Victoria Children's Choir rehearses Vivaldi's "Gloria"

Madeleine Humer, Director of the Victoria Children's Choir, describes the challenges faced in rehearsing Vivaldi's "Gloria":

This has been a fascinating and very exciting project for me. From
the start when I started looking at the SATB score, and comparing the
parts that would have to be moved (tenor to soprano 2, bass to alto
2) to existing SSAA pieces by composers of the same era, I knew there
was going to be a lot of hard work ahead, but it would be so much fun.
The choristers from the VCC who sang last year had performed a mass
by Mozart, and so were already sold on the idea of early music
practices, as they found the music so much more interesting and fun
to sing, rather than singing in the usual romantic style. They were
so curious and excited about the prospect of singing another large
composition, and as many of them are also string players, could
hardly wait to work with period instrument musicians.
Learning the latin was a not a big challenge as the choir often sings
music with a latin text, and indeed in many other languages from
around the world. Singing in 4 parts is also quite normal for these
young singers. Performing a whole piece without a conductor was
something they were worried about, and although we have been
rehearsing it as such, it will not be known until the rehearsals with
the orchestra how it will all fit together. They were not very strong
at first with the word and note stresses, these being young singers
and as anyone knows who is insecure about anything, it is safer to
blend in rather than be noticed. However, one brief rehearsal with
Marc and the piece has come alive with contrasts of text and dynamics
as each chorister encourages the others to "go for it"!
It is this spirit of adventure, and of courage, and of support that
has really defined the learning process. These young singers have
jumped into the deep end of working through a "standard" choral
piece, one usually performed by an adult choir, with conductor, with
invited soloists and with many voices on each part, and in SATB where
the parts are spread out over a 3 octave range. The choristers of the
VCC (ages 12-16), will have no conductor to help them during the
performance, the soloists have been chosen from the choir, there are
only 5-7 voices on a part, and they are singing in close harmony (2
octave range). Luckily they are kids and show no fear! They decided
it was a matter of pride that THEIR section would not make any
errors, so they worked together as a team, each supporting the other,
more experienced singers standing next to the newest members, nodding
and pointing to keep them as one voice, encouraging the ones who had
not practiced to get going and catch up! Over half the choir took on
the extra work of learning the solos, coming in early to rehearsals,
listening to and learning from each other, no jealousy present but
keen to help and be there for the soloists and understudies who were
chosen. The hours have been happy, full of hard work and
frustrations, but the combined joy exploding from each of them when
we know that the last section, or phrase, or word stress, or dynamic
progression, or even as at last weekend's choir camp where each run
through was so much better than the previous one, has made a lasting
impression on me and everyone else involved. This is the essence of
singing in a choir, where a musical challenge is set out, we all work
so hard together as a team to get ready to perform it, and unlike
sports, there are NO losers. For these young musicians, their faces
said it all when I told them that the choir was giving them their
Vivaldi scores, and that we all knew this would be an experience none
of us would EVER forget!

Rehearsing Vivaldi's "Gloria"

COMMENTS FROM THE VICTORIA CHILDREN’S CHOIR MEMBERS ON REHEARSING VIVALDI'S "GLORIA":

Vivaldi’s “Gloria” is an amazing piece. As soon as you listen to it you fall in love with it. It’s very exciting and sounds brilliant! It’s comforting when you sing it because you know you’re surrounded by friends.

I’m having fun learning the “Gloria”. It’s a lot of work but in the moments where it comes together it really soars.

Singing this piece has brought me closer to everyone in the choir and has made us all better singers. This opportunity is the chance of a lifetime and I’m so proud to be part of it.

Vivaldi’s Gloria is an amazing and challenging piece. I feel very privileged to sing it. - Elanor

The music is amazing. I feel that, as a group, we are really able to convey what the music makes us feel.

Vivaldi takes a lot of focus and practice but with a group of kids working as hard as we have been I’m going to be so proud of everyone when it’s over. Good job guys!

The music is amazing and this group of people make it even better. I can’t wait to perform it.

When I was practicing with the whole choir I almost felt like crying because I was so happy to be doing what I love with friends I love.

The music is beautiful and all of the people performing it are so driven and skilled. It’s going to be amazing. - Morgan

It is a great experience learning such a spectacular work amongst friends and certainly something I will never forget. - HY

I’m so excited for when we perform Vivaldi. It is amazing.

Singing Vivaldi means singing in a group with friends and THAT is amazing!

Vivaldi’s “Gloria” takes so much discipline and focus and I’m so proud of everyone because of that. This piece has definitely brought our choir together. - Holly

I really like how you can just feel comfortable with everybody in the choir because they are all so amiable and the Vivaldi is so cool now that we have started to understand it so well. Madeleine is so nice, so is Margaret and Anthea and all the other helpers.

Vivaldi’s “Gloria” is such a hard piece to sing but Mads and our friends make it so much easier. - Marta

It has been a great experience singing Vivaldi’s “Gloria” with a great director and so many other talented singers. A once in a lifetime opportunity.

Vivaldi’s “Gloria” is an incredible piece. It’s difficult to learn but very rewarding. We would never have done it without our amazing director, Mads! - Matt

Marc Destrubé on the Festival

What is a festival? It can be many things, but essentially it provides an opportunity to explore one aspect of a culture through more than a single event. In this case we are exploring music of the baroque period (1600 to 1750 more or less), and each year we are focusing on one composer, or a geographical area, or some particular aspect of music in baroque times.

Now about to have its fourth incarnation, the Pacific Baroque Festival is starting to take on a recognizable form: two main concerts on a Friday and Saturday night in early February as well as smaller events before and after. These events feature Canadian musicians along with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, The Festivals' 'ensemble in residence'.

Why baroque music? Well, in some strange way, the modern world perhaps resembles the baroque world more than it resembles the romantic era, whose music and style of music making most of us grew up with. Composers in the baroque period were not romantic heroes, they were hard working practicing musicians, primarily concerned with preparing for an upcominig performance, and they certainly did not imagine that their music was being written for posterity, given that their audiences were only interested in new and recent music. Indeed, Vivaldi's music fell into obscurity after his death until the early part of the 20th Century (the Gloria first appeared in 1939 during Alfredo Casella's 'Vivaldi's Week')

Baroque music in the early 20th Century was performed in a thoroughly romantic style - it was turned into romantic music! - and only with the advent of a widespread interest in period instruments and performance practice in the 1970's did the music of Vivaldi and his fellows begin to sound something like what it might have done in his time. A main thrust of the period instrument movement was to approach old music like new music, and this is indeed the reason for us to be including the premiere of a new work at this year's festival by a talented Canadian virtuoso, Terri Hron; it gives us a more real sense of the experience of an audience in the 18th Century, hearing a completely unknown work for the very first time, in a performance directly involving a composer.

This leads me straight on to another important aspect of the Pacific Baroque Festival, the featuring of guest artists from close to home who are known internationally. We are blessed with an extraordinary wealth of talent on the Canadian landscape, particularly amongst singers (there are at least 5 internationally renowned singers from Vancouver Island that spring immediately to mind, including Diana Krall), and the festival will continue to include them (maybe not the latter...)

The music of the festival will bring some cheer to the typical rainy days of February. For me, it gives me a more tangible connection with the wonderful place where I spent the first two decades of my life, and a chance to give something back to the community which gave me so much in my growing-up years.