Mississippi Early Music Ensemble

Performances, 2003-2006

In Principio

On October 12, 2006, the Mississippi Early Music Ensemble, along with Mockingbird, performed at a concert of medieval music held for the annual meeting of the Southeastern Medieval Association (SEMA). MEME performed monophonic sacred music, including a large segment of the Ordo Virtutum, an allegorical play by Hildegard of Bingen.

Music the Time Beguileth

On May 1, 2006 the Mississippi Early Music Ensemble presented a concert of seventeenth-century music in Paris-Yates Chapel on the University of Mississippi campus. The program included a variety of vocal and instrumental works for dance, recreation, and worship. Highlights included madrigals by Don Carlo Gesualdo and Thomas Weelkes for soloists, "Zefiro torna," a famous springtime duet by Claudio Monteverdi, and Orlando Gibbons's inimitable "Cries of London," evoking life on the city streets, in which vendors, criers and beggars all sing their distinctive songs above an instrumental fantasia.

Christmas in New Spain

The music of Latin America during the Renaissance and Baroque periods was featured in a performance by the Mississippi Early Music Ensemble, entitled "Christmas in New Spain," on Tuesday, November 29 at 8:00 PM in the Paris-Yates Chapel on the University of Mississippi campus. Soon after the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Peru in the 1520s, Spanish missionaries introduced European music and instruments in the effort to convert the natives to Christianity. These colonies quickly developed a flourishing musical culture combining European church music, dance music and opera with the music of native Americans and African slaves. Especially popular were songs for the Christmas season, when European, Indian and African groups competed in processional songs and dances representing their distinctive ethnic cultures. Some dances combined European and African influences, resulting in the very first Afro-Caribbean popular dances, predecessors of the mambo, rumba and lambada. The program features a Magnificat by Fernández, a demonstration piece by Mexican-born musician Manuel de Zumaya, and an Afro-Bolivian street processional by Juan de Arauxo, along with organ and recorder pieces, guitar dances, and carols in Spanish, Nahuatl and Galician.

A Spring Potpourri

Homeland security, ancient history, love and marriage were among the themes in the Mississippi Early Music Ensemble's spring concert on May 4, 2005 in Paris-Yates Chapel. The program featured instrumental and vocal works from the 1600s that evoke war and love, including a wedding motet by Heinrich Schütz, a song for synagogue worship by Salamone Rossi, a lament for Prince Henry of England and a commentary on Julius Caesar's reaction upon seeing his enemy's severed head. The featured work was Henry Purcell's music for Bonduca, depicting a British revolt against Roman rule in A.D. 62; Purcell's score, one of his finest and most dramatic, was first performed in 1695, less than a month before the composer's death at age 35.

Magnificat!

The Mississippi Early Music Ensemble (MEME) presented a holiday concert on on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. in Paris-Yates Chapel on the University of Mississippi campus. The concert included a variety of vocal and instrumental music from the Renaissance and baroque periods. Featured seasonal works included a Magnificat by Dietrich Buxtehude and a Christmas motet by Michael Praetorius. Also included were madrigals by Marenzio and Tomkins, a song with words by Sir Walter Raleigh, and a variety of instrumental works. Featured instruments included recorders, viols, harpsichord, and pipe organ.

The Revels of Spring

On Sunday, May 2, 2004, the Mississippi Early Music Ensemble presented The Revels of Spring, a program of dance music and theatrical music referring to or incorporating dance. Selections included instrumental dances, balletti (vocal pieces made to accompany dance), and two theatrical works. The first act of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo celebrates the marriage of Orpheus and Euridice with a dance of nymphs and shepherds; Lully's famous "Passacaille d'Armide" is an extended dance interlude celebrating the joys of love.

The Play of Daniel: a 13th-Century Musical Drama

On Tuesday, December 2, 2003, the Mississippi Early Music Ensemble presented Ludus Danielis (The Play of Daniel), a medieval liturgical drama. Written by the choristers of Beauvais for the unruly celebrations of the Christmas season, the play employs acting, costumes and props, and features both rich pageantry and musical characterization of dramatic roles in two stories from the biblical Book of Daniel. The play was staged in the Paris-Yates Chapel on the Ole Miss campus.

Spring Is For the Birds

The Mississippi Early Music Ensemble presented its annual spring concert on April 30, 2003 in the Paris-Yates Chapel on the Ole Miss campus. MEME's first all-secular concert, the program had the theme "Spring is for the birds," and emphasized the sounds of spring, especially those of the winged tribe. Featured were "The Nightingale" for solo recorder, Le Chant des Oiseaux by Jannequin, several English consort songs, and "The Country Cries" by Richard Dering.

Performances, 1998-2002

Performances, 1995-1997