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Marc'Antonio INGEGNERI (c1535/36 - 1592): "Volume Four: Missa Gustate et videte - Motets for Holy Week and Easter"
Choir of Girton College, Cambridgea;
The Western Wyndesb
Felix Elliottc, Gabriel Kennedyd, Emily Notte, organ
Dir: Gareth Wilson
rec: July 13 - 15, 2023, Oxford, St Barnabas, Jericho
Toccata - TOCC 0716 (© 2024) (76'45")
Liner-notes: E; lyrics - translations: E
Cover, track-list & booklet
Scores
Spotify
Marc'Antonio INGEGNERI:
Adoramus te Christe a 4a;
Antoni confessor magne a 6ab;
Ave, Jesu Christe a 5b;
Cantate Domino a 6ab;
Con voi, quando partiste à 4d;
Donna real à 4e;
Haec dies a 4a;
Missa Gustate et videte a 5ab;
O Domine Jesu Christe a 4a;
O sacrum convivium (II) a 5ab;
Regina coeli a 4ab;
Salve regina a 4ab;
Santa Madre del ciel à 4c;
Orlandus LASSUS (1532-1594):
Gustate et videte a 5ab;
[TWW] Alexander Duncan, Matyas Houf, Jeremy West, cornett;
Mark Choi, Andrew Cowie, Owain Davies-McCrorie, sackbut
It is quite remarkable how a composer who until recently was nearly completely ignored by the recording industry, experiences a revival, even though it is one conductor and his choir who are entirely responsible for it. The disc under review is the fourth in a series with music by Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, and includes the first of the four masses from one collection that have been recorded in the course of this project. It seems at first not to have been set up as project: the first disc did not add 'Volume 1' to its title. The acquaintance with Ingegneri's oeuvre apparently whetted the appetite of Gareth Wilson, and that resulted in three more discs with the master's music. They show that he was more than just the teacher of Monteverdi - pretty much the only feature of his career that guaranteed him a place in music history books.
Cremona played a crucial role in Ingegneri's life: there he was born, and there he worked for most of his life. He was educated as a violinist, and in this capacity he worked in Venice at the Scuola Grande di San Marco. He may also have worked as such in Padua, and certainly spent some time in Parma at the Farnese court. There he became acquainted with Cipriano de Rore, who also taught him a thing or two. It is not far-fetched to assume that he played a role in Ingegneri's activities as a composer of madrigals. His first publication was a collection of madrigals, which has been lost. Eight further collections were to follow, the last of which was published as late as 1606.
By the mid-1560s Ingegneri settled in Cremona. At some time between 1566 and 1578 he was appointed praefectus musicae of the Cathedral; he is mentioned as such for the first time in his book of motets of 1573. This was one of probably eighteen collections of music of which sixteen have been preserved. The fact that his music has been found in libraries and archives across Europe attests to Ingegneri's status. Whereas between 1576 and 1586 he only published madrigals, he almost completely turned to sacred music in the remaining years of his life.
Carlos Rodríguez Otero, in his liner-notes, suggests that two reasons may have made him focus on sacred music. "This change of direction is very probably related to the closure of Cremona’s principal, non-ecclesiastical cultural institution, the Accademia degli animosi, that year [1586]. His compositional focus, then, turned to the needs of the Church in Cremona, which, together with the rest of the Catholic world, found itself in a period of consolidation, self-scrutiny and reform after the end of the Council of Trent in 1563."
The present disc includes a mass and, according to the title-page, motets for Holy Week and Easter. In fact, the programme covers three moments of the ecclesiastical year that are closely connected. In addition to Holy Week and Easter, that is the feast of Corpus Christi, which is celebrated a few months after Easter. In Wikipedia, the connection is explained. "The Feast of Corpus Christi (Ecclesiastical Latin: Dies Sanctissimi Corporis et Sanguinis Domini Iesu Christi, lit. 'Day of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ the Lord'), also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, is a liturgical solemnity celebrating the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; the feast is observed by the Latin Church, in addition to certain Western Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican churches. Two months earlier, the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper is observed on Maundy Thursday in a sombre atmosphere leading to Good Friday. The liturgy on that day also commemorates Christ's washing of the disciples' feet, the institution of the priesthood, and the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane."
The main work on this disc is connected to the latter feast. The Missa Gustate et videte is a parody mass, in which Ingegneri makes use of fragments from a motet by Orlandus Lassus. The latter's content makes clear for which feast it has been written. "Taste and see, since the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man who trusts in him. Fear the Lord, all you his saints, because those who fear him lack nothing.
The rich have suffered hunger and want, but those who seek the Lord will not be deprived of any good thing." This suggests that Ingegneri's mass may have been written with the same feast in mind. Both the nature of the feast and the character of Lassus' motet may explain the rather uplifting character of the mass. Gareth Wilson, in his comments in the booklet, compares the mass with the masses in the previous volumes: "[The] Missa Susanne un jour and the Missa Voce mea are dark and sombre in tone, and the Missa Laudate pueri Dominum, although also in a minor mode, is a little more energetic in keeping with its title, but the Missa Gustate et videte is celebratory during its faster moments (the Gloria and Credo), and poignant, peaceful and beautiful during its slower ones (the Kyrie, Sanctus and especially the Agnus Dei II)".
The programme opens with Cantate Domino, a setting of Psalm 97. It is scored for six voices, and Ingegneri uses this scoring to juxtapose two groups of three voices - high vs low - which are either split or joined. It is followed by the motet by Lassus, and Ingegneri uses especially the opening motif and the one used for the closing phrase, which are also the ones most easily recognizable. The key moment in the Credo is that about the incarnation, which opens homophonically, giving it special attention. The last episode, about the resurrection of the dead, is especially joyful.
O Domine Jesu Christe is a setting of a text included in the Passion Prayers of St Gregory: "O Lord Jesus Christ, I honour you, wounded on the cross, drinking gall and vinegar. I pray to you, so that your wounds might be the cure for my soul, and your death might be
my life." It is the most straightforward piece in the programme, dominated by homophony. Adoramus te Christe is a stanza that is recited or sung mostly during the ritual of the Stations of the Cross: "We honour you, Christ, and bless you, because you have redeemed the world through the holy cross. Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. You have redeemed us, Lord God of truth." These two pieces are separated by a madrigal which is performed instrumentally. Even so, the booklet includes the lyrics (which is praiseworthy), which shows that it has a spiritual meaning: "Holy Mother of heaven, you are my heart's only hope. Pray your Son not to let me perish in these many pains." Although the work-list in New Grove does not mention a collection of spiritual madrigals, this piece clearly has the features of the latter genre.
Likewise, Ave, Jesu Christe, via dulcis and Con voi, quando partiste are performed instrumentally. The former is a prayer to Christ, the latter another madrigal, which is less explicit than the one just mentioned, and is very likely meant as a love madrigal. However, the images in love poetry and texts about the Virgin Mary and Jesus were often very similar. "When you left, my soul followed you,
and my eyes observed your image so intensely that they retained it entirely, thus it appears always before my eyes."
Regina coeli and Salve Regina are two of the four Marian antihons. Their inclusion here makes sense. The former is sung from Easter Vigil until Whitsun; the day after the latter feast is the first that the Salve Regina is sung, until the end of the ecclesiastical year. Haec dies is a hymn for Easter morning which is repeated throughout Easter week: "This is the day which the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it." O sacrum convivium then brings us to Corpus Christi in its veneration of the Eucharist, which, according to Catholic doctrine, was ordained on Maundy Thursday.
A bit out of the rest of the programme is the motet Antoni confessor magne, addressed to St Anthony the Great, 'Father of all Monks', to whom an altar in Cremona Cathedral was devoted.
Like the three previous discs, this recording is another impressive testimony of Ingegneri's skills as a composer. Within the idiom of the time, the stile antico, he is able to communicate the message of each piece by making use of elements, such as scoring, harmony and musical figures. The fact that he was a prolific composer of madrigals in the first stage of his career is clearly noticeable, even though there are no demonstrative madrigalisms. The journey from Passion to Resurrection and then the remembrance of the Passion at Corpus Christi is musically illustrated in a convincing manner.
Ingegneri's music is served very well by both the choir and the instrumental ensemble. One may argue that the choir is probably bigger than what Ingegneri had at his disposal in Cremona, but that is hard to prove, and the singing is such that I don't consider it a problem. The balance between voices and instruments is entirely satisfying.
I don't know if with this disc the involvement of the choir and its director with Ingegneri comes to an end. I hope not: I would like to hear more. And as I wrote in my review of the previous two volumes: the madrigals should be given some attention as well.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)
Relevant links:
Choir of Girton College, Cambridge