Dixit Dominus by GF Handel UM Chamber Choir and University Symphony Orchestra

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Dixit Dominus, HWV 232 (1707) • George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) • Eugene Rogers, Conductor • Tuesday, February 26, 2019 • Hill Auditorium • (movements) • Dixit Dominus (0:00) • soloists: Juliet Schlefer, soprano; Bryce McClendon, countertenor; William Fishwick, tenor • Virgam virtutis tuae (5:27) • soloist: Laurel Baker, mezzo-soprano • Tecum principium in die virtutis (8:21) • soloist: Antona Yost, mezzo-soprano • Juravit Dominus (11:17) • Tu es sacerdos in aeternum (13:26) • Dominus a dextris tuis (14:59) • soloists: Adrianna Tam, soprano; Meridian Prall, mezzo-soprano • Bryce McClendon, countertenor; Nicholas Music, tenor • Benton DeGroot, bass • Judicabit in nationibus (20:26) • De torrente in via bibet (21:42) • soloists: Jennie Judd Meridian Prall, sopranos • Gloria Patri et Filio (25:30) • (program note) • From the work’s plangent suspensions (as in “De torrente”) to its dramatic representation of • the “crushing of heads” (“conquassabit capita”), it is no surprise that, according to legend, • Mendelssohn was so moved by his study of the score of Handel’s Dixit Dominus (HWV 232) • that he kissed it before returning it to its place in the Royal Music Library. A large-scale work • written for use in the Vespers service, Handel’s highly virtuosic setting of the Latin Psalm 110 • (Vulgate 109) stands uniquely apart from the abundance of his operas and oratorios meant for • the stage or concert hall, rather than for the church. When the young composer wrote HWV • 232 in 1707, he was in residence in Rome, where Pope Clement XI had banned the performance • of operas. As the composer was quick to absorb Italy’s local compositional forms and • techniques, Handel’s Dixit Dominus marries the accomplished counterpoint of his German • heritage with the forms of the Italian chamber cantata (especially apparent in the solo arias) • and concerto grosso. • Handel utilized a cantus firmus technique in the first movement, on the text “donec ponam • inimicos tuos” (meaning “Until I make thy enemies”). Similarly, J. S. Bach frequently used a • Lutheran chorale, or hymn melody, as the basis for his many church cantatas. When the first • cantus firmus appears in “Dixit Dominus,” the basso continuo has dropped out, and the sudden • monophony, or reduction to a single vocal line, resembles a Medieval intonation of a psalm • tone, imbuing the music with a sacred affect. These slow-moving notes are joined by a contrapuntal • weave of quick and concise sixteenth and eighth notes, with hard consonants (“c” and • “s” in “donec ponam inimicos”) that physicalize the making of enemies into footstools. Such • contrast between a long, sustained cantus firmus and short, quick counterpoint interrupted by • rests (appearing also in “Tu es sacerdos,” meaning “Thou art a priest”) is characteristic of the • Italian string concerto of the late Baroque era. • Unlike such well-known choruses as those in Messiah, the choral writing in Dixit Dominus • is highly virtuosic, due in large part to the influence of contemporary instrumental writing. • Nowhere is this more apparent than in the concluding “Gloria Patri” and “Amen.” Here, the • first sopranos spin a long melisma, followed by the second sopranos, who imitate the leaping • sevenths of the basso continuo line. Creating a trio texture, the cantus firmus from the first • movement appropriately returns in the bass voice to the text “sicut erat in principio” (“as it was • in the beginning”). Meanwhile, the upper voices continue the contrasting contrapuntal “gloria.” • Even more acrobatic writing takes place in the “amen” section, where the first sopranos • sing nothing but octave leaps for three bars, a feat more easily achieved by crossing strings on • a violin. As the text may suggest (“in saecula saeculorum,” or “world without end”), the final • “amen” is simultaneously a musical marathon and a masterful conclusion. • Note by Adrianna Tam

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