Ex Cathedra Consort
Jeffrey Skidmore, conductor
Andrew Skidmore, cello

Running order

Prelude – Cello Suite no.1 in G BWV 1007 – J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Hear my prayer – Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Crucifixus – Antonio Lotti (1667-1740)
Stabat mater – Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

INTERVAL – 20 minutes

Prelude – Cello Suite No.3 in C BWV 1009 – J.S. Bach
Tristis est anima mea – Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722)
Plagas tuas – Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Maria, quid ploras? – Claudio Monteverdi
Lament (from Histoire de Jephte) – Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674)
Lament (from Le Reniement de St Pierre – H424) – Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)
Komm, Jesu, komm BWV 229 – J.S. Bach

Programme Note

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Ex Cathedra’s first concert in Birmingham in 2024.

This special concert represents, so strongly, over 50 years of our music-making and the importance this repertoire plays in our history and that of our home city.

It is now widely agreed that the term Baroque very broadly describes music written between 1600 and 1750 and established many new ideas such as tonality, key, figured bass, continuo, the concerto, sonata, cantata, oratorio and opera, which are the foundation of most Western classical music.

Big names like Bach, Handel and Vivaldi are only a part of the rich cultural heritage of this important and popular era. National styles emerged but also a fusion of these distinct styles created a rich musical language.

Purcell’s music brings together French, Italian and English Renaissance elements while Bach fused French, Italian and his native German traditions.
Birmingham has many interesting links with the period. It has the only Baroque Cathedral (1715) in the UK and it has more miles of canal than Venice! It is the home of many distinguished world-class specialists such as
musicologists John Whenham, Colin Timms and Graham Sadler and the birthplace of performers John Butt, Lawrence Cummings and Margaret
Faultless. And of course it has Ex Cathedra.

Ex Cathedra’s passion for Baroque music has been central to its vastly wide-ranging repertoire over its 50-plus years of existence. One of our earliest concerts in 1969 was based around Purcell’s Verse Anthems with a small string ensemble including John Clemson playing continuo cello. John became a distinguished Head of the Birmingham Music Service and is now on the Ex Cathedra Board of Trustees. Our first recording (Baroque Choral Music – LP on Vinyl) in 1982 included more Purcell and music by Gibbons, Monteverdi, Lotti, Schütz, Kuhnau and Bach. In 1991 our first CD was Vivaldi Vespers, followed by Baroque Music for the Nativity (Bach, Handel, Charpentier, Scheidt, Corelli), the award winning French recordings (Lalande, Marie Fel, Charpentier and Rameau) and music from Latin America (Mexico, Bolivia and Brazil).

We have regularly presented Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers in various guises and have performed Bach’s Passions every year for more than 40 years and most recently on Good Fridays in Symphony Hall, with a recording of a new English translation of the St Matthew Passion.

It may surprise some of our audience to know that Baroque opera has also featured in our repertoire, with memorable performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (and Blow’s Venus and Adonis) in Shugborough Hall and San Maurizio (1989) in Milan, and a performance with Birmingham’s famous African Dance Company Kokuma in Town Hall, who also joined us for the first modern day performance of Lully’s wonderful five-act masterpiece Isis in 1995.

We have worked with our own Ex Cathedra Baroque orchestra (established in 1983 and the UK’s first period instrument orchestra formed outside London) and with world-renowned specialist ensembles such as the Academy of Ancient Music, Amsterdam Baroque, Trio Sonnerie, London Baroque, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, Concerto Palatino and Sinfonia New York. Baroque music is a passion for us all to enjoy!

Jeffrey Skidmore, February 2024

Texts and translations

Hear my prayer – Henry Purcell

Hear my prayer, O Lord
And let my crying come unto thee

Crucifixus – Antonio Lotti

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis,
He was crucified also for us,
Sub Pontio Pilato passus et sepultus est.
Under Pontius Pilate he suffered and was buried.

Stabat Mater – Domenico Scarlatti

Stabat mater dolorosa
The mother was standing sorrowfully
Iuxta crucem lacrimosa,
next to the cross, tearful
Dum pendebat Filius.
as her son was hanging.
Cuius animam gementem,
Whose soul, groaning,
Contristatam et dolentem,
sad and sorrowful,
Pertansivit gladius.
the sword has pierced through.

O quam tristis et afflicta
Oh, how miserable and afflicted
Fuit illa benedicta
was that blessed
Mater unigeniti.
mother of an only Son.

Quae moerebat et dolebat,
She lamented and grieved,
Pia mater, cum videbat
the holy mother, when she saw
Nati poenas inclyti.
the pains of her glorious Son.

Quis est homo, qui non fleret,
Who is the man that would not weep
Christi matrem si videret
were he to see the mother of Christ
In tanto supplicio?
in such distress?

Quis non posset contristari,
Who would not be made sad
Christi matrem comtemplari
at the thought of Christ’s mother
Dolentum cum Filio?
grieving with her Son?

Pro peccatis suae gentis
For the sins of his people
Vidit Iesum in tormentis
she saw Jesus subjected to
Et flagellis subditum.
torments and lashes.

Vidit suum dulcem Natum
She saw her sweet Son
Moriendo desolatum,
dying, deserted
Dum emisit spiritum.
as he gave up his spirit.

Eia mater, fons amoris,
O mother, thou fount of love,
Me sentire vim doloris
make me feel the force of your grief
Fac, ut tecum lugeam.
so that I may mourn with you.

Fac ut ardeat cor meum
Make my heart burn
In amando Christum Deum,
with love for Christ the God
Ut sibi complaceam.
so that I may be reconciled with him.

Sancta mater, istud agas
Holy mother, grant this favour,
Crucifixi fige plagas
imprint the wounds of the Crucified
Cordi meo valide.
deeply within my heart.

Tui Nati vulnerati
Your wounded Son
Tam dignati pro me pati
who designed to suffer so much for me,
Poenas mecum divide.
may he share his pains with me.

Fac me vere tecum flere,
Let me truly weep with you,
Crucifixo condolere
and suffer with the Crucified
Donec ego vixero.
as long as I live.

Iuxta crucem tecum stare,
To stand beside you at the cross
Et me tibi sociare,
and join with you in lamentation,
In planctu desidero.
is my desire.

Virgo virginum praeclara,
O Virgin, pre-eminent among virgins,
Mihi iam non sis amara,
do not be bitter towards me,
Fac me tecum plangere.
let me weep with you.

Fac, ut portem Christi mortem
Let me bear the death of Christ,
Passionis fac consortem
let me share in his Passion,
Et plagas recolere.
and contemplate his wounds.

Fac me plagis vulnerari
Let me be wounded with his wounds,
Cruce hac inebriari
intoxicated by the cross
Ob amorem Filii.
and the blood of your Son.

Inflammatus et accentus
Though I burn and am aflame
Per te, Virgo, sim defensus
may I be defended by you, O Virgin,
In die iudicii.
on the day of judgement.

Fac me cruce custodiri
Let me be protected by the cross,
Morte Christi praemuniri
fortified by the death of Christ,
Confoveri gratia.
strengthened by grace.

Quando corpus morietur
When my body dies,
Fac, ut animae donetur
let my soul be granted
Paradisi gloria.
The glory of paradise.
Amen.
Amen.

Tristis est anima mea – Johann Kuhnau

Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem:
My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death:
sustinete hic, et vigilate mecum.
tarry ye here and watch with me.
nunc videbitis turbam quae circumdabit me:
Now shall ye see the crowd who will come about me:
vos fugam capietis, et ego vadam immolari pro vobis.
and ye shall take flight and I shall be sacrificed for you.

Plagas tuas – Claudio Monteverdi

Plagas tuas adoro Christe,
I worship your wounds, O Christ,
Christe mea vera salus; sed vulnerarunt te
Christ my true salvation; but it is my sins that
mea peccata et fecere has plagas.
have wounded you, and caused these blows.
O ardens cor amantis;
O burning hear of the one who loves us,
peccavi ego, tu pertulisti poenam.
I have sinned, and you have borne the punishment.

Maria, quid ploras? – Claudio Monteverdi

Maria, Maria, quid ploras ad monumentum?
Mary, Mary, why do you weep at the tomb?
quaenam fuere tibi causa doloris?
What has been the cause of your grief?
Crucifixerunt amorem meum,
They have crucified my love,
et occiderunt eum,
and they have killed him,
qui mihi dedit vitam.
the one who gave me life.
Absterge cadentes lachrymas,
Wipe away the falling tears,
invitis peridis ludais,
against the will of the treacherous Jews,
ille vivit, et vivet in aeternum,
he lives, and will love forever,
et possidebis eum.
and you will hold him.

Lament from Histoire de Jephte

Filia
Plorate, filii Israel,
Weep, ye children of Israel
plorate virginitatem meam,
weep for a hapless virgin,
et Jephte filiam unigenitam in carmine
and lament for Jephthah’s only daughter with
doloris lamentamini.
songs of sadness.

Chorus
Plorate, filii Israel,
Weep, ye children of Israel
plorate virginitatem meam,
weep for a hapless virgin,
et Jephte filiam unigenitam in carmine
and lament for Jephthah’s only daughter with
doloris lamentamini.
songs of sadness.

Lament from Le Reniement de St Pierre H424 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Historicus
Et continuo gallus cantavit.
And immediately the cock crew.

Chorus
Tunc respexit Jesus Petrum.
Then Jesus looked at Peter.
Et recordatus est Petrus verbi Jesu,
And Peter remembered the words of Jesus,
et egressus foras, flevit amare.
And he went out and wept bitterly.

Komm, Jesu, komm BWV 229 – J.S. Bach

Komm, Jesu, komm, mein Leib is m

Komm, Jesu, komm, mein Leib ist müde
Come, Jesu, come, my flesh is weary
Die Kraft verschwindt je mehr und mehr:
my strength is fading fast:
Ich sehne mich nach deinem Friede.
I long for your peace.
Der saure Weg wird mir zu schwer.
The bitter way is too hard for me.
Komm, komm, ich will mich dir ergeben
Come, come, let me yield myself to you
Du bist der rechte Weg
You are the Way
Die Wahrheit und das Leben
the Truth and the Life
Drum schliess ich mich in deine Hände
so I give myself into your hands
Und sage Welt zu guter Nacht.
and say to the world a last goodnight
Eilt gleich mein Lebenslauf zum Ende
Though my life’s journey hastens to its end
Ist doch der Geist wohl angebracht.
the spirit is willing and prepared
Er soll bei seinem Schöpfer schweben
And shall dwell with its Creator
Weil Jesus ist und bleibt
for Jesus is and ever shall be
Der wahre Weg zum Leben.
the true way to the life everlasting.

Performers

EX CATHEDRA Consort
Jeffrey Skidmore conductor

Soprano: Margaret Lingas, Imogen Russell, Katie Trethewey, Amy Wood
Alto: Martha McLorinan, Anna Semple
Tenor: Tim Burton, James Robinson
Bass: David Le Prevost, Lawrence White

Cello: Andrew Skidmore
Double bass: Kate Brooke
Keyboards: James Johnstone

Meet the… musician

In this programme, we invite you to meet Anna Semple.

Be an Angel…

We believe everyone should have the opportunity to access extraordinary choral music and feel the wonderful benefits of singing, which is why we share our love of singing with as many people as possible through concerts, new commissions, recordings, training choirs for young singers, Scholarships, and community projects that reach 90,000 children and adults every year.
Your support is vital in helping us achieve our charitable mission to share great choral music with as many people as possible.
Our work is only possible thanks to the generous support of the many people listed in our Host of Angels. I should be delighted and enormously grateful if you would consider joining them and becoming a valued member of supporter programme – be an Angel and give the gift of singing today. Find out how by following this link.