Songs for Saint Nicholas Program & Notes
Saturday, December 6, 2008, 8 PM St. James Cathedral, 804 9th Avenue, Seattle
On his feast day, December 6, we celebrate St. Nicholas, early medieval saint and patron of children and sailors, with medieval French and English and traditional Dutch songs. Percussionist Peggy Monroe and harpist Bill McJohn will enliven the sounds of the choir in the glorious acoustic of St. James Cathedral.
Program
| Sospitati dedit egros | Sarum chant, 13th century |
| Sainte Nicholaes godes druth | St. Godric, d. 1170 |
| Ora pro nobis | St. Martial, 12th century |
| Nicholaus inclitus | Notre Dame, 13th century |
| Exultemus et letemur | |
| Fulget Nicholaus | |
| Da tutta gente laudato | Florence Laudario, 14th century |
| Sospitati dedit egros | Walter Frye, 15th century |
| Cantu miro (instrumental) | St. Martial, 12th century arr. M. Tindemans |
| Statuit ei Dominus, Alleluia | chant |
| In lamentum et merorum | From "Tres Filiae", 13th century |
| O Christi pietas | |
| Nicholae, presulum | Notre Dame, 13th century |
| Celsa sublimatur | Hugo de Lantins, 15th century |
| Laudibus Nicholai | French, 14th century, arr. M. Tindemans |
INTERMISSION
| Sospitati dedit egros (instrumental) | arr. M. Tindemans |
| Zie ginds komt de stoomboot | Dutch traditional |
| Sinterklaas, die goeie heer | |
| O, kom er eens kijken | |
| De zak van Sint Niklaas | |
| Ils étaient trois petits enfants | French traditional |
| Sospitati dedit egros | Sarum chant, 13th century |
| Salve cleri speculum/Sospitati | English, 14th century |
| Nicholaus (instrumental) | arr. Bill McJohn |
| Gaudeat Ecclesia | Notre Dame, 13th century |
| Psallat chorus | |
| Nicholaus pontifex | |
| Nicholai presulis | |
| Gaudens in Domino |
Notes
Honoring the heritage of Dutch-born director Margriet Tindemans and other choir members of Dutch heritage, the Medieval Women's Choir presents Songs for Saint Nicholas, the saint who (in the Dutch tradition) arrives in early December from Spain by boat, bearing gifts for children and whimsical poems for adults.
There really was a St. Nick, a 4th century bishop from what is now Turkey. He became famous for numerous miracles: restoring three murdered children to life, saving many sailors from shipwreck, providing a dowry for three girls and thus sparing them a life of prostitution, saving three falsely condemned knights from death by hanging, and supplying his town of Myra with grain in a famine. His saintliness was apparent early on, when as a baby he refused to eat on Wednesdays and Fridays, which were days of fasting in the early Church.
Saint Nicholas was selected bishop of the seaport town of Myra but was subsequently imprisoned by the emperor Diocletian. He died on December 6, around the year 342. It is said that his bones exuded a fragrant oil, believed to have healing qualities. Soon after his death stories about the miracles he performed began to circulate. In 430 the emperor Justinian built a church in his honor at Constantinople.
In the second half of the 11th century Islamic armies invaded Myra. In 1087 Italian merchants, wanting to safeguard the saint's remains, removed the bones and brought them to the Italian city of Bari. They still rest there and, according to legend, continue to exude their healing oil. Vials of this special ointment can be obtained from Saint Nicholas's church in Bari. With his relics in Italy, his fame spread throughout medieval Europe. Sailors, bakers, children, merchants, perfumers, even pawnbrokers and prisoners claimed him as their patron Saint. Four of the famous stained glass windows in Chartres Cathedral are devoted to our Saint, and depict 25 different tales of his life and miracles.
We learn of Saint Nicholas and his miracles in many medieval poems, set to catchy tunes, memorable and dance-like. Among the earliest is the song by the 12th century English hermit St. Godric, one of three songs received by him in a vision, as the legend goes. In Sospitati dedit egros, one of the most popular songs about St. Nicholas, each line refers to a different miracle. Nicholaus inclitus, Nicholas presulum, Gaudeat ecclesia and Nicholas pontifex, simple "caroles" or dance-songs, are found in a 13th century French manuscript connected with the Notre Dame School of Paris, in which most of the music is of much greater complexity. Possibly the simple refrain songs of the last chapter in the book represent educational material, used in teaching Latin, poetic forms and memorization. To the songs in this "folk" style we are adding drones and simple countermelodies, the way they were improvised in the Middle Ages. Written examples of this improvisatory style can be heard in Exultemur et letemur and Gaudens in Domino.
From the 13th century Abbey of Fleury in northern France comes a manuscript of musical plays. They are full of stage directions, making it clear they were actually performed in the abbey church. Three of the plays have St. Nicholas' miracles as subject. We will sing some songs from the play about the three girls, Tres Filiae, who each are given a bag of gold for their dowry. This miracle has an interesting sequel: in medieval paintings St. Nicholas is often depicted carrying three balls of gold, representing the bags of coins. Somehow the Dutch saw these golden balls as "apples of orange", oranges. Oranges in Holland used to come from Spain, therefore St. Nicholas must reside in Spain. Every year he arrives in the port of Rotterdam on his boat from Spain, still bringing with him bags of oranges as presents!
Testifying to the enormous popularity of Saint Nicholas in the Middle Ages is the fact that he is not only celebrated in educational songs and popular dances, but is also well represented in manuscripts of "art" music. One of the earliest examples of that style is the organum Ora pro nobis, from the abbey of St. Martial in Limoges. This was a hotbed of experimentation in the 12th century and one of the birthplaces of medieval polyphony. An organum is a composition in which one part sings an existing chant melody in long, drawn-out note values, while another part sings very florid lines above it. In the conductus (Fulget Nicholaus, Celsa sublimatur and Nicholai presulis) the connection to chant is given up, and the pieces are freely composed in three parts. In the 15th century Walter Frye in his Sospitati dedit egros and the anonymous composer who wrote Salve cleri speculum still use the earlier melody (which you heard as the first song in the program) as the base for their compositions. Walter Frye uses the same poetic form, but sets it in three parts, while in Salve cleri speculum the melody is divided between the two lower parts, which often engage in a technique called "hocqueting" ñ literally hiccuping ñ in which the parts alternate phrases or even single notes.
Da tutte gente laudato belongs to the genre of the "lauda", a form unique to Italy. Originating in the 14th century, the lauda is the earliest art song in the vernacular. Laude were sung in private chapels and homes. Our last concert of the season, on May 16, is devoted to Italian music of the 14th century and contains many more examples of laude.
Saint Nicholas' popularity did not wane with the close of the Middle Ages. To this day he is revered among Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians, and is the patron saint of Russia, Greece and many cities, among them Amsterdam.
We will sing some traditional songs from the Netherlands and from France, close in spirit if not in age, to the earlier songs. They are from a much later date. While the French song, like the medieval songs, talks about one of the miracles St. Nicholas performed, the Dutch songs have completely lost that connection, and talk mostly about the toys children are hoping to receive, and especially about all the different kind of cakes and candies, associated with the "Sinterklaas" feast.
In the 16th century, with the Reformation gaining ground, saints were not as universally popular as they had been in the Catholic society up to that point. Martin Luther, not wanting to deprive his community of a popular holiday, transferred some of the St. Nicholas customs, such as gift-giving, to Christmas, and instead of St. Nicholas, it became the "Christ-Kindl" who brought the gifts. It is remarkable that in the Netherlands, where a majority of the citizens became Protestant, a Catholic saint remained and still is the center of a national holiday.
Seventeenth century Dutch settlers brought their customs and celebrations to America, and "Sinter Claes" or "Sancte Claus" was named patron saint of Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch name for New York City. Over time the Saint's residence changed from Spain to the North Pole. His traditional white horse became a reindeer and sled, and Santa Claus became associated with popular celebrations of Christmas. In his snowy home he replaced his bishop's clothing with a warmer and more comfortable red and white suit, lined with fur.
~Margriet Tindemans
