Anoymous 4: pious verse and vocal poetry in music

The women of Anonymous 4 bring new life to medieval music

Wednesday night, the all-female group Anonymous 4 sang and recited an astonishing concert in Finney Chapel. The group, whose members are Ruth Cunningham, Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer and Johanna Rose, takes its name from an anonymous 13th-century Englishman who, as a student in Paris, wrote about and chronicled vocal polyphony which was then being performed at the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The group began as a serious effort to experiment with medieval chant as sung by female voices. Anonymous 4 boasts raving reviews, international fame and a substantial CD-purchasing constituency that put their first recording on the 1993 and 1994 Billboard classical charts.

The concert entitled The Lily and the Lamb consisted of medieval English chant, polyphony and poetry dating from the 13th through the early fifteenth centuries. The poetry chosen comprises the British version of the sequence describing the Virgin Mary's experiences at the foot of the cross. Alternated with Biblical passages, one is surprised at how much medieval England revered Mary more than Christ, her son. Mary was a goddess-like figure and was used in all forms of art including literature.

The four singers held the absolute attention of a generous audience for an hour and a half as they sang and created an atmosphere of truly pious devotion. Despite the occasional but hardly noticeable slip, the voices blended perfectly and were virtuosic in the beautifully mellismatic passages.

This was not your run-of-the-mill, garden variety medieval chant and polyphony, either. The Old English poetry added a touch of humanity to the then inaccessible biblical passages in Latin, for example De milde lomb isprad o rode (The gentle lamb, spread on the cross). Particularly moving were the pieces Stabat iuxta Christi crucem (She stood by the cross of Christ) and Stond wel, moder, under roode (Stand well, mother, under the cross). Perfectly synchronized onsets and releases impressed the listeners as the extra second was left for truly riveting sound to ring with a Catholic church reverberation. The performance was also aided by the acoustical advantages, the voce bianca technique commonly used in historical performances of medieval vocal music. This scholarly and aesthetically pleasing concert left the audience in awe, while the performers received no less than hearty and appreciative applause.

Medieval Music Masters: A cappella group Anonymous 4 aren't so anonymous. Ruth Cunningham, Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer and Johanna Rose played to an enthusiastic crowd.