The Choral Pilgrimage 2017: Exeter
25 May 2017
7.30pm
Exeter Cathedral

Tickets: £12 - £30 (Booking Fees Apply)
Online: http://bit.ly/2lUTM4T
Telephone: 01904 658 338

The Sixteen
Harry Christophers conductor

Programme
Poulenc Salve Regina
Palestrina ‘Surge amica mea’ and ‘Surgam et circuibo civitatem’ from Song of Songs
Palestrina Parce mihi, Domine
Poulenc Quatre motets pour un temps de penitence
Palestrina Peccantem me quotidie
Palestrina ‘Kyrie’, ‘Gloria’ and ‘Credo’ from Missa L’Homme Arme
Poulenc Un Soir de neige
Palestrina Salve Regina
Poulenc ‘Agnus Dei’ from Mass in G

Our 17th Choral Pilgrimage tour contrasts the music of the ‘Prince of polyphony’ Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina with the great 20th-century melodist Francis Poulenc.
‘For the Choral Pilgrimage 2017, I will be exploring the legacy of two composers, whose work, for me, represents the very pinnacle of sacred music – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Francis Poulenc. Both honest composers, they never try to appear other than they are. Palestrina is the master craftsman whose work composers from all ages have attempted to emulate, while Poulenc’s music always bears a human face and he himself felt he put his best and most authentic side into his choral writing.’ Harry Christophers

Based around the themes of conflict and atonement, Palestrina’s mass centring on the famous L’Homme Armé tune was immensely popular in the 16th century and its warlike nature serves as a timely reminder of the savagery of conflict, something which deeply affected Poulenc. Poulenc’s Un soir de neige, composed in December 1944, reflects both the inner feeling of peace generated by Christmas and the bleak solitude of another winter of occupation in France.