Choral Arts celebrates Britten’s 100th

But Britten also turned out pieces specifically written for the amateur choral and instrumental groups that play an important role in British social life. Britten valued that tradition and respected the people who participated in it.

Choral Arts Philadelphia concluded its celebration of Britten’s 100th birthday with a program that captured the full spirit of that part of Britten’s legacy. Choral Arts is itself a splendid example of Philadelphia’s long tradition of volunteer choruses, in which professional conductors direct vocalists who take on demanding work for the sheer joy of it. For this concert, Choral Arts joined forces with two other Philadelphia organizations that would have warmed Britten’s heart.

‘Widely varying skills’

The Musicopia String Orchestra is a local organization based on the system of youth orchestras that has transformed the lives of children in the poorest areas of Venezuela and South America. The Musicopia accepts students with “widely varying skill levels,” drawn from all the Philadelphia schools— public, private, and parochial.

The Archdiocesan Girls Choir represents the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which hosted the event as part of its “Concerts in the Basilica” series at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral. These girls sang the boys’ parts in Britten’s St. Nicolas cantata, but I’m certain Britten wouldn’t have objected. Many of his pieces were deliberately composed so amateur groups could use whatever forces happened to be available.

Choral Arts’ artistic director, Matthew Glandorf, arranged the program so all three organizations enjoyed a moment in the spotlight. Choral Arts led off with Britten’s 1942 Hymn to St. Cecilia— a continuation of the old tradition of honoring the patron saint of music with an ode on her day (November 22, which also happens to be Britten’s birthday). W.H. Auden’s text can be obscure in places, but it includes some cheerfully wry modern passages. The hymn would have been worth hearing just for the section that passed the solo part among three Choral Arts sopranos.

Reviving dead boys

The Musicopia String Orchestra then took on the “Playful Pizzicato” movement from Britten’s Simple Symphony— a piece for amateur musicians that requires professionally disciplined timing as the sections of the orchestra interact. The Diocesan girls followed, appropriately, with the exultant setting of Psalm 150, Praise the Lord in His Holiness, which Britten composed for the children who celebrated the centenary of his own English prep school.

All three groups joined forces for the crown jewel of the celebration. St. Nicolas bypasses the sentimental imagery of the Christmas season by focusing on the Third Century bishop whose legend merged with the traditions that gave us Father Christmas and Santa Claus. Nicolas of Myra was noted for his piety and his habit of delivering gifts in secret. He became a patron of children because of his deeds on their behalf— most notably a miracle in which he restored three boys who’d been killed and turned into pickled meat during a famine.

The libretto by Britten’s colleague, Eric Crozier, ranges from comic touches in the account of Nicolas’s early life to moments of great solemnity. The affair of the Pickled Boys adds a note of early-Christian weirdness that Britten’s music turns into a touching triumph.

Audience response

Britten possessed a genius for engaging the audience in his communal works. For me, the high point of Saint Nicolas follows Nicolas’s oath of service when he becomes bishop. A chorus describing his duties grows in force and complexity until it reaches a pitch that demands a reaction from the audience.

At that moment, when an opera audience might burst into irresistible applause, Britten provides the perfect response: He has the audience rise and join the cast in one of the noblest of Christian hymns, All People That on Earth do Dwell, sung to the familiar tune of the Doxology that most Protestant denominations sing every Sunday. When it was sung at that point in the cantata, with the voices of the audience filling the Basilica, it created one of the most emotional moments I’ve experienced at a concert.

Britten brings the St. Nicolas cantata to a satisfying close with another bit of audience participation: “God Works in a Mysterious Way, His Wonders to Perform,” sung in response to Nicolas’s serene death.

Glandorf proved the ideal conductor for a concert celebrating this aspect of Britten’s career. He obviously shares Britten’s enthusiasm for the communal aspects of his art, along with Britten’s ability to combine that enthusiasm with a firm commitment to quality. Tenor Summer Thompson sang Nicolas with grace and dignity, and the rest of the cast gave Glandorf a response that matched his vision.

According to Glandorf’s program notes, St. Nicolas is the patron saint not only of children but also of sailors, merchants, archers, thieves, pawnbrokers and students— the kind of company that any writer can relate to. My subsequent Web search revealed that his brief also includes scholars and happy marriages. My bona fides in those areas (especially the second) offer me some hope that I can slip into gatherings of his core group, with the aid of a little journalistic fast talk.