Vinum et Musica - Songs & dances from Nuremberg sources (15th & 16th century) by Capella de la Torre / Dominique Visse

Various composers

Capella de la Torre / Dominique Visse

Vinum et Musica - Songs & dances from Nuremberg sources (15th & 16th century)

Price: € 12.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917254426
Catnr: CC 72544
Release date: 30 March 2012
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917254426

Catalogue number
CC 72544

Release date
30 March 2012

"This is an attractive and unpredictable anthology. [...] highly recommended."

Early Music Review, 01-6-2012

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Five hundred years ago no one would have had to argue long about the image and significance of Nuremberg. The city was the intersection of numerous trade routes, housed the imperial regalia, was the germ cell of German humanism. A musical tour through what was then the centre of Europe –Dominique Visse and the Capella della Torre are embarking on no less a venture on this CD. They takes us back to an epoch around 1500, a date always regarded as the heyday of the free imperial city. A guided tour might have started then (as now) up at the Kaiserburg, Nuremberg Castle, the emblem of Nuremberg. Actually a relic of the Early Middle Ages, the castle was still used for military purposes until the Thirty Years War. Probably there were quite a few mercenaries in it humming the song L’homme armé, one of the most popular melodies ever of early modern times, heard here in what is possibly the earliest version by Robert Morton. It warns of the “armed man” and calls on men to don their armour. At the same time, Nuremberg Castle was also residence until 1571 of all kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire when they stopped on their itineraries in “Noris” (an allegorical name for the city and its region). The state motet printed in Nuremberg Fortitudo Dei regnantis in praise of the Polish king Sigismund I was composed to mark this.

The musical tour goes on down from the castle to the spacious Marktplatz and further, Visse and his Capella della Torre take the listener by the hand...

The ensemble of the Capella de la Torre corresponds more or less exactly to that of the Nuremberg town pipers of the era: shawm, bombard and bass, augmented with trombone and cornett (zink). Documented for the first time in 1384, the town pipers played at church services, municipal council sessions, at weddings and carnival processions and became so famous that in the sixteenth century they represented Worms and Bamberg as well as Nuremberg at the annual ratification of the tariff and customs privileges in Frankfurt.

Een muzikale tour door het middeleeuwse Nuremberg
Vijfhonderd jaar geleden zou niemand getwijfeld hebben aan het imago en het belang van Nuremberg. De stad was namelijk een knooppunt van meerdere handelsroutes, huisveste de kroonjuwelen en was een kiemcel voor het Duitse humanisme. Dominque Visse en het Capella de la Torre nemen ons mee op een muzikale tour door de stad die vroeger het centrum van Europa was. Zij spelen muziek uit 1500, toen de stad haar hoogtijdagen vierde. De tour begint bij het kasteel van Nuremberg, met muziek van onder andere Robert Morton en Arnold von Bruck en gaat via de kerkelijke muziek van onder andere Salomone Rossi en Josquin des Prez naar de lager gelegen markt met muziek van onder andere Brüder Hess en Guillaume Dufay. Langs verschillende werken nemen Visse en zijn Capella de la Torre de luisteraar bij de hand.

Het ensemble van de Capella de la Torre komt ongeveer overeen met dat van de Nurembergse stadsblazers uit de 15e en 16e eeuw: een schalmei, een bombarde en een bas, versterkt met trombone en de zink. De stadsblazers zijn voor het eerst gedocumenteerd in 1384. Zij speelden tijdens kerkbijeenkomsten, gemeenteraden, trouwerijen en carnavalsoptochten en werden zo bekend dat ze in de 16e eeuw naast Nuremberg ook Worms en Bamberg representeerden bij de jaarlijkse bekrachtiging van belasting en privilegeregelingen in Frankfurt.

Het doel van de Capella de la Torre is de luisteraars een directe ervaring geven van het rijke − hiervoor vergeten − repertoire uit de middeleeuwen en de renaissance. De groep is gespecialiseerd in oude muziek, gespeeld op historische instrumenten, met name de luide blaasinstrumenten zoals de traditionele stadsblazers. Vandaag de dag zijn er weinig ensembles die zich richten op historische dubbelrietinstrumenten. Dominique Visse is een van de bekendste solisten in de wereld van barokopera. Hij heeft in deze opera's onder andere samengewerkt met René Jacobs, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Ton Koopman en Robert King. Hij treed nu al enkele jaren op met het Capella de la Torre.

Klingende Stadtführung durch Nürnberg.

Dominique Visse und die Capella de la Torre unternehmen nicht Geringeres als eine abwechslungsreiche klingende Stadtführung durch Nürnberg. Sie versetzen uns zurück in die Epoche um 1500, die bis heute als Blütezeit der freien Reichsstadt gilt. Vom feucht-fröhlichen Trinklied bis zum Söldnerlied L’homme armé, vom Kaddish eines Salomone Rossi bis zu Motetten von Josquin Desprez ist alles dabei. Die Besetzung der Capella de la Torre entspricht dabei ziemlich genau jener der damaligen Nürnberger Stadtpfeifer: Schalmei, Pommer und Bass, erweitert um Posaune und Zink. 1384 erstmals bezeugt, spielten die Stadtpfeifer im Gottesdienst, zu Ratssitzungen, auf Hochzeiten und Faschingsumzügen.

Artist(s)

Capella de la Torre

Capella de la Torre is a group of musicians who have made a name for themselves as specialists in historical performance practice. The ensemble's aim is to give listeners an immediate experience of the rich and hitherto neglected repertoire of mediaeval and renaissance music by performing it to a professional standard.
The name "de la Torre" has a double meaning. In the first place, it pays homage to the Spanish composer Francisco de la Torre, who wrote his "Danza Alta" at the beginning of the 16th century. This is probably the most famous piece for what was then known as "capella alta", an ensemble of wind instruments such as shawms, dulcians, sackbuts and cornetti. Capella de la Torre has specialized in music written for the "capella alta". Secondly, the name may be taken in a literal sense: "de la Torre" means "from the tower" and groups of wind players (Spanish: ministriles) often played on towers or balconies at festivals and other official occasions. "Torres de los Ministriles" are still to be found in many Spanish towns today.
Capella de la Torre does not confine itself to Spanish music, however, but also plays music written throughout the rest of Europe for the "hauts instruments" or "loud instruments". In general, it tries to breathe life into the old traditions of "ministriles", "piffari" and "Stadtpfeiffer".
In the music world of today there are very few ensembles centred around historical double-reed instruments. This is particularly so in Germany.

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Katharina Bäuml

Katharina Bäuml, born in Munich, studied modern oboe with Klaus Becker, Hanover, Rainer Herweg, Hamburg, and Winfried Liebermann, Mannheim. As part of her specialist studies of early music and historically informed performance, she subsequently took up the Baroque oboe, working with Renate Hildebrand (Hamburg) and Katharina Arfken (Basel). In master classes with Ku Ebbinge, Alfredo Bernardini, Paul Dombrecht, Bruce Haynes et al., she specialised in music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Katharina Bäuml teaches in Berlin and gives master classes at the universities in Geneva, Hanover and Lübeck. She is the leading European interpreter of her generation on her special instrument, the shawm Katharina Bäuml founded her ensemble “Capella de la Torre” in 2005, which guests at renowned festivals such...

Katharina Bäuml, born in Munich, studied modern oboe with Klaus Becker, Hanover, Rainer Herweg, Hamburg, and Winfried Liebermann, Mannheim. As part of her specialist studies of early music and historically informed performance, she subsequently took up the Baroque oboe, working with Renate Hildebrand (Hamburg) and Katharina Arfken (Basel). In master classes with Ku Ebbinge, Alfredo Bernardini, Paul Dombrecht, Bruce Haynes et al., she specialised in music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Katharina Bäuml teaches in Berlin and gives master classes at the universities in Geneva, Hanover and Lübeck. She is the leading European interpreter of her generation on her special instrument, the shawm Katharina Bäuml founded her ensemble “Capella de la Torre” in 2005, which guests at renowned festivals such as the “Tagen Alter Musik Regensburg”, the “Innsbrucker Festwochen”, “Laus Polyphoniae”, “Oude Muziek”, “Musique et Memoire”, “La Folia” and “Festival de Musica Antigua de Malaga”.
Katharina Bäuml has also had a special interest since 2010 in contemporary music. A CD released in autumn 2011 on the Genuin label presents seven new compositions for her duo “Mixtura” (founded together with the accordionist Margit Kern). Brice Pauset is at present composing a major work for Capella de la Torre and the ensemble recherche.

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Hildegard Wippermann

Annette Hils

Dominique Visse

Dominique Visse started his singing career in the choir of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. In 1978 he formed the Clément Janequin ensmble and with them made ground-breaking recordings of French polyphony and chansons of the sixteenth century. A year later, he became a founding member of Les Arts Florissants. Ever since the early eighties, Dominique Visse has been one of the best known soloists in the world of Baroque opera – he has worked here with René Jacobs, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, William Christie, Alan Curtis, Nicholas McGegan, Christophe Rousset, Ivor Bolton and Robert King, and has performed in a great number of opera houses, including Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Lausanne, Montpellier, Houston, Barcelona and Munich. Besides his activities as...

Dominique Visse started his singing career in the choir of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. In 1978 he formed the Clément Janequin ensmble and with them made ground-breaking recordings of French polyphony and chansons of the sixteenth century. A year later, he became a founding member of Les Arts Florissants.
Ever since the early eighties, Dominique Visse has been one of the best known soloists in the world of Baroque opera – he has worked here with René Jacobs, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, William Christie, Alan Curtis, Nicholas McGegan, Christophe Rousset, Ivor Bolton and Robert King, and has performed in a great number of opera houses, including Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Lausanne, Montpellier, Houston, Barcelona and Munich.
Besides his activities as music director of the “Clément Jannequin” ensemble, Dominique Visse also sings contemporary music. He gives solo recitals, with a repertoire ranging from Dowland to Schubert, Offenbach and Satie, and to Berio. He has made more than 50 CDs, many of them for the “Harmonia Mundi” label.
Dominique Visse has been associated with “Capella de la Torre” for several years.

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Detlef Reimers

Klaus Eichhorn

William Dongois (conductor)

Composer(s)

Adrian Willaert

Adrian Willaert can be viewed as pivot point between the late Renaissance and the early Baroque. Born in Bruges, he soon moved to Italy for his education. There, he worked for a short period in Ferrara to eventually settle in Venice, where he worked until his death for the St Mark's Basilica - a period of over 34 years. Besides his activities as a musician and a composer, he also educated a unique group of talented students, among which Cipriano de Rore and Costanzo Porta. A central part of his body of works is the large number of motets, especially the influential collection Musica nova, published in 1559. A few years before, he already caused a stir with polyphonic compositions for each of the seasons (like the vespers), in which hymnes for the whole Ecclesial year could be found. This focus on the seasons is remarkbable for his age, in which composers mostly focused on composing missas. Willaert also played an important part in the development of the instrumental ricercare. Moreover, he was also an important predeccesor to the rich polyphonic choral tradition of Venice.

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Josquin Desprez

The fact that Josquin Desprez would turn out to be one of the most influential composers of the Renaissance, is partly due to the many praises by Martin Luther. Luther saw Josquin's music as the perfect example of how to express text musically while maintaining the intended meaning. If you listen to Josquin's music, you will know what Luther meant. His motets are particularly appealing and engaging. His popularity led a large number of publishers to publish music with Josquin's name on it, even though it wasn't composed by him at all, as this would undoubtedly generate better sales. Unfortunately, this meant that nowadays it is not always clear which works are written by him, and which are not... His authentic works,...

His popularity led a large number of publishers to publish music with Josquin's name on it, even though it wasn't composed by him at all, as this would undoubtedly generate better sales. Unfortunately, this meant that nowadays it is not always clear which works are written by him, and which are not... His authentic works, however, can be distinguished by their remarkable clarity, ingenuity and depth. Some highlights are his motets Miserere mei, Stabat Mater, his famous Ave Maria, Ut Phoebi Radiis, and his lamentation after the death of Johannes Ockeghem (La Déploration).

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Ludwig Senfl

Guillaume Dufay

Ever since his death, Dufay has been considered as one of the greatest composers of the 15th century. In his life as a composer and singer Dufay, like many others, traveled throughout Europe, yet he stayed most of his years in Cambrai, France. At an early age, Dufay already showed remarkable talent and on his fourteenth he received the necessary support, and expensive presents, from the local cathedral. He would never pursue an academic education, but he knew how to obtain good positions within the Church. Dufay composed in all the important genres of his age, from grandiose motets and intimate chansons to sacred, liturgical music. Dufay's style is surprisingly consistent and there is little development within his body of works....

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