Gradualia

Byrd motets

Saturday 13 February 2010, 8pm

Pre-concert talk 7.45pm

Sacred Heart Cathedral
Hill Street
Wellington

Byrd’s Gradualia appeared in two volumes in 1605 and 1607, and comprise two cycles of 109 motets for the church year. This monumental undertaking took place at a time when English Catholics were forbidden to practice their religion in public; these motets were then intended for clandestine use. The Tudor Consort explores this icon of Renaissance music, presenting selected motets in the intimate one-voice-per-part context for which they were intended.

Programme

Propers for Lady Mass in Advent

Introit: Rorate Caeli
Gradual and Alleluia: Tollitte portas – Alleluia – Ave Maria
Communion: Ecce virgo concipiet

Propers for Corpus Christi

Offertory: Sacerdotes Domini
Hymn: Ave verum corpus

Organ: Fantasia in C

Propers for Pentecost

Introit: Spiritus Domini
Sequence: Veni Sancte Spiritus
Communion: Factus est repente

Interval

Propers for Assumption

Introit: Gaudeamus omnes in Domino
Gradual and Alleluia: Propter veritatem – Alleluia – Assumpta est Maria
Offertory: Assumpta est Maria
Communion: Optimam partem elegit

Propers for SS Peter and Paul

Antiphon: Hodie Simon Petrus

Organ: Fantasia in A minor

Motet: Domine, quis habitabit

Organist: Douglas Mews

This concert was part of the 2010 Performance Series.