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Event
MUSIC FOR THE SISTINE CHAPEL featuring Allegri's Miserere
The Tudor Choir presents a collection of works by composers employed by the Vatican's famed Sistine chapel, including Gregorio Allegri's legendary Miserere and works by Josquin, Victoria, Marenzio, and Palestrina.
MUSIC FOR THE SISTINE CHAPEL is the fifth and final concert of the Tudor Choir's 2012-2013 20th anniversary season. Single tickets may be purchased here.
PROGRAM
Luca Marenzio: Magnificat a 8
G.P. da Palestrina: Alma redemptoris mater
Tomas Luis de Victoria: Alma redemptoris mater a 8
Marenzio: Lamentabatur Jacob a 12
Palestrina: Tu es Petrus
Gregorio Allegri: Miserere mei, Deus
Josquin Desprez: Benedicta es
Palestrina: Sicut cervus
Palestrina: Magnificat & Nunc dimittis a 8
About MUSIC FOR THE SISTINE CHAPEL
The Tudor Choir's MUSIC FOR THE SISTINE CHAPEL is a program of works by composers employed by the Vatican's famed Sistine Chapel. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Roman sacred music was unique in that performance styles were constantly evolving but old music was kept in the repertory alongside new works. In addition to native Italian composers, Rome drew musicians from throughout Europe. Our selection features works by composers who were active in Rome for all or part of their career and were at one time members of the famed Sistine Chapel's Papal choir.
Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652) was an Italian composer and singer who joined the Papal choir in 1629. His setting of Psalm 51, "Miserere mei, Deus," is easily the most famous vocal work of the Renaissance, largely due to an edition dating from the early-20th century, which included a soaring high C for the soprano in the odd-numbered verses sung by a quartet. The work started out as a simple succession of chords to which Psalm 51 was chanted, but over decades of exclusive performance by the Papal choir, embellishments were added by singers and the piece evolved into a legendary work. A heightened sense of mystery surrounded the piece as the Papal choir jealously guarded it from others. Occasionally a copy of the music would make its way out into the world, once via a young Mozart, who copied the work from memory after hearing a performance.
Luca Marenzio (c.1553-1599) is best known for his madrigals, but he also wrote a small quantity of sacred music. He served as musician and choirmaster for Cardinal Luigi d'Este in Rome for nine years beginning in 1578 and returned to Rome as a Papal musician during the last year of his life. His eight-voice "Magnificat octavi toni," and his twelve-voice "Lamentabatur Jacob" demonstrate the influence of Venice in its scoring for two separate choirs.
Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) was the greatest composer of the Spanish 16th-century "golden age" of sacred vocal music. He was a choirboy in his hometown of Avila before being sent to Rome, where he spent the next twenty years, was ordained a priest, and held a number of significant musical jobs. Victoria returned to his native Spain around 1587 and was appointed chaplain to the dowager Empress Maria at the Royal Convent for Barefoot Clarist Nuns. Although considered a "Roman" composer in his time, Victoria is now regarded as quintessentially Spanish and a chief representative of the spiritual mysticism that infused Renaissance Iberian art. The tension created by the modulating harmonies that characterize Victoria's music creates a dramatic intensity that complements the work of contemporary artists in other genres, such as El Greco and Velasquez. Victoria's double-choir setting of the Marian antiphon, "Alma redemptoris mater" demonstrates the influence of Italy on his work.
Josquin Desprez (c.1440-1521) was a renowned Flemish composer who worked for the Papal choir from 1486 to 1499 and inspired a century of composers. He studied with the highly respected Flemish composer Johannes Ockeghem and sang at Milan Cathedral from 1459 to 1474 and with the Papal choir in Rome from 1486 to 1499. After directing music briefly at the Este court in Ferrara in 1503/04, he returned to his homeland. Josquin's compositional output is extensive yet difficult to determine exactly; some pieces have recently been attributed to other composers. His musical style is very individual for its time and also quite varied, suggesting that he took great care in his selection of texts and subject matter. He was revered throughout 16th-century Europe as the finest composer of polyphony. Josquin's music remained at the core of the sacred repertory in Rome for well over a century after his death. His popular 6-voice Marian motet, "Benedicta es," served as the musical model for one of Palestrina's early Mass settings.
The outstanding composer of the Counter-Reformation years was Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594). He was probably a choirboy at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome and later served there as maestro di cappella for ten years from 1561. The influence of his conservative and harmonically pure style was strongly felt throughout the latter years of the Renaissance and well into the Baroque era. Among his works are 105 masses and 250 motets. Much of his music was performed by the Papal choir in Rome, whose repertory likely included Palestrina's pure and lyrical four-voice "Alma redemptoris mater" and "Sicut cervus," his stunning and ebullient six-voice "Tu es Petrus," and his double choir settings of the "Magnificat" and "Nunc dimittis," the canticles at Vespers and Compline, respectively.
The Tudor Choir's 2012-2013 subscription series is co-presented by the Tudor Choir and Blessed Sacrament Church.
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LocationBlessed Sacrament Church (View)
5041 - 9th Ave. NE
Seattle, WA 98105
United States
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