Arion and the Dolphin Carmina Burana

Jonathan Dove
Arion and the Dolphin
Carl Orff
Carmina Burana
All Saints Church, Lovelace Road, West Dulwich
Saturday 12 March 2016, 7.30pm
All Saints Church, Lovelace Road, West Dulwich
Saturday 12 March 2016, 7.30pm
Jonathan Dove
Arion and the Dolphin
Commissioned by Making Music with funds from the Nicholas Berwin Charitable Foundation
Carl Orff
Carmina Burana
Dulwich Choral Society
Bel Canto (Year 7) and Chorale (Years 8/9) choirs from JAGS
Soprano Fflur Wyn
Countertenor Robin Blaze
Baritone Grant Doyle
Piano David Elwin and Iain Farrington
Timpani John McCutcheon†
Percussion Austin Beattie,* Kevin Earley,† Paul Parker,† Tom Edwards,†
Geoff Boynton,* Chris Goody and *Paul Stoneman†
(† Dove and Orff, * Orff only)
Conductor Aidan Oliver
Arion and the Dolphin
cantata for solo Countertenor, Children’s Chorus,
Adult mixed Chorus, Two Pianos and Percussion
Libretto by Alasdair Middleton
An interval of 20 minutes
Carmina Burana
CANTIONES PROFANAE
Translation based on an original by David Parlett
FORTUNA IMPERATRIX MUNDI
(Fortune, Empress of the World)
1. O Fortuna Chorus
2. Fortune plango vulnera Chorus
I PRIMO VERE
(In spring)
3.
4.
5.
Veris leta facies Chorus
Omnia sol temperat Baritone solo
Ecce gratum Chorus
UF DEM ANGER
(In the meadow)
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Tanz Ensemble
Floret silva Chorus
Chramer, gip die varwe mir Chorus
Reie Ensemble
Were diu werlt alle min Chorus
II IN TABERNA
(In the tavern)
11. Estuans interius Baritone
12. Olim lacus colueram Countertenor
and male chorus
13. Ego sum abbas Baritone solo
and male chorus
14. In taberna quando sumus Male chorus
III COUR D’AMOURS
(In the court of Love)
15. Amor volat undique Soprano solo
and children’s chorus
16. Dies, nox et omnia Baritone solo
17. Stetit puella Soprano solo
18. Circa mea pectora Baritone solo
and chorus
19. Si puer cum puellula Male chorus
20. Veni, veni, venias Double chorus
21. In trutina Soprano solo
22. Tempus est iocundum Soli, chorus,
and children’s chorus
23. Dulcissime Soprano solo
IV BLANZIFLOR ET HELENA
(Blanziflor and Helena)
24. Ave formosissima Chorus
FORTUNA IMPERATRIX MUNDI
(Fortune, Empress of the World)
25. O Fortuna Chorus
Jonathan Dove
Arion and the Dolphin
Cantata for Countertenor soloist, Children’s Chorus, Adult Mixed Chorus,
Two Pianos and Percussion
Libretto by Alasdair Middleton
Commissioned by Making Music with funds from the Nicholas Berwin Charitable Trust
Music runs through the story of Arion, which begins with a singing competition in Sicily. Arion wins the
prize, and this puts his life in danger: his newfound wealth excites the greed of the sailors who are supposed
to be bringing him back to Corinth, and they threaten to kill him. They allow Arion to sing one last song, and
the power of his singing attracts dolphins to the ship. At the end of his song, he jumps overboard, and one of
the dolphins carries him to safety. So Arion’s musical gift gets him into trouble, but it is also his salvation.
The idea of being rescued by a music-loving dolphin is very appealing. In Robert Graves’ account of the
myth, the dolphin could not bear to be parted from Arion, and accompanied him back to court, where ‘it
soon succumbed to a life of luxury’. However, Herodotus says that, after his rescue and return to Corinth,
Arion failed to return the dolphin to the sea, and it died there. Apollo placed the dolphin among the stars,
and next to it, Arion’s lyre, in recognition of his musical skill. This is one of the mythical explanations of the
origins of the constellations Delphinus and Lyra.
It seems natural to sing a story that has singing at its heart. When I was asked by the Nicholas Berwin
Charitable Trust to write a choral work for Making Music, something that would be within reach of many
choirs, and involve children, this story struck me as ideal: the men of the chorus could be the bloodthirsty
sailors, and the women could create an atmosphere of mystery for the arrival of the dolphins, represented
by children’s voices. There would be one solo voice: Arion, the marvellous singer. Andrew Fardell, the
conductor who was advisor to this commission, had suggested that I might use the same instrumentation as
a popular arrangement of Orff’s Carmina Burana, a work that, as well as using children’s chorus, features
a solo countertenor. I thought the magical, otherworldly quality of this voice would help to convey the
extraordinary effect Arion’s singing had on all who heard it.
Jonathan Dove, 2016
1. ARION TRIUMPHANT
Listen!
Arion!
Look!
Arion!
Look!
Arion, Arion, a famous musician,
Wins the Sicilian singing competition.
Listen! Arion! Listen! Arion!
Arion sang
And
Around the Arena a silence fell
Arion sang
As pure as a sacred, silver bell
Arion sang
And
The pious danced,
The carefree wept,
The mourners smiled
The squalling baby shushed and slept,
Beguiled.
Arion sang
And
Nature stopped,
Heaven stooped,
Kneeled
To catch each word.
In Hell each demon blushed and reeled
At what it heard.
Arion sang
And
Around the Arena a roaring rang
As one they roar and as one they rise,
Roaring – ‘Arion’s the winner! Give Arion the prize’.
And the prize money falls on Arion’s head,
Like golden-haired comets, in glittering showers
And hoisted on shoulders and crowned with flowers,
He’s down to the harbour in victory led.
Arion, Arion heads down to the bay
To charter a ship to take him away;
But the sailors he picks are a murderous lot
Who are greedy for gold and the prize that he got.
2. SAILORS
MEN
If you need a sturdy ship, Sir
And you need a stalwart crew
If you want to get home swiftly, Sir
Then we’re the men for you;
And is that chest of gold, Sir, all the luggage you are bringing?
And we hope we don’t disturb you with our manly shanty singing
But,
You see
Merry Mariners, we.
We’ve heard that you’re a singer, Sir,
That you’re better than the rest,
And we’ve seen the gold and silver, Sir,
That’s locked up in that chest
And we know the price was fixed, Sir,
Before we left the shore –
But now we’re out to sea, Sir,
We’d like a little more –
This ferry lark’s a failure, so we fancy a career in
A spot of petty piracy and some full-on buccaneering,
For,
Deaf to your plea
Mercenary, merry mariners, we.
We’re going to take your money, Sir
And then you’re going to die.
The only question is, Sir
A wet death or a dry?
It’s entirely your decision
Of how you’ll breathe your last,
We can chuck you in the water
Or can hang you from the mast.
We really hate to hurry you – but let’s say that providing
It’s not too long, you a sing a song – to help you in
deciding.
Mast or sea?
Murderous, mercenary, merry mariners, we.
CHORUS
The sea so deep, the mast so high.
Arion, Arion waiting to die.
3. DOLPHINS
Into the vast and glittering sea
Arion gazes, faces death,
Spends his final breath
Singing
A song sent shining
Into the vast and glittering sea.
ARION
Music and Life,
Goodbye.
Swans sing before they die
So I
In song bid now my song goodbye
Music and Life
Goodbye.
Soon sing no more,
Soon nothing left to be sung
Soon silenced by sea’s sullen roar
Salt water rotting the melody off my tongue.
Music and Life,
Goodbye.
CHORUS
Deep in the vast and glittering sea
Cold Death glistens,
Arion listens,
Singing.
What sound comes spinning
Over the vast and glittering sea?
DISTANT DOLPHIN
A–E–I–O–U
CHORUS
Over the vast and glittering sea
Dolphins throng
Drawn by the song
Pulled by melody
Over the vast and glittering sea.
ARION
There is no music there,
There in the depths of the sea
No melody.
Tuneless waters.
There silent eternity.
DOLPHINS
A–E–I–O–U
ARION
Music and Life,
Goodbye
Drown songs
Drown breath
I go
To Silence and Death.
CHORUS
Into the vast and glittering sea.
His lyre weeps
Music
Into the vast and glittering sea
Arion leaps
Enraptured by Arion’s song
Around him all the dolphins throng,
They will not let the songs be drowned.
So dolphin-mounted, safe and sound
They bear him safe across the sea
Accompanied by melody.
4. ARION AND THE DOLPHIN
DOLPHINS
A–E–O–I–U
ARION
Sing of life snatched from the waves.
Sing the life that music saves.
Sing the hand that touched the strings.
Sing the inspired breath that sings.
Sing of skimming on the sea.
Sing the power of harmony.
Sing of the musician’s skill.
Sing of the creative will.
Sing the bright melodic god.
Sing the dancing dolphin pod.
Sing of music strong as death.
Sing of life and sing of breath.
DOLPHINS
Arion. Arion. Arion.
ARION
Sing the snorting dolphin throng
Sing the singer. Sing the song.
Sing while dolphins play and sport.
Sing and bring me safe to port.
5. SAFE AND SOUND
In the gold afternoon we went down to the harbour,
To watch all the fishermen selling their ware,
As we looked out to sea – out towards the horizon
We saw something shimmering, glimmering there.
Oh, the cold metallic mackerel
Oh, the herring of blue steel
Oh the underwater meadows
Where the dizzy fishes reel.
Some said, ‘It’s a mermaid’, some said ‘It’s a triton’.
Some said, ‘I hear music – but can that be true?’
Some people saw one thing and some saw another,
But something was shimmering, that much we knew.
And oh those scales of silver
And oh those scales of gold
And oh the milky moonlit pearls
The secret oysters hold.
And some of us waded out into the water,
And some of us crowded down onto the pier
And we shaded our eyes from the gold of the sunshine
For we couldn’t believe what we saw drawing near.
It seemed like a man on the back of a dolphin
Skipping and skimming across the blue sea,
And as he was riding he seemed to be singing
And playing an instrument – how could that be?
Oh the songs of porpoises
And oh the songs of whales
And oh the songs the sirens sing
While polishing their scales.
And as he came closer – we saw – ‘IT’S ARION!’
Arion is riding a dolphin back home
Singing and playing and riding a dolphin
That’s breasting the crests of the waves and the foam.
And how we applauded triumphant Arion
And crowned him and cheered as he came into land.
And how we applauded the triumphant dolphin
That lay like white marble upon the gold sand.
Oh the mysteries of the ocean
Oh the treasures of the sea
Oh the pleasures of the dolphin
That’s in love with melody.
6. THE DEATH OF THE DOLPHIN
Arion’s safe – all danger past.
But – Oh! – the dolphin breathes its last.
Oh dying dolphin, white and brave
Who bore me safe across the waves,
You danced across the sea to death,
And saved my life with your last breath.
Oh dying dolphin, white and brave,
May gold and marble mark your grave,
And words on gems of peerless price
Commemorate your sacrifice.
I am forever in your debt,
Now, safe from harpoon, hook and net,
I pray with all my heart that you
Will swim in that Ionian blue,
Cavort forever in that sea
That rolls around Eternity.
Arion! Look! Arion! Look!
The hand of Heaven reaches
Grasps
And clasps,
Lifts
The Dolphin
High
Lays
The Dolphin
In the sky
And
The Dolphin
Is stars
All stars
In the vast and glittering sky
A Dolphin sports through the Ocean of Night,
Tumbles and plays with the shoals of stars.
Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Mars;
Each leaping planet sings, hurtling higher,
To the glittering strings of a heavenly Lyre.
Arion
Look.
Listen,
Arion.
Libretto © 2015 by Alasdair Middleton
Reproduced by kind permission of
Peters Edition Limited, London
Interval of 20 minutes
During the interval, refreshments are available in the room downstairs
Jonathan Dove is published by
Choral works from Dove’s exciting catalogue include:
Arion and the Dolphin • For an Unknown Soldier
There was a Child • I am the Day • Missa Brevis
... and many more.
Carl Orff
Carmina Burana
CARL ORFF was born in the Bavarian city of
Munich and, apart from his military service and a
period working at the Mannheim and Darmstadt
Operas, he lived there throughout his life. As a
composer, he acknowledged the influence of both
Debussy and Schoenberg. He was a pioneer in the
performance of Monteverdi operas. He was also
a musical educator, recognising the importance
of rhythm, movement and memorable melody in
teaching children through improvisation.
Carmina Burana (‘Songs of Beuern’) was written
in 1935–36 and first performed in Frankfurt in June
1937. In its original conception, the work involved
elaborate stage sets and costumes, dance and magic
lantern slides. The structure and tonal palette recall
Stravinsky’s Les Noces which had been premiered
in 1925.
The Nazi government had begun sponsoring
rambling societies as part of its public health and
community-building initiatives. These societies
adopted popular elements of the scouting movement
to organise camping trips where young men could
enjoy long walks in the countryside, a sing-song
around the campfire and nights sleeping under the
stars. In writing Carmina Burana, Orff seems to
have responded to the positive musical aspects
of this without enquiring too deeply into the
underlying political implications.
Collaborating with the philologist, Michel
Hofmann, Orff selected texts from the Codex
Buranus, a manuscript collection of poems
and songs discovered in 1803 in a Benedictine
monastery, Benediktbeuern, about 30 miles south of
Munich. They were written by theology students in
about 1230 and are in the same spirit as the marginal
drawings in illuminated manuscripts with their
revealing, and often very funny, insights into life
outside the monastery.
Carmina Burana is constructed in five tableaux,
looking back to the structure of intermedii and
masques of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
Orff eschewed structural and harmonic complexity
in favour of rhythmic drive and straightforward
settings of the verse forms. Without attempting to
reconstruct the original melodies, he chose a style
with a modal flavour and adopted influences from
Bavarian folk music.
The first performance was a success and the
Carl Orff (1895–1982) photographed in the mid 1930s
work achieved lasting popularity once the Nazi
bureaucracy had been reassured that its earthier
qualities reflected a healthy and natural approach to
life rather than decadent jazz-influenced eroticism,
or schoolboy smut. Orff was convinced that he
had finally established his own voice and wrote to
his publisher: ‘Everything I have written to date,
and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can
be destroyed. With Carmina Burana my collected
works begin.’ Orff enjoyed a successful and muchhonoured career as a teacher of composition but
never recaptured the popular appeal of Carmina
Burana.
Tonight’s performance uses Killmayer’s reduced
orchestration, which the composer authorised in
1956.
Programme note kindly supplied by
Dr Frances Palmer, Honorary Research Fellow,
Royal Academy of Music
I PRIMO VERE
In spring
3. Veris leta facies
mundo propitiatur,
hiemalis acies
victa iam fugatur.
in vestitu vario
Flora principatur,
nemorum dulcisono
que cantu celebratur.
Spring unveils herself again,
smiling on creation:
Winter’s rule of wind and rain
falls in ruination:
gaily garlanded and crowned,
Flora bids adherence:
birds rejoice and woods resound
at her reappearance.
Flore fusus gremio
Phebus novo more
risum dat, hoc vario
iam stipate flore.
Zephyrus nectareo
spirans in odore.
certatim pro bravio
curramus in amore!
Phoebus with his sunny smile
cleaves to Flora’s breast –
both anew in flowery style
colourfully dressed:
Zephyrus eke with sweet breath
warmly wafts above us,
while we strive, as to the death,
for the prize of lovers.
Cytharizat cantico
dulcis philomena;
flore rident vario
prata iam serena;
salit cetus avium
silve per amena;
chorus promit virginum
iam gaudia millena.
Charmingly the nightingale
whiles away the hours:
meadows merrily regale
all the world with flowers:
from the woods the
bird-flock whirls
myriads of flights –
while a dancing ring of girls
hints of greater heights.
I cry the cruel cuts of Fate
with eyes worn red from
weeping, whose fickle favours
travel straight back into her
keeping: as ye read, so shall ye
find – luck comes curly-headed
from the front, but round behind
not a hair is threaded!
4. Omnia sol temperat
purus et subtilis,
novo mundo reserat
faciem Aprilis;
ad amorem properat
animus herilis,
et iocundis imperat
deus puerilis.
Sunshine overrules the world
peaceably and purely:
April with her veil unfurled
bares herself demurely;
now to thoughts of love anew
everyone confesses,
gladsomely surrend’ring to
Eros’s caresses.
In Fortune solio
sederam elatus,
prosperitatis vario
flore coronatus;
quicquid enim florui
felix et beatus,
nunc a summo corrui
gloria privatus.
Dame Fortune once invited me
to enjoy her blessing:
to riches’ throne exalted me,
caring and caressing:
but from maximum renown,
garlanded and feted,
Fate stepped up and threw me
down – glory dissipated!
Rerum tanta novitas
in sollemni vere
et veris auctoritas
iubet nos gaudere.
vias prebet solitas;
et in tuo vere
fides est et probitas
tuum retinere.
Spring, inspiring once a year
Nature’s new condition,
bids us follow with good cheer
in the old tradition:
may the springtime of your youth
lead you to discover
need to rest in trust and truth
faithful to your lover.
Fortune rota volvitur:
descendo minoratus;
alter in altum tollitur;
nimis exaltatus
rex sedet in vertice –
caveat ruinam!
nam sub axe legimus
Hecubam reginam.
Fortune’s wheel goes round and
round, down go all my talents;
others rising from the ground
fly too high to balance:
so beware Fate’s old routine,
kings and lords and ladies –
for beneath her throne lies
Queen Hecuba in Hades.
Ama me fideliter!
fidem meam nota:
de corde totaliter
et ex mente tota
sum presentialiter
absens in remota
quisquis amat taliter
volvitur in rota.
Therefore love me faithfully,
mark my own devotion:
may it be whole-heartedly
and with resolution.
I am with you everywhere
far away though wending:
all who love as I, must bear
agonies unending.
FORTUNA
IMPERATRIX MUNDI
Fortune,
Empress of the World
1. O Fortuna, velut luna
statu variabilis, semper
crescis aut decrescis;
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat et tunc curat
ludo mentis aciem,
egestatem, potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.
O how Fortune, inopportune,
apes the moon’s inconstancy:
waxing, waning, losing, gaining,
life treats us detestably:
first oppressing then caressing
shifts us like pawns in its play:
destitution, restitution,
melting them like ice away.
Sors immanis et inanis,
rota tu volubilis,
status malus, vana salus
semper dissolubilis,
obumbratam et velatam
michi quoque niteris;
nunc per ludum dorsum
nudum fero tui sceleris.
Fate, as vicious as capricious,
you’re a wheel whirling around:
evil doings, worthless wooings,
crumble away to the ground:
darkly stealing, unrevealing,
working against me you go:
for your measure of foul pleasure
bare-backed I bow to your blow.
Sors salutis et virtutis
michi nunc contraria
est affectus et defectus
semper in angaria.
hac in hora sine mora
corde pulsum tangite;
quod per sortem sternit
fortem,
mecum omnes plangite!
Noble actions, fair transactions,
no longer fall to my lot: powers
that make me only to break me
all play their parts in your plot:
now it’s your time – waste no
more time, pluck these poor
strings and let go: since the
strongest fall the longest
may the world share in my woe!
2. Fortune plango vulnera
stillantibus ocellis,
quod sua michi munera
subtrahit rebellis.
Verum est, quod legitur
fronte capillata,
sed plerumque sequitur
occasio calvata.
5. Ecce gratum
et optatum
ver reducit gaudia:
purpuratum
floret pratum,
sol serenat omnia.
iam iam cedant tristia!
estas redit,
nunc recedit
hiemis sevitia.
Welcome, season,
with good reason:
spring restores our old delight:
violets grow
by the hedgerow,
sunshine renders all things bright:
so may care give way to fun –
summer’s coming,
winter’s running –
nasty winter’s on the run!
Iam liquescit
et decrescit
grando, nix et cetera;
bruma fugit,
et iam sugit
ver estatis ubera.
illi mens est misera,
qui nec vivit
nec lascivit
sub estatis dextera!
Now withdrawing,
melting, thawing,
snow and ice and all the rest:
mists are vanished,
earth, half famished,
draws new life from summer’s
breast: dull and dreary all who shun
living, lusting,
trysting, trusting
in the cheery summer Sun!
Gloriantur
et letantur
in melle dulcedinis,
qui conantur,
ut utantur
premio Cupidinis.
simus iussu Cypridis
gloriantes
et letantes
pares esse Paridis!
Loudly voicing
and rejoicing
we’re all after Cupid’s prize:
we who win it
see within it
sights reserved for lovers’ eyes;
Venus orders – let’s obey:
loudly voicing
and rejoicing,
we shall have her every day!
UF DEM ANGER
6. Tanz
In the meadow
Dance
7. Floret silva nobilis
floribus et foliis.
ubi est antiquus
meus amicus?
hinc equitavit!
eia! quis me amabit?
Forest, wood and lofty bower,
Flourishing with leaf and flower,
where’s my former lover?
gone to another?
He’s ridden off and left me!
Alas! Now who will love me?
Floret silva undique,
nah mime gesellen,
ist mir we.
Gruonet der walt
allenthalben.
wa is min geselle
also lange?
der ist geritten hinnen.
o wi! wer sol mich
minnen?
The woods are burgeoning
all over,
I am pining for my lover,
The woods are turning
green all over,
why is my lover away
so long? Ah!
He has ridden off,
Oh woe, who will love
me? Ah!
8. Chramer, gip die
varwe mir
Chramer, gip die varwe
mir, die min wengel
roete, damit ich die
jungen man
an ir dank der
minnenliebe noete.
Shopkeeper, give me
rouge
to colour my cheeks,
so that all the young men
will fall for me then!
Look at me,
young men!
Let me take your fancy!
Seht mich an,
jungen man!
lat mich iu gevallen!
Look at me,
young men!
Let me please you!
Minnet, tugentliche man,
minnecliche frouwen!
minne tuot iu hoch
gemout
unde lat iuch in hohen
eren schouwen
Good men, give your love
to women, who are
worthy of love!
Love raises your spirits
high and brings honour
on your head.
Wol dir, Werlt, daz du
bist also freudenriche!
ich wil dir sin undertan
durch din liebe immer
sicherliche.
Hail, world,
so rich in joys!
I will obey you –
because that way lies
pleasure!
9. Reie
Swaz hie gat umbe
daz sint alle megede;
die wellent an man
allen disen sumer gan!
Round Dance
Here, dancin’ and a-whirlin’,
they’re every one a virgin:
they plan to go without a man
all the summer if they can!
Chume, chume, geselle
min
ih enbite harte din!
Suzer rosenvarwer munt
chum unde mache mich
gesunt!
Come, oh come my love
to me
all too long I long for thee!
With thy rose-red lips
again come and cure me
of my pain.
Swaz hie gat umbe
daz sint alle megede;
die wellent an man
allen disen sumer gan!
Here, dancin’ and a-whirlin’,
they’re every one a virgin:
they plan to go without a man
all the summer if they can!
10. Were diu werlt
alle min
von deme mere unze
an den Rin,
des wolt ih mich darben,
daz chünegin von
Engellant
lege an minen arme!
Were the whole wide world
all mine
from the sea right up to
the Rhine
I’d surrender all its charms
for the chance of holding in
my arms
the Queen of England!
II IN TABERNA
In the tavern
11. Estuans interius
ira vehementi
in amaritudine
loquor mee menti:
factus de materia,
cinis elementi,
similis sum folio,
de quo ludunt venti.
Burning inside
anger and aggression
bitterly compel me to
make you my confession:
made of earthly elements,
dusty and decaying,
I’m a leaf that’s blown about
when the winds are playing.
Cum sit enim proprium
viro sapienti
supra petram ponere
sedem fundamenti,
stultus ego comparor
fluvio labenti,
sub eodem tramite
nunquam permanenti.
Given that the proper thing
for a man of wisdom
is to build upon a rock
following a system
I must be a fool – for I’m
like a winding river:
never holding to a course,
deviating ever.
Feror ego veluti
sine nauta navis,
ut per vias aeris
vaga fertur avis;
non me tenent vincula,
non me tenet clavis,
quero mihi similes
et adiungor pravis.
Like a boat that’s lost its crew
I’m for ever drifting,
like a bird that’s blown about
when the wind is lifting;
chains have never shackled
me never key confined me –
let me join depravity,
to my kind I bind me.
Michi cordis gravitas
res videtur gravis
iocus est amabilis
dulciorque favis
quicquid Venus imperat
labor est suavis
que numquam in
cordibus habitat ignavis.
Seems to me, a serious mien
means a serious weakness:
fun’s a finer thing by far,
vies with honey’s sweetness:
Venus orders me about
in a job I much like:
one she never offers to
sobersides and suchlike.
Via lata gradior
more iuventutis,
implicor et vitiis
immemor virtutis,
voluptatis avidus
magis quam salutis,
mortuus in anima
curam gero cutis.
Broad the path I travel down,
in a youthful fashion:
virtue leaves me cold –
it’s vice that enflames my
passion: self-indulgence
I desire more than salvation:
dead my soul, my flesh
demands sole consideration.
12. Olim lacus colueram
Cignus ustus cantat:
Olim lacus colueram,
olim pulcher extiteram,
dum cignus ego fueram.
Miser, miser!
modo niger
et ustus fortiter!
Girat, regirat garcifer;
me rogus urit fortiter:
propinat me nunc dapifer,
Miser, miser!
etc.
Nunc in scutella iaceo,
et volitare nequeo,
dentes frendentes video:
Miser, miser!
etc.
Once I had lakes to live upon,
The roasted swan sings:
Once I lived on lakes,
once I looked beautiful
when I was a swan.
Misery me!
Now black
and roasting fiercely!
The servant turns me on the spit;
I am burning fiercely on the pyre;
the steward now serves me up.
Misery me!
etc.
Now I lie on a plate,
and cannot fly anymore,
I see bared teeth:
Misery me!
etc.
13. Ego sum abbas
Cucaniensis
et consilium meum est
cum bibulis,
et in secta Decii voluntas
mea est,
et qui mane me quesierit
in taberna,
post vesperam nudus
egredietur,
et sic denudatus veste
clamabit:
“Wafna, wafna!
quid fecisti sors
turpissima?
Nostre vite gaudia
abstulisti omnia!”
I am the abbot of
Cockaigne,
and I take counsel with my
drinking companions,
and my persuasion is that of
the gambling fraternity,
and if anyone consults me in
the tavern at matins,
come vespers, he’ll have lost
the shirt off his back:
and being thus fleeced of his
raiment will cry
“Save me! Save me!
What have you done,
god-forsaken dice?
Now you’ve made me sacrifice
all I knew of paradise!”
14. In taberna quando
sumus non curamus quid
sit humus
sed ad ludum properamus
cui semper insudamus:
quid agatur in taberna
ubi nummus est pincerna
hoc est opus ut queratur
si quid loquor, audiatur.
In the tavern when we’re
drinking, though the ground be
cold and stinking,
down we go and join the action
with the dice and gaming faction.
What goes on inside the salon
where it’s strictly cash per gallon
if you’d like to know, sir, well you
shut your mouth and I shall tell you.
Quidam ludunt,
quidam bibunt,
quidam indiscrete vivunt.
Sed in ludo qui morantur,
ex his quidam denudantur,
quidam ibi vestiuntur,
quidam saccis induuntur.
Ibi nullus timet mortem,
sed pro Baccho mittunt
sortem:
Some are drinking,
some are playing,
some their vulgar side displaying:
most of those who like to gamble
wind up naked in the scramble;
some emerge attired in new things,
some in bits and bobs and
shoestrings:
no one thinks he’ll kick the bucket
dicing for a beery ducat.
Primo pro nummata vini,
ex hac bibunt libertini;
semel bibunt pro captivis,
post hec bibunt ter pro
vivis,
quater pro Christianis
cunctis,
quinquies pro fidelibus
defunctis,
sexies pro sororibus vanis,
septies pro militibus
silvanis.
First to those who pay for
wallowing, then we layabouts
toast the following: next we drink
to all held captive, thirdly drink to
those still active,
fourthly drink to the
Christian-hearted,
fifthly drink to the dear departed,
sixthly to our free-and-easy
sisters,
seventhly to all out-of-work
enlisters.
Octies pro fratribus
perversis,
nonies pro monachis
dispersis,
decies pro navigantibus,
undecies pro
discordantibus,
duodecies pro
penitentibus,
tredecies pro iter
agentibus.
Tam pro papa quam pro
rege
bibunt omnes sine lege.
Eighthly drink to friars
deconverted,
ninthly, monks from monast’ries
diverted,
tenthly, sailors of the oceans,
eleventhly, louts who cause
commotions
twelfthly, those who wear the
penitential
thirteenth, and whose journey is
essential;
to this fat pope, to that thin king
who the hell cares why they’re
drinking:
Bibit hera, bibit herus,
bibit miles, bibit clerus,
bibit ille,
bibit illa,
bibit servus cum
ancilla,
bibit velox, bibit piger,
bibit albus, bibit niger,
bibit constans, bibit vagus,
bibit rudis,
bibit magus.
Drinking tinker, drinking tailor,
drinking soldier, drinking sailor,
drinking rich man, drinking
poor man,
drinking beggarman, thief
and lawman,
drinking servant, drinking master,
drinking mistress, drinking pastor,
drinking doctor, drinking layman,
drinking drunkard,
drinking drayman:
Bibit pauper et egrotus,
bibit exul et ignotus,
bibit puer,
bibit canus,
bibit presul et decanus,
bibit soror, bibit frater,
bibit anus, bibit mater,
bibit ista,
bibit ille,
bibunt centum,
bibunt mille:
Drinking rude man,
drinking proper,
drinking tiddler,
drinking whopper,
drinking scholar, drinking gypsy,
drinking drunk or maudlin tipsy,
drinking father, drinking mother,
drinking sister, drinking brother,
drinking husbands, wives and
lovers and a hundred thousand
others –
Parum sexcente nummate
durant, cum immoderate
bibunt omnes sine meta,
quamvis bibant mente leta,
sic nos rodunt omnes
gentes
et sic erimus egentes.
Qui nos rodunt
confundantur et
cum iustis non scribantur!
Half a million pounds
would never
pay for all we drink together:
for we drink beyond all measure,
purely for the sake of pleasure:
thus you see us, poor and shoddy,
criticised by everybody –
God grant that they be
confounded
when at last the trump is sounded!
III COUR D’AMOURS
In the court of Love
Amor volat undique
captus est libidine.
Iuvenes, iuvencule
coniunguntur merito.
Siqua sine socio,
caret omni gaudio;
tenet noctis infima
sub intimo
cordis in custodia:
fit res amarissima.
Love is flitting all around
with desire conjointly bound,
young men and young women go
fast entwined, and rightly so!
But a girl without a mate
suffers an unhappy fate,
for her heart is locked up tight
deep down inside
freezing in unending night...
Oh, but that’s a bitter sight!
16. Dies, nox et omnia
michi sunt contraria,
virginum colloquia
me fay planszer,
oy suvenz suspirer,
plu me fay temer.
Be it night or be it day
in my timeless disarray,
hearing maidens bavarder
me fait complaindre –
and the more I sigh away
plus me sens craindre.
O sodales, ludite!
vos qui scitis, dicite;
michi mesto parcite
grand ey dolur!
attamen consulite
per voster honur.
O my friends, a jeu d’esprit,
calls on your philosophy
to dispel my misery:
grande douleur
bids you bend an ear to me
pour votre honneur.
Tua pulchra facies,
me fay planszer milies,
pectus habet glacies.
a remender,
statim vivus fierem
per un baser!
Of your face the loveliness
causes me to weep sans cesse –
that you have a heart of ice:
pour remedier,
you could bring me back to
life by a kiss.
17. Stetit puella
rufa tunica;
Si quis eam tetigit,
tunica crepuit.
Eia!
There was a girl who had
a tunic of bright red:
if anyone touched her
they’d set that dress astir!
Aha!
Stetit puella,
tamquam rosula;
facie splenduit,
os eius floruit.
Eia!
She stood upon her toes
just like a little rose:
her face shone bright and fair,
and red lips blossomed there.
Aha!
18. Circa mea pectora
multa sunt suspiria
de tua pulchritudine,
que me ledunt misere.
Manda liet, manda liet,
min geselle chumet niet.
Down inside the soul of me
sighs consume the whole of me
oh, for all your loveliness,
cause of all my heart’s distress:
Lackaday, lackaday,
will she never come my way?
Tui lucent oculi
sicut solis radii,
sicut splendor fulguris,
qui lucem donat
tenebris.
Manda liet, manda liet...
How the sparkling of your eyes
dims the sun that scours the skies!
like a lightning streak it flings
brightness down on
shadowed things.
Lackaday, lackaday...
Vellet deus, vellent dii,
quod mente proposui:
ut eius virginea
reserassem vincula.
Manda liet, manda liet...
May the gods of love be kind
to the plan I have in mind –
shatter to nihility
her chains of virginity.
Lackaday, lackaday...
19. Si puer cum puellula
moraretur in cellula,
felix coniunctio!
Amore suscrescente,
pariter e medio
propulso procul tedio,
fit ludus ineffabilis
membris, lacertis, labiis.
Si puer cum puellula
moraretur in cellula,
felix coniunctio!
If ever boy and girl presume
to linger in a little room –
happy their communion!
As yearning grows to burning
equally between the two
they lose their inhibitions – oh!
Into a thrilling game they fall
of lips and legs and limbs and all.
If ever boy and girl presume
to linger in a little room –
happy their communion!
20. Veni, veni, venias
ne me mori facias,
hyrca, hyrce, nazaza,
trillirivos, trillirivos.
Come oh come oh come to me
or I die of misery!
hyrca, hyrce, nazaza,
trillirivos, trillirivos!
Pulchra tibi facies,
oculorum acies,
capillorum series,
o quam clara species!
Never saw a face so fair,
bright the eyes that sparkle there,
flowing waves of golden hair –
you’re a picture past compare!
Rosa rubicundior,
lilio candidior,
omnibus formosior,
semper in te glorior!
Redder than the rose’s hue,
whiter than the lily’s, too,
lovelier than all in view –
I will always worship you!
21. In trutina mentis
dubia fluctuant contraria
lascivus amor
et pudicitia.
In two minds, I find my
mind to be turning over
helplessly whether to favour
Venus – or virginity.
Sed eligo quod video,
collum iugo prebeo;
ad iugum tamen
suave, suave transeo.
But I choose as best I see,
bow the head, and willingly
into that sweetest
yoke of all surrender me.
22. Tempus est
iocundum
o virgines,
modo congaudete
vos iuvenes.
Out you come –
it’s playtime
you girls, again!
Join them in the May-time,
young gentlemen!
Oh, oh, oh,
totus floreo,
iam amore virginali
totus ardeo,
novus, novus amor
est, quo pereo.
Oh, oh, oh,
merrily we go!
now I have a darling who
has set my heart aglow:
novel, novel, novel is the love
that slays me oh!..
Mea me confortat
promissio,
mea me deportat
negatio.
Promises you make me
are ecstasy,
but when you forsake me
they’re agony!
Tempore brumali
vir patiens,
animo vernali
lasciviens.
In the winter season
we’re serious:
when the sap has risen,
lascivious!
Mea mecum ludit
virginitas,
mea me detrudit
simplicitas.
How can I have fun if
I’m innocent?
How I am undone if
I’m ignorant!
Veni, domicella,
cum gaudio,
veni, veni, pulchra,
iam pereo.
Come – with joy complying
renew my love:
come along – I’m dying
for you, my love!
23. Dulcissime
totam tibi subdo me...
My darling love –
now I give you all I have...
IV BLANZIFLOR
ET HELENA
24. Ave formosissima
gemma pretiosa,
ave decus virginum,
Virgo gloriosa,
ave mundi luminar,
ave mundi rosa,
Blanziflor et Helena,
Venus generosa!
Hail to thee, thou priceless gem,
perfect and resplendent: hail,
thou pride of maidenhood,
virgin most transcendent:
hail, thou Rose of all the World,
Light all lights abasing:
Blanchefleur and Helen, thou –
Venus all-embracing.
FORTUNA
IMPERATRIX MUNDI
Fortune,
Empress of the World
25. O Fortuna, velut luna
statu variabilis,
semper crescis aut decrescis;
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat et tunc curat
ludo mentis aciem,
egestatem, potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.
O how Fortune, inopportune,
apes the moon’s inconstancy:
waxing, waning, losing, gaining,
life treats us detestably:
first oppressing then caressing
shifts us like pawns in its play:
destitution, restitution,
melting them like ice away.
Sors immanis et inanis,
rota tu volubilis,
status malus, vana salus
Fate, as vicious as capricious,
you’re a wheel whirling around:
evil doings, worthless wooings,
semper dissolubilis,
obumbratam et velatam
michi quoque niteris;
nunc per ludum dorsum
nudum fero tui sceleris.
crumble away to the ground:
darkly stealing, unrevealing,
working against me you go:
for your measure of foul pleasure
bare-backed I bow to your blow.
Sors salutis et virtutis
michi nunc contraria
est affectus et defectus
semper in angaria.
hac in hora sine mora
corde pulsum tangite;
quod per sortem
sternit fortem,
mecum omnes plangite!
Noble actions, fair transactions,
no longer fall to my lot:
powers that make me only to
break me all play their parts in
your plot: now it’s your time –
waste no more time, pluck these
poor strings and let go: since the
strongest fall the longest may the
world share in my woe!
Dulwich Choral Society
Forthcoming concerts –
Dates for your diary!
Saturday 21 May 2016
St Stephen’s Church, College Road
Summer Concert
Shakespeare and Cervantes 2016:
a 400th anniversary celebration
Saturday 15 October 2016
All Saints, West Dulwich
Haydn Creation
Monday 19 December 2016
All Saints Church, West Dulwich
Carol Concert
Saturday 11 March 2017
Cadogan Hall, Sloane Terrace, London
Bach St Matthew Passion
Performed with period instruments
Dulwich Choral Society
Honorary President Dame Emma Kirkby
Vice Presidents His Honour Judge Michael Goodman, Roger Page • Musical Director Aidan Oliver
Chairman Dr Iain Saville CBE • Accompanist David Elwin
Dulwich Choral Society was founded in 1944. Today it is a thriving, friendly choir that performs at
least three concerts a year, including two with professional orchestras and top-class soloists. Since 2006
Aidan Oliver, one of the UK’s leading choral conductors, has been the choir’s Musical Director.
As well as giving concerts in the Dulwich area, the choir has performed more widely in central
London and abroad. Since 1998 we have undertaken tours to Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Italy,
Germany and Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our most recent overseas tour was to Portugal in 2014,
where we performed in some gorgeous venues in Lisbon and Sintra. Closer to home the choir performs
in several of the wonderful churches in and around Dulwich, and enjoys a strong local following.
Would you like to join us?
New choir members are always welcome. If you are interested in joining the choir, please contact Jo
Merry, our Membership Secretary, on 020 7737 3169 or membership@dulwichchoralsociety.org.uk
for more details.
Entry is subject to an informal audition by the Musical Director who, besides a reasonable singing
voice, will be looking for basic sight-reading ability and general musicality. Membership costs £165 a
year and is currently free of charge for those aged under 26 or in full-time education.
Rehearsals take place on Monday evenings from 7.30 to 9.30pm at All Saints Church, Lovelace Road,
West Dulwich, London. The church is about ten minutes’ walk from either Tulse Hill or West Dulwich
stations and is served by a number of bus routes, including the 3, P13 and 201. For further details, visit:
www.dulwichchoralsociety.org.uk – do come and try us out!
Friends of Dulwich Choral Society
Dulwich Choral Society gratefully acknowledges the financial support it receives
from its valued Friends:
John and Judy Clark • Denise and John Lawson
Michael and Pat Goodman • Carmo Ponte
Iain Saville and Jo Merry • June Rice • Fenella and Geoff Tily
Molly Parrott • Nat Sloane • Amanda and Andrew Carey
Christine Shepherd • Charlotte Townsend
Friends of Dulwich Choral Society is a group of people who enjoy coming to our concerts and
social events whenever possible and are interested in ensuring the future stability of the choir.
Supporters of the choir (and current choir members) will be warmly welcomed as new Friends.
Benefits of membership of the scheme include:
• reserved seats with tickets bought through the choir
• a free interval drink with each ticket bought (at certain concert venues)
• advance booking for concerts • mailings of details of future programmes
Dulwich Choral Society is a registered charity with number 264764. Donations made under Gift Aid will
enable the income tax to be recovered as an additional benefit.
For more information, please contact: Fenella Maitland-Smith: 5 Rockwell Gardens London
SE19 1HW • fenella.maitlandsmith@bankofengland.co.uk • 07786 060640
Jonathan Dove Composer
Born in 1959, Dove’s early musical experience came
from playing the piano, organ and viola. Later he studied
composition with Robin Holloway at Cambridge and, after
graduation, worked as a freelance accompanist, repetiteur,
animateur and arranger. His early professional experience
gave him a deep understanding of singers and the complex
mechanics of the opera house. Opera and the voice have
been the central priorities in Dove’s output throughout his
subsequent career.
Starting with his breakthrough opera Flight, commissioned
by Glyndebourne in 1998, Dove has gone on to write over
twenty operatic works. In 2010 A Song of Joys for chorus
and orchestra opened the festivities at the Last Night
of the Proms. Throughout his career Dove has made a
serious commitment to community development through
innovative musical projects. His 2012 opera Life Is a Dream
was performed by professionals and community choruses
in a disused Birmingham warehouse, and a church opera
involving community singers The Walk from the Garden was
premiered at Salisbury Cathedral.
Photograph © Andrew Palmer
2015 brought the world premieres of The Day After, commissioned and produced by Holland Opera with
a libretto by April de Angelis, a post-Apocalyptic setting of the myth of Phaeton written specifically to
be performed outside; and The Monster in the Maze, a new opera for children, young people and adults,
with a libretto by Alasdair Middleton, commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony
Orchestra, and Festival d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, and led by Sir Simon Rattle and Simon Halsey.
Alasdair Middleton Librettist
Alasdair Middleton was born in Yorkshire and
trained at the Drama Centre, London. His work
as a librettist includes: with Jonathan Dove – The
Monster in the Maze (Berliner Philharmoniker,
London Symphony Orchestra, Aix-en-Provence
Festival), Diana and Actaeon (Royal Ballet),
The Walk from the Garden (Aegeas Salisbury
International Arts Festival), Life Is a Dream
(Birmingham Opera), Mansfield Park (Heritage
Opera), Swanhunter (Opera North), The
Enchanted Pig (The Young Vic, ROH2), The
Adventures of Pinocchio (Opera North), and the
cantata On Spital Fields (Spitalfields Festival,
winner of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award;
The Feathered Friend.
He has written four plays; Aeschylean
Nasty, Shame On You Charlotte, Casta Diva
and Einmal.
AIDAN OLIVER Conductor
Aidan Oliver pursues a varied career as conductor
and chorus director across the full range of operatic,
symphonic and choral repertoire. As Director of
Philharmonia Voices he is involved in many of the
Philharmonia Orchestra’s most ambitious projects,
while as conductor he holds positions at St Margaret’s
Church Westminster, the St Endellion Festival and
Dulwich Choral Society. He also assists regularly on
the staff of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Projects for which Aidan has prepared Philharmonia
Voices over the past year have included the choir’s
BBC Proms debut and a gala performance of
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Christoph von
Dohnányi for the orchestra’s 70th anniversary. He also
regularly acts as Assistant Conductor to Esa-Pekka
Salonen and the orchestra’s other leading conductors,
most recently to Dohnányi in performances of Ives The Unanswered Question on a European tour.
As the Associate Conductor of the St Endellion Festival in Cornwall he has conducted works as varied as
Macmillan Seven Last Words, Tchaikovsky Symphony No 5, and Wagner Wesendonck Lieder. In 2015 Aidan
made his conducting debuts with both Orchestra North East and Huddersfield Choral Society, with whom he
will be recording a CD of British choral music for the Signum label in 2016.
As a much sought-after guest chorus master, Aidan has prepared groups including the BBC Symphony
Chorus, BBC Singers, New London Chamber Choir, Britten Sinfonia Voices and the chorus of English
National Opera for numerous broadcasts and performances, including several BBC Proms.
As Director of Music at St Margaret’s Westminster, Aidan works with organist Thomas Trotter and
a professional choir to provide the music for high-profile Parliamentary occasions, including memorial
services for leading public figures.
David Elwin Pianist
David Elwin was a scholarship holder at the Royal
Academy of Music, where he studied with Jean
Harvey, Max Pirani, Rex Stephens and Wilfrid
Parry. His first professional work was in music staff
positions with the Royal and English National Ballet
Companies. He subsequently decided to pursue a
freelance career and now combines activities as an
accompanist and duo partner, soloist, singer’s coach
and piano teacher.
He was for eight years repetiteur with the
distinguished husband and wife voice trainers
Audrey Langford and Andrew Field, working with
distinguished singers such as Joan Rogers, Susan
Bullock, Martyn Hill and Stephen Varcoe.
David has worked with numerous semiprofessional opera companies; in 2001 he was
official accompanist for the inaugural London Lieder
Group Prize for Lieder Performance. He has wide experience as a choral accompanist, having worked with,
amongst others, the London Philharmonic Chorus, Goldsmith’s Choral Union and Vasari Singers; he has
been regular repetiteur and performer with the Dulwich Choral Society since 2000.
Iain Farrington Pianist
Iain Farrington has an exceptionally busy and
diverse career as a pianist, organist, composer
and arranger. He studied at the Royal Academy
of Music, London and at Cambridge University.
As a solo pianist, accompanist, chamber musician
and organist, Iain has performed at all the major
UK venues, including a solo performance at the
Proms in 2007 on the Royal Albert Hall organ.
Abroad, he has given concerts in the USA, Japan,
South Africa, Malaysia, Hong Kong and all across
Europe. He performed at the opening ceremony of
the London 2012 Olympics with Rowan Atkinson,
the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon
Rattle. He has worked with many of the country's
leading musicians, including Bryn Terfel, Lesley
Garrett, Sir Paul McCartney and gives frequent
broadcasts on BBC Radio 3. His orchestral work
Scary Fairy was performed in October 2015
on ‘Friday Night is Music Night’ with the BBC
Philharmonic, narrated by Craig Charles. He
composed two orchestral pieces for the Wallace
and Gromit Prom in 2012, and his choral work The Burning Heavens was nominated for a British Composer
Award in 2010. His organ suites Fiesta and Animal Parade have been performed and recorded worldwide.
Iain is a prolific arranger of hundreds of works in many styles, including opera, instrumental and choral,
traditional African songs, Berlin cabaret, klezmer, jazz and pop. His arrangement of Elgar’s Pomp and
Circumstance March No 5 was performed at the Royal Wedding in 2011. He is the Arranger in Residence for
the Aurora Orchestra.
Grant Doyle Baritone
Born in Australia, Grant studied at the University
of Adelaide and the Royal College of Music
in London before joining the Young Artists
Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden. His roles for The Royal Opera have
included Billy/Marshall Family Member (Anna
Nicole), Ping (Turandot), Second Apprentice
(Wozzeck), Schaunard, Harlequin (Ariadne auf
Naxos), and Tarquinius, Demetrius and Marullo
(Rigoletto). Other appearances include Forester
in The Cunning Little Vixen and Don Giovanni
(Garsington), Count Almaviva (Garsington,
Adelaide), Albert in Werther (Opera North),
Oreste in Iphigénie en Tauride (Sydney), Hector
in King Priam, Rossini’s Figaro, Paolo in
Simon Boccanegra, Emirone in Ottone, Edoardo
in L’assedio di Calais and Marcello (ETO),
Demetrius (Teatro Real, Madrid, Komische
Oper Berlin), Ned Keene in Peter Grimes
(Gran Canaria), Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de perles and Marcello (Opera Holland Park), Starbuck in Jake
Heggie’s Moby Dick, Zurga and Don Giovanni (Adelaide).
As a busy concert soloist, Grant Doyle performed with the Australia Ballet in the Australian tour of Carmina
Burana/Fauré Requiem. Other performances include Fauré Requiem (Hallé Orchestra), Judas Maccabeus
(King’s Lynn Festival), Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass (Philharmonia/Brighton Festival), Brahms German
Requiem with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and with the Bach Choir/Philharmonia at the Cheltenham
Festival and Westminster Cathedral.
Recent and current engagements include the role of Mike I was looking a the ceiling and then I saw the sky
for Rome Opera as well as Orestes Iphigénie en Tauride and Nello Pia de’Tolomei for ETO. Grant will then
join Longborough Opera to sing the role of Figaro and Opera Holland Park to perform Prince Yeletsky in
Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades.
Fflur Wyn Soprano
Having already gained wide acclaim for
her performances on the operatic stage
as well as the concert platform, Welsh
soprano Fflur Wyn is quickly establishing
herself as one of the country’s foremost
young singers. She was recently elected an
Associate of the Royal Academy of Music
(ARAM) in recognition of her distinguished
contribution to the music profession so far.
Her operatic performances include
Jemmy Guillaume Tell, Iphis Jephtha and
Blonde Die Entführung aus dem Serail
(WNO); Pamina The Magic Flute and the
title role in Lakmé (Opera Holland Park);
Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro and La Plus
Jeune Fille Au Monde (La Monnaie);
Sophie Werther, Marzelline Fidelio,
Blue Fairy The Adventures of Pinocchio,
Servilia La Clemenza di Tito and Woodbird
Siegfried (Opera North); Mimi Vert-Vert
(Garsington Opera); Governess The Turn of
the Screw (Mexico City); Blonde Woman
Photograph by Sian Trenberth
Thanks to my Eyes (Aix en Provence, La
Monnaie, Paris); Daughter The Lion’s Face
(The Opera Group, ROH); and Girl How the Whale Became (Royal Opera House).
Fflur has worked with many great conductors and orchestras including Sir Colin Davis, Sir Charles
Mackerras, Sir Richard Armstrong, Harry Bicket and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony
Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Gabrieli Consort and The English Concert. Recent recitals
include performances at Kings Place, St John’s Smith Square, Wilton’s Music Hall and The Howard
Assembly Room.
Recent and future engagements include Dorinda Orlando (WNO); Giannetta L’elisir d’amore (Opera
North); Floriana in Leoncavallo’s Zaza with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; performances of Handel’s
Messiah with the Norwegian Wind Ensemble; and a revival of her critically acclaimed performance of
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with Opera Holland Park.
Robin Blaze Countertenor
Robin Blaze is firmly established in the front rank
of interpreters of Purcell, Bach and Handel, and
has worked with some of the most distinguished
conductors including Christophers, Gardiner, Haïm,
Herreweghe, Hogwood, Koopman, Goodwin,
Leonhardt, King, Kraemer, Mackerras, Pinnock
and Suzuki. He studied music at Magdalen College,
Oxford and won a scholarship to the Royal
College of Music.
He regularly appears with the Academy of Ancient
Music, Bach Collegium Japan, Collegium Vocale,
The English Concert, The Gabrieli Consort,
The King’s Consort, Florilegium, Orchestra
of the Age of Enlightenment and The Sixteen.
Other engagements have included the Berlin
Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra,
Washington, Royal Flanders Philharmonic, BBC
Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,
Northern Sinfonia and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Robin Blaze’s opera engagements have included
Athamas Semele (Covent Garden, ENO); Didymus
Theodora (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Göttingen
Handel Festival); Arsamenes Xerxes, Oberon A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamor Jephtha (ENO,
WNO); Medoro Orlando (WNO); and Bertarido Rodelinda (Glyndebourne, Göttingen Handel Festival).
Photograph by Dorothea Heise
Highlights this season and beyond include Didymus Theodora at the Göttingen Handel Festival, Medoro
Orlando with Welsh National Opera, Handel’s Messiah with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and
the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Orchestre Symphonique de
Montréal, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Bach Akademie Stuttgart, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with
The English Concert, duo recitals with Elizabeth Kenny as part of the Ryedale, Mayfield and Canterbury
Festivals, and Robin also continues his collaboration with Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki with
a European tour.
Dulwich Choral Society
Musical Director Aidan Oliver
Accompanist David Elwin
Sopranos
Nicola Alexander, Ann Blackburn, Margaret Bailey, Nicola Blaney, Jackie Bowie,
Sue Chandler, Kesi Courtman, Mary Cooper, Marie-Pierre Denaro, Sophie Fender,
Rachael Gibson, Didi Edwards Greig, Melissa de Haldevang, Rebecca Harrison,
Juliana Kirby, Asha Last, Julia Layton, Denise Lawson, Heidi Lempp, Katharina Lewis,
Deborah Lucas, Emily Lodge, Kassy Luto, Morven Main, Fenella Maitland-Smith,
Teresa Marshall, Roszie Omoregie, Anna Parsons, Susan Perolls, Carmo Ponte, Hilary Putt,
Anne Rabbitt, Fleur Read, Jane Tippett, Jo Watt, Lucy Wilford, Gracita Woods
Altos
Becky Bahar, Melanie Barry, Zina Boykova, Amanda Carey, Marilyn Checkley,
Helen Chown, Glenda Cornwell, Lucy Corrin, Ann Cowan, Julia Field, Jane Fletcher,
Joanna French, Vivien Gambling, Helen Graham, Ellen Hanceri, Sarah Hughes,
Gemma Hunt, Virginia Johnson, Jenny Kay, Jo Merry, Jane Palmer, Catherine Parkin,
Nicola Prior, Rosemary Publicover, Lynne Ramsay, Susan Robinson,
Issy Schmidt, Frances Steele, Vanessa Walters
Tenors
Forbes Bailey, Rowan Barnard, Nick Bolt, Giles Craven, Robert Foster, Peter Frost,
Florian Gommel, John Greig, Steve Harrison, Jon Layton, Alex Marshall, Michael Palmer,
John Quigley, Iain Saville, Eric Sneyd, Nick Vaisey, Jack Wensley
Basses
Andrew Black, Christopher Braun, Ian Chown, Guy Collins, Richard Dawson, Chris Dodd,
Malcolm Field, Stephen Frost, Alan Grant, Bruce Gregory, Alex Hamilton, Michael Kenny,
Paul Kinnear, Adrian Lambourne, Mike Lock, Peter Main, Aziz Panni, Duncan Pratt,
Barney Rayfield, Mike Shepherd
Jags Choirs
Bel Canto (Year 7) and Chorale (Years 8/9) are the non-audition Key Stage 3
choirs from JAGS. They enjoy a lively repertoire and perform at all the end
of term concerts and services. They are directed by Dr Jonathan Lee and
Miss Kay Dickson and rehearse once a week in school.
Olley’s Fish Experience in Herne Hill has become the
first in the UK to add a total of eight quality MSC certified
species of fish to their menu.
ENGLAND AND WALES
2014
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www.olleys.info
Olleys Fish Experience
olleys@olleys.info
olleysfishexp
65 - 69 Norwood Road, Herne Hill, London, SE24 9AA
0208 671 8259 (Takeaway)
0208 671 5665 (Restaurant)