Piano Thailand

A Baroque Christmas Concert in Bangkok

Mahidol University Baroque Choir and Soloists
Mahidol University Baroque Orchestra

Henri Pompidor, Conductor

Time:

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
&
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

at 8.00pm

Location:

Chulalongkorn University Auditorium
(CU Cultural Building)
Bangkok

Programme:

Marc Antoine Charpentier's "Te Deum" (H.146)
Johan Sebastian Bach "Christmas Cantatas" (BWV. 140 , 63)

Ticket: 300 THB and 150 THB (for students)
For more information and tickets reservation, please Email gisela.lerdmaleewong@diplo.de

From the French sacred greatness in music…
Marc Antoine Charpentier’s “Te Deum” H146

Among the 500 sacred pieces written by Charpentier, the Te Deum (H146) has a special place. Written at the beginning of 1690’s for Saint-Paul des Jésuites at Paris where Marc Antoine was master of music. It is surely one of his most well known choral work because the popularity of the Prelude, which has been chosen in Europe to be the hymn of the Eurovision.

This very joyful and martial prelude is using for the first time in sacred music new instruments such as  trumpets and drums, instruments which had usually being used as instruments of war. However, they have a religious significance, as they represent in the symbolism of musical instruments of the period the angels, intermediaries between God and humans.

They also convey a sign of absolute trust in the Lord God and of course in his royal Lieutenant in Earth. The key of D major that will be used along the work is an example of the French elegance and grandiosity in harmony, ornamentation and rhythm that remains during the whole work. By alternating soloists, choir and orchestra, Charpentier confirms a new development in the art of composition and provides clear and evident proof of his musical genius and diversity.

…to the German perfect musical “dialogue”
Johann Sebastian Bach “Christmas Cantatas” BWV 140 & 63

The personification of characters sung by solo singers interacting together in a musical dialogue follows a long tradition in European music history. This kind of sung dialogue is particular to the Lutheran Germany of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and follows the influence of the Italian oratorio and opera. In his cantatas, Johann Sebastian Bach has a perfect knowledge of the musical and dramatic process of opera and uses it frequently to create a dramatic impact.

For Christmas time, one of the most important times for the Christians, Bach does not hesitate to adopt the duet style of the contemporary Italian opera. This is most particularly the case with the dialogue between the faithful soul and Christ embodied – in accordance with the canons of baroque symbolism – by the soprano and the bass and also with love duets, emphasizing the very lively, highly concrete attachment of the Christian with his Lord. The two characters intervene in turn with airs and recitatives or else engage in dialogue until their voices blend together in a single part.

Both cantatas “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” BWV 140 ("Hey, wake up, the voice calls to us”) and “Christen, ätzet diesen Tag” BWV 63 (“Christians, engrave this day”) written for the Christmas time use this technique. By preparing itself to receive Christ, by rejecting vanity and dedicating itself with fervent love, the soul finds happiness and comfort. In this music, Bach portrays this feelings as a path leading to the most luminous and joyful transfiguration. In order to bring out the allegory even more, Bach does not hesitate to make use of dance rhythms. The long and jubilant final depict the light dancing of the young man meeting his bride. The meeting of the two lovers irresistibly drawn to each other raises the desire of a new world without hate and war. It is a world where only the child shows to humanity that Love alone defeats everything.  Christmas does not only represent the birth of the Jesus Christ, but a period of transition for everyone, a hope for the people who suffer in the world that they will one day find comfort and support.


About the Mahidol University Baroque Choir and Orchestra

Baroque music describes a style of European classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1750. This musical era is said to begin after the Renaissance and to be followed by the Classical era. It is extremely important in that it features some of the main music ever composed, and contains in itself the roots of all classical and modern music. However, its style is often misrepresented, and often performed in a romantic way, hence loosing the educational and musical impact of this important period. This concert gives us an opportunity to develop in Thailand an instrumental ensemble dedicated to this specific music.

Created in 2009 by Henri Pompidor, the Mahidol University Baroque Choir features choral singers from Mahidol. It is composed of 24 singers including leaders/soloists, mainly voice major graduates or final year students from Mahidol and others universities. They were specifically trained in baroque music. The ensemble’s goal is not limited to baroque music but also covers classical music.  In collaboration with composers and arrangers both within the University and/or from outside, these ensembles look forward to bringing new perspectives to choral work .

This choir work will focus on a large repertoire concentrated on « traditional » baroque music pieces in order to build up style and basic repertoire: French music from the era of Louis XIV, XV and XVI (Lulli, Delalande, Dumont, Campra, Rameau), Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas, motets and Passion and Carlo Gesualdo, Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi and the Venetians. This choir represents an opportunity to develop in Thailand an instrumental and orchestral group dedicated to baroque music based on recent research in the field (from the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles and other research centers such as the J.S. Bach foundation or the Claudio Monteverdi Instituto).

One of the objectives is also the continuous training of a semi-professional choir consisting of Thai singers, which would allow involved musicians to get more professional experience. Indeed, many singers cannot expect to become soloists immediately at the end of their studies: the creation of a semi professional – and professional – choir will allow them to find suitable and satisfactory work in the meantime

Created in 2009, The Mahidol Baroque instrumental ensemble has been created to accompany the baroque choir. Composed by 12 instrumentalists from faculties and students from Mahidol University, this orchestra will feature some period instruments in order to have an original sound (such as the viole de gambe or the baroque recorder).

About the Conductor

Dr Henri Pompidor

In parallel with his studies in economics and political sciences, Dr. Henri Pompidor studied music (and organ as his major instrument) at the Regional Music Conservatory of Toulouse. He joined the Institute of Music and Musicology at the University of Paris-Sorbonne in 1986, where he obtained his Master’s degree (DEA) in 1988 and his Doctorate (PhD) in 1996. The theme of his doctoral thesis was French baroque music and choral singing schools in France during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Apart from pursuing his academic studies and research degrees, he worked as the organist and director of the Perpignan Boys’ Choir from 1987 to 1991, and as the piano accompanist for various choirs in Paris and Strasbourg.  In this capacity, he also performed in several European countries including Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. In 1991, he was invited to found the Cadet Military School Choir (France), and to conduct the Military Orchestra of Paris. With both ensembles he performed several concerts and recordings.

In 1997, after completion of his PhD, he became the music director and conductor of the French Choir of Athens (Greece). With them he worked on various major performances, concerts and tours. He also conducted the National Orchestra of Athens, with whom he recorded in 2003 the Fauré’s Requiem. In 2004, Dr. Henri Pompidor came to Thailand with a keen interest to enhance the Thai choral music scene. Initially, he became Head of the Voice Department at the Conservatory of Music (Rangsit University) and later on, joined Mahidol University (College of Music) as chorus master and choral director.

From that time, he has performed several concerts with various Mahidol University (College of Music) choirs, namely Mozart’s Missa Brevis, Bach’s Cantatas, French Chansons by Poulenc, Debussy, Ravel, Boulanger and Messiaen, Brahms’ Liebeslieder and Liebeslieder Waltzer and many folk songs around the world. He was invited to join several opera productions such as Die Zauberflöte with the Chulalongkorn University Chorus and Orchestra, Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” or Humperdinck's “Hänsel und Gretel”. He has conducted several master choral pieces including Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Brahms’German Requiem with the Mahidol Symphonic Choir and more recently Fauré’s and Duruflé’s Requiem, in Bangkok and Chiang Mai (with the Payap University Choir and orchestra). Besides, he has been working as chorus mater of the Thailand Philharmonic Choir (TPO Choir) several main productions, including Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Beethoven Ninth Symphony and Poulenc’s Gloria.

Beside his activities with the main choirs at the University, Dr Henri Pompidor creates a new choral group dedicated to baroque repertoire in order to improve the performance of this music in Thailand. Composing of 24 singers including leaders/soloists from Mahidol and others universities, and professional period instrumentalist, the Mahidol University baroque choir and orchestra performed Marc Antoine Charpentier Christmas Missa for its debut concert in December 2009. From that time, the group has performed few concerts, including Bach’s Cantatas, Vivaldi’s Gloria and some others French baroque pieces by Marc Antoine Charpentier, Jean Baptiste Lully or Michel Richard de Lalande. Beside his musical activities, Dr. Henri Pompidor continues his research about the voice techniques and choral singing from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and their interest for nowadays. Major publications emanating from his work in Thailand were articles about the history and the techniques of choral singing, phonetics for singers and about a few master choral pieces.

Currently, Dr. Henri Pompidor is chorus master and choral director at Mahidol University’s College of Music and choral conductor for the Thailand Philharmonic Choir (TPO Choir).

Tags:Baroque