Adriano Banchieri, Venetian composer of a madrigal whose text consisted of animal sounds (Cartella musicale, Giacomo Vincenzi, 1614, public domain, from Wikimedia Commons)
Yesterday afternoon at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco Choral Artists (SFCA) concluded its 40th season. Readers may recall that the title of this final program was Welcome to the Zoo! A Musical Menagerie. The prelude was the Renaissance madrigal by Adriano Banchieri “Contrapunto bestiale alla mente,” which the program book translated as “Counterpoint by Animals in their Minds.” The text amounts to “Latin nonsense,” but the bass voice singing the words is accompanied by animal sounds made by the other vocalists. This was the perfect offering for “welcoming” the attentive listener to what would follow.
What did follow was a plethora of original a cappella vocal compositions by 23 different composers (three being world premieres) and one Samoan folk song. Two of the composers were contemporaries of Banchieri and thirteen of them were living. Three of the living composers contributed world premiere offerings: “The Lizard” by Patricia Julien, “Seal Lullaby” by Zoe Yost,” and “Benjamin Bandicoot” by Bryce McCandless. Only the final selection, Prayers from the Ark, was a multimovement composition, beginning with “Noah’s Prayer” followed by the prayers of a little bird, a cat, a mouse, the raven, and the dove (the last two being the only ones to appear in Genesis).
While the number of selections was relatively large, the compositions themselves tended to be brief. As a result, the program was performed entirely without intermission. As far as I was concerned, this made for a more coherent journey through the full menagerie. Each individual selection left me with both satisfaction and curiosity as to what would come next. It also left me with a new perspective when I look out from my window to see dogs being walked down Franklin Street!
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