MOTET and MADRIGAL (1973)
by RAOUL PLESKOW




   Title: Motet and Madrigal

   Date of Composition: 1973

   Instrumentation: soprano, soprano/tenor, piano,
                    flute, violin, clarinet, cello

   Publisher: American Composers Alliance

   Date of Publication: 1973

   Duration: Approx. 6 minutes

   Recordings:

        American Contemporary: New Trends

   NOTES:

        Analysis
	
   Mr. Pleskow writes:

"Motet and Madrigal was written in the summer of 1973 and received it first performance that year at a concert by the Aeolian Chamber Players with Mr. [Charles] Wuorinen, Ms. [Judith] Allen and Mr. [Paul J.] Sperry as guest artists."

"The voices and instruments of the ensemble are largely divided into two units: 1. tenor, flute, cello, piano; and 2. soprano, violin, clarinet. The musical events of the movement are consequently presented and unfolded in an antiphonal mannerbut undergo numerous other textural and syntactical processes in their progress. In the Madrigal, the instruments play a clearly subordinate role to a treble-dominated line that is shared and dispersed between the soprano and tenor."

"Interlaced with chromatic non-tonal pitch configurations are lines whose shape find their patrimony in the church music of the Middle Ages and tonal centers on the F and C sharp above middle C. This tonal polarity permeates both movements and is antecedent to the repeated B flat minor chords of the Madrigal as well as to the critical points of repetition in both movements."

"The scriptural texts for Motet and Madrigal chosen for their evocative rather than dogmatic content, are taken from the Good Friday Service of the Roman church and a vulgate Latin version of the Song of Songs (IV, 16, V) respectively."


                                  MOTET

   Crucem Tuam adoramus,
   Et sanctum resurrectionem Tuam laudamus,
   Et glorificamus: ecce einum propter lignum
   Venit gaudium in universo mundo.
   Laudate Dominum:
   Dulce lignum, dulces clavos,
   Dulce pondus sustinet,
   Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo et mundabor:
   Lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.
   Miserere mei, Deus
   Secundum magnam misericordiam Tuam.
   Crux fidelis, interomnes arbor una nobilis;
   Nulla silva talem profert,
   Fronde, flore, germine.

        from the Good Friday Liturgy

                                 MADRIGAL

   Surge, aquilo; et veni, auster;
   Perfia hortum meum, et fluant aromata illius.
   Veniant dilectus meus in hortum suum,
   Et commedat fructum pomorum suorum,
   Veni in hortum meum, soror mea sponsa,
   Commedite, amici, et bibite;
   Et inebriamini, carissimi.
   Comedi, favum meum cum melle meo.

        Vulgata, Canticum Canticorum (IN, 16, V)




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Created: August 13, 1998
Last Updated: May 28, 2000
Last Updated: July 23, 2002