An Analytical, Rehearsal, and Performance Guide
to Ad majorem Dei gloriam by Benjamin Britten
A document submitted to the
CCM Division of Graduate Studies and Research
of the University of Cincinnati
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS
in Choral Conducting,
Division of Ensembles and Conducting
of the College-Conservatory of Music
July 2013
by
Kenneth G. Tice
B.M., East Carolina University, 2003
M.M., University of Houston, 2010
Committee Chair: L. Brett Scott, D.M.A.
ABSTRACT
This document is a study of Ad majorem Dei gloriam (A.M.D.G.) by Benjamin
Britten. It includes a motivic analysis, rehearsal preparation guide, and performance
suggestions. Published posthumously in 1989, A.M.D.G. is still relatively new to many
conductors, singers, and audiences. This document will serve to give a more complete
picture of the work than exists in published scholarship. As more of Benjamin Britten’s
previously unpublished music is catalogued and published, this rehearsal guide will not
only highlight A.M.D.G., but also add to the general understanding and scholarship of the
choral music output of Benjamin Britten.
iii
Copyright © 2013 Kenneth G. Tice
All rights reserved
iv
To my wife, Jessica,
for her constant love and support.
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. Brett Scott, Dr. Earl Rivers, and Dr. Elmer Thomas for
their guidance and instruction during my time at the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music. Each has given me a different perspective from which to consider
choral music, from its creation, to preparation, to performance. Their insights helped me
to realize what a gem Ad majorem Dei Gloriam is in the choral repertoire, and gave me
the desire to promote it through this document. I would like to thank Dr. Charles
Hausmann and Dr. Betsey Cook Weber at the University of Houston for their influence
of score study, rehearsal technique, and concert programming. I wish to express my
appreciation to Dr. Daniel Bara who inspired so many of us during his tenure at East
Carolina University by showing us how diverse and wonderful the choral art really is,
and his influence on the conducting technique of so many of his students. I would also
like to thank Kevin Riehle and Cantare Houston for exposing me to this wonderful work.
I wish to express my heartfelt love and appreciation to my parents, Timothy and
Jackie Tice, for their encouragement of music in my life growing up, and supporting me
in my career and education. I wish to express thanks and appreciation to the rest of my
family and friends who where there for me with support over the years in pursuit of my
career in music and conducting. Finally, to my wonderful wife Jessica, without whose
encouragement this would not have been possible, I give my deepest love and devotion.
Her love and support for me made it possible for me to pursue my graduate education,
and for that I am forever grateful. These last few years have provided wonders and
challenges that we will remember and cherish for the rest of our lives.
vi
CONTENTS
ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. vi
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ ix
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................x
CHAPTERS
1
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................1
Why A.M.D.G. .............................................................................................................2
2
BENJAMIN BRITTEN ...............................................................................................4
The Early Years ...........................................................................................................4
Royal College of Music ...............................................................................................6
After the Royal College ...............................................................................................7
America ..................................................................................................................... 10
A.M.D.G..................................................................................................................... 13
The Loss of the Manuscript ....................................................................................... 15
Leaving America ....................................................................................................... 16
3
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS: BIOGRAPHY AND RELATION TO BRITTEN
The Early Years ......................................................................................................... 18
The Jesuit Order ........................................................................................................ 19
The Priesthood ........................................................................................................... 21
With Consideration to Britten ................................................................................... 22
4
AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM ............................................................................. 24
Premiere of the Withdrawn Work ............................................................................. 25
5
MOTIVIC ANALYSIS AND REHEARSAL GUIDE.............................................. 26
“Prayer I” ................................................................................................................... 28
Preparation ......................................................................................................... 30
“Rosa Mystica” .......................................................................................................... 34
Preparation ......................................................................................................... 44
“God’s Grandeur” ...................................................................................................... 47
Preparation ......................................................................................................... 56
“Prayer II” ................................................................................................................. 58
vii
Preparation ......................................................................................................... 66
“O Deus, ego amo te” ................................................................................................ 67
Preparation ......................................................................................................... 71
“The Soldier” ............................................................................................................. 74
Preparation ......................................................................................................... 80
“Heaven-Haven”........................................................................................................ 81
Preparation ......................................................................................................... 84
6
Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 87
Preferred Performance Order .................................................................................... 90
APPENDICES
A
DISCOGRAPHY....................................................................................................... 92
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 93
viii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2-1
Form of “Rosa Mystica” ....................................................................... 44
Table 3-1
Form/Starting Motives of “God’s Grandeur”........................................ 51
Table 8-1
A.M.D.G. Folio Order............................................................................ 87
Table 8-2
A.M.D.G. Premiere Order...................................................................... 89
Table 8-3
A.M.D.G. Tonal Centers ........................................................................ 90
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1-1
“Prayer I” mm. 1-4, soprano line .......................................................... 29
Figure 1-2
“Prayer I” mm. 16-17 ............................................................................ 30
Figure 1-3
Fourths Exercise .................................................................................... 31
Figure 1-4
Modal Scales Exercise .......................................................................... 32
Figure 1-5
Triadic Progressions Exercise ............................................................... 33
Figure 2-1
“Rosa Mystica” mm. 1-4 ....................................................................... 36
Figure 2-2
“Rosa Mystica” mm. 9-14 ..................................................................... 36
Figure 2-3
“Rosa Mystica” mm. 18-28 ................................................................... 37
Figure 2-4
“Rosa Mystica” mm. 56-65 ................................................................... 38
Figure 2-5
“Rosa Mystica” mm. 82-89 ................................................................... 39
Figure 2-6
“Rosa Mystica” mm. 90-97 ................................................................... 40
Figure 2-7
“Rosa Mystica” mm. 104-6 ................................................................... 41
Figure 2-8
“Rosa Mystica” mm. 108-13 ................................................................. 42
Figure 2-9
“Rosa Mystica” mm. 122-29 ................................................................. 42
Figure 2-10
“Rosa Mystica” mm. 155-62 ................................................................. 43
Figure 2-11
“Rosa Mystica” mm. 167-72 ................................................................. 43
Figure 2-12
Thirds Exercise ...................................................................................... 45
Figure 2-13
Thirds and Ostinato Exercise ................................................................ 46
Figure 3-1
“God’s Grandeur” mm. 1-3 ................................................................... 48
Figure 3-2
“God’s Grandeur” Chromatic motive, mm. 8-10, soprano ................... 48
Figure 3-3
“God’s Grandeur” Bleared/Smeared Motive, mm. 29-32, tenor........... 49
Figure 3-4
“God’s Grandeur” mm. 15-17 ............................................................... 49
x
Figure 3-5
“God’s Grandeur” Smudge Motive, mm. 38-41, tenor ......................... 50
Figure 3-6
“God’s Grandeur” Staccato motive variation, mm. 52-55, tenor .......... 52
Figure 3-7
“God’s Grandeur” mm. 51-53 ............................................................... 52
Figure 3-8
“God’s Grandeur” mm. 69-73 ............................................................... 53
Figure 3-9
“God’s Grandeur” mm. 83-88 ............................................................... 54
Figure 3-10
“God’s Grandeur” mm. 89-92 ............................................................... 55
Figure 3-11
“God’s Grandeur” mm. 112-15 ............................................................. 55
Figure 3-12
“God’s Grandeur” mm. 121-23 ............................................................. 56
Figure 3-13
“God’s Grandeur” Motive Warm-up..................................................... 57
Figure 4-1
“Prayer II” mm. 1-4 ............................................................................... 59
Figure 4-2
“Prayer II” mm. 23-24 ........................................................................... 60
Figure 4-3
“Prayer II” mm. 31-34 ........................................................................... 62
Figure 4-4
“Prayer II” mm. 35-36 ........................................................................... 63
Figure 4-5
“Prayer II” mm. 43-46 ........................................................................... 64
Figure 4-6
“Prayer II” mm. 51-60 ........................................................................... 65
Figure 4-7
Short Range Melody exercise ............................................................... 66
Figure 5-1
“O Deus” mm. 1-7 (reduction) .............................................................. 68
Figure 5-2
“O Deus” mm. 16-17, 20-21 (reduction)............................................... 69
Figure 5-3
“O Deus” mm. 22-31 ............................................................................. 70
Figure 5-4
“O Deus” mm. 32 .................................................................................. 70
Figure 5-5
Tritone Exercise .................................................................................... 72
Figure 5-6
Senza misura exercise ........................................................................... 73
Figure 5-7
Grand Leap Exercise ............................................................................. 73
xi
Figure 6-1
“The Soldier” mm. 1-3 .......................................................................... 75
Figure 6-2
“The Soldier” mm. 17-23 ...................................................................... 76
Figure 6-3
“The Soldier” mm. 25-29 ...................................................................... 77
Figure 6-4
“The Soldier” mm. 33-36 ...................................................................... 78
Figure 6-5
“The Soldier” mm. 37-39 ...................................................................... 79
Figure 6-6
“The Soldier” mm. 47-49 ...................................................................... 79
Figure 6-7
“The Soldier” mm. 50-51 ...................................................................... 80
Figure 7-1
“Heaven-Haven” mm. 1-4 ..................................................................... 82
Figure 7-2
“Heaven-Haven” mm. 5-8 ..................................................................... 82
Figure 7-3
“Heaven-Haven” mm. 12-14 ................................................................. 83
Figure 7-4
“Heaven-Haven” mm. 19-23 ................................................................. 83
Figure 7-5
Fifths Exercise ....................................................................................... 85
Figure 7-6
Major/Minor Exercise ........................................................................... 86
xii
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
A composer’s opus is the means by which he or she is measured, evaluated and
remembered. As musicologists continue to discover new music of composers long since
gone, they add to our understanding of those composers, the times in which they lived
and wrote, and give us a broader understanding of the compositional techniques that the
composers had at their disposal. The reason these pieces became lost varies from
composer to composer, but when a work is discovered several questions arise. How much
can we learn from a piece of lost music? What can we take from a piece of music that a
composer did not deem complete or ready for the world to experience? What can this
newly discovered music tell us about that composers life when they created it? How
should we place this piece within the accepted canon of the composer? Lost and
unpublished compositions of British composer Benjamin Britten have been discovered
and catalogued since the establishment of the Britten-Pears Foundation in 1986. These
compositions are deserving of scholarship and scrutiny, as they will add to our overall
understanding of the Britten, his music and his experiences in the early 20th century.
Britten, one of the England’s greatest composers, left a diverse catalogue of works
behind after his death in 1976. While his body of work is continually performed, studied
and appreciated by many, there are numerous compositions that were not published
during Britten’s lifetime. Britten oversaw the publishing of over 200 compositions and
gave opus numbers to only ninety-five of those works. The Britten-Pears Foundation is
creating a comprehensive thematic catalogue of Britten’s works, which is slated to
include over 1200 individual pieces, due to be released in 2013, the year of Britten’s
1
centennial. The vast majority of this music has not been studied, performed or even
published before the release of this catalogue.
WHY A.M.D.G.
From Britten’s catalogue of works unpublished during his lifetime, one piece that
holds particular interest in its musical language, technical difficulties, and history is Ad
majorem Dei gloriam (A.M.D.G.), a setting of poems by the nineteenth century poet
Gerard Manley Hopkins. For any conductor, singer, or audience member who has
experienced Britten’s choral music, they are struck by his deft touch at setting the English
language, his almost Baroque use of word-painting, his love of non-traditional chord
progressions, and the challenges he often brings to his vocal ensembles. A.M.D.G.
embodies all of these elements and has become a jewel of Britten’s posthumously
published works.
Though it has become a regular part of concert programs and recordings of
Britten’s music, A.M.D.G. has not received the scholarly attention it needs to be
understood and incorporated into the larger context of Britten’s compositional output.
Additionally, a piece with high technical demands like A.M.D.G. might be approached
by conductors and ensembles with trepidation and concern for the demands Britten places
on the singers. This document will give attention to those concerns by providing rehearsal
suggestions to guide the preparation and performance of this exciting work of Britten.
Only four complete recordings of A.M.D.G. exist in the catalogue. The first
recording by the London Sinfonietta Voices under Terry Edwards was issued in 1988,
two years after the same group premiered A.M.D.G. These recordings have been
reviewed in various journals and music magazines, and A.M.D.G. has received many
2
subsequent performances, no doubt in part to the availability of these recordings. Robert
Shaw began to perform parts of A.M.D.G. late in his life and highlighted them in a
workshop at Furman University in June 1998.1
The study of any piece of music is a chance to better understand the work and
legacy of a composer. The study of A.M.D.G. will help to meet these goals as one
considers the compositional techniques Britten employs and the preparation involved to
rehearse and perform the piece. This document will serve as a conductor’s guide for
A.M.D.G. and will provide insight into an interesting period of Britten’s life, how he
relates to Hopkins, and the possibilities of this work in performance. It is my sincere hope
that this document will spur performances of the work informed by my analysis and
suggestions for preparing and performing A.M.D.G.
1"Nancy"E."Harris,!“Robert"Shaw"in"his"Own"Words.”!Nancy"E."Harris,"
http://www.thevoicebuilder.com/shaw.html"(accessed"Dec."26,"2012)."
3
CHAPTER II
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
THE EARLY YEARS
Benjamin Edward Britten was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk on November 22, 1913,
the feast day of St. Cecilia, patron of music and musicians. Britten’s father Robert was a
dental surgeon and provided a modest living for his wife Edith and his four children
Barbara, Bobby, Beth, and Benjamin. Britten called his household “a very ordinary
middle-class family,” and it was one that enjoyed simple, yet enriching pleasures.2
Britten’s mother organized “musical evenings” at home to entertain family and friends.
Britten recalls his mother’s performances at these events, writing she was a “keen
amateur…with a sweet voice.”3 It was these musical evenings that introduced Britten to
the music of Bach, Brahms, Mozart and future mentors Frank Bridge and John Ireland.4
Often the family would entertain professional soloists who were in town to perform with
the Musical Society, and if young Britten was put to bed while music was still being
made in the house, he was known to cry until brought back downstairs.5
Britten took piano lessons from his mother from an early age until he was seven
years old, when he began instruction at Southholme, a dame-school (or private
elementary school.)6 He showed promise both at the keyboard and as a composer from a
young age. His mother was convinced very early that Britten would join the ranks of the
2"Humphrey"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten!A!Biography"(New"York:"Charles"Scribner’s"Sons,"1992):"4."
3"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten,"5."
4"Michael"Glenn"Marcades,"“Benjamin"Britten’s"Ad"majorem"Dei"gloriam"(A.M.D.G.):"A"MusicoWPoetic"
Analysis"and"Performance"Guide"for"the"Choral"Conductor,”"(Ph.D."diss.,"Texas"Tech"University,"
1999),"12."
5"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten,"5."
6"Ibid.,"8.!
4
great “B” composers; “Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, and the fourth…Britten.”7 At age
fourteen, Britten began to study piano and composition with Frank Bridge. This was quite
an opportunity for young Britten as he recalled that Bridge “had no other pupils” for
composition.8 Britten learned early on from Bridge two cardinal principles; the first was
to “find yourself and be true to what you found,” and the second was to have “scrupulous
attention to good technique, the business of saying clearly what is on one’s mind.”9 As a
young composer Britten was encouraged by Bridge to put himself in his music, so long as
the music truly reflected who he was. Bridge instructed Britten in instrumentation and
idiomatic writing, such that music should be suited for the instrument for which it is
being composed.10 Bridge opened Britten up to modernism in music composition, such as
the music of Schoenberg, and even introduced the two in February of 1933.11 Britten was
especially fond of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, as well as the paintings of Picasso and
Proust’s Swan’s Way.12
While attending Gresham’s School (a public high school) Britten collected a
reputation of being a brilliant musician, noted as both a skilled keyboardist and
composer.13 At Bridge’s encouragement, Britten applied for enrollment at the Royal
College of Music in 1930. Britten recalls his examination day, where he spent only a half
"7"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten,"3."
"8"Ibid.,"16.""
"9"Ibid.,"17."
10"Ibid.,"16."
11"Ibid.,"52."
12"Ibid.,!30."
13"Ibid.,"31."
5
an hour with John Ireland and Ralph Vaughn Williams, both of whom taught at the
school, and who awarded him the sole scholarship for the incoming class.14
ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC
Britten entered the Royal College of Music in 1930. He was recommended by his
teacher Bridge to study with Ireland, since Bridge wanted the young composer to study
with faculty who were still actively composing.15 Britten continued to meet and study
with Bridge, often seeking his counsel on new compositions up until Bridge’s death in
1941. Britten notes in his letters to his family that Ireland was “[sic] terribly critical and
enough to take the heart out of any one!”16 Throughout his time at the Royal College,
Britten writes in his diary of hearing and experiencing a great deal of new music (or new
to him) both at school and at public performances in London.17 While at the RCM
Britten’s compositional output consisted of assorted compositional exercises for Ireland
as well as compositions for various ensembles at the school. Vaughn Williams described
Britten’s exam in July of 1931 as “very cleaver but beastly.”18 Britten had a few early
works published by Oxford University Press (OUP) while at school, and various groups
in and around London performed his music. Britten was the recipient of the Cobbett Prize
in 1932, an annual chamber music composition competition established by amateur
violinist and businessman Walter Cobbett. Bridge took second prize in 1905, the first
year of the competition. Britten also received an encouragement award from the
14"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten,!33.!
15"Ibid.,"36."
16"Ibid.,!36."
17"Ibid.,"38."
18"Ibid.,"40."
6
Mendelssohn Scholarship committee “so as not to discourage me in composing!!!!!!”19
By February of 1933 the BBC scheduled a broadcast of the young composer’s Phantasy
string quartet. Staff musician Victor Heely-Hutchinson sent an internal memo in June of
1933 declaring the twenty-year-old composer “…the most interesting new arrival since
Walton…”20
AFTER THE ROYAL COLLEGE
Britten finished his education at the Royal College of Music in the fall of 1933.
He was encouraged by Bridge to travel abroad and “experience a different musical
climate.”21 Britten had wanted to study with Alban Berg in Austria, whose opera Wozzeck
he was quite fond of. However, Britten’s parents objected, supposedly on the grounds of
Berg being a serial composer.22 Britten then decided to travel to Italy, and set out in
March of 1934. The annual festival of the International Society of Contemporary Music
was taking place in Florence that year, and Britten made arrangements to attend. At the
festival Britten was introduced to Hermann Scherchen, newly named director of the
Zurich Radio Orchestra, who was also interested in conducting Britten’s Sinfonietta.23
Britten was also introduced to Hermann’s son, Wolfgang, or Wulff as he was known.
Britten was immediately attracted to Wulff as someone who was “a marvelous
companion…full of fun…always had to play word games.”24 Though Britten would leave
19"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten,!43."
20"Ibid.,"49."
21"Ibid.,"52."
22"Ibid.,"53."
23"Ibid.,!55."
24"Ibid.,!55."
7
his company relatively quickly, his friendship with Wulff would continue for quite some
time.
Britten’s father passed away while Britten was still traveling in Italy. Britten
received a telegram from home saying his father was ill and to come home straightaway,
but the telegram from his mother was actually written after his father had already died.25
Britten left immediately for home and was inspired by his mother’s strength through this
difficult time. “Mum is being marvelously brave,” he would write in his diary after
returning home to his family.26 Britten’s father had left money for Mrs. Britten to live
comfortably, but there was little for the children. The older three siblings were already
self-sufficient, but Britten was just out of school and knew that he would need to find a
job if he also wanted to be independent. Britten went about revising Hymn to the Virgin
for Oxford University Press for publication and arranging performances of other works in
London. When OUP passed on publishing Sinfonietta in May of 1934, Britten
approached Boosey & Hawkes, who did not agree to take up the piece until after the BBC
broadcast of the work in June. In addition to Sinfonietta, Boosey & Hawkes also
published two part-songs (Friday Afternoons) and commissioned a work for piano which
eventually became Holiday Tales, a work Britten describes as an “impression of a boy’s
seaside holiday, in pre-war days,” that being pre-WWI, about 1914.27 Towards the end of
1934 Britten decided to leave OUP entirely, as they were not keen on publishing any
25"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten,"56."
26"Ibid.,"57."
27"Ibid.,"60."
8
work they did not perceive as being commercial. It was this decision that pushed Britten
went to sign with Boosey & Hawkes.28
Britten was soon able to finish his travels around continental Europe and took his
mother with him in the fall of 1934 as he visited Basle, Switzerland, where he met
conductor Felix Weingartner and took in several opera performances. They continued on
to Salzburg then on to Vienna. There were no performances in Salzburg during their brief
time in the city, but Vienna had a plethora of opportunities and inspirations for Britten.
Though feeling ill with flu one particular day, Britten forced himself out of bed to attend
a performance of Die Meistersinger, upon which afterward Mrs. Britten remarked, “It
cured him.”29
Upon his return to England in the winter of 1935, Britten still recognized that
regular employment was a necessity, and after his exposure to the musical climate of
Europe, he was not excited at the prospects of working in London. The BBC had Britten
under consideration for employment as a resident composer. However, Britten was not
impressed by the conductors there and was hesitant to accept a position at the BBC, even
though he was uncertain where he could find other employment in town. In April of 1935
Britten was told to get in touch with M. Cavalcanti, filmmaker with the General Post
Office’s Film Unit. Britten was to be considered to compose music for an upcoming film
for the forthcoming Silver Jubilee Stamp for King George V. After completing the music
for this project, Britten was hired to compose for other movies with the G.P.O. Film Unit,
which kept him busy writing, recording, and watching movies all over town for
28"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten,!63."
29"Ibid.,"62."
9
inspiration. It was while working for the G.P.O. Film Unit that Britten was introduced to
the poet Wystan Hugh Auden. They would become friends, and Britten would set several
of Auden’s texts to music. Britten first set a verse of Auden’s for women’s chorus in the
film Coal Face, to which Auden described Britten’s work as having “extraordinary
musical sensitivity in relation to the English language without undue distortion.”30 Over
the next few years Britten would compose music of his own devices, write for more film
projects, and even compose incidental music for theater plays. Though Auden had left the
G.P.O. Film Unit, he continued to collaborate with Britten, showing him material that he
thought Britten would find challenging and worthy of his compositional talent.
On the morning of January 31, 1937, Edith Britten passed away, suffering a heart
attack in her sleep. Britten describes his love for the “most wonderful mother a person
could have,” and hope that she knew he felt that way.31 It took some time for Britten to
get over the loss of his mother, but at the same time there was a change in the twenty-four
year old composer. His friend Basil Reeve notes that after the loss of his mother,
Britten’s personal life started.32 It was shortly after his mother’s death that Britten would
meet his life-partner, Peter Pears, and experience events that would eventually push him
to leave England for a trip to America.
AMERICA
Britten’s journey to America in 1939 was the result of converging events in his
professional career, personal life, and the world around him. Britten was aware of the
opportunities that might come with traveling to America. In 1923, his teacher Bridge
30"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten,!68."
31"Ibid.,"94."
32"Ibid.,"97."
10
made the first of what would be many trips “across the pond.” Bridge was welcomed and
praised by both the musical community and audiences during these trips, to which Britten
writes in his diary of his disappointment that a British composer of such high regard as
Bridge must go to America to find such success.33 Pears, a new friend of Britten’s in
1937, was setting off to tour America shortly after they first met. Britten wrote to him
saying “I envy you a lot going all over America – it would be good fun to go – In fact I
must go myself before long.”34 In January of 1939 Auden left for his own tour of
America. According to Carpenter, it is not apparent that Britten had any established plans
to go to America until Auden left, however, after Auden’s departure Britten and Pears
made their own travel arrangements to depart from England only a few months later.35
Britten’s professional career began to receive a lukewarm reception from the
music critics by late 1937. The Musical Times of November 1937 described Variations
on a Theme of Frank Bridge as “not as original as the effects.”36 The Musical Times went
on to describe a piano concerto of Britten’s in September of 1938 as “having a cleverness
that got the better of him.”37 The Observer described Britten’s music at the time as “not
as good as his earlier works,” and he would “never be a big composer because he [has]
not quite enough character.” 38 The Observer looked back to Britten’s Sinfonietta and A
Boy was Born as works that showed great promise, but one that was not delivered upon
33"Benjamin"Britten,"Letters!from!a!Life:!The!Selected!Letters!and!Diaries!of!Benjamin!Britten!1913@
1976,"ed."by"Donald"Mitchell,"Vol."1"(Berkeley,"CA:"University"of"California"Press,"1991),"520."
34"Britten,"Letters!from!a!Life,"518."
35"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten,"128."
36"Michael"Kennedy,"The!Master!Musician!Series:!Britten,"ed"by"Stanley"Sadie"(Guilford,"Surrey:"J.M."
Dent"&"Sons"Ltd,"1981),"28."
37"Kennedy,"The!Master!Musician!Series:!Britten,"28."
38"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten!A!Biography,"125."
11
by Britten’s latest efforts. These reviews weighed on Britten, and he looked now to
America as a chance to be appreciated and to experiment further with his music.
Upon returning from his own American tours, Pears reunited with Britten. The
two men worked together to sort the papers of a mutual friend, Peter Burra, who died in
an air crash in April 1937, “And that was that” Pears is quoted as saying.39 The two men
became immediate friends, both recognizing the talents of the other. The two made plans
to live together, though it took some time after the initial plan for that to come to fruition.
The two men were observed by those in their social circles as great friends, but not as a
couple, and it made sense to their friends that Britten and Pears would travel to America
together when the time came.
Further proof of the strong friendship between the two men comes from Britten’s
letters, which give light to relationships with several suitors during this time. Britten’s
writing about Pears, while affectionate, is not a departure from his written affection for
his other friends. One such potential romantic relationship during this time was with
Wulff Scherchen. By the time Britten had decided to go to America in the spring of 1939,
the two decided a “cooling off” was in order.40 Biographer Henry Carpenter gives this
motive as one of Britten’s strongest reasons to go to America.41 Britten’s relationship
woes would come to an end in America, however. Pears documents in his personal diary
a change in his relationship with Britten over the few months leading up to their trip, and
writes with great fondness the pair’s stay in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in June of 1939,
39"Kennedy,"The!Master!Musician!Series:!Britten,"28."
40"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten!A!Biography,"128."
41"Ibid.,"128."
12
where Pears considers their relationship to have been consummated.42 Britten, with his
many reasons to come to America, resolved his relationship and intimacy issues within
the first few months of the journey. Pears would go on to be Britten’s lifelong companion
and partner. Britten composed several songs and opera roles for Pears, and after Britten’s
death Pears was instrumental in having Britten’s music and legacy preserved, working
with publishers, biographers, and various performing organizations to extend Britten’s
legacy.
The threatening global conflict that would become World War II was another
factor in Britten’s decision to come to America. Britten and Pears were pacifists, and
though war for England was not altogether certain by the spring of 1939, their pacifism
was a motivation to make the journey.43 Bridge was also a pacifist, and did discuss such
things with Britten when he was still at RCM, though Britten describes Bridge’s pacifism
as “not aggressive, but typically gentle.”44 Britten found hope in the Munich Peace
Agreement of 1938, but was again given cause for concern by the German aggression
throughout Eastern Europe in the spring of 1939. Though these events weighed heavily
on him, he took comfort in his plan to leave England for America.45 As he journeyed to
across the Atlantic he wrote his new friend Aaron Copland to exclaim “a thousand
reasons – mostly ‘problems’ – have brought me away.”46 In the coming months and years,
Britten composed new and interesting music, including Ad majorem Dei gloriam
(A.M.D.G.).
42"Carpenter,"Benjamin!Britten,"130."
43"Ibid.,"128."
44"Ibid.,"41."
45"Britten,"Letters!from!a!Life,!615."
46"Ibid.,"634."
13
A.M.D.G.
After arriving in Canada in the spring of 1939, Britten eventually made his way to
New York City by way of Michigan. Stopping in New York City in late June, he was
present for a New York Philharmonic outdoor concert in which his Variations on a
Theme of Frank Bridge was performed. Britten took two curtain calls at the performance;
a stark difference from the piece’s reception by the London music critics. Britten and
Pears soon traveled to upstate New York at the invitation of Copland, and rented a studio
in Woodstock. It was here that Britten would begin to compose A.M.D.G.
Britten was a connoisseur of great poetry, and the works of Gerard Manley
Hopkins, with its sprung-rhythm text and refined use of imagery, appealed to him during
this time. Hopkins was also a pacifist and someone who struggled with faith, converting
to Catholicism and becoming a Jesuit priest. Pears wrote very early after meeting Britten:
“…I am not sure he [Britten] would really have called himself a Christian.” Given the
amount of religious (and specifically Christian-themed) music Britten composed, it is fair
to say he was religious to some degree. His struggle with faith, to understand why there
was evil in the world, and the need for men to fight wars were common threads in his life,
that were echoed in Hopkins’ poetry. This connection to Hopkins was a natural impetus
for Britten to set Hopkins’ poetry to music.
At first it seems Britten was pleased enough with A.M.D.G. to tell his publisher he
was setting the Hopkins text for four voices for an upcoming concert of Peter Pears and
the Round Table Singers.47 Pears had put this group together before leaving England, and
had a performance with the ensemble planned in November of 1939 at which A.M.D.G.
47"Britten,"Letters!from!a!Life,"692."
14
was to be premiered.48 Due to Britain declaring war in September of 1939, Pears did not
journey back to England for that concert. Pears did create fair-use copies of four of the
seven movements to be sung by a group of American vocalists. It is not known if these
movements were ever performed publically, but there is evidence that there was at least a
sing-through of “Prayer I,” “Rosa Mystica,” “O Deus, ego amo te,” and “HeavenHaven.”49 Britten moved on to other pieces and gradually stopped working on A.M.D.G.
The manuscripts were well marked by Britten, but no final copy was produced or sent to
his publisher Boosey & Hawkes. The work remained in manuscript form for almost fifty
years.
THE LOSS OF THE MANUSCRIPTS
The same war that influenced Britten to leave England became the cause of
separation of Britten from the A.M.D.G. manuscript. Ready to return to England, Britten
and Pears finally boarded a ship headed to England in March of 1942. Britten was forced
to leave his manuscripts at customs. “Censors took it,” he says in a letter the Mayer
family, friends of both Britten and Pears who resided in New York.50 Britten asked the
Mayer family to retrieve his music once customs cleared it, at which time Britten would
request certain scores be sent immediately to him. Britten did request that Elizabeth
Mayer send only a select few pieces by airmail, while sending carbon copies by ship, and
making photo static copies, just in case, for her to keep as backups.51 Britten did not
request A.M.D.G. to be sent to him, and the Mayer family held onto the rest of the
48"Britten,"Letters!from!a!Life,"694."
49"Ibid.,"694."
50"Ibid.,"1026."
51"Ibid.,"1027."
15
manuscripts, including A.M.D.G., until Britten’s death in 1976, when they became the
property of the British Museum.52 The British Museum has since permanently loaned the
scores to the Britten-Pears Foundation. Faber Music published the work in 1989.
LEAVING AMERICA
Scholars point to Britten’s years in America as a time when he refined his style,
got past his “mental blocks,” and was then able to compose some of his greatest works.
Britten was genuinely excited to work on different projects in America, including his
operetta Paul Bunyan, a clarinet concerto for Benny Goodman (unfinished,)53 and his
initial plan to go to Hollywood and compose for the film Knights of the Round Table, a
notion influenced by his friend Copland.54 All of these opportunities were vastly different
from ones he would have had in London. In Britten’s “American” music is heard the
influences of his time spent with Copland and his study of the works of Ives and Barber.
After leaving America Britten’s compositional fire was relit, and he dove back
into composing in the forms and mediums that he had seemingly left behind in England.
Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia and Ceremony of Carols were composed on the boat trip
back from America. Pears notes that Britten needed something to occupy himself on the
journey, so he composed without the aid of a piano while trying to ignore the loud goings
on of other passengers in the hallways.55 Britten had already started Hymn in America,
but the manuscript was part of the collection of papers left behind, so Britten recreated
what he could remember and finished the piece during the voyage. Upon returning to
52"Marcades,"“Benjamin"Britten’s"Ad"majorem"Dei"gloriam"(A.M.D.G),”"35."
53"David"Matthews,"Britten!(London:"Haus,"2003),"66."
54"Alex"Ross,"The!rest!is!noise:!listening!to!the!twentieth!century"(New"York:"Farrar,"Straus"and"Giroux,"
2007),!419."
55"Britten,"Letters!from!a!Life,"1026."
16
England in 1942, Britten declared himself a “conscientious objector,” and thus was not
required to fight in the war.56 After his return to England Britten composed his opera
Peter Grimes and the choral works Rejoice in the Lamb and Festival Te Deum, all of
which are among his most celebrated works. That these works were composed shortly
after Britten’s trip to America show the importance of the journey for him and the
rejuvenation he experienced on the trip.
56"Britten,"Letters!from!a!Life,"1058."
17
CHAPTER III
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS: BIOGRAPHY AND RELATION TO BRITTEN
THE EARLY YEARS
Gerard Manley Hopkins, a celebrated English poet of the Victorian Era, was born
in Stratford, Essex, on July 28, 1844. The Hopkins family was fairly well off, thanks to
the father, Manley Hopkins, who worked in marine insurance in London and served as
the London based Consul-General for the independent Kingdom of Hawaii.57 Like Britten,
Hopkins’s father provided for the family while Hopkins’s mother Catherine looked after
the home and family, which included nine children. Catherine was well versed in music
and poetry, and spoke and read in German. The Hopkins household embraced poetry and
literature, much like the Britten home encouraged music. Manley Hopkins was a
published author of poetry, the poetry critic for The Times, and published two books
related to marine insurance and mathematics.58 Of the nine children, all but Hopkins’s
brother Cyril sought a career in the arts. Cyril followed his father into marine insurance.
Hopkins excelled in writing during his schooling. At the Highgate School in
Hampstead Hopkins earned high marks in the classically based curriculum and was
awarded several prize books and the Gold medal for Latin verse in 1862.59 Despite his
academic successes, Hopkins was often the target of discipline by the headmaster, Dr.
John Bradley Dyne. Hopkins left Highgate in 1863 to begin his studies at Balliol College,
Oxford.
57"Bernard"Bergonzi,"Gerard!Manley!Hopkins,"(New"York,"New"York:"MacMillan"Publishing"Co.,"Inc.,"
1977),"1."
58"Ibid.,"1."
59"Ibid.,"4."
18
Hopkins attended Balliol College from 1863-67, enrolling in the classics
curriculum. It was here that Hopkins met and befriended Robert Bridges, who would go
on to become poet laureate of England and the vehicle by which Hopkins’ poetry became
known after his death. At the time Balliol College was regarded as a school for advanced
thought and was a place where young minds often encountered religious controversy.60
As a college student Hopkins faced questions of self identity, the two most prominent
being his faith and his romantic life. Hopkins grew up in a High Anglican household, his
father was described as “conventionally religious…and even a Sunday-school teacher.”61
Romantically, Hopkins did not involve himself with anyone, and did not feel his desires
needed to be fulfilled by an intimate relationship with another person. As Hopkins
contemplated his place in society, his faith, his vocation, and his personal desires, he
decided that he would convert to Catholicism, thinking that the priesthood would be a
place to exercise his faith, find his place in God’s world, and allow him to do away with
worldly desires, whatever they may be. This decision estranged Hopkins from his family
and friends but left him with a renewed sense of self when he was accepted into the
church in October of 1866. After his conversion, Hopkins collected all of his writings up
until that point and burned them, pledging to write only if “deemed necessary to the cause
of Christ.”62 Only copies of these poems that were sent to Bridges for critique survive.
60"Graham"Storey,"A!Preface!to!Hopkins,"2nd"Ed,"(United"Kingdom:"Longman"Group,"1992),"17."
61"Bergonzi,"Gerard!Manley!Hopkins,"1."
62"Norman"Mackenzie,"A!Reader’s!Guide!to!Gerard!Manley!Hopkins,"(Ithaca,"New"York:"Cornell"
University"Press,"1981),"14."
19
THE JESUIT ORDER
Hopkins entered the Jesuit order at the age of twenty-four in 1868 and was
ordained in 1877. During this time of preparation for the priesthood, Hopkins underwent
the typical pattern of education and teaching experienced by those preparing to be
ordained.63 Hopkins was instructed at St. Mary’s Hall from 1870-74 before going to St.
Beuno’s College in North Wales from 1874-77. It was at St. Beuno’s in 1875 that
Hopkins’ Rector asked him to write a poem remembering those lost on the SS
Deutschland, a steamboat carrying passengers from Germany, including five nuns and
sixty exiles who were escaping the anti-Catholic laws recently passed.64 The Wreck of
Deutschland was the result, and Hopkins was so pleased with it he sent a copy of the
poem to his friend Bridges for possible publication. The two had continued to correspond
since their college days, and they sent each other their own poetry for comments.65 The
Wreck of Deutschland was not published, which had a profound effect on Hopkins.66
Despite his disappointment Hopkins continued to write poetry, with no expectations that
it would go much further than the cloistered walls in which he lived.
The Wreck of Deutschland used a device of “sprung rhythm;” the first syllable,
stressed, is followed by variable number of unstressed syllables. Hopkins is noted as
claiming to have named this poetic phenomenon, which he found in the poetry of
Shakespeare, Milton, and Langland. This device also occurs in the poems that make up
Ad majorem Dei Gloriam (A.M.D.G.). Britten, noted for his ability to set English text,
was no doubt attracted to the devices present in the poetry, and made some interesting
63"Bergonzi,"Gerard!Manley!Hopkins,"61."
64"Ibid.,"81."
65"Ibid.,"79."
66"Ibid.,"84."
20
choices in his setting. Most notable is Britten’s division of the written line in “Prayer II,”
which is discussed later in this document.
THE PRIESTHOOD
After being ordained in September of 1877 Hopkins spent the next several years
moving to different posts throughout the Jesuit order. This was common in the order as a
“Jesuit must always be ready to move at a moment’s notice wherever his superiors
thought he could be most useful.”67 Finally Hopkins was posted to University College
Dublin in 1884, where he taught Greek and Latin. This post was not to Hopkins’ liking,
as the college was suffering from years of neglect and contention between the English
Government and the Irish bishops.68 Hopkins had gone two years without writing any
poetry, but found his voice once more in 1885. He wrote to Bridges exclaiming, “…if
ever anything was written in blood one of these was.”69 These sonnets, known as the
“Terrible Sonnets,” are described as having strained and stressed language, and for
“facing despair without ever succumbing to it.”70 Hopkins was engaged in teaching,
writing, and pursuing other areas of interest until his death in 1889. After his death,
Bridges collected the manuscripts of poetry that Hopkins had sent him over the years and
had them published in various books of collected verse: The Poets and Poetry of the
Century (1893), Lyra Sacra (1895), and A Book of Christmas Verse (1895).71 These
publications paved the way to more of Hopkins’ work finding its way to print. When
Bridges became Poet Laureate he edited a few of Hopkins’ poems for The Spirit of Man
67"Bergonzi,"Gerard!Manley!Hopkins,"91."
68"Ibid.,"125."
69"Ibid.,"132."
70"Ibid.,"133."
71"Ibid.,"155."
21
(1917), and then put together a single volume of Hopkins’ poetry, Poems (1918).
Hopkins had always counseled Bridges, and other poets he read for, to seek fame for
themselves, even though he never sought that for himself.72 Bridges helped to give to
Hopkins that which he would never have sought on his own.
WITH CONSIDERATION TO BRITTEN
The parallels between Hopkins and Britten are noteworthy and create an
interesting foundation in which to consider A.M.D.G. Hopkins went into the priesthood at
the age of 24, leaving behind a faith that he did not feel fully embodied who he was and
wanting to find his place to serve God in the world. Britten, at age 25, left for America to
escape a war he objected to fighting, and looking for his place in the musical world.
Hopkins left all questions of intimate personal relationships behind to enter the cloister.
Britten left behind a failed relationship with Wulff, not knowing what the future had in
store for him romantically. Hopkins began two of the seven poems of A.M.D.G. before
entering the priesthood. They survived his bonfire thanks to the copies he had sent to
Bridges. Both of these, “Heaven-Haven,” and “To Jesus living in Mary” (“Prayer I”)
reflect some of the struggle Hopkins was feeling before making the decision to convert.
With the seven poems of A.M.D.G. Britten selected an interesting cross-section of poetry
to set to music in the summer of 1939. Finally, Hopkins’ poetry was not known to the
world until after his death, thanks to efforts of his friend Bridges. A.M.D.G. exists today
because of Pears’ effort in the 1980’s to have it performed and broadcast after Britten’s
death. Britten draws upon Hopkins’ text for his musical setting, relating to the poet’s
72"Bergonzi,"Gerard!Manley!Hopkins,"156."
22
ideas, allusions, and metaphors in his word painting, his musical motives and vocal
textures. Just as we hear Britten relate to Christopher Smart in Rejoice in the Lamb, or
Wilfred Owen in War Requiem, Britten finds kinship with Hopkins, almost fifty years
after the poetry was written. The world would not get to experience A.M.D.G. for yet
another fifty years after Britten set pencil to paper.
23
CHAPTER IV
AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM
Ad majorem Dei gloriam (A.M.D.G.) was composed in upstate New York in
August of 1939. Britten kept the manuscript pages for the work in a single folio, which
was left at customs in New York in March of 1942, as previously described. The folio
was returned to England after Britten’s death in 1976 as his estate was settled, and the
documents became the property of the British Museum. The folio is currently on
permanent loan from the British Museum to the Britten-Pears Foundation. The A.M.D.G.
folio contains a title page listing seven pieces, along with a handwritten copy of each
piece: “Prayer I,” “Rosa Mystica,” “God’s Grandeur,” “Prayer II,” “O Deus, ego amo te,”
“The Soldier,” and “Heaven-Haven.” Fair-use copies of “Prayer I,” “Rosa Mystica,” “O
Deus, ego amo te,” and “Heaven-Haven” were created for a sing-through in America and
are also included in the folio. The title page shows the “The Soldier” as being crossed
through, supposedly by Britten. The sketches for both “The Soldier” and “Prayer I” are
crossed through, again, supposedly by Britten. From these papers Faber Music published
the first commercially available score in 1989. The manuscripts for A.M.D.G. show it was
originally given the number op. 17, however, in 1976, Britten re-assigned op. 17 to his
operetta Paul Bunyan.73 In his last years Britten worked to get his affairs in order, making
sure his canon of music reflected his wishes for cataloguing, and the re-assignment of op.
17 was a part of that process.
73"Britten,"Letters!from!a!Life,"677."
24
PREMIERE OF THE WITHDRAWN WORK
A.M.D.G. received its first performance on June 10, 1984 at the Aldeburgh
Festival. It was performed by the BBC Northern Singers and included only the four
movements that Pears copied back in 1939: “Prayer I,” “Rosa Mystica,” “O Deus, ego
amo te,” and “Heaven-haven.”74 The London Sinfonietta Voices premiered the entire
work on August 21, 1984 at the Purcell Room in London.75 A broadcast of the BBC
Northern Singers performing the four movements occurred on May 20, 1985.76 The
London Sinfonietta Voices performance of all seven movements was broadcast on July
14, 1986.77 The London Sinfonietta Voices released the first commercially available
recording of A.M.D.G. in 1988. After the release of the London Sinfonietta Voices
recording Faber Music finally published the manuscript in 1989.
74"Colin"Matthews,"Preface,"A.M.D.G.,"Benjamin"Britten"(London:"Faber"Music"Ltd.,"1989)."
75"Ibid."
76"Lloyd"Moore,"“A.M.D.G.”,"BrittenWPears"Foudation,"
http://www.brittenpears.org/cataloguesearchresult.php?id=107"(accessed"July"8,"2011)."
77"Ibid.!
25
CHAPTER V
MOTIVIC ANALYSIS AND REHEARSAL GUIDE
This document approaches each of the seven pieces of Ad majorem Dei gloriam
(A.M.D.G.) through motivic analysis. This style of analysis is often applied to Britten’s
music, as seen in Philip Rupprecht’s Britten’s Musical Language, which discusses the use
of motives in Britten’s music and provides detailed insight of motives in Britten’s opera
“Billy Budd.” Britten’s use of motives is also frequently mentioned in The Cambridge
Companion to Benjamin Britten. The motivic analysis in this document will give
attention to the melodic, harmonic, intervallic, and phrasal motives found in the
individual pieces of A.M.D.G. These motives will be used to establish form, style, and the
compositional techniques Britten used to create these seven pieces.
The analysis will begin with the Hopkins poem Britten has set. Each analysis will
contain notated figures of examples from the A.M.D.G. score, so that the referenced
material is immediately available. The pieces are ordered as they were ordered on the title
page of the original folio.
Following the analysis of each movement, warm-ups and rehearsal exercises will
be offered to aid conductors and ensembles in the preparation of that movement. These
exercises will vary in their use of vocal textures, solfége versus neutral syllables and in
their level of difficulty. A.M.D.G. is not an easy work and is often listed for performance
by advanced ensembles. Some of these exercises will assume the advanced nature of the
performing ensemble selected to attempt A.M.D.G. Britten reused several vocal textures
and revisits some intervallic content in various pieces in A.M.D.G., some of these
exercises will be useful in the preparation of other movements, if being excerpted.
26
However, if the work is being performed as a whole, the warm-ups will mutually aid each
other in concert preparation.
27
Prayer I
Jesu that dost in Mary dwell,
Be in thy servants’ hearts as well,
In the spirit of thy holiness,
In the fullness of the force and stress,
In the very ways that thy life goes,
And virtues that thy pattern shows,
In the sharing of thy mysteries;
And every power in us that is
Against thy power put under feet
In the Holy Ghost of the Paraclete
To the glory of the Father. Amen
ANALYSIS
“Prayer I” was completed at Woodstock on August 11, 1939,78 and is the first
piece listed on the cover page of the A.M.D.G. folio. The poem is a translation by
Hopkins of a Latin prayer written by Fr. Charles de Condren.79 Though modestly short,
only twenty-two measures long, this piece contains some very effective text painting,
primarily through motivic devices. The movement begins with the melody in the soprano
voice, eventually moving to the tenor at measure 13, while the other three voices sing
homorhythmic chords against the melody. The three main motives are presented quickly
in the soprano line within the first four measures:
1. Descending perfect fourth
2. Descending tritone
3. Ascending scale
Each of these motives paints the accompanying text, such as the descending
perfect fourth that occurs on the text “Jesu that dost.” As will be seen in other examples
78"Benjamin"Britten,"A.M.D.G."(London:"Faber"Music"Ltd,"1989),"4."
79"Marcades,"“Benjamin"Britten’s"Ad"majorem"Dei"gloriam"(A.M.D.G.),”"110."
28
in A.M.D.G., Britten assigned consonant intervals, such as the perfect fourth, to represent
God, Christ (Jesu), the Holy Spirit, or other holy or spiritual concepts.
Figure 1-1: “Prayer I” mm. 1-4, soprano line
The tritone that follows comes on the text “Mary dwell,” and seems to highlight the holy
mystery of the immaculate conception of Christ within her. The ascending scale motive
falls on the text “Be in thy servants hearts as well.” This invitation by the supplicant is a
reference to the Holy Ghost, a connection confirmed by Britten later in this piece. The
scale is a Mixolydian mode that starts on A. The mode of this figure is not motivic, as
Britten will use this scalar idea again in this piece, but in different modal settings.
These motives are repeated in the tenor voice in measures 12-17, where the first
two motives are not used as word-painting devices, but make the formal connection back
to the original soprano melody. The third motive returns on the text “Holy Ghost”,
making its earlier reference clearer. It is sung first by the tenor on an Aeolian scale on Gsharp, followed by the bass on an Ionian (or E major) scale, then in duet by the soprano
and alto. The soprano scale is an Aeolian mode set on G-sharp, the alto line is a modified
Ionian with a raised second scale degree (F-double sharp) sounding a third below the
soprano.
29
Figure 1-2: “Prayer I” mm. 16-17
“Prayer I” uses an A A! coda form; A measures 1-11, A! measures 12-18, and
coda measures 19-22. The initial motives repeating at measure 12 are a clear indication of
the return of A, but it is the repetition of the material at a higher pitch level at measures
13-14 that makes the section an A!. The coda at the end of the piece is signaled by an
immediate shift to a unison vocal texture on the shortened doxology “To the glory of the
Father.” The following “Amen” introduces a third vocal texture for the piece, bringing all
voices together homorhymically in an unusual cadence of F7 to D.
PREPARATION
In preparing this movement, attention should be drawn to the motivic material in
the soprano and tenor. The use of the descending perfect fourth and tritone can be
addressed in a fairly straightforward warm-up.
30
Fourths: Have the ensemble sing ascending fourths in D major, using solfége, at 74 bpm
(Fourths in Major). Instruct the ensemble to then sing down to the relative minor, using
the same pattern in B minor (Fourths in Minor). Pair the ensemble soprano/alto and
tenor/bass, having one voice in each pair singing in Major, and the other in Minor. Vary
the voice pairings soprano/bass and tenor/alto when you repeat the exercise.
Figure 1-3: Fourths exercise
The ascending scalar motive offers the challenge of singing scales in Mixolydian,
Aeolian, and Ionian (or major) modes. Since the previous warm-up was constructed in
the major mode, this next exercise will focus on the Mixolydian and Aeolian modes, to
help prepare for the scalar motive in “Prayer I.”
31
Modal Scales: Have the ensemble sing the following scales, using either solfége or a
neutral syllable, at 74 bpm. Repeat the scales varying the rhythm (possibly matching the
rhythm found in measures 16-17), dynamics, and switch to a neutral syllable or sustained
vowel sound once the pitches are comfortable.
Figure 1-4: Modal Scales Exercise
A final preparation issue is navigating the harmonic language Britten used in this
movement. On their own the triads as written are easy to sing, but when put together in a
harmonic sequence, hearing each chord as it comes may cause intonation problems.
Triadic progressions: Have the ensemble sing the following exercise on a neutral syllable,
recognizing the high G-flat for the sopranos, and the low F for the basses. Sing at 60 bpm
to start, repeat using different tempi, and adding dynamic changes, and articulations. Play
the chord at the start of measure 7 during the preceding half rest. This exercise utilizes
32
the harmonic progression from the opening measures of “Prayer I,” and the second
progression series from “O Deus.”
Figure 1-4: Triadic Progressions Exercise
33
Rosa Mystica
(Britten uses verses 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8 in this setting)
'The Rose in a mystery' - where is it found?
Is it anything true? Does it grow upon ground?
It was made of earth's mould, but it went from men's eyes
And its place is a secret, and shut in the skies.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
Find me a place by thee, Mother of mine.
But where was it formerly? Which is the spot
That was blest in it once, though now it is not?
It is Galilee's growth; it grew at God's will
And broke into bloom upon Nazareth Hill.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
I shall look on thy loveliness, Mother of mine.
What was its season, then? How long ago?
When was the summer that saw the Bud blow?
Two thousands of years are near upon past
Since its birth, and its bloom, and its breathing its last.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
I shall keep time with thee, Mother of mine.
Tell me the name now, tell me its name:
The heart guesses easily, is it the same?
Mary, the Virgin, well the heart knows,
She is the Mystery, she is that Rose.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
I shall come home to thee, Mother of mine.
Is Mary that Rose, then? Mary, the Tree?
But the Blossom, the Blossom there, who can it be?
Who can her Rose be? It could be but One:
Christ Jesus, our Lord - her God and her Son.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
Shew me thy Son, Mother, Mother of mine.
What was the colour of that Blossom bright?
White to begin with, immaculate white.
But what a wild flush on the flakes of it stood,
When the Rose ran in crimsonings down the Cross-wood!
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
I shall worship the Wounds with thee, Mother of mine.
34
How many leaves had it? Five they were then,
Five like the senses, and members of men;
Five is the number by nature, but now
They multiply, multiply, who can tell how.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
Make me a leaf in thee, Mother of mine.
Does it smell sweet, too, in that holy place?
Sweet unto God, and the sweetness is grace;
The breath of it bathes the great heaven above,
In grace that is charity, grace that is love.
To thy breast, to thy rest, to thy glory divine
Draw me by charity, Mother of mine.
ANALYSIS
“Rosa Mystica" was completed in Woodstock, NY, on August 11, 1939.80 This is
one of the four prayers of Hopkins that Britten included in A.M.D.G. This piece is also
the longest of the seven pieces of A.M.D.G., and takes some creative liberty with Hopkins’
text. Britten set the refrain of Hopkins’ verses as an ostinato motive, which is introduced
at the beginning of the piece, before the first verse of text is sung. By introducing the
refrain first, Britten created a Baroque ritornello quality to “Rosa Mystica.” The ostinato
is placed on the pitch “A,” which serves as a tonal anchor, and becomes a driving force
for this piece, set at Allegro – alla valse.
80"Britten,"A.M.D.G.,"19."
35
Figure 2-1: “Rosa Mystica” mm. 1-4
After the introduction of the ostinato in the bass and tenor, the first two verses of the
poem are sung by the soprano and alto voices in paired thirds. These paired voices make
for some interesting dissonances against the lower ostinato A. Note the first half-note
sounding G, B-flat in measure 10, surrounding the A.
Figure 2-2: “Rosa Mystica” mm. 9-14
Through this point in “Rosa Mystica” there has been no clear A major or minor triad
sounded. The minor third of A and C does occur at the end of the second and fourth
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phrases, measures 18 and 28, but it is not completely conclusive that Britten intended
either A major or minor. The alto and soprano lines in measures 17 and 23 extend this
ambiguity; the stepwise motion from F4 to A4 in the alto along with the B-flat in the
soprano line gives more weight to an F major harmonic motion than that of A minor.
Figure 2-3: “Rosa Mystica” mm. 18-28
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Though Britten omitted the third verse of Hopkins’ poem, he did use the last line of that
verse’s refrain to create an opportunity to pass off the ostinato from the bass and tenor to
the soprano and alto.
Figure 2-4: “Rosa Mystica” mm. 56-65
With the soprano and alto now providing the ostinato, the bass and tenor begin to sing the
fourth verse of Hopkins’ poem. After the tenor and bass sing the second line of text the
38
ostinato moves to the alto and tenor, accented with a cresc. to forte. With this change in
ostinato timbre, the soprano and bass voices change their presentation of the verse text,
singing not in paired thirds, but in inverted melodic lines.
Figure 2-5: “Rosa Mystica” mm. 82-89
Another contrast to the first two verses found at this moment is Britten’s use of the
refrain text in measures 80-94. While the fourth verse text is being sung, the ostinato
39
voices are still singing the refrain text from Hopkins’ third verse. It is only when the
soprano and bass finish the fourth verse text that the tenors continue on to the fourth
verse refrain text. Before now, Britten had set the final lines of the verse as the ostinato
being sung during that particular verse.
Figure 2-6: “Rosa Mystica” mm. 90-97
40
The next section shows an immediate change by moving to a homorhythmic
texture in Piú lento. The first true triad emerges - A major - sounding on the word “Rose,”
linking the refrain text to Mary, and thus Mary to A major. The triadic harmony is soon
left behind to move the voices back to paired thirds, soprano and alto against tenor and
bass, in measures 104, 108, and 124. Each time there appears to be an attempt to obscure
a direct transition from one chord to the next. In measure 104 the G3/B3 and F4/A4 move
the ear away from the previous sounding A major before it lowers to A-flat major. The
use of B-flat3/D4 and A-flat4/C5 work to obscure the move from A-flat major to C-flat
major in measure 108. The final transition from C-flat major back to octave sounding A
is interrupted by E3/G-sharp3 and D4/F-sharp4 at measure 124.
Figure 2-7: “Rosa Mystica” mm. 104-6
41
Figure 2-8: “Rosa Mystica” mm. 108-13
Figure 2-9: “Rosa Mystica” mm. 122-29
The ostinato motive returns to the tenor and bass voices in measure 135, creating a
recapitulation effect to the opening of the piece. This final section sets only one verse of
Hopkins’ text. At the beginning of Hopkins’ third line, verse eight, the bass and tenor
ostinato moves down the octave to begin a measure-by-measure ascent up the scale
toward A-flat.
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Figure 2-10: “Rosa Mystica” mm. 155-62
This A-flat is then resolved up a semitone to A-natural, upon which all four voices sing
the final ostinato, paired soprano/tenor and alto/bass.
Figure 2-11: “Rosa Mystica” mm. 167-72
43
The ostinato motive clearly defines the three major sections of this piece, with an
obvious B section where the ostinato is not sounding. The use of the ostinato figure
evokes a ritornello form as discussed earlier but does not act exactly as a Baroque
ritornello would. Britten does not make a clear definitive end to the refrains in this piece,
taking an old form and making it his own in “Rosa Mystica.”
Table 2-1: Form of “Rosa Mystica”
Form
Measures
A
mm.1-30
A!
mm. 28-55
A!!
mm. 56-99
B
mm. 100-34
A!!!
mm. 135-80
(includes two refrains)
PREPARATION
Britten’s use of paired voices at the interval of the third may be an overlooked
challenge of this piece, but this vocal texture occurs in other parts of A.M.D.G. The
following exercises will help to prepare the choir to hear and sing thirds, with the second
exercise reinforcing this concept against a pedal ostinato.
Thirds: Have the ensemble sing the following warm-up, in D major, using solfége, at 74
bpm (Thirds in Major). Instruct the ensemble to then sing down to the relative minor,
singing the same pattern in B minor (Thirds in Minor). Pair the ensemble soprano/alto
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and tenor/bass, having one voice in each pair singing in Major, and the other in Minor.
Vary the voice pairings SB/TA for another run through the combined exercise.
Figure 2-12: Thirds Exercise
Thirds against the pedal or ostinato: In tenor/bass, soprano/alto pairs, have the choir sing
in thirds on a neutral syllable, starting on A3/C4, A4/C5 respectively. Have the choir
ascend by semitone up a perfect fifth, then descend, again by semitone, back to the
starting pitches. Move at a tempo of 60 bpm, on the beat, instructing the singers to listen
to their voice pairs for tuning. Next, improvise an ostinato pattern on the pitch A. Have
one pair of voices sing the ostinato while the other continues the ascending third exercise.
For variation improvise different rhythmic patterns for ascending and descending lines,
adjust the tempo, and add different phrase shapes.
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Warm-up
Figure 2-13: Thirds and Ostinato exercise
Piano
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Pno.
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4
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4
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Kenneth Tice
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&
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!
!
?
!
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!
&
!
!
!
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!
!
!
&
!
!
!
?
!
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!
&
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!
!
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God’s Grandeur
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not wreck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell; the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs –
Because the Holy Ghost over bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
ANALYSIS
Written in Woodstock, NY, on August 18, 1939, “God’s Grandeur” is the second
longest of the seven pieces of A.M.D.G.81 Britten had set this text earlier in 1939 for four
voices and orchestra in The World of the Spirit. “God’s Grandeur” contains four distinct
motives that are developed throughout the piece, providing forward energy and drive
from start to finish. After considering the motivic devices at work, a clear structure to the
movement takes shape.
“God’s Grandeur” introduces two motives in the bass voice at the very beginning
of the piece, a similar technique to that found in “Prayer I.” The first motive consists of
four words, “The world is charged,” and three notes, creating a striking beginning to the
piece. The downward sixth, erupting into the ascending 10th, “charges” the piece from the
81"Britten,"A.M.D.G.,"34."
47
start. It is immediately followed by the second motive, the “Grandeur motive,” which is
immediately repeated by the basses, then imitated up a third by the tenors.
Figure 3-1: “God’s Grandeur” mm. 1-3
This three-note motive, paired with the text “with the grandeur of God,” creates
an interesting pairing of simple and profound. The three notes themselves could be a nod
toward the trinity of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Britten could also be taking the
complexity of God and the “grandeur” of the Almighty and simplifying it into something
as beautiful as three notes. However one chooses to interpret this, it does become a very
strong motive for the piece, as evident by its use throughout the movement and the fact
that all voices sing the motive in harmony at the end.
The third motive is chromatic, using short, semi-tone gestures to bring out the
coupled text. The first example is in measures 8-10.
Figure 3-2: “God’s Grandeur” Chromatic motive, mm. 8-10, soprano
The chromatic motive is developed further in measures 29-32 with new text, “Bleared,
Smeared,” creating some delightful word-painting of Hopkins’ poetry. This developed
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chromatic motive seems best paired with this new text, as evident by its further
development on these words throughout the rest of the piece.
Figure 3-3: “God’s Grandeur” Bleared/Smeared motive, mm. 29-32, tenor
The fourth motive uses a single pitch, repeated with staccato articulation. The first
incarnation of this motive comes in measures 16-21. It begins in the soprano and tenor,
and then shifts to the alto line.
Figure 3-4: “God’s Grandeur” mm. 15-17
Another variation of the chromatic motive comes in the form of a halfstep/accented motive, or the “Smudge” motive, first found in measures 38-41. This
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motive pairs an eighth-note with an accented dotted quarter note. The pitches are a halfstep apart in a leading tone fashion, creating the musical effect of a “smudge”.
Figure 3-5: “God’s Grandeur”, Smudge motive, mm. 38-41, tenor
This “Smudge” motive seems to serve as a fusion of the chromatic and the staccato
motives, and it is paired against these motives at various places in “God’s Grandeur.”
Like the chromatic motive, as well as the “charged” motive, this motive reappears
throughout the piece on different text. The “Grandeur” motive is the only motive to be
paired with one text.
As these motives are identified, a form for the 124 measures of “Gods’ Grandeur”
starts to become clear. This form suggests a rondo, though Thomas Goetz points out in
his major document on A.M.D.G. that there is no literal repetition of sections, and states
that the movement “loosely follows a rondo scheme.”82 The formal scheme of the piece is
as follows:
Rondo: A B A! B! A!! C A!!!
82"Thomas"E."Goetz,"“Britten’s"Church"Music:"The"Short"Choral"Works"and"A.M.D.G.,”"(DM"doc.,"
Northwestern"University,"1990),"128.""
50
Thomas makes the case in his document by noting tonal areas for each section, and
showing a tonal relationship between the various sections.83 When examining the use of
the motives in this movement, the rondo form is confirmed. Figure 3-6 outlines the
formal scheme of “Gods’ Grandeur,” noting the motives that begin each major section.
The A and B sections of this piece begin with the charged motive, except for B’. The
“Grandeur” motive is only used to introduce the C section, otherwise is it paired with the
“Charged” motive at the start of the other sections.
Table 3-1: Form/Starting Motives of “God’s Grandeur”
Form
A
mm. 1-15
Starting Motive
Charged
B
mm. 16-23
Charged
A!
mm. 24-51
Charged
B!
mm. 52-75
Staccato
A!!
mm. 70-82*
Charged
C
mm. 83-12
Grandeur
A!!!
mm. 113-24
Charged
*overlaps the previous section, explained below
The staccato motive that introduces B’ is sung by the tenors and basses on octave
D-naturals. The staccato motive receives a sharp adjustment as the articulation is changed
to staccatissimo in measures 52-55. This version of the staccato motive is the most
common throughout “God’s Grandeur.” This introduction of the variation of the staccato
motive is a striking alternative to the “Charged” motive to begin this new section.
83"Goetz,"“Britten’s"Church"Music,”"128."
51
Figure 3-6: “God’s Grandeur” Staccato motive variation, mm. 52-55, tenor
It also sounds against the end of an altered “Charged” motive that does not lead to a
“grandeur” setting. This staccato motive has not been heard since its introduction in
measure 16, so Britten developed this statement of the motive by writing it fortissimo,
while also augmenting the original eighth notes to quarter notes.
Figure 3-7: “God’s Grandeur” mm. 51-53
The reason for identifying B’ and A” as overlapping formal sections becomes
clear when the motivic devices are considered. As seen in Figure 3-9, the end of B’ is
carried by the soprano and alto voices, which fittingly end the section as it began, with
the staccato motive. The accent marks are removed before further augmenting the
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motive’s rhythm from the previous quarter note pattern, followed by a decrescendo from
the fortissimo. To begin A”, Britten wrote the tenor and bass a lengthened “charged”
presentation, which has the effect of cutting through the soprano and alto lines in
performance, drawing the listener into the new section.
Figure 3-8: “God’s Grandeur” mm. 69-73
The C section of this rondo contains a haunting melody sung by the alto and tenor
voices. To help frame this section the bass and soprano voices begins with a presentation
of the “Grandeur” motive. The melody is sung by the tenor and alto at the octave; it
seems almost wholly separate from the established motives presented in the piece. There
is a slight nod to the “charged” motive in measure 89 where the ascending alto and tenor
lines takes the shape of that motive.
53
Figure 3-9: “God’s Grandeur” mm. 83-88
54
Figure 3-10: “God’s Grandeur” mm. 89-92
As the C section comes to a close the ending of B’ is reused by taking the soprano line
from measures 72-73 and using it as a basis to move into the introductory “charged”
motive to begin the final A!!!.
Figure 3-11: “God’s Grandeur” mm. 112-15
55
The ending locks all four voices into the “Grandeur” motive, setting the motive
homorhythmically. The final indication of “morendo” (dying), and repeat ad lib. give the
conclusion of this movement over to this one motive, allowing it to continue on as a
reminder from Britten that though the song may finish when one can no longer hear the
motive, the grandeur of God is still present. It also indicates that it takes “God’s Grandeur”
to bring all four voices together in this texture, as it is the only time this occurs in this
piece.
Figure 3-12: “God’s Grandeur” mm. 121-23
PREPARATION
In comparison to the other pieces of A.M.D.G., “God’s Grandeur” asks the choir
to sing a larger number of distinct motives sung against one another within the choral
texture. To that end, preparing a choir to sing each of these individual motives while
56
hearing the other motivic devices being sung in the opposing voices will prove helpful in
the warm-up.
Grandeur motives: Sing through each line in unison, introducing each motive to the
ensemble. In the case of the third and fourth lines, these motives are incomplete for
purposes of this exercise. Assign a line to each voice part, and have the ensemble sing
them polyphonically, repeating their assigned line twice. Instruct the choir to move to
another line, “move up one line,” “move down two lines,” while the ensemble is singing
the exercise to avoid stopping between lines. Repeat the new line twice before moving on.
Figure 3-13: “God’s Grandeur” Motive Warm-up
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Prayer II
(God, I come from, to thee go)
Thee, God, I come from, to thee go,
All day long like a fountain flow
From thy hand out, swayed about
Mote-like in thy mighty glow.
What I know of thee I bless,
As acknowledging thy stress
On my being and as seeing
Something of thy holiness.
Once I turned from thee and hid,
Bound on what thou hadst forbid;
Sow the wind I would; I sinned:
I repent of what I did.
Bad I am, but yet thy child.
Father, be thou reconciled.
Spare thou me, since I see
With thy might that thou art mild.
I have life before me still
And thy purpose to fulfill;
Yea a debt to pay thee yet:
Help me, sir, and so I will.
ANALYSIS
“Prayer II” was composed in Woodstock, NY, August 5-7, 1939,84 and is the first
movement of A.M.D.G. that Britten completed. Britten wrote the voices in pairs of
soprano/tenor and alto/bass and later soprano/bass and alto/tenor. One pair sings the
melody at the interval of an octave (or unison in the case of the alto/tenor), and the other
(pair) sings harmonies that move in contrary motion to each other. Though it is a fourvoice texture, Britten treated it almost as a three-voice texture, a result of the octave
84"Britten,"A.M.D.G.,"40."
58
doubling throughout. Although Britten used paired voices earlier in A.M.D.G., this is a
unique execution of this texture.
Figure 4-1: “Prayer II” mm. 1-4
There is some disagreement on the form of this piece. Goetz has offered an
analysis of ABA!, measures 1-25 (A), measures 26-36 (B), and mm 37- 60 (A!).85
Marcades has offered an analysis of ABC, with a similar division of measures.86 While
both analyses are valid, they do not take into account the full extent of the motivic line
and its relationship to, and use by, the harmonic voices. These factors, which will be
explored below, would seem to indicate a modified strophic form. Each stanza of text is
set as a verse that is musically modified to suit the poetic line.
85"Goetz,"“Britten’s"Church"Music,”"130."
86"Marcades,"“Benjamin"Britten’s"Ad"majorem"Dei"gloriam"(A.M.D.G.),”!166."
59
Britten constructed the melodic line with a range of a third. The music diverges
from this only to accentuate a word or phrase in the poetry. The first such departure
occurs at the end of the second verse, measures 23-24, where the melody stretches to a
perfect fourth on the word “holiness.” This use of the perfect fourth to emphasize the
“holiness of God” was seen previously in “Prayer I.”
Figure 4-2: “Prayer II” mm. 23-24
Britten used the second pair of voices to echo the text sung by the motivic melody,
one voice singing the melody at a different pitch level, the other voice singing an
inversion of this new harmony. Note how the piece opens on the text “Thee, God,” with a
perfect octave in the melodic voices, soprano/tenor, and the harmony echoing at the
interval of a perfect fourth. Britten signaled from the beginning of “Prayer II” his musical
connection of God to the perfect fourth. It has already been noted how Britten used the
perfect octave to represent the holiness of Christ in “Rosa Mystica,” measures 127-33.
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The intervallic relationships of the harmony to the melody and one harmonic
voices to the other is consistent over the first two lines of text. When the alto is set a sixth
below the melody the bass sings the inverted harmony a perfect fourth below the alto.
This happens over the first two lines of stanzas 1 and 2. The third line of text finds the
alto harmony set an octave below the soprano melody and the bass a diatonic third below
the alto. No longer in inversion, the bass voice moves in parallel to the alto during this
line of text. Linking it straight into the fourth line interrupts the third line of poetry in
stanzas 1 and 2; at which point the soprano melody and alto harmony are an octave and a
third apart (an inverted sixth if condensed.) At the same moment the alto and bass also
sing the interval of a third, the bass again inverting the alto harmony, creating a harmony
of thirds set a third from the melody. The interruption and linking of the third and fourth
lines of text comes after the medial-stressed word of the third line (the middle word of a
poetic line rhyming with the last).87 The rhyme scheme is obscured hiding it by
combining the end of the third line of text with the fourth musically. This is a great
example of Britten’s attention to poetic detail in this piece.
The third stanza begins at measure 26 in the same way he began the first two
stanzas; the harmony is set at an octave from the melody and the second harmony voice
set a third below the first harmony, still inverted. Britten changed the voicing for this
stanza: the bass and alto sing the melody at the octave, and the soprano and tenor provide
the harmony, with the tenor inverting the soprano line. The third line of text departs from
the established norm with a unison setting on the text “I repent” in measure 35. This third
87"Marcades,"“Benjamin"Britten’s"Ad"majorem"Dei"gloriam"(A.M.D.G.),”!165."
61
line of text is set with the harmonic lines in unison, then moves independently towards
the word “sinn’d.”
Figure 4-3: “Prayer II” mm. 31-34
Britten created an interesting combination of dissonance on the word “sinn’d” in
measure 34. The bass and alto octave creates a tritone C against the tenor F-sharp4. The
soprano sounds a D5 on top of this, which muddies the tritone. The combination of the
tritone and the major second is actually quite jarring, and is an appropriate word painting
for the word “sinn’d.”
The end of the third verse finds a rare, wholly unison moment for all four voices.
Set on C4, the singers repent together on this phrase, the only complete unison of
A.M.D.G. Other unisons within A.M.D.G. occur with respect to pitch class, while this
occurs on the same pitch, similar to the opening of Rejoice in the Lamb. Just as in Rejoice,
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here Britten used this tutti unison to create complete emphasis of the textual idea of the
ensemble’s (poet’s) penitence. Again we see the power that Britten ascribed to intervals
in his choral writing.
Figure 4-4: “Prayer II” mm. 35-36
Britten diverged from his motivic convention again in measures 43-46, ascending
the melody as the choir pleads with God “spare thou me.” This lamenting cry moves
upward by thirds, still working within the same interval framework, to the final “sparing”
that descends a perfect fourth. The use of the perfect fourth in this instance could be a
nod to the choir pushing the melodic line past the confines of a third by sheer force of
will in a effort to be spared and reach up to the “holiness” alluded to earlier in measures
23-24. Immediately following this perfect fourth, the melody returns to its motivic
cocoon of the third.
63
Figure 4-5: “Prayer II” mm. 43-46
The final verse of “Prayer II,” measures 51-60, brings a complete shift in texture.
The melody, still in its motivic range of a third, is sent to the basses. The soprano, alto,
and tenor sing a series of open fourths and fifths; the soprano and tenor are set at the
octave while the alto is fourth above the tenor, a fifth below the soprano. These three
voices repeat text sung by the basses up until their last phrase, where they take up the
poem text from the basses, along with the melodic/motivic idea, still in open fourths and
fifths. The bass joins with them on the final three words. Before the basses pass the
melodic line to the upper voices the established motivic pattern is changed; a descending
fourth on the text “pay thee yet.” This descending fourth comes as the text refers again to
God, continuing Britten’s association of the perfect fourth with the divine. The last
gesture of the basses, sung against the upper voices finishing the poem, is D-flat to D
natural. This ascent, heard against the upper voices all descending by half-step, creates a
mixed sense of finality and confusion of hope that the debt will be forgiven, so that “thy
purpose to fulfill” might come. The upper voices’ descent seems to indicate a reticence of
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hope, while the lone bass ascent gives a glimmer of faith. The basses and altos end at an
octave D against the soprano and tenor octave A. With no clear indication of key, this
ending does not give away with any certainty Britten’s thoughts on the resolution to this
poem.
Figure 4-6: “Prayer II” mm. 51-60
65
PREPARATION
This piece features a motivic melody built around the range of a third. The
following warm-up gives the ensemble a short line built around the same concept.
Short Range Melody: Have the ensemble sing the following warm-up in F major, using
solfége, at 74 bpm. For further practice have the paired voices start at intervals of a fourth,
and sixth from each other, to practice those intervals between the voices. Also consider
instructing the paired voices sing in cannon, waiting two beats between the entrance of
the first and second pairs.
Figure 4-7: Short Range Melody Exercise
66
O Deus, ego amo te
O God, I love thee, I love thee—
Not out of hope of heaven for me
Nor fearing not to love and be
In the everlasting burning.
Thou, thou, my Jesus, after me
Didst reach thine arms out dying,
For my sake sufferedst nails and lance,
Mocked and marréd countenance,
Sorrows passing number,
Sweat and care and cumber,
Yea and death, and this for me,
And thou couldst see me sinning:
Then I, why should not I love thee,
Jesu so much in love with me?
Not for heaven’s sake; not to be
Out of hell by loving thee;
Not for any gains I see;
But just the way that thou didst me
I do love and I will love thee:
What must I love thee, Lord, for then?
For being and God. Amen.
ANALYSIS
“O Deus” is the last movement of A.M.D.G. to be written, signed “August 30th
1939, Amityville.”88 It is a particularly interesting piece within A.M.D.G. as it stands
alone in several areas. First, Britten’s motive in “O Deus” is both harmonic and
intervallic in nature, not melodic, and is presented as a series of chords moving up at an
interval of a minor third outlining a tritone. Second, it is the only occurrence of a
completely homorhythmic texture in A.M.D.G. Third, the piece is written senza misura,
or “without measure.” This allows Britten to set the text with choral recitative for the
entire piece. While Britten was well versed in setting text, smartly capturing syllabic and
88"Britten,"A.M.D.G.,"45."
67
word stresses in his writing, this technique allows the text to be performed in sung
conversation by the choir. These elements are specific to “O Deus” in A.M.D.G., and
separate it from the other six pieces in the work.
The homorhythmic texture consists of mostly major chords in root position. The
first chords in measures 1-4, F major – A-flat major – C-flat major, represent the central
motive of this piece.
Figure 5-1: “O Deus” mm. 1-7 (reduction)
In addition to being a chordal motive, the vocal lines outline tritones in their respective
parts: sopranos A to E-flat, altos F to C-flat, and tenors C to G-flat. This becomes an
intervallic motive through the use of the minor thirds to outline the tritones. The C-flat
major chord is altered in measure 5 to its enharmonic, B major, and the choir moves from
B major back to F major, outlining the tritone again over the next three bars, through the
use of mostly stepwise motion in the upper voices, soprano, alto, and tenor, while using
4ths, 3rds, and 2nds in the bass voice.
Previous harmonic material appears again in measures 8-14, F – A-flat – C-flat,
again respelling C-flat as B in measure 11, then moving the choir back down to F major.
68
This section is then extended in measures 15-19, hinting at the original motive in
measures 16-17 with a D-flat major (in first inversion) – F minor (first inversion) – C-flat
major. The first inversion D-flat and F minor keep the original F – A-flat in the bass
voice, while the harmonic progression, as well as the vocal lines, differ from the original
material.
Figure 5-2: “O Deus” mm. 16-17, 20-21 (reduction)
Britten followed this in measures 18-19 with F – C-flat chords, a final punctuation of the
tritone. Here the listener experiences the full appreciation of the tritone in this piece.
Britten has disguised it up until measure 17 with minor thirds, but lets his true intention
with the interval be known at this juncture. The tritone helps emphasize the text “thou
couldst see me sinning.”
In measures 20-21, Britten wrote hints at the original motive by creating an Fsharp minor – A-flat major – B major progression. Around this Britten wrote D major
chords, creating a tritone with the A-flat in the middle of the motivic allusion. From there,
in measures 22-31, Britten strayed from his established chordal and intervallic motives
69
until the final measure. In the last bar he includes the original motive F – A-flat – C-flat,
flanked on both sides by D major, creating again the tritone against the inner A-flat.
Figure 5-3: “O Deus” mm. 22-31
From this motivic analysis, a form appears of A A! B coda, measures 1-7 (A),
measures 8-19 (A!), measures 20-31 (B), and measure 32 (coda). A one-measure coda is
unusual, but by incorporating the chordal motive and the tritone over the “Amen” text,
Britten created a somewhat fitting coda for this prayerful piece.
Figure 5-4: “O Deus” mm. 32
70
Britten’s markings reinforce this formal analysis by his use of luftpause or a
written rest between each section. Britten’s score is very detailed with extensive
dynamics, hairpins, and accents, which also seem to agree with the previous formal
analysis. Both A and A! have almost the exact same markings in the first seven bars. This
contrasts with the very intense B section of sustained and crescendo fortissimos. The
coda becomes a microcosm of the whole piece, imploring the ensemble to sing
pianissimo to fortissimo to pianississimo, in the tempo “Avanti!” Controlling the shape of
the crescendos, drawing out similar shapes in the A sections, and creating a contrasting,
sustained crescendo in B are the challenges of this piece. The final coda crescendo asks
the conductor and ensemble to capture the whole movement and encapsulate it into one
grand, quick musical gesture.
PREPARATION
“O Deus” offers several challenges to the ensemble in its intervallic relationships,
both small and large, and the senza misura setting of the text. The first intervallic issue is
that of the tritone motive being achieved by way of minor thirds. Many ensembles no
doubt have experienced singing minor thirds, but using them to outline tritones may be a
new experience for some singers. The following exercise will expose and prepare the
ensemble to this idea of ascending minor thirds to create tritones.
Tritone by minor thirds exercise: Have the choir sing ascending minor thirds, starting on
C, moving up by semitone, to F#. This can be sung on a neutral syllable. Sing at 74 bpm,
71
instructing the singers to think ahead either up the minor third, or down the perfect fourth
to set up the next arpeggiation.
Figure 5-5: Tritone Exercise
As noted earlier, “O Deus” is set senza misura, or “without measure,” and creates
a free flowing, speech like setting of Hopkins’ poetry. The following exercise addresses
several issues: the tritone in each voice by way of minor thirds, the recitative-like nature
of the text, and the homophonic texture of “O Deus.”
Tritones, via minor thirds, senza misura: Have the ensemble sing an F major triad: basses
on F3, tenors on C4, altos on F4, and sopranos on A4. Sing the following haiku by Matsuo
Bashō, moving up by minor third on each line:
at the age old pond
a frog leaps into water
a deep resonance
Repeat by varying the tempo for the entire exercise, or varying by phrase, experimenting
with different syllabic and word stresses.
72
Figure 5-6: Senza misura exercise
Finally, to prepare the downward leap in the “Amen” of “O Deus,” a conductor should
consider the following exercise:
Grand Leap: Have the choir sing an ascending arpeggiated major triad, tonic-to-tonic,
starting on F4, and leaping back down to the tonic. Staying in F major, repeat the
arpeggiation, then leap down to the lower leading tone E4. Repeat, and increase the
downward leap by another scale degree. Continue until the leap down covers two octaves.
Instruct singers not to press to sing the lowest note of the exercise if, and when, it gets to
low, especially for the upper voices. Reinforce the downward leaps of the octave and
third, octave and a fourth, and the double octave. For the sopranos, ask them to sing the
exercise starting on A4, with the tenors, and work down to the double octave.
Figure 5-7: Grand Leap Exercise
73
The Soldier
Yes. Why do we all, seeing of a soldier, bless him? bless
Our redcoats, our tars? Both these being the greater part,
But frail clay, nay but foul clay. Here it is: the heart,
Since, proud, it calls the calling manly, give a guess
That, hopes that, makes believe, the men must be no less;
It fancies, feigns, deems, dears the artist after his art;
And fain will find as sterling all as all is smart,
And scarlet wear the spirit of war there express.
Mark Christ our King. He knows war, served this soldiering through;
He of all can handle a rope best. There he bides in bliss
Now, and seeing somewhere some man do all that man can do,
For love he leans forth, needs he neck must fall on, kiss,
And cry ‘O Christ-done deed! So God-made-flesh does too:
Were I come o’er again’ cries Christ ‘t should be this.’
ANALYSIS
“The Soldier” was completed in Woodstock, NY on August 15, 1939.89 In the
folio left behind by Britten “The Soldier” is listed as the sixth piece of A.M.D.G.,
followed by “Heaven-Haven,” which was also written on the same day, though it is not
clear which was completed first. This places “The Soldier” and “Heaven-Haven” in the
middle of A.M.D.G.’s compositional timeline.
After careful consideration it is not altogether apparent that Britten composed
“The Soldier” with melodic, harmonic, or textural motivic devices of its own. What does
become clear is that this piece does contain motives and textures from the other pieces of
A.M.D.G., becoming a microcosm of the whole work. What is also striking about this is
Britten composed “The Soldier” while having not yet written “God’s Grandeur” and “O
Deus.” “The Soldier” contains what can be viewed as the beginning of ideas and textures
that will be more fully developed in both of these yet to be composed parts of A.M.D.G.
89"Britten,"A.M.D.G.,"55."
74
Set in an ABA! form, “The Soldier” begins with a forte tutti entrance followed by
an octave descent in all voices. “Prayer I” and “God’s Grandeur” have forte and
fortissimo entrances respectively, however, “God’s Grandeur” is a single entrance by the
bass voice, and thus does not have the same impact as the tutti of “The Soldier.” The
opening figure is also noteworthy in that the voices are paired soprano/alto and tenor/bass,
and are set at the interval of the third. This texture is similar to the texture used in “Rosa
Mystica.” The octave scale is also reminiscent to the scale motive used in “Prayer I.”
Figure 6-1: “The Soldier” mm. 1-3
The textures of “Prayer I” are alluded to in measures 17-23 where the soprano line is set
apart from the alto, tenor and bass. The sopranos do not sing the melodic line here as they
do in “Prayer I,” but rather have a sustained descant. The lower voices sing the melodic
line and text in a hocket style.
75
Figure 6-2: “The Soldier” mm. 17-23
The soprano/bass and alto/tenor voices are paired together from measures 25-42,
similar to their textural use in both “Prayer II” (measures 37-50), and “God’s Grandeur”
(measures 82-102). The melodic content is sung by soprano/bass in measures 26- 33
while the alto/tenor sing G-sharp at the interval of an octave, something akin to the
ostinato motive used in “Rosa Mystica.”
76
Figure 6-3: “The Soldier” mm. 25-29
The voice pairings switch roles in a voice exchange in measures 33-36, which
utilizes the harmonic motive from “O Deus.” Since “The Soldier” was composed before
“O Deus” it seems reasonable that Britten had this musical idea in his ear before
composing “O Deus,” and decided to explore it further after including it in these few bars.
Britten wrote out the tritone, by way of minor thirds, moving from G-sharp to B to D,
which is started by the alto/tenor, and finished by the soprano/bass. The altos and tenors
77
take up the D from the soprano/bass and leap up to F-sharp, before resolving to F-natural,
which seems to have been Britten’s harmonic goal, and creates another tritone, built up
from B.
Figure 6-4: “The Soldier” mm. 33-36
Measures 37-42 are similar in texture to measures 82-102 in “God’s Grandeur,” with the
melody in the alto/tenor, decorated by a sustained soprano descant, and ostinato-like bass
part. It is also similar to the contrary motion seen at the beginning of Prayer II in the
alto/bass.
78
Figure 6-5: “The Soldier” mm. 37-39
Before the return of A, Britten set the voices in pairs, soprano/tenor and alto/bass, and
uses an echo between the pairs in measures 47-51. Both of these devices are heard
consistently throughout “Prayer II.”
Figure 6-6: “The Soldier” mm. 47-49
79
Figure 6-7: “The Soldier” mm. 50-51
In light of the previous analysis, “The Soldier” can be viewed as a miniature of
A.M.D.G. The only piece seemingly not represented here is “Heaven-Haven.” It stands to
reason that since both were composed on the same day, Britten could have exhausted his
ideas in “Heaven-Haven,” to the point of not wanting to revisit them in “The Soldier,” or
he might have finished “The Soldier” with intentions of making “Heaven-Haven” a
completely different construction.
PREPARATION
Given the nature of this piece, a miniature of the whole of A.M.D.G, it seems
advisable that this piece be taken on with consideration of those exercises already offered.
Exercises such as Thirds, Fourths, Tritone Triads, and Range all lend aid to preparing
similar vocal challenges in the “The Soldier,” and would be beneficial to revisit in
preparation of this individual part of A.M.D.G.
80
Heaven-Haven
(a nun takes the veil)
I have desired to go
Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail,
And a few lilies blow
And I have asked to be
Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
And out of the swing of the sea.
ANALYSIS
Completed in Woodstock, N.Y., August 15, 1939,90 “Heaven-Haven” is the final
piece of A.M.D.G., listed seventh on the original folio. This movement is only one
measure longer than the first piece listed, “Prayer I.” “Heaven-Haven” is written for
paired voices. The first half of the piece is sung by soprano/alto, the remaining half sung
by tenor/bass. The two sections mirror each other in melodic and harmonic content, and
thus the form for “Heaven-Haven” is A A!.
Britten indicated D minor at the start of “Heaven-Haven,” though a D major scale
is sung by the soprano in the very first measure, lingering on C#5 in the next bar. This
strong leading tone sets up the move to the E5-A4, which outlines the dominant A major7.
90"Britten,"A.M.D.G.,"55."
81
Figure 7-1: “Heaven-Haven” mm. 1-4
As with the rest of A.M.D.G., Britten incorporated some non-traditional uses of chordal
harmony in “Heaven-Haven” as the music progresses from an AM7 chord to F major, an F
minor contrary motion scale, to G minor, resolving back to D major, measures 2-8.
Figure 7-2: “Heaven-Haven” mm. 5-8
The repetition of D major in measures 8-11 makes for the strong signal of D major as a
resting place for the soprano and alto voices.
The entrance of the tenor and bass voices are then a welcome contrast when they
immediately embrace D minor in the tenor’s ascending figure.
82
Figure 7-3: “Heaven-Haven” mm. 12-14
Britten chose to have the tenor sustain C4, rather than repeat the soprano C#, thus
preparing the move to an A-flat7 chord. The following measures make use of E-flat minor
and G-flat before resolving to D minor. D minor is repeated over the last four bars;
however, Britten did seem to shy away from making a strong statement of major or minor
in the last two bars. The closing open fifth of the tenor and bass is very satisfying for this
piece and may give pause to the listener, or even a conductor and ensemble, to ask
“where did Britten really lead the music in the final bar?”
Figure 7-4: “Heaven-Haven” mm. 19-23
Britten used one intervallic motive throughout the twenty-three measures. A
melodic fifth, descending and ascending, heard in contrary motion within the paired
voices, appears for the first time in measure 3, and a final time in measure 21, the thirdto-last measure. With the exception of measure 7, this fifth motive outlines the root and
83
fifth of the chord sounding within the bar. The motivic fifth in measure 7 outlines the
third and seventh of the chord, a G minor7.
Poetically, the intervallic motive also seems to highlight the text on which it falls.
It is a wonderful example of Britten’s text painting by only using a single motive. He was
able to highlight several fundamentally different words: springs, hail, blow, and swing.
Other words for which the motive falls upon seem only to help stress the word within the
poetic and musical line.
PREPARATION
“Heaven-Haven” presents two distinct challenges for the ensemble. The first is
the use of the fifth motive, and the tension Britten created when placing the motive in the
two voices moving towards each other. The following exercise addresses the motivic fifth
much in the same way the third and fourth was addressed in earlier exercises. However,
the culminating part of the exercise is modified to reflect Britten’s treatment of the
motive.
Fifths: Have the ensemble sing the following warm-up, “Fifths,” in D major, using
solfége, at 74 bpm. Instruct the ensemble to then sing down to the relative minor, singing
the same pattern in B minor. Pair the ensemble Sop/Alto and Ten/Bass, having one voice
in each pair singing the Major, starting from F-sharp5, and the other in Minor from the
beginning of the exercise. Vary the voice pairings SB/TA for another run through the
combined exercise.
84
Figure 7-5: Fifths Exercise
The sudden tonal shift from the major to the parallel minor in the middle of this
short piece can be a challenge for the unprepared or inexperienced choir, especially given
that the tenors and basses have not been singing during the opening section of this piece
and have been listening to the soprano and altos sing in the major mode. Though the
success of this shift is squarely on the shoulders of the tenor and bass voices, this exercise
will help all voice parts in recognizing this type of modulation.
Major/Minor: Have the choir sing the following exercise tutti, on solfége, at 74 bpm.
Then instruct one voice part start the exercise with the major key, then another voice part
finish by singing the minor key. Mix up the voices so that each part receives and
opportunity to both start in major, and end in minor.
85
Figure 7-6: Major/Minor Exercise
86
CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION
In the preface to Ad majorem Dei gloriam (A.M.D.G.), Colin Matthews, assistant
to Britten from 1972-76, notes that the Faber printing was done in folio order, and is not
an endorsement of performance order, noting that the premiere by the London Sinfonietta
Voices was ordered differently by conductor Terry Edwards.91 The folio order as written
by Britten on the title page is the order in which the movements were presented in
Chapter IV of this document. Table 8-1 shows the order, tempo, vocal textures, and
motivic analysis for each piece.
Table 8-1: A.M.D.G. Folio Order
Folio Order
Tempo
Vocal Texture
Motivic Analysis
Prayer I
Largo
S/ATB, T/SAB
Rosa Mystica
SA/TB
Paired voices
Prayer II
Allegro alla
valse
Allegro con
fuoco
Andante
Descending 4ths,
ascending scale
Ostinato, paired
thirds
Multi-motivic
ST/AB, SB/AT
Intervallic Inversion
O Deus, ego amo te
Presto
Homorhythmic
Triadic Tritone
The Soldier
Alla marcia
Voices in pairs
Borrowed motives
Heaven-Haven
Andante
SA/TB
Descending fifth
God’s Grandeur
As seen above, each piece uses different compositional devices from the one
before, with the slight exception being “Rosa Mystica” and “God’s Grandeur.” Both use
the same tempo base tempo of Allegro, and both use the vocal texture of voices in pairs,
91#Matthews,"Preface,""A.M.D.G."
87
though “Grandeur” does not stay with one pairing in the way that “Rosa” does. These two
movements have contrasting motivic construction, since Britten utilized the ostinato in
“Rosa” that provides the driving force behind the piece, and “Grandeur” is “charged” by
its multi-motivic construction.
The move from one motivic device to the next does give a sense of natural flow to
the whole of A.M.D.G. For example, the use of fourths and scales in “Prayer I” leading to
paired thirds and an ostinato in “Rosa Mystica” creates a natural transition from the larger
to the smaller intervallic motive. The multi-motivic nature of “Grandeur,” with motives
sounding on top of one another, is set against the simple presentation of melody against
inverted harmonic lines in “Prayer II.” “O Deus” seems to stand on its own as the
contrasting texture and utilization of the tritone through the minor third goes against, and
yet complements, much of what Britten has already presented. “The Soldier” also stands
alone, and yet it is among friends in A.M.D.G. as it borrows motivic ideas from almost
each movement. (Only “Heaven-Haven” is not alluded to, see Chapter V.) Its place as the
sixth piece, before “Heaven-Haven,” creates the idea of recapping the previous material
at the end of the work. This leaves then “Heaven-Haven,” somewhat like a coda,
expanding the opening fourth motive from “Prayer I” to a fifth and giving a formal
finality to the work. The ending D-major of “Prayer I” is made ambiguous with the open
fifth ending of “Heaven-Haven.”
The London Sinfonietta Voices reordered the movements completely, leaving not
one movement in its original place.
88
Table 8-2: A.M.D.G. Premiere Order
Premiere Order
Tempo
Vocal Texture
Motivic Analysis
Heaven-Haven
Andante
SA/TB
Descending fifth
O Deus, ego amo te
Presto
Homorhythmic
Triadic Tritone
Rosa Mystica
SA/TB
Ostinato
The Soldier
Allegro alla
valse
Alla marcia
Voices in pairs
Borrowed motives
Prayer II
Andante
ST/AB, SB/AT
Intervallic Inversion
God’s Grandeur
Allegro con
fuoco
Largo
Paired voices
Multi-motivic
S/ATB, T/SAB
Descending 4ths,
ascending scale
Prayer I
The first thing to catch the eye is the switch of “Prayer I” and “Heaven-Haven.” This
switch makes for a much more subdued start, almost as if the choir were coming to the
performance as a supplicant. By placing “Prayer I” at the end, the work concludes with
an “Amen,” ending on D major. The only other “Amen” is at the end of “O Deus,” which
ends on a very low F major chord. This order separates “Rosa” from “Grandeur,” making
for a greater contrast of the movements that share similar textures and tempi. However,
this setting does place three pieces in row that use paired voices as the primary vocal
texture: “Rosa,” “Soldier,” and “Prayer II.” The tempo and motivic contrasts among the
three movements does aid in obscuring the similar textures to the listener, so it is not too
obvious that the same textures are being manipulated over the course of these three pieces.
While this order is an interesting contrast to the printed order, it seems to be informed
more by aesthetic taste, and not by a formal analysis.
89
PREFERRED PERFORMACE ORDER
Given the preceding analysis the performance order best suited for the work
seems to be the order written by Britten in his folio sketch. This order highlights both the
contrast of motivic ideas and vocal textures. The placement of “Prayer I” and “HeavenHaven” complement each other motivically and tonally. The placement of “The Soldier”
provides a welcome recap of previous material, though this is more obvious with score
study, than listening to the work. The internal movements, while providing the motivic
and textural contrast already discussed, also move the work through an interesting tonal
progression.
Table 8-3: A.M.D.G. Tonal Centers
Folio Order
Tonal Center
Prayer I
D
Rosa Mystica
F
God’s Grandeur
g
Prayer II
d
O Deus, ego amo te
F
The Soldier
D
Heaven-Haven
D/d
The internal movements reflect Britten’s affinity for unconventional progressions. The
transition from the D major in “Prayer I” to the F major of “Rosa Mystica” is made easy
with the use of the opening ostinato A. The same ostinato ends “Rosa Mystica,” and
provides an easy move to the opening pitch G for “God’s Grandeur.” The chordal setting
of the “Grandeur” motive at the end of that piece is in G-minor. “Prayer II” opens in D
minor in the soprano and tenor voices. Though the alto and bass through their inverted
90
harmony lines create a B-flat major chord, D minor is consistent in the melody lines
throughout the piece, and thus is aurally the tonal center of “Prayer II.” The music
transitions back from F to D at the end of “O Deus” to “The Soldier.” This progression of
a minor third, which was an integral part of the motive in “O Deus,” is created in the low
tessitura and very soft dynamic of the final F major chord in “O Deus,” contrasted by the
high tessitura and loud dynamic of the opening D major chord of “The Soldier.” The
complementary nature of this transition is striking to hear in performance, and does not
overtly call attention to the minor third relationship. Finally the D major of “The Soldier”
is continued by the soprano and alto voices at the start of “Heaven-Haven” and then
modulated to D minor by the tenor and bass before ending on the somewhat ambiguous
final open fifth. This original ordering as left by Britten in the manuscript folio seems to
best complement the tonal, motivic, and vocal textures of the seven pieces of Ad majorem
Dei gloriam. Each individual piece has strong compositional features that would allow
them to be excerpted for a concert program. It is the hope of this author that the preceding
analysis, preparation examples and commentary will lead to further performances of
A.M.D.G., either whole or in part, and be done in the spirit in which the title invokes; For
the greater glory of God.
91
APPENDIX A
A.M.D.G. Discography
[Four recordings listed are re-releases of earlier recordings. The Harvestehude Chamber
Choir, and Eaton College recordings only include the track “Rosa Mystica.”]
Allwood, Ralph, cond. Britten. Eaton College Chapel Choir. ASV PLT8503. 2002
Bantzer, Claus, cond. Mariengesänge. Harvestehude Chamber Choir. Arte Nova
74321340252. 1998.
Brown, Tim, cond. English Choral Music. Cambridge University Chamber Choir.
Heritage 213. 2010.
Brown, Tim, cond. Sacred and Profane. Cambridge University Chamber Choir. Gamut
Classics 703. 1991.
Edwards, Terry, cond. Benjamin Britten Collector’s Edition [Box Set]. London
Sinfonietta Choir. EMI Classics 217526. 2008.
Edwards, Terry, cond. Britten & Messiaen: Choral Works. London Sinfonietta Choir.
Virgin 61916. 1988.
Layton, Stephen, cond. Britten: Choral Music. Polyphony. Hyperion CDA67140. 2001.
Layton, Stephen, cond. Britten: Choral Music. Polyphony. Hyperion CDH55438. 2012.
Layton, Stephen, cond. Britten: Choral Music. Polyphony. Hyperion GAW21140. 2003.
Spicer, Paul, cond. Britten: Choral Edition, Volume 1. Finzi Singers. Chandos 9511.
1997
92
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