Celebrating the Elements: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire
December 9, 2018
The Ann Arbor Grail Singers presented a holiday celebration of the Elements: music with the themes of earth, air, fire, and water. Throughout history, many cultures have explained the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of these primary elements, and a wide variety of music has been composed based on these themes.
The concert featured Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque works, many based on Psalms that refer to the elements. Composers include Telemann, Schütz, Morley (Fyer, fyer!), Weelkes (Thule, the period of cosmography), Farnaby, and Lassus. Continuing a 20-year Grail Singers tradition, the polyphonic settings of the Psalms were introduced by chanted versions.
Directed by Deborah Friauff, the 15-voice women’s choir was accompanied by Janet Cannon, viola da gamba, and Martha Folts, chamber organ. The choral works was punctuated with vocal solos, duets, and trios sung by Lynne Ballbach, Theresa Braunschneider, Celia Bridges, Deborah Friauff, Linda Munch, and Paula Strenski, as well as a keyboard solo played by Martha Folts.
Most Beautiful Mother of Love: Sacred and Secular Views of the Ultimate Feminine
May 19, 2019
The Ann Arbor Grail Singers explored feminine power in sacred and secular pre-1700 music. Our program juxtaposed music about the Virgin Mary with madrigals by Venetian Baroque composer Barbara Strozzi, one of the first women to have music published in her own name. The melodies and texts illustrated the two extreme concepts of women that have been prevalent for many centuries: either untouchable virginity and graciousness, or gorgeous and desirable love/sex objects.
We also celebrated Strozzi’s 400th birthday with this concert. A virtuoso singer, Strozzi was said to be the most prolific composer of secular vocal music in 17th-century Venice, setting passionate texts to complex and unusual harmonies. She studied with composer Francesco Cavalli (second only to Monteverdi as an opera composer), and published her first Opus in 1644: “the first work that I, as a woman, all too daringly bring to the light of day.”
Deborah Friauff, Director. Carolyn Dicks, Assistant Director. Marilyn Fung, viola da gamba. Minji Kim, chamber organ. Celia Bridges, soprano
Gambenspielerin (The Viola da Gamba Player), c.1630–1640, (Gemäldegalerie, Dresden) by Bernardo Strozzi, believed to be of Barbara Strozzi.