Gotham Early Music Scene (3/16/23)

The Medieval Miracle: Melodies into Harmony
Pomerium – Alexander Blachly, Director

Kristina Boerger & Michèle Eaton, sopranos; Garrett Eucker, Michael Steinberger & Christopher Preston Thompson, tenors; Thomas McCargar & Peter Stewart, baritones 

This was an a cappella concert—vocals with no instrumental accompaniment. It was also pretty much a survey course on a cappella; we learned a little bit about several different things. There were sixteen individual pieces, so there will not be a detailed discussion about every piece. 

True to the title of the program, it began with a plainsong chant (sung by the three tenors). Melody only. The version presented was based on Hec Dies, a 15th-century Liturgy. That said, the next grouping of four pieces, all from the 13th century, was based on the tune we heard previously. One had the chant in a two-voice version for men (harmony) and one had a countermelody added by the women (three-part harmony). But not like the Andrews Sisters. This three-part harmony was very basic, and included lots of open chords (do and sol—one and five in the scale—with few, if any, mi the third of a chord that you’re used to hearing). 

As the concert proceeded, both the harmonies and rhythms grew more intricate as we moved into the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Fuller sound, more like a choir than just a few people singing together. The latest date listed in the program was ca. 1452 and had all seven voices singing in fuller harmony than any of the other preceding pieces during the concert. 

Name dropping, now (though many of them will probably not mean a lot to many of you). Composers whose names I recognized included Adam de la Halle, [Guillaume de] Machaut, Johannes Ockeghem, and Thomas Tallis (whose Te Lucis ante terminum was definitely composed after 1452, but the date was not in my printed program). 

For me, it was a terrific program, and I’m really glad I went. It was also very well attended and enthusiastically received. 

ConcertMeister