Caecilia-Concert | Treasury of a Saint notes

Treasury of a Saint

On this CD Treasury of a Saint, The Caecilia- Concert presents a varied selection of pieces composed during the 17th century in different styles, originating from different countries, and arising from different currents in Christianity. what these pieces have in common is their instrumentation. As a result of the unique make up of The Caecilia-Concert, we are able to play them on the instruments on which they may have been played in the 17th century and often were. These compositions can be roughly categorized into three genres that existed alongside each other: vocal polyphony, diminutions based on vocal music, and instrumental music. The three wind instruments: cornetto, trombone, and dulcian, alongside the organ, were often used in the 6th century as additional support or as replacements for voices in vocal polyphonic music. Included on this CD are a few vocal works performed instrumentally.

As the 16th century progressed, the ornamentation used by the instrumentalist to decorate this vocal music became increasingly more extravagant and virtuosic. Out of this arose the development of a new genre towards the close of the century: the diminution. players took an existing madrigal by a composer, such as palestrina for example, selected one voice that was then to be ornamented, and performed the decorated voice with a continuo instrument such as an organ, lute, or harpsichord. These dominant voices were frequently written out. The result was one composition at the hand of two composers: the composer of the madrigal and the composer of the diminution. The third genre, instrumental music, is connected in degrees of importance to the rise of opera, and therefore to the development of monody and the use of a basso continuo instrument as accompaniment for one or more solo instruments. This led in the17th century to an explosion of compositions for instruments that previously were used for the accompaniment of singers. The composers were quite often players and the players frequently composers. As a result, they knew better than anyone else the technical possibilities and limitations of their respective instruments. The harpsichord proved itself to be an ideal continuo instrument but rapidly developed into a sought- after vehicle for solo repertoire.

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The melody Est-ce Mars, also known as Courante Mars, was one of the best-known melodies in Europe, and settings of it are to be found in the Netherlands, France, England, Italy and Germany. The virtuosic spanish dulcianist and composer Bartolomeo de Selma y Salaverde, who was engaged by the Archduke Leopold during the latter’s residence at Innsbruck, provides a quirky instrumental setting for this famous melody. his playful twisting of the simple rhythm of the tune and unexpected entrances of the various voices provide a chaotic but exciting experience for both players and listeners alike. The seven keyboard variations devoted to the melody by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, renowned organist of the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, are in well-ordered units. Common to his other settings of secular melodies, the theme in Est-ce Mars is developed into a new musical idea in each variation, augmented by passagework and ornamentation. The German composer Philipp Friedrich Buchner (1614 - 69) worked as an organist at the Frankfurt Barfusserkirche, a position he relinquished to his father two years later. From 64 he was a tenor and Kapellmeister at Krakow. From his position there he visited Italy and France. From 1648 he became Kapellmeister and elector of Mainz. Sonata IX is one of 4 sonatas found in Buchner’s Plectrum Musicum (1662, Frankfurt). Giovanni Antonio Bertoli’s Compositioni Musicali (Venice, 1645) is noted for not only being the first known published set of sonatas for the dulcian (9 in total), but as well the premier collection devoted entirely to solo sonatas. Bertoli (fl. c 1619 - 45) was himself a dulcianist in addition to his compositional activities and was known to have had connections with the habsburg Imperial Chapel. Sonata Settima is written as a passacaglia, initially in duple followed by triple meter. The variations gradually increase in tempo, with daring rhythmic complexity interspersed with brief moments of respite. In addition,the simple repeating bass line provides the continuo player with a blank canvas onwhich to contribute to the fireworks provided by the solo line. Practically all of the information we have about Giovanni Battista Fontana is taken from the preface of his only collection of works: Sonata a 1,2,3 per violino,o cornetto, fagotto... published posthumously in 1641, 10 years after he died during an outbreak of the plague. Fontana had a reputation as one of the greatest violinists of the time, working not only in Brescia, but also venice and Rome. The pieces themselves are forward looking in the development of the sonata form, and each is based on a series of contrasting sections. There are no tempo indications however, and the sections often flow in and out of each other. Sonata Prima is the only solo sonata of the six that specifies cornetto. The unusually high bass line not only creates interesting harmonic possibilities for the continuo player, but also results in duet like sections for both instruments as well. Johann Michael Nicolai (1619 - 1685) was a member of the court orchestra of the Duke of saxen-Lauenburg from 1655 until his death. He played a variety of instruments, including the violone. This instrumental work, entitled sonata in D, although clearly with a tonality closer to g, is one of two found in the Düben collection of the University Library in Uppsala,sweden and was transcribed by members of The Caecilia-Concert. Organist and director of music at St Celso in Milan, Giovanni Paolo Cima (b c 1570) was considered one of the leadingcomposers of the Milanese instrumental school in the early 7th century. Quam pulchra es is taken from his Concerti Ecclesiastici (1610, Milan). The canto part is played here on the mute cornett, its haunting, veiled sound being more suitable than the direct brilliance of the cornetto. Giovanni Martino Cesare (1590? -1667) was active as a composer, cornetto player, and trombonist in Austria and his native Italy. he worked briefly as a trombonist in Udine Cathedral and was a member of the household of the Margrave of Burgau at günzburg, near Augsburg. he was a composer of both sacred works and instrumental canzonas. The sonatas La Augustana and La Hieronyma come from his last published collection, Musicali melodie per voci e instrumenti (1621), where each canzona has a programmatic title, like, for example, the names of his patrons, including members of the Fugger family and various members of the Bavarian court. An Italian influence can definitely be heard in the instrumental music of Johan Rosenmüller (c 1619 - 1684), who received his musical training at the University of Leipzig and was an assistant music teacher at the Thomasschule and organist at the Nicolai Kirche, a predecessor of Johann sebastian Bach. his seemingly promising career came to an end when he was arrested along with several schoolboys and imprisoned on suspicion of homosexuality.he was further employed as a trombonist at s Marco in venice from1658 and had clearly established himself as a composerby 1660. Rosenmüller’s 1668 collection of sonatas represents the pinnacle of his development as a composer of instrumental music. Philipp Friedrich Böddecker (baptized1607 - 68 ) was born into a large family of musicians and was active as an organist, dulcianist, and singing teacher in, among other places, Alsace, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt. Until his death he was organist in stuttgart at the collegiate church. his dulcian sonata, along with a violin sonata, is included in the Sacra Partitura (1651) and is among the earliest german examples of the genre. Based on La Monica (a well known folk tune), the dulcian sonata is constructed as a set of variations and makes unprecedented technical demands on the performer with its rhythmical complexities and virtuosic passagework. That the music of the spanish organist and priest, Juan Bautista José Cabanilles (baptized 644 - 7 ), was highly regarded in his time can be seen in the wide distribution of copies of his manuscripts. As a resident of cosmopolitan valencia, Cabanilles had contact with fellow musicians and composers from Italy, germany and the Netherlands. A known performer, a manuscript account (now missing) left by his student Jose Elias indicated that he was frequently invited to perform in French churches on high feast days. his gallardas were most likely written for liturgical use and not intended as dances. A common improvisatory practice during the Renaissance and Baroque periods was the use of diminutions, which served to decorate the transition from one note of a melody to the next with passagework, giving the effect of musical variation and providing an opportunity for displays of virtuosity. Method books from the 6th and 7th centuries provided instruction for instrumentalists and singers, which they could learn by rote and apply to a chosen piece of music. One such treatise is Selva de varii passaggi (Milan, 1620) by Francesco Rognoni. The complete motets and madrigals that are ornamented by Rognoni are, on the whole, rather more virtuosic than those of say giovanni Bassano and giovanni Battista Bovicelli. The more elaborate pieces such as ‘Io son ferito ahi lasso’ and ‘Anchor che col Partire’ are obviously intended for instrumentalists, (most probably cornettists and violinists). They are without text and combine a wide range with wide leaps and fast passages. Other pieces, however, include text and concentrate on more delicate, intricate ornaments; ‘Pulchra es amica mea’ is one such piece and is unusual in that it is specified for either soprano or tenor. As was a common practice at the time, the trombone here plays the top vocal line, with the organ providing an intabulation of the remaining voices. This allows room for ornamentation and poetic expression. Born in Assisi, Bovicelli was employed from 569 at the chapel of santa Casa di Loreto until 575, first as a soprano, then tenor. he sang in the Capella giulia of st. peter’s, the vatican, from 578- 58 , eventually ending up in the Chapel of the cathedral of Milan. The sacred text of Angelus ad pastores ait may have been set to the well-known secular madrigal Anchor che col partire simply as a way of providing a work for religious performance. Relatively little is known about the Italian composer and lutenist Marco Antonio Ferro (d vienna, 66 ), other than that he was active as a lutenist at the hofkapelle in vienna from 64 to 65 and 658 to 66 . his sonata in F is one of found in the only works we have of him, Sonate a due, tre & quattro op.1, published in venice in 649. This collection contains sonatas for violin, tenore da gamba e viola da gamba or cornetto, trombone e tiorbo. single movement in form, each sonata consists of four or five alternating sections varying from homophonic adagios to fugal allegros. A noted schawm player, the Dutch composer Cornelis Thysmanszoon Padbrué (c 59 - 670), worked as a musician for the city of haarlem with his brother from 6 0. his playing was so renowned that he was appointed principal schawm player in 6 9 and crowned with the title master. The Pavana and Gaillarde that make up his Synphonia Nuptias were written either for or in honor of the marriage of Mathaei steyn to Mariae of Napels on February 4th, 64 . Information on the life and career of the Dutch organist and composer Herman Hollanders is relatively scarce. what we do know is that he was active as an organist in Breda during the spanish occupation in the 80 years war ( 568 - 648). As a Catholic, hollanders was able to work freely in a city that accepted the Roman Catholic Church as the dominant religious power. The Dutch provinces finally recaptured Breda in 6 7, which resulted in a mass exodus of Catholic clergy and citizens bound for Antwerp or other safe havens in the spanish Netherlands. After this period there is no further information on his life or musical activities. Recipe me and Transfige, dulccissime Jesu are taken from hollanders’ first opus, Parnassus ecclesiasticus (Antwerp, 6 ), a direct result of his years in Breda.