This Sunday, April 17, at 3 pm, St. George's Choral Society will perform "Sacré et Profane - Choral Music from Paris" at the Church of the Incarnation, 209 Madison Avenue at 35th Street.
This program features works of French song composers, performed a capella and with organ accompaniment.
Claude Le Jeune's (c1528-1600) rhythmically vivacious Revecy venir du Printemps is a song with refrain, each verse adding voices, building momentum as the song progresses. Claude Janequin (c1485-1558) also composed Parisian chansons. Very creative and modern, even for listeners today, Le chant des Oiseaux has the singers mimic bird calls. Des pas dans l'allée is a somber setting by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) of a poem by Maurice Boukay. Saint-Saëns was an extremely popular composer, known for The Carnival of the Animals and many other works.
Among his students was Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), known primarily as a song composer. The Pavane is undoubtedly his most famous piece, originally written for piano, later scored for orchestra with optional chorus. Another composer famous for his songs is Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). The Chansons Françaises are clever, virtuoso settings of French folk songs for unaccompanied voices. The final work on the program is Jean Langlais' Messe solennelle. Blind from birth, Langlais (1907-1991) mostly wrote sacred music. His Messe solennelle, for organ and chorus, is a colorful and adventurous work, featuring advanced harmonic language combined with chant-like choral writing. It is often in the form of a dialogue between the organ and chorus.
We hope you will share this music with us on Sunday. Tickets ($30) are available online and at the door.