Le Concert Spirituel

Le Concert Spirituel

When two voices sing their own melodies simultaneously, we speak of polyphony. In the Renaissance, it was understood that with every additional voice, the richness of the music increased – a third, a fourth, a fifth, even a sixth. But what happens when that principle is taken to the extreme? What if as many as forty different voices were to sound simultaneously in a single breathtaking piece?

Around 1566, Alessandro Striggio began this experiment in Florence, commissioned by the Medici. His mass for forty voices grew into a monument: music that left listeners breathless. Striggio took the work on a tour of Europe, where it became a true sensation and inspired numerous fellow composers. Afterwards, the piece, known as the Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno, was lost for a long time.

Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel rescue this magnificent work from oblivion, with singers and instruments. Music by contemporaries such as Orazio Benevolo, Francesco Corteccia and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina deepen the perspective on this polyphony of extremes – a sound that remains just as overwhelming five hundred years later.

Also live on www.emtv.online.

With an introduction by Annelies Andries (19:15 hrs, in Dutch) and a Q&A session (after the concert, in English), both taking place in the Fentener van Vlissingen Foyer (limited capacity)

Programme

• Plainchant

  Procession: Beata viscera

• Orazio Benevoli

  Laetatus sum
  Miserere

  1505-1572
• Francesco Corteccia

  Bonum est confiteri
  Gloria Patri

  1502-1571
• Alessandro Striggio

  Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno
  Kyrie

  c636/37-1592
• Domenico Massenzio

  Ave Regina caelorum

  1586-1657
• Alessandro Striggio

  Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno
  Gloria

• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

  Peccavimus instrumental

  1525/26-1594
• Francesco Corteccia

  Alleluia

• Alessandro Striggio

  Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno
  Credo

• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

  Beata est Virgo Maria instrumental

• Orazio Benevoli

  Magnificat

• Alessandro Striggio

  Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno
  Sanctus
  Benedictus

• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

  Pater noster instrumental

• Domenico Massenzio

  Filiae Jerusalem

• Alessandro Striggio

  Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno
  Agnus Dei I – II – III

• Francesco Corteccia

  Tu puer prophetas altissimi

• Alessandro Striggio

  Ecce beatam lucem
  
  Programme subject to change

Musicians

• Choir I
• Marie-Pierre Wattiez soprano
• Julia Beaumier canto
• Gabriel-Ange Brusson alto
• Edmond Hurtrait, Gauthier Fenoy tenor
• Louis-Pierre Patron baritone
• Emmanuel Vistoky, Geoffroy Buffière bass
• Choir II
• Alice Glaie soprano
• Agathe Boudet canto
• Charles Barbier, Damien Ferrante alto
• Camille Leblond, Cyril Tassin tenor
• Jérôme Collet, Aymeric Biesemans baritone
• Choir III
• Laurence Pouderoux soprano
• Marie Favier canto
• Alice Habellion alto
• Michael Loughlin Smith, Théo Jugie tenor
• Samuel Guibal, David Turcotte baritone
• Léo Zanne bass
• Choir IV
• Alice Kamenezky, Edwige Parat soprano
• Léo Fernique, Benoît Porcherot alto
• Noé Rollet, Pierre Perny tenor
• Martin Barigault baritone
• Lucien Moissonier-Benert bass
• Choir V
• Aude Fenoy soprano
• Lucia Nigohossian canto
• Brice Claviez-Homberg alto
• Léo Guillou-Keredan, Nicolas Maire tenor
• François Joron, Jordann Moreau baritone
• Valentin Janssen bass
• Adrien Mabire cornetto
• Alexis Lahens, Stéphane Muller, Franck Poitrineau sackbut
• Elsa Frank, Nicolas André, Philippe Canguilhem, Jérémie Papasergio dulcian
• Tormod Dalen cello
• Luc Devanne double bass
• Yoann Moulin, François Saint-Yves, Loris Barrucan, François Guerrier keyboards
• Hervé Niquet musical direction