Tours of Roses

by Bob McClain

What do a Roman soldier, an Israeli musicologist, and a Twin Cities choral group have in common? St. Martin of Tours. Martin was one of the earliest saints of the Catholic Church.  Since his death in ca. 397, he has been honored by feasts, pilgrimages, chants, music, and a church built over his tomb in France. Not a bad finish for a Roman soldier who was imprisoned for laying down his weapons in the name of peace.

The Israeli musicologist is Yossi Maurey, who spent four years criss-crossing France in an attempt to restore the lost notation of an ancient thirteenth-century manuscript of monophonic chants honoring St. Martin of Tours, for his college thesis.

And the Twin Cities choral group? That would be The Rose Ensemble, a twelve voice vocal group that specializes in pre-1750 music. Artistic director Jordan Sramek has undertaken the equally daunting task of putting together a music program that features both the original poetic Latin prose of the St. Martin manuscript, Polish and Flemish works in honor of St. Martin, and a new original work by Twin Cities composer Eric Barnum. Eric is the 2004-05 Composer in Residence with The Rose Ensemble. Minnesota author Patricia Hampl will be narrating the program and Eric Mentzel of the medieval music ensemble Sequentia is the featured tenor.

The manuscript of St. Martin of Tours was actually found in the City of Tours, France Municipal Library by Maurey while working on his doctoral dissertation on medieval music. Sounds simple, you say. The difficulty lay in one of the problems with books written 800 years ago. It is believed the music was performed regularly for feasts and holidays honoring St. Martin. Therefore, the bindings wore out and had to be replaced. The way they replaced bindings in these old books was to cut out the pages and re-bind them in a new book. Unfortunately, the notations were written in the space between the words and the binding and each time the book was rebound, more of the notation was lost. This was the monumental task facing Yossi Maurey. Find the old notations in other books of the time and restore them to the manuscript. Also, Maurey was forced to match the music to the Latin prose because the music was written separately.

Another interesting note comes from the relationship between The Rose Ensemble and Mayor R.T. Rybak. When he learned that The Rose Ensemble would be performing the Tours program, Mayor Rybak wrote a letter to the Mayor of Tours, France (a sister city of Minneapolis), and invited the mayor to attend the program. Although the mayor was unable to leave, he has sent a contingent of officials who will be attending the Saturday program. They will also be taking part in other activities throughout the week, including an official welcome from Mayor Rybak and the French-American Chamber of Commerce’s Beaujolais Nouveau Festival.

One further note. This is incredibly beautiful music written to honor the patron saint of France. It was expressly created to move the listener and stir the emotions. If you wish to truly understand the greatness that human beings are capable of, I highly recommend this program. This is also an opportunity to attend the world premier of music that hasn’t been performed in 700 years. Think about that.

The Rose Ensemble will be performing the St. Martin of Tours program Friday, November 17th at 7:00pm at Webber Hall, University of Duluth, Saturday, November 20th at 8:00pm at Saint Mark’s Catholic Church in Saint Paul, and 4:00pm Sunday at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Minneapolis. All three shows will be preceded by a one hour pre-concert discussion led by musicologist Yossi Maurey. A free workshop will be offered on Wednesday, November 17th from 6:30-8:30pm at the Merriam Park Branch Library in St. Paul. For more information and ticket prices, visit the Rose Ensemble website.

Bob McClain is a local feature writer and copywriter with ARTSNATION, The WaZoo! Show and Twin Cities Dining Guide. You can find out more about what Bob can do for you at www.wordsmithbob.com and he can be reached at info@wordsmithbob.com or 612-226-7667.