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Agnus Dei (from Messe pour les trépasses) – Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)
Soloists: Dan Marles, James Wells, Lawrence White

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
miserere nobis.
have mercy on us.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
miserere nobis.
have mercy on us.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
dona nobis pacem.
grant us peace.

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