ABOUT THE PROGRAMME AND COMPOSERS

Orlande de Lassus (1532 to 1594)                      Prophetiae Sibyllarum

Lassus was an extraordinary and immensely prolific composer of the late Renaissance.  Flemish by birth, but fluent in German, French, Italian and Spanish, he achieved an international reputation initially as a boy singer and then as a versatile composer.  His music varies considerably in style and genres, which gave him unprecedented popularity throughout Europe. In the early 1550’s he was working in Naples where he was discovered by Cosimo de Medici in 1553, who then installed him as maestro di cappella of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, a spectacularly prestigious post indeed for a man only twenty-one years old. However, Palestrina would assume this post a year later, in 1555 after the Duke Albrecht of Bavaria managed to tempt Lassus away to Munich where he stayed for the rest of his life.  

The origins of this singular work are not at all clear, but two experiences may have interested young Lassus sufficiently to compose his Prophetiae.  When he was in Naples between 1549 and 1551, he was living close to the hill and the cave called the “Cumaean Sibyl”. This situation could have served as inspiration for the subject matter and in early 1551 he also had word of Vicentino’s debates in Rome with Vicente Lusitano over the use of chromaticism in music which may have served as an inspiration for his extensive use of the harmonic idiom in this work.  Then during his time in Rome, he will have been reminded of the sibyls by  Michelangelo’s exquisite frescoes in the Vatican. 

The Prophetiae Sibyllarum is a unique collection of twelve motets, each titled after a specific sibylline prophetess, the set being prefaced by a Prologue (Sibyls were prophetesses of Apollo from Greek antiquity). The poetic texts are part of a mediaeval history of literary works that draw a line between prophecies of antiquity and the birth, life and death of Jesus.  The music moves far beyond Lassus’s normal level of chromaticism, evoking the ancient, secret and mysterious influence of the words attributed to the sybils.  The wild chromaticism is not as anachronistic as it sounds to modern ears: it is the by-product of a fashion for such inventive music at the time, motivated largely by the chromatic experiments by Nicola Vicentino and the use of the ancient Greek chromatic tetrachord. 

The poetry adheres to the ancient hexametric schema required of Sibylline utterances. They are largely characterised by unusual syntactical constructions, such as incomplete thoughts, parenthetical insertions and cut-off sentences. This aesthetic is in keeping with the ecstatic character of the utterances and is depicted by Lassus through the highly chromatic, somewhat aurally disjunct harmonic idiom.  What fun!

The movements in 4 voices are performed by varying sets of individual singers and sackbuts.  Follow this link to read the full texts

0   Prologue:  Carmina chromatico quae audis modulata tenore       Polyphonic songs which you hear with a chromatic tenor,

I    Sibylla Persica: Virgine matre satus, pando residebit asello        The son of a virgin mother shall sit on a crook-backed ass,

II    Sibylla Libyca: Ecce dies venient, quo aeternus tempore princeps,       Behold the days will come, at which time the immortal prince,

III   Sibylla Delphica: Non tarde veniet, tacita sed mente tenendum       He shall not come slowly, but this work must be held

IV    Sibylla Cimmeria: In teneris annis facie praesignis, honore       In her tender years, distinguished with beauty, in honour

V     Sibylla Samia: Ecce dies, nigras quae tollet laeta tenebras,       Behold, the joyful day which shall lift the black darkness

VI   Sibylla Cumana: Iam mea certa manent, et vera, novissima verba       Now my most recent words shall remain certain and true

VII  Sibylla Hellespontica: Dum meditor quondam vidi decorare puellam      Once while I was reflecting, I saw him adorn a maiden

VIII  Sibylla Phrygia: Ipsa Deum vidi summum, punire volentem         I myself saw the high God wishing to punish

IX   Sibylla Europaea: Virginis aeternum veniet de corpore verbum     From the body of a virgin shall come forth the pure

X    Sibylla Tiburtina: Verax ipse Deus dedit haec mihi munia fandi,    The truthful God himself gave me these gifts of prophecy

XI   Sibylla Erythraea: Cerno Dei natum, qui se dimisit ab alto,       I behold the son of God, who sent himself from on high

XII  Sibylla Agrippa: Summus erit sub carne satus, charissimus atque,    The highest and dearest shall be born in the flesh,

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina  (1525 to 1594)

Two of the greatest composers of the late 16th century came together briefly in Rome, before Lassus was tempted away in 1554 to Munich leaving Palestrina as the clear candidate for the post of Maestro di Capella at the St John Lateran church in Rome after being disqualified by the pope from his post at Cappella Giulia by being married. 

By this time in 1544 Palestrina was proving exceptional talent in  the development of church and secular music in Europe, especially on the development of counterpoint. His early masses were the first to be published by any native Italian composer.  For various reasons Palestrina found it necessary to revise the styles of polyphony a task in which Orlando de Lassus also played an important role as an adviser in his earlier years;  in later centuries he was regarded as the model of the style.

Motet – Laudate Dominum omnes gentes 1577  

Two four-part choirs sing the motet Laudate Dominum, the well-known Psalm 117 “Praise the Lord all ye people”.  It is based on a series of clear, imitative developments, often of only three main strands that are structurally set off against some passages exchanged between two halves of the choir. The final section is the only place this is significantly altered; having built up the music through a succession of small climaxes, the very final passage opens out into something like a musical epilogue, with the top voices riding high on some strong harmonies.

Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes; laudate eum, omnes populi.
Quoniam confirmata est super nos misericordia ejus, et veritas Domini manet in æternum.
Gloria patri et filio et spiritui sancto, sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum. Amen,

[Praise the Lord, all nations; praise him, all peoples.
Certain is his love and mercy for us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.]

Missa Laudate Dominum omnes gentes  1601

Kyrie – Gloria – Credo - Sanctus – Benedictus – Agnus Dei

Palestrina composed over 105 large scale masses, the first being published in 1554. This exquisite mass based on thematic ideas from his earlier motet in eight voices was published posthumously in 1601 in a compendium “Missae quattuor octonis vocibus concinendae.  It is written in the distinctive style which so impressed later composers who studied the clear counterpoint.  It is a sign of the powerful structure of the composition that J.S.Bach directed a number of Palestrina’s masses in Weimar.  

it is Palestrina's treatment of dissonance which makes such a difference between his works and those of his fellow composer Orlande de Lassus.  While the latter obviously enjoyed creating unusual and unexpected combinations of tones and emphasis, Palestrina always preferred to only stress the strong rhythms of his text on the principal beats and to minimise any minor discordant notes by passing them on the weak beats.

Melchior Vulpius (c.1570-1615)                  Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius a 12

A delightful, if now forgotten composer Melchior Vulpius was very popular in the early 1600s and his compositions spread widely through Europe (and are still performed annually in Finland).  He came from a poor craftsman's family and studied at the local school in Wasungen (in Thuringia).  From 1596 he won the municipal Cantor post at Weimar, remaining there until his death.  

This glorious polychoral setting of Psalm 150 for three choirs is arranged for a high solo choir, a low choir with sackbut support and a third balanced mixed choir.  The pace of the work steadily accelerates to make a satisfying end to the concert.

Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius laudate eum in firmamento virtutis eius.
Laudate eum in virtutibus eius laudate eum secundum multitudinem magnitudinis eius.
Laudate eum in sono tubae laudate eum in psalterio et cithara.
Laudate eum in tympano et choro laudate eum in cordis et organo.
Laudate eum in cymbalis bene sonantibus laudate eum in cymbalis iubilationis.
Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum.

O praise God in his holiness: praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him in his noble acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him in the sound of the trumpet: praise him upon the lute and harp.
Praise him in the cymbals and dances: praise him upon the strings and pipe.
Praise him upon the well-tuned cymbals: praise him upon the loud cymbals.
Let everything that hath breath: praise the Lord.