COMMANDOpera spoke with Miss Susan Hellauer (who represents one component of Anonymous 4) yesterday whilst the ensemble was preparing for a concert in Denver later that evening. Anonymous 4 recently commenced what COMMANDOpera can only describe as a gruelling tour which is largely based within the United States, but spills over into Canada, England, and Israel. The tour is largely focused on celebrating the ensembles’ 25th anniversary and the music they have brought to life within this frame. For the month of December, those particularly fortunate venues will enjoy a program slightly more weighted towards Christmas music. In the New Year, performances will include the 1st movement of a new work (to be released fully in 2012) by the Pulitzer Prize winning composer Mr. David Lang entitled ‘the wood and the vine’.
The seven rejoices of Mary.
For those who are unaware of the work of Anonymous 4, one must look to the medieval period from which the ensemble has built an extraordinary reputation essaying the period music like no other. The quartet’s official biography reads: …’ the four women of Anonymous 4 combine musical, literary, and historical scholarship with contemporary performance intuition as they create ingeniously designed programs, interweaving music with poetry and narrative.’ COMMANDOpera has long esteemed Anonymous 4, as these artists must rise on their vocal instruments alone without the support of orchestra. The longevity of the quartet underlines the sheer magic of these combined vocal instruments when reached by the human ear. Yet to COMMANDOpera, vocal harmonic purity is insufficient for any ensemble to manifest itself deeply within the structures of the human condition to warrant such longevity. No. The key is fundamentally in the ethereal sacred music in concert with instruments naturally situated in the higher register which perhaps resolves this question. COMMANDOpera offers the work below, for global readers to have a clear idea of precisely what Anonymous 4 represents to the ear of a listener, informed or otherwise.
Miracles of Compostela
Miss Hellauer recalled nostalgically that it seemed as though only yesterday when the quartet released ‘Miracles of Santiago’ to wide acclaim. Noting the ensembles work focused on Western medieval polyphony and chant, COMMANDOpera enquired after Miss Hellauer as to why Anonymous 4 did not approach other traditions, such as Middle Eastern or Russian. Apparently COMMANDOpera was not alone in such interest as this is a question the ensemble has been asked frequently over the years. Anonymous 4 prefers to work in historic styles which are not ‘living traditions’, where Miss Hellauer illuminated the Byzantine as one example by generously acknowledging the work of Sister Marie Keyrouz. The ensemble feels quite strongly that there exists excellent indigenous proponents of these ‘living traditions’ who perform these styles to their finest degree already. COMMANDOpera could not argue with this rationale, however offered that in opera (very much a living art form), global artists undertake works from composers representing numerous traditions as a matter of rule (although it is true to note some consider themselves as ‘specialists’).
Anonymous 4 recently released ‘Secret Voices’ which marks a return to the work they have made familiar globally. Miss Hellauer writes:
‘In the early 1180s, at the request of his wife Leonora, daughter of England’s Henry II and Alienor of Aquitaine, King Alfonso VIII of Castile founded a convent near Burgos in north-central Spain. It became a retreat (Las Huelgas means “place of refuge”) for royal and noble women seeking the religious life, and a mausoleum for the royal family. In 1188 it was incorporated as a house of the Cistercian order, part of the reform movement seeking to bring Benedictine monastics back to St. Benedict’s pure rule of ora et labora (prayer and work). Although Cistercians were supposed to live a simple life and subsist by the labor of their own hands, the ladies of Las Huelgas (who included members of the royal family) were granted, and did exercise, a degree of ecclesiastical jurisdiction and independence that would seem shocking today. Their abbesses could say mass, hear confessions, and make other decisions and rulings such as a priest or bishop might do. Indeed, these privileges were not completely rescinded until late in the nineteenth century.
The Codex Las Huelgas, copied in the first quarter of the 14th century, is an anthology of European polyphony and monophonic Latin song that spans the entire 13th and early 14th centuries. The finest examples of every style and genre of sacred and secular music are found among the 186 works in the collection: many are unique to this source, many others are only found in Iberian sources, and several come from the mainstream of the Parisian school of composition. Numerous well-known secular works have been contrafacted (retrofitted) with sacred Latin texts, to make them appropriate for liturgical or devotional use. The Codex is written in a clear hand, not overly ornate, and appears to be arranged and laid out for practical use. Its notation reflects a transitional state between the older Nôtre-Dame modal notation and the clearly defined mensural notation of c. 1300. Our new transcriptions were made with a flexible, intuitive approach to the relationship between rhythm and notation in this source.
There is some controversy about the singers of these songs. Some scholars believe that a hired choir of male chaplains did the singing. Others believe as we do: that this repertoire — ranging from simple plainchant and rhythmic monophonic song, to the most complex and virtuosic polyphonic conductus and motets — was collected for nuns themselves to sing. From the text of the hexachord solfeggio exercise, written as a two-voice discant, Fa fa mi / Ut re mi, it appears that there was a strong musical tradition among the sisters. Despite the Cistercian rule that prohibited these ladies from singing polyphony, it seems to have been an “open secret” that polyphony was both sung and enjoyed at Las Huelgas, and that the musical rights and privileges accorded only to male clerical singers were enjoyed there as well.‘
COMMANDOpera well enjoyed what time was spent speaking with Miss Hellauer, and would advise American readers to particularly note the tour schedule above to find out when Anonymous 4 will be in close proximity. Without question, Anonymous 4 is a must do live at least once in a lifetime. If this cannot be managed however, their catalogue of work is still thankfully available in complete form.
The Anonymous 4 Movement
Photo Credit: Mr. Christian Steiner.
COMMANDOpera spoke with Miss Susan Hellauer (who represents one component of Anonymous 4) yesterday whilst the ensemble was preparing for a concert in Denver later that evening. Anonymous 4 recently commenced what COMMANDOpera can only describe as a gruelling tour which is largely based within the United States, but spills over into Canada, England, and Israel. The tour is largely focused on celebrating the ensembles’ 25th anniversary and the music they have brought to life within this frame. For the month of December, those particularly fortunate venues will enjoy a program slightly more weighted towards Christmas music. In the New Year, performances will include the 1st movement of a new work (to be released fully in 2012) by the Pulitzer Prize winning composer Mr. David Lang entitled ‘the wood and the vine’.
The seven rejoices of Mary.
For those who are unaware of the work of Anonymous 4, one must look to the medieval period from which the ensemble has built an extraordinary reputation essaying the period music like no other. The quartet’s official biography reads: …’ the four women of Anonymous 4 combine musical, literary, and historical scholarship with contemporary performance intuition as they create ingeniously designed programs, interweaving music with poetry and narrative.’ COMMANDOpera has long esteemed Anonymous 4, as these artists must rise on their vocal instruments alone without the support of orchestra. The longevity of the quartet underlines the sheer magic of these combined vocal instruments when reached by the human ear. Yet to COMMANDOpera, vocal harmonic purity is insufficient for any ensemble to manifest itself deeply within the structures of the human condition to warrant such longevity. No. The key is fundamentally in the ethereal sacred music in concert with instruments naturally situated in the higher register which perhaps resolves this question. COMMANDOpera offers the work below, for global readers to have a clear idea of precisely what Anonymous 4 represents to the ear of a listener, informed or otherwise.
Miracles of Compostela
Miss Hellauer recalled nostalgically that it seemed as though only yesterday when the quartet released ‘Miracles of Santiago’ to wide acclaim. Noting the ensembles work focused on Western medieval polyphony and chant, COMMANDOpera enquired after Miss Hellauer as to why Anonymous 4 did not approach other traditions, such as Middle Eastern or Russian. Apparently COMMANDOpera was not alone in such interest as this is a question the ensemble has been asked frequently over the years. Anonymous 4 prefers to work in historic styles which are not ‘living traditions’, where Miss Hellauer illuminated the Byzantine as one example by generously acknowledging the work of Sister Marie Keyrouz. The ensemble feels quite strongly that there exists excellent indigenous proponents of these ‘living traditions’ who perform these styles to their finest degree already. COMMANDOpera could not argue with this rationale, however offered that in opera (very much a living art form), global artists undertake works from composers representing numerous traditions as a matter of rule (although it is true to note some consider themselves as ‘specialists’).
Anonymous 4 recently released ‘Secret Voices’ which marks a return to the work they have made familiar globally. Miss Hellauer writes:
‘In the early 1180s, at the request of his wife Leonora, daughter of England’s Henry II and Alienor of Aquitaine, King Alfonso VIII of Castile founded a convent near Burgos in north-central Spain. It became a retreat (Las Huelgas means “place of refuge”) for royal and noble women seeking the religious life, and a mausoleum for the royal family. In 1188 it was incorporated as a house of the Cistercian order, part of the reform movement seeking to bring Benedictine monastics back to St. Benedict’s pure rule of ora et labora (prayer and work). Although Cistercians were supposed to live a simple life and subsist by the labor of their own hands, the ladies of Las Huelgas (who included members of the royal family) were granted, and did exercise, a degree of ecclesiastical jurisdiction and independence that would seem shocking today. Their abbesses could say mass, hear confessions, and make other decisions and rulings such as a priest or bishop might do. Indeed, these privileges were not completely rescinded until late in the nineteenth century.
The Codex Las Huelgas, copied in the first quarter of the 14th century, is an anthology of European polyphony and monophonic Latin song that spans the entire 13th and early 14th centuries. The finest examples of every style and genre of sacred and secular music are found among the 186 works in the collection: many are unique to this source, many others are only found in Iberian sources, and several come from the mainstream of the Parisian school of composition. Numerous well-known secular works have been contrafacted (retrofitted) with sacred Latin texts, to make them appropriate for liturgical or devotional use. The Codex is written in a clear hand, not overly ornate, and appears to be arranged and laid out for practical use. Its notation reflects a transitional state between the older Nôtre-Dame modal notation and the clearly defined mensural notation of c. 1300. Our new transcriptions were made with a flexible, intuitive approach to the relationship between rhythm and notation in this source.
There is some controversy about the singers of these songs. Some scholars believe that a hired choir of male chaplains did the singing. Others believe as we do: that this repertoire — ranging from simple plainchant and rhythmic monophonic song, to the most complex and virtuosic polyphonic conductus and motets — was collected for nuns themselves to sing. From the text of the hexachord solfeggio exercise, written as a two-voice discant, Fa fa mi / Ut re mi, it appears that there was a strong musical tradition among the sisters. Despite the Cistercian rule that prohibited these ladies from singing polyphony, it seems to have been an “open secret” that polyphony was both sung and enjoyed at Las Huelgas, and that the musical rights and privileges accorded only to male clerical singers were enjoyed there as well.‘
COMMANDOpera well enjoyed what time was spent speaking with Miss Hellauer, and would advise American readers to particularly note the tour schedule above to find out when Anonymous 4 will be in close proximity. Without question, Anonymous 4 is a must do live at least once in a lifetime. If this cannot be managed however, their catalogue of work is still thankfully available in complete form.