(Above) Cover image from the performance Program.

(Above) Consort Iridiana and Director, Jonathan Williams performing An Imaginary Pilgrimage in March 2010 at University of Oxford.

(Above) A manuscript sheet of music brought to life by Consort Iridiana in the March 2010 performance.

Links

In mari via tua (plainsong), (Dominican, 1335-1345)
Cantors: Lucinda Cox & Zoë Bristow
[Listen to MP3]

An Imaginary Pilgrimage performance program
[Download PDF]

Consort Iridiana
http://consortiridiana.squarespace.com

An Imaginary Pilgrimage

Written and Presented by Dr Kathryne Beebe
VH Galbraith Fellow in Medieval History
St Hilda’s College

with
Catherine Groom (medieval harp)
and
David Maw (organ)

Directed by Dr Jonathan Williams
Director of College Music
St Hilda’s College

Consort Iridiana
Zoë Bristow, Emily Clarke, Philippa Clay, Nancy Cole, Lucinda Cox, Amy Crothers, Clare Evans, Catherine Groom, Charlotte Hall, Lucy Matheson, Taya Smith & Alex Vinall

Historical Note
When the fifteenth-century Dominican Friar, Felix Fabri, left Ulm to make his two pilgrimages to the Holy Land, he strove to fulfill the promise he had made to the brethren of the Dominican Convent of Ulm to keep an exact record of all that he saw and
befell him. His vivid accounts became an inspiration to the sisters of nearby convents.
In 1492 and 1495, the nuns of Medingen and Medlingen copied his ‘virtual’ pilgrimage text for themselves. When reading it out in parts, day-by-day, they (Sÿon Bilgrin), spiritual pilgrims who
were different from the corporeal or ‘real’ pilgrim knights (Ritter Bilgrin). When interlaced with prayers and hymns, Fabri’s Sionpilger formed a spiritual guide — a means by which the nuns
themselves could, while still confined to their convents, make an imagined pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

This is a recreation of that journey.

Program

Longing
Urbs beata Jerusalem (plainsong)
solo by Taya Smith

Urbs beata Jerusalem,
dicta pacis visio,
quae construitur in caelis
vivis ex lapidibus,
et angelis coronata,
ut sponsata comite.

Amen

O blessed city of Jerusalem, whose name means ‘vision of peace’, Built in the
heavens of living stones and adorned by the angels as in bridal splendour.
Amen.

Arrival in Venice

In mari via tua et semitae tuae in aquis multis : * [et vestigia tua non cognoscentur.]

Deduxisti sicut oves populum tuum, * in manu Mosi et Aaron.

Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, [though
your footprints were not seen.] You led your people like a flock by the hand of
Moses and Aaron.

†

Departure from Venice
In Gottes Namen fahren wir, by Huldrich Braetel, 1495-1544

In Gottes Namen fahren wir
sein heilger Engel geh uns führ
wie dem Volk im Agyptenland
das entging Pharaonis Hand.
Kyrieleis.

In Gottes Namen fahren wir
seiner Gnaden begeren wir
das hellf uns die gottes Krafft
und das heylige Grab, da Gott lag
Kyrie elesion
Christe eleison
Kyrie elesion

We go forth in the name of God, his holy angel guiding us as the people in Egypt escaped from the hand of Pharoah. Kyrie elesion. We go forth in the
name of God. We desire His mercy. God's strength be of help to us and the holy Tomb, where God had lain. Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison.

†

First sight of the Holy Land
Te deum laudamus (a3) (excerpt) by Gilles Binchois, 1400-1460

Te Deum laudamus:
te Dominum confitemur.
Te aeternum Patrem
omnis terra veneratur.
Tibi omnes Angeli;
tibi caeli et universae Potestates;
tibi Cherubim et Seraphim
incessabili voce proclamant:
Sanctus, Sanctus...

We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting. To thee all Angels cry aloud, the
Heavens, and all the Powers therein; to thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, ‘Holy, Holy...’

†

Vespertide at Joppa
Clausula super Thomas (from a 13thC Easter play at Tours, France)
Medieval Harp: Catherine Groom

†

Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
An Eastertide Alleluia from the Liber Usualis
Cantor: Alex Vinall

Christ der ist erstanden by Hans Judenkunig, 1445-1526
Sung by Alex Vinall and Nancy Cole

Christ der ist erstanden
von seiner Marter alle;
des solln wir alle froh sein,
Christ soll unser Trost sein.
Kyrie eleison.

Wär er nicht erstanden,
so wär die Welt vergangen;
seit dass er erstanden ist,
so lobn wir den Vater Jesu Christ'.
Kyrie eleison.

Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah!
Des solln wir alle froh sein,
Christ will unser Trost sein.
Kyrie eleison.

Christ is arisen from all of the torment; we should all rejoice. Christ will be our comfort. Kyrie eleison. Had he not arisen, the world would have ended, and since he is arisen, we praise the Lord Jesus Christ. Kyrie eleison. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We should all rejoice. Christ will be our comfort. Kyrie eleison.

†

Journey through the desert: a unicorn sighting
Ave Maria by Anon. Plainsong from the Liber Usualis

†

To Mount Siani
Magnificat sexti toni from the Lochamer Liederbuch (c.1450s)
Medieval Harp: Catherine Groom

†

St Katherine’s Monastery
Virgo sancta Katherina by Nicolas Gombert, c.1495 – c.1560
Source: Liber quartus .xxix. musicales quatuor vel quinque parium vocum
modulos habet (Paris: Attaingnant, 1534). RISM 1534/6

Virgo sancta Katherina
Grecie gemma urbe Alexandria
et Costi regis erat filia.

O filia, scholarum gaudium;
O filia, pudoris lilium;
O filia, virgo Katherina.

O mater nostra,
ter sancta quaterque beata,
virgo sancta Katherina,
famularum suscipe vota.
Amen

Holy virgin Catherine, Grecian gem, in the city of Alexandria, was the daughter of King Costas. Daughter, joy of scholars; daughter, lily of modesty; daughter, virgin Catherine. Our mother, thrice holy and fourfold blessed, holy virgin Catherine, receive the prayers of your servants.

†

The beginning of the return: descent from Mount Sinai
Alma Redemptoris mater by Josquin des Préz, c.1450 – 1521

Alma Redemptoris mater
que pervia celi
porta manes
et stella maris
succurre cadenti
surgere qui curat populo.

Sweet Mother of the Redeemer, that passage to heaven, gate of the morning, and star of the sea, assist the fallen; arise, you who watch over the people.

†

Home again
Urbs beata Jerusalem from the Hymnary of Nevers, 12C

Urbs beata Jerusalem,
dicta pacis visio,
quae construitur in caelis
vivis ex lapidibus,
et angelis coronata,
ut sponsata comite.

Nova veniens e coelo
nuptiali thalamo.
Praeparata, ut sponsata,
copuletur Domino.
Plateae et muri ejus
ex auro purissimo.

Portae nitent margaritis,
adytis patentibus,
et virtute meritorum
Illuc introducitur
omnis qui ob Christi nomen
Hic in mundo premitur.

Tunsionibus, pressuris,
Expoliti lapides,
suis coaptantur locis,
per manus artificis,
Disponuntur permansuri
sacris aedificiis. Amen.

O blessed city of Jerusalem, whose name means ‘vision of peace’; built in the heavens of living stones and adorned by the angels as in bridal splendour; coming new from heaven; prepared for the wedding chamber; as a bride, she is united to the Lord. Her streets and walls are of purest gold. Her gates glisten with pearls set. In evidence and by virtue of his merits thither is introduced every man who here in the world is oppressed on account of Christ’s name.

The polished stones are adapted to their places by strong blows; by the hand of the Artisan the sacred buildings take permanent shape. Glory and honour to the most high God, Father, Son and venerable Paraclete together, to whom is due praise and might to the ages of ages. Amen.

Kathryne Beebe
Dr Kathryne Beebe is the VH Galbraith Teaching & Research Fellow at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. Before arriving at St. Hilda’s in 2008, she studied at Pembroke College, Oxford, and was a Junior Research Fellow in History at Balliol College, Oxford. Her research interests include medieval pilgrimage, the history of the book, women’s history and the cultural history of spirituality. Her doctoral research, which is currently being revised for publication, centered on the readership and reception of the four Holy Land pilgrimage narratives written by the fifteenth-century Dominican, Felix Fabri. At present, Kathryne is also embarking upon a new project entitled ‘Holy Places and Holy Writ—Travel as Text in the Late Middle Ages’, where she plans to investigate the connection between spiritual pilgrimage (for travelers who journeyed only in the imagination) and religious reform in pre-Reformation Germany.

Jonathan Williams
Jonathan is a busy conductor, orchestrator, composer and musicologist. He has conducted much of the orchestral and choral/orchestral repertoire with numerous groups including English Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, Charivari Agréable Simfonie, the Oxford Chamber Orchestra and the University of London Choir and Orchestra, and with such internationallyacclaimed artists as Ian Bostridge, Sally Matthewsa and Kate Royal. He has also worked in opera, conducting numerous productions including the first staged run on period instruments in Britain of Mozart’s Idomeneo. Jonathan has also worked on soundtracks for video games with combined sales of over 50 million copies, and regularly composes, orchestrates and conducts symphonic scores for film, TV and video games at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. Work in education has played an important part in Jonathan's life too: in 1992 he started teaching Orchestration at the University and began reading for his doctorate on the operas of Jean- Philippe Rameau (since published by Bärenreiter); he was a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1994 to 2000; he studied orchestration in Hollywood and with James MacMillan, and is currently working on a book on Orchestration for OUP. Jonathan was appointed Director of College Music at St Hilda’s in 2006.

Consort Iridiana
CONSORT IRIDIANA is a new all-female choir founded by Dr Jonathan Williams, conductor and Director of College Music at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. Named after the Greek goddess Iris, who travelled along rainbows to bring messages from the heavens to the earth, Iridiana sings a wide range of music for female voices, from Hildegard of Bingen to newly-commissioned music. Since their debut at Oxford's University Church, Iridiana has quickly found itself at the heart of music-making in the city, performing at the prestigious Oxford Lieder Festival, at a sell-out concert at the University Church, at St Hilda's College and for Evensong at Christ Church Cathedral.