This episode features extracts from recent recordings of music by two composers from the renaissance.
The first CD is dedicated to Vicente Lusitano. He was born in Portugal and probably received his first music lessons from a representative of the Franco-Flemish school. This would explain the influence of Josquin Desprez and Nicolas Gombert in particular. Lusitano adapted some motets by Josquin by increasing the number of parts. He presumably traveled to Italy at the end of the 1540s; in 1551 a motet book was published there from which the ensemble Arte Minima compiled a programme. After Lusitano converted to Protestantism, he stayed in France and Germany, but nothing is known about the rest of his career.
Vicente Lusitano (c1520-c1561)
1. Praeter rerum seriem a 8
2. O beata Maria a 6
3. Aspice Domine a 6
Arte Minima olv. Pedro Sousa Silva
(cd: “Liber Primus Epigramatum (1551) – Motets in 6 and 8 parts” – Pan Classics PC 10466, 2025)
The second CD takes us to Austria, where Blasius Amon was born in Hall near Innsbruck around 1560. Archduke Ferdinand II resided in that city, and Amon was accepted as a choirboy in his chapel. After his voice broke, he left the chapel and joined the Franciscan Order, studying in various monasteries. After studying in Venice, he became chapel master of the abbey Heiligenkreuz in Vienna. Even though he passed away aged 30, he has left an extensive oeuvre, from which Paul Van Nevel has made his choice.
Blasius Amon (c1560- 1590)
4. Missa pro defunctis a 4
Huelgas Ensemble conducted by Paul Van Nevel
(cd: “Blasius Amon” -deutsche harmonia mundi 19802851022, 2024)
addition:
Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612)
5. Canzon
Manuel Tomadin, organ
(cd: “Complete Organ Music” – Brilliant Classics 95331, 2022)
Picture: cover of the CD with works by Lusitano
