Patrick Wedd, Director of Music
Donald Hunt, Assistant Organist
Hilary Punnett, Organ Scholar
It was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever’, the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud (NRSV, 2 Chronicles 5:13).
Click on the desired calendar:
Choral Eucharist and Evensong Concerts at the Cathedral
Holy Week thru 2nd Sunday of Easter May 2008
An ABC of Composers and Musicians Encountered Here In the Christ Church Cathedral Music Programme.
Welcome all of you to the Christ Church Cathedral Music Programme. If you are interested in being on a list to receive occasional update information and alerts, let us know by sending an email: music.programme@gmail.com
MUSICA ORBIUM
Jazzez-vous Shakespeare?
Patrick Wedd, directeur artistique
Carole Therrien, soprano, et son trio de jazz
le dimanche 11 mai à 19h30 / Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
à la Salle Oscar Peterson de l'Université Concordia
Campus Loyola, située au 7141 rue Sherbrooke Ouest. (métro Vendôme, autobus #105)
Click here to learn more.
Click to listen to Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata 11, The Ascension Oratorio, Meine Seel erhebt den Herren / My soul praises the Lord, for the Feast of the Ascension, performed by the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling (conductor).
Giotto di Bondone, The Ascension, Cappella Scrovegni, Padua, 1304-06
Theodore Baierl, The Ascension, private collection, c.1918
2008 is the centenary of the birth of Olivier Messiaen. Celebrate the Ascension with Messiaen. Listen to Olivier Messiaen, L'Ascension, 4 méditation symphoniques. Click here to listen to the entire work by the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Sylvain Cambreling (conductor), or click on the underlined words of each meditation:
1. Majesté du Christ demandant sa gloire à son Père 2. Alléluias sereins d'une âme qui désire le ciel 3. Alléluia sur la trompette, alléluia sur la cymbale 4. Prière du Christ montant vers son Père.
Listen to the later version of L'Ascension for organ (brief programme note) performed by Georg Hagel on the 1999 Rieger organ of the Basilica of Vierzehnheiligen (Fourteen Saints) in Franconia. Click on each underlined selection.
1. Majesté du Christ demandant sa gloire à son Père 2. Alléluias sereins d'une âme qui désire le ciel 3. Transports de joie d'un âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne 4. Prière du Christ montant vers son Père.
Click to listen to J.S. Bach, Cantata 34, O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe / O eternal fire, o source of love, for Pentecost, performed by the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling (conductor).
Salvator Dali, Apparuerunt Illis Dispertitae Linguae from The Holy Bible, 1964-67
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The chair of St. Peter (detail), Basilica of St. Peter, Vatican, 1657-66
During evensong on the feast of Pentecost, one of the versions of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit), will be sung. Click for the text of Veni, Sancte Spiritus in Latin and English. Click to hear the evensong version by Palestrina sung by the Choir of New College, Oxford, Edward Higginbottom conducting. Click to hear Veni, Sancte Spiritus sung in Gregorian by the Choir of the Vienna Hofburgkapelle, Joseph Schabasser conducting. Click to hear Veni, Sancte Spiritus, sung by the nuns and monks of l'Abbaye du Bec-Hellouin. Click to hear Eustache Du Caurroy, Veni Sancte Spiritus, performed by the Choir of New College, Oxford, Edward Higginbottom conducting. Click to hear Arvo Pärt, Veni, Sancte Spiritus, from the Berliner Messe, performed by Polyphony, Stephen Layton, conducting; Andrew Lucas, organist.
The Masses composed for Pentecost by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Tomás Luis de Victoria are parody Masses based on motets that each had earlier composed. Listen in all of these works for audible manifestation of what is written in the Acts of the Apostles about the occurence in the upper room.
Vecellio Tiziano, The Descent of the Holy Ghost, Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, c.1545
Dum complerentur dies Pentecostes, Now when the day of Pentecost had come, erant omnes pariter dicentes, alleluia, they were gathered all together, saying: alleluia. et subito factus est sonus de coelo, alleluia, And suddenly they heard a great sound from heaven, alleluia, tamquam spiritus vehementis, like a hurricane in its fury, et replevit totam domum, alleluia. which encompassed all the dwelling, alleluia.
Dun ergo essent When therefore they were, in unum discipuli congregati the disciples, gathered together propter metum Iudaeorum for fear of the Jewish people sonus repente de caelo suddenly a sound from heaven venit super eos. came upon them. Alleluia. Alleluia. Tamquam spiritus vehementis As of a mighty rushing wind et replevit totam domum. and it filled all the house. Alleluia. Alleluia. (To follow the text, right-click on "motet" and then left-click on "Open in New Tab.")
Click to hear Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Dum complerentur (When [the day of Pentecost] had fully come), performed by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Stephen Darlington, conducting: the motet, the entire Mass, Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei I and Agnus Dei II.
Click to hear Tomás Luis de Victoria, Dum complerentur (When [the day of Pentecost] had fully come), performed by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Stephen Darlington, conducting: the motet, the entire Mass, Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei I and Agnus Dei II.
Emil Nolde, Pentecost, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1909
Welcome the Holy Spirit. Listen to two movements from Olivier Messiaen, La Messe de la Pentecôte. To hear Les Langues de feu performed by Erik Boström on the 1949 Marcussen organ of the Oscar Church, Stockholm, click here then click on "Listen to the Program," then hold button and slide to 33:30 (33 minutes and 30 seconds). To hear Le Vent de l'Espirit performed by Haskell Thomson on the 2001 Fisk organ of Oberlin College, click here then click on "Listen to Program," then hold button and slide it to 55:18 (55 minutes and 18 seconds).
For the Seventh Sunday of Easter, in addition to the prelude and postlude from Olivier Messiaen, L’Ascension, there was also music by Andrea Gabrieli, John Amner and Luca Marenzio.
Click to hear Andrea Gabrieli, Jubilate Deo, performed by His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, Peter Bassano, conducting.
Click to hear John Amner, Variations for keyboard on “O Lord in Thee is all my trust,” performed by Gerald Clifford on the 17th century Thomas Thamar organ of St. Michael’s Church, Framlingham, Suffolk.
Click to hear Luca Marenzio, Super flumina Babylonis, performed by the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Christopher Jackson conducting.
The prelude, postlude, introit and anthem for evensong for Sunday, April 27, the 6th Sunday of Easter, are all the work of the great English Renaissance composer, Thomas Tallis. Even the office hymn, O gracious Light, Lord Jesus Christ, is set to a tune by Thomas Tallis, sometimes called the Eighth Tune or Tallis’ Canon. In all Tallis wrote nine tunes for the singing of the psalms. The Eighth Tune or Tallis’ Canon especially is used to provide the setting for a number of hymns. Click to hear Te lucis ante terminum (soloist: Alex Baron) and another evening hymn, Glory to Thee my God This Night (soloist: Edward Day), both performed to the tune of Tallis' Canon by Libera. Click to listen to Glory to Thee my God This Night performed by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. Words: Thomas Ken, 1692. Music: Tallis' Canon. Click to read about Thomas Tallis and to hear more of his music.
Sunday Choral Evensong at 4:00 pm at Christ Church Cathedral is broadcast on Radio Ville-Marie (91.3 FM; Sherbrooke area 100.3 FM). It is streamed live on the internet.
Click for other online services from Trinity Church, Wall Street, and St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, as well as choral evensong via the BBC.
To launch the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Olivier Messiaen, Patrick Wedd performed the nine meditations of Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur on the Karl Wilhelm organ of Christ Church Cathedral on Saturday before Christmas. Click to read about Olivier Messiaen, hear his La Nativité du Seigneur, Les Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus and some of his other music.
Click to listen to John Scott [BNQ], long-time master of the musicke at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, now director of music at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue perform Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur (The Nativity of the Lord) on the Taylor & Boody organ (interspersed with Nativity readings from the King James' Bible).
The Treble Choir rehearses weekly on Thursdays from 4:45 to 6:45 pm.
Don't miss the opportunity!
Join our Youth Choir
Click to learn how. version française
Dietrich Buxtehude, the celebrated composer, died in 1707. In June 2007, cathedral organist Patrick Wedd, in a series of eight concerts, performed Buxtehude’s complete organ works. Click to listen to John Scott [BNQ] of St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue (New York City) perform the Complete Buxtehude in ten concerts, from January to May 2007, on the Taylor & Boody organ. There are extensive program notes. Click to listen to highlights of the recent choral season at St. Thomas. (To get by the recently added plea for funds, click on "I'll contribute next time" on the lower right.) The McGill Friday Noon organ recitals during the month of November will be a Buxtehude Festival. Check Autumn organ schedule above.
Click for the beginning of a library of online church music to be heard and enjoyed free, presented in a variety of ways, by season, choir, composer, theme.
This is a page, a work in progress, barely begun, which will provide links to additional church music websites of possible interest. Check it out from time to time.
Learn about the Karl Wilhelm organ installed in Christ Church Cathedral in 1980. And if you are interested in other pipe organs in Montreal and around Quebec as well as the organists who play them.
Nina De Sole helps us to understand "What is a Pipe Organ?" There is also an interesting article in Wikipedia. A more intensive study of the pipe organ can be found in James Cook's Illustrated Organ History. And for the curious and even not so young, there is the American Guild of Organists' A Young Person's Guide to the Pipe Organ.
Many of the entire musical compositions accessed through the cathedral website are courtesy of the Classical Music Library of Alexander Street Press. Listening is free but a small charge is sometimes made to download. There is always one major work that may be downloaded free.
Listen to hundreds of 90-minute-long programs of organ music from around the world on Minnesota Pipedreams as you work at your computer. Click for the current program or years of archived programs.
Click to read past editions of the Cathedral Choir Notes.
Click for archived Bach Cantatas, according to BWV Nos.; according to possible liturgical use on the Christ Church Cathedral music programme.
The Library of the Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn, New York
Click on underlined entries for more information and recorded music.
Hans Memling: Angel Musicians; Christ with Singing Angels (above)