
P R O G R A M
PANGE LINGUA GLORIOSI | c. 1250 Thomas Aquinas new lyrics by Jeffrey Bernstein
RIVER | MELODY | 2023 Jeffrey Bernstein
PANGE LINGUA GLORIOSI | 1994 Paul Gibson
MISSA PANGE LINGUA | 1515? Josquin Desprez
solo quartet: Megan Schultze, Luke Jacobs,
Israel Segura, Max Henke
AVE MARIA | 1475? Josquin Desprez
THE PASADENA CHORALE STUDENT SINGERS
THE PASADENA CHORALE INSTRUMENTALISTS
THE PASADENA CHORALE
Jeffrey Bernstein, conductor
THE PASADENA CHORALE STUDENT SINGERS
Students in grades 6-8 from Blair Middle School,
Octavia E. Butler Middle School, and Pasadena Waldorf School
Mavis Chadwick
Sadie Denver
Hazel Dinsmore
Mocha Fuentes
Angelina Hernandez
Mia Hjorth
Atticus Krentz
Cassidy Lehtonen
Zoe Lopez
Dash Loflin
Lula Matsuura
Muriel Malin
Genesis Medina
Aviana Munguia
Isadora Nunez
Payton Owen
Luna Roman-Smith
Eliana Saenz De Maturana
Shayla Starr
Mila Torresan
Abby Vasko
Malena Vesbit
Mars Villegas
Adeline Wick
Recording and photography during the performance are not allowed.
This concert is made possible in part by the generous support of
The Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

THE PASADENA CHORALE
Cindy Abbott
Maggie Bacharach
Kit Bellamy
Heather Bland
Erika Boychenko
Sara Brock
Rebecca Carter
Regelin Castillo
Daniel Clouse
Nicholas Cofrancesco
David Cooper
David Coren
Yunyun Dai
Sarah Egan
Alescia Ellis
Valerie Estle
Jenny Farrell
Sarah Finley
Zach First
Valerie Flores
Ian Flores
Inga Funck
Krista Hart
Kevin Hartnett
Max Henke
Cristina Hernandez
Hans Herst
GariLynn Hiscott
Meredith Hooper
Haley Hughes
Luke Jacobs
Patty Judy
Martha Kahane
Matīss Kārkliņš
Lindsay Kearney
Cathy Kim
Ellen Kirstein
Kim Knight
Becca Koester
Lisa Kohlenberger
Maria Lat
Belinda Lau
Paul Lazarus
Margaret Lazzarini
Kellum Lewis
Kevin Locarro
Denise Lumarda
Sarah Medina
Michael Merced
Sydney Moss
Dina Murokh
Jean Pallares-Leonard
Frances Pang
Jeffrey Parkin
Zephen Peter
Sandy Kuo Price
Marintha Prieto
Daniel Radmacher
Hannah Robertson
Matthew Scherb
Megan Schulze
Michael Schwartz
Israel Segura
Wendy Shattuck
Nina Grace Shelby
Helen Sokol
Amador Solis
Alison Spielmann
Bonny Tennant
Chris Tickner
Kelsey Torosyan
Stephen Tully
Eric Vesbit
Dianne J. Waldman
Jen Wang
Jenny Werner
Eric Werner
Brittney S. Wheeler
Mandi White
Noemi Wognin
Helga Zambrano
Katherine Zodrow
For complete texts for tonight's concert, click here.
PROGRAM NOTES
Josquin Desprez (1450?-1521) was widely recognized as the greatest European composer of his time. He composed the Pange Lingua Mass late in his life, and the work shows his mature mastery of counterpoint and expression. The Pange Lingua Mass is based upon the unison melody “Pange Lingua Gloriosi” composed by Thomas Aquinas nearly 300 years earlier. Using this tune as a point of departure, Josquin weaves it through each movement of the Mass, its basic structure changing slightly with each appearance. In this way, the Pange Lingua Mass is like a set of variations on a theme.
This program is designed to give the audience a chance to hear the same tune in several guises, so that by the time we hear the Josquin Mass, the Pange Lingua melody is somewhat familiar, as it might have been for his audience. The Student Singers open the program singing the original tune, first with the original lyrics and then with newly composed lyrics. The second piece, the newly composed RIVER | MELODY, is based on the Pange Lingua melody too, but draped in a contemporary style. Paul Gibson’s reverent setting of the Pange Lingua melody follows. A kaleidoscopic meditation on the original tune, Gibson’s Pange Lingua Gloriosi explores the implications of the melody, making a three-dimensional sound sculpture from a single line.
Josquin’s Missa Pange Lingua uses the Pange Lingua melody as a point of departure. Each movement begins with melody in slightly altered form, often in the tenor voice, and each movement uses the melody’s intervals and contour as basic materials. The Pange Lingua Mass shows hallmarks of Josquin’s mature style, including the frequent use of imitation, of duet textures and of increasing density and activity at the ends of major sections.
In the Ave Maria, we hear the work of a younger Josquin. Still present are duet textures and rhythmic complexity, but set in a clearer, more spacious and more open texture. The Ave Maria was the first piece of music published with moveable type (in 1501), and the piece is one of the most famous and popular of the sixteenth century.
—Jeffrey Bernstein
THE PASADENA CHORALE
STAFF
FOUNDING ARTISTIC & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jeffrey Bernstein
ACCOMPANIST
Tali Tadmor
MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT
Bernie Fabig
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Annie Ranzani Makarchuk
EDUCATION DIRECTOR
Cynthia Abbott
ORCHESTRA CONTRACTOR
Noah Gladstone
VIDEOGRAPHER
Alex McInnes
BOARD
CHAIR
Eric Vesbit
SECRETARY
Cynthia Abbott
TREASURER
Ellen Kirstein
BOARD MEMBERS
David Cooper
Jean Pallares-Leonard
Jeffrey Parkin
Jeannie Sears