La Petite Bande
Vespro della Beata Vergine
- Type CD+Book
- Label Challenge Classics
- UPC 0608917661323
- Catalog number CC 76613
- Release date 03 October 2008
About the album
Monteverdi’s “Vespro della Beata Vergine” was published in 1610, together with his “Missa in illo tempore”. This edition is his first important collection of music for the Catholic service.
There is much uncertainty about how this “Vespro” came into being. In fact, this is a collection of various pieces which were most likely not conceived together with the goal of creating a self-contained unity; there are for example two Magnificat compositions in a row; of course only one of these should be chosen by the performer.
The manner of performance of this sort of music could vary strongly in the time, even within the prevailing conventions; however, in his 1610 edition, Monteverdi gave many concrete instructions regarding vocal and instrumental setting, which actually makes the choices more limited in this case. In our performance, I have chosen to follow these instructions completely; even if that means for example that some instruments are seldom used. (In fact, this also seems to indicate a certain degree of independence among the musical fragments.) The vocal parts are therefore always in a solo setting, one per part; the ten vocalists each have a specific individual role. A performance with a choir (wherein the parts would be doubled or trebled in the polyphonic pieces) is certainly a possibility – although Monteverdi’s instructions in the score seem to indicate a setting for solo voices, which in my opinion also can facilitate more pronounced and individualized expression.
Consistent with the composer’s instructions about instrumentation, many fragments are accompanied only by the organ. Some fragments indicate precise instrumental combinations, and others have only the summary indication “con stromenti” (“with instruments”, without precise indications about which), or even “con stromenti, si placet” (with instuments, as one wishes); these last two directions require the performer to make his own choices, which is completely in keeping with the spirit of the times.
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11I Domine ad adjuvandum me
02:11 -
12II Dixit Dominus: (Psalm 109)
07:59 -
13III Nigra sum
03:03 -
14IV Laudate Pueri à 8 (Psalm 112)
06:33 -
15V Pulchra es
03:24 -
16VI Laetatus sum (Psalm 121)
07:37 -
17VII Duo Seraphim
05:46 -
18VIII Nisi Dominus à 10 (Psalm 126)
04:45 -
19IX Audi Coelum à 6
07:37 -
110X Lauda Jerusalem (Psalm 147)
04:42 -
21XI Sonata sopra Sancta Maria
06:33 -
22XII Ave Maris Stella à 8
06:53 -
23XIII Magnificat à 7 Magnificat
00:44 -
24XIII Magnificat à 7 Et exultabit
01:19 -
25XIII Magnificat à 7 Quia respexit
01:52 -
26XIII Magnificat à 7 Quia fecit
01:19 -
27XIII Magnificat à 7 Et misericordia à 6
02:12 -
28XIII Magnificat à 7 Fecit potentiam
01:02 -
29XIII Magnificat à 7 Deposuit
01:54 -
210XIII Magnificat à 7 Esurientes
01:32 -
211XIII Magnificat à 7 Suscepit Israel
01:26 -
212XIII Magnificat à 7 Sicut locutus
01:10 -
213XIII Magnificat à 7 Gloria Patri
02:10 -
214XIII Magnificat à 7 Sicut erat
02:05