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T M LINN RECORDS, GLASGOW ROAD, WATERFOOT, GLASGOW G76 0EQ UK E t: +44 (0)141 303 5027/9 f: +44 (0)141 303 5007 e: [email protected] A N JE R S O TY C S ND SAGBUTS A R Philippe ogier (c. 1561~1596) .................. 5.53 1 Motet: Domine Dominus noster directed by PHILIP CAVE Missa Domine Dominus noster ≈ HIS MAJESTYS SAGBUTS AND CORNETS ≈ ..................................................................................... 2.01 2 Kyrie eleison R ........................................................................ 5.16 3 Gloria in excelsis Philippe ogier ................................................................ 8.35 4 Credo in unum Deum ..................................................................................................... 1.41 5 Sanctus ............................................................................................... 2.28 6 Agnus Dei ................................................................................... 3.12 7 Regina Caeli ................................................................. 3.42 8 Laudate Dominum Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/6~1594) ......................... 6.44 9 Motet: Domine in virtute tua R Philippe ogier Missa Domine in virtute tua th th ..................................................................................... 3.25 Recorded at Henry Wood Hall, London from the 13 -15 of June 2009 10 Kyrie eleison Produced and engineered by Philip Hobbs ........................................................................ 4.37 11 Gloria in excelsis Post-production by Julia Thomas, Finesplice, UK ................................................................ 8.35 12 Credo in unum Deum Design by John Haxby ..................................................................................................... 2.05 13 Sanctus Cover image: ............................................................................................... 1.37 14 Agnus Dei The Judgement, detail from the Table of the Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things, .................................................. 6.29 c.1480 (oil on panel) by Hieronymus Bosch, (c.1450-1516) 15 Videntes stellam magi Prado, Madrid, Spain / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library ......................................... 6.51 16 Verbum caro factum est page 2 page 3 (c.1561-1596) antiphonal techniques, and instrumental accompaniment. Although it Philippe Rogier has traditionally been regarded as an essentially Italianate style, there Philippe Rogier was one of many musicians brought from Flanders to serve is ample evidence of a vibrant Spanish tradition of polychoral writing. in the Royal Chapel of King Philip II in Madrid. Rogier began his career in Rogier’s celebrated contemporaries Francisco Guerrero and Tomás Luis Spain as a chorister in 1572, was later ordained priest, appointed vice- de Victoria, and later generations including Sebastián de Vivanco and chapelmaster in 1584, and finally made maestro de capilla in 1586. Sadly, this Juan Bautista Comes, all wrote significant quantities of polychoral music. was all too brief an appointment: Rogier died in February of 1596, at the Furthermore, the participation of instrumentalists in Spanish liturgical age of only 35. music was well established by the late 16th century, and many cathedrals During his short career Rogier composed over 250 works, including mass vied with each other for the best singers and players. settings, motets, chansons and villançicos (Spanish-texted religious works Monastic foundations tended to be more conservative in this regard, and with secular origins). Only about a fifth of Rogier’s compositions has it is less clear what role instrumentalists and polyphonic music played survived: many of his works were lost in the fire at the royal palace in in the day-to-day liturgical life of Philip II’s grand structure at El Escorial. Madrid in 1734; and 243 compositions listed in the library of King João IV The combined monastery, basilica, library, royal palace, seminary and of Portugal were destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Fortunately, mausoleum took over twenty-one years to build and was consecrated Rogier had published a collection of motets in 1595 and assembled several on the Feast of St. Lawrence, 10 August 1586. The King spent lavishly on mass settings ready for printing at the time of his death; these, and his all aspects of El Escorial, including the installation of three large organs other extant works, reveal an extraordinarily talented and versatile young and provision of splendid choir books, yet the founding statutes forbade composer. For someone who died at such an early age, and about whose instrumental participation and polyphonic music, and no professional life very little is known, we are left to speculate how Rogier managed to musicians were employed there during Philip II’s reign. There are, however, achieve a comprehensive grasp of two very different musical styles: one accounts of grand liturgies referring to the joint participation of several characterised by the flowing counterpoint of his Flemish predecessors, musical bodies: for example, the two musical components of the royal and the other demonstrating familiarity with the polychoral idiom popular chapel, the capilla flamenca and the capilla española, were joined by choirs from in Italy at this time. the cathedrals of Ávila and Toledo for major ceremonies. There are also references to the use of cornetas y bajones y sacabuches (cornetts, bassoons Polychoral Music in the Spanish Golden Age and sackbuts) on the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1588. To celebrate the The new compositional styles emanating from Italy during the latter patronal festival of St. Lawrence, the monks were joined by the singers part of the 16th century represented a dramatic shift from the idioms of and instrumentalists of the royal chapel and ‘the sound of instruments the Renaissance, with an increased emphasis on polychoral scoring, and the organs filled the church’. In 1586, Rogier’s contemporary, Francisco page 4 page 5 Guerrero, chapelmaster at Seville Cathedral, wrote guidelines about conceived style. The work opens with a single voice from Choir I intoning ornamentation for his players. Such evidence suggests that this was a what first sounds like a plainsong incipit, but which becomes part of a well-established practice, which the performers on this recording have polyphonic, freely imitative section (‘Regina Caeli laetare, alleluia’). The followed, especially in the repeated refrains of the responsories, which second choir begins the next phrase (‘Quia quem meruisti’) until its provide opportunities for some splendidly festal flourishes. alleluia, where Rogier alternates then expands the setting, culminating with all eight voices singing together. This leads to an exuberant treatment Rogier’s Polychoral Music of ‘Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia’ where Rogier chooses rhythmical, fanfare- As demonstrated in Magnificat’s previous recording of the Missa Ego sum like figures, alternating rapidly between the two choirs. ‘Ora pro nobis’ qui sum, Rogier was clearly at ease writing works in the rich, contrapuntal follows in a more reflective style, before triple-metre alleluias lead the Renaissance style of his native Flemish predecessors, such as Jacobus music to a sonorous close. Rogier’s setting of Psalm 150, Laudate Dominum, Clemens and Nicolas Gombert. What is newly revealed by the works is similar in many ways to Regina Caeli: the psalm setting opens in a rather recorded here is not only Rogier’s mastery of the more transparent style retrospective, imitative style, then there is an almost irresistible response of the Roman School, typified by the music of Palestrina, but also of the to the text as the Psalmist’s trumpets, harps, drums and cymbals make their forward-looking, Baroque writing typical of Venetian composers such as appearance in short antiphonal phrases framed by full, eight-part writing. Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. Contemporaneous documents refer to several polychoral pieces by Rogier: for example, the court music copyist, The Missa Domine Dominus noster exists in two versions: the twelve-part Isaac Bertout, made copies of a twelve-part Magnificat by Rogier, complete setting recorded here, and one for eight voices, both preserved in the library with instrumental parts para los menestrilles (for the minstrels), in 1591. Rogier at El Escorial. It was clearly a popular work as copies are found in Valencia; was certainly familiar with the works of the elder Gabrieli, for amongst the a reduction for five voices is held in the cathedral library at