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BENJAMIN BRITTEN

Britten

SAINT NICOLAS

HYMN TO SAINT CECILIA Anthony Rolfe Johnson Corydon Singers English Chamber Orchestra Matthew Best

AINT NICOLAS, putative Bishop of Myra, is better known to us as Santa Claus. He flourished during the fourth century but is one of those medieval saints whose shadowy existence is more legend than fact. Though his cult was well established by the sixth century, it seems that we have Methodius’s fictitious ninth-century biography to thank for crediting him with his many miracles, and perhaps with most of his good deeds too. Methodius, no doubt anxious to add perfume to the odour of his hero’s sanctity, was at pains to emphasize the incidence of the number three (the holy number) in Nicolas’s legend. By his gift of three bags of gold to three impoverished girls to save them from prostitution he became patron of unmarried girls, and also, coincidentally, of pawnbrokers, for this story is the origin of the three gold balls that are the pawnbrokers’ insignia. He is credited with saving three men from an unjust death; and the rescue of three drowning sailors off the coast of Turkey made him patron saint of sailors. But not the least of his holy works is the one which made Nicolas the protector of children and most beloved of saints—the restoration to life of three little boys pickled in brine by a vicious butcher in time of famine. In addition to these diverse patronages Nicolas is also the protector of merchants, perfumiers, and apothecaries. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries his cult was particularly strong in England. Anselm and Godric composed prayers to him, and Godric set his to music. Though the cult of saints went into decline following the Reformation, Nicolas’s survived and he became transmogrified by his association with Christmas and the giving of presents to deserving children into the universal Santa Claus. Nicolas’s association with boys and merchants made him the perfect choice of subject when, in 1948, Lancing College celebrated its centenary and asked Benjamin Britten to write something specially for the occasion. Peter Pears, a one-time pupil of the College, probably had something to do with securing the commission. Eric Crozier, already associated with Britten as producer of The Rape of Lucretia and librettist of

Albert Herring, furnished the text of what turned out to be the composer’s first important work for children’s voices. Crozier selected eight episodes from Nicolas’s story—his prodigious piety at birth, his call to the holy life, his saving of the sailors on his way to Palestine, his election to the bishopric of Myra, his imprisonment under Diocletian, his restoration to life of the three boys and other marvellous deeds, and finally his tranquil joy in the face of death. And Britten, no doubt aware of Nicolas’s kindness to unmarried girls, drew on the services of a girls’ choir (albeit modestly distanced) to augment the boys’ voices. At the first performance, which actually took place at the Aldeburgh Festival and not at Lancing, the Lancing boys were joined by choirs from Ardingly, St Michael’s and Hurstpierpoint Schools. The solo tenor part representing Nicolas was sung, naturally enough, by Pears. The instrumental accompaniment, designed to remain within the compass of what a school could provide and accomplished players comfortably manage, consists of piano duet, strings, percussion (not immediately used) and organ. Peter Evans, in his book about the composer, has made a comprehensive analysis of Saint Nicolas, drawing our attention to the many ingenious devices by which Britten knits together what superficially appear to be simple, sometimes naive, ideas, making out of them a pièce d’occasion which E M Forster described as ‘one of those triumphs outside the rules of art’. Is everything as faultless, though, as Forster’s tribute might suggest? The fugal section of the fifth movement could be thought over-extended and rather limp, and though the incorporation of a well-known hymn, ‘The Old Hundredth’ (‘All people that on earth do dwell’), has a distinguished pedigree going back to the cantatas of Bach and gives the audience something to get its teeth into, it comes with a bit of a jolt. On the credit side the storm music of the fourth movement, achieved by relatively simple means, is typical Britten and highly effective, and the choral setting of the Nunc dimittis in counterpoint to the tenor solo as Nicolas looks forward to

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meeting God is inspired. Here the music modulates with effortless ingenuity and might have seemed slick had it not been of such transparent loveliness. But the magic is disappointingly diffused by the appearance of a second ‘chorale’, the hymn ‘God moves in a mysterious way’. Despite the gloss Britten has put upon its mundane harmonies, this, coming as the climax to the work, seriously threatens the emotional climate created earlier. In May 1939 Britten departed with Pears for America in the wake of their poet friend W H Auden. The professional association between Auden and Britten dated back to 1936 and the GPO Film Unit. It had been a fruitful one and was to remain so a little longer, but by 1942 the conservative musician had become alienated from Auden’s brand of bohemianism, and was beginning to find the poet’s penchant for verbal gymnastics (much in evidence in Paul Bunyan for example) no longer to his taste. Britten began to feel rootless and increasingly homesick. At last, spurred on by the chance discovery of E M Forster’s article on the poet Crabbe in the Spring of 1942, he and Pears decided to return home. The departure from America coincided with Britten’s final severance from Auden’s influence, but just before he left he began work on a setting of Auden’s three poems ‘A Song to St Cecilia’. These were dedicated to him (Britten’s birthday fell on St Cecilia’s Day, 22 November), but he found himself unable to complete the work. The voyage, however, proved therapeutic; his creative imagination began to work again and the Hymn to

St Cecilia was finished, as the score proclaims, ‘at sea’. So was A Ceremony of Carols. In a sense these two works represent an end and a new beginning. The Auden setting signifies the end of the appeal of tricksy rhyming, and puts a final closure to the charges of false sophistication and glib facility that had sometimes been levelled at Britten’s early work. The medieval carols on the other hand signal the return to something fundamentally English, deep rooted, familiar, and conservative in the best sense. The Hymn to St Cecilia is set for five-part unaccompanied chorus. The three poems, ‘In a garden shady’, ‘I cannot grow’, and ‘O ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall’ are linked by the litany Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions To all musicians, appear and inspire: Translated Daughter, come down and startle Composing mortals with immortal fire.

At certain junctures in his final poem Auden, like Dryden before him, refers to specific instruments—violin, flute, drum and trumpet—but Britten, having no orchestra, studiously avoids any temptation to imitate, inserting instead short isolated solo cadenzas which serve the dual purpose of suggesting an instrumental source while, more importantly, directing the listener’s attention to some of Auden’s most powerfully emotive lines. A repeat of the ‘Blessed Cecilia’ quatrain brings this concentrated and imaginative work to a close. KENNETH DOMMETT © 1988

If you have enjoyed this recording perhaps you would like a catalogue listing the many others available on the Hyperion and Helios labels. If so, please write to Hyperion Records Ltd, PO Box 25, London SE9 1AX, England, or email us at [email protected], and we will be pleased to post you one free of charge. The Hyperion catalogue can also be accessed on the Internet at www.hyperion-records.co.uk 3

A note on the recording A word of explanation should be included concerning the many choirs involved in this recording of St Nicolas. Our distribution of forces generally follows the example set by Britten in his recording of 1955. In addition to a mixed choir for the main chorus (Corydon Singers, who also sing the Hymn to Saint Cecilia), two other choirs are used: a girls’ choir as the ‘gallery choir’ (the sopranos and altos from Warwick University Chamber Choir, with Simon Halsey as subconductor), and a boys’ choir (the choristers of St George’s Chapel, Windsor—of whom the treble soloist, Harry Briggs, is one) for both the section depicting the birth and childhood of Nicolas (which can sound a little coy when sung by grown-ups!) and for the solo parts of young Nicolas and the pickled boys. All three choirs join for the two hymns, with the Warwick girls and the Windsor boys both singing the descant to ‘All people that on earth do dwell’ from opposite ends of the church.

Finally, we felt that no recording of Saint Nicolas would be complete without a congregation for the two hymns (an essential part of any performance but omitted, presumably for practical reasons, from previous commercial recordings). In order to achieve this, substantial contingents from a further five choirs, together with numerous friends and relations, packed into the remaining corner of All Hallows Church for the final session. The congregation is made up of singers from the choirs of Sevenoaks School and Tonbridge School, the Choir of Christ Church, Southgate, The Penshurst Choral Society, The Occasional Choir … and friends. MATTHEW BEST

SAINT NICOLAS

SAINT NICOLAS

A cantata, Op 42, for tenor solo, mixed chorus, piano duet, organ, strings & percussion (timpani, side drum, bass drum, tenor drum, cymbal, triangle, gong, whip, tambourine) Text by Eric Crozier (1914–1994). © Copyright 1948 by Boosey & Co. Ltd. Reproduced by permission of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd Published by Boosey & Hawkes Ltd

Their name is dust, their tombs are grass and clay, Yet still their shining seed of faith survives In you! It weathers time, it springs again In you! With you it stands like forest oak Or withers with the grasses underfoot. Preserve the living Faith for which your fathers fought! For Faith was won by centuries of sacrifice And many martyrs died That you might worship God. CHORUS Help us, Lord! to find the hidden road That leads from love to greater Love, from faith To greater Faith. Strengthen us, O Lord! Screw up our strength to serve Thee with simplicity.

1 Introduction CHORUS Our eyes are blinded by the holiness you bear.

The bishop’s robe, the mitre and the cross of gold Obscure the simple man within the Saint. Strip off your glory, Nicolas, and speak! NICOLAS Across the tremendous bridge of sixteen hundred years I come to stand in worship with you As I stood among my faithful congregation long ago. All who knelt beside me then are gone. 4

2 The birth of Nicolas

Heartsick, I cast away all things that could distract my mind From full devotion to His will; I thrust my happiness behind But Love desired more still. Heartsick, I call’d on God to purge my angry soul, To be my only Master, friend and guide. I begged for sweet humility And Love was satisfied.

CHORUS Nicolas was born in answer to prayer,

And leaping from his mother’s womb he cried NICOLAS God be glorified! CHORUS Swaddling-bands and crib awaited him there, But Nicolas clapped both his hands and cried NICOLAS God be glorified! CHORUS Innocent and joyful, naked and fair, He came in pride on earth to abide. NICOLAS God be glorified! CHORUS Water rippled Welcome! in the bath-tub by his side; He dived in open-eyed, he swam, he cried NICOLAS God be glorified! CHORUS When he went to Church at Christmastide, He climbed up to the font to be baptised. NICOLAS God be glorified! CHORUS Pilgrims came to kneel and pray by his side. He grew in grace, his name was sanctified. NICOLAS God be glorified! CHORUS Nicolas grew in innocence and pride, His glory spread a rainbow round the countryside, ‘Nicolas will be a Saint!’ the neighbours cried. NICOLAS God be glorified!

4 He journeys to Palestine CHORUS Nicolas sailed for Palestine

Across the sunlit seas. The South West Wind blew soft and fair, Seagulls hovered through the air, And spices scented the breeze. Everyone felt that land was near: All dangers now were past: Except for one who knelt in prayer, Fingers clasped and head quite bare, Alone by the mizzen mast. The sailors jeered at Nicolas, Who paid them no regard, Until the hour of sunset came When up he stood and stopped their game Of staking coins on cards. Nicolas spoke and prophesied A tempest far ahead. The sailors scorned such words of fear, Since sky and stars shone bright and clear, So ‘Nonsense!’ they all said. Darkness was soon on top of them, But still the South Wind blew. The Captain went below to sleep, And left the helmsman there to keep His course with one of the crew. Nicolas swore he’d punish them For mocking at the Lord. The wind arose, the thunder roared, Lightning split the waves that poured In wild cascades on board.

3 Nicolas devotes himself to God NICOLAS My parents died

All too soon I left the tranquil beauty of their home And knew the wider world of man. Poor man! I found him solitary, racked By doubt: born, bred, doomed to die In everlasting fear of everlasting death: The foolish toy of time, the darling of decay— Hopeless, faithless, defying God. Heartsick, in hope to mask the twisted face of poverty, I sold my lands to feed the poor. I gave my goods to charity But Love demanded more.

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Waterspouts rose in majesty Until the ship was tossed Abaft, aback, astern, abeam, Lit by lightning’s livid gleam, And all aboard cried ‘Lost!’ Lightning hisses through the night, Blinding sight with living light! Ah! Spare us! Man the pumps! Save us! Man the pumps! Axes! Saviour! Ah! Winds and tempests howl their cry Of battle through the raging sky! Ah! Spare us! Lifeboats! Save us! Lifeboats! Lower away! Saviour! Waves repeat their angry roar, Fall and spring again once more! Let her run before the wind! Shorten sail! Reef her! Heave her to! Thunder rends the sky asunder With its savage shouts of wonder! Ah! Pray to God! Kneel and pray! Lightning, Thunder, Tempest, Ocean Praise their God with voice and motion. Nicolas waited patiently, Till they were on their knees, Then down he knelt in thankfulness Begging God their ship to bless And make the storm to cease. NICOLAS O God! we are all weak, sinful, foolish men. We pray from fear and from necessity at death, in sickness or private loss. Without the prick of fear our conscience sleeps, forgetful of Thy Grace. Help us, O God! to see more clearly. Tame our stubborn hearts. Teach us to ask for less and offer more in gratitude to Thee. Pity our simplicity, for we are truly pitiable in Thy sight. Amen. The winds and waves lay down to rest, The sky was clear and calm. The ship sailed onward without harm And all creation sang a psalm Of loving thankfulness.

Beneath the stars the sailors slept Exhausted by their fear, while I Knelt down for love of God on high And saw His angels in the sky Smile down at me, And wept, wept, and wept.

5 Nicolas comes to Myra and is chosen Bishop CHORUS Come, stranger sent from God!

Come, man of God! Stand foremost in our Church, and serve this diocese, As Bishop Nicolas, our shield, our strength, our peace! NICOLAS I Nicolas, Bishop of Myra and its diocese, Shall with the unfailing grace of God, Defend His faithful servants, Comfort the widow and fatherless, And fulfil His will for this most blessed Church. CHORUS Amen. Place the mitre on your head to show your mastery of men! Take the golden robe that covers you with Christ’s authority! Wear the fine dalmatic woven with the Cross of Faith. Bear the crozier as a staff and comfort to your flock! Set the ring upon your hand in sacramental sign of wedlock with thy God! Serve the Faith and spurn His enemies! CONGREGATION All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice! Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell, Come ye before Him and rejoice. O enter then His gates with praise, Approach with joy His courts unto, Praise, laud and bless His name always, For it is seemly so to do. For why? the Lord our God is good: His mercy is for ever sure; His truth at all times firmly stood, And shall from age to age endure. Amen.

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6 Nicolas from Prison

Landlord, take this piece of gold! Bring us food before the cold Makes our pangs of hunger grow; O we have far to go! Day by day we seek to find Some trace of them, but oh! Unkind! Timothy, Mark and John are gone! Let us share this dish of meat. Come, my friends, sit down and eat! Join us, Bishop, for we know That you have far to go! Mary meek and Mother mild Who lost thy Jesus as a child, Our Timothy, Mark and John are gone! Come, your Grace, don’t eat so slow! Take some meat … NICOLAS O do not taste! O do not feed on sin! But haste to save three souls in need! The mothers’ cry is sad and weak, Within these walls they lie Whom mothers sadly seek … Timothy, Mark and John, Put your fleshly garments on! Come from dark oblivion! Come! CHORUS See! Three boys spring back to life, Who, slaughtered by the butcher’s knife, Lay salted down! And entering, hand in hand they stand and sing Alleluia to their King!

NICOLAS Persecution sprang upon our Church

And stilled its voice. Eight barren years it stifled under Roman rule: And I lay bound, condemned to celebrate My lonely sacrament with prison bread, While wolves ran loose among my flock. O man! the world is set for you as for a king! Paradise is yours in loveliness. The stars shine down for you, for you the angels sing, Yet you prefer your wilderness. You hug the rack of self, Embrace the lash of sin, Pour your treasures out to bribe distress. You build your temples fair without and foul within: You cultivate your wilderness. Yet Christ is yours. Yours! For you He lived and died. God in mercy gave His son to bless you all, To bring you life, And Him you crucified To desecrate your wilderness. Turn away from sin! Ah! bow Down your hard and stubborn hearts! Confess, yourselves to Him in penitence And humbly vow your lives to Him, to holiness.

7 Nicolas and the pickled boys CHORUS Famine tracks us down the lanes,

Hunger holds our horses’ reins, Winter heaps the roads with snow; O we have far to go! Starving beggars howl their cry, Snarl to see us spurring by, Times are bad and travel slow; O we have far to go! We mourn our boys, our missing sons! We sorrow for three little ones! Timothy, Mark and John are gone!

8 His piety and marvellous works CHORUS For forty years our Nicolas,

Our Prince of men, our shepherd and Our gentle guide, walked by our side. We turned to him at birth and death, In time of famine and distress, In all our grief, to bring relief. He led us from the valleys to The pleasant hills of grace, he fought To fold us in from mortal sin. 7

9 The death of Nicolas

O! he was prodigal of love! A spendthrift in devotion to Us all and blessed as he caressed. We keep his memory alive In legends that our children and Their children’s children treasure still. A captive at the heathen court Wept sorely all alone. ‘O Nicolas is here, my son! And he will bring you home!’ ‘Fill, fill my sack with corn!’ he said: ‘We die from lack of food!’ And from that single sack he fed A hungry multitude. Three daughters of a nobleman Were doomed to shameful sin, Till our good Bishop ransomed them By throwing purses in. The gates were barred, the black flag flew, Three men knelt by the block, But Nicolas burst in like flame And stayed the axe’s shock. ‘O help us, good Nicolas! Our ship is full of foam!’ He walked across the waves to them And led them safely home. He sat among the Bishops who Were summoned to Nicaea: Then rising with the wrath of God Boxed Arius’s ear! He threatened Constantine the Great With bell and book and ban: Till Constantine confessed his sins Like any common man. Let the legends that we tell, Praise him, with our prayers as well. We keep his memory alive In legends that our children and Their children’s children treasure still.

NICOLAS Death, I hear thy summons and I come

In haste, for my short life is done; And O! my soul is faint with love, For Him who waits for me above. Lord I come to life, to final birth I leave the misery of earth, For light, by Thy eternal grace, Where I shall greet Thee face to face. Christ, receive my soul with tenderness, For in my last of life I bless Thy name, Who lived and died for me, And dying, yield my soul to Thee. CHORUS Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant Depart in peace, according to Thy word. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people To be a light to lighten the Gentiles And to be the glory of Thy people Israel. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, And to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be World without end. Amen! CONGREGATION God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable mines Of never failing skill He treasures up His bright designs, And works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head. Amen.

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HYMN TO SAINT CECILIA

All you lived through, Dancing because you No longer need it For any deed. I shall never be Different. Love me. Blessed Cecilia …

Op 27, for five-part unaccompanied chorus Text by W H Auden (1907–1973) Dedicated to Elizabeth Mayer Published by Boosey & Hawkes Ltd

I In a garden shady this holy lady With reverent cadence and subtle psalm, Like a black swan as death came on Poured forth her song in perfect calm: And by ocean’s margin this innocent virgin Constructed an organ to enlarge her prayer, And notes tremendous from her great engine Thundered out on the Roman air. Blonde Aphrodite rose up excited, Moved to delight by the melody, White as an orchid she rode quite naked In an oyster shell on top of the sea; At sounds so entrancing the angels dancing Came out of their trance into time again, And around the wicked in Hell’s abysses The huge flame flickered and eased their pain. Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions To all musicians, appear and inspire: Translated Daughter, come down and startle Composing mortals with immortal fire. II

III JANET COXWELL soprano, JENNY YOUDE alto, JOHN BOWEN tenor, KENNETH ROLES bass

O ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall, O calm of spaces unafraid of weight, Where Sorrow is herself, forgetting all The gaucheness of her adolescent state, Where Hope within the altogether strange From every outworn image is released, And Dread born whole and normal like a beast Into a world of truths that never change: Restore our fallen day; O re-arrange. O dear white children casual as birds, Playing among the ruined languages, So small beside their large confusing words, So gay against the greater silences Of dreadful things you did: O hang the head, Impetuous child with the tremendous brain, O weep, child, weep, O weep away the stain, Lost innocence who wished your lover dead, Weep for the lives your wishes never led. O cry created as the bow of sin Is drawn across our trembling violin. O weep, child, weep, O weep away the stain. O law drummed out by hearts against the still Long winter of our intellectual will. That what has been may never be again. O flute that throbs with the thanksgiving breath Of convalescents on the shores of death. O bless the freedom that you never chose. O trumpets that unguarded children blow About the fortress of their inner foe. O wear your tribulation like a rose. Blessed Cecilia …

I cannot grow; I have no shadow To run away from, I only play. I cannot err; There is no creature Whom I belong to, Whom I could wrong. I am defeat When it knows it Can now do nothing By suffering.

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BRITTEN

Saint Nicolas et Hymn to Saint Cecilia

AINT NICOLAS, évêque putatif de Myra, est mieux connu des Anglo-Saxons sous le nom de Santa Claus. Bien qu’ayant œuvré au IVe siècle, il est un de ces saints médiévaux dont l’existence imprécise est davantage légendaire que factuelle. Son culte était bien établi au VIe siècle, mais il semble qu’il faille remercier Méthode pour lui avoir attribué, dans sa biographe fictive (IXe siècle), maints miracles et peut-être, aussi, maintes bonnes actions. Méthode, sans doute soucieux de rajouter à l’odeur de sainteté de son héros, s’ingénia à renforcer la fréquence du chiffre 3 (le chiffre saint) dans la légende de Nicolas. En donnant trois sacs d’or à trois jeunes filles très pauvres pour les sauver de la prostitution, Nicolas devint le patron des jeunes filles célibataires et aussi, fortuitement, des prêteurs sur gages (cette histoire est à l’origine des trois balles d’or qui sont l’emblème de cette corporation). On dit qu’il aurait également sauvé trois hommes d’une mort injuste ; et avoir secouru trois marins en train de se noyer au large de la côte turque lui valut de devenir le saint patron des marins. Mais son œuvre sainte entre toutes, celle qui fit de lui le protecteur des enfants et le plus aimé des saints, fut la résurrection de trois garçonnets saumurés par un cruel boucher, en temps de famine. Saint Nicolas est, par ailleurs, le protecteur des marchands, des parfumeurs et des apothicaires. Aux XIe et XIIe siècles, son culte fut particulièrement vivace en Angleterre. Anselm et Godric lui écrivirent des prières (Godric mit même la sienne en musique). Le culte des saints eut beau décliner après la Réforme, celui-ci subsista et Nicolas, métamorphosé par son lien avec Noël et par sa distribution de cadeaux aux enfants méritants, devint l’universel Santa Claus. Associé aux jeunes garçons et aux marcharnds, Nicolas fit un thème tout trouvé pour la pièce que Benjamin Britten eut à écrire en 1948 pour le centenaire du Lancing College—une commande à laquelle Peter Pears, ancien élève du collège, ne fut certainement pas étranger. Eric Crozier, qui avait

déjà travaillé avec Britten comme producteur (The Rape of Lucretia) et comme librettiste (Albert Herring), fournit le texte de ce qui s’avéra être la première grande œuvre brittenienne pour des voix d’enfants. Crozier sélectionna huit épisodes de la vie de Nicolas : sa prodigieuse piété, dès sa naissance ; son appel à la vie sainte ; son sauvetage des marins, alors qu’il se rendait en Palestine ; son élection à l’épiscopat de Myra ; son emprisonnement sous Dioclétien ; sa résurrection des trois garçonnets ; diverses autres actions merveilleuses et, enfin, sa joie tranquille face à la mort. Sachant certainement la bonté du saint envers les jeunes filles, Britten recourut à un chœur de filles (quoique modestement tenu à distance) pour augmenter les voix de garçons. À la création de l’œuvre, qui se déroula non à Lancing mais au festival d’Aldeburgh, les garçons de Lancing furent rejoints par les chœurs des écoles de Ardingly, St Michael’s et Hurstpierpoint. La partie de ténor solo incarnant Nicolas fut assurée, assez logiquement, par Pears. L’accompagnement instrumental, conçu pour ne pas dépasser ce qu’une école pouvait fournir, et ce que des exécutants accomplis pouvaient réussir sans peine, est le suivant : duo pianistique, cordes, percussion (pas utilisée d’emblée) et orgue. Dans son ouvrage consacré à Britten, Peter Evans se livre à une analyse détaillée de Saint Nicolas et attire notre attention sur les procédés ingénieux qui permirent au compositeur de nouer ensemble des idées apparemment simples, voire naïves, et d’en faire une pièce d’occasion décrite par E. M. Forster comme « l’un de ces triomphes en dehors des règles de l’art ». Pour autant, tout est-il aussi impeccable que pourrait le laisser entendre l’hommage de Forster ? On peut trouver la section fuguée du cinquième mouvement trop longue, mollasse ; et l’on est un peu pris de court malgré l’incorporation d’une hymne célèbre, « The Old Hundredth » (« All people that on earth do dwell »), qui s’inscrit dans une prestigieuse lignée remontant aux cantates de Bach et mobilise le public.

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En revanche, deux épisodes sont à porter à l’actif de cette œuvre : la musique tempétueuse du quatrième mouvement, réalisée avec des moyens relativement simples, bien de Britten et très efficace ; et la version chorale, inspirée, du Nunc dimittis, en contrepoint au solo de ténor, quand Nicolas grille de rencontrer Dieu. Ici, la musique module avec une ingéniosité remarquable d’aisance et aurait pu paraître doucereuse si elle n’avait été d’un tel charme limpide. Mais cette magie, hélas, s’étiole à l’apparition d’un second « choral », « God moves in a mysterious way ». Malgré l’éclat que Britten a pu donner à ses harmonies banales, cette hymne, qui survient comme l’apogée de l’œuvre, menace sérieusement le climat émotionnel créé auparavant. En mai 1939, Britten et Pears partirent pour l’Amérique dans le sillage de leur ami, le poète W. H. Auden, avec lequel le compositeur avait commencé à travailler en 1936, à l’époque de la GPO (Poste britannique) Film Unit. Cette collaboration avait été fructueuse, et elle le resta encore un peu, mais, en 1942, le musicien conservateur, devenu étranger au bohémianisme d’Auden, ne goûta plus le penchant de ce dernier pour la gymnastique verbale (patente dans Paul Bunyan, par exemple). Bientôt, Britten se sentit déraciné et eut de plus en plus le mal du pays : au printemps de 1942, poussés par la découverte fortuite d’un article de E. M. Forster sur le poète Crabbe, Pears et lui décidèrent de rentrer en Angleterre. Britten quitta l’Amérique en même temps qu’il rompit pour de bon avec l’influence d’Auden, dont il entreprit cependant de mettre en musique, juste avant de partir, les trois poèmes « A Song to Saint Cecilia », qui lui était dédiés (il était né le 22 novembre, jour de la Sainte-Cécile). Mais il ne parvint pas à l’achever. La traversée s’avéra, néanmoins, thérapeutique :

son imagination créative se remit en marche et l’Hymn to Saint Cecilia fut achevée, comme le déclare la partition, « en mer »—à l’instar d’A Ceremony of Carols. Ces deux œuvres incarnent, en un sens, une fin et un nouveau commencement. La mise en musique des textes de Auden marque ainsi la fin de l’attrait pour les rimes épineuses tout en mettant un terme aux accusations de fausse sophistication et de trop grande facilité dont avaient parfois été accablées les premières œuvres de Britten. Quant aux carols médiévaux, ils marquent le retour à quelque chose de foncièrement anglais, de profondément enraciné, de familier et de conservateur, au meilleur sens du terme. L’Hymn to Saint Cecilia est écrite pour un chœur a cappella à cinq parties. Les trois poèmes (« In a garden shady », « I cannot grow » et « O ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall ») sont reliés par la litanie : Bienheureuse Cécile, apparais en vision À tous les musiciens, apparais et inspire-les ; Fille transférée au ciel, descend et stupéfie Les mortels compositeurs d’un feu immortel.

À certains moments de son dernier poème, Auden, comme Dryden avant lui, fait référence à des instruments spécifiques—violon, flûte, timbale et trompette—, mais Britten, qui ne dispose pas d’orchestre, évite soigneusement toute tentative d’imitation, préférant insérer de courtes cadenzas solo isolées, à la fonction double : suggérer une source instrumentale et, parallèlement, ce qui est le plus important, faire porter l’attention de l’auditeur sur les vers d’Auden les plus chargés d’émotion. Une reprise du quatrain « Blessed Cecilia » parachève cette œuvre intense et inventive. KENNETH DOMMETT © 1988 Traduction HYPERION

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Note sur l’enregistrement Un mot d’explication s’impose quant aux nombreux chœurs impliqués dans cet enregistrement de Saint Nicolas. Dans l’ensemble, nous avons distribué les forces vocales comme sur le disque réalisé par Britten en 1955. Deux chœurs se sont joints au chœur mixte principal (les Corydon Singers, qui chantent aussi l’Hymn to Saint Cecilia) : un chœur de filles en guise de « gallery choir » (les sopranos et les altos du Warwick University Chamber Choir, avec Simon Hasley comme chef assistant) et un chœur de garçons (les choristes de St George’s Chapel Windsor, dont est issu le treble solo, Harry Briggs) pour les deux sections évoquant la naissance et l’enfance de Nicolas (qui peuvent verser dans l’affectation quand elles sont chantées par des adultes !), ainsi que pour les parties solo du jeune Nicolas et des garçons saumurés. Les trois chœurs se rejoignent pour les deux hymnes, avec les filles de Warwick et les garçons de Windsor déchantant, depuis les deux bouts de l’église, sur « All people that on earth do dwell ».

Enfin, aucun enregistrement de Saint Nicolas ne saurait être complet à nos yeux sans une assemblée réunie pour les deux hymnes (une part essentielle de toute exécution, mais omise par les précédents enregistrements commerciaux, sûrement pour des raisons pratiques). Aussi de substantiels contingents issus de cinq autres chœurs se sont-ils massés, avec nombre d’amis et de relations, dans le coin restant de All Hallows Church pour la séance finale ; l’assemblée réunit donc des chanteurs des chœurs de Sevenoaks School et de Tonbridge School, du Choir of Christ Church, Southgate, de The Penshurst Choral Society, de The Occasional Choir ainsi que … des amis. MATTHEW BEST Traduction HYPERION

Si vous souhaitez de plus amples détails sur ces enregistrements, et sur les nombreuses autres publications du label Hyperion, veuillez nous écrire à Hyperion Records Ltd, PO Box 25, London SE9 1AX, England, ou nous contacter par courrier électronique à [email protected], et nous serons ravis de vous faire parvenir notre catalogue gratuitement. Le catalogue Hypérion est également accessible sur Internet : www.hyperion-records.co.uk 12

BRITTEN

Saint Nicolas & Hymn to Saint Cecilia

ANKT NIKOLAUS, der mutmaßliche Bischof von Myra, ist uns auch als der Weihnachtsmann oder im englischsprachigen Raum als Santa Claus bekannt. Er florierte im 4. Jahrhundert, gehört aber zu den Heiligen, deren schattenhafte Existenz eher Legende als Tatsache ist. Obwohl sein Kult sich schon bis zum 6. Jahrhundert gut etabliert hatte, scheinen wir Methodius’ romanhafter Biographie aus dem 9. Jahrhundert die Zuschreibung seiner vielen Wundertaten und vielleicht auch die meisten seiner guten Taten zu verdanken. Methodius, der zweifellos auf, eine parfümierte Version der Heiligkeit seines Helden aus war, strengte sich an, das Vorkommen der Zahl drei (der heiligen Zahl) in der Nikolauslegende zu betonen. Durch seine Gabe von drei Beuteln Gold an drei arme Mädchen, um sie vor der Prostitution zu bewahren, wurde er gleichzeitig der Schutzheilige unverheirateter Mädchen und der Pfandleiher, denn diese Geschichte ist der Ursprung der drei goldenen Kugeln in ihrem Zunftschild. Er soll drei Männer vor einem ungerechten Tode bewahrt haben, und die Rettung von drei Matrosen vor dem Ertrinken an der türkischen Küste machte ihn zum Schutzpatron der Seefahrer. Aber eine seiner bemerkenswertesten Heiligtaten machte Nikolaus zum Schutzheiligen der Kinder und beliebtesten Heiligen—die Auferweckung von drei Knaben, die ein grausamer Metzger in einer Zeit der Hungersnot getötet und eingepökelt hatte. Außerdem ist Nikolaus auch Schirmherr der Kaufleute, Parfümeure und Apotheker. Im 11. und 12. Jahrhundert war sein Kult in England besonders stark. Anselm und Godric verfassten Gebete für ihn, und Godric setze seines in Musik. Obwohl der Heiligenkult nach der Reformation nachließ, überlebte Nikolaus und wurde durch seine Assoziation mit Weihnachten und Geschenken an brave Kinder in den universellen Weihnachtsmann umgemodelt. Nikolaus’ Verbindung mit Knaben und Kaufleuten machte ihn zum perfekten Sujet als das Lancing College 1948 sein hundertjähriges Jubiläum feierte und Benjamin Britten gebeten wurde, etwas zu diesem Anlass zu schreiben. Peter Pears, der

seinerzeit ein Schüler in diesem College war, spielte wohl eine Rolle dabei, ihm diesen Auftrag zu sichern. Eric Crozier, der bereits als Regisseur von The Rape of Lucretia und Librettist von Albert Herring mit Britten assoziiert wear, lieferte den Text für das erste Werk des Komponisten für Kinderstimmen. Crozier wählte acht Episoden aus der Geschichte von Nikolaus—seine erstaunliche Frömmigkeit von Geburt an, seine Berufung zum geistlichen Leben, seine Rettung der Seeleute auf dem Weg nach Palästina, seine Wahl zum Bischof von Myra, seine Verhaftung unter Diokletian, seine Wiederbelebung der drei Knaben und andere Wundertaten und Zuletzt seine stille Freude im Angesicht des Todes. Und Britten, der sich zweifellos Nikolaus’ Güte gegenüber unverheirateten Mädchen bewusst war, setzte einen Mädchenchor (wenn auch in geziemendem Abstand) zur Verstärkung der Knabenstimmen ein. In der Uraufführung, die allerdings auf dem Aldeburgh Festival stattfand und nicht in Lancing, wurden die Knaben aus Lancing durch Chöre aus den Schulen von Ardingly, St. Michael’s und Hurstpierpoint verstärkt. Die Solotenorpartie, die Nikolaus repräsentiert, wurde natürlich von Peter Pears gesungen. Die Instrumentalbegleitung, die so angelegt war, dass sie innerhalb der Möglichkeiten blieb, die einer Schule zur Verfügung standen und die versierte Spieler sicher bewältigen konnten, besteht aus Klavierduett, Streichern, Schlagzeug (das nicht unmittelbar verwendet wird) und Orgel. Peter Evans bietet in seinem Buch über den Komponisten eine gründliche Analyse von Saint Nicolas, und macht uns besonders auf die vielen einfallsreichen Mittel aufmerksam, durch die Britten die oberflächlich betrachtet schlichten, manchmal naiven Ideen verwebt und sie in ein Gelegenheitsstück verwandelt, das E. M. Forster als „einen der Triumphe außerhalb der Regeln der Kunst“ bezeichnet. Ist aber alles so makellos, wie Forsters Tribut anzudeuten scheint? Der Fugenabschnitt des fünften Satzes könnte als überspannt und eher schwach angesehen werden, und obwohl die Aufnahme einer wohlbekannten Hymne, „The Old

S

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Hundredth“ (dichterische Fassung des 100. Psalms „All people that on earth do dwell“/„Alle, die auf Erden leben“) einer langen Tradition folgt, die auf die Kantaten Bachs zurück geht, und dem Publikum etwas Solides zu verdauen gibt, ist sie etwas abrupt. Auf der Plusseite finden sich die typisch brittensche und äußerst wirkungsvolle Sturmmusik des vierten Satzes, die durch relativ schlichte Mittel erreicht wird, und der Chorsatz des Nunc dimittis im Kontrapunkt zum Tenorsolo für Nikolaus’ Vorfreude auf die Begegnung mit Gott ist inspiriert. Die Musik moduliert hier mit müheloser Raffinesse und könnte als zu glatt erscheinen, wenn sie nicht von solch transparenter Anmut erfüllt wäre. Aber der Zauber wird leider durch einen zweiten „Choral“, die Hymne „God moves in a mysterious way“ („Die Wege des Herrn sind unergründlich“) gebrochen. Trotz des Glanzes, den Britten seinen banalen Harmonien verleiht, gefährdet diese Schluss-Steigerung des Werkes das früher geschaffene emotionale Klima des Werkes. Im Mai 1939 folgten Britten und Pears ihrem Dichterfreund W. H. Auden nach Amerika. Die professionelle Beziehung zwischen Auden und Britten datiert auf 1936 und die Filmabteilung der englischen Post zurück. Diese war fruchtbar und sollte eine Zeitlang so bleiben, aber 1942 hatte sich der konservative Musiker dem unkonventionellen Lebenswandel des Bohemiens Auden entfremdet, und fand die Vorliebe des Dichters für Wortgymnastik (wie etwa in Paul Bunyan) nicht mehr nach seinem Geschmack. Britten fühlte sich zunehmend entwurzelt und litt an Heimweh. Im Frühjahr 1942, durch die zufällige Entdeckung von E. M. Forsters Artikel über den Dichter Crabbe angeregt, kehrte er mit Pears in die Heimat zurück. Die Abreise aus Amerika fiel mit Brittens endgültiger Abnabelung von Audens Einfluss zusammen, aber kurz bevor er ging, begann er an einer Vertonung von Audens drei Gedichten „A Song to St Cecilia“ („Ein Lied an die Heilige Cäcilia“). Diese waren ihm gewidmet (Brittens Geburtstag fiel auf den Cäcilientag am 22, November), aber er fand, dass er das Werk nicht fertigstellen konnte. Die Reise erwies sich

jedoch als therapeutisch, seine kreative Erfindungskraft begann wieder zu funktionieren und die Hymn to St Cecilia (wie auch A Ceremony of Carols) wurde, wie die Partitur verkündet, „auf See“ vollendet. In gewissem Sinne verkörpern diese beiden Werke einen Abschluss und Neuanfang. Die Auden-Vertonung repräsentiert das Ende der Begeisterung für trickreiche Reime und macht der falschen Kultiviertheit und aalglatten Gewandtheit ein Ende, die Brittens frühen Werken oft vorgeworfen wird. Die mittelalterlichen Weihnachtslieder andererseits signalisieren die Rückkehr zu etwas fundamental Englischem, tief Verwurzelten, Vertrauten und im besten Sinne des Wortes Konservativem. Die Hymn to St Cecilia („Cäcilienhymne“) ist für fünfstimmigen Chor a cappella gesetzt. Die drei Gedichte „In a garden shady“, „I cannot grow“ und „O ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall“ werden durch folgende Litanei verknüpft: Heilige Cäcilia, erscheine in Visionen Allen Musikern, erscheine und beflügle sie; entrückte Tochter, komm herab und fache komponierende Sterbliche mit unsterblichem Feuer an.

An gewissen Stellen in diesem letzten Gedicht erwähnt Auden, wie Dryden vor ihm, bestimmte Instrumente—Violine, Flöte, Pauken und Trompeten—aber Britten, der kein Orchester hatte, widerstand sorgfältig aller Versuchung, sie nachzuahmen, und fügt stattdessen kurze, isolierte Solokadenzen ein, die eine doppelte Funktion erfüllen: sie deuten eine Instrumentalquelle an, wenden aber besonders die Aufmerksamkeit des Hörers auf Audens gefühlsgeladenste Zeilen. Eine Wiederholung des Vierzeilers „Blessed Cecilia“ bringt dieses konzentrierte und einfallsreiche Werk zum Abschluss. KENNETH DOMMETT © 1988 Übersetzung RENATE WENDEL

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Anmerkungen zur Aufnahme Eine Erklärung in Bezug auf die vielen Chöre, die an dieser Aufnahme von St Nicolas beteiligt sind, ist nötig: Unsere Verteilung der Kräfte folgt generell dem Beispiel Brittens in seiner Aufnahme von 1955. Im Zusatz zu einem gemischten Hauptchor (Corydon Singers, die auch die Hymn to St Cecilia singen), werden zwei weitere Chöre verwendet: ein Mädchenchor als „Emporenchor“ (Sopran und Alt des Warwick University Chamber Choirs mit Simon Halsey als Unterdirigent) und ein Knabenchor (die Chorknaben der St George’s Chapel, Windsor—einschließlich des Knabensopran-Solisten Harry Briggs) für den Abschnitt, der die Geburt und Kindheit von Nikolaus schildert (und die im Vortrag von Erwachsenen etwas verschämt klingen kann!) sowie die Solopartien des jungen Nikolaus und den gepökelten Knaben. Alle drei Chöre vereinen sich für die beiden Hymnen, und die Mädchen aus Warwick und die Knaben aus Windsor singen gemeinsam die Oberstimme zu „All people that on earth do dwell“ von entgegengesetzten Enden der Kirche.

Zuletzt finden wir, dass keine Aufnahme von St Nicolas ohne eine Gemeinde für die beiden Hymnen komplett ist (ein wesentlicher Teil in jeder Aufführung, aber wohl aus praktischen Gründen in früheren kommerziellen Aufnahmen ausgelassen). Um dies zu erreichen, füllten Mitglieder von fünf weiteren Chören mit vielen Freunden und Verwandten in der letzten Aufnahmesitzung die letzte Ecke der All Hallows Church. Die Gemeinde besteht aus Sängern der Chöre der Sevenoaks School und Tonbridge School, dem Choir of Christ Church, Southgate, The Penshurst Choral Society, The Occasional Choir … und Freunden. MATTHEW BEST Übersetzung RENATE WENDEL

Wenn Ihnen die vorliegende Aufnahme gefallen hat, lassen Sie sich unseren umfassenden Katalog von „Hyperion“ und „Helios“-Aufnahmen schicken. Ein Exemplar erhalten Sie kostenlos von: Hyperion Records Ltd., PO Box 25, London SE9 1AX, oder senden Sie uns ein E-Mail unter [email protected]. Wir schicken Ihnen gern gratis einen Katalog zu. Der Hyperion Katalog kann auch unter dem folgenden Internet Code erreicht werden: www.hyperion-records.co.uk

Copyright subsists in all Hyperion recordings and it is illegal to copy them, in whole or in part, for any purpose whatsoever, without permission from the copyright holder, Hyperion Records Ltd, PO Box 25, London SE9 1AX, England. Any unauthorized copying or re-recording, broadcasting, or public performance of this or any other Hyperion recording will constitute an infringement of copyright. Applications for a public performance licence should be sent to Phonographic Performance Ltd, 1 Upper James Street, London W1F 9DE

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CDH55378

tenor ANTHONY ROLFE JOHNSON

Benjamin Britten (1913 –1976)

treble HARRY BRIGGS

Saint Nicolas

CORYDON SINGERS CHORISTERS OF ST GEORGE’S CHAPEL, WINDSOR choirmaster CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON

GIRLS OF WARWICK UNIVERSITY CHAMBER CHOIR choirmaster SIMON HALSEY

CONGREGATION Choirs of Sevenoaks School & Tonbridge School Choir of Christ Church, Southgate Penshurst Choral Society The Occasional Choir

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Introduction [5'28] The birth of Nicolas [2'34] Nicolas devotes himself to God [4'50] He journeys to Palestine [7'58] Nicolas comes to Myra and is chosen Bishop [6'55] Nicolas from Prison [2'50] Nicolas and the pickled boys [6'34] His piety and marvellous works [5'16] The death of Nicolas [7'06]

bl

Hymn to Saint Cecilia

piano duet CATHERINE EDWARDS, JOHN ALLEY organ JOHN SCOTT

ENGLISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA leader JOSÉ-LUIS GARCIA

conductor MATTHEW BEST

[50'04]

A cantata for tenor solo, mixed chorus, piano duet, organ, strings & percussion, Op 42

[9'56]

for five-part unaccompanied chorus, Op 27

Benjamin Britten 1

Saint Nicolas

CDH55378 Duration 60'14

(1913 –1976)

[50'04]

A cantata for tenor solo, mixed chorus, piano duet, organ, strings & percussion, Op 42

bl

Hymn to Saint Cecilia

[9'56]

for five-part unaccompanied chorus, Op 27

ANTHONY ROLFE JOHNSON tenor HARRY BRIGGS treble

CORYDON SINGERS CHORISTERS OF ST GEORGE’S CHAPEL, WINDSOR GIRLS OF WARWICK UNIVERSITY CHAMBER CHOIR CATHERINE EDWARDS, JOHN ALLEY piano duet JOHN SCOTT organ

ENGLISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA MATTHEW BEST conductor

A HYPERION RECORDING

DDD

MADE IN ENGLAND

Recorded in All Hallows, Gospel Oak, London, on 7 and 8 October 1988 Recording Engineer ANTONY HOWELL Recording Producer MARK BROWN Executive Producer EDWARD PERRY P Hyperion Records Ltd, London, 1989 C Hyperion Records Ltd, London, 2009 (Originally issued on Hyperion CDA66333) Front illustration: The Story of St Nicolas by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (d1348) Uffizi Gallery, Florence

HELIOS CDH55378

BRITTEN SAINT NICOLAS . HYMN TO SAINT CECILIA ROLFE JOHNSON . CORYDON SINGERS . ECO . MATTHEW BEST

‘A very fine recording’ (Gramophone) ‘A fresh and atmospheric account of Britten’s colourful cantata’ (The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs)

BRITTEN SAINT NICOLAS . HYMN TO SAINT CECILIA ROLFE JOHNSON . CORYDON SINGERS . ECO . MATTHEW BEST

HELIOS CDH55378

NOTES EN FRANÇAIS + MIT DEUTSCHEM KOMMENTAR