MotetMysteriousBook 1539 Siglo de Oro PATRICK ALLIES The
Tenors Paul Bentley-Angell 1, 3–5, 7–12, Oscar Golden-Lee 1–5, 7, 9, 11–12, Jack Granby 1, 3–5, 7, 9, 11–12, Chris Fitzgerald-Lombard 1–12
Basses David Le Prevost 1, 3–5, 7, 9, 11–12, Ben McKee 1, 3–5, 7, 9–12, Ben Rowarth 1–7, 9, 11–12
The Mysterious Motet Book 1539 Siglo de Oro | PATRICK ALLIES
Recorded on 7-9 January in St George’s Church, Chesterton, Cambridge Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter 24-bit digital editing: Jack Davis 24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter Editions prepared by Daniel Trocmé-Latter Design: Drew Padrutt Booklet editor: Henry Howard Cover photograph: A Hike in the Bavarian Alps near Oberstdorf. Adrian Infernus/unsplash Session photography: foxbrushfilms.com Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK www.delphianrecords.co.uk @ delphianrecords @ delphianrecords @ delphian_records 1 Pierre Cadéac (fl. 1538–1556) Salus populi ego sum [5:09] 2 Jacques Arcadelt (1507–1568) Dum complerentur dies Pentecostes [3:37] 3 Johannes Lupi (c.1506–1539) Apparens Christus [8:28] 4 Adrian Willaert (c.1490–1562) Laetare sancta mater ecclesia [4:32] 5 Adrian Willaert Peccavi super numerum arenae maris [5:35] 6 Maistre Jhan (c.1485–1538) Pater noster – Ave Maria [7:46] 7 Johannes Sarton (fl. early 16th c.) Haec dies quam fecit [6:18] 8 Dominique Phinot (c.1510–c.1556) Exsurge quare obdormis [6:47] 9 Jhan du Billon (fl. 1534–1556) Postquam impleti sunt dies [5:39] purgationis Mariae 10 Simon Ferrariensis (fl. early 16th c.) Ave et gaude gloriosa virgo [2:37] 11 Nicolas Gombert (c.1495–c.1560) Veni electa mea [5:32] or Jacquet of Mantua (1483–1559) 12 Nicolas Gombert Laus Deo, pax vivis [5:06] Total playing time [67:14] All tracks are premiere recordings
Siglo de Oro would like to thank the Friends and Patrons of Siglo de Oro, and the individual supporters of the disc, including Bob Allies and Jill Franklin, Steve Brosnan, Sonia L. Jacobson, Alison Martin, Susan McFadden, Séamus McGrenera, Joel Newsome-Hubbard and Melissa Scott. Siglo de Oro also gratefully acknowledges the support of Angel Early Music and the University of Cambridge Faculty of Music for grants in aid of the project.
Sopranos Hannah Ely 1–9, 11–12, Fiona Fraser 1, 3–4, 7–10, 12, Helena Thomson 1, 3–4, 7, 9, 12 Altos Christine Buras 5, 8, 10–11, Laura Lamph 1–9, 11–12, Simon Ponsford 1, 3–4, 7, 6–9, 12
Like all the movements that made up the early Reformation, this was a localised rebellion.
Notes on the music
product back to Werrecore in Milan). Schöffer, therefore, might be seen as linking confessions across a religiously divided Europe. More practically, it seems that he was simply trying to be a canny businessman.
The Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Strasbourg, in Alsace, stands tall and proud in the heart of the city. Today, it is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Strasbourg, an area covering a corner of eastern France. During the sixteenth century, however, this ancient cathedral was witness to a religious upheaval. On 16 February 1524, a priest celebrating Low Mass in one of the cathedral chapels decided to translate the words of the Mass from Latin into the local German dialect, and proceeded to distribute Communion in both kinds. This radical departure from the status quo marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in what was then a Free City of the Holy Roman Empire. Over the following couple of decades Strasbourg would see a ban on the Roman Mass liturgy, the suppression of the veneration of Mary and the saints, the closure of monasteries and convents, and the removal of choirs from churches.
The Reformation in Strasbourg was led by Martin Bucer, a former Dominican friar. Bucer appreciated and understood the historical importance of music in Christian worship: its continued use was fully justified through Scripture as well as by the early Church; but it also had emotional qualities that affected those who listened to and participated in it. For Bucer, therefore, the music had to serve the text, and should not be distracting for the listener or performer.
The second, more challenging, question, is this: how did the connection with Milan and Werrecore come about? Schöffer clearly had a well-equipped workshop, and had collaborated with various other printer-publishers during his career, most notably Mathias Apiarius, who was also based in Strasbourg during the 1530s, and had contacts in the music world that may well have extended over the Alps. Werrecore, for his part, was involved in a printing business arrangement in Milan, tasked with supplying motets to a local printer. However, for some reason, he decided to send the 28 Cantiones on a transalpine journey to Schöffer in Strasbourg rather than have them published in Milan. Slightly surprisingly, Werrecore appears not to have included any of his own motets amongst those he sent to Strasbourg. Schöffer is not documented as having travelled to Italy before a period in Venice in 1541–2/3, nor is Werrecore known to have spent any period of his career outside Milan. Ultimately, therefore, this mystery persists. This recording of 12 of the 28 motets demonstrates the vast range of styles and composers included within the Cantiones. Strasbourg at this time was not particularly known for its music-making; from the period prior to the Reformation, the city has left us no music manuscripts or publications of any significance. Yet, judging by the reformers’ repeated complaints about the behaviour of church singers during the 1520s, it is evident that some music-making took place. The reformers’ main objections were that preReformation church music was sung on behalf of the people, and insincerely. Bucer wanted to overhaul music in church, doing away with choral Latin ‘babbling’, and replacing it with congregational hymnody and psalmody in the vernacular, in order to achieve direct, sincere, meaningful, and comprehensible singing by the people themselves. Local publishers began printing German congregational hymns from 1524 onwards. The cathedral choir was dismissed in 1529, with a declaration from the cathedral chapter stating that the services of ‘the singers or the choir students’ were no longer required. Then, during the 1530s, something strange happened. Peter Schöffer the Younger, a Protestant publisher who had arrived in Strasbourg in 1529, began publishing polyphony. This culminated in his final musical publication – the Cantiones quinque vocum selectissimae (August 1539) – the only time that Schöffer, an experienced and respected printer of music, would publish an anthology of sacred Latin motets. To add to the intrigue, the contents of this anthology had come from Catholic Milan. We know this because in Schöffer’s preface he explicitly states that Hermann Matthias Werrecore, the Flemish choirmaster of the Duomo of Milan, had sent him these works. Schöffer was granted an imperial privilege to print this music by King Ferdinand I. This series of events begs at least two questions. First, why would a Protestant publisher based in Protestant Germany try to sell Latin music that was endorsed by a Catholic monarch and emphatically had no chance of being performed in its place of publication? The answer to this lies in the recent rise of the German motet anthology. During 1537 and 1538 alone, publishers in Nuremberg and Wittenberg printed five motet anthologies between them. For Schöffer to come on board so soon after, therefore, can be seen as evidence of the success of these recent collections, in a market that had been previously dominated by French and Italian printers. Schöffer was keen to capitalise on this rapidly expanding domain of the press, evidently had the technical expertise and equipment to do so, and was able to procure the authority of a royal privilege. However, his partbooks were probably largely aimed at performers and bibliophiles outside Strasbourg, both in Lutheran parts of Germany as well as in Catholic areas of Europe (for example, given the connection to Italy, Schöffer would surely have sent some exemplars of the finished
the Ave Maria is perhaps telling (this is one of a number of texts whose Catholic origins are obscured – in fact, all mentions of ‘Maria’, ‘virgo’, or ‘mater’ are excluded from the short titles provided in the contents page, perhaps to appease the Strasbourg authorities). Texturally, it is largely homophonic; the final petition to Mary to ‘pray for us sinners’ draws an interesting parallel with the texture at the end of the Pater noster, at ‘in temptationem’. For a composer who spent his career at the Ferrarese court at the height of its musical patronage, surprisingly little is known about Maistre Jhan. Part of the reason for this opaqueness is his lack of surname; although there were many composers with similar names, he alone seems to have been known only by the honorific ‘Maistre’. He was of French origin, born in the mid 1480s or early 1490s, moving to Ferrara in 1512 when he was hired by Alfonso d’Este.
Veni electa mea is one of the shorter motets among Schöffer’s Cantiones and the only one within the collection to include a section in sesquialtera time (i.e. a change to three beats in the time of two). Although first printed by Schöffer, where it is attributed to Gombert, attributions in its manuscript sources vary considerably. Scholars are divided: Stephen Rice deems it likely, on stylistic grounds, that Veni electa mea is not from Gombert’s hand, while Owen Rees considers the motet to be genuine Gombert, possibly written for Emperor Charles V’s marriage to Isabella of Portugal. Gombert was almost certainly born in Flanders, but his main employment as maître des enfants and as a composer in Charles V’s court chapel is well known. The other eight attributions to Gombert in the collection are more secure. Laus Deo, pax vivis is another text with an unknown source, although the opening line is traceable back to at least the fifteenth century. The music builds up from the very beginning: the altus entry rises to an a ' , repeating the note as if to imitate a bell chiming, after which the building up of the texture is complete and thereafter hardly ever drops below four voices. Gombert’s renown among modern audiences is equalled – if not exceeded – by his fellowCantiones quinque uocum selectissimae … (1539), contents page: Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Mus.pr. 48
A more obscure figure associated with Ferrara was Simon Ferrariensis, who has only three or four works attributed to him. The earliest source mentioning him is dated 1518, so it stands to reason that he was already an established composer by this time. The source of the text of his motet, Ave et gaude gloriosa virgo, is unknown, though is probably based on a longer devotion to the Virgin Mary. The music is treated thematically: new lines of text are generally delivered with a distinct motif. The voices enter in quick succession at the beginning – a rising minor third figure perhaps signalling a salutation to Mary. Schöffer’s is the only extant source to transmit Ave et gaude, and the same is true of Sarton’s Haec dies quam fecit. This motet – a work for Christmastide – is without a doubt the most mysterious item in the collection. Although it is presented anonymously in Schöffer’s anthology, the Munich Bayerische Staatsbibliothek copy has a handwritten attribution to ‘Ioannes Sarton’. A lack of documentary evidence for the existence of a composer called ‘Sarton’ has led some scholars to presume that this was a variation on the name of the Frenchman Pierre Certon, a composer known for very loose imitation, simple melodies, and part-writing with shorter passages for two or three voices. However, the work’s attribution must remain an open question: it is a considerable stretch to arrive at the conclusion that the motet is by Pierre Certon based only on a handwritten mention of ‘Ioannes Sarton’ in a unique source.
Some of contributing composers, such as Gombert and Willaert, are already well known for their motets; others, such as Arcadelt, are better known for their secular madrigalian output; and others still, such as Ferrariensis, are scarcely known at all. German motet anthologies of the time tended to include items by some of the main ‘household’ composer names – Josquin, Senfl and Isaac were among the most popular – yet these names are entirely absent from Schöffer’s work. This must reflect the material that Werrecore was most easily able to acquire in Milan. Schöffer opens his anthology with a twin setting of the Pater noster – Ave Maria, with music by Maistre Jhan. Although the Lord’s Prayer was still in use in Strasbourg at the time, the Hail Mary most certainly wasn’t, so the fact that Schöffer’s contents page omits to mention Notes on the music
Daniel Trocmé-Latter is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Music at Homerton College and an Affiliated Lecturer in Music and History at the University of Cambridge. His research interests include the role of music in liturgy and ceremony, especially during the Reformation period. This project on Peter Schöffer’s 1539 Cantiones emerged out of his first monograph, The Singing of the Strasbourg Protestants, 1523–1541 (2015). The book telling the whole story of the Cantiones will be published by Boydell and Brewer in 2023; scores of his editions of all 28 motets will also be made available for download.
Johannes Lupi was widely known in his time, despite apparently never straying beyond the confines of northern France and the Low Countries. He spent his youth singing as a choirboy in Notre Dame Cathedral in his (presumably) native Cambrai. After studying in Leuven, he returned to Cambrai, where he worked for the rest of his life. He died in December 1539, a matter of months after Schöffer had published two of his motets, one of which – Apparens Christus – had never previously been printed. The text, from Acts 1, is set to an evocative musical depiction of Christ’s Ascension. Each new section of text builds up from a lower to a higher number of voices. Of musical interest are the triplets scattered through the motet, which produce some quite unusual polyrhythmic effects. Like Lupi, Pierre Cadéac apparently never travelled beyond northern France and the Low Countries, although it is quite likely that his fame was beginning to spread across Europe at the time Schöffer’s Cantiones were published. In Salus populi ego sum, Cadéac marries text and music through various means, including a lengthening of note values at ‘Attendite popule meus’, drawing in the listener more closely.
Two versions of this motet have been handed down: a French and a German–Italian (Schöffer, unsurprisingly, transmits the latter). The biggest difference is a substantial rewriting of the middle of the piece, although both versions contain the same close musical attention to detail.
Notes on the music
Also of a penitential nature, but written in a more modern style, Dominique Phinot’s contribution to the Cantiones collection is a petition to God, Exsurge quare obdormis. It is, along with the motets by Ferrariensis and Sarton, one of three in Schöffer’s anthology to be transmitted without any known manuscript sources, and is unique in the collection for being set effectively without a bass voice: it is written for a high (discantus) voice with three altos and one tenor. The result is a dose of relatively close harmony with a swift accumulation of texture at the opening: with the word ‘Exsurge’ (‘Arise’) at the opening having been built up through the lower voices to the higher ones, the opposite effect is employed at the beginning of the second part. As has already been seen in the case of Haec dies, certain motets in the Cantiones are connected to particular days or seasons in the liturgical calendar. Jhan de Billon, the composer of the Candlemas motet Postquam impleti sunt dies purgationis Mariae, may have been a singer in the papal chapel, but very little of his music survives.
© 2022 Daniel Trocmé-Latter
In a sense, this entire anthology is German–Italian: compiled in Milan, and transported over the Alps for publication in the western Holy Roman Empire. For the first time in almost 500 years, these motets can now be listened to once again, and I hope that this recording will inspire many other choirs to perform them.
The text divides neatly into two halves: first describing Jesus being taken to the temple, followed by the Old Testament justification of this event through the words of the prophet Malachi. Keen listeners will hear the rhetorical rising motif on ‘Ecce’ – the point at which Malachi is quoted directly. countryman Adrian Willaert. Unlike Gombert, however, Willaert settled in Italy, first in the service of Cardinal Ippolito I d’Este in Rome and Ferrara, before being appointed maestro di cappella at San Marco in Venice in 1527, a position he held for the rest of his life. By 1539, Willaert was held in particularly high esteem as a composer; indeed, all three of his motets included in Schöffer’s Cantiones were simultaneously published in the same year in Scotto’s set of five-voice motets in Venice. The text of Laetare sancta mater ecclesia is a celebration of St Augustine of Hippo, but again of unknown origin: it praises Augustine for conquering ‘Fortunatus of the Manicheans who had misled many through his cunning’, and refers to the saint as the ‘hammer of heretics’ ( malleus haereticorum ); in the context of the Reformation, this suggests a degree of anti-Protestant polemic, although there is nothing explicit in the text to confirm this. However, such a possibility only enhances the theory that the contents of Schöffer’s anthology were Catholic in nature. Although very contrasting in mood, the Requiem motet Peccavi super numerum arenae maris contains a number of musical similarities to Laetare: both are written in a loose imitative style, and are based around a cantus firmus in the middle of the texture. Towards the end of the second part of the motet, the cantus firmus note values are halved, which has the effect of disguising the melody. Evidence suggests that Jacques Arcadelt grew up in France but was working in Italy by the end of the 1520s, perhaps in Rome, before moving to the service of Duke Alessandro de’ Medici in Florence during the 1530s. His foray into sacred music was limited. The text of Dum complerentur dies Pentecostes forms part of the liturgy for Pentecost (a feast that incidentally remained a part of the reformed Strasbourg liturgy). The Holy Spirit is depicted through, for example, a series of suspensions and close-knit counterpoint around the word ‘vehementis’.
‘Argentoratum’ (Strasbourg) from Braun & Hogenberg, Civitates orbis terrarum (1572)
Responsory from the Office for the Dead (based on the Prayer of Manasseh, 9–10 and Psalm 50: 5–6) My sins outnumber the sands of the sea, and my transgressions have multiplied, and I am not worthy to look up towards the heavens, because of the magnitude of my iniquity; for I have aroused your wrath, and done evil in your sight. For I know my iniquity, and my transgression is always against me, for I have sinned against you alone, and done evil in your sight.
AfterAlleluia.his
Passion, Christ appeared to his disciples for forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God, alleluia. And before their eyes he was taken up and a cloud hid him from their sight. And, assembled with them, he commanded them that they should not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father. And before their eyes he was taken up. Amen. Rejoice, mother Church, for your Saviour redeemed for you the energetic and learned Augustine from the slavery of Babylon, who, arguing in the assembly of all people, publicly vanquished Fortunatus of the Manicheans who had misled many through his cunning. Augustine, light of the learned, foundation of the Church, hammer of heretics, the greatest vessel of knowledge, pray to God on behalf of your faithful ones, we beseech you.
Texts and translations Salus populi ego sum Salus populi ego sum, dicit Dominus, de quacunque tribulatione exclamaverint ad me, exaudiam eos et ero illorum Dominus in perpetuum. Attendite popule meus legem meam et inclinate aurem vestram in verba oris Basedmei.onPsalm 36: 39 and 77: 1 2 Dum complerentur dies Pentecostes Dum complerentur dies Pentecostes erant omnes discipuli in eodem loco et factus est repente de coelo sonus tanquam advenientis spiritus vehementis et replevit totam domum ubi erant sedentes. Alleluia. Acts 2: 1–2 (first lesson at Mass on the Feast of Pentecost) 3 Apparens Christus Apparens Christus post passionem suam discipulis suis per dies quadraginta loquens de regno Dei, alleluia. Et videntibus illis elevatus est et nubes suscepit eum ab oculis eorum. Et convescens praecepit eis ne discederent ab Jerosolimis sed expectarent promissionem EtPatris.videntibus illis elevatus est. Amen. Acts 1: 3, 9, 4 I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord: in whatever pain they shall cry unto me, I will hear them, and I will be their Lord forever. O my people, hear my laws: and incline your ear to the words of my mouth. When the day of Pentecost was come, all of the disciples were gathered together, and there was a sound from heaven like the coming of a mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
4 Laetare sancta mater ecclesia Laetare sancta mater ecclesia quia salvator tuus doctorem strenuum de servitute Babylonis tibi redemit Augustinum qui Fortunatum Manichaeorum versutia plurimos seducentem in conventu omnium disputans publice prosummummalleusfundamentumAugustine,superavit.luxdoctorum,ecclesiae,haereticorum,vasscientiae,tuisfidelibusrogaDeum quaesumus.
1
Antiphons for First Vespers and Lauds for the feast of St Augustine of Hippo, with a 16th-century verse for the Gradual at Mass 5 Peccavi super numerum arenae maris Peccavi super numerum arenae maris et multiplicata sunt peccata mea et non sum dignus videre altitudinem coeli prae multitudine iniquitatis meae quoniam irritavi iram tuam et malum coram te feci. Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco et peccatum meum contra me est semper quia tibi soli peccavi et malum coram te feci.
Based on Luke 2: 22–23; Malachi 3: 1 (Gospel and Lesson for Mass on the feast of the Purification) 10 Ave et gaude gloriosa virgo Ave et gaude gloriosa virgo Maria, mater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Regina coeli, domina mundi, miserere nostri.
Introit and Gradual for Sexagesima Sunday (from Psalms 43: 23–6 and 82: 18) 9 Postquam impleti sunt dies purgationis Mariae Postquam impleti sunt dies purgationis Mariae secundum legem Moisi, tulerunt Jesum in Jerusalem ut sisterent eum Domino sicut scriptum est, Ecce ego mitto angelum meum, qui preparabit viam tuam ante faciem meam. Et statim veniet ad templum sanctum suum dominator Dominus quem vos quaeritis, et angelus testamenti, quem vos vultis.
And when the days of Mary’s purification were completed, according to the law of Moses, they took Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written, ‘Behold, I will send my messenger who shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his holy temple, the angel of the covenant, whom you delight in.’
Texts and translations
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it, noe, noe. A holy day has dawned upon us; come, people, and worship the Lord, because today, for the salvation of the world, he deigned to be born of a Virgin, noe, noe. Today, true peace came down to us from heaven, today, throughout the whole world, the heavens have been made sweet, today, there has shone upon us the day of our redemption, of reparation of ancient sin, of eternal happiness, because today, for the salvation of the world, he deigned to be born of a Virgin, noe, noe.
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.
Arise, why do you sleep, Lord? Cast us not off forever. Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our troubles, our belly stuck to the ground? Arise, Lord, help us and deliver us. Let the peoples know that your name is God, that you alone are the most high over all the earth. Arise, Lord, help us and deliver us.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Hail and rejoice, glorious Virgin Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, Queen of Heaven, lady of the world, have mercy on us.
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6 Pater noster – Ave Maria Pater noster qui es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum, adveniat regnum tuum, fiat voluntas tua sicut in coelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in temptationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen. 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. 7 Haec dies quam fecit Haec dies quam fecit Dominus, exultemus et laetemur in ea, noe, noe. Dies sanctificatus illuxit nobis, venite gentes et adorate Dominum quia hodie pro salute mundi de virgine nasci dignatus est, noe, noe. Hodie nobis de coelo pax vera descendit, hodie per totum mundum melliflui facti sunt coeli, hodie illuxit nobis dies redemptionis nostrae, reparationis antiquae, foelicitatis aeternae, quia hodie pro salute mundi de virgine nasci dignatus est, noe, noe. Gradual and Responsory texts for the feast of the Nativity
Exsurge quare obdormis Exsurge, quare obdormis, Domine et ne repellas in finem. Quare faciem tuam avertis, oblivisceris nos tribulationem nostram, adhaesit in terra venter noster. Exsurge, Domine, adiuva nos et libera nos. Sciant gentes quoniam nomen tibi, Deus, tu solus altissimus super omnem terram. Exsurge, Domine, adiuva nos et libera nos.
11 Veni electa mea Veni electa mea et ponam in te thronum meum quia concupivit rex speciem tuam. Audi filia et vide et inclina aurem tuam. Diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis, propterea benedixit te Deus in aeternum, specie tua et pulchritudine tua intende, prospere procede et Liturgicalregna.texts mainly from Psalm 45 associated with the Common of Virgins 12 Laus Deo, pax vivis Laus Deo pax vivis et requies defunctis, tu autem Domine miserere nostri. Benedictum sit nomen Domini et nomen virginis Mariae cum omnibus sanctis nunc et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. Et beata viscera Mariae virginis quae portaverunt aeterni Patris Filium. Tu autem Domine miserere nostri, Deo gratias.
Praise be to God, peace for the living, and rest for the dead; but you, O Lord, have mercy on us. Blessed be the name of the Lord and the name of the Virgin Mary with all the saints, now and forever. Amen. And blessed be the womb of the Virgin Mary that bore the Son of the eternal Father. But you, O Lord, have mercy on us. Thanks be to God. Come, my chosen one, and I will place you upon my throne, for the king has desired your beauty. Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline your Graciousnessear.is poured out upon your lips, because God has blessed you for ever, with your comeliness and your beauty, set out, proceed prosperously, and reign.
Translations © Daniel Trocmé-Latter Texts and translations
Patrick Allies is Artistic Director of Siglo de Oro. He is active as a singer, conductor, teacher, researcher and writer on music. He is currently a member of the REMArkables, the professional development scheme of the European Early Music Network.
Patrick began his musical education as a chorister at the Temple Church in London, under Stephen Layton. He sang in Gloucester Cathedral Choir before taking up a Choral Scholarship to study Music at King’s College London. Patrick went on to postgraduate study at the University of Cambridge where he sang in Jesus College Choir. While Patrick was an undergraduate, he founded the vocal ensemble Siglo de Oro. He has directed the group ever since, as well as holding conducting and teaching roles at Morley College, City Literary Institute, and West Sussex Music. Patrick is in demand as workshop leader, in particular on the subject of the performance of Renaissance polyphony, and has led sessions on performance practice across the UK and in the USA. Alongside his work as a conductor, Patrick is a PhD student in music at the University of Oxford, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Patrick’s research involves fifteenth-century choirs and their performance spaces. The following tracks are supported by individual donors: Jill Franklin & Bob Allies Apparens Christus Sonia L. Jacobson Veni electa mea Susan McFadden Pater noster – Ave Maria
included the premiere of Emily Hall’s hotelbased opera, Found and Lost, a performance of Stockhausen’s Stimmung at Birmingham University, and a collaboration with the charity Multitude of Voyces, whose mission is to promote the work of underrepresented composers. So far, the group has recorded eight works from Multitude of Voyces’ volumes of sacred music by women, including new pieces by Emily Hazrati, Yshani Perinpanayagam and Alison Willis.
Siglo de Oro has made four critically acclaimed recordings with Delphian Records, ranging from music written for Milan Cathedral in around 1500 (DCD34224), to new commissions written for the group. Amongst these was the world premiere recording of the Missa Tulerunt Dominum meum of Hieronymus Praetorius, released in 2018 (DCD34208), which was BBC Music Magazine’s Choral and Song Album of the Month. The disc was placed on the longlist for the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Awards. Siglo de Oro’s most recent recording, Christmas in Puebla (DCD34238), featuring music from seventeenth-century Mexico, reached number 7 in the UK specialist classical chart, and received a five-star review in The Times.
Séamus McGrenera Haec dies quam fecit
Joel Newsome-Hubbard Salus populi ego sum
Melissa Scott Dum complerentur dies Pentecostes
The ensemble is best known for its work in early music, with a repertoire stretching from Hildegard of Bingen to Dieterich Buxtehude In particular, Siglo de Oro specialises in bringing to life repertoire that has been neglected for centuries. This has led to projects based around music by composers such as Hermann Matthias Werrecore, Sulpitia Cesis, and Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla, bringing their longforgotten music to new audiences in concerts, videos and recordings. Siglo de Oro is also dedicated to performing contemporary music. Past projects have Biographies
Siglo de Oro is one of the leading vocal ensembles of its generation, praised for its golden tone, fresh interpretations, and innovative programming. The group made its professional debut in 2014 at the Spitalfields Festival, of which the Financial Times said: ‘Siglo de Oro, under the assured direction of Patrick Allies, performed with vivacity and poise’. Since then, the group has given concerts across the UK, appeared live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, and taken up invitations to sing at festivals in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Finland and Malta.
‘Here is a choir in which all the elements are held in perfect equilibrium.
‘as richly expressive as it is politically poised … This beautiful new album from The Marian Consort is surely one of the best one-to-a-part ensemble recordings of this repertoire’ — Gramophone, December 2018, EDITOR’S CHOICE
O Virgo Benedicta: Music of Marian Devotion from Spain’s Century of Gold
The Marian Consort / Rory McCleery BiblicalDCD34205texts of lamentation were embraced by composers of the late Renaissance for their artistic and expressive potential. But in Portugal – a kingdom without a king, its people governed by a foreign power – such settings gave life, as well, to a rich expression of covert political commentary. Rory McCleery’s ongoing interest in this field of polyphony bears fruit for the first time in a groundbreaking programme – a clarion call for music that deserves, and with his advocacy should now receive, far wider recognition.
Bavarian Hans Leo Hassler, Netherlandish Orlande de Lassus, Venetian Andrea Gabrieli, and the itinerant Jacob Handl – each lends a motet to complement the unfolding liturgical journey, from the quiet solemnity of Maundy Thursday through to the exultant joy of Easter Day.
Hieronymus Praetorius: Missa Tulerunt Dominum meum Siglo de Oro / Patrick Allies DCD34208 (CD) / DCD34303 (blu-ray)
Though less well known than his namesake Michael, Hieronymus Praetorius was part of a German musical dynasty, and as organist at Hamburg’s Jacobikirche he was one of the city’s most important cultural figures. So it is remarkable that his magnificent mass for Holy Week, the Missa Tulerunt Dominum meum, has until now remained unrecorded. Siglo de Oro present it as it might have been heard in seventeenth-century Hamburg, weaving in motets for Easter from some of Praetorius’s most gifted contemporaries.
‘There is a great deal to admire in the precision of their tuning and the purity of tone … I gained a great deal of pleasure from listening to this flawlessly executed programme’ — John Quinn, MusicWeb International, June 2011 Christmas in Puebla Siglo de Oro & instrumentalists / Patrick Allies
The Marian Consort / Rory McCleery
ByDCD34238theearly 1620s, when Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla migrated from Cádiz to New Spain (modern-day Mexico), the colony was a wealthy outpost of the Habsburg Empire, keen to maintain the religious and musical customs of its mother country. At the cathedral of the young, thriving city of Puebla de los Ángeles, Padilla had at his disposal a sizeable body of men and boys who not only sang but also played instruments – including guitars, sackbut, dulcian, and simple percussion such as the cajón. Siglo de Oro’s programme explores the rich soundworld of this time and place through the reconstruction of a Mass at Christmas Eve, including a number of villancicos – energetic, dance-like pieces whose captivating mixture of Mexican, Afro-Hispanic and Portuguese influences would have invigorated even the most sober churchgoer.
ForDCD34086itsdebut recording, a six-strong Marian Consort explores music from late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Spain, in a programme celebrating the rich compositional legacy of the Siglo del Oro’s intensely competitive musical culture. These luminous works – centred on the figure of the Virgin Mary – demand performances of great intelligence and vocal commitment, and the youthful singers respond absolutely, bringing hushed intimacy and bristling excitement to some of the most gorgeously searing lines in the history of European polyphony.
Pater peccavi: music of lamentation from Renaissance Portugal
‘A sonic festive feast’ — Choir & Organ, December 2020, FIVE STARS Editor’s choice
Patrick Allies ponders every note before moulding lines whose suppleness in turn coalesces into a breathing, organic whole … A beautifully recorded, aristocratically executed disc’ — BBC Music Magazine, May 2018, *****/*****, CHORAL & SONG CHOICE
Siglo de Oro / Patrick Allies
— BBC Music Magazine, December 2014, *****/*****,
CHAMBER CHOICE
— Gramophone, February 2020 Serenissima: Music from Renaissance Europe on Venetian viols Rose Consort of Viols ADCD34149discofjourneying and exploration, paying homage to the pan-European tendencies of a period in which composers, instruments and manuscripts crossed geographical borders; in which a song by one composer might become the subject of ingenious contrapuntal treatments by another and of Mass settings by a third; and in which new dance genres evolved alongside the widespread adaptation of vocal music for performance by instrumental consorts. The Rose Consort of Viols, inspired by Richard Jones’s reconstructions of a Venetian instrument by Francesco Linarol – the earliest viol surviving from the sixteenth century – trace a path from the viol’s northern Italian origins to England, where it found a particularly welcome home at the turn of the 1600s.
Gawain Glenton, Silas Wollston
— The Scotsman, November 2021 Music for Milan Cathedral
Drop down, ye heavens: Advent antiphons for choir & saxophone
WithDCD34261thearrival of Adrian Willaert at St Mark’s Cathedral in 1527, Venice at last boasted a musician of international reputation. The establishment of Venice as the world leader in music publishing, and the coming and going of international musicians, made the Floating City anything but insular, and artistic competition was the order of the day, with organists duelling to outdo each other in invention and grace; while on the streets a different culture of lively dances gave rise to more opportunities for instrumentalists to show off their improvisational skills. Intimate yet exuberant, scholarly yet unrestrained, Gawain Glenton and Silas Wollston’s exploration of the often dazzlingly virtuosic repertoire shows how the enduring ‘myth of Venice’ was built in sound just as much as it was in marble.
‘Glenton’s nimble and regal facility and Wollston’s crisp keyboard performances [bring] freshness at every turn’
Siglo de Oro / Patrick Allies; Sam Corkin SigloDCD34184deOro’s recording debut highlights the saxophone’s natural kinship with the human voice, as well as the endless expressive possibilities which this versatile instrument stimulates in the imaginations of modern composers. Its athletic vigour launches Will Todd’s O Wisdom, the first of eight newly commissioned settings of the Advent antiphons in English which form the backbone of this recording. Elsewhere the instrument soars above the voices’ urgent prophecy and imploration, while the choir is heard unaccompanied in glowing renditions of sixteenth-century polyphony – works by Pierre Certon, Antoine de Mornable, Michael Praetorius and Josquin des Prez, whose music complements the atmosphere of quiet expectancy proper to Advent.
‘well-nigh flawless … Restrained, refined readings’
InDCD34224thefifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Milan Cathedral acted as a magnet to many of the finest composers of the time. Yet the Cathedral’s maestro di cappella for almost thirty years, Hermann Matthias Werrecore, is almost completely unknown to us today. In this first recording of any of his sacred music, six motets are presented alongside works that Werrecore knew, drawn mostly from the holdings of the Milan library during his tenure there. Siglo de Oro’s act of rediscovery – hot on the heels of their premiere recording of a mass by Hieronymus Praetorius – reveals the exceptional quality of the music, and Patrick Allies directs them in performances of extraordinary flair.
Werrecore – Josquin – Gaffurius – Weerbeke
‘Invigorating … hits you with its character and depth’ — Gramophone, December 2016 The Myth of Venice: 16th-century music for cornetto & keyboards
‘To portray effectively such ranges of polyphonic textures is really exciting: this is a hugely impressive disc in both programming and performance’
DCD34284
