Medieval, Renaissance sacred music program
Santa Fe Desert Chorale to perform at cathedral
Secret chapels, secret songs and at least one medieval mystic will fill the Cathedral of St. John with the music of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale on Saturday. Nine singers from the 24-member choir will perform the music of the Renaissance and medieval periods in an intimate program of sacred and secret music.
The program will open with Caritas Abundat by the mystic abbess Hildegard von Bingen, generally considered the first female composer.
“She was, of course, in a convent, so she was quite hidden away,” chorale music director Joshua Habermann said in a phone interview from Dallas, where he directs the Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
England convulsed through a series of religious reversals until the ascension of the Protestant Elizabeth I in 1558. Catholics who refused to convert faced imprisonment, fines and in some cases, torture. The devoutly Catholic composer William Byrd retreated to the countryside under the patronage of a sympathetic nobleman who supported secret rites at his manor. The chorale will sing Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus.
“A lot of this music is really WHAT: “Music From a Secret Chapel” by Santa Fe Desert Chorale
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, July 29
WHERE: Cathedral of St. John, 318 Silver SW
HOW MUCH: $20-$55; $10 students with ID at 505-988-2282 or desertchorale.org. beautiful; it’s perfect for a small space,” Habermann said. “A lot of it had political content. He got text from the Bible about unrighteous persecution.”
As shifting allegiances whiplashed England from Catholicism to Protestantism, Henry V’s 1415 victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt cemented his reputation as one of England’s most ruthless and religious monarchs. A devout Catholic, Henry ordered that a secret chapel be built in Westminster Abbey, where monks were instructed to pray for his soul. The locked chapel is directly above Henry’s crypt. The monks most likely sang the Catholic chant Alma Redemptoris Mater after climbing the chapel’s worn stone stairs, Habermann said.
The Sistine Chapel harbored its own secrets.
Gregorio Allegri penned his masterwork Misere mei, Deus in 1638 for Holy Week. The Papal Choir closely guarded the score.
“The score was immediately impactful,” Habermann said. “A soprano improvised a series of high Cs. It made such an impression on the listeners that it became famous.”
Stories abound of Mozart attending a service and immediately transcribing the piece. Similar tales of Mendelssohn and others “stealing” the score from the Vatican still circulate.
“So, like every secret, it leaks out,” Habermann said. “The Sistine Chapel was known for guarding their secrets very closely.