Venetian Christmas Mass
Music of Gabrieli and Monteverdi

First United Methodist, Palo Alto 12.20.13 8:00PM
First Congregational, Berkeley 12.21.13 7:30PM
St. Mark's Lutheran, San Francisco 12.22.13 4:00PM

Clara Rottsolk, soprano Jennifer Paulino, soprano Andrew Rader, countertenor Clifton Massey, countertenor Christopher LeCluyse, tenor Daniel Hutchings, tenor Hugh Davies, bass Peter Becker, bass John Dornenburg, violone John Lenti, theorbo Katherine Heater, organ

with The Whole Noyse

In a co-production with the San Francisco Early Music Society, Magnificat joins forces with early wind ensemble The Whole Noyse to present a Venetian Christmas Mass featuring the brilliant polychoral music of Giovanni Gabrieli juxtaposed with the concertato music of Claudio Monteverdi. Organist at the Basilica of San Marco for three decades, Gabrieli formed a link from Lassus and the High Renaissance to the music of the early Baroque. A year after his death in 1612, Monteverdi arrived to assume the role of maestro di cappella at St. Mark's and the music he would write in Venice had an profound impact on musical style that still resonates today.

While Gabrieli's music is firmly grounded in the polychoral tradition of his uncle Andrea and the contrapuntal style of the High Renaissance, his later works reflect many of the new devices emerging from experiments with opera and virtuosic solo writing, notably in his Christmas concerto Quem vidistis pastores. Similarly, though Monteverdi is most closely associated with the music of the 'secunda prattica', throughout his life he also wrote in the older style, notably in his Missa in illo tempore, published along with his famous vespers music in 1610 and in the stile antico Mass from his collection Selva morale e spirituale.

This fluidity of compositional style is reflected in Magnificat's program, which features Gabrieli's Kyrie and Sanctus published posthumously in 1615 together with Monteverdi's concertato Gloria and Credo from 1640 and his Agnus Dei from 1610. The program will also includes concerti and canzoni by Gabrieli and Monteverdi's soprano motet O bone Iesu.

Note that tickets for Magnificat's concerts in December are available exclusively through the San Francisco Early Music Society. Visit their website or call (510) 528-1725 to order tickets.

Program Giovanni Gabrieli: Kyrie à 5, 8 and 12 (1615) Claudio Monteverdi: Gloria à 7 (1640) Gabrieli: Canzona VIII à 8 (1615) Monteverdi: Credo concertato (1640) Gabrieli: Quem vidistis pastores (1615) Gabrieli: Sanctus à 12 (1615) Monteverdi: O bone Iesu (1622) Monteverdi: Agnus Dei à 6 and 7 (1610) Gabrieli: Canzona XII à 8 (1615) Gabrieli: Omnes gentes plaudite manibus (1597)

Background by Nika Korniyenko.