| movement titles: |
1. In Nomine (Taverner/Maxwell Davies)
2. In Nomine (Maxwell Davies - for Benjamin Britten's 50th birthday)
3. In Nomine (Maxwell Davies - for Michael Tippett's 60th birthday)
4. In Nomine (Bull/Maxwell Davies)
5. In Nomine (Maxwell Davies - canon in six parts)
6. Gloria Tibi Trinitas (Blitheman/Maxwell Davies)
7. In Nomine (Maxwell Davies) |
| scoring: |
Flute (+ piccolo), oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, harp, violin 1, violin 2, viola, cello |
| world premiere: |
First incomplete performance: 1965, Wardour Castle Summer School
Melos Ensemble, Lawrence Foster conductor
First complete performance: 3 December 1965, Commonwealth Institute, London
Melos Ensemble, Lawrence Foster conductor |
| programme note: |
Short Note by Paul Griffiths
The 'In Nomine' was a variety of English instrumental music, so called because pieces of this kind were based on the 'In Nomine' section of the Gloria Tibi Trinitas mass by John Taverner. There are examples by Tallis, Purcell - and Davies, whose Seven in Nomine include arrangements of the original Taverner and of essays by Bull and Blitheman, interleaved with original fantasies based on the same material, so producing a zigzag through time that works towards the final adagio through movements of wit and gravity.
Extended Note
John Taverner's instrumental version of the section 'In Nomine Domini' from the Benedictus in his mass on the plainsong Gloria Tibi Trinitas achieved such popularity that almost every composer of note wrote instrumental settings on this cantus, from his own day up to the time of Henry Purcell - occasional examples are found even up to the second half of the eighteenth century.
The first of the present set is an arrangement for string quartet of John Taverner's original 'In Nomine' for organ, taken from the Mulliner Book. The second is Maxwell Davies's own setting for six instruments which he wrote as a tribute to Benjamin Britten on his 50th birthday. The third he wrote for Sir Michael Tippett's 60th birthday.
No. 4 is an instrumental arrangement of John Bull's setting, taken from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, and No. 5 is Maxwell Davies's setting for ten instruments in the form of a six-part canon. No. 6 is a Gloria Tibi Trinitas based on William Blitheman's version of the Mulliner Book. The last is an original setting for five instruments.
This cycle was written for the Melos Ensemble and is scored for the ensemble's full strength: wind quintet, string quartet, and harp. The scoring of the seven movements is as follows:
1. string quartet
2. flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, viola, cello
3. flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, harp, cello
4. flute, harp, viola, cello
5. piccolo, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, harp, string quartet
6. instruments as for 5
7. clarinet, bassoon, violin, viola, cello |
| composer’s note: |
The Seven In Nomine started as a composition exercise for Earl Kim's composition class when I was studying at Princeton University in 1963 and 1964. These I regarded as studies for a large orchestral work commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which I had decided to base on John Taverner's 'In Nomine' [Second Fantasia on John Taverner's In Nomine]. In this way I could prepare an experiment with the basic material for the orchestral piece.
The first piece of the present group is a setting for string quartet of Taverner's organ 'In Nomine' from the Gloria Tibi Trinitas mass. The second 'In Nomine' is my own, and subjects the plainsong (heard on the flute with octave displacements at the beginning) to a transformation/development process involving complex mensuration-canonic techniques.
The third, again original, is a 'double' of the previous piece, in the sense that the processes are the same, though much condensed. The fourth is an adaptation of a keyboard piece (from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book) by Bull, with the plainsong cantus set for flute with harp, and a dialogue below this, involving imitative techniques pointed by syncopation and cross-phrasing, set for viola and cello.
The fifth 'In Nomine' (original) is one possible realization of circular canon, with the plainsong on a cross inside the circle. The notes around the circular stave can be read, from the bottom of the cross, from outside and/or inside the circle, clockwise and/or anticlockwise, in 1:1 proportion and/or 2:3 proportion, in various clefs. The instrumentation imitates an eighteenth-century chamber organ I have in my studio, which has only four stops, of which the most remarkable is a strident twelfth.
The sixth 'In Nomine', an instrumentation of a piece by Blitheman in the Mulliner Book, a collection of early sixteenth-century organ music, also recalls the sound of this chamber organ, upon which I normally play these pieces. It is characterized by cross-groupings of three times four quavers against four times three quavers.
The final 'In Nomine' is a short recitative, summing up the harmonic implications of Nos 2, 3 and 5. The work was commissioned by the Melos Ensemble, who gave the first performance of five movements at Wardour Castle Summer School of Music in Wiltshire in September 1965 and the first public performance in London in December of that year.
Anmerkungen des Komponisten (deutsch)
Die "Seven In Nomine" begannen als Kompositionsübung für Earl Kims Kompositionsklasse, als ich an der Universität von Princeton 1963 und 1964 studierte. Ich betrachtete sie als Studien für eine große Orchesterarbeit, die vom London Philharmonic Orchestra in Auftrag gegeben wurde, die ich auf John Taverners "In Nomine" begründen wollte ("Second Fantasia on John Taverners In Nomine"). Auf diese Art konnte ich ein Experiment mit dem grundlegenden Material für das Orchesterstück erarbeiten. Das erste Stück der vorliegenden Gruppe ist eine Bearbeitung für Streichquartett von Taverners Orgel - "In Nomine" aus der "Gloria Tibi Trinitas"-Messe. Das zweite "In Nomine" ist von mir selbst, es unterwirft den Choral (anfangs in der Flöte mit Oktavversetzungen zu hören) einem Transformations- und Entwicklungsprozeß, der komplexe Proportionskanontechniken beinhaltet.
Das Dritte, wieder neu, ist ein "Double" des vorherigen Stücks, in dem Sinn, daß die Prozesse dieselben sind, jedoch wesentlich verdichtet. Das Vierte ist eine Adaption eines Stücks für Tasteninstrument (aus dem "Fitzwilliam Virginal Book") von Bull, der Choral-Cantus ist für Flöte und Harfe gesetzt, darunter ist ein Dialog zwischen Viola und Cello, der Imitationstechniken, pointiert durch Synkopationen und Stimmkreuzungen, beinhaltet.
Das fünfte "In Nomine" (original) ist eine mögliche Realisation eines Zirkelkanons mit dem Choral an einem Kreuzungspunkt des Zirkels. Die Noten um das runde Notensystem können in verschiedener Weise gelesen werden, von außerhalb und/oder innerhalb des Zirkels, im oder gegen den Uhrzeigersinn, in 1:1 Proportion und/oder 2:3 Proportion und in verschiedenen Schlüsseln. Die Instrumentation imitiert eine Kammerorgel des 18. Jahrhunderts, die ich in meinem Arbeitsraum habe, und die nur vier Register hat, von denen ein durchdringendes Quintregister das bemerkenswerteste ist. Das sechste "In Nomine", eine Instrumentation eines Stückes von Blitheman aus dem "Mulliner Book", einer Sammlung von Orgelmusik des frühen 16. Jahrhunderts, erinnert auch an diese Kammerorgel, auf der ich normalerweise diese Stücke spiele. Es ist durch kreuzweise Gruppierungen von 3mal vier Vierteln gegen 4mal drei Viertel charakterisiert.
Das abschließende "In Nomine" ist ein kurzes Rezitativ, das die harmonischen Verflechtungen der Stücke Nr. 2, 3 und 5 zusammenfaßt. Das Werk wurde vom Melos Ensemble in Auftrag gegeben, das es auch in einer unvollständigen Fassung von fünf Sätzen an der Wardour Castle Summer School of Music in Wiltshire im September 1965 und, vollständig, in London im Dezember dieses Jahres uraufführte.
German translation © 1998 by Stephan Bauernfeind |
| recording: |
London Sinfonietta, David Atherton conductor
Decca 475 6166
Aquarius, Nicholas Cleobury conductor
Collins Classics 10952
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