Onion River Chorus
Will Present
Renaissance Christmas

Larry Gordon, longtime conductor of the Onion River Chorus, rehearses the instrumentalists for a series of upcoming concerts, which will include a Randolph performance at St. John's Episcopal Church on Saturday, Dec. 22 at 3 p.m.

Lively, folk-like Christmas villancicos and a composite mass with movements by the greatest Spanish renaissance composers will be on the program when the Onion River Chorus performs in concert Saturday, Dec. 22 at 3 p.m. at St John’s Episcopal Church on Summer St. in Randolph. The program will also be presented Sunday, Dec. 23 at 3 p.m. at Montpelier Unitarian Church.

Directed by Larry Gordon, the 45-voice chorus is joined by a band of clarinet, oboes, English horns and bassoons.

Originally derived from a medieval dance lyric, associated with rustic or popular themes, and using the alternating verse and refrain format, the villancico was extensively cultivated in secular music of the late 15^th and 16^th centuries in Spain. In the second half of the 16^th century, devotional and religious themes gained in importance, and the form became used increasingly for sacred compositions in the vernacular which were introduced into the liturgy on feast days, particularly on Christmas.

The main surviving collection of the early villancicos is the Cancionero de Uppsala, a manuscript preserved in Uppsala, Sweden, with 55 compositions, almost all anonymous. The Onion River Chorus program includes some of the most well-known playful and lively songs from this collection: Riu, riu, chiu; E la don, don verges Maria; and Verbum caro factum est. Also included in the vernacular part of the program are three works by Francesco Guerrero (1528-1597), for four or five voice parts in polished renaissance contrapuntal style; and two pieces by Pedro Rimonte (1565-1627) for six voices.

Rimonte was choirmaster and court composer for the Spanish court in the Netherlands in the early decades of the 17^th century. His magnum opus, a collection called Parnasso Espanol, contains Spanish madrigals in the Italian style and villancicos for four five and six voices. These employ intricate six part counterpoint with constant cross rhythms, while managing to retain the folk-like buoyancy and rhythmic vitality so characteristic of the form.

The second half of the program features works in Latin; the six-voiced motet Quem vidistis pastores by Victoria, the composite Christmas mass with a Kyrie by Morales, Gloria and Sanctus/Benedictus by Rimonte, and Credo and Agnus Dei (from his mass O Magnum Mysterium) by Victoria. All the movements are in the same mode, but with frequent alternations between major and minor. The voices are joined on the mass by the wind band, including John Klimenok, clarinet; Andrea Brightenback and Kris Hammer, oboes/English horns; and Julie Wolfe and Lucy Wollaeger, bassoons.

Tickets will be sold at the door.

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