MENU — TRACKLIST p.4 ENGLISH p.8 FRANÇAIS p.21 ESPAÑOL p.31 DEUTSCH p.41 Cover illustration: Diego Velázquez, Self-portrait, c. 1640, Valencia, Museo de Bellas Artes © Album / Oronoz / akg images. Booklet illustration: Diego Velázquez, Th e musicians, Berlin, Staatliche Museum. © Album / Oronoz / akg-images Th e excerpts used in this CD have been taken from recordings made by Ricercar between 2008 and 2012; tracks 6-9 have been taken from CDs made by Glossa. Les musiques réunies ici sont issues d'enregistrements réalisés par le label Ricercar entre 2008 et 2012 ; les plages 6 à 9 proviennent d'enregistrement édités par Glossa. VELÁZQUEZ AND THE MUSIC OF HIS TIME CAPPELLA MEDITERRANEA CLEMATIS CHŒUR DE CHAMBRE DE NAMUR Leonardo García Alarcón: direction & organ LA FENICE / Jean Tubéry SYNTAGMA AMICI ENSEMBLE LA ROMANESCA LA REAL CÁMARA Menu Matheo Romero (c. 1575-1637) 1. Entre dos mansos arroyos, romance a 4 6'42 2. Romerico fl orido, folía a 2 3'52 3. ¡Ay, qué muero de zelos!, letrilla a 3 4'31 CAPPELLA MEDITERRANEA Mariana Flores & Capucine Keller: sopranos Fabían Schofrin: counter-tenor Fernando Guimarães: tenor CLEMATIS Stéphanie de Failly: violine Rodrigo Calveyra: recorder & cornet François Joubert-Caillet: treble & bass viol Margaux Blanchard: bass viol Th omas Dunford & Vincent Flückiger: vihuelas Marie Bournisien: harp Th ierry Gomar: percussions Leonardo García Alarcón: direction & organ Fray Bartolomé de Selma y Salaverde (c. 1580/90-after 1638) 4. Canzon prima a doi, Basso e Soprano 5'17 SYNTAGMA AMICI Stéphanie de Failly: violine Jérémie Papasergio: bassoon Angélique Mauillon: harp Jean-Marc Aymes: harpsichord & organ Hernando de Cabezon (1541-1601) 5. Susanna un jur glossado 3'45 Jean-Marc Aymes: harpsichord Juan Hidalgo (1612-1685) 6. Penándose estaba un olmo 1'43 7. ¡Tonate Dios! 2'38 ENSEMBLE LA ROMANESCA * Marta Almajano: soprano José Miguel Moreno: guitar Juan Carlos de Mulder: theorbo Nuria Llopis: harp Paolo Pandolfo: bass viol Tony Milán: harpsichord Anonymous 8. Chacona 2'00 9. Xácaras 2'43 LA REAL CÁMARA** Emilio Moreno & Enrico Gatti: violins Wouter Möller: violoncello Josep Borràs: bassoon Juan Carlos de Mulder: guitar Léon Berben: harpiscord Pedro Estevan: percussion * GLOSSA GCD 920201 ** GLOSSA GCD 920304 Gioseffo Zamponi (1600/10-1662) 10. Ulisse all'Isola di Circe (highlights) 13'11 Sinfonia soave Languisco mi moro (Circe, Ulisse) Amor non resti (Mercurio, Venere) Questa fina a bianca polvere (Circe) Sinfonia Giustissima sentenza (Apollo) Choro di tutti Céline Scheen: soprano (Circe) Furio Zanasi: baritone (Ulisse) Mariana Flores: soprano (Venere) Zachary Wilder: tenor (Mercurio, Apollo) CLEMATIS CHŒUR DE CHAMBRE DE NAMUR Leonardo García Alarcón: direction & organ Francisco Correa de Arauxo (ca. 1576-1654) 11. Tiento y Discurso de segundo tono 5'16 Bernard Foccroulle: organ Matheo Romero (ca. 1575-1637) 12. Magnifi cat a 8 5'11 CHŒUR DE CHAMBRE DE NAMUR LA FENICE Jean Tubéry: direction 13. Intrada para ministrelles 2'46 LA FENICE Jean Tubéry: direction Joan Cererols (1618-1676) 14. Missa de Batalla a 12 (Credo) 10'45 Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599) 15. Pan divino graçioso (Villancico a 4) 2'25 CHŒUR DE CHAMBRE DE NAMUR LA FENICE Jean Tubéry: direction Gaspar Fernandez (ca. 1570-1629) 16. A Belén mi llego, tio 6'26 CAPPELLA MEDITERRANEA CLEMATIS CHŒUR DE CHAMBRE DE NAMUR Leonardo García Alarcón: direction DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ Velázquez is regarded as one of the most renowned artists of all time and Manet even honoured him with the sobriquet Peintre des peintres. Th is notwithstanding, Diego Velázquez has never been the subject of a full-scale retrospective exhibition in France. Th is state of aff airs will be remedied at the Grand Palais in Paris between 25 March and 13 July 2015, with a collaboration between the musée du Louvre, the Réunion des musées nationaux — Grand Palais, the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna and the Prado in Madrid. Th e Prado collection contains Velázquez’s most important works; works on loan to the exhibition include the great Rokeby Venus (National Gallery, London) and the Portrait of Pope Innocent X (Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Rome). Th e exhibition will be organised chronologically, allowing the visitor to follow the development of Velázquez’s art from his fi rst youthful works in Seville onwards. Velázquez was born into a well-off family, one that resided in a city grown wealthy from its trading to the New World. He was apprenticed to a painter who had no great technical skills but whose extensive knowledge of art and of people would serve him well. His ten years of apprenticeship were spent not only in working but in developing and satisfying his deep desire for knowledge of all kinds. His fi rst works, portraits, genre scenes and still lives, demonstrate a naturalistic and picaresque taste with a predilection for dark colours — until the moment, around 1622, when he fi rst became acquainted with the works of Caravaggio. Velázquez was appointed as court painter to Philip IV in 1623. His advancement had also been encouraged by his own teacher, whose daughter he had married; Velázquez then took up residence at the King’s court in Madrid. As he continued to paint portraits there, his aesthetics began to change and develop, with his early liking for dark colours and Menu emphatic use of form being transformed in a more supple and refi ned style. Th e excellence of the royal art collections, with their many Titians, and his meeting with Rubens, present in the Spanish capital for diplomatic reasons, also contributed to his development. His fi rst sojourn in Italy between 1629 and 1631 gave him the opportunity to further refi ne his extraordinary talent; this period was a defi ning moment in his career. He lightened his palette and demonstrated his mastery of the nude and of the depiction of emotion, as can be seen in the two great masterpieces from this period, Apollo in the forge of Vulcan and Joseph’s Tunic. Both are on display in the Grand Palais. Honours and titles granted to him on his return to Madrid emphasised the prestige of an artist who was also a favoured member of the court; he was made High Usher of the Court, Master of the King’s Wardrobe and then Master of the King’s Bedroom, Superintendent of the Royal Works and more. In his studio in the Alcazar Palace he painted many portraits of members of the royal family; amongst the most modern of these from a technical viewpoint are those of the Infante Balthasar Carlos. Certain of his eff ects, the uneven surface and treatment of light in particular, seem to herald Impressionism; these touches were to astonish and delight Manet when he saw these paintings on his visit to the Prado in 1865. A second journey to Italy followed in 1649; its offi cial purpose was to purchase statues and paintings for the royal collections, but it also enabled Velázquez to seek fresh inspiration. He was appointed a member of the Accademia di San Luca, a notable honour, and painted the well-known portrait of Pope Innocent X some months later. Prestigious precedents for such a work had already been created by Raphael and Titian, although Velázquez won the admiration of all with the portrait’s realism and powerful shaping. Th e contemporary painters Francis Bacon and Yue Minjun were both fascinated by this image of the Pope and took inspiration from it to create their own astonishing works. Velázquez returned to Madrid in 1651. His fi nal years saw his ennoblement by the king after undergoing the customary limpieza de sangre investigations; these were also the years during which he created some of his most renowned paintings, including Th e Maids of Honour and Th e Spinners. A certain number of artists followed his stylistic lead at that time and were known as the Velázquezians; they included his son-in-law and pupil Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo, himself a skilled artist. Beyond the some 120 paintings that he is known to have created, some of which are quite recent attributions, Velázquez himself remains an enigma. No letters or other documents written by him are known to have survived. We would therefore do well to visit the Grand Palais so that, if only for a moment, we can taste the same pleasure that Philip IV must also have experienced while contemplating these masterpieces. MUSIC IN THE TIME OF VELÁZQUEZ When we think of music in Spain our thoughts inevitably turn to the renowned Siglo de Oro, the Spanish Golden Age, the period during which, as a result of the Age of Discovery, Spain had become one of the most powerful economic and political powers in Europe. Spanish music underwent considerable development during the entire 16th century; a great number of people left their mark upon it, the most important of these being Cristobal de Moralès (ca. 1500-1553), Francisco Guerrero (1527-1599) and Tomas Luis de Victoria (ca. 1548/50-1611). All three enjoyed careers as composers of sacred music, although none of them were ever members of the musical establishment of the Spanish court; these places were all fi lled by Flemish musicians and composers. Th is state of aff airs dated back to the time when Charles V became king of Spain in 1517 and took up residence in Madrid, bringing his own musical establishment with him. Th is is the fi rst recorded mention of the Capilla fl amenca that would share the task of providing music for the Court’s religious services with the Capilla española, although the latter’s role would become less and less over the years. Th e recruitment of musicians and singers from the Low Countries for the Capilla fl amenca was a regular phenomenon for several decades.