Utendal & De Monte: Music from the Lowlands

Program: #08-42   Air Date: Oct 06, 2008

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All of the music on this program is from a recording co-sponsored by the University of Leuven (where it was recorded) and the Ministry of Flemish Community (Vlaamse Gemenschap). It features the Capilla Flamenca and Oltremontano ensembles directed by Bart Demuyt. (Passacaille enhanced CD 937). For information on the disc:

[email protected]

Phillipe de Monte (1521-1603) was raised in Mechelen, where he was a choirboy at St. Rombout. After a stint in Italy, he was associated with the Hapsburg court of Philip II, traveling to England with Philip for the marriage to Mary Tudor. He was employed by the Hapsburg Emperor Maximilian II, and spent the rest of his live in service to the Austrian court.

Alexander Utendal (c.1540 - 07/05/1581), was probably born in Ghent, also serving the house of Hapsburg for most of his life. From 1553 to 1558 he was a choirboy of the chorus at the court of Mary of Hungary, and from 1564 to 1567 he was a singer at the court of Archduke Ferdinand II, initially in Prague, and from 1567 to 1572 in Innsbruck. In the Innsbruck court chapel Utendal instructed the choristers, and from 1572
he was appointed deputy Chapel Master succeeding Jakob Regnart (1540-1599), a position he held until his death Due to his position, Alexander Utendal wrote mainly church music (published in several collections in Nuremberg, many dedicated to his master/patron Archduke Ferdinand).

--UTENDAL: Infima contemptum pariunt ("The humblest things provoke only contempt:")

--de MONTE: Tulerunt Dominum meum ("They have taken away my Lord")

--de MONTE: Beata es Virgo Maria ("Blessed are you, Virgin Mary")

--UTENDAL: Fratres expurgate ("Brethren, purge out the old leaven")

--de MONTE: O mitissime Jesu ("O most gentle Jesus")

--UTENDAL: Adeste dolori meo: ("Stand by me in my pain, O God")

--de MONTE: Si ambulavero in medio tribulationis ("Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me")

--UTENDAL: Plangent eum quasi unigenitum ("They shall lament him as a first-born")

--UTENDAL: Mors tua, mors Christi ("Your death and the death of Christ")

--de MONTE: Pulchra es et decora ("Beautiful and graceful you are, Daughter of Jerusalem")

--UTENDAL: In principio erat Verbum ("In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God")

Composer Info

Phillipe de Monte (1521-1603), Alexander Utendal (c.1540 - 07/05/1581),

CD Info

Passacaille enhanced CD 937