Arts & Music
A Child is Born - Christmas Concert with Theatre of Voices
- When
- Fri, 4 Dec, 19.30–20.45
- How much
- From 114 kr
Our Christmas concert this year is a kind of musical triptych – an image in three panels. Three different musical forms will be presented, each of them three times: a carol or Christmas song, organ music and a part of Thomas Tallis' mass Puer Natus (A Child is Born). This mass, which disappeared after Tallis' time, was unknown until three fragments were discovered around 1928 and during the years up to 1970, musicologists worked on collecting enough material so that all three movements can now be performed. The mass is considered one of Tallis' finest works. The organ music comes from the 17th and 18th centuries in Holland and France, and some of them use the Puer Natus motif from the mass. All this is set in relief by about twenty European Christmas songs. Again, they are divided into three: the first group is based on European Christmas songs from several different centuries; the middle group contains more contemporary European music from Georgia, England and Estonia, and the opening piece of the program is based on a beautiful rendition of the Speyer Cathedral's bell ringing. [Detailed program with composers and works follows in original...] THEATRE OF VOICES: Else Torp — Kate Macoboy; Kristin Mulders — Laura Lamph; Paul Bentley — Jakob Skjoldborg; Jakob Bloch Jespersen — William Gaunt; Organ – Miles Lallemant; Conductor and artistic director – Paul Hillier. Our Christmas concert this year is a kind of musical triptych. Three different styles of music are presented, each of them three times, featuring in turn carols, organ music, and the Puer Natus Mass (A Boy Is Born) of Thomas Tallis. This Mass had disappeared after Tallis's time and was unknown until fragments were discovered around 1928. During the years 1950-70, further work enabled three movements to be performed, and it is now considered one of Tallis's finest works. The organ music draws on works from Holland and France during the 17th and 18th centuries, some of them using the Puer Natus motif. And finally, we present a dozen Christmas songs of various types, styles, and backgrounds. There are three sets of these, the first and last based on European Christmas carols over several centuries; while the middle group features more recent music from Georgia, England and Estonia. The opening piece of the program is built on a wonderful effect in song of the klanging bells of Speyer Cathedral.
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