Historia Sancti Olavi
Ad primas Vesperas [14:52]
Ad Matutinas [27:38]
In secundo Nocturno [17:47]
In tertio Nocturno [23:02]
Ad Laudes [16:06]
Ad secundas Vesperas [05:28]
Consortium Vocale Oslo/Alexander M. Schweitzer; Graces & Voices/Adrija Čepaité, Antanina Kalechtys
rec. June/August 2015, Ris Church, Oslo, Norway DDD
Texts and translations available from Lawo Classics website
LAWO CLASSICS LWC1106 [60:20 + 44:40]
Many countries, regions and towns across the world have
a patron saint. Some of them are still cherished, even if large parts of the
population have little or no connection with the Christian faith. The set
of two discs reviewed here is devoted to St Olaf, the patron saint of Norway.
"On 29 July 1030 at Stiklestad near Nidaros, the modern city of Trondheim
in central Norway, the Norwegian King Olaf Haraldsson lost a battle against
local supporters of the Danish King Canute the Great (d. 1035) and was killed
in action. But if Olaf did not earn military glory on earth that day, his
name was destined to be adorned with far more durable fame: sainthood."
Thus open the liner-notes in the booklet, which gives much historical information
about this king who is probably hardly known outside Norway, or rather outside
Scandinavia, because his cult was celebrated from Iceland to the Baltic Sea.
It only ended with the introduction of the Reformation, which also resulted
in a number of manuscripts with music linked to this celebration being destroyed.
The heart of the office in his honour is a so-called historia. This
is in fact a kind of biography in music, but it can't be treated like
a scientifically correct description of his life. It is rather a hagiography,
and he is seen from a later perspective, after he had converted to the Christian
faith. The fact that at the time of the battle referred to above he was still
a pagan is generously overlooked. It is only briefly mentioned in the antiphon
Rex autem ille licet gentiles (CD 1, track 9): "The king, even
though he was a gentile, was of a good nature". Initially existing texts
were used, mostly connected to an unspecified martyr. It was in the 12th
century that a new cycle of chants and lessons for the office on St Olaf's
Day came into being. This marks the birth of the Historia Olavi.
The texts are anonymous and largely based on older prose texts, known as Passio
Olavi (a description of life and martyrdom of St Olaf, dating from the
12th century) and Miraculi Olavi, a collection of his
miracles which may go back to the 11th century.
Turning to the music, the largest part comprises so-called contrafacta,
meaning pre-existing music whose original texts are substituted by new lyrics.
Musically speaking the Historia Olavi is based on earlier comparable
offices, like those in honour of St Augustine or St Vincentius. This was a
very common practice at the time. In the liner-notes it is suggested that
in this case it had a special meaning. "Re-texting existent melodies
from the historiae of famous saints opened for example the possibility to
connect St Olaf with these figures, to show him in the splendour of their
prestige."
This music is part of a large repertoire of music which is generally known
as plainchant. Although there are similarities to what is called 'Gregorian
chant', the chants in the Historia Sancti Olavi are different
in several aspects. Usually the range of the melodies is wider and Gregorian
melodic formulae are almost completely absent. It is also noticeable that
the tonality is more modern. One responsory, Egregius martyr (CD
2, track 7), is notable for its long melismas, which make it stand out from
the other chants.
I have already mentioned the fact that many manuscripts with early Christian
chants were destroyed during the Reformation. As a result, the full Historia
is available in only two sources. Both are antiphonaries written for the Archbishop
of Uppsala in Sweden at the end of the Middle Ages. However, despite the distance
in time and place they are considered not fundamentally different from the
originals. Two chants bear the traces of a later time. They illustrate that
this kind of liturgical repertoire was part of a living tradition and that
"the St Olaf melodies were not retained in a petrified version but adjusted
to the stylistic tastes of the ecclesiastical communities that performed them
through the centuries."
It is clear that this kind of music cannot be reproduced today in the same
way it was performed in the time it came into existence. The celebration of
St Olaf's feast included many elements and lasted for two days. Today's
performers are specialists in the repertoire but they perform it in the form
of a concert, not as part of day to day liturgical celebrations. In this recording
two ensembles take part: one with women's voices (Graces & Voices)
and one with only male singers (Consortium Vocale Oslo). The former is certainly
not in line with the performance practice in the Middle Ages, and the chants
were definitely not performed by men and women in alternation as in this recording.
Unfortunately, moreover, the Historia Sancti Olavi is not performed
complete. Most of the Psalms are abridged; the long lessons which would have
been part of the office have been replaced by shorter ones and some other
items are completely omitted. This was due to time limits, as the liner-notes
say. However, if we take into consideration that today a disc of 80 minutes
playing time is no problem at all, two discs which take one hour and 45 minutes
in total is a little less than impressive.
That is all the more regrettable as the recording of a liturgical work like
this is very important. I had never heard of it and obviously this is the
first (almost) complete recording. Offices like this are known from other
parts of Europe, but one of the fruits of the revival of interest in early
music is the growing awareness of the differences within the repertoire across
Europe. This music from one of the relative outer ends of the continent bears
witness to that. The importance of a production like this cannot be overstated.
The performances are outstanding: the legato singing of men and women is perfect
and completely natural. The solo contributions of members of the Consortium
Vocale Oslo are very good. The text is always clearly audible. The production
also deserves an A: the booklet includes much historical, musical and liturgical
information in a clearly intelligible English translation. The printed booklet
omits the words, but a booklet with texts and English translations can be
downloaded from the Lawo site. The last page of the words is missing; instead
the previous page is included twice. But as the last page includes only the
second half of the text of the Magnificat this is not a serious problem.
If you are interested in liturgical music, and especially in plainchant, this
is a production not to be missed.
Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen
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