Handelfest
Saturday, April 26, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Southminster United Church, 15 Aylmer Ave, Ottawa
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CONTENTS
Word of Welcome from the Chair | An Introduction by the Music Director | Program | Program Notes | Performers | Rideau Chorale | Special Acknowledgement | Donors & Sponsors | Upcoming Concerts | Program Text & Translation
WORD OF WELCOME FROM THE CHAIR
Welcome to the spring performance of Rideau Chorale’s 2024-25 season. Tonight you’ll hear a selection of pieces by George Friderick Handel.
Handel is most commonly known for his Messiah, but the Coronation Anthems are not far behind. They have featured in every British coronation since the 1727 coronation of King George II and Queen Caroline. We are delighted to sing these Anthems alongside some of Handel’s shorter pieces and love songs.
Rideau Chorale is a volunteer-run, charitable organization and we rely on the support of our donors and sponsors. Your generosity allows us to stage these concerts and work alongside, and learn from, professional musicians. Also key to our efforts are the dedicated volunteers, both choir members and others. Our donors, sponsors and volunteers are truly appreciated.
There is another group essential to our ability to share this wonderful musical experience and that is, of course, you. Thank you for allowing us the pleasure of singing for you.
We continue to welcome singers from across the National Capital Region. Check out our website for more information about our activities and how you can support Rideau Chorale.
Enjoy the performance!
Janice Manchee
Chair, Rideau Chorale
AN INTRODUCTION BY THE MUSIC DIRECTOR
Thank you all for supporting Rideau Chorale this evening for our final concert of the season; I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with this ensemble now for two whole years!
Handel’s Coronation Anthems seem to exemplify and encompass every stylistic aspect of this virtuosic genius, and as a result, are great fun to sing. In these strange and unsettling times, they offer optimism and hope for the well-being of one’s country, as I’m certain was their purpose in 18th century England.
Having sung these anthems a few times in the past, I like to think the choir has been duly challenged with this music – in a good way – and I’m sure you’ll agree they’ve risen to the occasion with enthusiasm.
I’d especially like to welcome our guest artists Ania, Mark, Travis, Alastair, Andrea, Zac, and Matthew for their terrific contributions to this concert; it’s such a good feeling knowing there is so much talent in this city.
Enjoy Handel-fest!
Kevin Reeves
Music Director, Rideau Chorale
PROGRAM
Awake the Trumpet’s Lofty Sound |Text
Zadok the Priest | Text
Music, Spread Thy Voice Around | Text
See, the Conquering Hero Comes | Text
Eternal Source of Light Divine | Text
Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened | Text
Caro Bella | Text
The King Shall Rejoice | Text
Let the Bright Seraphim | Text
My Heart is Inditing | Text
PROGRAM NOTES
When one pictures the sights and sounds of Georgian England, one can’t help but picture grand neoclassical country houses, sprawling gardens, and royal barge ceremonies. Undoubtedly, the music playing in the background is regal and elegant. More likely than not, this music bears a close resemblance to Music for the Royal Fireworks or perhaps the “Hallelujah” chorus from Messiah. All of these and more were the works of one German emigre, George Frideric Handel, whose music has become emblematic of the Georgian period and more broadly, the English royal family in our shared cultural imagination.
Handel was born in the year 1685 in Halle, Germany, then part of Brandenburg-Prussia. Very little is known about his childhood in Halle. However, there are apocryphal stories that the young Handel kept a secret spinet (an early keyboard instrument) in his family’s attic to practice on because his practical barber-surgeon father disapproved of his musical propensities. In any case, some time before he turned ten years old, the young Handel’s talents were brought before Duke Johann Adolf I of Saxe-Weissenfels, who recommended that the young boy receive formal music lessons.
Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow was engaged to teach him and exposed him to a wide array of contemporary German and Italian music of all different genres, instruments, and schools of composition. Much of the composer’s signature blend of different international styles can be credited to this intensive period of early exposure to diverse types of music. The young student was soon given more and more responsibilities. His teacher was known to often be absent from his work as a church organist due to his tendency to stay up all night partying, so Handel often filled in as an organist at a very young age. Reportedly, from the age of nine onwards, he showed a precocious talent for composition and composed a church service every week for three years.
Following a brief period of study in Berlin sometime during his tween years, he pursued a degree in the liberal arts at the University of Halle in 1702. This was perhaps to fulfil a promise to his father, who had died five years earlier and who hoped that his son would pursue a formal education. At this time, he worked as the organist of the Calvinist Cathedral in Halle, the Domkirche. He also befriended Georg Philip Telemann, who was studying law in Leipzig, and the two developed a deep friendship. They frequently wrote to one another and loved to share and critique one another’s compositions.
After his contract ended in Halle, Handel relocated to Hamburg. It is often believed that this move was made because he refused Frederick I of Prussia’s offer to send him to study in Italy for a brief period, with the understanding that he would become his court musician upon his return. Handel seemed to possess an aversion to the idea of servitude, possibly influenced by the teachings of Christian Thomasius, an early Enlightenment philosopher under whom he studied in Halle. As Handel wanted to move away from a life of church work and was drawn to Italian operatic music, Hamburg, a free imperial city since the 12th century with no prince and an acclaimed opera company, was a natural choice for the young composer. His first operas, Almira and Nero were produced for the Oper am Gänsemarkt in 1705, soon followed by Daphne and Florindo in 1708.
Handel was finally able to travel to Italy in 1706 when he was extended an invitation by the Medici family to visit Florence. During this time, the Medicis were trying to rival Venice and make Florence the music capital of Italy. From there, he was able to travel to Rome, where he was first exposed to the Oratorio, a genre that he would become famous for later in his career. Oratorio is an un-staged dramatic genre that is musically similar to opera, though it exclusively uses religious stories. It became popular in seventeenth-century Italy when opera and other dramatic performances were prohibited during the season of Lent. Oratorio provided musicians otherwise employed by theatres with work and allowed entertainment-hungry crowds to enjoy seasonally appropriate diversions. It was in Italy where Handel first cut his teeth at oratorio, with the 1707 premiere of Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Truth). In addition to this exploration, he also wrote several operas during this time. Rodrigo (1707), his first all-Italian opera, was produced in Florence, and Agrippina (1709) played for 27 successive nights in Venice to great acclaim.
In 1710, Handel left Italy to become the Kapellmeister of Prince George, the Elector of Hanover, but he barely lasted for eight months and abandoned his post for London. There, he premiered his quickly composed but massively successful Rinaldo in late 1710. This was the first work of opera seria (Italian dramatic opera) explicitly written for performance in England. The novelty of this new import piqued the interest of the English upper class, with whom the genre would become increasingly popular. Handel went on to accrue a wide array of wealthy patrons in his first years in England, including Queen Anne, who granted him a yearly income of £200, an amount worth around $64,040 CAD today. This was partially due to her fondness for a secular cantata that he wrote for the occasion of her birthday in 1713. Today we will hear the opening aria from this work, entitled “Eternal Source of Light Divine.” It is a countertenor solo praising the virtues of the queen with a trumpet obbligato, the effect is of the voice and trumpet singing a duet together.
Following the successful introduction of Italian opera into England, a group of wealthy nobles banded together to form the Royal Academy of Music in 1719. Handel was hired as Master of the orchestra and would go on to work and compose music for the company until its dissolution in 1734. It was here that he would write the opera Giulio Cesare (1724) from which we will hear the aria “Caro! Bella!” This is the final duet between the opera’s lovers, Cleopatra and Cesare (Julius Caesar,) after the two depose Cleopatra’s brother Tolomeo and crown her queen of Egypt. The character of Cesare was originally written for the famous castrato Senesino and has a contralto range. Castrato singers, castrated men who retained their high range after the age of puberty, were the operatic superstars of the age and often played heroic male roles as their wide ranges and resonant bodies allowed them to perform incredible feats of musical virtuosity. Today, Cesare is often played by a female mezzo-soprano or a countertenor.
During this period of intense operatic composition, Handel was commissioned to write several anthems for the 1727 coronation of King George II. The new monarch’s father, the late George I, was the Elector of Hanover, whose employ Handel had abandoned 17 years previously. He was, of course, not English but was crowned the first Hanoverian king of England in 1714 through a technicality in the line of succession. George II bore no ill will toward the composer and breached convention by commissioning him over the newly appointed composer of the Chapel Royal, Maurice Greene, who should have been automatically engaged following Royal convention. With only two weeks’ notice, Handel wrote the four anthems, “Zadok the Priest,” “Let Thy Hand be Strengthened,” “The King Shall Rejoice,” and “My Heart is Inditing.” Zadok the Priest has been performed at every coronation since 1727, most recently at the coronation of King Charles III in May of 2023. The anthem is sung during the holiest point of the ceremony, the anointing of the monarch by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The words are derived from the Old Testament story of the anointing of King Solomon by the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan (1 Kings 1:38-40). The quiet orchestral introduction, followed by the choir and trumpets’ sudden and triumphant entrance, is an incredibly moving moment in this ancient ceremony. During the coronation of King George II in 1727, this moment unfortunately fell flat when the choir sang several anthems out of order and sang Zadok at the wrong moment. In his copy of the order of the service, the Archbishop of Canterbury noted, “The Anthems in confusion: All irregular in the Music.” This was perhaps due to the unusually large orchestra that had been hired for the service. Spectators reported that the singers couldn’t hear one another over the sound of the instruments and soon became out of sync! Regardless of the somewhat lackluster premiere, the coronation anthems became very popular because this was the first coronation for which public music rehearsals were held and sheet music was sold.
Following the dissolution of the Royal Academy of Music in 1734, Handel started composing for the Covent Garden Theatre. Though he was productive in this role, the English appetite for Italian opera had markedly diminished over the years. In early 1737, he had a stroke, which resulted in the temporary paralysis of his right hand. As if to compound his stress, John Frederick Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley, a parody of opera seria and a serious hit to Handel’s pride, was enthusiastically received at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket that same year. After the premiere of Deidamia in 1741, he gave up on operas and pivoted his focus to the English oratorio. While the primary audience for Italian operas was the upper crust of English society, Handel’s oratorios attracted a far more socioeconomically diverse audience than he had previously been writing for. To be frank, oratorios are cheap to produce because they don’t require costumes or scenery, and the familiar bible stories are sung in English, so the common person easily understood them. All of this was convenient because the Covent Garden Theatre had long been experiencing financial difficulties. The following year marked the premiere of Handel’s Messiah in Dublin, a resounding success.
Immediately after the completion of Messiah, Handel began composing Samson, an oratorio with a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton based on Milton’s Samson Agonistes. This oratorio about Samson from Chapter 16 of the Book of Judges was a smashing success and had seven performances during its first season, more than any of his other oratorios. The story follows the plight of the Israelite Samson, who has been captured by the Philistines and kept in a prison in Gaza. “Awake the Trumpet’s Lofty Sound” represents the Philistines celebrating the festival of their god Dagon as Samson listens on from his cell. The relative debauchery of this chorus is contrasted by the serenity of “Let the Bright Seraphim,” an aria sung by the Israelite woman at the end of the oratorio after Samson pulled down the building containing all of the Philistines, crushing himself in the process.
In 1746 and 1747, he wrote a series of military oratorios celebrating the victory of the Hanoverian monarchy over the Jacobite uprising. Among these was Judas Maccabaeus (1746), which tells the story of the victory of the Israelites and their leader Judas Maccabaeus against pagan Seleucid rule. This was intended to parallel the triumph of the Protestant Hanoverians against the Catholic Jacobites. “See, the Conqu’ring Hero Comes!” is the opening chorus of the third act, as the Jewish people celebrate their victory against their oppressors. One of his later operas, Solomon (1749), has a libretto believed to have been written by the English Jewish playwright Moses Mendes. “Music, Spread Thy Voice Around” is a chorus with which King Solomon and his people entertain the Queen of Sheba as she visits his kingdom in the third act. The gentle music echoes the calmness and serenity of the king’s reign.
Handel passed away in 1759 after several years of blindness and ill health caused by a failed cataract surgery. Though he stopped composing after he lost his sight, he kept performing up until a week before his death when he collapsed after a performance of Messiah. A figure who left an indelible mark on English music history and indeed, English national identity, he was given a state funeral and buried in Westminster Abbey surrounded by an estimated 3000 mourners.
Renée Olo
PhD Candidate, Historical Musicology, University of Pennsylvania
PEFORMERS
Kevin Reeves, Music Director & Conductor
As a chorus master, Kevin has prepared choirs for many international conductors – mostly through the National Arts Centre – including Trevor Pinnock, Franz Paul Decker, Lydia Adams, Jiri Belohlavek, Iwan Edwards, Robert Cooper, Jean-Francois Rivest and Pinchas Zukerman. Kevin is also a composer and three years ago presented the world premiere of his comic opera ‘Nosferatu’ – based on the filming of the 1922 silent classic. He has also recently completed a full-length opera based on the true story of Anahareo and Grey Owl’s life in the bush.
In his spare time, Kevin directs documentaries, short films, dramas and Classical music videos and has won several international awards as a result. His hobbies include drawing caricatures, collecting original cartoon art, painting landscapes, and watching a lot of television – good and bad.
Soloists
Ania Hejnar, Soprano
Local soprano Ania Hejnar has been performing for international platforms since graduating with her Masters in Vocal Performance, including Carnegie Hall, Maison Symphonique, Notre-Dame Cathedral and Basilica, Rideau Hall, the NAC, TD Place, Scotiabank Place and Varnus Hall. She has performed for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon. Ania is a versatile performer as a classical singer, crossover musician, actor, voiceover artist and can be heard singing national anthems for many sports teams in Ottawa, including the Ottawa Senators. Ania is the music and drama teacher at Glebe Montessori School and maintains a private studio where she teaches voice and violin.
Mark Donnelly, Countertenor
Mark Donnelly believes music is a boundless force that sparks creativity, cultivates compassion, and dissolves barriers among people. Raised by supportive parents and guided by dedicated mentors, he began his musical journey as a chorister at Ottawa’s St. Matthew’s Church, later studying voice with Jan Simons (McGill), Bruce Pullen (UBC), Virginia Davids (UCT), and at the International Baroque Academy in Germany. He has performed throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, and Africa, earning acclaim in opera, oratorio, and concert repertoire, including in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Beyond performance, Mark has led youth leadership conferences, masterclasses, and developed music curricula. He also pursued undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate studies in management, law, and science, focusing on international strategic advisory, research, and execution across five continents in private, public, and civil society sectors. His advocacy for humanitarian causes, social enterprise, and public interest issues has shaped an interdisciplinary career devoted to improving lives and expanding opportunities. After canceling a European singing tour due to the corona crisis, he intends to do more music and launch a collaborative recording project.
Through it all, Mark remains convinced of music’s power to unite heart, mind, and spirit, inspiring individuals and communities toward empathy and peace. Whether singing, teaching, or collaborating, he strives to empower others to discover and share their unique voices. When he’s not performing, Mark can be found on the tennis court, skiing the slopes, or running through the forest with his three-year-old – always chasing a personal best and a joyful tune.
Instrumentalists
Organ: Matthew Larkin
Trumpet 1: Travis Mandel
Trumpet 2: Alastair Chaplin
Trumpet 3: Andrea MacDougall
Timpani: Zac Pulak
RIDEAU CHORALE
Executive Committee Members
Chair: Janice Manchee
Treasurer: Miriam Bayly
Membership Coordinator & Secretary: Hilary Esmonde-White
Members-At-Large: Frances Isaac, Martin McCurdy, Mark Olo
Artistic Leadership
Music Director: Kevin Reeves
Accompanist: Carson Becke
Performing Members
Soprano: Sheila Craig, Gabrielle Dewalt, Hilary Esmonde-White, Sylvia Grambart, Paula Hurtig, Elizabeth Irvine, Frances Isaac, Marie-Odile Junker, Anna Lehn, Lucia Marc, Marcela Pauckova, Anna van Holst Pellekaan, Krisha Séguin, Jocelyn Stoate, Liz Tromp, Allison Woyiwada.
Alto: Miriam Bayly, Elspeth Butterworth, Lesley Cameron, Hélène Caron, Rachel Grattan, Isabella Grigoroff, Olivia Hadwen, Angela Kelly, Lori Marsh, Pamela Robinson, Laura Smith, Maha Zayed.
Tenor: Keith Bider, Sarah Dewalt, Janice Manchee, Yves Ménard, Peter Robb.
Bass: Tomo Adachi, Donald Leek, Greg Lopinski, Ian MacMillan, Marty McCurdy, David Oliver, Geoffrey Oliver, Mark Olo, Archibald Ritter, John Royle, Tim Schobert, Jacob Zwiers.
Personnel
Webmaster & Technology: Emily Walpole
Choir Coordinator: Mikayla Odut
Volunteers
Rideau Chorale deeply appreciates the contributions of our volunteers.
Score Procurement: Hilary Esmonde-White, Anna van Holst Pellekaan.
Section Leads: Jocelyne Stoate (Soprano), Angela Kelly (Alto), Keith Bider (Tenor), Marty McCurdy (Bass).
Set-up: Sylvia Grambart, Elizabeth Irvine, Angela Kelly, Greg Lopinski, Lori Marsh, Geoffrey Oliver, John Royle, Jacob Zwiers.
Sponsorship & Fundraising: Guy Bujold, Paula Hurting, Janice Manchee, Yves Menard, Mark Olo, Liz Tromp.
Supplies & Storage: Paula Hurtig
Website: Hilary Esmonde-White, Janice Manchee.
Concert Team: Frances Isaac, Janice Manchee, Marty McCurdy, Mark Olo.
Concert Marshall: Anna van Holst Pellekaan.
Concert Program: Mark Olo, with special thanks to Renée Olo.
Front of House: Frances Baker, Maureen Fallis, Irenka Farmilo, Edith Fraser, Bryan Halliday, Donna Lougheed, Janice Seline, Gabrielle Wilson, Mary Wilson, Peter Zanette.
Concert Staff
Audio & Video: Peter Polgar
Technical Support: Abijah Zwiers
Graphics: Emily Walpole
SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Rideau Chorale and its members respectfully acknowledge that the land on which we gather, rehearse, and perform our music is the traditional unceded territory of Algonquin Anishnaabeg People. We are grateful to have the opportunity to be present in and perform on this land.
DONORS & SPONSORS
Donors
Rideau Chorale wishes to acknowledge the generosity of our valued donors in helping us to present this concert. Gifts such as these make it possible for the choir to cover the considerable costs involved. If you are interested in making a donation (tax-deductible), learn more on our website.
Premium Donors
In loving memory of music lover Patrick O’Brien-Hitching (1939-2018) Video Recording Sponsor (Fantasia and Handelfest)
.Sponsors
We would also like to thank the businesses whose generous sponsorships have supported this concert. We encourage you to patronize our business sponsors and let them know that you appreciate their support of Rideau Chorale.
Premium
Business
Community
UPCOMING CONCERTS
PROGRAM TEXT & TRANSLATION
Awake the Trumpet’s Lofty Sound
Awake, the Trumpet’s Lofty Sound
Awake the trumpet’s lofty sound!
The joyful sacred festival comes round,
When Dagon king of all the earth is crown’d.
Zadok, the Priest
Zadok, the Priest and Nathan, the Prophet anointed Solomon King
And all the people rejoiced, and said:
God save The King, long live The King, may The King live for ever!
Amen Allelujah!
Music, Spread Thy Voice Around
Music, spread they voice around,
Sweetly flow the lulling sound.
See, the Conquering Hero Comes
See, the conqu’ring hero comes!
Sound the trumpets! Beat the drums!
Sports prepare! The laurel bring!
Songs of triumph to him sing!
See the godlike youth advance!
Breathe the flutes and lead the dance!
Myrtle wreaths and roses twine
to deck the hero’s brow divine!
See, the conqu’ring hero comes!
Sound the trumpets! Beat the drums!
Sports prepare! The laurel bring!
Songs of triumph to him sing!
Sound the trumpets! Beat the drums!
Eternal Source of Light Divine
Eternal source of light divine
With double warmth thy beams display
And with distinguish’d glory shine
To add a lustre to this day.
Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened
Let thy hand be strengthened and thy right hand be exalted
Let justice and judgment be the preparation of thy seat!
Let mercy and truth go before thy face
Let justice, judgment, mercy and truth go before thy face
Allelujah
Caro Bella
Cleopatra: Caro!
Cesare: Bella!
Duetto Cleopatra e Cesare:
Più amabile beltà
mai non si troverà
del tuo bel volto.
In te/In me non splenderà né amor né fedeltà
da te/da me disciolto.
The King Shall Rejoice
The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord
Exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation
Glory and great worship hast thou laid upon him
Thou hast prevented him with the blessings of goodness
And hast set a crown of pure gold upon his head
Allelujah
Let the Bright Seraphim
Let the bright seraphim in burning row,
Their loud, uplifted angel trumpets blow.
Let the cherubic host, in tuneful choirs,
Touch their immortal harps with golden wires.
My Heart is Inditing
My heart is inditing of a good matter:
I speak of the things which I have made unto the King
Kings daughters were among thy honourable women
Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in vesture of gold
And the King shall have pleasure in thy beauty
Kings shall be thy nursing fathers
And queens thy nursing mothers.