LENT
Words of Christ
This is Love
…while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
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for you
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Repertoire Note
Choral level of difficulty: 4-5 (5 greatest)
Widely admired as one of MacMillan’s finest achievements, his Seven Last Words promises an absorbing and moving experience in concert, for performers and audience alike. This cantata follows Christ’s final utterances at the Crucifixion, meditating on each to form a dramatic and emotional sequence. Both the vocal and instrumental parts draw on characteristic models: Lutheran baroque techniques for the chorus, and the sophisticated British and Polish 20th century traditions of writing for the string orchestra.
The traditional text of the Seven Last Words from the Cross is based on a compilation from all four gospels to form a sequential presentation of the last seven sentences uttered by Christ (in English and Latin). The work was commissioned by BBC Television and broadcast in seven nightly episodes during Holy Week of 1994
This is rightly regarded as MacMillan’s masterpiece. It is not easy – none of MacMillan’s music really is - but what riches there are for those who scale these heights. MacMillan’s conviction in this music, stemming from his deep faith, is passionately obvious and could not leave anyone unmoved by this experience. One of the great features of this work is the way MacMillan uses silence – and the effect it creates is as powerful as symphony orchestras of sound. How few composers know about silence, and how afraid of it we are in contemporary society. The string writing is wonderful and draws resonances from the whole distinguished line of 20th century composers who have written so brilliantly for the medium, here in particular bringing to mind Tippett’s Concerto for Double String Orchestra.
There are so many extraordinary and powerful effects in this work that it is invidious to single any out, but the final sighs from the violins at the end of the orchestral postlude with which the work ends actually bring to life the last breaths of the dying Christ. It is mesmerizing and deeply, deeply moving. The plain-speaking (but increasingly dissonant) chordal outbursts at the start of the second movement are juxtaposed with huge balancing passages of silence. The mantra-like utterances of the beautiful but pathetic cadential figure (taken from MacMillan’s Clarinet Quintet Tuireadh – Lament) treads its way through the whole of the first movement.
This work is well within the reach of good choral groups and it should be taken up widely. Conductors are urged to look carefully at this work.
Repertoire note by Paul Spicer
Press Quotes
"...probably MacMillan's masterpiece... the maturity in this composition is astounding: the tonal structure of the seven settings, harmony which can be spare or lush without ever being overwritten, an inexorable sense of the drama in the text, the baland between voice and strings. A few seconds, in difficult times, when meditation was centre stage, when it was possible to regain optimism."
The GuardianWorld Premiere
27/03/1994
BBC TV
Capella Nova/BT Scottish Ensemble / Alan Tavener
World Premiere
30/03/1994
St Aloysius Church, Glasgow
Capella Nova/Scottish Ensemble / Alan Taverner
Composer's Notes
MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross was commissioned by BBC Television and first screened in seven nightly episodes during Holy Week 1994, performed by Cappella Nova and the BT Scottish Ensemble under Alan Tavener.
The traditional text of the Seven Last Words from the Cross is based on a compilation from all four gospels to form a sequential presentation of the last seven sentences uttered by Christ.
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How to address the suffering of Christ on the cross is a question that must be dealt with by every Christian composer. Not all choose to address Christ’s sacrifice directly, feeling that their faith should enliven their works implicitly rather than explicitly. Others, like John Tavener and Arvo Pärt, though writing spiritually inspired music, choose to focus on transcendence.
A sense of his religious belief imbues much of James MacMillan’s work, he seeks to combine the sacred with the everyday. In a 2004 interview, he said: “To me, the very sense of the sacred that we are talking about is rooted in the here and now, in the joys and tragedies of everyday life, in the grit and mire of human existence”.
Something of this attitude can be seen in his choral piece, “Seven Last Words from the Cross”, where MacMillan attempts to come to terms with the violence and drama of the events on the cross as well to meditate on their spiritual significance. The work, written for chorus and string orchestra, was commissioned by BBC Television for broadcasting during Holy Week 1994, one ‘Word’ per day. It was subsequently recorded, and now deleted, by Polyphony and the London Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer. Now Polyphony has recorded the work again, this time under Stephen Layton with the Britten Sinfonia.
Any composer who sets Christ’s seven last words must acknowledge in some way Haydn’s series of instrumental meditations originally intended to be played between sermons; only later was he persuaded to add words to form the choral version. The Biblical text, seven phrases rather than words, is rather short, so for some movements MacMillan adds texts from Holy Week services; some in Latin, some in English.
MacMillan’s work opens with high sopranos singing “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”; the musical figure used is a mesmerising cadential theme that MacMillan originally used in his piece Tuireadh (Gaelic for Lament). The men join the women, singing “Hosanna filio David” and eventually their cries of “Rex Israel” dominate. The soprano’s theme from the opening threads its way through the whole movement, sometimes in the choir sometimes in the string accompaniment. Gradually the women sing a text from the Good Friday responsory for Tenebrae; mainly delivered on a monotone, everything else evaporates leaving just bare notes.
This quiet ending is destroyed by the blasting violence of the choral chords that open the second movement. MacMillan sets Christ’s words, “Woman, Behold thy Son! … Behold, thy Mother!”. The choir’s first repetition of the words is made all the more insistent by the biting bi-tonality of the chords. Throughout the movement the choir simply re-iterate these words to a series of striking figures, giving a strong ostinato feel, which reoccurs in other movements. The strings enter gradually, first as a meditation and then more violently until the movement evaporates on the words “Behold, thy Mother!”.
The next movement opens with a setting of the words “Ecce lignum crucis”, a Good Friday Antiphon, with soloists singing in what I think of as MacMillan’s motet style. Three times soloists sing these words, each time a little higher and three times they are answered by the full choir, but on each repetition the string involvement becomes more dominant until the orchestra alone take up the argument. The repetition is a deliberate echo of the Good Friday liturgy, during which the Cross is slowly revealed to the congregation. Christ’s words occur only at the end of the movement, radiantly sung by soprano soloists stunningly high in their range with just high violins for accompaniment. The soprano soloists, Amy Haworth and Grace Davidson, are stunning here and the result is truly radiant but the high tessitura means that we hear not a word.
Next is a setting of the words “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani” starting low and dark, working higher and then gradually descending into darkness again. The vocal lines sometimes take on a highly decorated, melismatic quality, which might be linked back to the music of Robert Carver, a highly influential figure for MacMillan.
“I thirst” builds a beautifully bleak landscape from just a few building blocks: high strings and voices and muttered interjections.
Again MacMillan breaks the mood with the violent string chords that open the penultimate movement, “It is finished”. The sopranos sing “My eyes were blind with weeping”, MacMillan providing a wonderfully consoling endless melody based on the music from the opening movement, whilst the remaining voices repeatedly re-iterate Christ’s words, “It is finished”. The result is gravely beautiful.
The final movement opens with a hugely anguished chord for the first word, “Father”, sung three times before the choir descends into resignation. The strings complete the work with a sigh, perhaps Christ’s dying breath.
Though there are many moments of drama and violence, one is constantly brought back to a sense of quiet intimacy. MacMillan sets off his dramatic moments with meditations and bleak thoughts; it is not a minimal work, but one that conveys a great sense of space.
The strings have an important role to play; they are never strictly an accompaniment and provide significant interludes and linking passages, supporting, commenting-on and amplifying the choir’s contribution: string-writing reminding of a style prevalent in the UK in the mid-20th-century. The Britten Sinfonia is excellent and Polyphony is astonishing, the latter singing the score with remarkable accuracy and bringing a wonderful sense of colour and intensity to the music. Each section has its own individual flavour and we are never conscious of the difficulty of performing the music.
Two smaller works complete the disc. “On the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin” was written for the choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1997 and sets a poem by Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) for choir and organ. This is a lovely, well-made work displaying MacMillan at his small-scale best, a feeling of well-modulated intensity.
MacMillan’s setting of the “Te Deum” was written in 2001 to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002 and almost revels in MacMillan’s lack of Anglican baggage in often being quiet and thoughtful with some transcendently beautiful passages. Quite contemplative phrases mix with decorated solos and a strong organ part and works brilliantly on its own terms.
This is disc of fine contemporary sacred music in performances that are simply stunning. Anyone who feels that the sacred has gone out of contemporary music or that contemporary sacred music is lacklustre should listen and marvel.
Reviewed by: Robert Hugill
Reviewed: September 2005
CD No: HYPERION CDA67460
Duration: 69 minutes -
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LET us PRAY
MICHELANGELO
I
Forgiveness
Latin:
”PATER, IGNOSCE ILLIS, QUIA NESCIUNT QUID FACIUNT.”
English:
”Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Luke 23:34
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LUKE 23:33-34 (KJV)
33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
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O gentle patience, and patient gentleness,
O infinite mercy, O infinite kindness!
As a gentle Lamb, You proffer no complaint,
And as a loving mother, You seek to excuse the wrongs of Your children.
With Your most sweet soul, You offer only benevolence;
With Your most merciful will, You display only forgiveness.
Unto You, the hopes of my souls all fly;
Unto You, the sighs of my heart all ascend.
To You flow all my tears,
And the desperate yearnings of my hearts’s cry to You, O Jesus:
“Forgive me Lord, forgive me,
For very I often I know not what I do!”
Amen.
-From Bonaventure’s De Septem Verbis Domino in Cruce.
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1. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (St. Luke)
Hosanna filio David
benedictus qui venit in nomine Domine
Rex Israel, Hosanni in excelsis
Hosanna to the Son of David
blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,
The King of Israel, Hosanna in the Highest.The Palm Sunday Exclamation
The life that I held dear I delivered into the hands of the unrighteous
and my inheritance has become for me like a lion in the forest.
My enemy spoke out against me,
‘Come gather together and hasten to devour him’.
They placed me in a wasteland of desolation,
and all the earth mourned for me.
For there was no one who would acknowledge me or give me help.
Men rose up against me and spared not my life.From the Good Friday Responsaries for Tenebrae
The work begins with a cadential figure from the end of the clarinet quintet Tuireadh (lament), repeated over and over, upon which the rest of the music gradually builds. Violin "fanfares" emerge when the men start singing the Palm Sunday Exclamation Hosanna to the Son of David. Finally, another idea unfolds – a plainsong monotone with the words from one of the Good Friday Responsaries for Tenebrae.
II
Relationship
Latin:
”MULIER, ECCE FILIUS TUUS.”
“ECCE, MATER TUUS.”
English:
”Woman, behold thy son.”
“Behold, thy Mother.”
John 19:26-27
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JOHN 19:26-27 (KJV)
26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
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O wondrous exchange, O miraculous disparity!
How great this desolation, how cruel this bitterness,
Which pierced the tender heart of the Mother of God!
A human guardian is assigned to this glorious Mother:
In place of the Lord, she is given a mere disciple;
In exchange for the One who was true God, she is given a poor mortal;
In place of the King of the Universe, she accepts a simple worker.
Even thus, I commend myself, wretch that I am, to Your grace, O Jesus!
I humbly commit myself to Your merciful providence.
May the glorious Virgin pray for me, and stand before You as my advocate.
In the midst of the cortex of sin and inquiry by which I am surrounded,
May I always abide secure and firm in my faith.
Amen.
-From Bonaventure’s De Septem Verbis Domino in Cruce.
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3. Verily, I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in Paradise (St. Luke)
Ecce Lignum Crucis
in quo salus mundi pependit:
Venite adoremusBehold the Wood of the Cross
on which The Saviour of the world was hung
Come let us adore himGood Friday Versicle
Christ’s words are kept until the very end of the movement when they are sung by two high sopranos, accompanied by high violins. The rest of the piece is a setting of the Good Friday Versicle Ecce Lignum Crucis. During the liturgy this is normally sung three times, each time at a higher pitch as the cross is slowly unveiled and revealed to the people. Here also the music begins with two basses, rises with the tenors and then again with two altos. A high violin solo features throughout.
III
Salvation
Latin:
”AMEN, DICO TIBI, HODIE MECUM ERIS IN PARADISO.”
English:
”Amen, I say to thee: today thou shalt be with Me in paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43
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LUKE 23:39-43
39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
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O ever ready charity of God, O ever ready mercy!
O munificent liberality and liberal munificence!
Devotion and recollection both hasted towards You.
In Your presence, I make my humble confession,
And reveal the hidden depths of my heart.
Therefore, with full confidence I implore You, O Lord,
You who alone are perfectly innocent:
“Remeber me, Lord, when You come into Your Kingdom!”
Amen.
-From Bonaventure’s De Septem Verbis Domino in Cruce.
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2. Woman, Behold Thy Son!…Behold, Thy Mother! (St. Luke)
Again a repeated cadential figure forms the basis of this movement, this time evoking memories of Bach’s Passion chorales. The choir and ensemble operate according to different procedures – the choir repeating the words Woman, Behold Thy Son to a shifting three bar phrase, the strings becoming gradually more frantic as the music evolves. They both give way to an exhausted Behold, Thy Son.
IV
Abandonment
Latin:
”ELI, ELI, LAMMA SABACTHANI?
DEUS, DEUS MEUS, QUARE ME DERLIQUISTI?”
English:
“My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me?”
Matthew 27:46
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Matthew 27:41-46 (KJV)
41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
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“My God, My God, why has Thou abandoned Me?”
O miraculous lamentation, bringing salvation to humanity!
O most innocent and humble heart, weeping for all this dark world’s pain!
Compassion draws me to You, for I know that You suffer for my sake.
I cast myself at Your feet,
And I rend my heart to join my lamentation with Yours.
For in such tears I found solace,
Knowing that they shall be transformed someday into eternal joy.
Amen.
-From Bonaventure’s De Septem Verbis Domino in Cruce.
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4. Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani (St. Matthew and St. Luke)
My God, My God, why have you forsaken meThe music rises tortuously from low to high before the choir deliver an impassioned, full-throated lament above which the strings float and glide. The movement eventually subsides through a downward canonic motion to end as it began.
V
Distress
Latin:
”SITIO”
English:
“I thirst.”
John 19:28
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JOHN 19:28-29
28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
MATTHEW 27:34
34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.
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O thirst most life-giving, desirous of our friendship:
O penetrating thirst, shattering the sinful desires of the heart!
Lord, grant that I may always thirst for You,
And that I may burn with this holy thirst!
But may I fly from all deprived thirsts and all wicked longings.
May I transfer these sinful desire to You, who are the font of salvation!
May I draw from this font the waters of eternal life,
And drink forever of the glorious vision of God
In my true heavenly homeland.
Amen.
-From Bonaventure’s De Septem Verbis Domino in Cruce.
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5. I thirst (St. John)
Ego te potaviaqua salutis de petra:
et tu me postast felle et acetoI gave you to drink of life-giving water from the rock:
and you gave me to drink of gall and vinegarFrom the Good Friday Reproaches
The two words I thirst are set to a static and slow-moving harmonic procedure which is deliberately bare and desolate. The interpolated text from the Good Friday Reproaches is heard whispered and distantly chanted.
VI
Triumph
Latin:
”CONSUMMATUM EST.”
English:
“It is consummated.”
John 19:30
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JOHN 19:30 (KJV)
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
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O goodness of the good Jesus, who is Himself our righteousness:
O truth of the true Jesus, who is Himself our knowledge:
O love of the beloved Jesus, who is Himself our redemption:
O holiness of the holy Jesus, who is Himself our sanctification!
Bring to consummation for us Your gifts of grace and justice,
Bring to consummation our wisdom and righteousness,
And, when we arrive in the realms of eternity,
Bring to consummation our everlasting joy!
Amen.
-From Bonaventure’s De Septem Verbis Domino in Cruce.
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6. It is finished (St. John)
My eyes were blind with weeping,
For he that consoled me is far from me:
Consider all you people,
is there any sorrow like my sorrow?
All you who pass along this way take heed
and consider if there is any sorrow like mine.From the Good Friday Responsaries for Tenebrae
The movement begins with hammer-blows which subside and out of which grows quiet choral material which is largely unaccompanied throughout. The three words act as a background for a more prominent text taken from the Good Friday Responsaries.
VII
Reunion
Latin:
”PATER, IN MANUS TUAS COMMENDO SPIRITUM MEUM.”
English :
”Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit.”
Luke 23:46
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LUKE 23:44-46 (KJV)
44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
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O most lamentable death, over which all creation sheds its tears:
O sorrowful death, over which the cosmos weeps!
But death, also, most marvellous, which restores the dead to life:
Death most loving, by which the saints attain to glory!
Holy death and noble death, by which all guilt is erased:
Merciful and efficacious death, by which the prize of eternal life is won!
O stupendous death of Christ, let us be ever mindful of you:
Stir up our souls, and pierce our hearts with compunction.
Illuminate our minds with your holy light,
And instruct us in the ways of humility and love.
Save us from our sins, and lead us unto life eternal.
Amen.
-From Bonaventure’s De Septem Verbis Domino in Cruce.
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7. Father, into Thy hands I commend my Spirit (St. Luke)
The first word is exclaimed in anguish three times before the music descends in resignation. The choir has finished – the work is subsequently completed by strings alone.
On setting such texts it is vital to maintain some emotional objectivity in order to control musical expression in the way that the Good Friday liturgy is a realistic containment of grief. Nevertheless it is inspiring when one witnesses people weep real tears on Good Friday as if the death of Christ was a personal tragedy. In this final movement, with its long instrumental postlude, the liturgical detachment breaks down and gives way to a more personal reflection: hence the resonance here of Scottish traditional lament music.
James MacMillan
“yet He has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach”
BeHOLD BEAUTY
Pietá
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Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
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King's treatment of the famous negro spiritual. Note the energy Sir Stephen injects into the conducting.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine Were you there when the sun refused to shine Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble Were you there when the sun refused to shine
Were you there when he rose up from the grave? Were you there when he rose up from the grave? Ohh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble Were you there when he rose up from the grave?
“Grace and peace to you from Him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood, who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.”
“Happy are those who wash their robes clean and so have the right to eat the fruit from the tree of life and to go through the gates into the city. ”
“‘Blessed are those having been invited to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb.’”
“‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’”