USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia is an ensemble of period instruments and voices specializing in music from the 16th through the mid-18th centuries. Founded in 1986 by James Tyler, the ensemble is currently led by early music program director Adam Knight Gilbert and Rotem Gilbert. The Baroque Sinfonia consists of graduate students majoring in early music, graduate students of modern instruments and classical voice minoring in early music, and a small but growing number of undergraduate students, all performing four different programs each year. With the support of scholarships from the Colburn Foundation and funds from the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, the Thornton Baroque Sinfonia has won the Early Music America Collegium Grant in 2008 and every year from 2011 to 2022, travelling to the Berkeley, Boston, and Bloomington Early Music Festivals. The ensemble’s recording of British broadside ballads D’ye Hear the News, supported by the USC-EMSI for the Yale University Press, can be heard online at iTunes U. Its performances have been heard on National Public Radio and can be enjoyed on YouTube. Current members and alumni perform, research, and teach around the world.

Tous les Bourgeois de Chastre
 
Et ceux de Montléry
Menez tout’ grande joye
Cette journée icy
Qui naquit Jesus Christ
De la Vierge Marie
Où le bœuf & l’ânon, don, don,
Entre lesquels coucha, la, la,
En une bergerie.
 
Des Anges de lumière
Ont chanté divers tons
Aux bergers & bergères
De cette région,
Qui gardoient leurs moutons
Paissant sur la prairie,
Disant que le Mignon, don, don,
Estoit né prés de là, là, là,
Jesus, le fruit de vie.
 
Ils prennent leurs houlettes
Avec empressement,
Leurs hautbois, leurs musettes
Et s’en vont promptement
Tout droit à Saint-Clément,
À travers la montagne,
Étant tous réjouis, ravis
D’aller voir cet Enfant naissant
Joseph, et sa Compagne.
 
-English Translation-
 
All the people of Châtres
And those of Montléry
Are rejoicing greatly
On this very day
When Jesus Christ was born
Of the Virgin Mary
Next to the ox and the ass (don, don)
Between whom He laid (la, la)
In a stable.
 
Angels of light
Sang many songs
To the shepherds and shepherdesses
In the region,
Who kept their sheep
Grazing on the meadow,
They told them that the little Child (dong, dong)
Had been born nearby (la, la, la)
Jesus, the fruit of life.
 
They took their shepherd’s crooks
With haste,
Their oboes, their bagpipes
And they went promptly
Straight to Saint-Clément
Across the mountain,
Rejoicing, in delight
To go to see that newborn Babe,
Joseph, and his Spouse.
 
 
Chantons, je vous en prie
 
Par exaltation, En l’honneur de Marie,
Pleine de grand renom.
Pour tout l’humain lignage
Jeter hors de péril
Fut transmis un message
A la Vierge de prix.
 
Nommée fut Marie
Par destination,
De royale lignée
Par génération.
Or, nous dites Marie,
Qui fut le messager
Qui porta la nouvelle
Pour le monde sauver?
 
Ce fut Gabriël, l’ange,
Que, sans dilation,
Dieu envoya sur terre
Par grand’ compassion.
Dieu soit en toi, Marie,
Dit ans dilation
Tu es de grâce remplie
Et bénédiction.
 
-English Translation-
 
Let us sing, I pray to you,
In exaltation, in honor of Marie,
Full of great renown.
That all the human race
Might be saved from danger,
A message was conveyed
to the precious Virgin.
 
Mary was appointed
By predestination
To be born
Of royal lineage.
Now tell us Mary,
Who was the messenger
Who brought the tidings
That will redeem the world?
 
It was the Angel Gabriel
That, without delaying,
God sent to earth
With great compassion.
“God be with you, Mary,”
He said without delay;
“You are full of grace
And blessing.”
 
 
Une jeune pucelle de noble cœur,
Priant en sa chambrette son Créateur.
L’ange du Ciel descendant sur la terre
Lui conta le mystère de notre Salvateur.
 
Ne te soucie, Marie, aucunement,
Celui qui Seignerie au firmament,
Son Saint-Esprit te fera apparaître,
Dont tu ne pourras connaître tost cet enfantement.
 
-English Translation-
 
A young maid with a noble heart,
praying to her Creator in her chamber.
The angel, descending from heaven to earth,
told her the mystery of our Saviour.
 
‘Fear not, Mary, at all:
he who is Lord of the firmament will send you his Holy Spirit,
from whom you will soon learn of the Child to be born.
 
-Translation by Mary Pardoe
 
 
Regina Cœli
 
Regina cœli, lœtare, alleluia:
Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,
Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.
 
-English Translation-
 
Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia:
For He whom you merited to bear, alleluia,
Has risen, as He said, alleluia,
Pray for us to God, alleluia.
 
 
Cephalle et Procris
 
Boree:
Les dieux m’ont, à la fin accordé la victoire.
Mon amour est comble de glorie,
Cet heureux jour va finir nos malheurs;
 
Quel plaisir pour les coeurs fidèles!
Quand un heureux succès couronne leurs ardeurs,
Et qu’après des peines cruelles,
Il est doux chanter l’amour, et ses douceurs.
 
Choeur:
Quel plaisir pour les coeurs fidèles!
Quand un heureux succès couronne leurs ardeurs,
Et qu’après des peines cruelles,
Il est doux chanter l’amour, et ses douceurs.
 
Un Thrace:
Paisibles habitants de ces douces retraites,
Venez prendre part à nos jeux:
Cet ombre, ces gazons, ces demeures secretes,
Tout y semble être fait pour les amants heureux.
 
Une Parte et une bergère:
Les rossignols, dès que le jour commence,
Chantent l’amour qui les anime tous,
Si les oiseaux cédent à sa puissance,
Quel mal Faison-nous
D’amier à sentir ses coups?
Si leur instinct est rempli d’innocence,
Quel mal Faison-nous
De suivre un penchant si doux?
 
 
Heureux troupeaux, paissez sur la verdure,
Pour vous l’Amour prodigue ses faveurs;
Vous n’avez point de loix que la nature,
Les biens, les grandeurs
Ne sauraient troubler vos coeurs:
Jamais chez vous la raison ne murmure,
Les biens, les grandeurs
Ne valent pas vos douceurs.
 
-English Translation-
 
Boreas:
The gods have, in the end, accorded me victory.
My love is crowned with glory,
This happy day will end our troubles;
 
What a delight for faithful hearts!
When a fortunate success crowns their passions,
And after cruel pains,
It is sweet to sing of love and its delights.
 
Chorus:
What a delight for faithful hearts!
When a fortunate success crowns their passions,
And after cruel pains,
It is sweet to sing of love and its delights.
 
A Thracian Man:
Peaceful dwellers of this pleasant retreat,
Come take part in our games:
This shade, this grass, these hidden abodes,
All seem to be made for the happy lovers.
 
A shepherd and a Shepherdess:
The nightingales, as soon as the day begins,
Sing of the love that enlivens them all,
If birds give in to her power,
What harm can it do
To savor her blows?
If their instinct is full of innocence,
What harm can it do
To follow such sweet inclination?
 
 
Happy band, tending your flocks on the greenery,
For you Love squanders his flavors;
You have no laws except those of nature,
Wealth, titles
Cannot trouble your hearts:
Reason never whispers where you live,
Wealth, titles are not as valuable as your gentleness.
 
-Translation by Wanda R. Griffiths
 
 
Quam pulchra es
 
Quam pulchra es, amica mea, quam pulchra es,
Oculi tui colum barum,
Quam pulchra es, amica mea, quam pulchra es,
Capilli tui sicut greges tonsarum,
Quam pulchra es, amica mea, quam pulchra es,
Genae tuae sicut turturis, collum tuum sicut monilia,
 
Quam pulchra es, amica mea, quam pulchra es,
Favus distillans labia tua,
Mel et lac, sublingua tua,
Sores mea, soror mea, dilecta mea.
 
Veni, veni de Libano, columba mea,
Veni coronaberis.
 
-English Translation-
 
How beautiful you are, my beloved.
Your eyes are like doves.
How beautiful you are, my beloved.
Your hair is like flocks of shorn [sheep],
How beautiful you are, my beloved.
Your cheeks like those of a turtledove,
 
How beautiful you are, my beloved.
your neck like a necklace,
A honeycomb dripping are your lips,
honey and milk under your tongue,
my bride, my chosen one.
 
Come, come from Lebanon, my dove.
You will be crowned.
 
 
In nativitatem Domini canticum
 
Récit de l’historien:
Frigidæ noctis umbra
totum orbem tegebat,
et immersi iacebant
omnes in somno profundo.
 
Pastores autem Judeæ
vigilabant super gregem suum.
Et ecce angelus Domini stetit iuxta eos,
et claritas Dei circumfulsit eos.
Timuerunt autem pastores timore magno;
et dixit illis angélus:
 
Angelus:
Nolite timere, pastores.
Ecce enim annuntio vobis
gaudium magnum quod erit omni populo:
quia natus est hodie Salvator vester
in civitate David;
et hoc erit vobis signum:
invenietis pannis involutum
et reclinatum in præsepio.
Ite, pastores, et adorate illum.
 
Choeur des Bergers:
Surgamus, festinemus,
eamus usque Bethlehem.
Properemus, eamus usque Bethlehem.
lbi videbimus puerum
qui natus est nobis.
Surgamus, festinemus,
eamus usque Bethlehem.
Ibi laudabimus et adorabimus Deum
sub forma peccatoris velatum.
Quid moramur, quid cunctamur,
O pastores inertes?
Surgamus, properemus,
eamus usque Bethlehem.
 
Récit de l’historien:
Euntes autem pastores
pervenerunt ad locum
ubi puer natus erat,
et intrantes domum
invenerunt Mariam et Joseph
et puerum involutum pannis
et reclinatum in præsepio.
Et procidentes adoraverunt eum,
inculto sed devoto carmine dicentes:
 
Salve, puerule,
Salve, tenellule,
O nate parvule,
Quam bonus es!
Tu cælum deseris,
Tu mundo nasceris,
Nobis te’ut miseris
Assimiles.
 
O summa bonitas,
Excelsa deitas,
Vilis humanitas,
Fit hodie.
Æternus nascitur,
Immensus capitur,
Et rei tegitur, sub specie.
 
Virgo puerpera,
Beata viscera,
Dei cum opera,
Dant filium.
Gaude flos virginum,
Gaude spes hominum,
Fons lavans criminum
Proluvium.
 
-English Translation-
 
The Historians Tale:
The shadow of the cold night
covered all the earth
and plunged all
into a profound sleep.
 
The shepherds of Judea
were watching over their flocks.
And lo, an angel of the Lord stood by them,
And the glory of the Lord shone about them.
Then the shepherds were greatly afraid;
And the angel said to them:
 
Angel:
Fear not, shepherds.
For lo, I bring news of great joy
Which shall be to all people:
for today your Savior is born
in the city of David;
and this will be a sign to you:
you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
Go, shepherds, and adore him.
 
Choir of the Shepherds:
Let us rise up, let us hurry
let us go to Bethlehem,
let us hasten, let us hurry and go to Bethlehem.
There shall we see the child
that is born for us.
Let us rise up, let us hurry,
let us go to Bethlehem.
There shall we praise and adore God
hidden under the form of a sinner.
Why delay, why linger,
O idle shepherds?
Let us rise up, let us hasten,
let us hurry and go to Bethlehem.
 
The Historian:
So the shepherds came with haste
to the place
where the boy was born,
and entered into the house
they found Mary and Joseph
and the boy wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in the manger.
And they bowed down and adored him
with artless but devoted songs, saying:
 
Hail, little child,
hail, tender babe,
O tiny child,
how good you are.
You leave heaven and are born
in the world,
making yourself like us
poor wretches.
 
O highest goodness,
lofty Godhead
that today becomes poor
humanity.
The Eternal is born,
the boundless circumscribed,
and hid in worldly garb.
 
Virgin mother,
your blessed womb,
through God
gives birth to a son.
Rejoice, flower of virgins,
rejoice, hope of mankind,
found that washes away the slain
on sins.
 
-Translation by Keith Anderson & Kelly Baxter

Generous scholarship support for the members of the USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia is provided by the Colburn Foundation. We are also grateful for generous scholarship support from the Rutherford Fund, established by our dear late friend and donor Bill Rutherford. Special thanks to our generous friends and donors Tom Rosenthal, Bob Attiyeh and Mike Rosell. Finally, we would like to offer a very special thanks to Sharon Lilly for her continued generous donation to the Thornton Early Music Program.
 
This concert is made possible with generous support for the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute.
 
For more information, click here.