Program: #23-24 Air Date: Jun 08, 2023
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We have heard the superb Dutch ensemble extensively in the past of the program; this week, the third in a series of recordings dedicated to choirbooks collected in the ensemble’s hometown of ’s-Hertogenbosch, mostly featuring works by Nicholas Champion.
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 3 is CD # CC72879.
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.
The relatively rare Masses that celebrate saints other than the Virgin Mary were usually composed in response to an individual’s or an institution’s particular devotional interest. There is good reason to believe that Nicolas Champion composed his Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena expressly for Margaret of Austria, whose devotion to Mary Magdalene is well known. Champion (c. 1475-1533) worked for the Habsburg-Burgundian chapel from 1501 to 1524; this Mass was probably written between 1507 and 1515.
PLAINCHANT
- Introitus Gaudeamus omnes
NICOLAS CHAMPION (c. 1475-1533)
Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena
- Kyrie
- Gloria
PLAINCHANT - GOTTSCHALK OF AACHEN (fl. 1071-98)
- Sequentia Laus tibi Christe
NICOLAS CHAMPION
Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena
- Credo
PLAINCHANT/ANONYMOUS
- Prefatio
NICOLAS CHAMPION/PIERRE DE LA RUE (c. 1452-1518)
Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena
- Sanctus with Elevation motet O salutaris hostia
PLAINCHANT
- Pater noster
NICOLAS CHAMPION
Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena
- Agnus Dei
PLAINCHANT
- Communio Diffusa est gratia
- Invitatorium Deus in adiutorium
PLAINCHANT/ANONYMOUS
- Antiphon Mundi fastum abdicavit Ps. 112 Laudate pueri
- Antiphon Quando Martha satagebat Ps. 109 Dixit Dominus
- Hymnus Sydus solare
- Antiphon Fidelis sermo - Magnificat
Composer Info
Nicholas Champion (c. 1475-1533), 1GOTTSCHALK OF AACHEN (fl. 1071-98), PIERRE DE LA RUE (c. 1452-1518)
CD Info
CD # CC72879