75TH SEASON
PROGRAM

12:00 and 2:00 • West Building, West Garden Court

Eya: Ensemble for Medieval Music

Crossley Hawn, soprano

Allison Mondel, soprano, symphonia, director

Sarah Issaelkhoury, mezzo-soprano

Florence: The Cultural Crucible

Presented in honor of Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence

I.

Lauda, Anonymous, Florence Laudario, early 14th century

"Lamentomi et sospiro per piu potere amare"

Lauda, Anonymous, 15th century

"Gesu, sommo conforto” (I)

Canto, Anonymous, Florentine, late 14th - early 15th century

"Canto della Prudenza"

Motet, Francesco de Layolle (1492-c. 1540)

"Ave Maria"

2 • National Gallery of Art

Lauda, Anonymous, Florence Laudario, early 14th century

"Del dolcissimo Signore”

Lauda, possibly Luca Bettini (1489-1527)

"Ecco 'I Messia"

Lauda, Feo Belcari (1410-1484)

"Da, che tu m'hai dimostro"

Chanson, Heinrich Isaac

"Helas, que pourra devenir"

III.

Lauda, Anonymous, Florence Laudario, early 14th century

"Vergine sancta Maria"

Chanson, Guillaume Du Fay (1397-1474)

"Du tout m'estoie abandone”

Lauda, Simone Verovio (c. 1550-1607)

"Gesu, sommo conforto” (II)

Chanson, Alexander Agricola (1446-1506)

"J'ay beau huer”
The Musicians

Eya is an award-winning vocal ensemble based in Washington, DC, specializing in the

interpretation of medieval music for women's voices. Launched in 2010 and directed by

Allison Mondel, Eya has established its place in the Washington, DC, community as an early 

music ensemble of impeccable vocal quality and deep, creative spirit. Eya presents concert

programs that interweave diverse repertories of the twelfth through fifteenth centuries,

from Hildegard von Bingen to Notre Dame, to the flyleaves of early English manuscripts and

beyond. Through this lens, these programs seek to tell a story that forges new points of

connection between contemporary audiences and medieval repertoire, underlining our

common humanity with these early poets and composers.

Our performers are some of the finest, young, early music specialists in the area and

appear regularly with the Washington Bach Consort, Apollo's Fire, the Folger Consort, and

Cathedra. Eya has performed at a variety of notable venues, including the Music Center at

Strathmore, the Washington National Cathedral, Dumbarton Oaks, the Boston Early Music

Festival Fringe, Georgetown University, Williams College, and the College of William and Mary.

Eya is the proud recipient of the 2013 Greater DC Choral Excellence Award for Best

Specialty Group: Early Music, as well as a 2015 nominee for Most Creative Programming.

The ensemble will be releasing a second album, The Three Marys, in March 2017. Eya

(pronounced "EH-yah") is a Latin exclamation of joy.

Crossley Hawn, soprano

Soprano Crossley Hawn enjoys an engaging career as a soloist and ensemble singer in the

greater Washington area and has been praised by DC Theatre Metro Arts for her "lovely, 

vibrant soprano" and "great acting and agile vocals.'' She performs with ensembles such as

the Folger Consort, the Washington National Cathedral Choir, the Washington Bach Consort, 

and the Evolution Contemporary Music Series. Crossley recently completed her master's

degree in vocal performance at the Catholic University of America. She is a cantor and

chorister at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where she

had the honor of canting the Funeral Mass of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in

February 2016. Recently, she performed as soloist for Handel's Messiah with the Reston Chorale.

This winter, she toured with the U.S. Air Force's professional choir, the Singing Sergeants.

Allison Mondel, soprano and director

Lauded by the Washington Post for her "ethereal soprano" and "spare, otherworldly radiance," Allison Mondel is a highly versatile performing artist and teacher. She received her

master's in early music vocal performance from the Longy School of Music and is a specialist 

in medieval music, notably in the notation and performance of the chants of Hildegard von

Bingen. Mondel enjoyed the honor of singing Hildegard's music at President Obama's second

Inaugural Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral. Mondel has led teaching

and coaching sessions and offered lectures on early music at the Peabody Conservatory,

Williams College, Georgetown University, the Arts Club of Washington, and the Washington

Early Music Festival. Mondel has appeared as a soloist or ensemble singer with the Boston

Early Music Festival and Tanglewood, Bach Sinfonia, Chantry, and Cathedra. She teaches 

voice in the National Cathedral's chorister program and at Georgetown University.

4 • National Gallery of Art

Sarah Issaelkhoury, mezzo-soprano

Sarah Issaelkhoury, mezzo-soprano, can be seen performing with several ensembles in the

Washington, DC, metro area, including the Washington Bach Consort, Cathedra, Chantry, 

and more. Her recent solo engagements have included the Virginia Consort, the Washington Bach Consort Cantata Series, and recitals with the Dacor-Bacon House and St. John's

Wednesday Concert Series. Issaelkhoury's operatic roles include Baba the Turk (The Rake's

Progress), Rosina (II Barbiere di Siviglia), Angelina (La Cenerentola), Dorabella (Cosi Fan Tutte),

and Miss Todd (The Old Maid and the Thief). Issaelkhoury holds a bachelor of music degree

from James Madison University and a master's from the University of Michigan.

75th Season • 5
Program Notes

The musical landscape of Renaissance Florence reveals a splendid symbiosis of contrasting

elements: sacred and secular, foreign and native, highborn and humble. These elements

nurtured the development of an unusually vibrant cultural climate that supported the

creative lives of artists, architects, musicians, politicians, clergy, and ordinary citizens within

the relatively small confines of a magnificent Italian city.

In this program, Eya traces these coexisting elements within the cultural and social 

fabric of Florence from the Trecento (late fourteenth century) through the late sixteenth

century. Each part of the program begins with a chant from a unique manuscript utilized by

a devout confraternity and continues to explore the varied forms of vocal music that define

this rich cultural moment. The program also offers a snapshot of the local musical tastes

and political leanings that influenced poetic inspiration and musical composition.

The union of sacred and secular is perhaps most evident in the lauda, an Italian

sacred song. The texts of these songs, notably in the vernacular, were often interchanged

with other musical settings, a tradition known as cantasi come ("sing like [this song]”),

evidence that tunes were well-known and frequently paired with different texts. Authors

commonly penned secular texts suited to particular occasions such as Carnival, and hence

borrowed music from a lauda setting in order to suit their particular song, a canto or canzona.

Notable poets on the program include Lorenzo de Medici and Girolamo Savonarola, as well

as several women, Lucrezia de Medici and Caterina de Ricci, the latter a nun and ardent

supporter of Savonarola's political reforms of the fifteenth century.

In addition to these distinctive Florentine traditions, the musical culture of the city

was profoundly influenced by the influx of composers from Burgundy and the Low Countries

whose work flourished under the support of legendary Florentine patrons like the Medici.

Franco-Flemish music was considered the gold standard of polyphonic composition throughout

the European continent, and this was certainly the case amongst Florentine circles. Eya

explores the works of several generations of Franco-Flemish composers who are represented 

in a sumptuous chansonnier (songbook) from the era of Lorenzo the Magnificent (late fifteenth century), as well as several works by native Francesco de Layolle, composing in the

style of the Burgundians, which further testifies to the preeminence of northern composers

within the Florentine macrocosm.

Program notes by Allison Mondel

6 * National Gallery of Art

Upcoming Events of the SeventyFifth Season of The William

Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot

Belin Concerts

Ji, piano 

March 5, 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

Alexander Wu, piano, and the Serendip Trio

"Washingtonians on Wednesdays"

Return to Camelot: Music from the Kennedy

White House Concerts, 1961-1963

March 8,12:10

West Building, East Garden Court

Cappella Pratensis

Commemorating the 500th anniversary of 

Hieronymus Bosch's death

March 12, 3:30

West Building, East Garden Court

Inscape

"Washingtonians on Wednesdays”

March 15,12:10

West Building Lecture Hall

Kruger Brothers and Kontras Quartet

Appalachian Concerto

Presented in honor of East of the

Mississippi: Nineteenth-Century American

Landscape Photography

March 19, 3:30

West Building, East Garden Court

General Information

Admission to the National Gallery of Art

and all of its programs is free of charge,

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording equipment

during the performance is not allowed.

Please be sure that all portable electronic

devices are turned off.

Concerts are made possible in part

through the generosity of donors to the

National Gallery of Art through The Circle. 

Reserved seating is available in recognition

of their support. Please contact the

development office at (202) 842-6450 or

circle@nga.gov for more information.

www.nga.gov

www.instagram.com/ngadc

www.twitter.com/ngadc

www.facebook.com/nationalgalleryofart

The department of music produced these

program notes. Copyright © 2017 Board of

Trustees, National Gallery ofArt, Washington

Cover Luca della Robbia, Madonna and Child

(detail), c. 1475, National Gallery of Art, 

Washington, Widener Collection

Back cover West Building, Constitution

Avenue entrance, viewed from Sixth Street NW,

1941, National Gallery of Art, Washington,

Gallery Archives
Texts and Translations

Iesu, sommo conforto (II)

Laude al crocifisso

Iesu, sommo conforto,

Tu se’ tutto el mio amore,

E ‘1 mio beato porto

E santo redentore.

0 gran bonta,

Dolce pieta,

Felice quel che teco unito sta.

Jesus, highest solace

Lauda to the Crucifix

Jesus, highest solace.

You are all my love,

And my blessed refuge

And holy redeemer.

O great goodness,

Sweet mercy.

Happy is he who is united with You!

Iesu, qual forza ha spinto

L'immensa tua bontade?

Deh qual'amor t’ha vinto

Patir tal crudeltade?

0 gran bonta...

Jesus, what force has caused

Your immense goodness?

Ah, what love has made You

To suffer such cruelty?

0 great goodness...

Iesu, tu hai el mondo

Suavemente pieno

D’amor dolce e iocondo,

Che fa ogne cor sereno.

0 gran bonta...

Jesus, You have gently

Filled the world

With tender and joyful love.

Which makes every heart serene.

0 great goodness...

La croce e i crucifisso

Sia nel mio cor scolpito,

Ed io sia sempre affiso

In gloria ove egli e ito.

0 gran bonta...

Girolamo Savonarola

Let the cross and crucified one

Be engraved in my heart.

And let me always be affixed

In glory, where He has gone.

O great goodness...

J’ay beau huer

Lay beau huer avant que bien havoyr

De celle la qui plus a mon gre vault.

J'ay pour elle maint dolereulx assault;

Qui point ne croyt, je Paperboy de voyr.

However much noise I make

However much noise I make, I get nothing

For her who, in my opinion, is worth the most.

I undergo many a grievous attack for her sake;

Perhaps people may not believe it, but I know it in truth.

Je ne luy puys, pour or ne pour avoyr,

Fayre entendant: car sy fayre le fault.

J’ay beau huer...

I cannot, for gold or wealth,

Make he hear me; yet it must be done.

However much noise...

Son dur courage je ne puys desmouvoyr.

Plus ni voy tout que de cryer bien hault.

Carje conoys que peu de moy luy chault;

Elle let fet pour mieulx moy decepvoyr.

J'ay beau huer...

I cannot move her hard heart.

There is nothing to be done but to cry aloud,

For I know that she cares little for me;

She does it the better to deceive me.

However much noise...

Texts and Translations

Lamentomi et sospiro per piu potere amare

Lamentomi et sospiro per piu potere amare.

Con grande desiderio l'amor vorrei gridare.

I lament and sigh because I wish to love more

I lament and sigh because I wish to love more;

With great desire I would like to cry out my love.

Vorrei gridar tant’alto, tutto ‘1 mondo m'audisse. I would like to shout so loud that all the world could hear me

And, in paradise, every saint would answer me;

Et dentro 'n paradiso ogne sancto rispondesse,

Et al mi’ grande amore pieta li ne venisse;

La sua benigna faccia mi degni rischiarare.

And my great love would have pity on me.

And deign to brighten his benign face for me.

I lament and sigh...

Lamentomi et sospiro...

Iesu, sommo conforto (I)

Laude al crocifisso

Iesu, sommo conforto,

Tu se’ tutto el mio amore,

E ‘1 mio beato porto

E santo redentore.

O gran bonta,

Dolce pieta,

Felice quel che teco unito sta.

Jesus, highest solace

Lauda to the Crucifix

Jesus, highest solace,

You are all my love.

And my blessed refuge

And holy redeemer.

0 great goodness,

Sweet mercy,

Happy is he who is united with You!

Iesu, qual forza ha spinto

L'immensa tua bontade?

Deh qual'amor t'ha vinto

Patir tal crudeltade?

0 gran bonta...

Jesus, what force has caused

Your immense goodness?

Ah, what love has made You

To suffer such cruelty?

O great goodness...

Iesu, tu hai el mondo

Suavemente pieno

D’amor dolce e iocondo,

Che fa ogne cor sereno.

0 gran bonta...

Jesus, You have gently

Filled the world

With tender and joyful love,

Which makes every heart serene.

0 great goodness...

La croce e ‘1 crucifisso

Sia nel mio cor scolpito,

Ed io sia sempre affiso

In gloria ove egli e ito.

0 gran bonta...

Girolamo Savonarola

Let the cross and crucified one

Be engraved in my heart,

And let me always be affixed

In glory, where He has gone.

O great goodness...

Canto della prudenza

Se mai salsono al cielo piatosi prieghi

Degli afflitti mortali,

Donna, che e nostri quori hor sciogli hor leghi,

Scanpa da tutti e mali

Et libera da tua pungenti strali

Chi penitenzia per suo aiuto chiama:

Piu glori et maggior fama

Aquista l’huom che vince et non contende.

Song of Prudence

If ever the prayers and pleading of afflicted mortals

Reach you in heaven,

Lady, that our hearts may melt, and the binds

From all evils

May be freed of those stinging barbs.

That penance which we call upon for help:

More glory and greater fame

Are bought by that man that wins but does not contend.

O voi che in tanti affanni ci vedete

Per non Laver seguita;

Et tutti e nostri danni or conosciente

Et la misera vita:

Pregate questa donna alta et gradita

Che vi ri ceva fra suo gente eletta:

Prudenza ogniuno accetta

Che el chammin ver di nostra vita prende.

Oh you [Prudence], we have so many troubles

For not having followed in your way;

All of our friendships are ruined.

And our life miserable:

Pray to this lofty woman that she welcome you.

That you may be received among her elected:

Prudence accepts each one

No matter the path that each life takes.
Texts and Translations

Ave Maria

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum;

benedicta tu in mulieribus,

et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,

ora pro nobis peccatoribus,

nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee;

blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Del dolcissimo Signore

Del dolcissime Signore

Tutto '1 mondo fa laudore.

Of the sweetest Lord

All the world sings the praises

Of the sweetest Lord.

Che ciascuna criatura

Si cognosce per natura:

Tu factore d'ogni factura.

Tu principio creatore.

For every creature

Knows by nature

That you are the maker of all things,

The creative Principle.

Del dolcissime Signore... Of the sweetest Lord...

Versi et afinati canti

Fanno li angeli co sancti;

Tutti sono isplendienti,

Chiari sanza tenebrore.

The angels and the saints

Sing verses and fine songs;

They are all resplendent,

Bright, without darkness.

Del dolcissime Signore... Of the sweetest Lord...

Eceo ‘1 Messia

Ecco i Messia,

E la madre sua Maria.

Behold the Messiah

Behold the Messiah,

And His mother Mary.

Venite alme celeste

Su da gli etemi chori,

Venite, e fate feste

A1 signore de signori,

Vengane e non dimori

La somma Gerarchia.

Lucrezia de’ Medici

Come celestial spirits

From the eternal choirs,

Come and celebrate

The Lord of Lords,

Come and don’t delay

O highest hierarchy.

Da, che tu m’hai dimostro

Da che tu m'hai dimostro tanto amore.

Servo di Cristo, con quel dolce sguardo,

E con quel don che or m'e doppio dardo,

Sempre t'avro nel mezzo del mie’ core.

Since you have shown me

Since you have shown me so much love,

Servant of Christ, with that sweet glance,

And with that gift which now is a double dart,

I will always have you in the center of my heart.

Nelli tormenti e pene ero somersa,

E tu pietosamente subvenisti:

Ogni letizia stava per me persa,

Quando la tuo' pietade ad me apristi:

T ti chiamavo, e tu alfin venisti,

Come pietosos padre ad una tiglia,

Con quella faccia lucida e vermiglia,

Che rutilava lucido splendore.

I was submerged in torments and pain

And you mercifully came to my aid:

All joy was lost to me,

When you revealed to me your mercy.

I called you, and you finally came.

Like a tender father to his daughter.

With that bright vermillion face

That glowed with brilliant reddish light.

Da che tu m'hai dimostro tanto amore... Since you have shown me...

Caterina de' Ricci

Texts and Translations

Helas, que pourra devenir

Helas, que pourra devenir

Mon cueur, s’il ne peut parvenir

A celle haultaine entreprise

Oil sa voulente s’est soubmise

Pour mieulx sur toutes advenir?

Alas, what can become

Alas, what can become

Of my heart, if it cannot attain

That high enterprise

To which is has subjected its will

Above all others in the future?

C'est choi sans ailleurs revenir:

Eslicte pour temps advenir.

Avoir plaisance a sa devise.

Helas...

It is a choice made without going back,

An enterprise chosen for a future time;

To have delight for its device.

Alas...

Or est contraint pour Tadvenir,

Car Desir Fa fait convenir

Qui Fa mis hors de sa franchise;

Et desja la cause est commise

Pour en juger a son plaisir.

Helas...

The future of my heart is constrained,

For Desire has summoned it to appear

And it has no sanctuary;

And already the case is being tried

For Desire to passjudgment as it wishes.

Alas...

Vergine sancta Maria

Vergine sancta Maria,

Di noi agie guardia et cura.

Holy virgin Mary

Holy virgin Mary,

Watch over and protect us.

Virgo beata,

Madre del giusto Segnore,

Glorificata

Fusti da l’angel maggiore:

Per nui peccatori

Avedite gran cura.

Blessed virgin,

Mother of the righteous Lord,

You were glorified

By the archangel;

Take special care

Of us sinners.

Vergine sancta Maria... Holy virgin Mary...

[All'jalto Dio

Misericordie chiamemo,

Che per noi mono

In croce, si come sapemo;

Pensarlo dovemo

Et ponerli mente et cura.

Let us cry for mercy

To the high God,

Who died or us

On the cross, as we all know;

We must think of Him

And address our minds and concerns to Him.

Vergine sancta Maria... Holy virgin Mary...

Afermaci i core.

A nui che sien quie adunati

Per lo tuo honore;

Perdonaci i nostri peccati,

Che siemo fo rmati

Tucti a tua figura.

Strengthen the hearts

Of us gathered here

To honor you.

Forgive our sins,

Since we are all formed

In your image.

Vergine sancta Maria... Holy virgin Mary...

Du tout m’estoie abandone

Du tout m'estoie abandone

A vous servir, doulce figure.

Maintenant vous ne tenes cure

De moy. dont j'en suis moult tanne.

I gave myself entirely

I gave myself entirely

To serve you, sweet person.

Now you do not care

For me, which distresses me greatly.