The California Bach Society celebrated both the beginning and the end of Advent Friday night at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Berkeley. It was the first day of Advent, and the Society presented a 17th century Roman Catholic Christmas Eve Vesper service put together from works by Monteverdi and his contemporaries. The service, comprising choruses, solo ensembles, chanted antiphons, and instrumental pieces, kept the attention of a large audience for almost two hours without intermission or interruption by applause. Director Warren Stewart, who had selected music from Venice (most of it by composers connected with that city's St. Mark's Cathedral), conducted effectively, without a score.

Monteverdi was the composer of most of the vocal music. The larger works, beautifully sung by the chorus, included a "Dixit Dominus" for two four-part choruses, a "Beatus vir" for soloists with choral sections, a "Laudate pueri" for five-part chorus, and a double-chorus "Magnificat" for 12 parts, soloists, strings, and organ.

The soloists, also serving as section leaders in the chorus, were all of a very high caliber: Catherine Webster and Andrea Fullington (sopranos), Ken Fitch (alto), Gary Ruschman and Mark Adams (tenors), and Hugh Davies (bass). Davies sang the antiphons and prayers with heart and authority, and did a star turn in the solo "Laudate Dominum." He is that rare bird, a Monteverdi bass possessed of both coloratura flexibility and real money in the low notes. Ruschman and Adams sang securely and expressively. Their musical skills are such that their voices, though distinct and individual, combine excellently in ensemble.

Webster and Fullington were well matched in their duet turns, especially in Alessandro Grandi's "Hodie nobis de caelo" — both of them true in pitch, sweet of sound, and breathtaking in coloratura. Webster's solo work with the chorus was lovely. Her virtuoso solo "Confitebur tibi," though occasionally slightly unsteady, was a triumph. I was struck by resemblances between this piece and a secular song like "Quel sguardo sdegnosetto." The beginning of "Beatus vir" also reminded me of the duet "Chiome d'oro." Like Handel later, Monteverdi borrowed from himself and made little distinction between sacred and secular styles.

Violinists Rob Diggins and Jolianne von Einem and the four members of Sex Chordae Consort of Viols (John Dornenburg, Julie Jeffrey, Farley Pearce, and Lynn Tetenbaum), with organist Jonathan Dimmock on continuo, added a welcome dimension to the program. They accompanied the singers in various combinations, and all were playing in the big Magnificat. Instrumental pieces also substituted several times for antiphon repeats.

Violins and viols joined in a complex sonata by Francesco Cavalli, distinguished by polyphonic entries, part-crossing, and dialogs between pairs of instruments. The two violinists played another Cavalli sonata, which ended with a four-note ground strikingly reminiscent of Monteverdi. Sex Chordae produced a contrasting sound by using the high treble and the low violone in chordal sonatas by Giovanni Legrenzi. The string playing throughout the concert was exemplary in tuning, ensemble, and exuberance.

A particularly Christmassy note was struck by Chiara Margarita Cozzoloni's "Gloria in altissimus Deo" ("Glory to God in the highest"), a Christmas Eve dialog between angels (the two sopranos) and shepherds (alto Fitch and tenor Ruschman).

The concert wound down from the full-bore Magnificat through the charming angel-shepherd scene to a marvelous close: the deeply moving a cappella singing of Giovanni Gabrieli's double-choir Incarnation motet, "O magnum mysterium" ("O immense Mystery").

(Anna Carol Dudley is a singer, teacher, member of the faculties of the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University [lecturer emerita] and director of the San Francisco Early Music Society's Baroque Music Workshop.)

©2000 Anna Carol Dudley, all rights reserved