Congregati sunt inimici notros
Et gloriantur in virtute suo
Contere Domini fortitudinem illorum
Et disperge illos
Quia non est allium
Qui pugnet pro nobis
Nisi tu Deus nostros

Our enemies are gathered together
And they glory in their strength
Turn O Lord their strength
and disperse them
for there is none other
that fightest for us
But Thou alone O Lord, our God.

Passando con pensier per un boschetto,
Donne per quello givan fior cogliendo
To’ quel, dicendo,
Eccolo, eccolo, eccolo!
Che è, che è?  È fior di liso.
Va là per le viole!
O mè che’l prun mi punge!
Quell’altra, me v’aggiunge.
I vo, che è quel che salta?
È un grillo.
Venite qua, correte.
Ramponzoli cogliete.
E non son essi.
Sì, sono.
Colei, o colei,
Vien qua, vien qua per funghi;
Costà, costà pe’l sermollino.

I was walking pensively through a grove
When I spied some maidens gathering flowers
Saying -
Behold
What is it? Its lily flowers
Come here for violets
Oh dear, how the briar pricks me
That girl, she can reach it better
I’m going, What is it that’s jumping?
It’s a cricket
Come here – hurry!
Come gather ramps
They aren’t them
Yes they are
someone or another
come here for mushrooms
Over there for wild thyme.

Noi starem troppo, che’l tempo si turba!
Ecco balena, e tuona.
E vespero già suona.
Non è egli ancor nona.
Odi, odi,
Il lusignuol, che canta:
Più bel v’è, più bel v’è.
Io sento, e non so che.
O dove è, o dove è?
In quel cespuglio.
Tocca, picchia, ritocca:
Mentre che’l busso cresce,
Et una serpe n’esce.
O me trista, o me lassa!

We stay too long - for the sky grows dark
Look – here comes lightning and thunder
And the Vesper bell is already ringing
It’s not three o’clock yet
Listen, listen
It’s the nightingale who is singing:
There are fairer, there are fairer
I hear something, and I don’t know what it is
Where is it
In that thicket
she hits, she strikes, she hits again
while the noise grows louder
And a snake comes out,
Alas – and woe is me!

Fuggendo tutte di paura piene,
Una gran pioggia viene.
Qual sdrucciola, qual cade,  
Qual si punge lo piede.
A terra van ghirlande.
Tal ciò c’ha tolto, lascia, e tal percote.
Tiensi beata chi più correr puote.
Sì fisso stetti il dì, ch’io lor mirai,
Ch’io non m’avidi, e tutto mi bagnai.

While all of them flee
A great downpour comes,
One slips, another falls
One hurts her foot.
To earth fall the garlands.
One leaves behind what she has gathered, and another retrieves it
She considers herself lucky who can run the fastest.
So absorbed I became on that day whole I watched
That I didn’t notice the rain, and became completely drenched.

Laß dich nur nichts nicht dauren mit Trauren,
sei stille, wie Gott es fügt,
so sei vergnügt mein Wille!

Was willst du heute sorgen auf morgen?
Der Eine steht allem für,
der gibt auch dir das Deine.

Sei nur in allem Handel ohn Wandel,
steh feste, was Gott beschleußt,
das ist und heißt das Beste. Amen

Do not be sorrowful or regretful;
Be calm, as God has ordained,
and thus my will shall be content.

What do you want to worry about from day to day?
There is One who stands above all
who gives you, too, what is yours.

Only be steadfast in all you do,
stand firm; what God has decided,
that is and must be the best. Amen

Ich aber ebin elend, und mir ist wehe;  Herr Gott,
barmherzig und gnädig und geduldig,
und von großer Gnade und Treue,
der Du beweisest Gnade in tausend Glied,
und vergibst Missetat, Übertretung und Sünde,
und vor welchem niemand unschuldig ist.
Gott, Deine Hülfe schütze mich.
(Psalm 69:29; 2. Mose 34:6b, 7a)

But I am poor and sorrowful;  Lord God,
all merciful and gracious and longsuffering,
of abundant goodness and truth,
Thou who art keeping mercy for thousands,
and transgression and sin, and iniquity forgiving,
and that will by no means the guilty clear:
God, o defend and guard Thou me.

1. Ach, arme Welt, du trügest mich,
ja, das bekenn’ ich eigentlich,
und kann dich doch nicht meiden.

2. Du falsche Welt, du bist nicht wahr,
dein Schein vergeht, das weiß ich zwar,
mit Weh’ und großem Leiden.

3. Dein’ Ehr’, dein Gut, du arme Welt,
im Tod, in rechten Nöten fehlt,
dein Schatz ist eitel falsches Geld,
dess hilf mir, Herr, zum Frieden.

1. Thou, poor vain world, deludest me,
yes, that I grant thee verily,
and cannot still deny thee.

2. Ah, thou false world, thou art not true,
thy glories fade, I know and rue,
with grief and sorrow try me.

3. The honours, riches, thou hast brought,
in death, in dire distress are naught;
Thy treasure vain and falsely wraught.
Lord, give me peace eternal.

Wenn ein starker Gewappneter seinen Palast bewahret,
so bleibet das Seine mit Frieden.
Aber: ein jeglich Reich, so es mit ihm selbst uneins wird, das wird wüste;
und ein Haus fället über das andere.
Wenn ein starker Gewappneter seinen Palast bewahret,
so bleibet das Seine mit Frieden.
(Luke 11: 22/17b)

When a strong-armed man guards his palace
His property will remain in peace,
But any kingdom that is divided amongst itself will be laid waste,
and one house will fall upon another. 
When a strong-armed man guards his palace
His property will remain in peace.

The Brown University Chorus, 50 dedicated singers drawn from all concentrations within the University, is one of the oldest groups on campus.  As well as performing regularly in Providence and New England, the choir has earned an international reputation over the past 30 years for the quality of its performances. Under the 30-year tenure of Frederick Jodry, the Choir has toured extensively, most recently on a  2019 tour to Ireland, a 2017 tour of Croatia, and a 2015 concert tour of Cuba, adding to their already impressive legacy as University ambassadors. Previous trips include concert tours of Vienna and Prague, Argentina and Uruguay, Russia and Finland, and Italy. The chorus also enjoyed touring through Iberia, Greece, Israel and Egypt, the USSR and Scandinavia, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. In 1979, the Chorus was the first American collegiate performing group to tour China, and in 1976 the group spent one month in India singing in India for Prime Minister Indira Ghandi and Mother Teresa.

Sopranos

Elze Amilevichiute
Eva Azazoglu
Mia Hamilton
Isabel Horst
Charlotte Knutsen
Joelle Gregoire Lincoln
Anna Lister
Kieran Malik
Tate Oliphant
Dorrie Pinchbeck
Natalia Thomas  

Altos 

Elise Aronson
Emma George 
Mo Levandoski
Campbell Loi
Simone Bartlett
Marijke Perry
Anna Romero Mejia
Emily Schweiss
Tierra Sherlock
Jennah Slayton
Lily Willis 

Tenors 

Lafayette Bussey
Cooper Cardone 
Léo Corzo-Clark 
Chris Hauptfeld 
Ching-Peng Huang 
Luca Iallonardi 
Santiago Vargas Machado
Daniel McDermott
Andrew Neubauer
Cotrell Van Wingern
Nicholas Wooten

Basses 

Arlen Austin
David Benoit
Orion Bloomfield
Lucas Chan
Rafael Davis
Evan Dong
Elijah Golden
Zachary Reiss
Robert Scheidegger
Steve Schwartz
Herbert Traub

L. Frederick Jodry holds the Bachelor’s degree in Organ Performance from New England Conservatory where he studied organ with Yuko Hayashi and conducting with Lorna Cooke de Varon and Donald Teeters. Upon graduation, he was awarded the prestigious Chadwick Medal, given each year to the most promising graduate who shows distinction both in musical performance and academic excellence.  He continued at NEC, being awarded a Master’s degree in the Performance of Early Music in 1987 and was an organ pupil of William Porter. While completing his studies, Mr. Jodry founded the Schola Cantorum of Boston, a twelve-voice ensemble dedicated to the performance of Renaissance sacred music.  During the past thirty years, the group has presented concerts throughout New England, and has frequently been heard at the Boston Early Music Festivals. As a vocal soloist, Mr. Jodry has appeared with the Providence Singers, the RI Civic Chorale, Boston Cecilia, the Boston Camerata, Musique Ancienne de Montreal, and at the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute under Gustav Leonhardt. Since 1991 he has been Director of Choral Activities at Brown University, where he is also an instructor in music theory and history. He has led the Brown Chorus throughout New England, and has toured with them on five continents.  For the past fifteen years, Mr. Jodry has served as Music Director at the First Unitarian Church of Providence.

Mark Steinbach is University Organist, Curator of Instruments, and Distinguished Senior Lecturer in Music at Brown University, where he teaches applied organ and seminars on topics such as historic performance practices and Olivier Messiaen. Dr. Steinbach concertizes and teaches frequently throughout the United States and Europe. A passionate advocate of both historic and new music, he premiered compositions of Brown University composers Eric Nathan and Wang Lu at Notre-Dame de Paris and Berlin’s Nikolai-kirche in summer 2016. He was in residence at Xi’an Conservatory of Music in Xi’an China in 2018 to teach and perform a solo recital in the new concert hall. His newest album Glass and Bach in Dresden, recorded on Gottfried Silbermann’s magnum opus of 1755 in Dresden, Germany was released in January 2021 on Philip Glass’ label, Orange Mountain Music, available as a CD and on streaming services including Spotify, Apple and Amazon Music and iTunes. He has a forthcoming album, also recorded in Dresden, which will feature music of Bach, Eric Nathan, Wang Lu, Messiaen and Heiller.

Mr. Steinbach has performed for the National Conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, international organ festivals in Berlin, Halle, Dresden, Freiberg Cathedral, Rötha, Görlitz, Weimar and Lüneburg, Germany, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, the International Organ Festival at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, the Aosta, Courmayeur, Bolzano, Storici Organi della Valsesia, and Picena international organ festivals in Italy, and the Audite Organum festival in Prague. He performed the world premiere of Daniel Pinkham’s “Odes” at the American Guild of Organists Regional Convention and the U.S. premiere of Nico Muhly’s “O Antiphon Preludes” at Brown University. Mr. Steinbach has been featured on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” performing on the 1640’s English cabinet organ in Wickford, Rhode Island, the oldest church organ in use in the United States. Mr. Steinbach served as Organist and Choirmaster of historic St. Paul’s Church in Wickford, Rhode Island for 23 years, building a substantial multi-generational music program.

Mr. Steinbach earned the bachelor of music degree from the University of Kansas where he studied organ with Jim Higdon. As a Fulbright scholar he studied in Vienna, Austria with Peter Planyavsky. He earned the master of music and doctor of musical arts degrees from The Eastman School of Music where he studied organ with David Craighead and harpsichord with Arthur Haas.

Mr. Steinbach’s critically acclaimed CDs Organ Works of Anton Heiller (Loft) and Glass-Bach Dresden have been featured on America Public Media’s Pipedreams and The Organ Loft. Mr. Steinbach has served as adjudicater for organ competitions, including the American Guild of Organists National Young Artists Competition. He has presented a lecture/demonstration on “Healthy Practice Techniques” for the American Guild of Organists National Convention.

Congregati sunt inimici notros (from Florilegium portense, 1621) by Martin Roth (1580-1610)

The Florilegium Portense is an anthology of vocal music, collected at a boarding school in Pforta Germany, and published in two volumes in 1618 and 1621. The music consists of motets from 4 to 10 voices, but something like ninety percent of the pieces are for 8 parts, written in the very popular Venetian double choir fashion where two groups sing in dialogue with one another. In 17th century Germany, such pieces were used for studying Latin Grammar and sight-singing, and the preface to the Florilegium mentions that in boarding schools, motets were sung before and after meals, and usually were used as Introits for Lutheran church services. These volumes circulated widely for more than 100 years, and we find Bach ordering new copies in 1724, his first year in Leipzig, saying that the printed volumes onwed by the St. Thomas School had been sung to pieces. Such noted composers such as Lasso, Preatorius, Handl, Marenzio, the Gabrielis, and many other composers unknown today were included. Martin Roth was a teacher and Rector at the Pforta school, and many of his pieces were printed in this anthology. Since the music of the Florilegium were largely unavailable in modern editions, I have transcribed and published his 16 motets from the Florilegium over the past few years. (AR Editions, Madison Wisconsin)

Three Madrigals by Peter Philips (1560-1623)

Double choir writing was not only used in church, but also in secular music – we find many eight- part madrigals were published in the 17th century.  Peter Phillips was a contemporary of William Byrd, living in the turbulent years of the English Reformation. Unlike Byrd, who adroitly managed his personal Catholic beliefs with his required service in Queen Elizabeth’s Protestant Chapel Royal, Philips chose to flee England in order to celebrate his Catholic faith, and lived and worked in present day Belgium. He published several large collections of church motets, both in 5 and 8 parts, and also wrote such secular pieces as we hear tonight. The text of Passando con pensier originates in 15th centure Italy, and was also set by other 17th century composers, including Marenzio. The setting of a group of young women gathering flowers herbs and mushrooms in the woods, and their conversation and frequent arguing (!) makes good use of the two choirs in dialogue, or depicting the dying echos of the Vesper bells. 

Four motets by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Johannes Brahms also wrote double choir vocal music – he lived in the era where Bach’s music was being printed for the first time as a giant series (the Bach Gesellshaft edition – published from 1851-1900)- Brahms is listed as one of the subscribers. He describes the extreme delight with which he greeted each new volume as it came out. He must have studied Bach’s double choir motets, but composed his own pieces in a richer harmonic idiom, and uses every possible texture available. He writes suave, prayerful harmonies in Ich aber bin Elend, and the dramatic fanfares of Wenn ein starker Gewappneter to imbue the music with his customary elegance. -L. Frederick Jodry

Selections from Liturgy of St John Chrysostom by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

This setting of 'The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom', written in 1910, was the first of Sergei Rachmaninoff's three major choral works, the others being 'The Bells' (1913) and the 'All-night Vigil' or 'Vespers' (1915). The composer had just returned from a harrowing tour of the United States, and he settled down, at his recently-inherited estate at Ivanovka, to a period of steady Russian-inspired composing. Although history marks Rachmaninov down as not being particularly religious, it is clear from his letters to friends and colleagues, and from the nature of the work (it is a complete setting of the Liturgy, including responses to prayers for priests/deacons) that he intended the work to be used in church rather than just as a concert piece. Rachmaninoff's written codicil on the manuscript ('Finished, thanks be to God, 30 July 1910, Ivanovka') would seem to confirm his spiritual motivation. In a letter to his friend Morozov, Rachmaninov wrote: 'I have long thought about the Liturgy, and I have long aimed at it. I took it up rather by chance and immediately got carried away. After that, I finished it very quickly. Not for a long time…have I written anything with such pleasure'. In fact the piece was composed in an astonishingly short time – less than three weeks. Unlike 'The All-night Vigil' (which contains several movements based on traditional Orthodox Znamenny chant), 'The Liturgy' is entirely free-composed and contains no extraneous material. For guidance on the content of the work, Rachmaninov turned to Alexander Kastalsky, director of the Moscow Synodal School (a religious foundation); it was the choir of the school that gave the piece its first (secular) performance on 25 November 1910. Alas, once again, the church authorities were unimpressed, and felt that Rachmaninov's setting was not suitable for church use, and so it was probably never performed in a religious context – as a teacher of religion at the Synodal School remarked: '…absolutely wonderful, even too beautiful, but with such music it would be difficult to pray; it is not church music'.  -Barry Creasy, Collegium Musicum of London

Liturgy of St John Chrysostom Listening Notes:

• “Lord have mercy” (No. 1)  is a repeating Litany of supplication, which we choose to sing in Procession.
• “Glory to the Father” (No. 3) opens with radiant high chords to contrast the glory of God against the dense, humble prayers of humanity. Connecting the two are the sharp, painful, jumping intervals with which Rachmaninoff sets the crucifixion.
• “In Thy Kingdom” a setting of the Sermon on the Mount (No. 4) begins with a beautiful invocation of heaven in the treble voices. Successive waves of blessings are set in a warm, lyrical chant that builds to songs of glory.
• “Come, Let Us Worship” (No. 5) opens upon a slow, sweeping, expectant crescendo that rises up to worship, before falling on its knees to deliver a hushed and reverent alleluia.
• “O Lord, Save... Holy God” the Trisagion, (No. 6) begins with a quiet prayer that gives way to a vigorous ostinato folk dance and lilting songs of praise.
• “The Creed,” (No. 10) opens with a simple affirming, repeated melody. The story of Christ unfolds in a rich tapestry of text setting that contains many beautiful moments, from the suffering of the Passion to the chattering excitement of the Resurrection.
• We choose to end with the moving simplicity of “We Hymn Thee” (No. 12) which the composer marks “to be sung almost inaudibly”.