The court of the Duke
of Bavaria in Munich was one of the
main centres of culture North of the
Alps in the second half of the 17th
century. It had its ups and downs, though:
in 1569 the court had a total of 63
musicians, but in 1581 that number had
shrunk to 17, due to the Duke’s financial
problems. Towards the end of the century
the situation improved again: in 1591
38 musicians were employed there.
The figurehead of the
Bavarian court was Orlandus Lassus,
born in Flanders, trained in Italy,
and appointed singer at the court in
1557. His reputation at the time was
such that he was better paid than the
Kapellmeister, Ludwig Daser. In 1562
Lassus became 'principal of the court
music', a post he held until his death.
It was largely due to Lassus that the
Bavarian court developed into one of
the centres of music in Europe.
"The sequence of music
on this record is imaginatively devised
to represent what might have been heard
at Mass at a festal celebration in Bavaria
around 1600. The feast day is that of
a martyr-bishop, since it is to that
liturgy that the settings of the Proper
items of the Mass by Erbach pertain",
Jerome Roche writes in the booklet.
Christian Erbach was another composer
working in Bavaria: for some time he
was employed by the Fugger family in
Augsburg. After the turn of the century
he became mainly famous for his organ
playing, attracting many pupils from
all over Germany.
The ordinary of the
Mass is Lassus's Missa Bell' Amfitrit'
altera. The name refers to the cantus
firmus which is based on a madrigal
which hasn't been identified yet, but
is probably Venetian. The Mass is written
for two choirs, another reference to
Venice with its 'cori spezzati' practice.
But Lassus doesn't apply the antiphonal
principle in the Venetian manner. It
contains contrasts between several groups
within both choirs rather than a dialogue
between the two choirs.
The other two composers
represented on this disc are also influenced
by the Venetian style. Erbach's keyboard
works are reflecting the style of Venetian
organ composers. Hassler studied in
Venice, and his two twelve-part motets
recorded here are written for three
choirs in the style of Gabrieli: high,
middle and low.
The sackbuts and cornets
play instrumental canzonas, and play
'colla parte' with the singers in Lassus's
Mass and the motets by Hassler. This
was common practice at the Bavarian
court. In 1568 Massimo Troiano, a singer
at the court in Lassus's time, writes
about the use of wind instruments in
Munich: "The wind players played on
Sundays and feast days together with
the singers." Therefore the decision
to use them in this 'festal celebration'
seems logical: there is no reason to
assume that instruments which were available
wouldn't have been used at occasions
like this. The choice of music must
remain partly speculative, of course.
The sources or dates of composition
of the keyboard pieces by Erbach, for
instance, are not given, so I'm not
sure whether all of them date from 1600
or earlier.
It seems there was
a preference at the Bavarian court for
a rather deep, sonorous sound: the number
of trebles in the choir hardly exceeded
that of other sections of the choir.
Most modern choirs of boys and men are
different in that respect, and I assume
the Choir of Westminster Cathedral is
no exception. Therefore the use of sackbuts
(trombones) helps in creating that 'deep,
sonorous sound'. And this choir, with
its robust and strong sound, is excellently
suited to perform this kind of music.
It is impressive to hear, for instance,
how Lassus underlines central elements
in the text of the Mass by setting it
for the complete ensemble - like "resurrectionem
mortuorum" (the resurrection of the
dead) in the Credo - and how well this
is realised in this performance. There
is no reference as to the venue where
this recording was made, but I assume
it is Westminster Cathedral, which has
the right amount of reverberation. The
only thing I'm missing is the sound
of real church organs of the late 16th
or early 17th century, even though the
small organs used here are good and
appropriately tuned.
This is an excellent
recording which gives a good idea of
the splendour at the Bavarian court
at the end of the 16th century. Everyone
who missed disc when first released
should now grasp the opportunity to
acquire its reissue at budget price.
Johan van Veen
The Choir of Westminster Cathedral 
for
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