Classical Music Diary

Alessandro Coppini (Alexander Coppinus, ca. 1465 - 1527) was a Florentine composer, organist, and theologian and a Servite monk.

His compositions, both in the frottola style and the polyphonic style of the Franco-Flemish School'herald the confluence of Italian and Franco-Netherlandish elements typical of mid-16th century Italian music.'⁽¹⁾

There are a few misconceptions about this not very well known composer:

- Due to a lack of baptismal and tax records in Florence, some music historians have concluded that Coppini was probably not Italian and may have been Flemish. One payment record, however, mentions him as Alessandro di [the son of] Bartolomeo di Marchione Choppini. There were Coppini families in Florence, and it is possible that he was born in one of the neighboring towns or in the countryside. ⁽²⁾
- Because some of his music was preserved in Milan, he has been placed in Milan as a singer, as the "Alexander" who was active there. It was, however, Alexander Agricola who was active in Milan. Coppini may have spent a few years in Milan between 1493-1497 when Savonarola reduced music to plainchant and organ in Florence. The Milanese manuscript that contains Coppini's works dates from a few years after this period. ⁽²⁾

The following is known:

- He entered the Servite order in 1475 and began studying for the priesthood.
- He continued his studies in Bologna and was appointed at the chapel of the Santissima Annunziata convent.
- The Franco-Flemish Agricola and Isaac were his colleagues there and probably familiarized him with their polyphonic techniques.
- He received organ training, possibly from Squarcialupi. ⁽³⁾
^-Like most other musicians he disappears from Florentine records during the Savonarola years and returns in 1497.
- He becomes organist and chaplain at the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, resumes his post as organist at Santissima Annunziata, and also becomes organist at San Lorenzo, the family church of the Medici. ⁽⁴⁾ He left the latter in 1503 when his playing created "a great scandal" and the church no longer wished to waste treasure on "bad service," whatever that may have meant. He was obviously a busy musician and had in addition taken up master studies in theology since 1502.

Thirteen secular pieces--one incomplete, four motets and a mass have come down to us. The sacred pieces were mostly composed before 1500. The secular pieces date either from the 1490s or from the first years after Savonarola's fall when carnival festivities were revived with enthusiasm.

Eight of the secular works are Canti Carnascialeschi (Carnival Songs) or related to those festivities. Some may have been commissioned by Lorenzo the Magnificent who died in 1492. Let's listen to two great examples: Trionfo di diavoli and Lanzi Maine⁽⁵⁾

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⁽¹⁾ Frank A. D'Accone, "Music in Renaissance Florence: Studies and Documents." Farnham, UK, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006, Chapter IX, Alessandro Coppini and Bartolomeo degli Organi, Two Florentine Composers of the Italian Renaissance, p. 1. (https://books.google.com/books?id=cTi4Lj41eYIC&pg=PA411&lpg=PA411&dq=alessandro+coppini+biography&source=bl&ots=YAT0Zl_3N1&sig=IFXh78iggXxf--qrZMrk8Ljkvys&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5Uu-VNKnGcKjNreBhJAP&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=Practically%20nothing%20is%20known&f=false (01/21/2015))
⁽²⁾Ib., Chapter IX, p. 39. Gaetano Cesari placed him as a singer in Milan and Alfred Einstein didn't think he was Italian.
⁽³⁾Ib., Chapter IX, p. 40.
⁽⁴⁾Ib., Chapter IX, pp. 41-42.
⁽⁵⁾ 'Lanzi' are German mercenary troops.

The Early Tudor period saw the expansion of polyphony in Latin church music, and the rise of the new musical foundations in England. ... the Eton Choir Books are a major source of period music. Some prominent composers included: John Browne, Walter Lambe, Richard Davy, and William Cornysh ("The Elder")....⁽¹⁾

Richard Davy (ca. 1465 - 1538), Tudor priest, composer, organist and choirmaster, is one of the most represented composers in the Eton Choirbook. The Davy family name was fairly common in Devon, and this composer's biography has likely been conflated with at least one other contemporary of the same name. Following is a timeline of whereabouts that have been attributed to the composer at one time or another in various sources.

This much can safely be attributed to the Richard Davy of the Eton Choirbook:

- From 1483: Studies at Magdalen College, Oxford.
- 1490-1492: Choirmaster and organist at the same institution.
- 1494: Leaves Magdalen College.
- 1495: The college pays for the binding of a book containing his songs, masses and antiphons. ⁽²⁾
- 1500-1505: Nine of Davy's works are included in the Eton Choirbook.

These are activities of the same or another Richard Davy:

- 1493-1495: Chaplain at Ashburton, Devon, or Master of the school at nearby St. Lawrence Chapel. ⁽³⁾
- 1497-ca. 1505: Vicar choral at Exeter Cathedral.
- 1501-1516: In service of the Boleyn family. ⁽⁴⁾
- 1512-1538: Senior singer at Fotheringhay College in Northamptonshire near Oxford. ⁽⁵⁾

Chris Whent at Here Of A Sunday Morning (HOASM) places Davy third in the Eton Choirbook after John Browne and Walter Lambe and notes the following stylistic traits: ⁽⁶⁾

- A 'preference for the long antiphon in five parts for men and boys,' making Davy's works somewhat less diverse and giving them less 'depth.'
- At the same time Davy's works show a certain facility of writing.
- There are more short passages of 'very rapid soloistic display.'
- 'An avoidance of the most complex rhythms which, despite a somewhat more limited use of imitation, puts Davy's music a little closer to that of the early sixteenth century than Browne's is.'

There are ten Davy pieces in the Eton Choirbook, nine if you count the two settings of the Et exultavit as one. One is an incomplete Passion setting. The O Domine caeli terraeque creator antiphon was written in one day according to the Scribe of the Eton Choirbook. ⁽⁷⁾

Let's take the time to listen to a few of Davy's wonderfully peaceful antiphons and to a modern recontextualization of his Passion according to St. Matthew.

Salve regina mater misericordiae, Eton Choirbook #18, folio 32v-34, for five voices, is free composed without reference to the chant and a challenge for the choirboys. Text and music can be found here.

It's very distinctly English ... There's a sweetness there, a depth of feeling, that's quite unique, it's not easy music to sing and the fact that Davy could compose music of this scale and quality is the clearest possible indication that English choirboys were expected to achieve a high level of professional virtuosity to sing music that tested their powers of concentration and their command of vocal technique as never before.⁽⁸⁾

Stabat mater dolorosa, Eton Choirbook #32, folio 62v-65, for five voices. Listen to a good live performance, unfortunately with poor audio quality, here.

The tone is dolorous throughout, but there isn't a lot of word painting. One example comes @ 9:00 on the words "Crucifige, crucifige! (Crucify, crucify!)" The music slowly works through the text in a florid way.

These composers ⁽⁹⁾ have by and large a purely mechanical technique of word setting, which has nothing to do with the emotive significance which a modern reader might find in the text. Thus Davy simply works his way through each syllable of the text until the penultimate is reached, then allows the music to expand melismatically before achieving a cadence on the final syllable: the obvious examples are at incliNAti, fiLIo, complaCEam, criMIne, maestiTIam and, of course, Amen.⁽¹⁰⁾

Listen here to In honore summe matris, Eton Choirbook #34, folio 68v-71, for five voices.

Davy’s In honore summe matris, clocking in at nearly 18 minutes, is one of the longest pieces in the manuscript, but I found myself warming more than usual to its composer’s garrulous manner.⁽¹¹⁾

Finally, we listen here to a remarkable old meets new version of Davy's incomplete Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christe (Passion according to St. Matthew), Eton Choirbook #92, folio 124-126, significantly revised and reconstructed by composers from The New Zealand School of Music led by Jack Body. ⁽¹²⁾

Davy's Passion is the first polyphonic passion by a known composer. The first two folios--the first eleven movements--are missing in the Eton Choirbook, making reconstruction necessary. The sayings of the Evangelist and Jesus use the traditional Sarum chant recitation tone. The dialogue for everyone else--the synagoga--is set polyphonically in a series of dramatic scenes.

With its 'soaring treble lines, vibrant syncopations, flashes of florid writing,' a few effective, homophonic passages, and speechlike, rhetorical declamation, the work is highly dramatic and is testimony to the quality of performance in England's long choral tradition, even in those early days. ⁽⁴⁾
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⁽¹⁾"High and Late Renaissance (1461-1536), Early Tudors."Early English Music , Exlibris.org website. (http://www.exlibris.org/eem/eem_henry.html (01/24/2015))
⁽²⁾ Markofireland, "Richard Davy (±1465-1538): Stabat Mater." Saturday Chorale,4/29/2013. (http://saturdaychorale.com/2013/04/29/richard-davy-1465-1538-stabat-mater/ (01/23/2015))
⁽³⁾ Mentioned there as Dom. Richardus Dave. "Richard Davy." Wikipedia page. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Davy (01/23/2015)).
⁽⁴⁾ Richard Davy, "St. Matthew Passion: Reconstructed from the Eton Choirbook with Lyrics in Latin and Englishh." Middleton, WI, A-R Editions, Inc., 2011, p. ix. (https://books.google.com/books?id=nKpLOmB-6aMC&pg=PR15&lpg=PR15&dq=richard+davy+composer&source=bl&ots=i-mLscX1DI&sig=d7EzBdWkSUQhwagxyE1NFJYmI-U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MjWvVKeoJ-PksATIrYKIDQ&ved=0CFYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=boleyn&f=false (01/23/2015))
⁽⁵⁾ Held the highest paying salary there until 1535. His last will and testament dated March 31, 1538 requested a burial in the middle aisle of the Parish side of the Church near the Composer Cotterell's gravestone. "Richard Davy." Composer bio, The Kennedy Center website. (http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=62885&source_type=A (01/23/2015))
⁽⁶⁾ Chris Whent, "Richard Davy." Composer page, Here Of A Sunday Morning (HOASM) website. (http://www.hoasm.org/IVM/Davy.html (01/24/2015)).
⁽⁷⁾Ib. The Scribe wrote: 'hanc antiphonam composuit Ricardus Davy uno die Collegio Magdalenae Oxoniis' (Richard Davy composed this antiphon in one day at Magdalen College, Oxford.)
⁽⁸⁾ Moarkofireland, "Richard Davy (±1465-1538): Salve Regina." Saturday Chorale website, 08/05/2014. (http://saturdaychorale.com/2014/08/05/richard-davy-1465-1538-salve-regina/ (01/24/2015))
⁽⁹⁾ Reference to composers of the Eton Choirbook such as Browne and Cornysh.
⁽¹⁰⁾ Hans van der Velden, "Richard Davy, About the Stabat Mater." Stabat Mater Info website. (http://www.stabatmater.info/davy.html (01/24/2015))
⁽¹¹⁾ Fabrice Fitch, "More Divine than Human (Eton Choirbook)." CD review, Gramophone website. (http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/more-divine-than-human-eton-choirbook?pmtx=green-red&utm_expid=32540977-3.FNZqseMjTvyRLIewfMgTiA.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F (01/24/2015))
⁽¹²⁾ In addition to Jack Body, the following composers collaborated on this project: Ross Harris, Gillian Whitehead, David Farquhar, Michael Norris, Lissa Meridan.

"We are still far removed from the contrapuntal fireworks of the Franco-Flemish school. The use of homophonic sections of syllabic setting which tends to underline the meaning of the text, creates great clarity and transparency of expression. This places us in the "embryo" ... of a musical art which ... will culminate with the figure of Victoria and his simple equation of "the greatest expression with the leanest ornamentation."⁽¹⁾

As with Richard Davy in my previous post, the identity of Pedro de Escobar (ca. 1465 - after 1538), Master of the Choirboys at Seville Cathedral, has also been combined with that of another musician, in this case Pedro do Porto, Singer at Queen Isabella's Chapel. ⁽²⁾ Here are a few highlights of Escobar's boiler plate biography:

- Ca. 1465 Born at Oporto, Portugal. The name "Escobar" is Castillian.
- 1489-1499: Singer at Court Chapel of Isabella I of Castille.
- 1499: Brief return to Portugal.
- 1507-1514: Maestro di Capilla at Seville Cathedral in charge of the Choirboys. ⁽³⁾
- 1521-1528: Mestre di Capela for Cardinal-Infante Afonso of Portugal, Archbishop of Evora and Lisbon. ⁽⁴⁾
- 1535: Living as an alcoholic in Evora.
- Dies in or before 1554. ⁽⁵⁾⁽⁶⁾

Escobar was one of the first polyphonists of the Iberian peninsula. His music is of a Renaissance still attached to the late Gothic Middle Ages. ⁽¹⁾ It is often of a stunning simplicity but also shows great contrapuntal skill. Both music for the church and secular songs have survived:

- Two complete Masses, a Lady Mass and a Requiem, and contributions to collaborative masses. ⁽⁷⁾
- A Magnificat (by "do Porto"), seven motets (including a Stabat Mater), antiphons, and hymns.
- Secular songs or villancicos. (18 in the Cancionero de Palacio manuscript.)

The Requiem or Missa pro Defunctis may have been written in 1497 for the funeral of Prince Juan. ⁽⁸⁾ It is the oldest Requiem in the Spanish sphere. Except for the Tractus "Sicut Servis" which starts in two and continues in three voices, all movements are in four voices. The clefs vary from movement to movement. The chant--in the superius--is always clear and obvious, setting the tone for future Iberian Requiems. ⁽⁹⁾

... on repeated listenings the various movements start to take on personalities of their own. ... the Offertory the most active and imitative, with frequent excursions by the superius away from the chant. ... the opening of the Agnus [shows how Escobar] blends homophonic and contrapuntal textures...

The discontinuity of range between the Kyrie and the other movements raises at least the possibility that the Requiem was a collaboration, mounted perhaps for efficiency at the time of the Prince's sudden death...⁽⁹⁾

Let's listen to a number of excerpts from this remarkable Requiem: 1. Introitus & 2. Kyrie, 3. Graduale, 5. Offertorium, 7. Sanctus, and 9. Agnus Dei. Listen to 4. Tractus: Sicut Servushere.

Clamabat autem mulier Cananea (A woman from Cana cried to the Lord) is a motet for four voices, written for Communion on the second Sunday of Lent. The motet inspired a number of Iberian composers, mostly from Seville, to set the same text. It became

"more akin to a popular song than to a strictly liturgical item. ... Escobar employs the tone as the opening gesture and as a source for melodic motives throughout the piece. ... Escobar's setting underlines his reading of the passage as a dramatic dialogue. Some of the sheer beauty of his motet comes to a great extent from the clear presentation of the text and the way in which the dialogue divides symmetrically in to two main divisions, each of which contains an exchange between the woman of Canaan and Jesus. In the first part, a narrator introduces the characters, the woman pleads, and Jesus answers, 'no' ...; in the second part the dialogue is repeated but this time Jesus answers 'yes' ...."⁽¹¹⁾

Let's sample two more motets: O Maria mater pia esto nobis recta via from the Tarazona manuscript, and Fatigatus Iesus, the latter with added instruments.

The Marian Hymn Sumens Illud comes to us from Escobar's time in Seville (1507-1514). The second and fourth strophe of Ave Maris Stella was set polyphonically by Escobar and alternates with the plainchant. I will highlight Hostis Herode, impie, a Vesper Hymn for Epiphany, around the Christmas Holidays.

Finally, let's listen to three villancicos from the Cancionero de Palacio: Las mis penas, madre (All my sorrows, mother), Bar. 48, Pasame, por Dios, varquero (Transfer me, by God, oh waterman), Bar. 217, and Virgen bendita sin par (Blessed Virgen without equal), Bar. 305.

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⁽¹⁾ Josep Cabré, "Juan de Anchieta (ca.1462-1523), Pedro de Escobar (ca. 1465-1535), Gonzalo Martínez de Bizcargui (1460-1528): Missa Rex Virginum Motecta. Some Thoughts on Performance." CD Notes, translation: Charles Johnston, Eclassical.com. (http://www.eclassical.com/shop/17115/art98/4847898-17adfe-3383510001789_01.pdf (02/01/2015)).
⁽²⁾Robert Stevenson, renowned twentieth-century musicologist of Iberian and Latin American music, made a convincing case that de Escobar and do Porto were one and the same. A recent article by Francesc Villanueva Serrano argues, based on new data, that they were separate individuals (La identificación de Pedro de Escobar con Pedro do Porto: una revisión definitiva a la luz de nuevos datos, Revista de Musicología 34 (2011), pp. 37-58).
⁽³⁾ All Seville sources document the name "Escobar," not "Porto" or "Puerto." (Juan Ruiz Jime´nez, "Infunde amorem cordibus: an early 16th-century polyphonic hymn cycle from Seville." Early Music, Vol. XXXIII, No. 4 (Copyright) The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.doi:10.1093/em/cah153, available online at www.em.oupjournals.org, p. 619). (https://www.academia.edu/2767503/Infunde_amorem_cordibus_an_early_16th-century_polyphonic_hymn_cycle_from_Seville (02/01/2015))
⁽⁴⁾ The contemporary playwright Gil Vicente alludes to Escobar in one of his plays as a bandleader at a royal prenuptial celebration (Robert Stevenson, "Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia." Routledge, Dec 4, 2013, p. 309. (https://books.google.com/books?id=QlpKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA309&lpg=PA309&dq=pedro+de+escobar%2Bevora&source=bl&ots=sWwI0s7Y3q&sig=H74MoRWa8SqtKytBRnpPjC96zN8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=eCbQVPjMLse9ggSRroCYCA&ved=0CFsQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=pedro%20de%20escobar%2Bevora&f=false (02/03/2015)).
⁽⁵⁾ Josep Cabré, Ib.
⁽⁶⁾ In 1554 Escobar's two surviving daughters continued to receive royal pensions. (Robert Stevenson, "Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia."Ib.).
⁽⁷⁾Josep Cabré, Ib. Escobar composed the Agnus Dei and Sanctus, Bizcargui composed the Salve Regina of the Missa Rex Virginum Motecta. Anchieta composed the other parts.
⁽⁸⁾ Kenneth Kreitner, "Juan de Anchieta and the Rest of the World." Woodbridge, UK, "Queen Isabel I of Castile: Power, Patronage, Persona," Tamesis Books, 2008, p. 180. (https://books.google.com/books?id=bIXh4xsCfUAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false (02/03/2015))
⁽⁹⁾ Kenneth Kreitner, "The Church Music of Fifteenth-century Spain." Rochester, NY, Boydell Press, 2004, p. 144. (https://books.google.com/books?id=r_Q9kE1PiekC&pg=PA144&lpg=PA144&dq=One%27s+first+impression,+encouraged+by+the+opening+to+the+introit&source=bl&ots=4JmM0PrEHS&sig=TsWFGxAXnfOVBVAw3PZuvxE0QJM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OnPRVLmvO4GGNtC0goAG&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=One's%20first%20impression%2C%20encouraged%20by%20the%20opening%20to%20the%20introit&f=false (02/03/2015))
⁽¹¹⁾ Dawn de Rycke, "Invoking Pedro de Escobar: The persistence of Cananea and the placing of Tradition." Lisboa, Revista Portuguesa de Musicologia No. 11, 2001, pp. 7-45. (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:F_985TU67bkJ:rpm-ns.pt/index.php/rpm/article/download/102/105+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us (02/03/2015))

Josquin Baston (ca. 1515 - ca. 1576) was a composer of the Low Countries. He is known for his skillful counterpoint in motets, chansons, and Dutch/Flemish liedekens (songs), which were printed o.a. in Antwerp (van Vissenacken and Susato), and in Louvain (Phalèse).

Not much is known of Josquin Baston's youth and education, and some of it has been pieced together rather creatively. According to Burney the first name "Josquin" indicates a connection with the great Josquin des Prez. ⁽¹⁾

Eheu dolors, an elegy for six voices dedicated to a certain "Lupus" survives in Paris (part of the Falkenstein collection) and was also printed in Augsburg (Ulhard); the work is also included in Maldeghem's Trésor Musical in Ghent. This work is probably a work by Josquin Baston. It is dedicated to Johannes Lupi (Jean Leleu) which could indicate an apprenticeship by Josquin Baston at Cambrai Cathedral, one of the region's great musical centers. ⁽²⁾

The composer probably lived in Antwerp as a young man since his first printed works appeared in that town. ⁽³⁾

Whether Joannes (Io., Jan, Johan or Jean) Baston (Paston) who is mentioned as a Flemish composer at the courts of Vienna, Poland, Saxony, Denmark and Sweden, is identical with Josquin, is unsure. ⁽⁴⁾ ⁽⁵⁾ ⁽⁶⁾ Only one work, a mass Bewahrt mich Herr, carries Joannes' name in the sources.

Let's listen at YouTube to two French songs and one Dutch (Flemish) liedeken.

First up is the very peaceful Le bon espoir que j'ai de parvenir au bien (The good hope I have to achieve the good), No. 33 in Phalèse (1553) for recorder and lute, is a transcription of the song by the same name for five voices (No. 24 in the same edition). It transports the listener to a different place.

C'est a grand tort qu'on dict que le penser, a chanson for four voices a capella, was printed by Susato (1549/29) and twice by Phalèse (1560/6; Phalèse 1597/9). Here are the lyrics of this French lover's complaint along with a free translation:

C'est a grand tort qu'on dit que le penser,
n'est que langueur d'une chos'incertaine,
car je soustiens, qu'il ne peut offenser
une qui est de loyal penser plaine,
O doux penser qui caus'a autrui peine,
et a mon coeur parfait contentement,
octroyez moy quelque joy'incertaine
De ce penser que j'ay incessament.

It is terribly wrong to say that thinking
is only longing for an uncertain thing,
because I maintain that it cannot offend
one who is filled with loyal thought.
Oh sweet thought, which causes sorrow to another
and complete satisfaction to my heart,
grant me some inconstant joy
with my incessant thought.

Een gilde jent (A jolly reveller), a Dutch/Flemish liedeken for four voices, the second song in Book Two of Tielman Susato's Musyck boexken.

The composers of the Franco-Flemish School had long composed prolifically to texts in all sorts of languages (French, Italian, Latin, German, etc.), except in their own mother tongue. Lodovico Guicciardini, an Italian merchant in Antwerp, described the Dutch language as one that was 'most difficult to learn and even more vexing to pronounce' and the Flemish folks as being natural polyglots. ⁽⁷⁾ As a result not many Flemish liedekens existed, and what did exist, was often rather lowbrow.

Susato with his two Musyck boexken (Little Books of Music) provided a 'repertory of polyphonic music for the entertainment of the nobility and middle class living in prosperous Flemish towns, such as Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, and Brussels.' They offer a 'fascinating glimpse into the musical-cultural milieu of sixteenth-century Antwerp and trhe social mores of its merchant-class citizens.'⁽⁸⁾

About half the songs are anonymous. Josquin Baston is best represented among the named composers with seven songs. The lyrics promote 'strict morality' and 'respect for money,' and are at times rather lewd. They are of two types: the love song and the silly song. ⁽⁹⁾

Een gilde jent is such a silly song about a jolly reveller who rides to Ghent on a cheap, old horse. The lyrics, a translation of which can be found here on p. xxxiv, are in a very old regional Dutch:

Een gilde ient
reet laest naer Ghent;
hij was wel opgheseten
op een magher peert,
nau tuerscap wert;
t was achter al bescheeten,
besnot soe wast an syne muyle.
Het had den ghanc
ghelijc een ghuyle.
Mijn sinnen stout
hevet ghesmout,
doen liept ghelijc een hinne
ghetoemt onder die kinne
"Lieft vrient! Blyft thuys",
riept tquaet ghespuys
"leeft lanchals noch
"hij schreef u inne".

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⁽¹⁾ Charles Burney, "A General History of Music From the Earliest Ages to the Present Period (1789)." New York, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 4/3/1941, Vol. 2, p. 249. (http://archive.org/stream/generalhistoryof00burn2/generalhistoryof00burn2_djvu.txt (02/12/2015)). Josquin des Pres is mentioned with the Latinized name of Tosquinus/Josquinus Pratensis.
⁽²⁾ The Dutch name for Cambrai is Kamerijk. The town is in present-day Northern France. Sometimes this is confused with the town of Kortrijk (Courtrai in French), another musical center, situated an hour North in the present-day province of West Flanders, Belgium.
⁽³⁾ Ch. L. de Burbure, "BASTON (Josquin ou Josse)." Biographical entry, Biographie nationale de Belgique - Tome 1.djvu/425. (http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Biographie_nationale_de_Belgique_-_Tome_1.djvu/425 (02/13/2015))
⁽⁴⁾ Elżbieta Zwolińska, "Joannes Baston--Flemish Composer Cantus at the Court of the Jagiellonian King Sigismund II Augustus." Article in From Ciconia to Sweelinck: Donum Natalicium Willem Elders, edited Albert Clement, Eric Jas, Rodopi, Jan 1, 1994, p. 215. (https://books.google.com/books?id=OW0ktdIxMoIC&pg=PA215&lpg=PA215&dq=lodovico+guicciardini%2Bjosquin+baston&source=bl&ots=xytPSKtMgx&sig=ft7HQ9THQ3YgQ8BQM_usaTo_hKk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CG_ZVKyGNYP7ggTr0oEQ&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=lodovico%20guicciardini%2Bjosquin%20baston&f=false (02/09/2015)). One Polish writer, writing in Latin, mentions "Josquini modo Belgici," which probably refers to Josquin Desprez, but it is not impossible that it refers to Josquin Baston. Ib., p. 218. [The first name Josquin (or Josse) is a diminutive of Joseph, which is not the same as Joannes (John in English).]
⁽⁵⁾ There is also an entirely different English Baroque flutist and composer named John Baston who was active in the early eighteenth century.
⁽⁶⁾ Elżbieta Zwolińska, "Ib." One author makes a further distinction between Johann Bastan (or Basten) who worked in Vienna and Dresden, and Johannes Baslon (sic, probably a typo for Baston), the composer of the mass. One 1907 source has a "Flemish" Jan Baston coming from Vienna to work in Poland (1552-1553). No works from Poland have been attributed to Baston so far.
⁽⁷⁾ Tielman Susato, Timothy McTaggart, "Musyck boexken: Dutch songs for four voices." Middleton, WI, A-R Editions, Inc., 1997, p. xii. (https://books.google.com/books?id=I4WlCf6QVBIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false (02/13/2015))
⁽⁸⁾ Tielman Susato, Timothy McTaggart, Ib., p. ix.
⁽⁹⁾ Tielman Susato, Timothy McTaggart, Ib., p. xiii.

Wolff Heckel (ca. 1515 - after 1562) was a lutenist active in Strasbourg. He compiled an anthology of lute music, providing ornamentation and glosses, as did a number of other lutenists and dilettantes at the time. ⁽²⁾

The Lute Book offers "many beautiful and lovely pieces to be played together on two lutes." The book contains sacred and secular songs (Latin, Italian, and French) arranged for lute and towards the end many Dances and Fantasias. ⁽¹⁾ It survives in two copies dating from 1562. The dedication is dated Strasbourg 1556.

Let's first listen to La Gamba, a lively piece played by the Lautten Compagney.

A Hungarian Dance, a dance titled Ein schöner Burger (A nice townsman), and a little Saxon dance, arranged for consort. Follow with the music here.

Finally, a Jewish Dance, played on one lute.

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⁽¹⁾ Eitner, Robert, "Heckel, Wolff" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 11 (1880), p. 205 f. (Online URL: http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/ppn103915974.html?anchor=adb (02/14/2015))
⁽²⁾ Arthur J. Ness, Boston, "Oeuvres pour le luth, II: Manuscrits d'Uppsala by Jean-Michel Vaccaro; Nathalie Vaccaro; Guillaume Morlaye; Oeuvres pour luth seul: Le Secret des Muses by André Souris; Monique Rollin; Nicolas Vallet." Middleton, WI, Music Reviews, Music Library Association, Second Series, Vol. 49, No. 2 (Dec., 1992), pp. 795-797. (http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/897966?sid=21105349928671&uid=2473869753&uid=3739808&uid=3739256&uid=2473869743&uid=2134&uid=3&uid=60&uid=70&uid=2 (02/14/2015)). Besides the collection of Guillaume Morlaye under review, Ness also mentions Melchior de Barberiis, Antonio di Becchi, Matthaeus Waissel, Sixt Kargel.

Jean Maillard (Ioannis Maillardi, ca. 1515 - after 1570) was a French Renaissance composer who wrote works in an intricate counterpoint which shows the influence of the Franco-Flemish School. He holds a place in music history between Josquin des Prez and Orlando de Lassus. Pierre de Ronsard in his dedication to Francis II of the Livre des Mélanges (1560) mentions Maillard as one of the disciples of Josquin des Prez "to be guarded with care."⁽¹⁾

He was probably active in Paris since his early works were published there by Attaignant (but also in Lyons by Moderne (1540)), and he later composed a coronation motet (published in 1553) and dedicated a collection of motets to King Charles IX and another to the Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici (Le Roy et Ballard, 1565).

Maillard's works appear in four Spanish manuscripts, and a number of them survive solely in Barcelona manuscripts which were probably copied before 1572. This would indicate a stay in Spain.

The 'simple and practical quality that distinguishes many of the motets in Spanish sources---works with men's voice parts written in cantus planus style, works in which chant alternates with quite short sections of polyphony, and contrafacta dedicated to Saint Augustine that may well suggest some connection to an Augustinian church not far from Barcelona.'⁽²⁾

On the other hand, the 1565 dedications to the French King and the Queen Mother have been interpreted as a plea for royal favor either by Maillard himself or on the composer's behalf. Because Maillard had composed polyphonic Chansons Spirituelles, French translations of psalms, one of them on a text by Clément Marot (a paraphrase of Psalm XV Qui est-ce qui conversera) and two by Guillaume Guéroult (o.a. Hélas mon Dieu ton ire) who were both embroiled in the Protestant reformation, Maillard is thought to have had Huguenot sympathies himself. Moreover, since no original work by Maillard was published after 1572, the year of the St. Bartholomew massacre, it is possible that Maillard perished in that ordeal. ⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾

Maillard was well known in his day:
- François Rabelais mentions Maillart [sic] among all the great French musicians in Book IV of the Gargantua and Pantagruel series.
- As already mentioned, Ronsard considered him one of des Prez's disciples, along with Mouton, Willaert, Richafort, Janequin, Claudin de Sermisy, Moulu, Certon, and Arcadelt.

However, many contemporary citations of persons with the same or a similar name refer to other individuals. There were for example two Jehan Maillarts living in Paris in 1541. There was also a Joh. Friedr. Meilart, Meilartzt or Melart, valet of Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria. This may be the same individual mentioned by Jehan de Lassus from Liège as Jan Fredericq Meillartz in a 1590 letter to Orlande de Lassus. Finally, in a 1584 publication a Jean Maillard is mentioned as poet of the king and his scrivener, and beyond this, chief in charge of waters, springs, and fountains," as well as the author of a book opening with "une paraphrase harmonique sur l'oraison dominicale."⁽⁵⁾

Furthermore, was there a possible relation to two other musicians? ⁽⁵⁾
- Pierre Maillart (1550-1622), composer and theorist at Flemish chapel of Philip II in Madrid and later at cathedral at Tournai, and
- Gilles Maillard, born in Thérouanne, Picardy whose four-part chansons were printed by Jean de Tournes in Lyons (1581).

Stylistically, Maillard seems to have influenced Guillaume Costeley who was employed at the royal court from 1560 on. Goudimel who most certainly perished in the 1572 massacre, based a mass on the chanson Tant plus je mets, Palestrina wrote a mass using Maillard's Eripe me mass. Lassus parodied other motets and chansons. ⁽⁶⁾

Many works survive in print and in manuscript: 86 motets (44 à 4, 32 à 5, 9 à 6, and 1 à 7), six masses (o.a. 3 four-part parody masses and one on a Richafort motet), two Magnificats, and chansons spirituelles.

In his complex yet serene music Maillard uses the style and techniques of the day: short motifs of limited range in close imitation, canonic devices, word-painting to emphasize the text. He used courtly epigrams by contemporary poets or anonymous anecdotal texts, or at times an older form such as a rondeau. ⁽⁶⁾

In 2013 The Marian Consort came out on Delphian Records with a CD dedicated to Jean Maillard. It features a number of motets and the mass Je suis déshéritée and can be listened to here. Let's first sample a few motets. They are free-composed or based on plainchant melodies which are usually placed in long-note values in the superius.

Fratres mei elongaverunt for six voices depicts John the Baptist's role as a forerunner to Christ in strict imitative counterpoint. The responsory and verse for Psalm Sunday is set as a puzzle canon illustrating the inscription above the tenor from the gospel of John:

Me oportet minui, illum autem crescere" ("I must decrease, but he must increase").

The tenor voice sings the text in augmentation (1:4 longer notes) and arrives at the "recesserunt a me (they have departed from me)" end of the responsory at the same time as the quinta part (fifth voice) reaches the same text at the end of the verse. All voices then declaim the same text slowly and at staggered entrances to a descending musical phrase, giving the effect of everyone departing in different directions. ⁽⁷⁾⁽⁸⁾ A miniature of utter perfection.

In the Easter sequence Victimae paschali laudes Maillard uses word-painting to enhance the meaning of the text, for example in the descending 'miserere' and the ascending 'alleluia.' Another gem.

Ascendo ad Patrem meum, a paraphrase setting of the antiphon, is also for five voices. This motet was copied in the Dow part books which were written out in 1551-1588. It is similar in texture to the other pieces and has a joyful character. ⁽⁹⁾

Hodie Maria virgo for six voices is a conflation of the antiphon "Hodie" and the versicle and response "Exaltata est," for Assumption 15 August, 1st and 2nd vespers.

In pace also for six voices was probably composed for Compline, the church service at the end of the day, a supplication for God's protection during the night.

The brevity and grammatical incompleteness of the texts suggests that chant — perhaps that of a Paris tradition — may have been performed between sections of this motet.⁽¹⁰

The Missa Je suis déshéritée (Mass I am ruined) is one of Maillard's largest works based on a sad love song written by Pierre Cadéac, a choirmaster who was active in Auch in the midi-Pyrénées.

The song is about a woman's grief after her lover has left her. Here are first the original polyphonic version of the song and then an arrangement for solo voice and lute.

Let's listen to the opening Kyrie and the final Agnus Dei of the mass. The other parts can be found here, here, and here. In the Agnus Dei'both original and liturgical texts are underlaid.'⁽¹¹⁾ It starts in four parts and ends in six with intricate imitation between the two bass parts. ⁽⁹⁾

.

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⁽¹⁾ William Oliver Strunk, Leo Treitler, "Source Readings in Music History." W. W. Norton & Company, 1998, p. 302. (https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtCYwFm2mTwC&lpg=PA300&ots=l_jYLUC77a&dq=melange%20de%20chansons%201560%20ronsard&pg=PA302#v=onepage&q=maillard&f=false (02/15/2015)). Whether Ronsard was merely alluding to Josquin's stylistic influence on Maillard, or whether Maillard was an actual pupil of Josquin, is unknown.
⁽²⁾ Jean Maillard, edited by Raymond H. Rosenstock, "Collected sacred works." Middleton, WI, A-R Editions, Inc., 2012, p. xi. (https://books.google.com/books?id=tpbkAwAAQBAJ&pg=PR14&lpg=PR14&dq=mallart+Biblioteca+Musical+de+la+Diputacio+Ms+682&source=bl&ots=DMY4dHyVsr&sig=grNfFebNTWSv9MWtm1EiM7DMtZw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6sHgVPLXJ4rBggSy4oHICg&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=mallart%20Biblioteca%20Musical%20de%20la%20Diputacio%20Ms%20682&f=false (02/15/2015)).
⁽³⁾ Jean Maillard, edited by Raymond H. Rosenstock, "Modulorum Ioannis Maillardi--: the four-part motets." Middleton, WI, A-R Editions, Inc., 1987, p. viii. (https://books.google.com/books?id=L9v7t8_oX_YC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false (02/15/2015))
⁽⁴⁾ It is not clear how a possible stay at an Augustinian church in Spain, the most Catholic of countries, agrees with probable Huguenot sympathies.
⁽⁵⁾ Jean Maillard, edited by Raymond H. Rosenstock, Ib., p. vii.
⁽⁶⁾ Marie-Alexis Colin and Frank Dobbins, quoted from The New Grove Dictionary in "Jean Maillard [fl. 1538-70]: «In pace» à 6. The Marian Consort. Unknown french master." Post in The Choir Project's Facebook page, 01/17/2015. (https://www.facebook.com/TheChoirProject/posts/10153072111148117 (02/15/2015))
⁽⁷⁾ Michael Alan Anderson, "Symbols of Saints: Theology, Ritual, and Kinship in Music for John the Baptist and St. Anne (1175--1563)." Ann Arbor, MI, ProQuest, 2008, p. 278. (https://books.google.com/books?id=FdN4aGeUhpsC&lpg=PA279&vq=Fratres%20mei%20elongaverunt&dq=Fratres%20mei%20elongaverunt%20text%20maillard&pg=PA278#v=snippet&q=Fratres%20mei%20elongaverunt&f=false (02/15/2015))
⁽⁸⁾ Barry Brenesal, "Jean Maillard: Missa Je Suis Déshéritée." Editorial CD review, Fanfare, ArkivMusic.com, CD released 10/08/2013. (http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=1014686 (02/15/2015))
⁽⁹⁾ Rod Byatt, "Jean Maillard, Ascendo ad Patrem." Blog post, A Viola da Gamba weblog, 10/22/2011. (https://rodbyatt.wordpress.com/2011/10/22/jean-maillard-ascendo-ad-patrem/ (02/16/2015))
⁽¹⁰⁾ Eric Rice, "Vespers for Saint Louis, King of France, 1226-1270." Program Notes, Exsultemus website, February 2008 concert. (http://www.exsultemus.org/#!2007-2008-saint-louis/cldi (02/16/2015))
⁽¹¹⁾ Chris Whent, "Jean Maillard." Composer entry, Here of a Sunday Morning website. (http://www.hoasm.org/IVI/Maillard.html (02/16/2015))

It is written in the rule [of the Congregation of the Oratory] that the saint wished that his fathers together with the faithful, should rouse themselves to the contemplation of heavenly things by means of musical harmony.⁽¹⁾

A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one. - Filippo Neri

Let me get through today, and I shall not fear tomorrow. - Filippo Neri

We must leave Christ for Christ. - Filippo Neri ⁽²⁾

San Filippo Neri (1515 - 1595) was an exceptional human being. Inextricably connected with the Catholic Church and the Counter-Reformation, Neri's selfless life in service of those in need earned him the epithet Apostle of Rome. That service, together with his cheerful and witty character which combined religious fervency and down-to-earthiness, remains an example for the ages.

In music history Neri is credited with helping to lay the groundwork for the musical oratorio through musical activities in the Congregation of the Oratory, a society of secular clergy he organized.

Let's take a look at his life and how music was intertwined with it.

07/21/1515: Born in Florence to a lawyer and a noblewoman. Receives early teachings from Dominican monks. Hears popular Laude sung in the Italian vernacular.

Spiritual Laude became popular in Florence during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 'Laudesi' companies were formed. These lay confraternities met for liturgical services and in the evening to sing songs of praise ('laude') for the Virgin Mary. The songs were homophonic at first, intended for the amateur singer. ⁽³⁾ Let's listen to Co la madre del Beato, No. 21 in an early fourteenth century Florentine manuscript. The song's theme is that of the Golden Legend, i.e. the story--not related in the gospel--that Jesus appeared to his mother after the resurrection. ⁽⁴⁾

Gradually the Laudesi musicians became more professional and paid, and developed--by the time of Filippo Neri's youth--into polyphonic choirs with added instrumentalists. The poetic texts were often in ballata form and written by a number of well-known poets, o.a. Lorenzo de' Medici and his mother Lucrezia Tornabuoni. By the end of the fifteenth century, a few decades before Neri's birth, Girolamo Savonarola dominated the scene, and the lauda form proliferated. Here is a four-part example: Salve, sacrata by Filippo de Lurano, from the Libro secundo (Lauda II) published by Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice (1508), performed by soprano, violin , harp, and recorder.

At age 18: Moves to San Germano at the foot of Monte Cassino to join a wealthy uncle's merchant business.
1533: Relocates to Rome after a religious conversion.
1533-1535: Tutors in the house of a Florentine aristocrat in Rome.
1535-1537: Personal study under the guidance of the Augustinians.

1537: Starts his life's work taking care of the sick and poor, ministers to the city's prostitutes, engages people in conversation to help focus their thoughts.
1544: Meets Ignatius of Loyola. Many of Neri's disciples will join the Society of Jesus.
About 1545: Two of Neri's ribs are broken, supposedly due to a miraculous expansion of the heart attributed by some fervent prayer and palpitations of the heart in the catacombs, and to an aneurysm by the eighteenth century Pope Benedict XIV. Philip himself and followers ascribe it to divine love. ⁽⁵⁾
1548: Co-founds the Confraternity of the Santissima Trinita de' Pellegrini e de' Convalescenti which takes care of pilgrims and convalescents. Members meet for prayer at the church of San Salvatore in Campo.

May 1551-1557: Ordained priest. The Congregation of the Oratory, a society of secular clergy, begins to take shape. Neri and several followers consider mission work in India but are advised to remain in Rome which needs their work just as much. Eventually settles down, with some companions, at the Hospital of San Girolamo della Carità. They meet there in a prayer hall (the Oratory) for evening prayers, hymns, and readings--from Scripture, the church fathers, and the Martyrology--followed by a lecture or discussion of a religious question. Scenes from sacred history are set to music and are called oratorios. ⁽⁶⁾⁽⁷⁾ The Congregation's mission work and the hearing of confessions often involves excursions to other churches accompanied by music and a picnic.

1550: Giovanni Animuccia moves to Rome from Florence and becomes one of the first followers of Neri. Animuccia miraculously turns from a 'bon vivant' Florentinian into an austere Roman. ⁽⁸⁾ He eventually becomes the Oratory's first Maestro di Capella until his death in 1571. In addition Animuccia succeeds Palestrina in 1555 as Choirmaster of the Cappella Giulia at St. Peter's Basilica. Animuccia publishes two books of Laude (1563 and 1570). The first book contains homophonic settings for three or four voices in Italian and was intended for the amateur singer in Neri's early meetings. The second book of laude contains many settings for eight voices, is more madrigalistic, uses Latin as well as Italian, and catered to the sophisticated Roman aristocrats who began to attend the Congregations meetings. ⁽⁹⁾⁽¹⁰⁾ Let's listen to two laude from Animuccia's first book: Lodate Dio for three voices and Ben Venga Amore for four voices set to a text of Girolamo Savonarola.

1564: Oversees the newly built San Giovanni dei Fiorentini Church in addition to San Girolamo.

1571: Death of Animuccia. Palestrina resumes his post as Maestro of the Capella Giulia and also succeeds Animuccia as Maestro di Capella of Neri's Oratory. Tomás Luis de Victoria takes the post of Maestro di Capella at the Roman Seminary vacated by Palestrina. Palestrina was always closely associated with Filippo Neri, and it is likely that many of Palestrina's motets were sung at Oratory gatherings. Let's listen to Sicut cervus desiderat (Like the deer that yearns) for four voices (composed before 1564, publ. in Motecta festorum, Liber Secundus (1604)), Lauda Sion for seven voices (No. 29 of the Motettorum - Liber Tertius, publ. 1575) and a series of motets from Motettorum - Liber Quartus (Canticum Canticorum - Songs of Solomon' for five voices (publ. 1584): No. 3 Nigra sum, sed formosa (I am black, and beautiful), about the Black Madonna⁽¹¹⁾, No. 5 Si ignoras te (If you do not know), and No. 24 Descendi in hortum nucum (I went down into the nut garden). Book four is set to erotically spiritual Latin texts from the Song of Solomon.

Tomás Luis de Victoria comes to Rome in 1567 from Spain to attend the German College founded by St. Ignatius Loyola. The college not only attracts German students but students from other countries as well. He stays on at the College after his studies and holds several other positions in the Holy City. We don't know when he starts attending Neri's gatherings, but by the time of his return to Spain in 1587 the two are well acquainted. Maybe he heard Animuccia's eight-voice works there in the late 1560s and was inspired to write the eight-voice Ave Maria (published at the end of his first book of motets, the Motecta totius anni of 1572). In both composers' eight-voice works we see the start of a division of the choir into subgroups. It is possible that the Ave Maria was composed for Neri's gatherings but a feast day celebration at the Spanish church of Santa Maria in Monserrato where Victoria where he was organist, is also a possibility.

1574: A large oratory or mission-room is built for the society, next to San Giovanni, and becomes the Congregations headquarters.

1575-1577: The Congregation of the Oratory is formally organized under a papal bull and builds a new church on the site of the old Santa Maria in Vallicella church.

Francisco Soto de Langa worked with Filippo Neri from 1566 and became a member of the Oratory in 1571. He composed many Laudi Spirituali for the Congregation. His works are included five collections of Laudi Spirituali (publ. 1583-1598), but his authorship is sometimes difficult to determine. Let's listen to Stava a' pie' della croce (At the foot of the cross) for three voices from the third collection, Il terzo libro delle Laudi Spirituali a tre e quattro voci (publ. Gardano, Roma, 1588).

1578: Giovanni Giovenale Ancina enters the Oratory and becomes responsible for the Congregation's musical texts and arrangements. ⁽¹²⁾ Let's listen to Ancina's Angel dal ciel disceso (An angel descended from Heaven), a work for Christmas. ⁽¹³⁾

1583: Leaves San Girolamo dei Fiorentini by injunction of the Pope to reside at his Congregation's headquarters.
1587: Appointed Superior of the Congregation for life. Other Oratories are developing in Italy and beyond. They remain entirely autonomous.

1593: Rare political maneuver on behalf of Henry IV of France who was involved in the French Wars of Religion as a Huguenot. The Pope withdraws the excommunication and anathema laid on the King.

1595: Upon Neri's death, his body is laid in state. Worshippers take away relics. A nighttime postmortem is carried out for the benefit of Neri's canonization process. ⁽¹⁴⁾
1602: Gallonio, writing about the postmortem, describes the enlarged area around the heart as a miracle. ⁽¹⁵⁾

1612: Pope Paul V approves the Congregation's rules.
1615: Beatified by Paul V.
1622: Canonized by Gregory XV.

The music we've heard so far, is mostly music of celebration and praise, homophonic at first, later developing into choral polyphony with a hint of multi-choral setting.

We have not yet discovered the Oratory's spirit of open dialogue in the music. We are told that Animuccia's second laude collection (1570), aimed at a more aristocratic gathering, includes two settings of gospel texts in dialogue form ⁽¹⁰⁾ and that the Oratory's music was always intended to harmonically and metrically underline the dramatic and narrative elements of the texts. How it went from here to the musical oratorio, we shall discover in my next post.
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⁽¹⁾ Alfonso, Cardinal Capecelatro, transl. Thomas Alder Pope, "The Life of Saint Philip Neri, Apostle of Rome, Volume 2." London, Burns & Oates, Limited, 1894, p. 77. (https://books.google.com/books?id=9XZJAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false (02/27/2015))
⁽²⁾ This piece of wisdom was uttered when summoned for mission work or to hear confessions.
⁽³⁾"Music of Florence, Devotional Music." Wikipedia entry. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Florence#Devotional_Music (02/27/2015))
⁽⁴⁾ Blake McDowell Wilson, Nello Barbieri, "The Florence Laudario: an edition of Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Banco Rari 18, Volume 29." Middleton, WI, A-R Editions, Inc., Jan 1, 1995, p. xlii. (https://books.google.com/books?id=go0f2lU2TSMC&lpg=PR61&ots=UdgtKWZWAo&dq=florence%20laudario%20%22co%20la%20madre%20del%20beato%22&pg=PR42#v=onepage&q=florence%20laudario%20%22co%20la%20madre%20del%20beato%22&f=false (02/27/2015))
⁽⁵⁾ Louis Ponnelle and Louis Bordet, "St. Philip Neri and the Roman Society of His Times (1515-1595)." Biography, 1932.
⁽⁶⁾"Oratorio." Wikipedia entry. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oratorio (02/28/2015))
⁽⁷⁾ The music was intended to provide some relief after the prayers and sermon as witnessed by Giovenale Ancina in a letter to his brother: “At the end we have some music to refresh the spirits which are tired from the preceding talks." Arnaldo Morelli, "The Chiesa Nuova in Rome around 1600: Music for the Church, Music for the Oratory." Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, Volume 9, no. 1, 2003, par. 4.2. ( http://www.sscm-jscm.org/v9/no1/morelli.html (02/28/2015))
⁽⁸⁾ Liliana Pannella, "ANIMUCCIA, Giovanni." Biographical entry, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 3 (1961), treccani.it. (http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giovanni-animuccia_%28Dizionario_Biografico%29/ (02/28/2015))
⁽⁹⁾"Giovanni Animuccia, Music for the Oratory." Wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Animuccia#Music_for_the_oratory (02/28/2015))
⁽¹⁰⁾ Noel O'Regan, "Tomás Luis de Victoria's role in the development of a Roman polychoral idiom in the 1570s and early 1580s." Revista de Musicología, vol XXXV, no. 1, 2012, pp. 203-218. (http://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/files/16349416/Toma_s_L._de_Victoria_s_Role.pdf (02/28/2015)). Later Laude publications would revert to fewer-voiced settings.
⁽¹¹⁾ For a thoughtful article on the mistranslation of the original Hebrew text "I am black and beautiful" to the Latin "I am black but.." see Kate Lowe, "The Global Consequences of Mistranslation: The Adoption ofthe “Black but …” Formulation in Europe, 1440–1650." Basel, Switzerland, MDPI, Religions, 2012, 3 pp. 544-555. (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:JnoVsun4c7QJ:www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/3/544/pdf+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us (02/28/2015))
⁽¹²⁾ Jetze Touber, "Law, Medicine and Engineering in the Cult of the Saints in Counter-Reformation Rome: The Hagiographical Works of Antonio Gallonio, 1556-1605." Boston, Brill Publications, 01/30/2014, p. 4. (https://books.google.com/books?id=_V7bAgAAQBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s (02/28/2015))
⁽¹³⁾ This composition is included in Ancina's compilation Tempio armonico della Beatissima Vergine N. S. fabricatoli per opra del R. P. Giovenale A. P. della congreg. dell’oratorio. Prima Parte à tre voci (Rome, 1599).
⁽¹⁴⁾ For more details about the intersection of Church and medical science during Neri's postmortem and during the Counter-Reformation in general see Jetze Touber, "Law, Medicine and Engineering in the Cult of the Saints in Counter-Reformation Rome: The Hagiographical Works of Antonio Gallonio, 1556-1605." Boston, Brill Publications, 01/30/2014. (https://books.google.com/books?id=_V7bAgAAQBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s (02/28/2015))
⁽¹⁵⁾ Antonio Gallonio, "Vita beati Philippi Neri." Biography, 1602. (http://books.google.com/books?id=AtZQAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false (02/28/2015))

... it was but a step to the Commedia harmonica "Amfiparnasso", by Orazio Vecchi (1550-1605), a dialogue in madrigal form between two choirs (first performed at Modena in 1594), and the rapprasentazione sacra"Anima e corpo", by Cavaglieri.⁽¹⁾

Toward the end of the sixteenth century music became more focused on dialogue and monody. Composers experimented with new forms which ultimately led to opera and oratorio.

The prayer gatherings at Filippo Neri's Oratory in Rome alternated Laudi Spirituali with readings, prayer, and a sermon. They always ended in song thereby 'easing the hearts of the listeners.'⁽²⁾ These exercises became very popular throughout Italy.

It is possible that Orazio Vecchi was influenced by this trend, even though he was active in Northern Italy and felt at times isolated from Italy's major music centers. He probably composed L'Amfiparnasso (Twin Peaks of Parnassus) (publ. 1597), a commedia harmonica (madrigal comedy) ⁽³⁾ for five voices, in Modena in 1594. The work is in three acts, fifteen numbers altogether, and was not intended for the stage. The setting is Venice, and the characters are pulled from the commedia dell'arte (Pantalone, his daughter, and the verbose Doctor Graziano). ⁽⁴⁾ It combines polyphonic techniques, serious madrigal, aristocratic canzonetta, and regional song. ⁽⁵⁾

Emilio de' Cavalieri's Rappresentatione sacra di anima et di corpo, a sacred opera, was premiered in the Oratory's church of Santa Maria in Vallicella in 1600, five years after the death of Filippo Neri. Agostino Manni, renowned preacher, writer and poet of the Oratory, was the librettist. Recent research has revealed a close resemblance between Manni's sermons and Cavalieri's sacred work. ⁽⁶⁾ It features short phrases for a single voice, an early precursor of the recitativo secco, madrigalistic choral numbers, acting and dancing, and is accompanied by instruments. ⁽¹⁾

Given the emphasis on reasoned persuasion in Rappresentatione, the eventual winning of Corpo to Anima’s side in the famous dialogue of Act II, and the typically Oratorian polystilism evident in Cavalieri’s use of a panoply of forms and styles, the opera of 1600 seems like a musical enactment of Neri’s Christian optimism.⁽⁷⁾

Giacomo Carissimi (1605 - 1674) was active for most of his life at the Sant'Apollinare Church of the Jesuits'German College. He started composing when the sacred style of the previous generations of Roman composers such as Palestrina was still dominant. At the end of his career, opera and secular instrumental forms had taken over. Carissimi is considered the first composer of oratorios and is credited with further developing the recitative. ⁽⁸⁾ He was the first master to set biblical texts and did this both in Latin (oratorio latino) and in Italian (oratorio volgare). ⁽¹⁾ Let's listen to an example of each: Historia di Jephte (1648), an oratorio latino for six voices, and Oratorio di Daniele Profeta, an oratorio volgare.

The rest is oratorio history.
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⁽¹⁾ Otten, Joseph. "Oratorio." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 1 Mar. 2015 (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11270a.htm (03/01/2015))
⁽²⁾ Arnaldo Morelli, "The Chiesa Nuova in Rome around 1600: Music for the Church, Music for the Oratory."Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, Volume 9, no. 1, 2003, par. 4.2. (http://www.sscm-jscm.org/v9/no1/morelli.html (03/01/2015))
⁽³⁾ The two primary composers of commedia harmonica (± 1590-1610) were Orazio Vecchi and Adriano Banchieri. They went from simple collections of amusing pieces to full stories using commedia dell’arte characters in three or five voices.
⁽⁴⁾"Orazio Vecchi – L’Amfiparnaso." Signature Projects, I Fagiolini website. (http://www.ifagiolini.com/projects/lamfiparnaso/ (03/01/2015))
⁽⁵⁾ Susan T. Sommer, "Orazio Vecchi. L'Amfiparnaso by Cecil Adkins; Orazio Vecchi." Review, Oxford University Press, The Musical Quarterly Vol. 63, No. 3 (Jul., 1977), pp. 434-436. (http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/741436?sid=21105987146463&uid=70&uid=60&uid=3&uid=3739808&uid=2&uid=3739256&uid=2134&uid=2473869743&uid=2473869753 (03/01/2015))
⁽⁶⁾ Arnaldo Morelli, "The Chiesa Nuova in Rome around 1600: Music for the Church, Music for the Oratory." Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, Volume 9, no. 1, 2003, par. 6.1. (http://www.sscm-jscm.org/v9/no1/morelli.html (03/01/2015))
⁽⁷⁾ Robert L. Kendrick, "What’s So Sacred about “Sacred” Opera? Reflections on the Fate of a (Sub)Genre."Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, Volume 9, no. 1, 2003, par. 3.2. (http://www.sscm-jscm.org/v9/no1/kendrick.html (03/01/2015))
⁽⁸⁾"Giacomo Carissimi." Wikipedia entry. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giacomo_Carissimi (03/01/2015))

Caspar Othmayr (Kaspar/Casparus/Gasparus Othmarus, 1515 - 1553) was a German Lutheran pastor and composer. He was born in Amberg and received his first music education in the Chapel of Friedrich II in Neumarkt and Amberg. ⁽¹⁾

Othmayr studied at Heidelberg University. He and his roommates--the composers Stefan Zirler and Jobst von Brandt, and the song collector, composer, and physician Georg Forster--studied music with Lorenz Lemlin who was Kapellmeister at the court of Louis V, Elector Palatine. ⁽²⁾

In 1540 Forster moved to Nuremberg and became the personal physician of the Abbot at Heilsbronn Monastery which is situated between Nuremberg and Ansbach. In 1545 Othmayr became rector of the Latin School at the same Monastery. ⁽³⁾

In 1547/48 Othmayr was part of the legation in Kulmbach to negotiate with Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach the financial support for the Emperor due by the Heilsbronn community. ⁽⁴⁾

Othmayr married Anna Hartung, the daughter of the monastery's Administrator who was also a composer. Othmayr was appointed canon at the Collegiate Church of St. Gumprecht in Ansbach.

He then applied for the job of Provost of the same church. How that played out, is a puzzle involving Court guardians and regents, and the local Governor. Unfortunately, it caused a protracted dispute between the parties. ⁽⁵⁾ Albert Alcibiades claimed authority for the appointment alongside his underage cousin and proposed Othmayr. This was supported by the other nobles. However, the local Governor Friedrich von Knobelsdorff and the city council claimed the decision belonged to the underage Margrave Georg Friedrich only. They rejected the nobles' recommendation, and nominated Wilhelm Burckel, the son of the Chamberlain. Eventually Albrecht Alcibiades gave Othmayr shelter in his own domain. During this time the monarchs were occupied with war campaigns and disputes, and often wrote from the battlefield. For example, Maurice, Elector of Saxony and guardian of the underage George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, awarded the Provost position to Othmayr in 1552 in a letter. However, the court case continued. In the meantime, Othmayr suffered from a long illness. He moved to his friend the physician Georg Forster in Nuremberg and died. He is buried in Ansbach. ⁽⁶⁾

Othmayr is known as an early master of melodic phrasing (Liedsatz). He set many folk songs for two or more voices. He was acquainted with Johann Walter and Martin Luther and was 'an important contributor to the chorale repertoire of the early Lutheran Church.'⁽⁷⁾ His motet arrangements of Lutheran chorales were styled after the motets of Josquin and Senfl. ⁽⁸⁾ He also composed many hymns honoring celebrated individuals, often in the form of quodlibets 'connecting the dedicatee of the work with cultural 'tags' in the form of their own poetry, passages of Scripture, quotations from Greek and Roman literature and so on.'⁽⁹⁾

Othmayr's religious output includes roughly 50 Latin motets in traditional imitative style and 100 German chorales using Lutheran chorales a a cantus firmus part and mostly for two or three voices. Let's listen to two choral works for four voices, from the Cantilenae aliqot elegantes ac piae, quibus his turbulentis temporibus ecclesia Christi utitur published in Nuremberg by Berg (Montanus) and Neuber (1546): O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß (Oh Man, bewail your great sins) and Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress Is Our God).

The Epitaphium D. Martini Lutheri (also Berg and Neuber, 1546) is set to the text Per Quem Salvici, a substantial five-voice Latin motet in memory of Martin Luther. It is followed by Verba Lutheri Ultima (Luther's last words): Mein himmlischer Vater - In manus tuas (tenor part), also for five voices, here in a midi setting.

Bicinia sacra is a collection of two-voice German songs and psalms (Nuremberg, Berg and Neuber, 1547) was written 'so that if one could not find three or four singers, then at least two "on horseback, in a boat, in a coach, on a walk, resting" or in other situations "might genially entertain themselves with a pleasurable activity, pleasing to God, and a joy in every way commendable." Georg Forster expressed an unambiguously moral objective--namely that through his collections "much useless gossip, excessive drinking and other sins may be avoided."'⁽¹⁰⁾

In 1548 the Tricinia were published, a collection of three-voice Latin motets.

The growing urban middle class enjoyed domestic music making, and printers published large song collections. Between 1538 - 1556 Georg Forster published five collections of German songs mostly in four parts. About 50 songs are attributed to Othmayr, and many are included in Forster's collections. Among them are anonymous folk songs Othmayr gave to Forster which Forster attributed to Othmayr. They are set to folk or love poetry with syllabic and imitative textures. Many of the songs are strophic and in an AAB form. ⁽¹¹⁾ Let's listen to two songs from the third volume: Wohlauf gut Gsell von hinnen (Well then, good fellow, away!) and Mir ist ein schönst brauns Maidelein (Mine is a beautiful brown Maiden) both for four voices. The second video illustrates contemporary crumhorn instruments. We hear the same song in the third video in a setting for tenor and guitar.

Ein gutes nerisch Tenzlein (Bauerntanz) is an instrumental farmers' dance in four parts (@ 16:45 in the video) and is immediately followed on the disc by the Innsbruck, Ich Muß Dich Lassen (Innsbruck, I must leave you) by Heinrich Isaac, a song for the ages.

To conclude, three chorale arrangements played on the organ.

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⁽¹⁾ Friedrich would later became elector and move to Heidelberg.
⁽²⁾ Together this group of songwriters is called the Kreis der Heidelberger Liedermeister (Circle of Heidelberg Song Masters). Heike Nasritdinova / F. Ebel, "Othmayr, Caspar." Biographical entry, Oberpfälzer Kulturbund website, May 2010. (http://www.oberpfaelzerkulturbund.de/cms/pages/kultur-der-oberpfalz/dbeintrag_details.php?id=167 (03/15/2015))
⁽³⁾ The region in Southwest Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire and Catholic in Othmayr's youth. In 1517 Martin Luther wrote his Ninety-Five Theses and in 1518 he held his Heidelberg Disputation. Othmayr saw the region convert to Protestantism. Various factors played a role: apart from religious reasons, local officials and monarchs saw a chance to increase secular power over the affairs of the church. The locals preferred to put tithes to good use at home, and court rulers and the Holy Roman Emperor both used religion as a bargaining chip in their endless wars and disputes. Luther and Melanchton both strongly supported schooling. According to Melanchton, "schools are for raising up people who are skilled to teach in the church and govern in the world." The Heilsbronn monastery became infiltrated with Lutheran ideas early on, but the abbot desired to maintain 'the monastic principle' and founded the Latin School to 'recruit and train novices'. (See Johannes Hartung (Composer)) (See Gerald Strauss, "The Social Function of Schools in the Lutheran Reformation in Germany." History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Summer, 1988), pp. 191-206. Published by: History of Education Society. (http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/368489?sid=21105655553031&uid=2&uid=2134&uid=70&uid=3739256&uid=4&uid=3739808 (03/15/2015))
⁽⁴⁾"Geschichte von Kloster Heilsbronn." Wikisource, Volume 1 (Part 3). (http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Geschichte_von_Kloster_Heilsbronn/Band_1_%28Teil_3%29 (03/18/2015))
⁽⁵⁾ During the underage reign of George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, the following monarchs were involved in his upbringing and/or the affairs of Ansbach: (1) Legal guardian responsible for his upbringing: his mother Emilie of Saxony who by all accounts did a good job, (2) Guardian-Administrator of his estate: his cousin Albrecht II. Alcibiades von Brandenburg-Kulmbach, a bellicose individual, (3) joint Regents of Brandenburg-Ansbach: John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony followed in 1547 by Maurice, the Elector of Saxony, Joachim II Hector, the Elector of Brandenburg, and the Landgrave of Hesse, Philip I, all involved in war campaigns, disputes, and peace settlements, (4) the local Governor-Regent of the Brandenburg-Ansbach Margraviate: Friedrich von Knobelsdorff.
⁽⁶⁾ Dominicus Mettenleiter, "Musikgeschichte der Oberpfalz." Amberg, Fedor Pohl Verlag, 1867, p. 262. (https://books.google.com/books?id=1gItAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA262&ots=LzrKI6-m2c&dq=der%20Vormundschaft%20des%20unm%C3%BCndigen%20Markgrafen%20von%20Ansbach%20und%20dem%20Markgrafen%20von%20Bayreuth&pg=PA262#v=onepage&q=der%20Vormundschaft%20des%20unm%C3%BCndigen%20Markgrafen%20von%20Ansbach%20und%20dem%20Markgrafen%20von%20Bayreuth&f=false (03/18/2015)). [Growing power of local governments was a sign of the times.]
⁽⁷⁾ Dennis Schrock, "https://books.google.com/books?id=xgzYae1n__EC&lpg=PA110&ots=O7G9J_hCvO&dq=caspar%20othmayr%20death&pg=PA110#v=onepage&q=caspar%20othmayr%20death&f=false." New York, Oxford University Press, Mar 4, 2009, p. 110. (https://books.google.com/books?id=xgzYae1n__EC&lpg=PA110&ots=O7G9J_hCvO&dq=caspar%20othmayr%20death&pg=PA110#v=onepage&q=caspar%20othmayr%20death&f=false (03/19/2015))
⁽⁸⁾ Erik Daumann, "Auch für Katholiken (Also for Catholics)." CD review, Klassik.com, 06/09/2007. (http://magazin.klassik.com/reviews/reviews.cfm?TASK=REVIEW&RECID=10579&REID=6714 (03/19/2015))
⁽⁹⁾ Dr. Mattias Lundberg, "Tonus Peregrinus: The History of a Psalm-tone and its use in Polyphonic Music." Burlington, VT, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 08/01/2012, p. 135. (https://books.google.com/books?id=x8ahAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA135&ots=MTy0Qa2JiW&dq=caspar%20othmayr%20theology%20ansbach&pg=PA135#v=onepage&q=caspar%20othmayr%20theology%20ansbach&f=false (03/19/2015))
⁽¹⁰⁾ Johann Eccard, "Newe Deutzsche Lieder." Middleton, WI, A-R Editions, Inc., Jan 1, 2002, p. xi. (https://books.google.com/books?id=xZfkgsiaIzMC&lpg=PR11&ots=ESVmBccnFR&dq=othmayr%2C%20bicinia%20sacra&pg=PR11#v=onepage&q=othmayr,%20bicinia%20sacra&f=false (03/19/2015))
⁽¹¹⁾ Dennis Schrock, Ib., p. 111. (https://books.google.com/books?id=xgzYae1n__EC&lpg=PA110&ots=O7G9J_hCvO&dq=caspar%20othmayr%20death&pg=PA111#v=onepage&q=caspar%20othmayr%20death&f=false (03/19/2015))

Is there a personnage you would have liked to be during the Renaissance? Yes, Cipriano de Rore. He intrigues me with his melancholic side. - Paul Van Nevel ⁽¹⁾

Cipriano de Rore (Cypriaan, Cyprien, etc., 1515/16 ⁽²⁾ - 1565) was a composer of the Netherlandish School active in Italy at Brescia/(Venice), Ferrara, and Parma.

He wrote primarily vocal music, both secular and sacred. His Italian madrigals are best known, but we also have a few French chansons and a number of secular Latin motets. His sacred works consist of settings of the Mass, the Magnificat, Psalms and motets.

According to recent scholarship, Cipriano de Rore was born between July 9, 1515 and September 1, 1516 ⁽³⁾ in the Flemish town of Ronse in a rather well-to-do family of textile tradesmen, bankers, owners of real estate, etc. Ronse was traditionally a place of pilgrimage. It not only housed relics of Saint Hermes in its collegiate church, but of three other saints as well: Cornelius, Cyprianus and Celestinus. The de Rore family was closely involved with the church--they at various times occupied clerical positions, supplied candle wax, and provided financial support. A number of its members had "Cypriaan" or "Celestinus" as their first name after the local saints. ⁽⁴⁾ The Collegiate Church had a good musical tradition with a decent-sized capella and attracted foreign organists. Music education was at a fairly high level and provided free education for the six choirboys. All this points to a musical climate that allowed the young Cipriano de Rore's nascent talents to blossom. ⁽⁵⁾

Nothing more is known about de Rore's youth in Flanders or how and when he traveled to Italy. In the madrigal Alma real, se come fida stella (Royal Lady, like the faithful star) in praise of Margaret of Parma, composed more than likely in January 1561 just before his return to Italy, de Rore mentions that he has followed Margaret 'like a sunflower follows the sun.' This seems to be a reference to a connection in their youth with even a possibility that de Rore followed Margaret on her trip to Italy in 1633. ⁽⁶⁾

So far all we've gleaned from this composer who not for nothing has been called an "Enigma," is what's been painstakingly put together from secondary evidence by a number of dedicated de Rore scholars. ⁽⁷⁾ They have convincingly separated fact from abounding fiction. Nevertheless, gaping holes remain in de Rore's biography, and let the reader beware not to take anything for granted that can be found all over the internet.

It is not until 1540/2 that we find the first evidence of de Rore living in Italy. Palazzo da Fano, an employee of Ruberto Strozzi who had just moved from Venice to Ferrara, writes to Neri Capponi and requests a madrigal by de Rore, but 'not one that everyone has.'⁽⁸⁾ The letter is testimony to the popularity of de Rore's madrigals already at that time and makes a connection with the Adrian Willaert circle in Venice. ⁽⁹⁾ It also shows a tendency of music patrons to commission works for the exclusive enjoyment in their private homes and academies. Moreover, it offers the possibility that it was Strozzi who introduced de Rore's music to Ferrara, where the composer would become Maestro di Cappella in 1546 in the service of Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara who was married to Renée of France. De Rore was now 30 years old, master of his craft, and ready to put his own stamp on the music of the Renaissance.

We will explore de Rore's exquisite madrigals, motets, and other sacred works in the next few posts. Let's start here with the seven French chansons that have come down to us. They are found in various sources, a.o.in collections printed by Tielman Susato in Antwerp in 1545 and 1550 (Livres de Chansons) and by Phalesius in Louvain in 1552 and 1554 (Cantiones Gallicae 4, 5, 8 Vocum). ⁽¹⁰⁾

Vous sçavez bien Madame Souveraine (You know very well, Sovereign Lady) (1542, Zeghere van Male's Songbook, Cambrai MS 125, No. 54, later printed by Phalesius), for four voices, can be heard @ 55:20 in the video. ⁽¹¹⁾

Vous sçavez bien, madame souveraine, You know well, Sovereign Lady,
Que douleur est d’attendre et de languir. That it is painful to wait and languish.
Si pesant fait ne puis plus soustenir: Such weight I no longer can sustain:
Secourez moy, belle de pitié plaine. Rescue me, beautiful lady full of pity.

Reiouyssons nous a ceste heure (Let us be joyful at this hour) (Susato, Antwerp, 1545, Le huitiesme livre des Chansons à quatre parties auquel sont contenues trente et deux chansons convenables tant à la voix comme aux instrumentz) for four voices.

En voz adieux, Dames - Hellas, comment (In your farewells, Ladies - Alas! how) (Ferrara, 1550, Il primo libro de madrigali) for four voices was composed for the departure to France of Anna d'Este, daughter of Ercule II d'Este and Renée de France, where she would be given in marriage to a French prince. The song is a striking example of text-setting: "Tear-stained cheeks," for example, are portrayed by chromaticism in soprano and bass.⁽¹²⁾ This chanson is not available on YouTube.

Susann'un jour on the biblical subject of Susanna and the Elders, is the fifth French chanson in Meier's edition. It is performed here in the sine textu version on harp and theorbo.

Last but not least comes Mon petit coeur (My little heart is not my own) (Susato, 1550, Le treziesme livre) for eight voices.

Mon petit coeur n'est pas à moi, My little hart does not belong to me,
il est à vous, ma douce amie. It is yours, my dear friend.
Mais d'une chose je vous prie: But one thing I beg you for:
c'est votre amour, gardez-le moi. It is your love, save it for me.

De Rore's setting is one of a number of settings of this charming little verse. De Rore builds it into a timeless canon for eight voices, its at times painful chromaticism painting a moving plea for love. Who could resist? ⁽¹³⁾

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⁽¹⁾ De Rore's year of birth is derived from the year of death (1565) and age (49) on the composer's tombstone in Parma. (Cambier, Albert, "De grootste roem van de stad Ronse : De komponist Cypriaan De Ro(de)re, "omnium musicorum princeps." (The greatest fame of the town Ronse: The composer Cipriano de Ro(de)re, "Omnium Musicorum Princeps."" Monograph, Annalen geschied- en oudheidkundige kring van Ronse en het tenement van Inde, XXX - 1981, p. 5–56, as read online at cipriaanderore.be, section 1.4. Biography. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/NL/Monografie/Monografie_6322.htm#Anchor_1_4 (04/12/2015))
⁽²⁾ Noël Godts, "Paul Van Nevel (1946*), La sagesse gourmande d'un joyeux découvreur (The Eager Wisdom of a Happy Discoverer)." Interview, ramifications.be website, 09/12/2003. (http://www.ramifications.be/Interviews/paul_van_nevel.htm (03/27/2015))
⁽³⁾ Cambier, Albert. Ib. section 1.4. Biography. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/NL/Monografie/Monografie_6322.htm#Anchor_1_4 (03/27/2015))
⁽⁴⁾ The Ronse origin was only determined recently by a few ardent scholars. Starting 65 years after the composer's death with a hastily put together encyclopedia by Franciscus Sweertius in Antwerp and for three and a half centuries thereafter, de Rore was thought to be born in Mechelen or Antwerp--both worthy musical centers--or even in Machelen on the Lys River where there was neither a musical center or anyone with the surname de Rore. Sweertius routinely mentioned his subjects' diocese as the place of birth. (Cambier, Albert. Ib. Section 2.3. First Name. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/NL/Monografie/Monografie_6322.htm#Anchor_2_3 (03/27/2015))). The diocese for Ronse was Cambrai during de Rore's youth. In 1559 Ronse switched to the Archdiocese Mechelen-Brussels.
⁽⁵⁾ Cambier, Albert. Ib. Section 2.4. Cultural and musical milieu. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/NL/Monografie/Monografie_6322.htm#Anchor_2_4 (03/27/2015))
⁽⁶⁾Margaret of Parma, the illegitimate daughter of Charles V and Maria van der Gheynst, the daughter of a local carpet weaver, and de Rore's patron later in life, was born in Oudenaarde, only seven miles away from Ronse. Margaret, however, was almost immediately removed to the home of the Emperor's cellar master in Brussels. Her education was closely supervised by her great-aunt Margaret of Austria and her aunt Mary of Hungary, successive Governors of Flanders with courts at Mechelen and Brussels. One would like to believe that de Rore was employed for a while at these splendid palaces or was at least once in a while invited to perform there "pour le plaisir de Madame (for the Lady's pleasure)." Unfortunately, 1527-1532 palace records do not show de Rore in its employ, 1533 records have not come down to us, and records of occasional musical performances are listed without musicians' names. In 1533 Margaret moved to Naples in a grand trip accompanied by her illustrious father and with festivities in many towns in preparation of her marriage to Alessandro di Medici three years later. (See Cambier, Albert, "Hoe de herkomst van Cypriaan De Rore ontrafeld werd. (How the origin of Cypriaan De Rore was discovered.)." (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/EN/Monografie/Cambier_01.pdf (04/10/2015)) and Charles R. Steen,"Margaret of Parma: A Life." BRILL, Aug 22, 2013, p. 18. (https://books.google.com/books?id=cf-ZAAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA309&ots=2hzDZhil76&dq=trip%20of%20margaret%20of%20parma%20to%20italy&pg=PA18#v=onepage&q&f=false (04/10/2015)))
⁽⁷⁾ De Rore scholarship only took a turn for the better in the second half of the twentieth century. Bernardus Meier put together a comprehensive de Rore edition. Hats off among others to Albert Cambier (1922-2010) who put Ronse back on the de Rore map, and to the American Jessie Ann Owens and the Belgian Katelijne Schiltz for their numerous publications on life and work of "il divino Cipriano," as he was called among contemporary Italians. The fitting "Enigma" epithet was used by Martha Feldman in Chapter 8. The Enigma of Rore—Books One and Two for Five Voices of her book "City Culture and the Madrigal at Venice." (UC Press E-books Collection, 1995) where she extensively details de Rore's First (1542) and Second (1544) Books of Madrigals for five voices.
⁽⁸⁾ Strozzi and Capponi were both Florentine exiles in Venice with ties to Lyons. (Martha Feldman, Ib. Chapter 2. Florentines in Venice and the Madrigal at Home." p. 32). Richard Agee discovered two letters placing de Rore in Brescia: the first has been re-dated by Bonnie Blackburn from 1541/2 to 1540; the second is from 1545. This situates de Rore in the circle of Count Fortunato Martinengo in Brescia maybe as early as 1939. (Jessie Ann Owens, Composers at Work: The Craft of Musical Composition 1450-1600, Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 244, footnote 2, and Bonnie J. Blackburn (University of Oxford): Rore’s Early Italian Years, Abstract of presentation at International Musicological Conference: Cipriano de Rore at the Crossroads, Regensburg University, March 2014)
⁽⁹⁾ Although de Rore is often mentioned as a student or "disciple" of Willaert, there is no direct evidence for this. That the two knew each other and that Willaert may have given advice on de Rore's madrigals in progress can be guessed from the correspondence.
⁽¹⁰⁾ The presses in Antwerp and Louvain eagerly sought out works from the South and included them in their anthologies. Antwerp was a cosmopolitan city which at the time counted many Italian merchants, traders and bankers among its residents. The Catholic University of Louvain was a flourishing intellectual center with Erasmus, Vesalius, and Mercator among its scholars.
⁽¹¹⁾ At a time when the printing presses were taking off, Zeghere van Male, a wealthy Bruges merchant, put together an exceptional manuscript, diverse in genres and superbly illuminated. It is now preserved at Cambrai.
⁽¹²⁾ Manuscript: Vol. 1 and 2, pp. 276-536; undated; The Italian Madrigal, by Alfred Einstein, Box 1, Folder 3; Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library., p. 392. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/NL/RefGlobal/Ref_6330.htm (04/12/2015))
⁽¹³⁾ Regrettably, nothing much is known about de Rore's personal life or personality. He remained loyal to his family in Flanders, returning to his hometown twice in a row, the first time in 1558 when his brother died to help the widow settle affairs, the second time in 1559 when the city of Ronse burned and his relatives lost their possessions. An incorrect reading of de Rore's tombstone lead to a misunderstanding that it had been erected by his "brother" Ludovicus and his child with the resulting assumption that de Rore possibly had an illegitimate child. This error was corrected by Jessie Ann Owens who read the inscription as "Fratris Filius" instead of "Fratris, Filius," i.e. "Son of his Brother" rather than "Brother, Son." (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/EN/Monografie/Monografie_6326.pdf (04/12/2015)). Since the composer was never addressed with a clerical title, it is unlikely that he ever took religious vows.

The town of Ronse put on a terrific 500-year birthday bash for Cypriaan de Rore this week with precious concerts, an exhibit, a festival book and CD, a litho, a stamp for the philatelists, and even what looks like a totally enjoyable cartoon. Ronse, in short, is going all out for its native son.

I would especially have liked to attend today's concert De Rore & Politics by Vox Luminis and read what the Festival Book reveals about the topic. De Rore composed a good number of secular motets and madrigals honoring and complementing current and prospective employers. Often these were important political leaders and supporters of the arts.

During the Renaissance, conflict and war abounded, parties switched sides as needed, and legitimate and illegitimate children alike were part of marriage deals, forging political alliances and enlarging empires. The great Habsburg leader was Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Germany, King of Italy, King of Spain which included large parts of the Americas, King of Sicily and Sardinia, King of Naples, Lord of the Netherlands, and Count Palatine of Burgundy. It was said that the sun never set in his empire. During his reign Charles V confronted France, the Ottoman Empire, and the Reformation. Although he compromised with the Protestants in Germany, he repressed the movement in the Netherlands.

Let's take a brief look at some of the men and women de Rore (probably) met, wrote laudatory works for, and/or served in his early years:

- Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (1507-1515 and 1519-1530): This lady held court in Mechelen and was the aunt of Charles V and the great-aunt of Margaret of Parma, de Rore's future patron, whose education she supervised. She played several instruments and possessed a number of Chansonniers with works of de Rore's predecessors of the Netherlandish School.

- Mary of Hungary, Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (1531-1555). Mary held court in Brussels, was the sister of Charles V and supervised Margaret of Parma's education after the death of the Archduchess. She was a great patron of music and supported both sacred and secular music at her court. She commissioned several elaborate music manuscripts. One visitor during her reign noted the hunting and the music which sounded "with supreme delight." Mary regularly received requests from her brothers Ferdinand then Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia and King of Bohemia, and from Charles V for musicians. She purchased near 200 instruments for her court and hired foreign musicians to play them. Her singers were mostly local. Mary organized lavish fêtes for special occasions with music and dance. ⁽¹⁾

It is possible that de Rore visited these ladies' courts, but pay records do not show de Rore employed as a singer, and unfortunately visiting musicians are not mentioned by name.

- Margaret of Parma, Duchess Consort of Parma (1547-1586) and Governor of the Netherlands (1559-1567), born in Oudenaarde--ten miles from Ronse, and the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Charles V and Johanna Maria van der Gheynst, the daughter of a local carpet manufacturer. A pawn in Charles V's empire building schemes, she was given an excellent education under the supervision of her above-mentioned great-aunt and aunt. At age 5 she became engaged to Alessandro de Medici, the Pope's nephew, and at age 11 she was brought to Naples in an official trip accompanied by her illustrious father and his entourage with many stops and festivities along the way. It is possible that de Rore came to Italy as part of this voyage. As explained in my previous post, the madrigal Alma real seems to indicate it. Maybe someone sifting through the records in Naples where Margaret stayed for a few years, could shed some light. In 1536 at age 13 Margaret married Alessandro. Her husband was murdered by a distant cousin the following year. At age 15 Margaret--in a new political scheme--married the 14-year old Ottavio Farnese, the new pope's grandson and future Duke of Parma. The couple periodically led separate lives. In 1560 Ottavio visited his wife in the Netherlands. De Rore, then on his second return to his native town, assisting his family in need and in-between jobs, composed the madrigal Mentre lumi maggior for this festive encounter. The text compares Ottavio and Margaret with Apollo and Delia shining the son over Flanders in a work of 'extra-ordinary beauty completely to the taste of the patrons.' In 1561 De Rore moved to Parma in service of the Duke. ⁽²⁾ Margaret, like her great-aunt and her aunt, was a fervent patron of music and would have her own music chapel whenever she could. Due to her Flemish origin and the popularity of Netherlandish composers in Italy, she would secure musicians from her native country for her half-brother Philip II of Spain and for her own chapel. Some of the musicians would follow her from Parma to Brussels and into her retirement in Abruzzo. ⁽³⁾

- In the early 1540s, possibly as early as 1939, we find de Rore in Brescia--then a Venetian possession--in the circle of Count Fortunato Martinengo.

(Count Fortunato Martinengo
by Moretto da Brescia)

This scion of the old noble Martinengo house in Brescia, was a man of letters, played string and wind instruments, and was a patron of the arts. The music theorist and priest Pietro Aaron visited his court in 1539, which may have occasioned a gathering of musicians including Cipriano de Rore. ⁽⁴⁾

De Rore lived in Brescia during the following years and visited Venice where he met Florentine exiles, such as Neri Capponi and Ruberto Strozzi. Two surviving letters from Strozzi's agent Palazzo da Fano (probably the same person as the musician Paolo Iacopo Palazzo) to Strozzi have survived. The letters tell us that de Rore is busy writing motets--sacred and secular--and madrigals. His works are popular, and he receives commissions for new works destined for private collections.

Secular music in those days was primarily performed in salons in informal groups that were often called Accademie. In Venice these groups circled around Adriaan Willaert, the venerable Maestro di Capella at San Marco. Although de Rore never was a formal pupil of Willaert, it is likely that he received valuable advice from the great master in these informal groups and in this sense was called Willaert's disciple. ⁽⁵⁾

In 1542 Scotto in Venice published I madrigali a cinque voci (Madrigals in five parts) which, unusual for the time, was entirely devoted to de Rore madrigals. ⁽⁶⁾ The madrigals are set to Petrarch and other dramatic texts and include 'some of its most tortured lyrics' from the poet's Canzoniere which has the painful love of Laura as its central theme. The book is ingenious in the placement of the sonnets and was novel in its ordering of the modes. It has no dedication. ⁽⁷⁾

Let's listen to No. 2 Hor che'l ciel e la terra - Cosi sol d'una chiara fonte (Now that the sky and the earth and the wind are silent - So from one pure living fountain) (Scotto, 1542) for five voices. The second part (Cosi sol) is in the first mode. This is the first sonnet in the 1542 book and introduces the themes of death and untamed wilderness that are pervasive throughout the entire collection. The madrigal immediately places before us an independent composer with a unique talent for setting Petrarch's magic texts.

In a mode that Finck says rouses the somnolent, Rore attempts at the outset to portray nature asleep. Then at the words "Veggio, penso, ardo, piango," the texture changes radically, and Rore introduces so many accidentals that modal flavor is erased for a time. The sonnet's sestina [the second part], which alternates between hope and despair, perhaps best fits Zarlino's description of the first mode as midway between sad and cheerful.⁽⁸⁾

In 1544 Gardano, also in Venice, published Di Cipriano il secondo libro de madregali a cinque voci insieme alcuni di M. Adriano et altri autori a misura comune novamente posti in luce a cinque voci which contained only eight madrigals by de Rore himself, and Cipriani musici eccelentissimi cum quibusdam aliis doctis authoribus motectorum nunc primum maxima diligentia in lucem exeuntem Liber primus quinque vocum, a book of five-part sacred and secular motets for five voices with only seven motets by de Rore himself.

In these years de Rore was apparently looking for employment at a court, since a number of works are dedicated to nobles or cardinals, and/or contain textual hints at employment.

- Guidobaldo II della Rovere was an Italian condottiero (warlord) who became Duke of Urbino at the assassination of his father in 1538. The House of La Rovere had strong ties with Rome. Guidobaldo II was a patron of the arts and commissioned o.a. Titian's Venus of Urbino. De Rore composed the madrigal Cantiamo lieti il fortunato giorno - La terra di novelle et vaghi fiori (Let us sing joyously about the happy day - The earth paints itself with new and lovely flowers) (No. 7 Book II, Gardano 1544) for Guidobaldo II on the occasion of a Gonzaga wedding ⁽⁹⁾, and probably also the motet Itala quae cecidit - Una tibi floret (The ancient force which you had almost lost, oh Italy - You are not only adorned) (No. 2 Motets à 5, Gardano 1544).

- Quis tuos presul - Quin tenes legum (Who, Eminency, Bishop - You hold the scepter) (included possibly by stealth ⁽¹⁰⁾ in Dialogo della musica di M Antonfranceso Doni fiorentino, Scotto 1544) is a motet for six voices dedicated to Cristoforo Madruzzo, cardinal and statesman who was active in Brescia in the late 1530s and early 1540s.

- Nunc cognovi, Domine - Beati Servi Tui (Now I know, Lord - Blessed are your servants), a motet for six voices on the biblical text of the prodigal son who comes to appreciate his father’s generosity, is addressed to an unknown patron, and features 'a witty ostinato ‘Fac me sicut unum ex mercenariis tuis (Let me be one of thy servants).' ⁽¹¹⁾

- O qui populos suscipis aequos (Oh You who support righteous people) (Included in Cantiones Codicis Monacensis Mus. Ms. B (Munich manuscript for Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, 1557-1559)), a motet for five voices, was composed for Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este, and contains the plea Cypriam gentem suscipe quaeso (Please receive the Cyprian gens). Ippolito was the younger brother of Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, who would appoint de Rore maestro di cappella in 1546.

- In 1547 Gardano printed another book of madrigals, Primo libro di madregali a quatro voci di Perissone Cambio con alcuni di Cipriano Rore novamente composti e posti in luce for four voices. There we find Anchor che col partire (Although in leaving you):

... one of his best known madrigals, was adapted numerous times for fifty years all over Europe, reaching the status of what one would call today a timeless tune. The erotic undertone of the text undoubtedly contributed to its popularity as did its undeniable expressive qualities.⁽¹²⁾

By the time this book was published, de Rore was already in Ferrara, beginning twelve years of service in what would become the most productive period of his life.
________________________________________________________________________________
⁽¹⁾ Glenda Goss Thompson, "Mary of Hungary and Music Patronage." The Sixteenth Century Journal Vol. 15, No. 4 (Winter, 1984), pp. 401-418. (http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2540358?uid=2134&uid=3739808&uid=2473869753&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=2473869743&uid=3739256&uid=60&sid=21106032214261 (04/16/2015)) Thompson mentions that in his book Splendour at Court Roy Strong describes the fundamental objective of the fête as 'power conceived as art.'
⁽²⁾ Wim Daeleman, "De madrigaalkunst van Cypriaan De Rore, een Vlaams componist werkzaam in Italië midden 16de eeuw, en door tijdgenoten 'Omnium Musicorum Princeps' genoemd: Brussel, Parma, Venetië en nogmaals Parma (The art of madrigal of Cipriano de Rore, a Flemish composer active in Italy in the mid-16th century, and named by contemporaries 'First among All Musicians': Brussels, Parma, Venice, and again Parma)."Annalen geschied- en oudheidkundige kring van Ronse en het tenement van Inde (Annals of history and archeology society of Ronse and the Tenement van Inde), 2007. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/EN/Monografie/Monografie_6594_P.htm (04/20/2015))
⁽³⁾ Seishiro Niwa, "'Madama' Margaret of Parma's Patronage of Music." Abstract, Early Music, Volume 33, Number 1, February 2005, pp. 25-37. (https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/early_music/v033/33.1niwa.html (04/20/2015))
⁽⁴⁾ Bonnie J. Blackburn, "Rore’s Early Italian Years." Abstract of presentation at Cipriano de Rore at the Crossroads Conference 3/20/2014-3/21/2014, University of Regensburg website. (http://www.uni-regensburg.de/philosophie-kunst-geschichte-gesellschaft/musikwissenschaft/medien/rore-tagung/abstracts.pdf (04/24/2015))
⁽⁵⁾ Martha Feldman, "City Culture and the Madrigal at Venice, Part I. Patrons and Academies in the City." Berkeley, Chapter 2. Flexibility in the Body Social, UC Press E-books Collection, 1995, p. 22. (http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft238nb1nr;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print (04/25/2015))
⁽⁶⁾ In an early marketing ploy sixteenth-century printing presses often put famous composers' names on the cover, only to include one or two pieces by these masters in the book, the remainder consisting of more obscure composers' works.
⁽⁷⁾ Martha Feldman, Ib., Chapter 8. "The Enigma of Rore— Books One and Two for Five Voices," p. 260. (http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft238nb1nr&chunk.id=d0e20689&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e20689&brand=ucpress (04/25/2015))
⁽⁸⁾ Claude V. Palisca, "Mode Ethos in the Renaissance."Essays in Musicology: A Tribute to Alvin Johnson, Lewis Lockwood, Edward H. Roesner
The AMS, Jan 1, 1990, p. 134. (https://books.google.com/books?id=VoQXAQAAIAAJ&lpg=PA76&ots=IVxMtT-Deo&dq=susato%2Bde%20rore%20french%20chansons&pg=PA134#v=onepage&q=hor%20che&f=false (04/25/2015))
⁽⁹⁾Eleonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino, was Guidobaldo II's mother. (The music of Cipriano De Rore: Cantiamo lieti (2p La terra di novelli), References 2. Jesse Ann Owens and 3. Alfred Einstein, Cypriaan De Rore website. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/EN/Werk/Werk_M_2_108_P.htm (04/25/2015))
⁽¹⁰⁾ James Haar, "The Science and Art of Renaissance Music." Princeton University Press, Jul 14, 2014, p. 281. (https://books.google.com/books?id=0lMABAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA281&ots=2ealXqrLYa&dq=de%20rore%2Bquis%20tuos%20presul&pg=PA281#v=onepage&q=de%20rore+quis%20tuos%20presul&f=false (04/25/2015))
⁽¹¹⁾"The music of Cipriano De Rore: Nunc cognovi, domine - Beati servi tui." Reference 1. Jesse Ann Owens, Cypriaan De Rore website. (http://cypriaanderore.be/EN/Werk/Werk_M_1_114_P.htm (04/25/2015))
⁽¹²⁾ Translated from Stéphane Renard, "Cipriano de Rore, né il y a 500 ans (Cipriano de Rore, born 500 years ago)."Article in L'Echo, 3/5/2015. (http://www.derorefestivalronse.be/sites/default/files/CiprianoDeRore.pdf (04/25/2015))

I can perhaps speak as a musician, though I cannot compose. - Petrarch ⁽¹⁾

When Cipriano de Rore (1515/16 - 1565) became Maestro di Cappella in Ferrara in 1546, the court's music chapel was well established. Duke Ercole I d'Este (1431-1505) increased the number of its singers and instrumentalists. His son Alfonso I (1476-1534) continued the tradition. In 1547, the year after de Rore arrived in Ferrara, the chapel included 24 singers, instrumentalists, and cappellani (clerics). ⁽²⁾

The musicians provided sacred music for the court chapel, music for the court's chambers, instruction to members of the court, music for grand tournaments, processions, funerals and ceremonies, and music for the stage--usually intermedi performed between acts of plays for weddings and other special occasions at the court.

The Ferrara Dukes' list of composers is impressive. Many came from Flanders and assimilated their polyphonic style with Italian lyricism and poetry. Alexander Agricola, Jacob Obrecht, Heinrich Isaac, and Josquin des Prez all served Ercole I at one time or another. Josquin's Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae was a tribute to the Duke. Alfonso I supported Antoine Brumel and Adrian Willaert. Maistre Jhan and Alfonso della Viola had come before de Rore in Ercole II's time. Della Viola continued under Alfonso II, Ercole II's son and the last Duke of Ferrara, for the rest of his life. Alfonso II also supported Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Giaches de Wert, and married his niece to Gesualdo. Gesualdo would publish his first book of madrigals in Ferrara and write music for the Concerto delle donne (Ladies consort) there.

In 1528 Ercole II married Renée de France, thereby allying Ferrara with the League of Cognac against Emperor Charles V. Hélas, France abandoned its allies in the Ladies' Peace (Paix des Dames) or Treaty of Cambrai shortly after the marriage, and Renée did not make many efforts to acculturate to her new country. A daughter of the French King Louis XII, she considered her husband somewhat inferior. She continued to speak French and was surrounded by a French contingent. She was also a willing listener to fast-spreading Protestant ideas. Ercole II decided Renée should be on his--the Ferrara--side. By the time de Rore arrived, Ercole II who was after all the grandson of Pope Alexander VI through his mother Lucrezia Borgia, had sent away the French contingent, and Renée had promised to remain true to the Catholic faith. ⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾⁽⁵⁾

Clearly Ercole was challenged by his wife. He sought escape in sports and bolstered his image through the arts.

[Ercole II] enjoyed portrayals of himself as Hercules, the Greek demigod forced to prove his strength, courage, and cunning in a dozen trials. Such depictions of Ercole II appeared in tapestries, statuary, music, and literature as well as paintings. ⁽⁶⁾

In Ercole's early years the musical works were not always as noble as those de Rore would later produce. In 1541 Alvise Castellino dedicated to Ercole II his Primo libro delle villote à 4, a collection of 29 'rustic' songs probably composed in the 1520s and 1530s. ⁽⁷⁾

When de Rore took up his post in Ferrara he was composing madrigals on poems of Petrarch's Canzoniere (Song Book). This collection of 366 poems, written in the Italian vernacular over forty years and rearranged by the author over another six years, sets in words the poet's impossible love for the unattainable Laura, both in her lifetime and after her death. Most of the poems are sonnets and through their structure and rhyme scheme lend themselves very well to musical settings. De Rore was one among many composers to use these lyrical texts.

La bella netta ignuda e bianca mano (Not just that one lovely naked hand), a madrigal for four voices, appeared as one of six de Rore works in Scotto's Madrigali de la Fama a quattro voce (1548) and again in Gardano's edition of the work that same year. It also appeared in a 1550 edition of the Ferrarese printer Buglhat, Giovanni (de) & Hucher, Antonio and quite a few after that. ⁽⁸⁾This poem is not in the Canzoniere and does not follow the 4-4-3-3 sonnet form. The text reminds of Petrarch (see his sonnets 199 and 200 and is typical of the day, describing [in free translation] how the Lady's beautiful naked and white hand, the celestial beauty of her face, her sweet discourse has torn the poet apart and stolen all he has. When her eyes look up to the sky, she shows him the way to paradise. He couldn't be more blessed and happy. ⁽⁹⁾

Giovanni Bassano, famous made an instrumental arrangement in diminution.

Qual donn'attende a gloriosa fama - Ivi'l parlar (Doth any maiden seek the glorious fame - There learn soft speech) is a setting of Sonnet 261 from Petrarch's Canzoniere. The madrigal appeared in Terzo libro di madrigali a cinque voce (Scotto, 1548) and in Musica di Cipriano Rore sopra le stanze del Petrarcha in laude della Madonna, e cinque madrigali di due parte l'uno non piu veduti, ne stampati, con alcuni madrigali di M. Adriano. Libro terzo (Gardano, 1548) and in subsequent collections through 1593.

Petrarch holds up his Lady's (Laura's) beauty and virtue to all ladies with high aspirations. He calls her his "sweet enemy,"'..because her ideal beauty attracts him while her perfection pushes him away as unworthy.'⁽¹⁰⁾ We have a feeling that Laura's excellence is unattainable, no longer from this earth. Petrarch here hints at Laura's death from the plague in Avignon in the year 1348. ⁽¹¹⁾⁽¹²⁾

Among the torrents of madrigals that poured from the Venetian presses in the 1540s and 50s none was more highly regarded than Rore's setting of "Vergine bella" - the eleven-stanza canzona with which Petrarch ended his Canzoniere and bade farewell to his love for the Madonna Laura.⁽¹³⁾

Petrarch thinks of Laura and gives her the image of the Vergine. De Rore was the first to set the entire poem in a madrigal cycle. Its tone is 'dark and serious,' in a 'dense, seamless, imitative style.' Eager publishers did not wait for its completion. The 1548 Scotto edition was probably pirated by Paolo Vergelli, a transverse flute player, and the 1548 Gardano edition--probably with the composer's consent and some involvement of the contralto Perissone Cambio, both only printed the first six stanzas. The last five stanzas were first copied in the Wolfenbüttel 293 manuscript in 1549. In 1552 Gardano produced an edition that included all eleven stanzas. ⁽¹³⁾

Rore's Vergine sits at a crossroads between his early and late manners, representing the consummation of the old and beginning of the new.⁽¹⁴⁾

The cycle was de Rore's last major setting of Petrarch in the Venetian madrigal style but starts to incorporate textural mannerisms, especially in the later stanzas, typical of the 1550s - 1570s. ⁽¹⁴⁾ Let's listen to Stanza 1. Vergine bella (Lovely virgin, clothed with the sun) (1548) and the very last one Il dì s'appressa (Day hurries on, and cannot be long) (1549). You can listen to Stanza 3. Vergine pura (Pure virgin, spotless in every way) (1548) here in an arrangement for solo voice and accompaniment.

Quando lieta sperai ((When I joyfully hoped to sit in the shade) (1548) from the Terzo libro di Madrigali (Gardano, 1552), for five voices based on a sonnet by Emilia Anguisciola, was included along with another madrigal as filler in the 1552 edition and is probably by Cristobal de Morales. ⁽¹⁵⁾ This popular work was parodied many times and set in lute tablatura.

In 1550 the Ferrarese press of Buglhat, Giovanni (de) & Hucher, Antonio published Il primo libro de madrigali a quatro voci. A number of madrigals in this collection still set Petrarch sonnets, but some set contemporary poets' lyrics. De Rore focuses more on text expression and contrasts in rhythm and texture. ⁽¹⁶⁾ Let's listen to a few of these madrigals in their vocal settings.

Io canterei d'amor si novamente (I would sing of love in such a novel fashion) sets the first eight lines of Petrarch's sonnet 131, a poem written at a later stage in life (la stagion più tarda).

The poet as in a dream summons a thousand sighs from Laura's hard flank (dura fianco) and a million desires from her frozen mind (gelata mente). In the second quatrain Petrarch envisions the effect of his song: the lady cries and shows pity and remorse. The first tercet paints a glacial smile: the face is white as snow, the lips are scarlet roses, and the teeth are ivory. Those who look upon it change to marble (possibly an allusion to Petrarch's last name which has the Greek "petros" or "stone" at its root). In the last verse Petrarch is resigned: he doesn't mind and appreciates the experience comes late in his life. ⁽¹⁷⁾

Alla dolce ombra - Non vide il mondo - Un lauro mi diffese - Pero piu ferm'ogn'hor - Selve sassi campagne - Tanto mi piacque (Into the sweet shade - The world has never seen - A laurel protected me - So, more constant, season after season - Woods, stones, fields - I was so pleased) sets the six stanzas of Petrarch's sestina 142. De Rore did not set the concluding three-line verse of the poem.

The ingenuity with which he [Petrarch] conceals or alludes to her [Laura's] name can be astonishing. She can be the laurel (sometimes obliquely as 'the honoured branch', 'noble tree', 'garland') and she is 'l'aura' (the dawn). Here the "belle frondi" (beautiful leaves) are those of the laurel and the "altri rami" (other branches) are those of the cross. Given that the season ("tempo") referred to in the penultimate sestina may be Lent it is appropriate that the premiere of this choral setting is at that time.⁽¹⁷⁾

Petrarch's rhyme scheme is very clever here. The same six words return in each verse at the end of the lines, but each time in a different order (frondi - lume - cielo - poggi - tempo - rami (leaves - light - heaven - hills - season - branches)), and they all return in the concluding three lines, lending the poem an almost musical quality. ⁽¹⁸⁾

Qual'è più grand'o Amore (Which is the greater, Love, Her unkindness or my pain?) is a madrigal in the 1550 Buglhat collection which is not set to Petrarch. The answer to the question is that none is more lovely than the lady, and none is more faithful than the poet: it is a draw.

De Rore's madrigals were popular, and instrumental arrangements with extensive ornamentation were common. We conclude with three such settings from the 1550 Ferrara collection: Non e chi'il duol mi scemi (Pain doesn't diminish me and fire doesn't dissolve me) (Petrarch, sonnet 132), Signor mio caro - Carita di signore (My dear Lord - Fondness for my lord) (Petrarch, sonnet 266, @ 13:00 in the video), and Non gemme non fin' oro (Not gems, not fine gold, Nor the work of cloth) in an arrangement by Girolamo Dalla Casa.

________________________________________________________________________
⁽¹⁾ Marc Vanscheeuwijck, "“Another Petrarch”: Teaching Petrarch through Music." Essay, The Petrarch Open Book project, University of Oregon. (https://petrarch.uoregon.edu/archives/1601 (05/06/2015))
⁽²⁾ Marianne Pade, Lene Waage Petersen, Daniela Quarta, "Court of Ferrara & its patronage." Museum Tusculanum Press, Jan 1, 1990, p. 330. (https://books.google.com/books?id=8WAmiOW-Uh4C&lpg=PA330&dq=ferrara%20music%20chapel%2B%22ercole%20II%22&pg=PA331#v=onepage&q=ferrara%20music%20chapel+%22ercole%20II%22&f=false
(05/03/2015))
⁽³⁾ This oddly matched couple nevertheless produced five children.
⁽⁴⁾ De Rore was Ercole II's composer. Apart from En voz adieux, Dames - Hellas, comment (In your farewells, Ladies - Alas! how), a chanson composed for the departure of the couple's daughter to France, he did not compose any works for Renée.
⁽⁵⁾ According to Melanie Marshall Renée continued to support reformers even after her reconversion. (See Melanie L. Marshall, "“Farò quel che me piacerà”: Fictional women in villotta voice resistance." Burlington, VT, Ashgate Publishing, Melanie L. Marshall, Linda L. Carroll and Katherine A. McIver (eds), Sexualities, Textualities, Art and Music in Early Modern Italy: Playing with Boundaries, May 2014, p. 201. (https://cora.ucc.ie/bitstream/handle/10468/1711/Marshall_Ch9_Marshall.pdf?sequence=1 (05/05/2015)))
⁽⁶⁾ Melanie L. Marshall, "Imitating the Rustic and Revealing the Noble: Masculine Power and Music at the Court of Ferrara." Burlington, VT, Ashgate Publishing, Bonnie J. Blackburn, Laurie Stras, Eroticism in Early Modern Music, April 28, 2015, Chapter 4, p. 96. (https://books.google.com/books?id=gKq_BwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA96&ots=56aH-BAwzj&dq=ercole%20II%2Beroticism&pg=PA96#v=onepage&q=ercole%20II+eroticism&f=false (05/05/2015))
⁽⁷⁾ Melanie L. Marshall, "“Farò quel che me piacerà”: Fictional women in villotta voice resistance." Burlington, VT, Ashgate Publishing, Melanie L. Marshall, Linda L. Carroll and Katherine A. McIver (eds), Sexualities, Textualities, Art and Music in Early Modern Italy: Playing with Boundaries, May 2014, p. 187. (https://cora.ucc.ie/bitstream/handle/10468/1711/Marshall_Ch9_Marshall.pdf?sequence=1 (05/05/2015))
⁽⁸⁾ Jane A. Bernstein, "Music Printing in Renaissance Venice: The Scotto Press (1539-1572)." Oxford University Press, 10/29/1998, p. 367. (https://books.google.com/books?id=hToWGz9xDaoC&lpg=PA367&ots=Xwga6aZIbt&dq=madrigali%20de%20la%20fama&pg=PA367#v=onepage&q=madrigali%20de%20la%20fama&f=false (05/07/2015))
⁽⁹⁾ For more about hand and glove poetry and its symbolism see Mark Musa, "Petrarch: The Canzoniere, or Rerum vulgarium fragmenta." Indiana University Press, May 22, 1999, Introduction, p. XV. (https://books.google.com/books?id=7QKV-QahAQIC&lpg=PA623&ots=jGwcFTPXfh&dq=petrarch%2Blaura-enemy&pg=PR15#v=onepage&q=200&f=false (05/06/2015))
⁽¹⁰⁾ Mark Musa, "Petrarch: The Canzoniere, or Rerum vulgarium fragmenta." Indiana University Press, 05/22/1999, p. 665. (https://books.google.com/books?id=7QKV-QahAQIC&lpg=PA623&ots=jGwcFTPXfh&dq=petrarch%2Blaura-enemy&pg=PA665#v=snippet&q=enemy&f=false (05/07/2015)
⁽¹¹⁾ Massivo Riva, ed: David Stolter, "Petrarch on the Plague." Adapted from: George Deaux, The Black Death 1347. New York: Weybright and Talley, 1969. Chapter IV, pp. 92-94. Decameron Web. (http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/plague/perspectives/petrarca.php (05/07/2015))
⁽¹²⁾ Mark Musa, Ib., Introduction, p. XXV. (https://books.google.com/books?id=7QKV-QahAQIC&lpg=PA623&ots=jGwcFTPXfh&dq=petrarch%2Blaura-enemy&pg=PR25#v=onepage&q=261&f=false (05/07/2015))
⁽¹³⁾ Mary S. Lewis, "Rore's Setting of Petrarch's "Vergine Bella": A History of Its Composition and Early Transmission." University of California Press, The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Autumn, 1985 - Autumn, 1986), pp. 365-409. (http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/763748?uid=3739808&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21106316946541 (05/07/2015))
⁽¹⁴⁾ Martha Feldman, "City Culture and the Madrigal at Venice, Part I. Patrons and Academies in the City." Berkeley, Chapter 10. Epilogue "Sopra Le Stanze Del Petrarca in Laude Della Madonna"— Rore's Vergine Cycle of 1548, UC Press E-books Collection, 1995, p. 407. (http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft238nb1nr&chunk.id=d0e32125&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e15061&brand=ucpress (04/25/2015))
⁽¹⁵⁾ Bernardus Meier argues for de Rore. Jessie Ann Owens leans toward Morales. See The music of Cipriano De Rore, Quando lieta sperai, references 1, 3, 4 and 5. http://www.cypriaanderore.be/ website. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/EN/Werk/Werk_M_3_34_P.htm (05/07/2015))
⁽¹⁶⁾ Jessica Gaylord, "Cipriano de Rore, Later Madrigals and the seconda pratica." University of North Carolina, College of Arts & Sciences, Online page for final. (http://gaylordjr251.web.unc.edu/cipriano-de-rore/ (05/07/2015))
⁽¹⁷⁾ Francesco Petrarca, "The Canzoniere: (rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta)." Troubador Publishing Ltd, 2001, p. 256. (https://books.google.com/books?id=5et8I9Yq4pIC&lpg=PA256&ots=NWmb2-1e5O&dq=petrarch%2BJuly%2020%2C%201338&pg=PA256#v=onepage&q=petrarch%20July%2020,%201338&f=false (05/09/2015))
⁽¹⁸⁾Gavin Bryars, "A la dolce ombra de le belle frondi (Fourth Book of Madrigals no. 2) for 8-part mixed choir." Gavin Bryars website where you can hear excerpts from Gavin Bryar's own beautiful eight-part setting of the text. (http://www.gavinbryars.com/work/composition/fourth-book-madrigals-2004 (05/08/2015))

The years Cipriano de Rore (1515 - 1574) spent in the service of Duke Ercole II in Ferrara from 1546 until his first trip back to Flanders in 1558, with a brief return in 1559, were among his most productive. Not only did he continue to write his glorious madrigals, but he composed many sacred and secular Latin motets and a number of other sacred works as well. While his madrigals were path-breaking, his sacred works kept de Rore firmly within the Netherlandish polyphonic tradition.

The Missa ‘Doulce mémoire (Sweet memory) (probably before 1549) ⁽¹⁾ based on the popular French chanson Doulce mémoire en plaisir consommée (Sweet memory in consummated joy) by Sandrin Pierre (ca. 1490 – after 1560) which was published in Lyons in 1537 or 1538. The chanson itself is for four voices. The mass is set for five voices with the exception of the middle part of the Credo (à 4), the Benedictus (à 3), and the second part of the Agnus Dei (à 6). Let's listen to the the chanson followed by Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus-Benedictus and Agnus Dei of the mass.

The Agnus Dei brings out the best in the composer, but other movements of the Mass are also noteworthy for the text-driven expressiveness of Rore’s setting.⁽²⁾

Illuxit nunc sacra dies (Now the holy day has dawned) for five voices is a lively imitative motet to celebrate the Nativity. It first appeared in the Primo libro de motetti a cinque voci motet books of both Scotto and Gardano (Venice 1549).

The Passio Domini Nostri Iesu Christi Secundum Ioannem (St. John's Passion) (Le Roy & Ballard, Paris, 1557) is ascribed to de Rore in the Paris publication. However, a Bologna manuscript names Willaert as the composer. Musicologists are divided. ⁽³⁾ This is a unique passion,

.. a masterpiece of plainchant elaboration in polyphony. Unlike other Passion settings of the period, this one sets the entire text, while carefully adhering to the Gregorian recitation tones and structures for the Passion. The syllabic declamation of the text gives a powerful "speaking" effect, while avoiding the madrigalisms Rore is better known for.⁽⁴⁾

Calami sonum ferentes siculo levem numero (The pipes that carry the sound of the Sicilian song) (composed between 1552-1554, published Susato 1555) is a secular motet for four basses. De Rore set a text by Giovan Battista Pigna which deplores the absence of Ercole II's son Alfonso and asks the poet's muse for a sweet song. ⁽⁵⁾ The poem contains references to antiquity: Catullus who wrote poems in the neoteric style, is the muse's delight; the calami (reed pipes) invoke the Greek tale of the drowned Karpos and the grieving Kalamos who lets himself go under also and becomes a water reed rustling in the wind as so many melancholic sighs.

That Ferrara had become a center of experimental music, and that Alfonso was enthusiastic about it, is confirmed by Nicola Vicentino, the music theorist who was also active in Ferrara:

On account of the miraculous sweetness of chromatic and enharmonic music, and so as not to fall short in any way from the virtue of ancient princes, His Excellency Alfonso d'Este, Lord Prince of Ferrara ... has learned this music with such consummate alacrity and grace that the world recognizes in him the image of the perfect prince. - Nicola Vicentino⁽⁶⁾

Four basses sing in imitation. The melody follows an ascending chromatic scale. The work makes an indelible impression.⁽⁷⁾

De Rore's Marian antiphonRegina caeli laetare (Gardano, 1551 and 1559) for three voices appeared alongside a setting by Adrian Willaert. Both composers use the same tenor voice. If de Rore was not exactly Willaert's student, the older composer and his younger fellow countryman clearly had a connection. The Regina Coeli hymn is performed during the Easter season. We hear de Rore's setting as an instrumental ricercar.

In 1554 Scotto published a collection of Vesper Psalm settings for four voices which contains five settings by de Rore for the second Vespers of Christmas. Odd-numbered verses are set in polyphony with the alternating ones in chant. ⁽⁸⁾

We hear Psalm 109 Dixit dominus, the first psalm in Vespers on Christmas, Psalm 111 Beatus Vir, a beatitude psalm, and Psalm 129 De Profundis, a penitential psalm.

In the Missa Praeter rerum seriem (ca. 1555-1563) for seven voices de Rore goes back to his Netherlandish roots with techniques of polyphony, cantus firmus and parody or imitation. The whole is a 'crushing masterpiece.' The parody is on the Praeter Rerum Seriem motet by Josquin des Prez, de Rore's predecessor at Ferrara under Duke Ercole I. The very slow cantus firmus in the middle voice is in praise of Ercole II (Hercules secundus, dux Ferrariae quartus: vivit et vivet / Hercules the Second, fourth Duke of Ferrara, lives and will live), the same text Josquin des Prez used to honor Ercole I. ⁽⁹⁾ In 1557 Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria obtained a copy from Ercole II and praised the work abundantly in his thank you letter.

Rore wrote few masses, due to the circumstances of his employment, and he clearly made a special effort to put every rhetorical device and compositional trick he knew into the Missa Praeter, using the opportunity to thoroughly demonstrate his mastery of Franco-Flemish polyphonic traditions. ... Rore here works with a psychological and technical complexity that only a master rhetorician such as he can handle without the music becoming unruly. ⁽¹⁰⁾

Let's listen to Kyrie - Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Benedictus, and Agnus Dei.

_____________________________________________________________________________
⁽¹⁾ The Cipriaan de Rore website mentions a number of sources for this mass. One of them is the early '1549 (before - (source: ClemensO).' The same page cites Jessie Ann Owens'entry in the New Grove Dictionary where she proposes the Doulce mémoire mass was the mass de Rore composed in 1565 commissioned by Archduke Ferdinand II of Tirol.
⁽²⁾"Cipriano de Rore: Missa Doulce mémoire & Missa a note negre." CD program notes, The Brabant Ensemble website, release date April 2013. (http://www.brabantensemble.com/discography/cipriano-de-rore-missa-doulce-memoire-missa-a-note-negre/ (05/11/2015))
⁽³⁾ For a list of opinions see "Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Johannem."De muziek van Cypriaan De Rore (The music of Cipriano de Rore), Cypriaan De Rore website (in Dutch).
- Arnold Schmitz in Oberitalienische Figuralpassionen des 16. Jahrhunderts (1955) focused on Christ's words, set in two voices in the French print and with a--probably later--added third, middle voice in the manuscript.
- Bernardus Meier on the other hand finds the Bologna manuscript a somewhat more archaic and reliable version that adheres better to the Lydian mode which was typical for passion settings.
- Paul Van Nevel in the liner notes to the Huelgas Ensemble's recording doesn't even mention Willaert in the liner notes.
To add my two cents, the work starts out sounding like Willaert, solid, serene, and tranquil. However, as it goes on, there seem to be tell-tale signs of de Rore, such as the low bass/baritone voices in Christ's parts and some of the melodic phrasing. My impression may, of course, be completely wrong, but I would give weight to Paul Van Nevel's opinion.
⁽⁴⁾"Cypriano De Rore, Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Johannem." CD notes, Huelgas Ensemble website. (http://www.huelgasensemble.be/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=71&Itemid=116 (05/15/2015))
⁽⁵⁾ In 1552 Alfonso escaped via the Veneto to France where Henri II, a distant cousin of his mother Renée de France, made him captain of an army. Alfonso fought the Spanish Habsburgs and eventually returned to Ferrara in 1554. (Torquato Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered: An Epic Poem, in Twenty Cantos; Tr. Into English Spenserian Verse from the Italian of Tasso: Together with a Life of the Author, Interspersed with Translations of His Verses to the Princess Leonora of Este; and a List of English Crusaders, Volume 1, Hurst, Robinson and Company, 1824, p. 466. (https://books.google.com/books?id=G1k9AAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA466&ots=wq3z66kPvZ&dq=flight%20of%20alfonso%20ii%20d'este%20to%20France%201552&pg=PA466#v=onepage&q=flight%20of%20alfonso%20ii%20d'este%20to%20France%201552&f=false (05/13/2015))
⁽⁶⁾ Nicola Vicentino, Maria Rika Maniates, Claude V. Palisca, "Ancient Music Adapted to Modern Practice." Yale University Press, 1996, p. 34. (https://books.google.com/books?id=l74k5DF0fSQC&lpg=PR28&ots=ctyAgeljgq&dq=alfonso%20II%2Bvicentino%2Bchromaticism&pg=PA33#v=onepage&q=alfonso%20II&f=false (05/13/2015))
⁽⁷⁾ Wim Daeleman, "De madrigaalkunst van Cypriaan De Rore, een Vlaams componist werkzaam in Italië midden 16de eeuw, en door tijdgenoten 'Omnium Musicorum Princeps' genoemd.. (The art of the madrigal of Cypriaan De Rore, a Flemish composer active in Italy in the mid-16th century, called 'Omnium Musicorum Princeps' by contemporaries..)" Monography, Annalen geschied- en oudheidkundige kring van Ronse en het tenement van Inde (Annals of the historical and archeological circle of Ronse and the Inde tenement), 2007, as posted at cypriaanderore.be, Part 10. Ferrara. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/NL/Monografie/Monografie_6594_P.htm (05/13/2015))
⁽⁸⁾ The remaining pieces are by Jacquet of Mantua. Jane A. Bernstein, "Rore and Jacquet, Sacri et santi salmi di David a quatro voci 1554." Oxford University Press, Music Printing in Renaissance Venice: The Scotto Press (1539-1572), 10/29/1998, p. 137. (https://books.google.com/books?id=hToWGz9xDaoC&lpg=PA471&ots=Xwgbbg3Gdp&dq=de%20rore%20psalm%20settings&pg=PA471#v=onepage&q=de%20rore%20psalm%20settings&f=false (05/16/2015))

⁽⁹⁾"Hercules The 2nd Lives And Will Live - A Very DTM Christmas II." CD review: Cipriano De Rore (1516 - 1565) - Missa Praeter Rerum Seriem -Huelgas Ensemble / Paul van Nevel (Harmonia Mundi), Do The Music blog, 12/22/2014. (http://dothemusicblog.tumblr.com/post/105877570359/hercules-the-2nd-lives-and-will-live-a-very-dtm (05/16/2015))
⁽¹⁰⁾ Donato Mancini, "Missa Praeter Rerum Seriem." Composition Description, All Music Guide. (http://www.allmusic.com/composition/missa-praeter-rerum-seriem-mc0002404778 (05/16/2015))

But the greater part of Rore's madrigals grow out of the subjective urge of a powerfully inspired soul and as such are wholly his own, just as the Moses or the Tombs of the Cappella Medici are Michelangelo's, the only master to whom Rore may be compared both in character and in influence: in character, as a master of dark and deep emotion, intensified means, and compelling expression; in influence, as one who brought violently to a close the classical age of the madrigal, the age of innocence which, without him, might have gone on and on, and as one who opened a new age, more self-confident, shaken by more vehement contrasts. - Alfred Einstein⁽¹⁾

As the years in Ferrara went on, the madrigals of Cipriano de Rore (1515/16 - 1565) became more and more popular. Early on the composer had kept his precious creations close to the vest, selling them to private connoisseurs and guarding them from eager publishers--with more or less success. Now, in the late 1550s the name of Cipriano was a prized commodity, and numerous collections appeared featuring Cipriano on the title page with at least a few of his madrigals in pride of place. The remainder of those collections were filled with works of then lesser known artists.

This was music for 'for the bold, the progressive and discerning.'⁽²⁾ Cipriano no longer set music to the structure of the poem, but emphasized the nuances of the text in a style that sometimes has been called mannerism. Although we still occasionally find works set to Petrarch, de Rore now sets madrigals primarily to texts of other poets, known or unknown to us.

In 1557, one year before de Rore's first return trip to Flanders, Gardano in Venice published Di Cipriano de Rore il secondo libro de madregali a quatro voci con una canzon di Gianneto sopra di Pace non trovo con quatordeci stance novamente per Antonio Gardano stampato e dato in luce, quite a mouthful to announce the printer's second book of de Rore madrigals for four voices along with a canzon by Giannetto and new stanzas by Gardano himself. ⁽³⁾ The collection includes nine de Rore madrigals which paint the very different moods of the diverse texts. ⁽⁴⁾

Schiet'arbuscel, di cui rame ne foglia (Truthful shrub, whose branches and leaves) set to a poem by Bartolomeo Ferrino who was active in Ferrara . This madrigal influenced the seconda pratica style of Monteverdi. Chromaticism, imitation, fluctuating rhythms, all convey the impossible love and desire for someone symbolized as a straight shrub whose 'green branches have roots in the middle of the poet's heart.' The final sentence 'Such is the star that took me as its bait,' is repeated twice and dies away.

Beato mi direi (Blessed could I call myself) from the same collection sets an anonymous text. Like Schiet'arbuscel this madrigal 'abounds in third-related and semi-tone related triads.'⁽⁴⁾ This is a different sort of performance with a heavily decorated soprano part and flute accompaniment.

O sonno - Ov'e'l silentio, O della queta' humida ombrosa (Oh sleep, oh of the quiet, humid, shadowy) sets text by Giovanni della Casa who was Papal nuncio in Venice from 1544 until 1550. ⁽⁵⁾ The poet invokes the comfort of sleep, in vain, and deplores 'the sour and hard nights.' De Rore's setting (@ 38:35 in the video) is declamatory, nearly homophonic, and only in the second part becomes a little more animated. ⁽⁶⁾

With Datemi pace, o duri miei pensieri (Give me peace, oh my jarring thoughts) we're back to the wonderful verse of Petrarch's Canzoniere, this time the late sonnet 274 written after Laura's death. The poet finds himself besieged by Love, Fortune and Death which come through his "gates" (his eyes and ears), but equally by his own thoughts inside, and his disloyal heart hides Love's secret messages, reveals the triumph of his Fate (Fortune), and holds the memory of the blow of Laura's Death's. ⁽⁷⁾

Mia benigna fortuna - Crudele acerba (My kindly fate, and a life made happy - Cruel, bitter, and inexorable Death) is set to the double sestina 332, also from the Canzoniere. Reflecting on his loving style in happier days and his grief and anger upon Laura's 'inexorable death,' the poet is resigned and wishes for Death as the only hope against Death.

Death has killed me, and only Death
can make me see that face again⁽⁸⁾

De Rore's setting reflects the poets resignation and juxtaposes major and minor sonorities expressing the 'cheer' of happier days and the 'gloom' of his present state of mind. ⁽⁹⁾

Also in 1557 Gardano published Di Cipriano de Rore il quarto libro d'i madregali a cinque voci con uno madregale a sei e uno dialogo a otto, novamente da lui composto et per Antonio Gardano stampato et dato in luce with eleven de Rore madrigals: nine are for five voices, one for six, and one for eight voices. From this collection we hear O morte, eterno fin (Oh Death, Eternal End of all Misery) to text of Giambattista Giraldi Cinzio, or just possibly Giovanni Brevio. This madrigal is an example of de Rore's frenzied style ⁽¹⁰⁾ and his unusual chord progressions. ⁽¹¹⁾

________________________________________________________________________
⁽¹⁾ Einstein, Alfred, "The Italian Madrigal." Princeton University Press, New Jersey, transl. Alexander H. Krappe, Roger H. Sessions en Oliver Strunk), 1949, pp. 393-394, as quoted by Wim Daeleman at the Cipriano De Rore website. (Wim Daeleman, "De madrigaalkunst van Cypriaan De Rore, een Vlaams componist werkzaam in Italië midden 16de eeuw, en door tijdgenoten 'Omnium Musicorum Princeps' genoemd.. (The art of the madrigal of Cypriaan De Rore, a Flemish composer active in Italy in the mid-16th century, called 'Omnium Musicorum Princeps' by contemporaries..)" Monography, Annalen geschied- en oudheidkundige kring van Ronse en het tenement van Inde (Annals of the historical and archeological circle of Ronse and the Inde tenement), 2007, as posted at cypriaanderore.be, Part 14. Getuigenissen over de Rore (Testimonials about de Rore), footnote 36. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/NL/Monografie/Monografie_6594_P.htm (05/19/2015))
⁽²⁾ Terms borrowed from the Musica Oscura label launched by Anthony Rooley in 1993. (Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, "Rore Fifth Book of Madrigals, 1566." CD review, Gramophone, Jan. 1994. (http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/rore-fifth-book-of-madrigals-1566?pmtx=recommended&utm_expid=32540977-5.-DEFmKXoQdmXwfDwHzJRUQ.2&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F (05/19/2015))
⁽³⁾ Giannetto was an early nickname for Palestrina.
⁽⁴⁾ Maria Rika Maniates, "Mannerism in Italian Music and Culture, 1530-1630." Manchester University Press, 1979, p. 314. (https://books.google.com/books?id=s7PmAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA315&ots=xlHjhG-DIz&dq=Schiet'arbuscel&pg=PA314#v=onepage&q=Schiet'arbuscel&f=false (05/20/2015))
⁽⁵⁾ The author of the text is Giovanni della Casa (1503-1556), poet, writer on etiquette and society, diplomat, and inquisitor. He is not to be confused with Girolamo dalla Casa (b. Udine before 1550 - 1601), composer, instrumentalist and theorist--especially on ornamentation, who was active in Venice.
⁽⁶⁾ Einstein, Alfred, "The Italian Madrigal.." Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1949, transl. Alexander H. Krappe, Roger H. Sessions en Oliver Strunk, p. 417, as quoted on the Cypriaan De Rore website. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/NL/Werk/Werk_M_4_66_P.htm (05/20/2015))
⁽⁷⁾ Francesco Petrarca, Mark Musa, "Petrarch." Indiana University Press, 1999, p. 675. (https://books.google.com/books?id=FpWjRI6KUEgC&lpg=PA756&ots=NBvj511riN&dq=petrarch%20sonnet%20274&pg=PA675#v=onepage&q=petrarch%20sonnet%20274&f=false (05/22/2015))
⁽⁸⁾ Translation A.S. Kline, poetry in translation website, Double Sestina 332. (http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Italian/PetrarchCanzoniere306-366.htm (05/23/2015))
⁽⁹⁾ Maria Rika Maniates, Ib., p. 316. (https://books.google.com/books?id=s7PmAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA315&ots=xlHjhG-DIz&dq=Schiet'arbuscel&pg=PA316#v=onepage&q=Schiet'arbuscel&f=false (05/213/2015))
⁽¹⁰⁾ The madrigal featured in a concert given by the Graindelavoix ensemble on April 19, 2015 at the De Rore Festival in Ronse, entitled 'Il furore e il pianto (Furor and tears).' In the introduction de Rore's portrait by Hans Mielich is compared with the starved dog image in Albrecht Dürer's 1514 engraving Melencolia, illustrating the 'furor divinus (Divine frenzy)' of the Renaissance artist.
⁽¹¹⁾ Siemen Terpstra, "On chord progressions." Amsterdam, website of Huygens-Fokker Foundation, Centre for microtonal music, January 2011. (http://www.huygens-fokker.org/docs/terpstra_chord_progressions.html (05/24/2015))

... in the music of Mus.ms. B, as well as in his [de Rore's] masses, the full range of his oeuvre and of his stylistic development is visible. The creators of Mus.ms. B – with Hans Jakob Fugger as the possible guiding light – not only celebrated Albrecht V, but also left an important historical document of de Rore’s standing and significance as a composer. - Jessie Anne Owens ⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

Cipriano de Rore (1515/16 - 1565) would continue to work in Ferrara until 1558 when he decided to visit his relatives in the East Flanders town of Ronse, near the border with the French-speaking region. ⁽³⁾

The de Rores were a well-known family there. Cipriano, or 'Cypriaan' for his relatives, returned probably to comfort his sister-in-law after the death of his brother, and to help her settle the affairs of the estate.

In December of the same year the composer returned to Ferrara only to make the long trip back to Flanders again the following summer. The family had been "ruined," probably in the fire of Ronse on July 21, 1559 which burnt down the entire town. ⁽⁴⁾

It was a difficult time for Ronse and the surrounding region. Calvinism began to spread, and the reigning monarch Philip II of Spain ordered suppression of the movement even though his half-sister and then governess, Margaret of Parma, was more understanding. The town would suffer from the Iconoclastic Fury that spread through Europe and hit the Low Countries in 1566. Cypriaan's own niece and nephew would be implicated and punished by the Duke of Alva, Margaret's successor who prosecuted the rioters in the "Court of Blood." There are no indications that Cipriano himself leaned toward the reformation. In Ferrara his allegiance was to Ercole II rather than the Duke's wife Renée de France who did harbor some protestant sympathies.

On his first trip to Flanders de Rore made a stop in Munich and met his long-term admirer Albrecht V of Bavaria in person. ⁽⁵⁾ Albrecht was busy compiling an astounding manuscript (Mus.ms. B) that is now part of the Court collection in the Bavarian State Library. The beautifully illuminated manuscript which was treated as a precious treasure at the Bavarian Court, contains 26 Latin motets by de Rore. Some are in praise of patrons or potential patrons, some set ancient texts, 22 are sacred. ⁽⁶⁾ On the title page we find an image of the composer by Hans Mielich, a non-flattering portrait of an old-looking man--he was just 43-44 years old--with a restless, emotional expression, a reflection of his deeply felt music. Let's listen to some of these motets.

The opening work, Descendi in hortum meum (I went down into my garden) for seven voices, is a large-scale antiphon setting of text from the Song of Solomon 6:11-13, a garden poem which by the sixteenth century had acquired multiple layers of meaning. The ending verseRevertere Sulamitis, revertere ut intueamur te (Return, return, O Shulamite, return that we may look upon you) picks up some speed, its soaring pleas repeated for almost two minutes.

The three-sectional motet that follows, Dissimulare etiam sperasti - Quin etiam hiberno - Me ne fugis (You traitor, did you imagine you could slip away - Why must you move your fleet in these winter storms - Is it me you are running away from?) is set for five to seven voices to Dido's Lament from Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid. Let's listen to the first section for five voices: Dido confronts Aeneas and asks why he has to leave, why can their love and Dido's oncoming death not hold him back?

Sub tuum praesidium (Beneath thy protection), one of six motets for four voices and No. 6 in the manuscript, is a Marian antiphon imploring the Virgin Mary's protection. The earliest text of the hymn goes back to the third century AD and was used for the Coptic Orthodox Christmas. It starts @ 3:55 in the video.

Instrumental music at the beginning of the sixteenth century consisted mostly of arrangements of vocal works. It is in this tradition that we find a few of the Mus.ms B motets on YouTube. Here is O crux benedicta (Oh blessed cross), No. 7 in the set for four voices, performed on recorders.

Agimus tibi gratias (We give thee thanks), No. 12 in the set is for five voices. Only two minutes long, it consists of a series of verses, most of them repeated and chordal. It concludes the video @ 1:12:38 and ends in a solid "Amen."

No. 16 Justus es Domine (Thou art just, O Lord) set to text from the Book of Tobit⁽⁷⁾ and No. 18 Da pacem, Domine (Give peace, O Lord, in our time), a votive antiphon, are both for five voices and presented here in instrumental arrangements.

My brief survey of this magnificent collection ends with two beautiful Christmas motets set in canon: No. 23 Hodie Christus natus est (Today Christ is born), an antiphon to the Magnificat hymn for Vespers for six voices, and the collection's concluding work No. 26 Quem vidistis pastores (Whom did you see, shepherds), the third responsory at Matins for seven voices. The first is serene, the second solemn.

The Cancionero de Medinaceli contains six works attributed to 'Ziprianus.' One of them Sicut cervus desiderat (As the deer longs for springs of water), is a setting of Psalm 42 for four voices. This and the other Ziprianus works have long been attributed to Cipriano de Rore but are likely by Cipriano de Soto, one of the most famous organists of the age who had trained as a choirboy in the royal chapel and had served Juana, Princess of Portugal, and Philip II, as well as at the cathedrals of León and Palencia. Soto is yet another example of the itinerant musician who circulated widely in ecclesiastical and secular spheres.'⁽⁸⁾⁽⁹⁾ The motet is in the Phrygian mode and carries the pungent character of that mode. The verses of the Sicut cervus hymn are written in imitation, but the added devotional exclamation Miserere Mei is chordal. The work is a beautiful expression of longing for mercy and forgiveness. ⁽¹⁰⁾

Fratres: Scitote (Brothers: Know), another masterful creation for five voices, tells the story of the last supper--the first Holy Communion. It was found in the Bourdeney manuscript now housed in Paris.

During de Rore's second stay in Flanders Ercole II d'Este died. His son Alfonso II did not retain de Rore but gave the position to Francesco dalla Viola. In 1664 de Rore's student Luzzasco Luzzaschi would be appointed court organist in Ferrara. Where would de Rore go from here?

Although greatly admired in Munich, the court position there was already taken by another Netherlandish composer, the great Orlando de Lassus.

From 1559 de Rore maintained close contact with the Brussels Court of Margaret of Parma, Governess of the Netherlands. As detailed in a previous post Margaret's husband Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma paid his wife an official visit in 1560 for which de Rore composed the madrigal Mentre lumi maggior. The following year de Rore moved to Parma to become the Duke's court musician. In 1563-1564 he briefly took the prestigious post of maestro di cappella left vacant after Adrian Willaert's death at St. Mark's in Venice, but found the chapel in disarray and the remuneration insufficient. He returned to Parma where he was given his own house, maintained international contacts, and was in the running to become Kapellmeister of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria. He died in September of the following year and is buried at Parma Cathedral. ⁽¹¹⁾

In 1563 while de Rore was active in Venice, Scotto published Motetta D. Cipriani de Rore et aliorum auctorum quatuor vocum parium de canenda cum tribus lectionibus, pro mortuis Josepho Zerlino auctore, a collection of motets for four similar voices by de Rore and a number of other composers. That de Rore is given title credit affirms his standing as prime composer able to attract many buyers for the collection. From this collection we listen to the second part of Stetit Jesus in medio - Haec cum dixisset (Jesus stood among his disciples - After he said this) in a viola da gamba arrangement. It starts @ 2:45 in the video.

As late as 1595, thirty years after de Rore's death, the name Cipriano remained excellent for business. This time it was Gardano who also in Venice published Cipriani de Rore Sacrae Cantiones quae dicuntur moteca, cum quinque, sex et septem vocibus, quae partim nunquam antea impressae, & partim iam in alijs libris ditae, nunc nuperrime ad unum redactae, a motet collection for five, six and seven voices. No. 7 Parce mihi Domine (Spare me, o Lord, for my days are vanity) for five voices is as simple and beautiful as motets come. The dying person asks God for forgiveness. The text is from The Book of Job 7:16b-21 and became very popular from the fourteenth century onwards in the Office of the Dead service. ⁽¹²⁾

My next post on Cipriano de Rore will return one last time to the composer's madrigals. This time I will look at those published in the 1560s and beyond.
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⁽¹⁾ Jessie Ann Owens, "Cipriano De Rore’S New Year's Gift For Albrecht V Of Bavaria: A New Interpretation."Die Münchner Hofkapelle des 16. Jahrhunderts im europäischen Kontext, ed. T. Kölner and B. Schmid (München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Abhandlungen, Neue Folge, 128), 2006, p. 263. (https://www.academia.edu/8145200/Cipriano_de_Rores_New_Years_Gift_for_Albrecht_V_of_Bavaria_A_New_Interpretation (05/30/2015))
⁽²⁾ Both Albrecht V of Bavaria and his art counselor Hans Jakob Fugger were avid collectors of art works and manuscripts. Both managed to incur considerable debts in the process. The results can still be admired in the Bavarian State Library.
⁽³⁾ From an introduction to a concert on March 27, 2015 by the Huelgas Ensemble devoted to de Rore we learn:

From 1557 de Rore started receiving news about deteriorating conditions from his relatives in Flanders, and also because of the difficult war situation in Ferrara--Ercole II turned against Philip II--and the awkward state of the court chapel, Cipriano decided to make the trip to his parents. He received permission from Ercole II and departed on March 7, 1558. In normal circumstances the trip from Ferrar to Flanders took seventeen days. De Rore, however, made a 'detour' and his trip took two months. Cipriano first went to the Bavarian Court Chapel in Munich. and further After a couple of months in his homeland, de Rore returned to Ferrara. On July 27, 1559 Cipriano was paid for the last time in Ferrara. At the end of that year he entered into the service of the governess Margaret of Parma, who since August 1559 centralized her court at the Coudenberg in Brussels. - Paul Van Nevel

(AMUZ, Festival of Flanders and Antwerp website, http://www.amuz.be/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/pb_2015-03-27_HuelgasEnsembleCiprianodeRore.pdf (06/02/2015))
⁽⁴⁾ On November 11, 1559 de Rore sent a letter to Alfonso II d'Este in Ferrara via the Duke's agent in Antwerp stating: "After my departure from Ferrara I found my relatives completely ruined (i.e. surrounded by rubble)." Financially they were still okay, since they were able to support the restoration of the collegiate church. (Albert Cambier, "Ons eigen onderzoek over de familie De Rore te Ronse (Our own research into the family De Rore in Ronse)." Dekenaat Ronse website. (http://dekenaat-ronse.be/site.php/verenigingen/Davidsfonds/Cambier (05/29/2015))
⁽⁵⁾ This is confirmed in a 1/5/1559 letter de Rore wrote to Albrecht V from Ferrara upon his first return from Flanders. (Jessie Ann Owens, Ib., p. 246.) The letter confirms the involvement of Hans Jakob Fugger in the transmission of a de Rore Mass and mentions an enclosed Psalm setting. Which Mass remains unclear, and which of the motets in the manuscript de Rore sent with the letter is a matter of scholarly debate; Dr. Owens makes a good case for Mirabar Solito (I marveled that the Muses were more cheerful than usual) for six voices, No. 24 in the collection.
⁽⁶⁾ For more information on the Munich manuscript see Jessie Ann Owens'doctoral dissertation and numerous articles. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/EN/Pers/Pers_1227_P.htm (05/30/2015))
⁽⁷⁾ Both the manuscript index and Mieliech's illumination indicate that this is the third section of a Benedictum est nomen tuum - Ad te, Domine - Justus es Domine setting. Benedictum est nomen tuum - Ad te, Domine immediately precedes Justus es Domine in the manuscript, but they are probably unrelated. (Jessie Ann Owens, Ib., p. 264)
⁽⁸⁾ Juan Ruiz Jiménez, "Power and musical exchange: the Dukes of Medina Sidonia in Renaissance Seville." (https://www.academia.edu/2767230/Power_and_musical_exchanges_the_Dukes_of_Medina_Sidonia_in_Renaissance_Seville (05/31/2015)). Cipriano de Soto served Johanna of Austria and Philip II at the royal court, Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia who is mostly known as Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Armada, in Seville, and at León Cathedral. In 1582 he became organist at Sigüenza Cathedral before returning to his native city of Palencia. (For the Sigüenza Cathedral reference see Jambou Louis, "Organiers et organistes à la Cathédrale de Sigüenza au XVI siècle (Organs and organists at Sigüenza Cathedral in the 16th century)."Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez, Volume 13, 1977. pp. 177-217. (http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/casa_0076-230x_1977_num_13_1_2248 (05/31/2015))
⁽⁹⁾ An inscription on the manuscript (1535-1595) indicates that it was probably compiled at a monastery in Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia. When it transferred to the Ducal House of Medinaceli is not known, but it was part of the collection of the 17th Duke, Luis Fernández de Córdoba y Salabert (1880-1956). In the early 1960s the Medinaceli library was sold to Bartolomé March Servera (1917-1998) and kept in Madrid. It is now housed at the Bartolomé March Foundation in Palma de Mallorco. In 2005 the Balearic government declared the library of public interest creating an ongoing dispute between the government and the heirs of Bartolomé. (Source: Wikipedia)
⁽¹⁰⁾ William Mahr, "Ziprianus, Sicut Cervus: A Phrygian Motet on a Familiar Text." Sacred Music, Volume 140, Number 1, Spring 2013, pp. 24-30. (http://media.musicasacra.com/publications/sacredmusic/pdf/sm140-1.pdf (06/01/2015))
⁽¹¹⁾ Jan Leconte, "Quatuor Vocum Parium (1563) by the ensemble Encantar." Introduction to concert of 4/26/2015, De Rore Festival Ronse website, 2014. (http://www.derorefestivalronse.be/concert-26-04-encantar (06/01/2015))
⁽¹²⁾ Lawrence L. Besserman, "The Legend of Job in the Middle Ages" Book review by Martin McNamara, Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, Vol. 69, No. 274 (Summer, 1980), pp. 162-165. (http://www.jstor.org/stable/30090270 (06/02/2015))

To Josquin we award the pleasant art of polyphonic chants; to Mouton the true art of contrapuntal variation and to Willaert the art of sweet harmony. Heaven, however, entrusted Cipriano with the fusion of all three. - Gardano, 1566 ⁽¹⁾

With each fiber of his genius he devoted himself to making verses and words intelligible in his madrigals. This great man himself told me in Venice that this is the only true way to compose. - Giovanni Battista Doni, Lyra Barberina. ⁽¹⁾

Without de Rore music history would have been different. - Paul Van Nevel⁽²⁾

Towards the end of de Rore's life (1515/16 - 1565) and for many decades after his death, Cipriano remained popular. Some printers--mostly the Scotto press--became at times overzealous and didn't check their sources carefully. As a consequence, a number of works printed under de Rore's name must be considered doubtful. There are nevertheless many handsome works in these collections. Let's take a listen.

The madrigal collection Di Cipriano e Annibale madrigali a quatro voci insieme altri eccellenti autori novamente con ogni diligentia stampati et dati in luce. Libro quinto (Gardano, Venice 1561) for four voices contains despite the title only two de Rore madrigals. Here is Ben qui si mostra'l ciel (Beautiful shows here the sky, vague and clear) in two instrumental settings: first embellished by Girolamo dalla Casa (1584) for viola da gamba and harpsichord, then in an arrangement by Angelo Notari (1613) for viola da gamba. The more popular the work was, the higher were the number of transcriptions and variations. ⁽³⁾

The collection Di Manoli Blessi Il Primo Libro delle Greghesche con la musicha disopra, composta da diversi autori, a quatro, a cinque, a sei, a sette,& a otto voci, novamente per Antonio Gardano con ogni diligentia stampati & dat in luce (Gardano, Venice, 1564) only contains one work by de Rore, the beautifully dramatic Madonn'hormai (Ladies' desires) for four voices. The text is by Antonio da Molino, detto il Burchiella, merchant, comic actor, poet, and co-founder of one of the music academies in Venice. His poem I fatti e le prodezze di Manoli Blessi (The facts and feats of Manoli Blessi), a prime example of 'stradiotesca' (Balkan mercenary soldier) literature, is written in a fictitious, hybrid language, a blend of Venetian and Greek dialects called 'Greghesca.' In the collection's dedication Molino writes that all works were commissioned by Molino himself. This suggests they were premiered in Venice, possibly a theatrical performance. ⁽⁴⁾

Giulio Bonagiunta, singer at St. Mark's and composer of popular folk songs, was in fact best known as a music editor-underwriter. From 1565 through 1568 he sponsored seventeen editions, fifteen of which were printed at the Scotto press. ⁽⁵⁾Some of these collections contain works attributed to de Rore, a.o.:

- Published in 1565: Le vive fiamme de' vaghi e dilettevoli madrigali dell'ecc. Musico Cipriano Rore, a quattro et cinque voci, novamente posti in luce, per Giulio Bonagionta da S. Genesi, musico dell'illustriss. Sig. Di Vineggia
- Published in 1566: Primo Libro de diversi eccellent.mi auttori a quattro Voci, intitulato Il Desiderio. Novamente posti in luce, perG iulio Bonagionta . . .
- Published in 1568: Gli Amorosi Concenti primo libro delli madrigali de diversi eccelentissimi musici a quattro voci, con un dialog a otto . . . Di novo posti in luce per Giulio Bonagionta da S. Genesi.

Whether de Rore truly entrusted Bonagiunta with his precious madrigals, as the latter claims in the dedication of Le vive fiamme, may be doubtful. The renowned de Rore scholar Jessie Ann Owens omitted some from her compilation of the composer's madrigals citing that 'authenticity can be questioned because they are also attributed to other composers, appear in late or suspicious sources, or seem uncharacteristic in style.'⁽⁶⁾

The following video features five madrigals from Bonagiunta's collections, all for four voices: Musica dulci sono (Sweet sounding music) (1565) with its wildly varied meters, Il desiderio e la speranza (The desire and the hope) (1566), Non mi toglia il ben mio (Do not take my love) (1565) now attributed to Marc'Antonio Ingegneri who is thought to have studied with de Rore in Parma, Chi vol veder tutta - Vedra i biondi capei (Who wants to see all - Will see the blond hair) (1565) on text by Girolamo Parabosco and doubtful, and Felice sei, Trevigi (Lucky you are, Treviso) (1565) which honors Honors Giovan Francisco Liberta of the Augustinian monastery in Treviso and has an almost march-like final "long live" section repeated at a slower tempo. ⁽⁷⁾

The beautiful madrigal Vaghi pensieri (Vague thoughts) for five voices appeared in Bonagiunta's Le Vive Fiamme (1565) and the following year in Gardano's Di Cipriano Rore Il quinto libro de madregali a cinque voci insime alcuni e diversi autori. Novamente . . . Stampato & dato in luce (de Rore's Fifth Book of Madrigals) (1566). The text is all about sweet love, abandonment, and that 'every mortal thing must have an end,' and this in the purest sonnet form.

The through-composed, declamatory ⁽⁸⁾ Ne l'aria in questi dì fatt'ho un sì forte Castel (In the air this day I have built so strong a castle) (Bonagiunta, 1568) for four voices:

.. offers a grim metaphor of love as internal war ("The army is so filled with crazy ardor and fear that it cannot fight, and a multiplicity of thoughts are the ammunition. The châtelain fights against himself, paying his soldiers merely with ambition")⁽⁹⁾

It was probably commissioned by Margaret of Parma in commemoration of a big tournament at the Brussels Grande Place in 1565 to celebrate the wedding of Margaret's son Alessandro Farnese and Maria of Portugal. The 'castle in the air' in the first line refers to a big float used in the allegorical parade. The anonymous text could be by Francesco di Marchi, military advisor to Margaret who helped plan the tournament.

The work may have been composed by Josquin Persoens under whose name it appeared in Libro primo de' madrigali a quattro voci.. in Parma (Viotto, 1570). According to Seishiro Niwa the attribution to de Rore by Bonagiunta is less reliable. ⁽¹⁰⁾

We first hear the work in a live al fresco tableau, then sung by a children's choir. It gives us an idea, but, unfortunately, both videos suffer from poor sound quality. You can find the score here.

The Gardano (de Rore's more trusted publisher) collection Di Cipriano Rore Il quinto libro de madregali a cinque voci insime alcuni e diversi autori. Novamente . . . Stampato & dato in luce (de Rore's Fifth Book of Madrigals) (1566) includes twelve de Rore madrigals, some new and some already printed in Bonagiunta's somewhat suspect Le vive fiamme (Scotto, 1565).

Among them we find one of de Rore's most popular madrigals, Da le belle contrade d'oriente (From the beautiful regions of the East, Clear and joyful rose the morning star, and I) for five voices. ⁽¹¹⁾

The text is by an unknown poet, in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet, and portrays an 'auba,' a parting of two lovers at dawn. The male lover is the narrator. In the second quatrain when he quotes his lady, the mood skips to anguish and distress at the dreaded departure of the lover. The work is a prime example of seconda pratica, full of word painting, chromaticism, and sudden change of modes.

And what about Cipriano, the ventriloquist who stands behind all these musical details? ... Like the persona who relates the sonnet, Cipriano maintains his grounding in the realm of reason while purporting to convey directly the non-rational feelings that attend female jouissance. Yet we remember Cipriano for the middle part of the madrigal--the woman's speech; this radical experimentation constitutes his bid for the status of genius. - Stan Hawkins ⁽¹²⁾

Listen for example how de Rore achieves dramatic effect with the words Te n' vai, haimé (You are going, dear me) and Dolente (Sorrowful).⁽¹³⁾ The attentive listener and reader will find many more examples. It is the stuff that keeps scholars occupied and the general public entertained.

From the same collection comes to us Qualhor rivolgo il basso - Ma pur in te sperar (Whenever i direct my lowly thoughts - But yet I hope for perfect aid from thee) for four voices, a serene plea to the Lord for aid and strength on the path away from 'impious death and dark hell.'

As late as 1991 Gardano still published La ruzina canzone di Filippo de Monte, insieme un altr'a di Cipriano de Rore, et altri madrigali de diversi famosissimi autori à ei voci. Novamente stampata e data in luce (Gardano, 1591) which features S'eguale a la mia voglia (You meet my desire) for six voices. The attribution to de Rore is doubtful. It was available on YouTube a couple of weeks ago, but no longer. You can listen to an excerpt here.

With this, my discovery journey of the great Cipriano de Rore comes to an end. The music was abundant and masterful. We caught some glimpses of the man along the way, but his personality is still mostly to be gleaned from his works.
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⁽¹⁾ As quoted in an introduction to a concert on March 27, 2015 by the Huelgas Ensemble (AMUZ, Festival of Flanders and Antwerp website, (http://www.amuz.be/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/pb_2015-03-27_HuelgasEnsembleCiprianodeRore.pdf (06/02/2015))
⁽²⁾Ib.
⁽³⁾ Brian Robins, "Doulce Memoire - Glosas, Passeggiati & Diminutions / Hille Perl." CD review, Fanfare, May 2004. (http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=57774 (06/02/2015))
⁽⁴⁾ Katelijne Schiltz, "Antonio Molino en de kleurrijke wereld van de 16 de -eeuwse Venetiaanse greghesca (Antonio Molino and the colorful world of the 16th century Venetian greghesca)." Adriaen Willaert Foundation website, 5. Madrigals, f. (http://www.adriaenwillaert.be/ned/330_399_oeuvre/340_oeuvre_genre.html (06/03/2015))
⁽⁵⁾ Jane A. Bernstein, "Music Printing in Renaissance Venice: The Scotto Press (1539-1572)." Oxford University Press, USA, Oct 29, 1998, p. 143. (https://books.google.com/books?id=hToWGz9xDaoC&lpg=PA143&ots=Xwgd7f4Abv&dq=giulio%20bonagiunta&pg=PA143#v=onepage&q=giulio%20bonagiunta&f=false (06/03/2015))
⁽⁶⁾ Jessie Ann Owens, "Mode in the Madrigals of Cipriano de Rore." Alto Polo: Essays on Italian Music in the Cinquecento, ed. Richard Charteris, p. 10, footnote 4. (https://www.academia.edu/9549862/Mode_in_the_Madrigals_of_Cipriano_de_Rore (06/03/2015))
⁽⁷⁾ Ruth I. DeFord, "Tactus , Mensuration and Rhythm in Renaissance Music." Cambridge University Press, Apr 30, 2015, p. 444. (https://books.google.com/books?id=0le3BwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA444&ots=3r7fbARHcA&dq=felice%20sei%2C%20trevigi&pg=PA444#v=onepage&q=felice%20sei,%20trevigi&f=false
(06/03/2015))
⁽⁸⁾ Alfred Einstein, "The Italian Madrigal." Translated Alexander H. Krappe, Roger H. Sessions and Oliver Strunk, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1949.
⁽⁹⁾ James Manheim, "The Hilliard Ensemble / Netherlands Wind Ensemble, Bloed." CD review, AllMusic.com, released 2005. (http://www.allmusic.com/album/bloed-mw0001851935 (06/05/2015))
⁽¹⁰⁾ Niwa Seishiro, "Duke Ottavio Farnese’s chapel in Parma, 1561-1586." Tokyo, Doctoral dissertation, 2002. (Download at http://www.niwasse.com/english.html (06/05/2015))
⁽¹¹⁾ The 'Morning Star,' i.e. Ciprigna or Cyprian Venus in Dante's terminology.
⁽¹²⁾ Stan Hawkins, "Critical Musicological Reflections: Essays in Honour of Derek B. Scott." Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2012, p. 32. (https://books.google.com/books?id=3UrMpU2v8u8C&lpg=PR11&ots=ZBD-OwbIxg&dq=Da%20le%20belle%20contrade%20d'oriente%2Bde%20rore&pg=PA33#v=onepage&q=Da%20le%20belle%20contrade%20d'oriente%20de%20rore&f=false (06/06/2015))
⁽¹³⁾ As quoted from Jerome Roche's The Madrigal by Wim Daeleman, "Monography, De madrigaalkunst van Cypriaan De Rore, een Vlaams componist werkzaam in Italië midden 16de eeuw, en door tijdgenoten 'Omnium Musicorum Princeps' genoemd, (The art of the madrigal of Cipriano de Rore, a Flemish composer active in Italy in the mid-sixteenth century, and called 'First of All Musicians' by contemporaries), 8. Vanuit de mooie streken in het Oosten (From the beautiful regions of the East)." Annalen geschied- en oudheidkundige kring van Ronse en het tenement van Inde (Annals of the historical and archeological circle of Ronse and the Inde tenement), 2007, as posted at cypriaanderore.be. (http://www.cypriaanderore.be/EN/Monografie/Monografie_6594_P.htm#Anchor_8 (06/06/2015))

Our first record of Tomas de Santa Maria (b. Madrid 1510/20 - d. Ribadavia 1570) dates from March 11, 1536 when he joined the Dominican order of Santa Maria de Atocha in Madrid. He was active as organist in Castile, o.a. at the Dominican monastery of San Pablo in Valladolid.

In 1541 he started writing a treatise Libro llamado Arte de tañer fantasía, así para tecla como para vihuela y todo instrumeto que se pudiere taner a tres, y a quatro vozes, y a mas (The Art of Playing the Fantasia, for keyboard as well as vihuela and all instruments that can be played à three, four or more voices). Due to extensive editing and licensing approval processes by the royal organists Antonio and Juan de Cabezón, and a long period of paper shortage, the book was not published until 1656. It was printed in Valladolid by Francisco Fernandez de Cordova, Printer of His Majesty, and this with a license, and royal privilege, for ten years. ⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

In the Prologue Santa Maria explains that he complied with his Order's desire to play organs, as his superiors demanded of him; that he was not an outsider or alien to the institution; and that he wanted to serve God in the Order not only with the preaching of the gospel, but that he also wanted to praise him, bless him and preach him by means of music, both the human voice and other musical instruments, and thus serve God not only well but right. ⁽¹⁾

The book is in two parts: (1) Fundamentals of music and keyboard technique, including ornamentation, and (2) Structure, harmony and counterpoint. The vihuela is only discussed in the very last pages. ⁽²⁾

The creation of a Fantasia was largely improvisatory in the sixteenth century. Santa Maria's work only prescribes certain counterpoint, imitation and other techniques, o.a. the more forward-looking chordal ones. He did not prescribe how to build a complete Fantasia from these techniques. That was left up to the performer who would then largely use 'constructive principles of 16th century vocal polyphony.'⁽³⁾

YouTube offers a few Santa Maria videos. Since improvisation is encouraged, let's see what the interpreters make of it, starting with the most elaborate, a Fantasía del sexto tono (Fantasia on the sixth mode) played on the organ. This is an excellent example of quasi-improvisation which oftentimes uses diminutions as embellishment, called 'glosas' in Spain.

Here is a set of three Fantasias and a set of eight, on the organ.

Fantasia in d minor, on organ.

A Fantasia played on the lute.

A Fantasia in canon for two voices first on vihuela, then on lute. 'The entries are shifted of a crotchet/quarter note or a quaver/eighth note, necessary to bring consonances on the times/beats.'⁽⁴⁾

Duo del poner obras en el Monacordio (Duo for Clavichord). The clavichord was the popular keyboard instrument in Spain during the Renaissance.

A Two-part Fugue on the organ.

Finally we listen two videos featuring the eight church modes (Tonos Nos. 1-8) played on the organ.

If you've followed my exploration of Cipriano de Rore's Italian madrigals in the preceding posts, Santa Maria's music is a world away: instrumental, technical, devoid of Cipriano's explicit text painting, interesting in its own way, and a precursor for keyboard playing which would soon soar.
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⁽¹⁾ Tomas de Santa Maria, "Libro llamado Arte de tañer fantasía, así para tecla como para vihuela y todo instrumeto que se pudiere taner a tres, y a quatro vozes, y a mas (The Art of Playing the Fantasia, for keyboard as well as vihuela and all instruments that can be played à three, four or more voices)." Introduction, Valladolid, Francisco Fernandez de Cordova, May 1565. (http://imslp.org/wiki/Arte_de_Ta%C3%B1er_Fantasia_%28Santamar%C3%ADa,_Tom%C3%A1s%29 (06/07/2015))
⁽²⁾ Donato Mancini, "Thomás de Santa María." Artist biography, AllMusic.com. (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/thom%C3%A1s-de-santa-mar%C3%ADa-mn0002341658/biography (06/07/2015))
⁽³⁾ John Griffiths, "On Playing the Fantasia."Early Music New Zealand, Vol III, No. 1 1987. (http://www.lavihuela.com/Vihuela/My_publications_files/GRIFFITHS%201987%20Playing%20fantasia%20copy.pdf (06/07/2015))
⁽⁴⁾

In order to understand Sheppard’s compositions, particularly his vernacular music for the Anglican liturgy, it is necessary to dwell at length upon the circumstances in which he worked.⁽¹⁾

One of the pillars of British classical music is its long-standing choral tradition which thrives to this day. The tradition already existed in the Tudor era. John Sheppard (Shepherd, ca. 1510s - Dec. 1558/Jan. 1559) was one of its leading composers together with Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.

Sheppard's year of birth is usually placed in the second decade of the sixteenth century, although an earlier date cannot be entirely discarded:

In 1554 Sheppard submitted a supplication for a Doctor of Music degree at Oxford University in which he stated that he had composed music for twenty years, i.e. from ± 1534. Based on this information his year of birth is usually given as ca. 1515-1520. ⁽²⁾
In 1519 a John Sheppard joined the London Fraternity of St. Nicholas, a guild of lay parish clerks and singers. In view of the previous point, this was not likely our John Sheppard. However, in 1557 Sheppard composed the motet Media vita in morte sumus (In the midst of life we are in death), a work of astonishing scope and beauty. The work may have been composed in memory of fellow musician Nicholas Ludford and, if so, may--based on the singular merits of the piece--point to a life-long friendship. Ludford was inducted into the Fraternity in 1521. If all these conjectures were true, John Sheppard could have been born earlier. ⁽³⁾

He thus grew up and started composing during the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547), and continued during the reigns of Edward VI (1547-1553), Mary I (Bloody Mary, 1553- Nov. 1558), and, for one or two months, Elizabeth I (Nov. 1558-1603).

It is possible that Sheppard was part of Cardinal Wolsey's household chapel as a boy chorister. If so, he belonged to an establishment at which Henry VIII 'is known to have cast reproachfully envious glances.' In 1524 a John Sheppard was mentioned among the lowest-paid personnel, fitting for a young boy. ⁽¹⁾

That Sheppard studied with Thomas Mulliner at St. Paul's in London, is less likely. This is mentioned in a number of older sources but has not been substantiated. ⁽⁴⁾

From Michaelmas (Sep. 29) 1541 John Sheppard became Informator Choristarum (Teacher or Master of the Choirboys) at Magdalen College in Oxford, a position he held with some interruptions until March 1548. ⁽⁵⁾ In these late years of Henry VIII Osney Abbey, and its attendant friaries and monastic colleges, had been closed, and by 1546 even the academic colleges of Oxford and Cambridge came under threat. Despite the religious upheaval church services continued in Latin. Magdalen College was one of the first to adopt the new imitative, less florid musical style coming from continental Europe. The College eventually survived, but the factionalism between conservatives and evangelicals may very well have prompted John Sheppard's departure. ⁽¹⁾

We subsequently find records of Sheppard as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1552, but it is possible that he already joined the Chapel in 1548. Sheppard would maintain that post for the remainder of his life and make an occasional journey to Oxford, as for example in 1554 when he petitioned for a doctoral degree.

On December 1, 1558 he wrote a will in which he requested a burial at Westminster Abbey or the neighboring St. Margaret's Church. The will was presented for probate on January 31, 1559. The John Scheperde buried on December 21, 1558 at St. Margaret's is probably our composer. ⁽⁶⁾⁽⁷⁾

Let's first listen to one of only two surviving part songs: Vain, all our lyfe we spend in vaine, for four voices. The song survives in a keyboard arrangement and a single-texted voice part and is here performed in an editorial reconstruction by John Caldwell. It is a handsome reflection on the relativity of our endeavors. ⁽⁸⁾

Sheppard worked to meet the demands of those he served, a feat that shows great musical skill and flexibility. ⁽⁹⁾ Although capable, as we will see in the next few posts, of building cathedrals of polyphony, most of the composer's works in the English vernacular were written during the six-year reign of Edward VI ⁽¹⁰⁾ and responded to the precepts of Thomas Cranmer for metrical psalmody and less floridity which made the English texts more discernible Only the vernacular works written during the last months of the composer's life when Elizabeth I came to power, are more intricate.

Sheppard wrote fifteen English anthems during the Edwardian years, most of them for four voices. Here are two examples typical of the new devotional, pared-down style: Christ rising again, a peaceful Easter anthem (lyrics here) and I Give You a New Commandment, a bit shorter and in ABB form. The latter is included in the Mulliner Book.

The Lord's Prayer, a beautiful setting for five voices, was probably written during Edward's reign but possibly later when he started composing for Elizabeth I. The SAATB (soprano, two altos, tenor and bass) setting preserves a 'syllabic enunciation' of the text combined with a more elaborate polyphony and served as an example for later composers. The piece ends with the For thine is the kingdom … verse found in the Byzantine text of the prayer, usually omitted today. ⁽¹²⁾ The work survived in a single tenor part and a setting for viols. ⁽¹³⁾

The work’s beautifully crafted vocal lines, carefully sustained counterpoint and sublime touches of harmonic colour place it on a par with the finest of his Latin music.⁽¹⁴⁾

Sheppard's Second Service ... may have been produced following orders from the Queen [Elizabeth I] to the Chapel Royal composers... ⁽¹¹⁾

Four Services of John Sheppard survive in parts. They were probably written in December 1558 for Elizabeth I's 1559 (the third) version of the Book of Common Prayer. The Second Service influenced William Byrd's Great Service. Let's listen to the 'Mag and Nunc' of Sheppard's Second (Evening) Service: Magnificat: My soul doth magnify the Lord and Nunc Dimittis: Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, the very last part of the service.

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⁽¹⁾ Magnus Williamson, "Before Byrd: the birth pangs of Anglican church music." The Church Music Society, 2005. (http://www.church-music.org.uk/articles/before-byrd.asp (06/21/2015)). The abbey was re-founded as a diocesan cathedral by the time Sheppard arrived.
⁽²⁾ There is no evidence that the degree was awarded to him.
⁽³⁾ I will cover Media Vita in my third post on John Sheppard. Looking for an early connection between Sheppard and Ludford is admittedly a stretch, but the beauty and scale of the work make this a striking piece, whether composed in memory of Ludford or, as is also suggested, in memory of the victims of the second flu pandemic.
⁽⁴⁾ See for example the John Shepherd biographical entry at the New Advent, Catholic Encyclopedia, website which cites a number of older sources (Burney, Morley, Walker, and 1904-10 Grove). Thomas Mulliner probably compiled the Mulliner Book in London while an apprentice of John Heywood. The dates of the compilation are usually given as 1545-1570. A note on the manuscript by John Stafford Smith mentions that Mulliner was master of the St. Paul's School. The Mulliner Book contains a few of John Sheppard's works.
⁽⁵⁾ Magnus Williamson,"John Sheppard (d. 1558/9), The Second Service ‘in F fa ut’: Magnificat and Nunc dimittis."Liturgical Background and Compositional Chronology, Commentary to edition of Evening Canticles from the Second Service: Vocal Score, Church Music Society Publications, Oxford University Press, 10/07/2004, p. 2. (http://www.church-music.org.uk/commentaries/Sheppard-commentary.pdf (06/20/2015))
⁽⁶⁾ Magnus Williamson, Ib., p. 3.
⁽⁷⁾ Like Nicholas Ludford in 1557, Sheppard was probably a victim of the second flu pandemic which raged in 1557 and 1558.
⁽⁸⁾ Magnus Williamson, "More Sweet to Hear, Organs and Voices of Tudor England." CD booklet, OxRecs Digital, 2007, p. 18, lyrics on p. 34. (http://www.oxrecs.com/eeop_booklet_web.pdf (06/23/2015))
⁽⁹⁾ Whereas Nicholas Ludford stopped composing after 1535, John Sheppard continued his life's work up to his death. If any indication of the Sheppard family's personal beliefs, his son Nathan worked at Ingatestone Hall, a Catholic house with two priest holes (hiding places), and eventually became a priest.
⁽¹⁰⁾ Edward was still a teenager during those years, and the realm was governed by a Regency Council. Protestantism became the official religion. Clerical celibacy and the Mass were abolished, and church services had to be in English. Thomas Cranmer published the original Book of Common Prayer in 1549.
⁽¹¹⁾ Robert Quinney, "Mary and Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey." CD notes, Hyperion Records, 2008. (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/notes/67704-B.pdf (06/20/2015))
⁽¹²⁾ markfromireland, "Music of The Pater Noster: Our Father — John Sheppard (±1515-1558)." Saturday Chorale website, 10/29/2012. (http://saturdaychorale.com/2012/10/29/music-of-the-pater-noster-our-father-john-sheppard-1515-1558/ (06/24/2015))
⁽¹³⁾ Ben Byram-Wigfield, "Tudor Settings of the Lord's Prayer." Ancient Groove Settings, 2014. (http://www.ancientgroove.co.uk/essays/prayers.html (06/24/2015))
⁽¹⁴⁾ Matthew O'Donovan, "Media vita & other liturgical works." CD booklet, Harmonia Mundi HMU 807509, 2010, p. 4. (http://www.eclassical.com/shop/17115/art47/4774647-9848cd-0093046750961_01.pdf (06/24/2015))

The Church in England, although undoubtedly influenced by Lutheranism in the mid-1530s, retained the main features of Catholicism during Henry VIII's reign and, for the most part, its services remained in Latin. ...

Sheppard's composing career, then, straddled three liturgical periods: early reformation under Henry during which there were attempts to give the church a national identity whilst preserving its essential Catholicism, Protestantism of increasing austerity under Edward and, lastly, a period of almost belligerent Catholicism and liturgical opulence under Mary Tudor which harked back to the ritual 'excesses' of the early years of Henry's reign. ⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

John Sheppard (ca. mid-1510s - Dec. 1558/Jan. 1559), according to his own testimony, started composing around 1534. By 1541 he was Informator Choristarum at Magdalen College in Oxford.

Catholic church services in England used the elaborate Sarum Rite, also called the Use of Salisbury. Some of the prayers of the Sarum Mass are unique. John Sheppard thrived when he composed music for the Sarum Rite. His five surviving masses are beautiful examples.

Four masses appear in the Gyffard partbooks, a set of four manuscript partbooks probably copied during the 1570s for Dr. Roger Gifford, physician of Queen Elizabeth. The masses may have been composed during Sheppard's Oxford years--Dr.. Gifford studied at Christ Church and Merton College in Oxford. ⁽³⁾ They are, in order of increasing complexity:

(1) The Plainsong Mass for a Mean (Mass for Mene) for four voices. The score uses 'strene' (breve) notation which simplifies execution. The mean voice is a voice lower than the treble and higher than the countertenor, but it is the highest voice in this mass.

(2) Sheppard based The Western Wind Mass for four voices on a 200-year old secular song with the following lyrics:

Westron wynde, when wilt thou blow,
The small raine down can raine.
Cryst, if my love were in my armes
And I in my bedde again!

Sheppard's setting is not as ambitious as those of John Taverner and Christopher Tye, but nevertheless has much beauty. Let's first listen to the song and then to the Credo and Agnus Dei of Sheppard's mass. The Gloria and Sanctus and Benedictus can be found here and here. The Kyrie was sung in plainchant in the Sarum Rite.

(3) and (4) The two remaining masses for four voices, Be not afraide and the Frences Mass (French Mass), were probably written later. The former is in the English vernacular and for men's voices.

The French Mass, in its polished imitative writing, recalls the shorter Masses of such Frenchmen as Gombert. As in Taverner's Meane Mass, the imitation is effectively set off by occasional chordal passages.⁽⁴⁾

(5) The Missa Cantate for six voices (treble, mean, two countertenors, tenor and bass) survived manuscript. It was given to the Oxford Music School in 1626 by William Heather (Heyther) and transferred to the Bodleian Library in 1885. ⁽⁵⁾ Due to its 'scope, maturity, and complexity' it was likely 'composed for the Catholic Chapel Royal of Queen Mary and her Spanish husband King Philip.'⁽⁶⁾ All four movements are about the same length with melismas in the Sanctus and Agnus Dei and shortened text in the Gloria and Credo. The 'Cantatas' may have been the pre-existing melody, and eight-note motive, used at the beginning of each movement. ⁽⁷⁾ In English fashion the music is more devotional than expressive. In each section the high voices are set off against three- and four-part singing in the lower voices. A sense of continuity is achieved by passing new phrases on to other voices and with extended melismas. ⁽⁸⁾

Let's listen to the Gloria and the Sanctus & Benedictus. The Credo and Agnus Dei can be found here and here.

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⁽¹⁾ Richard William Chivers, "The hymns and responds of John Sheppard." Durham theses, Durham University, 1997, pg. 2 and pg. 6. (Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5034/ (06/27/2015))
⁽²⁾Henry VIII reigned from 1509 until 1547 and was succeeded by the nine-year old Edward VI who reigned until 1553; during this time the realm was governed by a Regency Council. His Catholic half-sister Mary I of England (Mary Tudor, Bloody Mary) reigned from 1553 until 1558 when her half-sister Elizabeth I came to the throne.
⁽³⁾ James Vincent Maiello, "The Gyffard Partbooks, 1 and 2, transcribed and edited by David Mateer (review)." Project Muse website: Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, Volume 67, Number 4, June 2011, pp. 829-830 | 10.1353/not.2011.0057. (http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/not/summary/v067/67.4.maiello01.html (06/27/2015))
⁽⁴⁾ Chris Whent, "John Sheppard [Shepherd]."Here of a Sunday Morning website. (http://www.hoasm.org/IVM/Sheppard.html (06/27/2015)). Nicolas Gombert was born in Southern Flanders--now Northern France--and was attached to the Habsburg court of Charles V whose vast realm entailed many travels.
⁽⁵⁾ Sheppard's mass is one of seven six-part masses in the Forrest-Heyther Partbooks (MSS. Mus. Sch. c. 376-382, 1545-1590) and appears in the later second layer, probably in the hand of William Forrest, a poet and Catholic priest at Christ Church. Much later the sextus voice part was completed and inscribed by 'Johanes Baldwine' who was a lay clerk in Windsor in 1575 and a member of the Chapel Royal in the 1590s.
⁽⁶⁾ Eamon Duffy, "The Sarum Rite." CD notes, John Seppard, Missa Cantate, Gabrieli Consort · Salisbury Cathedral Boy Choristers, Archiv Produktion, Deutsche Grammophon Archiv 457 658-2, 2000. (http://www.sonusantiqva.org/i/G/GabrieliCon/1996Sheppard.html (06/27/2015))
⁽⁷⁾ Joseph Sargent, "A Potential Source Melody for Sheppard’s Missa Cantate."Music in Tudor and Stuart England I, 2010 Annual medieval-renaissance music conference, Abstracts, 07/05/2010. (http://www.medrenconference.org/archive/2010-RoyalHolloway/abstractsmonday.pdf (06/27/2015))
(http://www.medrenconference.org/archive/2010-RoyalHolloway/abstractsmonday.pdf (06/27/2015))
⁽⁸⁾markfromireland, "Feature: Sheppard: Missa Cantate." Saturday Chorale, a site for lovers of music, 02/01/2010. (http://saturdaychorale.com/2012/02/01/feature-sheppard-missa-cantate/ (06/27/2015))

Happy Fourth of July!

Here are two poems by Robert Frost (1874 - 1963), one of America's foremost poets.

First a moment of reflection on this day of celebration: Nothing gold can stay in a video by YouTube user Seth Echevarria (veneno2717) for his English project. He got an A ^^ and a highly respectable 75,798 viewcount to date for his superb effort! Music by Steven Cravis from the documentary Children of Beslan.

The Road Not Taken is the first song in Randall Thompson's (1899 - 1984) Frostiana: Seven Country Songs for mixed chorus and piano.

Amazing how much Frost says in such simple words.

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San Filippo Neri - 500 Years, 1. Life, Laudi Spirituali and Motets

San Filippo Neri - 500 Years, 2. From Oratory to Oratorio

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Cipriano de Rore - 500 Years, 1. Birth and early years; Chansons

Cipriano de Rore - 500 years, 2. Job search and Patrons - Early Motets and Madrigals

Cipriano de Rore - 500 years, 3. Ferrara - Madrigals 1548-1550

Cipriano de Rore - 500 years, 4. Ferrara - Motets; Sacred Works

Cipriano de Rore - 500 Years, 5. Late madrigals - 1557

Cipriano de Rore - 500 Years, 6. Motets - Manuscript and late print sources

Cipriano de Rore - 500 Years, 7. Late madrigals - 1560s and posthumous

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John Sheppard - 500 Years, 1. English vernacular Music: Anthems, Church Services, Part-Songs

John Sheppard - 500 Years, 2. Masses

Video Picks - Nothing Gold Can Stay and The Road Not Taken