Stefano BERNARDI (1577 - 1637)
Motetti in cantilena a quattro voci
Sonata VI in sinfonia [2:12]
Nativitas gloriosae [1:45]
Benedictus Deus [2:13]
Estote fortes [1:17]
O pretiosum [2:08]
Sonata III [1:43]
Haec dies [1:29]
Gaudeamus omnes [1:27]
Super omnia [1:38]
Exultate iusti [2:01]
Sonata IV [1:40]
Voce mea [2:08]
Isti sunt [1:27]
Hodie Christus [2:17]
Invocavi [2:25]
Sonata V [1:50]
In te Domine [2:31]
Viri Sancti [1:55]
Anima nostra [2:29]
Salvum me fac [1:50]
Sonata II [1:37]
Paratum cor meum [3:06]
Cum jucunditate [2:04]
Osculetur me [2:05]
Gustate et videte [2:10]
Sonata I [1:26]
Ensemble Cantimbanco/Roberto Balconi
rec. November 2011, Salone Barbara, Palazzo Vescovile, Monteforte d'Alpone,
Verona, Italy. DDD
TACTUS TC 570201 [50:40]
The aesthetic changes which took place in Italy around 1600 had a lasting
influence on the course of music history. In secular music the monodic principle
as propagated by Giulio Caccini was soon adopted. In sacred music it took
a little while until it was applied. Some composers were quick to compose
music in the stile nuovo, although most continued to write in the stile
antico as well. Among the earliest exponents of the monodic style in sacred
music were Ludovico da Viadana, Giovanni Croce and Giovanni Francesco Anerio.
The little-known Stefano Bernardi also belongs to this echelon; his Motetti
in cantilena a quattro voci which are recorded here complete, were printed
in 1613.
Bernardi was born in Verona and was a singer in its cathedral. He spent some
time in Rome in order to improve his musical skills. For some time maestro
di cappella in one of Rome’s churches, he returned to Verona in
1611. He was appointed maestro di cappella of the cathedral and maestro
di musica at the Accademia Filarmonica. He remained there until 1622.
In his later years he moved to Salzburg where he participated in the creation
of the music for the consecration of the cathedral in 1628.
His output includes a treatise on counterpoint and a number of collections
of sacred and secular music. Among them is op. 5 which is the subject of this
disc. The title needs some explanation. The word cantilena also appears
in the title of a publication by Croce, Sacrae cantilene concertate
which was printed posthumously in 1610. Marco Materassi, in his liner-notes,
explains: "In this case, cantilena indicates a particular application
of the concerto style consisting in the alternation of solo episodes (for
one or more voices) and sections of 'ripieno', for the most part acting
as a ritornello". This way the composers - Croce and Bernardi - link up with
the Venetian cori spezzati principle. The soli are the first choir,
the tutti the second. In Bernardi's motets and psalms we hear a constant
alternation of episodes for solo voices and tutti passages. The latter are
sometimes supported by the instruments, playing colla voce but also
adding ornaments to the various vocal lines.
The collection comprises twenty vocal pieces, on texts from the Bible - mostly
the book of Psalms - and liturgical and traditional texts. In addition there
are six instrumental items, referred to as canzoni on the title page,
but called sonate in the partbooks. They are for all sorts of instruments;
here they are played on cornetts and sackbuts, the main instruments in ecclesiastical
music at the time.
The raison d'être of the monodic principle was attention to the
text and its expressive qualities. In this respect Bernardi's motets fail
to make a lasting impression. Some of them are rather good - for instance
Paratum cor meum - and now and then one notices some eloquent text
expression - such as battaglia figures in Estote fortes. On
the whole though I was not impressed by these compositions. The performance
doesn’t help either: the singers all have very nice voices which are
perfectly suited to this repertoire. However, dynamically what we hear is
rather flat and there is far too little ornamentation. The instruments playing
with the tutti add more ornaments than the singers. The delivery should also
be of a more declamatory character, in line with the ideals of Caccini. The
best parts are the tutti episodes in the vocal items. The sonatas are also
nicely played.
It seems to me that this is a disc for those who have a more than average
interest in the music of this period in history. It sheds light on an intriguing
aspect of early 17th-century liturgical music. The booklet omits the lyrics;
they can be downloaded from the Tactus site, but it only offers Italian translations.
The sources of the texts are given, and one may find a number of them on the
internet, with an English translation.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
Bernardi's motets fail to make a lasting impression here.
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