Friday, October 9th, 7.30 pm
qvinta essènçia & lucentum xvi
colored dowland
400th anniversary of John Dowland's death1626-2026
QVINTA ESSENÇIA
Èlia Casanova, soprano
Hugo Bolívar, alto
Marc Garcia, tenor
Pablo Acosta, bass
LUCENTUM XVI
Laia Puig, shawm
Israel García, cornetto
Álvaro Zanón i Laura Ortega, sackbuts
Carles Vallès, recorder and dulcian
Violeta Casado, lute
Pere Olivé, percussion
PROGRAMme
Colored Dowland
400th anniversary of John Dowland's death1626-2026
John Dowland (1563 – 1626)
M. John Langtons Pavan
All people that on earth do dwell, Salm
Clear or Cloudy
The King of Denmaks Galiard & Mr George Whitehead his Almand
I saw my lady weep
Lord hear my prayer, salm Domine exaudi pel funeral de Henry Noell
The Earl of Essex Galiard & Mistresse Nichols Almand
Sorrow Stay
Fain Would I Wed, by Thomas Campion (1567-1620)
Corant & Volta, by Thomas Simpson (1572-1656)
Come Again, Sweet Love
Flow My Tears
Lacrimae Gementes
Can She Excuse My Wrongs?
PROGRAMme notes
Colored Dowland
John Dowland is one of the most iconic musicians of the English Renaissance, and his work reflects the melancholy that pervaded the country at the end of the 16th century. Some scholars believe that this melancholy might have been a strategy aimed against Elizabeth I of England, due to Dowland's conversion to Catholicism while he was in Paris between 1580 and 1584, a move that closed many doors for him in England and forced him to work in other European countries. Between 1594 and 1598 he worked at the royal court of Brunswick and Hesse (Nuremberg). From 1598 he worked for King Christian IV of Denmark until 1606. It was during this period that he published his second book of compositions (1600), in which he introduced the motif of 'tears' that would become his trademark. The program includes the most representative dances of northern Europe, such as pavanes, galliards, and allemandes, which have a more cheerful character and which Dowland would intersperse among his 'Lachrimae'
qvinta essènçia
Qvinta Essènçia explores the interpretation of polyphony, moving away from the path of orthodoxy. Their performances are characterized by a great richness of detail and color, in a dialogue where each of the four voices finds its place within the ensemble, ensuring that the expression of the text and music take center stage. They currently perform a wide variety of programs, all representative of the main composers and styles of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, from Spanish Renaissance music, through the great Italian madrigalists, to Johann Sebastian Bach. Qvinta Essènçia has participated in the programming of some of the most important festivals in Europe: Oude Muziek, the Montfaucon Festival, the Early Music Day in Liège, Torroella de Montgrí, Palau de la Música Catalana, Santander International Festival, Barcelona Early Music Lights, the Juan March Foundation in Madrid, Baroque Music Festival in Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife, among others. In 2019, she released her first musical project, entirely devoted to Luca Marenzio's first book of madrigals. She has recorded the program 'Germanies' with the Capella de Ministrers and, in 2023, released 'El sentir de mi sentido', dedicated to the music and love poetry of the Spanish Golden Age. She has also recorded the soundtrack for 'Teresa', the new film by director Paula Ortíz, and has just recorded 'Maria Magdalene', her third CD dedicated to Spanish sacred music focusing on the figure of Mary Magdalene.
lucentum xvi
Lucentum XVI is a group of minstrels led by Pere Saragossa, formed to perform and promote the rich and varied musical repertoire of the Renaissance. Wind ensembles, known as 'alta capella', spread across towns and cities in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The main role of the minstrels in the liturgy was to accompany vocal music, doubling the voices. In the secular sphere, the alta capella was responsible for performing dances, folk songs, and epic or love pieces of both courtly and popular origin. Among Lucentum XVI's most notable performances are those in Bari and Molfetta, as part of the Anima mea Festival in Apulia (Italy), Vespres Musicals at the Pedralbes Monastery in Barcelona, the Ancient Music Festival of the Pyrenees, the Serenata Festival at the University of Valencia, the Contemplative Music Festival in Santiago de Compostela, and the Ancient and Baroque Music Festival in Peñíscola. In 2021, they released the album 'El Cantoral del Monestir de Santa Maria de la Murta d'Alzira,' about which the specialized press said: 'The performance is absolutely exquisite, finding a perfect balance between the excellent voices and the instruments (...). The album is a gem, both for the performance and for the previously unknown precious polyphony and the accompanying documentation' (Scherzo Magazine, June 2021).
Saturday, October 9, 7pm
Lucentum XVI
Francesc de Borja
Music for the 450th anniversary of his death
Pere Saragossa, shawms and direction
Quiteria Muñoz, soprano; Carla Sanmartín, alto
Jesus Navarro, tenor; Giorgio Celenza, bass
Carlos García-Bernalt, organ
Xavier Boïls, cornetto; Vicent Osca, sackbut; Antoni Lloret, shawms;
Antoni Llofriw, dulzians; Fernando Fernández, lute; Facundo San Blas, percussion
PROGRAMme
francesc de borja
· La Bataille, by Clément Janequin (c.1485-1558), of the Dixiéme livre (Amberes, 1545) of Tielman Susato
· Rondeau «Ce jour», by Guillaume Dufay (c.1397-1474)
· Ave Maris Stella, by G. Dufay / Booksongs of Montecassino (c.1480)
· Miserere Nostri – Vexilla Regis, C. Montecassino
· El cervel mi fa, anonymous of the Booksong of Palacio (c. 1500)
· Susanne un jour, d’Orlando de Lassus (1532-1594)
· Credo in unum Deum of the Mass about Susanne un jour, by Orlando de Lassus.
· Makam Muhayyer «Kúme» usules Düyek Acemler, Turkish war march.
· Passio Domini nostri Iesu Christi secundum Mattheum*, by Jan Nasco (c.1510–1561) and Joan Baptista Comes (c.1582-1643)
*Named as «Passion de Valencia» by Joan Baptista Comes (Escorial Monastery Archive, c.1607)
ABOUT THE GROUP
lucentum xvi
Group of ministers (instrument players) led by Pere Saragossa , created to interpret and spread the rich and varied musical repertoire of the Renaissance. Bands of wind instruments, with the name alta capella , spread throughout cities and towns in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. The main function of the ministers within the liturgy was to accompany the vocal music, dubbing the voices. In the civil sphere, the high chapel was in charge of performing dances, popular songs, and love pieces and epics of courtly and popular origin.
Lucentum XVI's performances include those performed in Bari and Molfetta as part of the Anima mea de la Puglia Festival (Italy), Musical Vespers of the Monastery of Pedralbes, Festival of Ancient Music of the Pyrenees, Serenades Festival of the University of Valencia, Music Festival Antiga de Morella, Clásicos en la Frontera a la Ribagorça, Festival of Contemplative Music of Santiago de Compostela, Festival of Sacred Music of Benicàssim, Festival of Ancient and Baroque Music of Peñíscola.
In 2021 they published their first record work with the title " El Cantoral del Monestir de Santa Maria de la Murta d'Alzira ", a disc of which the specialized critic has said "The execution is absolutely exquisite, full of balance in the excellent voices and the instruments (...). The album is a gem, both for the interpretation and for the unprecedented and beautiful polyphony and for the documentation.» (Manuel de Lara Ruiz, Scherzo Magazine, June 2021).
Programme notes
francesc de borja
This programme comemorates the 450th anniversary of the death of Francesc de Borja i Aragó ( Gandia 1510- Roma 1572) who was Duke of Gandia, Lieutenant of Catalunya, later joining the Jesuit order being proclaimed a Saint in 1671, for which reason the Catholic church is now celebrating the 350th anniversary of this fact.
In this concert we present the premiere in modern times , of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew, a work which Ferran d'Aragó, viceroy of Valencia and Duke of Calabria commisioned from the Flemish composer, Jan Nasco ( 1510-1561) to give as a gift to the Cathedral of Valencia , being known at the time as the Passion of Valencia.
This work is part of the repertoire of the choir of the monastery of Murta d'Alzira, a musical body to which our group has dedicated the first of their albums released earlier this year.
The representation or interpretation of the Passion according to Matthew , where the gospel of this prophet is narrated, took place in the Roman Catholic liturgy during the Mass of Palm Sunday (the following Tuesday was the gospel of Saint Mark, on Wednesday, the gospel of Saint Luke and on Good Friday the gospel of Saint John.).
The main characters of the Passion are Christ, the Evangelist narrator and the crowd, the so-called “mob” played by the whole congregation.
The score for the crowd has not been found in the Monastery of Alzira , so it could have been performed in plain singing or in a now lost poliphony.
But some parts sung by the crowd appear in poliphony for 6 voices originally written by the Valencian Joan Baptista Comes ( chapel master in the Cathedral of Valencia, successor to Josep Prades) which is in the monastery of San Lorenzo d'El Escorial, a Jerónimo monastery, like that of Alzira. And the interventions of the mob, but for 4 voices, appear in a document of 1561 signed by Jan Nasco himself.
Since the Second Vatican Council, held between 1959 and 1962 the singing of the Latin Passion has been replaced in almost all diocese by the reading of the Passion in the vernacular language ( except in our territory where our own language is not used.).
Together with this great work we present among others pieces from the Cancionero de Palacio , the palace of Queen Isabel of Castilla ( the Catholic) and king Ferdinand of Aragón, and the Songbook of Montecasino ( Naples) a collection written in the 1480s which accompanied Alfons and Roderic de Borja to Rome where they became Popes with the names Calixtus lll and Alexander Vl.
