Mississippi Early Music Ensemble: Past Performances

Mississippi Early Music Ensemble

Performances, 1995-1997

The Christmas Story

On December 1, 1997, Mississippi Early Music Ensemble joined with the UM Chamber Singers, directed by Philip Copeland, to present a holiday concert at First Presbyterian Church, Oxford, Mississippi, beginning at 8:15 PM. The concert included a number of sacred and secular works, including a group of madrigals and partsongs praising the power of music to move the human affections. The featured work was The Christmas Story by seventeenth-century German composer Heinrich Schütz, first performed at Christmas Vespers in 1660 in Dresden. This splendid work, performed in English, is a musical dramatization of the gospel narrative of the birth of Christ, with musical characterizations of characters such as Angels, Shepherds, Wise Men, High Priests, and King Herod, each accompanied by appropriate instruments such as violins, recorders, bassoon, trombones, and trumpets.

Kalenda Maya

On Thursday, May 1, 1997, Mississippi Early Music Ensemble celebrated May Day with a concert of early music of several countries. The program included May songs by troubadours, lyric poets of the Middle Ages, love songs by Isaac and Senfl (with recorders and krummhorns), a consort anthem of Orlando Gibbons (with strings), and an outdoor motet of J.S. Bach (with brass). Also included was a set of English madrigals dedicated to Elizabeth I. The concert was held in Meek Hall Auditorium.

Messe de Minuit

On Monday, December 2, 1996, the Mississippi Early Music Ensemble presented a holiday concert of early music from France, including Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Messe de minuit sur des airs de Noël (midnight mass based on popular Christmas melodies), with chorus, soloists, recorders, and strings. The concert was held at First Presbyterian Church, Oxford, Mississippi, beginning at 8:15 PM. A portion of this program was presented at noon on December 4 as part of the Advent music series at First Presbyterian Church.

Memphis Early Music Festival

The Mississippi Early Music Ensemble was one of eight ensembles on the program of the Memphis Early Music Festival at Calvary Episcopal Church, Memphis, Tennessee on October 27, 1996. Also taking part were the Memphis Early Music Ensemble, the University of Memphis Early Music Consort, the Lipscomb University Early Music Consort, Barbara Christensen, harp, the Calvary Choir, the Memphis Chamber Choir, Mona Bulpitt Kreitner, soprano with Musica Secreta and Charlotte McLain, harpsichord, and featured group PanHarmonium.

Schütz and his Venetian Contemporaries.

This spring the Mississippi Early Music Ensemble (MEME) joined with three other ensembles, the University of Memphis Collegium Musicum, directed by Ken Kreitner, the University of Mississippi Chamber Singers, directed by UM graduate students Jeff Chipman and Rebecca Brown, and the University of Mississippi Trombone Choir, directed by Milton Aldana, in a concert of polychoral and chamber works by Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) and his Venetian contemporaries. The program was presented on Tuesday, April 16, 1996, in Harris Auditorium on the University of Memphis campus, and repeated on Tuesday, April 23, in the Ole Miss Union.

In Memoriam Henry Purcell

Members of the Mississippi Early Music Ensemble (MEME) recently joined with the ensemble PanHarmonium in presenting a concert in memory of Henry Purcell (1659-1695) on the three hundredth anniversary of his death. The memorial concert took place on Tuesday, January 16, 1996, in Meek Auditorium on the University of Mississippi's Oxford campus, and featured chamber and stage music by Purcell, along with the Ode on the Death of Henry Purcell by John Blow. PanHarmonium comprises Thomas A. Gregg, David Cantrell, Gilbert Ritchie, and Susan Marchant; they were assisted by MEME members David Warren Steel and Ronald F. Vernon. The program was repeated on Sunday, January 28, at Tuscaloosa Unitarian Church, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Other performances

The Mississippi Early Music Ensemble (MEME) presented a program of early English music on Tuesday, November 14, 1995 in Meek Auditorium on the University of Mississippi's Oxford campus. The ensemble, consisting of UM students, faculty and staff, specializes in the interpretation of European music before 1700. The fall concert featured English music from the reign of Richard the Lion-Hearted to that of James I. Readings from Winston Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples complemented the music.

The Mississippi Early Music Ensemble (MEME) presented a program of early Italian music on Sunday, April 30, 1995, in Meek Auditorium on the University of Mississippi's Oxford Campus. For centuries Italy has been regarded as the most musical of European cultures, where noble and wealthy patrons considered it their duty to support the most talented composers and performers. It is the birthplace of opera, and also the madrigal, the sonata, and the concerto. Italian composers showed particular interest in expressing the emotions of a poem or drama through music. The spring concert included works contemporary with Dante and Boccaccio (fourteenth century) as well as Tasso and Michelangelo (sixteenth century), but emphasizes the early seventeenth century, when Italian composers created some of the most turbulent and expressive music ever written, among them a group of duets by Monteverdi, sacred works by Monteverdi and Carissimi, and a dramatic scene by the Venetian composer Giovanni Rovetta.

E-mail: Warren Steel (mudws@olemiss.edu)