Thomas Becket served as the archbishop of Canterbury in England during the 12th century and was declared a saint after he was murdered in a cathedral. His story lived on in music for centuries after he died – and that’s the music the choral group Schola Antiqua will perform Jan. 8 at the Bryon Colby Barn in Grayslake. The concert is part of the early music series held at the historic, restored barn.
Schola Antiqua, comprising mostly Chicago area professional singers, focuses on vocal music written before 1600, said artistic director Michael Alan Anderson, who teaches medieval and Renaissance music at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.
“(The year) 1600 is a famous textbook drawing line for when there was a cataclysmic shift in music of the period,” Anderson said. “Before that it was mainly dominated by vocal music and then a flood of instrumental music began to be written and performed.”
Before then, it was the age of vocal chants, madrigals and motets, he said. “There’s so much of that music and it’s rarely performed. There are so many hidden gems in that era.” The group Schola Antiqua “is an attempt to create a new set of masterworks.”
The majority of music that survived from before 1600 is sacred music – and would have been sung in churches and monasteries, where instrumental music was forbidden, Anderson said.
During that era, vocal composers were inspired by the story of Thomas Becket – the famous archbishop slain in a church
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“It is a powerful centuries-old legend that was retold in music as well as in art,” Anderson said. “It has a cultural imprint over many centuries. We’re focusing on the music written about Becket the first two or three centuries after his death.”
The program includes several chants — voices singing in unison – many of which were written when Becket was canonized a saint, he said. “These would have been heard in a liturgical service.”
Some of the other music the group will sing include multi-toned pieces called motets. “The composers would put together multiple texts and have them sung at the same time,” he said.
Most of the program is sung in Latin with some Middle English, he said.
Also included in the program will be songs called conductus. “They’re very fun pieces. They’re usually kind of rollicking. It’s more about, let’s honor this person and here’s all the great things he did. It’s a commemorative in a way that’s not a dirge, but rather like an Irish wake,” Anderson said.
One of the keys to singing music from that era is to imagine an intimate space that echoes. “In an opera hall, singers need to produce a big sound to hit the back row,” he said.
But for early vocal music, “one doesn’t need to make a big sound. The singers don’t have the biggest voices. That was a real aspect to this period. Those who can make an elegant, small, a nuanced, intimate sound –were what the kings and queens wanted in court.”
Anderson said he’ll provide written translations for the audience. “Some are interested in what they’re saying. Others want to sit back and just enjoy the sounds. The sounds are so otherworldly.”
Like all of the early music series concerts at the Colby Barn, children under age 16 are admitted free. The audience can bring beverages including wine and snacks to enjoy while listening to the concert.
“There’s a loft in the barn if the audience wants to sit back and take in the atmosphere,” said Joel Spears, who organizes the programs at the Bryon Colby Barn and also performs early music on the lute.
“The series is meant to be an antidote to the typical concert,” Spears said. “It’s meant to be more like you’re in someone’s living room.”
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
Schola Antiqua
When: 4 p.m. Jan. 8
Where: Byron Colby Barn, 1561 Jones Point Road, Grayslake
Tickets: $20, cash or check, ages 16 and younger free
Information: 847-548-4062; www.libertyprairie.org/earlymusic/