Masters from Flanders

This set of 10 CDs offers a representative anthology of polyphonic compositions dating from the 15th and 16th centuries, a time when the Low Countries by the Sea played a major part in Western European music. Far across the borders the Fiamminghi were trendsetters in composition, singing and music tuition. They marked both religious and secular polyphonic music with their personal stamp, setting the norm internationally and finding followers everywhere. Kings, princes and dukes, popes, cardinals and bishops vied with each other in attracting the best Flemish polyphonists at their prestigious Renaissance courts. Unique and dazzlingly illuminated manuscripts as well as more mass-produced music prints ensured a wide distribution of the highly-praised art of these Flemings. Their virtuosic composition techniques were legendary. In a European context, their music's expressive power became one of its strongest assets. Through its intrinsical musical qualities and incomparable expressive power, Renaissance polyphony can also lead listeners of today to an aesthetic experience of the highest calibre. Unfortunately we were not able to include all the song texts with English translation inside the booklet. We have made those available for download on this website. Adriaan Willaert and Italy When Adriaan Willaert, a Fleming who lived from c.1490 to 1562, was appointed maestro di cappella of St. Mark’s in Venice in 1527, that city had already acquired European fame as cradle of polyphonic music printing, but it was not yet the leading centre of an international music culture. This happened during Willaert’s 35 years as leader of the vocal ensemble there. A group of likeminded pupils was formed around him, mainly Italians and Flemings, known as the Venetian School. Willaert’s efforts in promoting instrumental music were also rewarded. In Naples, for example, the madrigalist Giovanni de Macque – as organist – wrote valuable keybord music (canzonas, cappricios), in which the counterpoint referred to vocal music. Philippe Rogier and Spain From emperor Maximilian I onwards, the Habsburg courts were first-class centres of music where Flemish polyphonists found ideal working conditions. Charles V, the first representative of the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, had his own capilla flamenca, consisting exclusively of Flemings. His son and successor as king of Spain, Philip II, inherited this excellent t group of singers and composers. His successive maestros de capilla were Nicolas Payen, Pierre de Manchicourt, Jean de Bonmarché, Gerard van Turnhout, Georges de la Hèle and Philippe Rogier. Orlandus Lassus Lassus’s European fame stems partly from his versatility, and partly from the high quality of his work. He is generally known as the composer of some recurring ‘hits’, however these are youthful exercises and they do not reveal the real Lassus. He was perfectly at home in all genres of vocal music which he enriched with a lot of immortal masterpieces. Apparently he was able to adapt himself effortlessly to any language. He was unequalled in his emphatic approach to texts and a master in bringing words and music together. 16th Century Songs and Dances from Flanders The year 1551 is a memorable date in the history of Flemish music. That is when the Antwerp music publisher Tielman Susato published three music books (Musyck boexkens), two with polyphonic love songs in Dutch and one with instrumental dance music. Together with some later publications by Jacob Baethen in Maastricht and by Pierre Phalèse in Leuven (Louvain), they form the main source for this vocal and instrumental repertoires in the Southern Low Countries. The anthology of songs and dances recorded here offers a varied and fascinating picture of the 16th century bourgeois musical culture. Among the notable exceptions in the irresistible song by Pierre de la Rue, Mijn hert altijt heeft verlanghen, a melancholic courtly song that has survived Margaret of Austria’s famous chansonnier. Philippus de Monte and the Habsburgers The most dedicated patrons of Flemish polyphony during the 16th century were without doubt the Habsburgs. Both the Austrian and the Spanish branches of the family recruited their maîtres de chapelle and their singers from the Low Countries. Charles V and later Philip II had their own special ’capilla flamenca’. The Austrian emperors – from Ferdinand I who succeeded his brother Charles V in 1556 to Matthias II who inherited the throne in 1612 – invariably chose misicians from the Southern Netherlands to lead their Kapelle. Their places of recidence were Vienna and Prague, while archduke Ferdinand II, emperor Maximilian’s brother, also kept a Kapelle in Innsbruck, again with a Flemish polyphonist as Kapellmeister. Nicolaas Gombert and the Court of Charles V Laying aside the politics of Charles V and Philip II in the Low Countries, one charasteristic pleading in their favour was their great love for Flemish polyphony. Two figures at the centre of Charles V’s court were Nicolas Gombert and Thomas Crequillon. Gombert’s generation witnessed the growth of music printing internationally. Flemish as well as foreign publications, including Venetian, helped to distribute their music. It is not surprising therefore that Gombert’s influence was far from limited to the Low Countries and Spain. In Rome, for example, Palestrina was also impressed by the brillant contrapuntal interplay of lines displayed in Flemish polyphony, which was once more felt to set the norm for the further evolution of 16th century music. Isaac, Obrecht, de la Rue Heinrich Isaac, ‘de Flandria’ can be considered the founder of Flemish polyphony in Germany. Starting as a singer in Florence, where he was in close contact with Lorenzo de Medici ‘Il Magnifico’, he was appointes court composer in 1496 to emperor Maximilian I, the political and cultural heir of the Burgundian dukes. Jacob Obrecht of Ghent left numerous polyphonic instrumental arrangements of songs with Flemish texts. His talent is exemplified by the apparent ease with which he composed. Pierre de la Rue takes a position between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ composers of the time, and he was the favourite composer of Margaret of Austria, governess of the Low Countries. The most remarkable quality of these great masters of polyphony is that the most complex technical tours de force never seem to hinder the free development of the melody, whose inexhaustible richness guarantees a restrained expressivity without equal. Josquin des Prez The unequalled artistry of Josquin des Prez (ca.1440-1521) has been compared to that of Michelangelo and it is true that his innovative approach to music opened the doors wide to the Renaissance, to a polyphony ‘cut to human size’, without however throwing overboard all the technical attainments of the past. Polyphonic music remained first and foremost a logical and coherent sound construction but at the same time this world of sound became impregnated with an emotional quality appealing directly to the heart; a quality so far unheard of. Besides many particularly succesful mass cycles, Josquin composed mainly motets and chansons. He was the first composer for whom the motet became the principal genre in religious misic. For those looking for music of very high quality, rich in contrasts, skilfully constructed as well as emotionally convincing, great satisfaction will be found in the music of Josquin des Prez, the ‘princeps musicae’, the first in the art of music. Johannes Ockeghem and France For about forty years, from 1452 until the 1490s, Johannes Ockeghem worked for the French Royal court which had gradually begun to recover after the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453). Josquin des Prez called Ockeghem affectionately ‘Nostre maistre et bon père’ in his famous lament, Nymphes des bois, which he wrote on the death of his admired master. Ockeghem’s total output was not very great, but it was of superior quality. He was unequalled in his mastery of the most complex contrapuntal techniques, but nowhere does this ‘hidden learnedness’ hinder the beauty, the melodic and harmonic richness of his music. Between Ockeghem and Divitis there was a span of over 70 years of polyphonic music making at the French court. Ockeghem was the central figure who imprinted his indelible stamp on music making in France, which was dominated by composers from the Southern Low Countries until far into the 16th century. Guillaume Dufay and Burgundy The Burgundian dukes were fond of music and also prepared to pay for it. Thanks to their support Flemish polyphony was able to flourish, especially in the Southern Low Countries where the rulers of the day liked to stay, as in Bruges for example. It is clear that the stylistic innovations of the first generation of Flemish polyphonists, Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois, did not pass unnoticed by their contemporaries. This representative selection of secular and spiritual works by composers who were closely associated with the Burgundian dukes, but who often also had an international career, clearly demonstrates the exceptional flexibility of the first generations of Flemish polyphonistst who set the norm for most genres of polyphonic music until the end of the 16th century.