Cathedral and Countryside

Randa Rouweyha earned her Master of Music degree at Peabody Conservatory of Music and Bachelor of Music degree from Youngstown State University's Dana School of Music. She has sung with numerous Opera and Oratorio groups throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area, including Washington National Opera, the Washington Concert Opera, the Washington Savoyards, Opera Americana, Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, the IN Series, the New Dominion Chorale, Masterworks Chorus, the Ad Hoc Singers, the Friday Morning Music Clube, and VOCE. Ms. Rouweyha has been singing with the Washington National Opera for several years where she has performed numerous supporting roles, including Barbarina in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, The Foreign Woman in Menotti's The Consul under the direction of Gian Carlo Menotti, and Routh Putnam in Robert Ward's The Crucible. She received high praise for her rendition of Pamini with IN Series' Magic Flute this past January. The Washington Times described Ms. Rouweyha as "the evening's stand-out... Her Pamina was totally ready for prime time, her tone bell-clear, her ptich spot on." Opera critic Alan Savada commented in his on-line review: "One of the musical highlights of the afternoon... Ms. Rouweyha was easily the most talented singer in this cast!" Randa was recently chosen as one of two Art Song Discovery artists for 2005-06. She will perform four recitals on their Art Song Discover artists recital series this season.

Louise Lee is a graduate of Smith College and Indiana University, where she received a Master of Music degree in organ performance, studying with Oswald Ragatz. Ms. Lee performs frequently as a piano accompanist. She is organist at Arlington Forest United Methodist Church. Ms. Lee has directed the Ad Hoc Singers since she founded the group in 1975.

The Ad Hoc Singers, an amateur chamber chorus devoted to traditional choral literature from the fifteenth through the twentieth centuries, has been in existence under the direction of Louise Lee since 1975. They perform regularly at churches and other locations throughout the area. Good sight readers interested in joining the group should call 703-538-2557 to set up an audition, or speak with Ms. Lee after the concert.

We'd like to heartily thank Calvary United Methodist Church for the use of their sanctuary and facilities for this concert.

Thank you to Steve Cordle and Karen Lee for their work on the program, and to Jenny Bland for translating texts.

Our concert was recorded by Jerry Nedilsky, JNL Recording, 7408 Silent Willow Court, Manassas, VA, 20112, 703-791-0737, jnlrecording@yahoo.com.

The exact date of Thomas Tallis' birth is unknown but presumed to have been about 1505. He served as organist in several positions in England but became renowned primarily as a composer.

Tallis' long musical life was carried on through periods of political and religious upheaval in his country, where he continued to compose some works based on the Latin liturgy even after the Anglican form of service was instituted in 1547. The Lamentations setting, as well as "If Ye Love Me" and "Laudate Dominum" were written during the reign of Elizabeth I. Tallis had become a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1543 and remained in the royal service until his death. It is documented that both Latin and English musical settings were used in the royal household at this time.

The English Protestant Reformation (and the brief conuter-reformation under Queen Mary Tudor — reigned 1553-58) had a great impact on musicians. Instruments and manuscripts perished in Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1540, and several gifted composers fled to the continent to continue as practicing Cathoics. Tallis himself, like many other trained musicians, lost his post at an abbey [Waltham]. He briefly found a place at Canterbury Cathedral before joining the court.

Both Tallis and Byrd, who was Tallis' pupil, were favored at court for the excellence of all their compositions. Elizabeth granted them a joint monopoly on the printing of music and music paper.

The intensith of Tallis' setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah [a text set by many composers since the 15^th century adn up until the 18^th, for Roman Catholic use in the week before Easter] is thought by many to comment on the religious turmoil of its age. The work is restrained with respect to compositional devices but speaks in tones of anguish and pleading.

It was traditional to set not only the prophet's words to music, but the Hebrew letters heading each chapter as well.

If Tallis and Byrd set the gold standard for English sacred music in Elizabethan times, their successor Weelkes, at the end of the century and beginning of the 17^th, produced many magnificent examples. He was particularly skilled at writing in many voice parts ("Oh Lord, Arise" has seven, instead of the more usual four or five) lending complexity to his madrigals and grandeur to his anthems. Weelkes' best known choral works may be "Hosanna to the Son of David" and "When David Heard that Abaslom was Slain".

On the lighter side, we hope that after intermission you enjoy our collection of choral and solo "landscapes" from various countries. You are invited to contemplate, with the poets, whether these vistas inspire tranquility or melancholy.

Louise Lee