musica Dei donum
CD reviews
Adrian WILLAERT (c1490 - 1562) (attr): St John Passion
Dionysos Now!
Dir: Tore Tom Denys
rec: Sept 5 - 8, 2022, Ghent, STAM - Stadsmuseum Gent (refectory)
Evil Penguin Classic - EPRC 0054 (© 2023) (75'39")
Liner-notes: E/NL; lyrics (Passion only) - no translations
Cover & track-list
Da pacem Domine a 4;
Dulces exuviae a 4 [2];
Ecce lignum crucis - Crux fidelis a 5 [1];
Flete oculi a 4 [2];
Infelix ego a 6;
Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem a 2-6 (attr);
Tristis est anima mea a 4
Sources:
[1] Motecta ... liber primus, 1539;
[2] Mottetti ... libro secondo, 1539
Franz Vitzthum, alto;
Bernd Oliver Fröhlich, Jan Petryka, Tore Tom Denys, tenor;
Tim Scott Whiteley, bass-baritone;
Pieter Stas, Joachim Höchbauer, bass
If music for Passiontide from the Renaissance is performed, it usually concerns settings of the Stabat mater, the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the Tenebrae Responsories. The seven penitential psalms are also part of the repertoire, but the narratives of the four Gospels are not. They were part of the celebrations during Holy Week, but they may have been mostly sung in plainchant. In 1585 Tomás Luis de Victoria published his Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae; it includes two Passions,
according to St Matthew and St John respectively, the former to be performed on Palm Sunday, the latter on Good Friday. The word 'composition' is probably a bit exaggerated: Victoria only set the words of the crowd, the so-called turbae, largely homophonic and syllabic, and some passages for two characters; the rest of the text is to be sung in plainchant.
The Passion recorded by Dionysos Now! is different: it is through-composed from start to finish, and includes no passages in plainchant. It is not entirely clear who the composer is. Tore Tom Denys, in his liner-notes, mentions that it has been attributed to Cipriano de Rore. In the entry on De Rore in New Grove a Passion according to St John is mentioned in the work-list, with the addition that it has been printed in 1557 and may be a composition of Adrian Willaert. Denys does not mention this printed edition but rather a manuscript in which it appears beside (polyphonic) passions by Maistre Jhan and Vicenzo Ruffo. It must be the same work.
It is scored for two to six voices. The text of the Evangelist is in four parts, and entirely homorhythmical. This means that it is clearly intelligible, and this was in accordance with the ideals of the Council of Trent. The turbae are in six parts, and here we find some polyphonic elements, probably to underline the mob's chaotic screaming. The part of Jesus is set for three lower voices, those of Pilate, Peter and the Ancilla for two high voices. The former is notable: in contrast to the other roles, the two voices sing in polyphony. Is this a way to express that Pilate is speaking in a double tongue and is not sincere?
One may think that this work is appearing on disc for the first time. That is not the case, though. It has been recorded previously by the Huelgas Ensemble under the direction of Paul Van Nevel, but then with the name of Rore as the composer (deutsche harmonia mundi, 1990/1995). The performance is very different, especially as Van Nevel performs the Evangelist's part with a solo voice and instruments. Here that part is sung by four voices; no instruments participate in this recording. Because of that it is a real alternative to Van Nevel's performance. I don't know which may be most close to the way it was performed in the time it was written. I personally tend to think that this new recording may be historically more accurate. The edition of the Huelgas Ensemble's recording that I have in my collection includes liner-notes by Van Nevel, but he does not discuss aspects of performance practice. It does not include a list of performers and instruments.
Whatever is the truth, this new recording is an excellent one. The singing is of the highest quality and the text is very clearly understandable.
The booklet does offer very concise liner-notes by Tore Tom Denys, and the lyrics, but only in Latin; no English translation is included. That is hardly a problem, as translations in almost any language can be found in the Bible and are available on the internet. What is disappointing, though, is the omission of the lyrics of the additional pieces (*), which are also not discussed in the liner-notes. Why they were chosen and what they are about is up to the listener to find out.
Ecce lignum crucis - Crux fidelis is a motet for five voices. Both texts are part of the Adoration of the Cross on Good Friday. Tristis est anima mea is the second Responsory for Tenebrae on Maundy Thursday; Willaert's setting is for four voices. Infelix ego, for six voices, is a setting of the beginning of the Meditation on the Miserere by Girolamo Savonarola, written the day before his execution for heresy.
The remaining pieces are more or less outliers in this programme. Flete oculi is a four-part motet on a text whose author is not known and which has not been set by any other composer. As it is discussed by Jonathan Harvey in his dissertation on The Secular Latin-Texted Works of Adrian Willaert, which also covers the two settings of Dulces exuviae, a text from Ovid's Aeneid, set by several composers, we have to do here with a secular work. It is followed by one of Willaert's settings of the latter text. The connection with the Passion is something I can't see in Flete oculi, unless in the sad tenor of its text: "Weep eyes, drip to cheeks and breast. Ever, ever indeed fate is fulfilled yet more bitterly. Yet harsher still, neither mouth nor breast is moistened, for tears alone can ease my troubles. My life is ruled by misery throughout, such that the only trouble I find is my own." That is impossible in Dulces exuviae, as it expressis verbis refers to Troy.
The programme clearly turns to the sacred with the last item. Dona nobis pacem is a text that - in different versions - has been set many times by composers, as its subject has been appropriate in each time of history, until our own days.
It concludes an intriguing disc whose main work is a little-known Passion of high quality. Denys states that "[not] much is known about the northern Italian (Catholic, Latin) passion tradition". That may be an interesting subject for another dissertation. I certainly would like to know more about it, and - if there are more pieces of this kind - hear other Passions from the renaissance period.
The singing of the ensemble with a name that raises questions, but one certainly won't forget easily, is excellent. This disc is part of a project concerning the oeuvre of Willaert. Unfortunately I have not heard any of the previous volumes, but this disc is a winner for sure. Dionysos Now! has done us a great favour by bringing this fine work to our attention. I don't know if a modern edition is available; if not, it should be published, which allows for a more frequent performance, which is well deserved.
(*) Some of the texts are available with translations at ChoralWiki.
Johan van Veen (© 2023)
Relevant links:
Dionysos Now!