Amazingly and uniquely we know the exact date and venue for the
first performance of this mass: 14 October 1487 at 7pm in the
church of Sint Jacobskerk in Bruges. We know this because the
mass was a commission for that day from the wealthy widow of a
Bruges fur merchant who had died in exile four years earlier.
Her name was Adriene de Vos and her later husband was Donnas de
Vos. They had also commissioned an altarpiece for the church.
The city of Bruges’ patron saint has the same name: Donatian or
Donatiano, who was Bishop of Rheims in the 4
th Century.
His relics remain in Bruges.
The style of the mass is unusual for Obrecht and it seems that
the work may be homage to Ockeghem. For the Hosanna section of
the Sanctus, at the moment when the host is raised, Obrecht quotes
a complete chunk of Ockeghem’s ‘Missa Ecce Ancilla’ (The handmaid
of the Lord). Perhaps that is how Adriene then saw herself. The
entire work is smooth, gentle - the Gloria opens with a meditative
section for just two voices - and suitably elegiac. Obrecht’s
usual style is often nervous and busy but here he is quite restrained.
Rob C. Wegman in his brilliant book on Obrecht, ‘Born for the
Muses’ (Oxford, 1994) comments on page 170 “... what remains is
a mass which is so uncharacteristic of Obrecht that one would
scarcely have suspected his authorship without the manuscript
attribution.” Later he writes: “His guiding principles seem to
be restraint and good behaviour”. It is a multiple-cantus-firmus
mass and the audio CD has what it calls ‘bonus tracks’ of the
four plainchants and the popular tune used by the composer. Some
like ‘O sanctissime presul’ are suitable – the matins response
for the feast of St. Donatiano. Another is ‘O Clavis David’ for
Advent and another, a secular song ‘Gefft den armen gefangen (Give
alms unto the poor)’. These texts are given in the booklet and
translated as they appear in the mass setting. The reasoning behind
these chants is given in the accompanying DVD.
This second disc is, quite unusually, a reconstruction of the
mass on DVD, shot in the Gilleskirk which, on my walking tour
of Bruges last year (2008), I seem somehow to have missed. The
film demonstrates that the seven male singers stand around and
sing from the large wooden music-stand on which the grand choir-book
rests. The polyphony is directly by one, the plainchant by another,
both men at the front. The three clergy, who also intone the lectios
(biblical readings) and other sections of the mass are situated
a little distance away in a side chapel. They stand in front of
a reredos of the deposition of Christ by one of those, probably
anonymous, Flemish primitivist painters - part of the picture
is reproduced in the booklet. The scene is very like that depicted
in a familiar miniature of Johannes Ockeghem leading the performance
of one of his masses. What is impressive about Capella Pratensis
is that none of them, despite the candle-light, seem to need to
wear spectacles as Ockeghem does. It was this fact that made me
suspect that they might be miming but I eventually decided that
I was probably wrong; or perhaps they wear contacts!
The Sint Jacobkerke was not chosen for the recording as it is
now rather Baroque and vast. The DVD was shot in the Sint Gilliskerk
but the organ was recorded elsewhere – in Hattem.
The sound reproduction, so often the bane of the DVD, is really
very natural and pleasing apart from three or four moments of
distortion. The ‘service’ includes a few sections not on the audio
disc like the Lectios. The texts are not offered in the otherwise
very thorough accompanying booklet. The audio disc has the melodies
of the
cantus firmus as mentioned above. The donor is occasionally
glimpsed following the service in breviary or book of hours. The
camera sometimes shows us the plainchant in the manuscript whilst
it is sung but never the polyphony which is rather a pity. The
mass is broken up with organ improvisations by Wim Diepenhorst
which stylistically sound perfectly consistent with the later
15
th century.
This disc also comes with a fascinating documentary showing some
lovely footage of Bruges. It consists of a conversation between
Professor Jennifer Boxam who works at Williams College, Massachusetts
and Stratton Bull, Artistic director of Capella Pratensis. They
discuss the background to the mass and give us a guided tour of
the Jacobskerk including the (ruinous) chapel which was the Vos
Chantry Chapel. We also see the original manuscript. There is
a brief biography of Obrecht’s troubled life. Later we hear the
singers in rehearsal using a reproduction manuscript and talking
about the way they work with it.
With this album I begin to feel that Obrecht is receiving the
respect he so deserves. I am now even more convinced of his towering
genius a view also shared by Rob Wegman.
I would like to end by pointing you in the direction of some other
Obrecht mass recordings which might be of further interest and
which I especially admire:-
Missa Maria Zart –Tallis Scholars (Gimell 32)
Missa Caput –Oxford Camerata (Naxos 8.553210)
Missa Sub Tuum Praesidium confugimus – Clerkes Group (ASV Gaudeamus
341)
Missa Malheur me bat – Clerkes Group (ASV Gaudeamus 171)
This is a fine project, superbly carried out, beautifully presented
and wonderfully performed with a perfect blend of understanding
and unanimity. In addition we are offered a rare insight into
composer, place and performers with a beautifully shot and presented
DVD. I advise you to buy it instantly. Outstanding.
Gary Higginson
Capella Pratensis/Stratton Bull, Peter Van Heyghen 
FINELINE
CLASSICAL FL72414 [363:13] 
