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December 1, 2024 * Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Program Notes
Program and Translations
Performers
Supporters
Board of Directors
2025 Spring Events
Program Notes
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704) was second only to Jean Baptiste Lully among the French composers of the seventeenth century. Since Lully maintained a limited monopoly over opera and ballet productions, Charpentier’s musical output is richest in sacred music, though he was able to produce a few theatrical works. After 1698, he was appointed maître de musique (music master) at Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.
Noëls pour les instruments
H. 531 and H. 534 (ca 1690 and 1693)
Throughout the seventeenth century, a repertoire of noëls was growing in France. Many of these noëls ultimately have their sources in purely secular tunes, but they became so overwhelmingly popular as Christmas tunes that their origins have been largely forgotten. Noëls offered rich material for instrumental settings, including organ variations and chamber works by composers including Daquin, Balbastre, Corette, Blavet, and Charpentier. Charpentier published two sets of Noëls pour les instruments in the 1690s for a chamber ensemble consisting of strings, basso continuo, and flutes.
For our performance, we have adapted these settings to one of the most ubiquitous instrumental ensembles of the seventeenth century: the oboe band. The oboe and bassoon developed in France to accommodate the new genres of music being produced for the court of Louis XIV. The instruments became quite popular and rapidly spread throughout Europe. By the end of the century, many military regiments were equipped with oboe bands for entertaining as well as signaling troops, and many civic and court ensembles were established as well. Standard instrumentation consisted of two treble oboes, a tenor oboe, and bassoon, though this was sometimes supplemented by other sizes of oboe, other wind instruments, or percussion.
Messe de minuit pour Noël
H. 9 (1694)
Written in 1694 during his tenure as maître de musique for the Jesuits of Saint Louis in Paris, the Messe de minuit is one of Charpentier’s most accessible sacred works. Charpentier used ten popular French noëls as the basis for the movements of the mass ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei) for midnight on Christmas eve. In some parts of the mass, Charpentier included multiple noëls, but throughout, the melodies are highly recognizable as he took care to never obscure the popular tunes. Despite a prohibition on popular tunes as the basis for sacred composition since the sixteenth-century Council of Trent, the Jesuits maintained a tradition of midnight masses on Christmas based on this material.
The work employs a chorus, continuo, strings, and flutes. Much ink has been spilled over the “flutes” in question—whether Charpentier meant recorders or transverse flutes—as both instruments were available at the time. For this concert, we will be making use of both instruments. In addition, we have supplemented the bass section with bassoon, following common practice in court and chapel in the seventeenth century.
I would like to give thanks to all the individuals and organizations that came together to make this concert possible. Among these, we must include our hosts, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and PoP music director Janet Hill, as well as the Early Music Michigan Board and administrative director, Becky Straple-Sovers. Thank you also to the Kalamazoo College Music Department, and chair Andrew Koehler, for the generous use of their portative organ and the assistance of Nathan Durham for the transportation of that instrument. Chris and John Griffith and Martha Beverly both generously offered hosted some of our traveling musicians. Volunteer Rachel Allen assisted with ticket sales and our post-concert reception. In addition, this concert wouldn’t be possible without the support of the Gilmore Foundation and donations from audience members and donors. Most of all, I would like to extend special thanks to the singers and instrumentalists of Early Music Michigan for coming together to explore this remarkable music.
– Dr. Luke Conklin, Artistic Director
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Program & Translations
Part One: Noëls pour les instruments
H. 531 and H. 534 (ca. 1690 and 1693)
featuring Les Écuries du Roy
I. “Les bourgeois de Chartres” (“All the People of Chartres”)
II. “Joseph est bien marié” (“Joseph is Well Married)
III. “Or nous dites Marie” (“But Tell Us, Mary”)
IV. “Vous qui désirez sans fin” (“You Who Desire Without End”)
V. “Une jeune Pucelle” (“A Young Maid”)
VI. “A la venue de Noël” (“When Christmas Comes”)
VII. “Où s’en vont ces gais bergers” (“Where are These Cheerful Shepherds Going?”)
Brief pause
Part Two: Messe de minuit pour Noël
H. 9 (ca. 1694)
featuring four voices, Baroque violins, Baroque cello, Bassoon, Recorders, and Continuo Organ
Kyrie
“Joseph est bien marié”
“Or nous, dites Marie”
“Une jeune Pucelle”
“Joseph Is Well Married”
“But Tell Us, Mary”
“A Young Maid”
Kýrie, eléison.
Kýrie, eléison.
Kýrie, eléison.
Christe, eléison.
Christe, eléison.
Christe, eléison.
Kýrie, eléison.
Kýrie, eléison.
Kýrie, eléison.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Gloria
“Les bourgeois de Chartres”
“Où s’en vont ces gais bergers”
Glória in excélsis Deo.
Et in terra pax homínibus bonæ voluntátis.
Laudámus te. Benedícimus te.
Adorámus te. Glorificámus te.
Grátias ágimus tibi propter magnam glóriam tuam.
Dómine Deus, Rex cæléstis, Deus Pater omnípotens. Dómine Fili unigénite, Jesu Christe.
Dómine Deus, Agnus Dei, Fílius Patris.
Qui tollis peccáta mundi, miserére nobis.
Qui tollis peccáta mundi, súscipe deprecatiónem nostram.
Qui sedes ad déxteram Patris, miserére nobis.
Quóniam tu solus Sanctus.
Tu solus Dóminus.
Tu solus Altíssimus, Jesu Christe.
Cum Sancto Spíritu, et in glória Dei Patris.
Amen.
“All the People of Chartres”
“Where are These Cheerful Shepherds Going?”
Glory be to God on high.
And on earth peace to men of good will.
We praise You. We bless You.
We adore You. We glorify You.
We give You thanks for Your great glory.
Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.
Lord Jesus Christ, Only-begotten Son.
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father.
You Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. You Who take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.
You Who sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.
For You alone are holy.
You alone are Lord.
You alone, O Jesus Christ, are most high.
With the Holy Ghost, and in the glory of God the Father.
Amen.
Credo
“Vous qui désirez sans fin”
“Voici le jour solennel de Noël”
“A la venue de Noël”
Credo in unum Deum patrem omnipoténtem, factórem cæli et terræ, visibílium ómnium et invisibílium.
Et in unum Dóminum Jesum Christum, Fílium Dei unigénitum.
Et ex Patre natum ante ómnia sæcula.
Deum de Deo, lumen de lúmine, Deum verum de Deo vero.
Génitum, non factum, consubstantiálem Patri: per quem ómnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos hómines et propter nostram salútem descéndit de cælis.
Et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto ex María Vírgine: Et homo factus est.
Crucifíxus étiam pro nobis: sub Póntio Piláto passus, et sepúltus est.
Et resurréxit tértia die, secúndum Scriptúras.
Et ascéndit in cælum: sedet ad déxteram Patris.
Et íterum ventúrus est cum glória judicáre vivos et mórtuos: cujus regni non erit finis.
Et in Spíritum Sanctum, Dóminum et vivificántem: qui ex Patre, Filióque procédit.
Qui cum Patre, et Fílio simul adorátur, et conglorifícatur: qui locútus est per Prophétas.
Et unam, sanctam, cathólicam et apostólicam Ecclésiam. Confíteor unum baptísma in remissiónem peccatorum.
Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam et ventúri sæculi.
Amen.
“You Who Desire Without End”
“Here Is the Solemn Day of Christmas”
“When Christmas Comes”
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God.
Born of the Father before all ages.
God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God.
Begotten, not made: consubstantial with the Father; by Whom all things were made.
Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven.
And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary: and was made man.
He was crucified also for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried.
And on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures.
And He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father.
And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead: of Whose kingdom there shall be no end.
And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life: Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified: Who spoke through the Prophets.
And in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins.
And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life and of the world to come.
Amen.
Offertoire
“Laissez paitre vos beste”
“Let Your Animals Graze”
Sanctus
“O dieu! Que n’ètois-je en vie”
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.
Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua.
Hosánna in excélsis.
Et benedíctus qui venit in nómine Dómini.
Hosánna in excélsis.
“Oh God! Why Wasn’t I Alive?”
Holy, holy, holy.
Heaven and earth are full of Your Glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
And blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Agnus Dei
“At Midnight There Was an Awakening”
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Performers
Are you interested in performing with EMM? We welcome new singers and instrumentalists, as well as volunteers! Learn how to get involved with EMM.
Early Music Michigan
Luke Conklin, Artistic Director
Becky Straple-Sovers, Administrative Director
Sopranos
Christine Hains
Marilyn Ossentjuk
Jan Solberg
Altos
Ginny Shilliday – section leader, soloist
Sophia Moyers
Becky Straple-Sovers
Jan Tucker
Tenors
Kaethe Durham – section leader, soloist
John Fink
Becca Harrington
Marjorie Harrington
Ilse A. Schweitzer
Basses
Jake Zimmer – section leader, soloist
Autumn
Patrick Hanlin
Philip Johnson
Instrumentalists
Les Écuries du Roy
Christopher Brodersen: Taille
Luke Conklin: Oboe
Kaethe Durham: Oboe
Jonathan Goya: Oboe
David Schreiner: Bassoon
Messe de minuit instrumentalists
Julia Brown: Continuo Organ
Luke Conklin: Recorder
Phoebe Gelzer-Govatos: Violin
Jonathan Goya: Violin
Debra Lonergan: Cello
David Schreiner: Bassoon
Jan Solberg: Recorder
Supporters
EMM thanks the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation and our individual and institutional donors for their generous support!
Individual Donors
Mary E. Conces
Frances Denny
Marjorie Harrington
Robert & Joyce Leppard
Catherine & John Niessink
Supporters’ Circle
Robert Davis
Jean de Mott
Judie Eckert
Hans Engelke
Will and Bess Fitzgerald
Barbara Gustin
Mark and Peninnah Miller
Anne Pancella
Zaide Pixley
Frank Plaver
Ginny & Barclay Shilliday
Jan Solberg & John Townsend
Laura Witschi
Business/Institutional Supporters
Fitzgerald Family Fund
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Your support of Early Music Michigan through concert attendance and donations helps to ensure that our unique form of music will continue to be available in Kalamazoo at a reasonable price. A tax-deductible donation can be made by writing a check and mailing it to us or by clicking on the PayPal donation button located below. Donation envelopes are also available on the table at the entry to the concert and can either be mailed to us or left with us in our donations box.
Learn about how else you can support EMM, including through qualified charitable distributions, by volunteering at our concerts, or serving on our Board of Directors!
Board of Directors
Jan Solberg, President
Ilse Schweitzer VanDonkelaar, Vice President
Will Fitzgerald, Treasurer
Luke Conklin, Artistic Director
Becky Straple-Sovers, Administrative Director and Secretary
Christopher Brodersen
John Fink
Marjorie Harrington
Ginny Shilliday
We are actively recruiting new directors! Contact us if you are interested in serving on EMM’s Board.
2025 Spring Events
Gregorian Chant Workshop
First Congregational Church, Kalamazoo
February 22, 2025 – 2–4 p.m.
Artistic Director Luke Conklin will lead a workshop on performing Gregorian chant. More information and registration details will be released soon!
Douce Dame Jolie: Christine de Pizan and Guillaume de Machaut in Dialogue
June 1, 2025 – 3 p.m.
First Congregational Church, Kalamazoo
Although women were certainly involved in all aspects of music-making throughout history, in some periods, such as the Middle Ages, there are few surviving pieces that we know were written by women. For this performance, we will present poetry by proto-feminist Christine de Pizan in dialogue with motets and chansons by the most important composer of the French Ars Nova, Guillaume de Machaut.
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EIN: 38-3296106