The Den Bosch Choirbooks

Program: #23-15   Air Date: Apr 10, 2023

NOTE: All of the music on this program comes from recordings on the Channel Classics label with the Cappella Pratensis directed by Stratton Bull. Volume 1 is CD # CC72877.

The ‘Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap’ in ‘s Hertogenbosch (in short: ‘Den Bosch’) houses an incredible treasure: a collection of  choirbooks from the period 1450-1600, nine of which with beautiful multi-voiced (polyphonic) music. Together they embody the unprecedented cultural flowering period of the Duchy of Brabant, also called the Brabant Golden Age.

The books were commissioned by the Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap and contain work by renowned composers of the time, such as Jean Mouton and Pierre de la Rue. They have been widely used by the brotherhood for the liturgy, but the music has been muted for centuries. That is now going to change: Cappella Pratensis is going to unpack the Bossche Koorboeken! In an extensive project of five years, all books will succesively be unlocked to the public, in image and in sound. And every year we start with a grand opening concert in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

At the dawn of the Renaissance the southern Dutch city of ’s-Hertogenbosch, with its abundance of churches and monasteries, was also referred to as “Little Rome”. Central to this religious scene was the Brotherhood of Our Illustrious Lady (Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap), founded in 1318. This devotional organization, which counted among its members the famous painter Hieronymus Bosch, invested considerably in recruiting and employing the best singers and organists for its chapel, which performed a wide variety of polyphonic music. No fewer than nine choirbooks with this repertoire are still preserved by the confraternity.

Marian devotion was at the very centre of the activities of the Brotherhood of Our Illustrious Lady in the late middle ages. Every Wednesday the Confraternity brothers gathered in their opulent chapel in the church of St. John the Evangelist to celebrate a votive Mass in honour of the Blessed Virgin. There they would have heard their choir of men and boys sing not only the ancient plainsong melodies but also the most complex new music of the time, polyphonic masses and motets by composers of both international and local reputation. The sounds of the organ too were integral to these occasions; the Confraternity employed an organist and kept their chapel organ in fine repair.

This CD, the first in a compilation series of eventually five, mainly focuses on the choirbook MS154, with Pierre de la Rue’s Missa Cum jocunditate as its central work. This Mass gives a good impression of the enormous musical richness that the brotherhood developed. Here the joy and serenity of the weekly liturgy of the Marian votive Mass resounds with the succession of hymns praising and entreating Mary. The opening song Salve sancta parens greets her as the celebrant enters the chapel, and with graceful polyphony sets the jubilant tone for the rest of the ceremony.

Composer Info

Pierre de la Rue

CD Info

Channel Classics CD # CC72877