Twist: Three Motets after Victoria
Victoria Triptych
Twist: Three Motets after Victoria
Victoria Triptych
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digital download for up to 40 singers
£35.00
QTY
Publisher: Morton Music
ISBN: MM2034
Published: 01/01/2014
Sample Page(s): https://www.rscmshop.com/media/2100/mm2034_sample.pdf
This “Victoria Triptych” was written in 2011, the 400th anniversary of the death of the great Spanish Renaissance polyphonist. It was commissioned by Warren Trevelyan-Jones for performance by three Australian vocal ensembles - the Consort of Melbourne, The Choir of St. James', King Street, Sydney, and St. Mary’s Cathedral Choir, Sydney. Victoria's works are full of outstanding musical elements from which to draw inspiration, rich with wonderful arching phrases and ingenious part writing. As many 16th century composers paid homage to pre-existing music by way of 'parody' or 'imitation', Twist has adopted a similar technique in these pieces. Twist’s Lamentation of Jeremiah literally quotes parts of Victoria's Lamentations throughout, while Hombres Victoria, Victoria! and Versa est in Luctum, utilise material from Victoria's Missa Pro Victoria and the Requiem Mass Officium Defunctorum respectively. However, throughout each work this ‘parody’ technique is taken further. With hundreds of years of music since Victoria's time, the incorporated Victoria is gradually juxtaposed and synthesised with musical language that borrows from 19th and 20th centuries. Echoes of Victoria's part-writing are suffused throughout the thematic and harmonic material of all these new works, combined with more modern influences including repetitive minimalist vocal textures and a rich, plaintive harmonic language.
The second of Joseph Twist’s “Victoria Triptych” this piece quotes from Victoria’s Lamentation, adding new modern elements clothed in a rich, plaintive harmonic language. Suitable for concert and liturgical use, and making musical references to Victoria’s Lamentations throughout.
Texts and Translations
I –Versa est in Luctum Versa est in luctum cithara mea, et organum meum in vocem flentium. Parce mihi Domine, nihil enim sunt dies mei. My harp is tuned for lamentation, and my flute to the voice of those who weep. Spare me, O Lord, for my days are as nothing.
II - Lamentation of Jeremiah Incipit Lamentatio Ieremiae Prophetae. Aleph. Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo: facta est quasi vidua domina gentium: princeps provinciarum facta est sub tributo. Beth. Plorans ploravit in nocte, et lacrimae eius in maxillis eius. Hiereusalem, Hierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum. Here begins the Lamentation of the Prophet Jeremiah. Aleph. How lonely she is now, the once crowded city! Widowed is she who was mistress over nations; the princess among the provinces has been made a toiling slave. Beth. Bitterly she weeps at night, tears upon her cheeks. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord, your God.
III - Hombres, Victoria, Victoria! Hombres, victoria, victoria! Que contra todo’l infierno, el llorar d’un niño tierno a segura nuestra gloria. El sobresalto y la guerra nasçio de nuestra cayda, y agora Dios nos combida, con gloria y paz en la tierra. Hombres, victoria, victoria! Que contra todo’l infierno, el llorar d’un niño tierno a segura nuestra gloria. Francisco Guerrero (1528–1599) Victory, victory, mankind! Because against all of hell, The crying of a tender child Ensures our glory. Fear and war were born Of our fall, And now God presents us With glory and peace on earth. Victory, victory, mankind! Because against all of hell, The crying of a tender child Ensures our glory. English Translation by Dr Miguel Iglesias (copyright- used with permission)
