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CD reviews
"Lisbon under Ashes - Rediscovered Portuguese Music"
A Corte Musical
Dir: Rogério Gonçalves
rec: May 30 - June 2, 2017, Sainte-Croix (CH), Temple
Pan Classics - PC 10385 (© 2018) (59'50")
Liner-notes: E/F/PT; lyrics - translations: E
Cover, track-list & booklet
anon:
Bayle del Amor resussitado;
Encontrei ontem de tarde;
Entre os parasismos graves;
[Maríniculas];
O vosa porta Maria;
Olá plimo Bacião;
Tarambote;
Toda a noite e todo dia;
Thoinot ARBEAU (1529-1595) (ed):
[Lágrimas de Anarda];
Manuel CORREIA (c1600-1653):
Dime Pedro, por tu vida;
Gaspar FERNANDES (1566-1629):
Toquen as sonajas;
Felipe DA MADRE DE DEUS (1630-1690):
Deseos sin esperança;
Giovanni Battista MARIANI (c1634-c1697):
La Lisarda ([Passacalha da triste vida]);
trad:
Alborada
Mercedes Hernández, Alice Borciani, soprano;
David Sagastume, alto;
Daniel Issa, tenor;
Vitaliy Shestakov, Stéphanie Erös, violin;
Theresia Kainzbauer, cello;
Stephan Schürch, violone;
Rogério Gonçalves, bassoon, percussion;
Louis Capeille, harp;
Maria Ferré, Krishnasol Jiménez, theorbo, guitar
From the renaissance and baroque periods, a large repertoire has come down to us. Today, only a small portion is performed and/or available on disc. However, there was much more written: there can be no doubt that a large part of the music composed during those periods has been lost. The causes are different: negligence, deliberate destruction, war and natural disasters, such as fire and floods. One cause is rather rare: an earthquake. But exactly that happened in 1755 in Portugal. As a result, the largest part of its capital Lisbon was destroyed. It cost many people's lives, and it also resulted in a large part of Portugal's music history being wiped away. Due to the centralist political structure of the country, its musical heritage was brought together in the music library of the royal palace. It became the victim of the tsunami which was the immediate effect of the earthquake. The library was completely destroyed, and nothing of it remains save the catalogues, which bear witness to the value of what was lost for ever.
Attempts have been and are made to reconstruct at least some of the musical heritage of Portugal. From 1580 to 1640, Portugal was under Spanish rule, and at hindsight this has been a blessing in disguise, as some music from the pen of Portuguese composers has been preserved in Spanish archives. Other archives and libraries also include some Portuguese music, and as some Portuguese composers settled in the New World, including Portugal's own colony Brazil, some products of Portuguese musical culture of the 16th and 17th centuries have been preserved in archives over there. The present disc focuses on secular music of different genres from the 17th century. Daniel Issa, in his liner-notes, sums up what the programme includes: "music in Portuguese, music by a Portuguese composer, music from the Portuguese colony, Spanish music in Portugal, and Portuguese popular music".
The earliest original Portuguese piece in the programme dates from the 16th century, and is taken from a songbook, the Cancioneiro de Elvas. Toda a noite e todo dia is a song in six stanzas of four lines each. It omits the name of the composer, as was common in such songbooks. Several such books are known from the Spanish renaissance. A songbook of the 17th century, also from Spain, includes another anonymous piece, Encontrei ontem de tarde, a tonos humanos, in which the stanzas are followed by an estribilho (refrain). Whereas this songbook has been preserved in Lisbon, the equally anonymous A vosa porta Maria has been found in the National Library of Madrid. As a result of the political union between Spain and Portugal, not only pieces by Portuguese composers found their way to Spanish archives, but Portuguese composers also set Spanish texts, such as Frei Filipe da Madre de Deus (Deseos sin esperança). Another such piece is Dime Pedro, por tu vida, which has been preserved in a Peruvian manuscript.
And that brings us to the New World. The disc opens with Toquen as sonajas, a song by Gaspar Fernandes, a Portuguese composer who settled in Guatemala, where he acted as an organist in one of the cathedrals. The word sonajas refers to a percussion instrument. Portugal had its own colony in the New World: Brazil. The programme includes a text by the Brazilian poet Gregório de Matos, Mariniculas, a parody of the Portuguese song Marizápalos, which was set several times. Matos' parody is performed here on a melody from Coimbra. A contemporary of Matos was Manuel Botelho de Almeida. His sonnet Lágrimas de Anarda is sung here on a melody from Thoinot Arbeau's Orchésographie. These are two specimens of the contrafactum practice, which was quite common in the 17th century. Another such piece is Passacalha da triste vida, an anonymous villancico from the 16th century - when this genre was still largely secular - and sung to a melody from an opera by the Italian composer Giovanni Battista Mariani.
This programme of largely vocal music is extended by two instrumental items, among them the anonymous Tarambote, which is the earliest purely instrumental piece from the Portuguese baroque era. The second piece, Alborada, is an example of traditional music, performed here in an arrangement.
This disc offers a glimpse of a rich musical heritage, and shows what could have been if the disaster of 1755 had not taken place. This disc is intriguing and enjoyable, but also makes sad about what has been lost. But let's enjoy what is on offer here. The programme is full of variety, and is performed with enthusiasm and verve by the singers and players of the ensembe A Corte Musical. I have encountered Rogério Gonçalves and his colleagues on previous discs, such as "Évora - Portuguese Baroque Villancicos", which I greatly appreciated. This disc deserves an equally warm welcome. This is a delightful disc, and if you like the musical culture of the Iberian peninsula, you should not miss this excellent production.
Johan van Veen (© 2020)
Relevant links:
A Corte Musical