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CD reviews
"Una poesia muta - Art in early Cinquecento Venice"
The Marian Consort
Dir: Rory McCleery
rec: Oct 10 - 12, 2023, Stuttgart, Berger Kirche
Linn - CKD 750 (© 2025) (69'07")
Liner-notes: E/D; lyrics - translations: E
Cover, track-list & booklet
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Franciscus BOSSINENSIS (fl 1510):
Ricercar 2;
Vincenzo CAPIROLA (1474-after 1548):
Ricercar 8;
Antonio CAPRIOLI (c1425-1475):
Non si vedra gia maia;
Innocentius DAMMONIS (fl 1508):
Adoramus te;
Alexander DEMOPHON 'VENETUS' (fl 1488-1500):
Volgi gli occhi;
Costanzo FESTA (c1485/90-1545):
Ab oriente venerunt Magi;
Nunc dimittis;
JOSQUIN DESPREZ (c1450/55-1521):
Missa Pange lingua (Gloria);
O bone et dulcis Domine Jesu;
Jean L'HÉRITIER (c1480-after 1551):
Ave Domina mea;
Jean MOUTON (c1459-1522):
Ave virgo caeli porta;
Corde et animo;
Francesco SPINACINO (fl 1507):
Ave Maria (Josquin Desprez);
Bartolomeo TROMBONCINO (c1470-1562):
Ave Maria, regina in coelo;
Suspir io temoa;
Adrian WILLAERT (c1490-1562):
Beatus Stephanus;
Pater noster - Ave Maria
Caroline Halls, Eleanor Bray, soprano;
Sarah Anne Champion (soloa), Joy Sutcliffe, contralto;
Will Wright, Edward Woodhouse, tenor;
Jon Stainsby, Christopher Webb, bass;
Kristiina Watt, lute
The music written in Venice in the early 16th century is probably less well-known and less frequently performed than that of about fifty years later - the heydays of the madrigal and polychorality. However, Venice was already a musical centre before that flowering period, and that was not the least thanks to the presence of a music printing industry, in which Ottaviano Petrucci played the main role.
Petrucci did not only publish sophisticated sacred polyphony, such as masses and motets, but also a number of collections of the much more straightforward laude, homophonic and homorhythmic, and in the vernacular. In both genres, the veneration of Mary played a major role. In many pieces devoted to her, or connected to events from her life, images were used not unlike one can find in secular works. Among the latter genre frottole were particularly popular, and Petrucci published several collections of such pieces. Lastly, the lute was one of the most revered instruments at the time, and lutenists not only played original lute music, such as fantasias and dances, but also intabulations of vocal music. Again, Petrucci's printing oeuvre attests to that.
The disc under review offers a survey of the genres just mentioned. The veneration of Mary is a kind of thread: the programme opens with a piece which includes a setting of Ave Maria and closes with another one. The former piece is O bone et dulcis Domine Jesu by Josquin Desprez. That makes sense as Petrucci published several collections of his masses and motets; this motet was printed in 1504. In this motet the text which opens with the words which gave it its title, is sung by soprano and tenor, whereas the alto sings the Pater noster and the bass the first half of Ave Maria, both in plainchant. The latter two texts are also combined by Adrian Willaert, but in a different way, as his motet is divided into two sections, each including one of these two texts.
These two composers are among the most important in the programme, as far as the sacred polyphony is concerned. Josquin was never in Venice, but his music was sung across Europe, and was popular among lutenists, who intabulated motets and (parts of) his masses. An example is Ave Maria, intabulated by Francesco Spinacino. Willaert was also from Flanders, but made a career in Italy, for most of his life as maestro di cappella at St Mark's in Venice. There he laid the foundation of what was to become the hallmark of Venetian sacred music: the technique known as cori spezzati. This contribution to music history has probably a little overshadowed his sacred works of more modest proportions. Beatus Stephanus is another motet in two sections, devoted to the first martyr. The first section focuses on his vision of Christ sitting at the right hand of God, the second on the reaction of the people who lapidate him. It is notable that Willaert does not use here any madrigalisms to depict this act, as composers of a later generation undoubtedly would have done.
The presence of a piece by Jean Mouton may raise questions: why a French composer in a programme devoted to music in Venice? There are two reasons for this: such music was quite popular in Italy at the time (an example is Philippe Verdelot, who was in Venice in the first decade of the 16th century and has played a major role in the development of the madrigal), and he was the teacher of Willaert. Ave virgo caeli porta is another (short) motet devoted to Mary, and that also goes for Ave Domina mea, a motet by another French composer, Jean L'Héritier, who worked at the court of Ferrara and then in Rome.
The lauda was a highly popular genre in Italy. Originally laude were the repertoire of the confraternities (often called laudesi), associations with a spiritual and charitable purpose. In the meetings of these fraternities hymns were sung, especially in praise of the Virgin Mary. In the course of time, they were embraced by the church as another way of communicating its message to 'common people' - those who did not understand Latin. The form reflects this purpose: as they are relatively simple and homorhytmic, the text in the vernacular is easy to understand. Petrucci published a number of collections of such pieces, for instance in 1508, with laude from the pen of Innocenzio Natali, known as Dammonis; one of his laude is Adoramus te, in praise of Jesus for his sacrifice at the Cross. It is different from the common laude in that the text is in Latin. The vernacular is used in Volgi gli occhi by Alexander Demophon 'Venetus': "Turn your eyes, O pious mother, on us sad sinners. That we may escape from so many mistakes, as without you we lose the way." Another composer of laude was Bartolomeo Tromboncino. Ave Maria, regina in coelo is in the vernacular: "Hail Mary, queen of heaven and earth, sacred virgin and mother of the supreme God. Amen."
Tromboncino was also one of the most prolific composers of frottole, secular songs which could take several different poetic forms, and was the predecessor of what was to become the most important secular vocal genre: the madrigal. Suspir io temo is an example of such a frottola. The text, opening with "I sigh with fear, but my heart is more fearful, since you will be one of two lovers" - points in the direction of the madrigal. Non si vedra gia mai is from the pen of Antonio Caprioli, a composer from Brescia. However, the text was written by a Venetian patrician, Pietro Bembo, and part of a collection of poems published in Venice in 1505.
A common way to perform frottole was the combination of voice and lute. This is how the two pieces just mentioned are performed here as well. It sheds more light on the importance of the lute, not only as a solo instrument, but also in ensemble with other instruments and voices. As mentioned, part of the repertoire of lutenists was vocal music, but there also was a large repertoire of original instrumental pieces, such as dances and genres also known from keyboard music, like the ricercar. Tho specimens of the latter are included here.
This programme offers a compelling portrait of musical life in Venice from the time before the most famous composers associated with the city. Especially the genres of the lauda and the frottola are not that well-known, although certainly not badly represented on disc. The nice thing about this recording is that specimens of these genres are put into a context, showing the connections between the different genres. There was no watershed between sacred and secular music at the time.
The Marian Consort feel equally at home in both genres. The ensemble is immaculate, also with regard to intonation, and the character of the various pieces is convincingly converted. The two solo pieces performed are very nicely sung by Sarah Anne Champion, sensibly accompannied by Kristiina Watt on the lute, who also plays the lute pieces very well.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)
Relevant links:
The Marian Consort