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1. In the early 1930s Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote two Welsh folk songs for the Gregynog Choir. These commissions were never performed and Tenebrae have been invited to Premiere them at the 75th Anniversary Year of the Gwyl Gregynog Festival. The two folk songs are ‘Gan mlynedd i ‘nawr’ and Tros y mor’ and will be part of the concert at the Music Hall in Gregynog on 15th June.
2. Welsh-born composer Hilary Tann has also been commissioned to write a piece to mark the occasion of the Festival’s anniversary celebrations. This World Premiere will comprise part of the same Tenebrae concert. ‘Paradise’ sets the text of the George Herbert poem.
3. Tenebrae’s summer season of Premieres continues with the launch of a new project entitled ‘Rhenus Fluvius’ (music by Nigel Short and libretto by the Swiss poet Jurg Fankhauser). The opening movement will receive its first performance at the City of London Festival on the 30th June in the beautiful venue of Merchant Taylor Hall. The work follows the progression of the river Rhine from its source to the sea, visiting peoples, places, languages and folklores along the way. It is due for completion in 2009 and will be toured in Europe thereafter.
4. As the year heads towards a close and the darker evenings set in, Tenebrae will return to Geneva for their annual ‘Choeurs de Lumière’ concerts. Illuminated solely by the gradual lighting of thousands of candles these concerts have become an annual pilgrimage for hundreds of concert-goers in the Swiss-Romande area. This year Tenebrae is delighted that renowned French composer Pierre Thilloy will write a piece specifically for these extraordinary concerts. The World Premiere and subsequent performance will be on the 14th and 15th November 2008 respectively in Geneva Cathedral.
A chance encounter leads to a new Tenebrae commission by French composer Pierre Thilloy:
While working on the Choeurs de Lumière 2008 project, I noticed the biography of Pierre Thilloy, a French composer, sitting on the desk of our colleague Pierre-Yves Detrey.
Upon closer examination, it turned out that Pierre Thilloy was not only an incredibly productive composer, but he has been the recipient of many prestigious and outstanding awards world-wide, and he is very much in demand.
Renato Häusler, the creator of the Choeurs de Lumière projects, and I had often talked about commissioning a work written specifically for these extraordinary concerts. We decided to contact Pierre to organise a meeting and present our project.
Some time later, we met with Pierre on top of the tower of Lausanne Cathedral, where Renato works as the Nightwatch. It turned out we did not need to present Tenebrae and the project to Pierre at all. He had heard of it and had listened to some Tenebrae recordings, and the idea was sold!
It felt as if we were meant to meet and work together.
Pierre recently took a trip to Echternach, Luxembourg to hear Tenebrae ‘live’ and to meet Nigel Short. He was, again, incredibly impressed with the quality of Tenebrae’s performance, and he will now start writing a piece based on the theme of ‘darkness and light’, working closely with Nigel. The work will have its World Premiere during the Choeurs de Lumière concert on November 14 at the Geneva Cathedral, Switzerland.
We feel very privileged to work with Pierre and look forward to discovering this new piece.
Barbara Pollock
Website – Pierre Thilloy
The World Premiere of the first movement of ‘Rhenus Fluvius’ will take place on June 30, 2008 at the City of London Festival, Merchant Taylors’ Hall, London (see diary).
text: Jürg Fankhauser music: Nigel Short
Rhenus Fluvius – Jürg Fankhauser: 
When I met Nigel Short in Villars-sur-Ollon, high up in the Swiss mountains, he told me that he was looking for a text to set to music for his choir Tenebrae. He was thinking of a work that would specifically address the cultural and historical aspects of the European mainland. I immediately thought of the Rhine, a fascinating river that has always separated and joined the peoples that traveled the land, that has witnessed great conflicts and created strong friendships and a sense of community. The cultures of the Celts, Romans, Germanics and many kingdoms and principalities flourished along the banks of the river Rhine.
I climbed the mountains of the Grison towards the spring of the Rhine, up to Lake Tuma, where I stumbled upon a small perfect mountain crystal – a good omen for the success of the work! On foot and bicycle, I followed the Rhine down to the mouth of the river in Rotterdam, Holland. The Rhine Falls and the Lorelei, as well as towns like Basel (Erasmus of Rotterdam), Worms (The song of the Nibelung), Cologne and Rotterdam left a deep impression and inspired me. In addition, the golden Riesling greatly enhanced my enthusiasm…
I quickly decided that each part of the work had to be sung in the language of the place itself. The work is introduced by the God of Water giving the gift of spring water, in Latin, a language apt for Gods. The birth of the Rhine in the Alps is sung in the Romansch dialect of the Surselva, followed by German, French, Middle High German and Dutch, as the Rhine flows into the ocean and, with a distant reminder of the Romansch call, blends with the sea’s salty waters.
Jürg Markus Fankhauser, born in 1954, grew up in Bern, Switzerland. He studied at the Universities of Bern and Paris, and today teaches languages.
His literary work includes several plays, the historical novel “Limes”, the detective novel “Mond über der Toscana”, short stories and many songs and texts for groups and composers.
Jürg Fankhauser lives with his family in Twann on Lake Bienne, Switzerland.
Tenebrae is now in its sixth year and, under the direction of Nigel Short and managment of Mme Pollock and her team, each year sees new and exciting projects for the choir.
Recent highlights have included tours to Spain and Bermuda, working and recording with the LSO, concerts at the Proms and City of London Festival, the ‘Choeur de Lumiere’ projects, commissions, recordings and invitations to numerous European Festivals.
We would like to take a moment to thank all the visitors to this site who follow Tenebrae and its development. This latest version of the Tenebrae site was created just over a year ago, and has already exceeded 100,000 unique visitors – so thank you!
One particular visitor (who we refer to as Tenebrae’s ‘uber-fan’) has taken the time to log on many hundreds of times, entered many different searches, and helped to raise the Tenebrae site in the heirarchy of search engines in general (we know who you are!)
Thank you to all our supporters, visitors, contributors and concert goers.
Tenebrae
Tenebrae appears in the May 2008 edition of the Classic FM magazine with the ‘LSO Live’ recording of Handel’s Messiah, specifically the track ‘And the Glory of the Lord’. Of the Top 300 recordings reviewed and recommended the LSO / Tenebrae offering was voted in at number 20.
The LSO Live recording of L’Enfance du Christ, also featuring Tenebrae, also makes an appearance in the top 300 at number 252.
These recording are available through most outlets or online and through iTunes :
LSO Live – LSO0607 (Messiah) / LSO Live – LSO LSO0606
http://lso.co.uk/buyrecordings