Program Descriptions:

The Origin of Fire
Anonymous 4's second program of music by the 12th-century German
abbess and mystic, Hildegard of Bingen. It takes as its theme the t
ransforming power of the "Fiery Spirit" and its mystical gifts of Wisdom and Love. 

Among the works included are the monumental hymn "O ignee 
spiritus" and some of her finest antiphons:  "Karitas habundat in 
omnia," "O virtus sapientie," and "Spiritus sanctus vivificans." 
Hildegard's liturgical chant, with its wide vocal range and intense 
emotional pitch, is presented here with plainchant hymns and 
sequences that she and her sisters would have heard and sung every 
day, along with selections from her mystical visions, set to rarely-
heard polyphonic "lection tones" from Germany, France, England and 
Poland.

American Angels
A program of songs of hope, redemption and glory from the 
late 18th-century New England tunesmiths, the Southern 
shape-note tunebooks of the 19th century, and gospel hymns 
made popular by Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, 
and the film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" The music in this 
program comes from an interweaving of oral and written traditions, 
in which favorite older tunes have survived and flourished from 
one generation to the next, and are still sung today in many different 
settings. A few highlights of American Angels include the fuging
tune "Blooming Vale," shape-note settings of the folk hymns 
"Amazing Grace" and "Wayfaring Stranger," and gospel songs 
"Shall We Gather At the River" and "Angel Band."
 

Wolcum Yule
Celtic and British Carols and Songs

Anonymous 4, joined by harpist extraordinaire Andrew Lawrence-King, 
has created an unusual new program for the holiday season, tapping into
the wealth of ancient, traditional, and modern songs from the British Isles. 
Using elements from both pagan and Christian traditions, the program 
intertwines English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish traditional ballads and carols 
accompanied by Celtic harps and psaltery, with modern works, such as John 
Tavener’s “The Lamb,” Benjamin Britten’s “A New Year Carol,” and a 
newly-commissioned carol by Peter Maxwell Davies.

La bele Marie
Anonymous 4's new program of 13th-century French music in
honor of the Virgin Mary. The repertoire consists of conductus --
marvelously varied one-, two- and three-voice songs in Latin -- and
popular medieval chansons in honor of "la bele marie."
 

Darkness into Light
Anonymous 4 collaborates with the British Chilingirian String Quartet in a
new program of contemporary and classic works, including "The Bridegroom,"
written for us and the Chilingirian quartet by British superstar composer John Tavener,
as well as a new arrangement of Benjamin Britten's little gem, the "Missa Brevis in D."

Voices of Light
An oratorio by Richard Einhorn , with choir, soloists and orchestra, and
Anonymous 4 as the voice of Joan, accompanying the powerful silent film
"The Passion of Joan of Arc."

Legends of St. Nicholas
Our newest release (September 1999). Medieval chant and polyphony
in honor of the saint who became Father Christmas.

Love's Illusion
Motets of courtly love and longing from the Montpellier Codex (c. 1300),
one of France's richest sources of medieval polyphony. Scholars believe that
most of these amorous pieces were written by monks (with a little too much
time on their hands!).

Miracles of Sant'Iago
Twelfth century chant and polyphony for St. James from the "Codex Calixtinus"

1000: A Mass for the End of Time
Our newest program. An Ascension Mass with chant and polyphony from French
and British sources, c. 1000

On Yoolis Night
One of A4's best-selling recordings, a collection of 13th- through 15th-century
English carols and motets for the Christmas season. The concert version also
includes some strange and little-known legends of the Three Kings.

The Second Circle
Fourteenth century Italian love songs by Francesco Landini

Carnival of Miracles
A new work in several movements, with two cellos, by Richard Einhorn ,
the composer of Voices of Light.

Gods and Mortals
Anonymous 4 and Lionheart  join forces to explore a rare and
ravishing repertoire of the sixteenth century. The ill-fated love of Dido
and Aeneas provided a subject for some of the most seductive and
intriguing music written in the Renaissance. Gods and Mortals is built
around music on texts from Vergil's Aeneid and other Latin classics by
the 16th c. Flemish masters Orlando Lasso, Cipriano de Rore, Jacques
Arcadelt and Adrian Willaert. Gods and Mortals also includes Italian
songs and madrigals by sixteenth-century masters Luca Marenzio,
Salamone Rossi and Claudio Monteverdi -- who (along with other
members of the Renaissance musical pantheon) often drew on a
humbler cast of characters --  nymphs and shepherds -- as comic relief
of the classical revival.

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