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Our latest recording, "Sacred Jewels of the Renaissance" is now available. 

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This is one of a very limited number of recordings currently available featuring the Missa Secunda by Hans Leo Hassler in its entirety. A host of other works are also found on this disc. The immense artistic opulence of the Renaissance produced a wealth of musical treasures which had a tremendous impact on not only Italian churches and musicians, but the entire European music tradition, and still hold precious value for today's choral music lovers. Within any great artistic movement, however, there are those works and artists which become cherished above all others, and stand out as jewels among their contemporaries. This recording presents just a few of those gems, which, in their simple charm and exquisite grace allied with skilled craftsmanship and polished joining of music and text, reveal a brilliant facet of sacred vocal music from the sixteenth century.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) has been credited with single-handedly saving church music. When the Council of Trent adopted a policy emphasizing the need for sacred texts to be intelligible to congregations when sung, it was said that Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli alone convinced the Cardinals to allow the continuance of polyphonic settings. Regardless of the truth in this legend, Palestrina's sacred works (which include 104 masses, and over 400 motets, offertories, hymns and other religious works) advocate a new style based on textual clarity and textural variety, indicative of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The motet Sicut cervus displays the care and deliberation which Palestrina consistently applied to his art in this aim. This exquisite setting of a single verse from Psalm 42 is a model of balance, purity and control in miniature. Palestrina begins by setting the first textual phrase in eight carefully balanced entries among the four voice parts. The self-contained melodic segment is varied successively, elaborating on a graceful melodic arch which emphasizes the sense of yearning inherent in this opening phrase. Carefully intertwined polyphonic voices continue the second half of the motet: the predominantly stepwise melodic motion is balanced with artful leaps which occur solely to emphasize meaning, such as the ardent longing of the soul reaching up toward God, on "anima mea ad te Deus." The controlled use of dissonance and consistent purity of texture adds to the balanced melodic phrasing, creating a whole perfect in its symmetry and affect.

While his contemporaries faded into obscurity, Palestrina's music and reputation remained central to the development of music for 200 years after his death. In his immediate circle, his style of diatonic counterpoint was imitated by his successors, not only in Italy, but throughout Western Europe. In Spain, a young Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) studied this new music at Avila Cathedral, but soon moved to Rome for further education. Victoria's mastery of Palestrina's innovative style is evident even in his early works. In 1571 Victoria succeeded Palestrina as maestro di cappella of the Seminario Romano, and in 1572 he published his first collection of motets, already characterized by an unusual poignancy and mystical fervor. These emotions are clearly demonstrated in the plangent Vere languores nostros from this first publication. In this well-loved piece, Victoria juxtaposes passages of chordal homophony and polyphony to achieve a greater clarity of text and contrast of emotional impact. The work is divided into two sections, according to the text. Each section begins with long sustained chords, and only after this initial declamation do the inner voices begin to weave a subtle counterpoint which then spreads to the outer parts, allowing for a feeling of increasing intensity and devotional fervor to evolve throughout the work.

Like Victoria, the German composer Hans Leo Hassler (1564- 1612) also left his native land to study music and composition under the Italian masters. Hassler's return to Germany was integral to the dissemination of the Italian compositional style in northern Europe. Although Hassler wrote much music for the Lutheran church, he also obliged his Catholic patrons by composing music for their Latin observances. Hassler's Missa Secunda - the second of eight masses published in Nuremberg in 1599 – superbly demonstrated the composer's skill and knowledge of Italian technique. He judiciously balances sections of chordal homophony with imitative entries, such as are found in the opening Kyrie, keeping text declamation central to his writing. The Gloria shows Hassler's skill in textural and dynamic variation, as exuberant contrasts separate the angels' proclamation of peace and goodwill from mankind's response of praise and thanksgiving, and then juxtapose a more intimate realization of personal salvation with a solid proclamation of Christ's lordship, leading to the final Amen. The Credo demonstrates further textural variation as Hassler often juxtaposes treble voices against the two lower parts, alternating or echoing short phrases. Compelling word painting also occurs in the Credo, particularly on the word "crucifixus," where imitative entries repeatedly strike the hard consonant, in the slow descent to the words "sepultus est," and in the energetic ascent of "et resurrexit." Hassler adds a more personal touch as he masterfully creates warm, intimate passages by lengthening note values and using close harmonies, often moving homorhythmically, such as at "et incarnatus est." The Sanctus encapsulates the Italian idiom, but is tempered by Hassler's light touch in the playful triple section which ends the short movement with a brief celestial dance on the words "hosanna in excelsis." The Benedictus presents a feeling of poignant innocence with a sparse, almost ethereal, texture created by the use of the upper three voices only. Hassler's mass ends with a very personal Agnus Dei, whose less usual text choice in the final "dona nobis pacem" is as apt today as it was in a war-torn and plague ridden Europe of the sixteenth century.

A contemporary of Palestrina, Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585) served under four English monarchs during his career as church musician, Cathedral organist, and member of the Chapel Royal (Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth I). Living in such contentious and quickly changing times, Tallis composed for both Catholic and Protestant patrons, although nothing certain is known of Tallis's personal religious convictions. Such unprecedented political and religious turbulence had a profound effect on English music which seemed to change with every new political whim, and Tallis's diverse output covers almost every musical style and genre used in the English church during the 16th century, including the modern imitative techniques popular on the European continent. While Tallis wrote a substantial amount of Latin church music, it is his music for the new Anglican liturgy that identifies him as a founder of the English choral tradition. If ye love me dates from his earliest output of 1547-8, and is a prototype of the ABB form which would become typical of the English anthem. The homophonic opening reflects the emphasis of Anglican reformers on clear syllabic wordsetting. The piece continues in imitative polyphony, more reminiscent of the Italian motet, but possessing a simple grace and ingenuousness typical of Tallis's English works.

Among Tallis's choirboys at the Chapel Royal was the young William Byrd, whom Tallis subsequently singled out to stay on as his assistant, teaching him organ and composition. The two composers remained close throughout Tallis's life: they held a joint position as organist in the Chapel Royal, and even shared a publishing company and Royal printing patent. While Byrd continued to contribute to the Anglican choral tradition begun by Tallis, his life and work is characterized by a stubborn Catholicism. Byrd was often outspoken about his beliefs and several times he was cited for recusancy (refusal to attend Church of England services), and even labeled a seducer in the Catholic cause. Yet the accusations never led to serious punishment because of the protection of powerful patrons, including Queen Elizabeth (who was known to like a Latin service). The motet Ave verum corpus comes from Byrd's Gradualia, a collection of works intended for liturgical use in Catholic services which was published in 1605, during a period of relaxed Anglican fervor (however, following the Gunpowder Plot that same year, someone was arrested for possessing Gradualia partbooks). Byrd's setting of the well-loved hymn by Innocent V is one of his most haunting devotional pieces. The writing is fluid and effortless, combining light, homophonic phrases with skillful imitative polyphony in an amended ABB form, demonstrating an innovative blend of old and new elements in an expressive and effective manner.

The works of Palestrina, Victoria, Hassler, Tallis and Byrd span a half-century of musical change, and a continent of religious and cultural diversity. Yet they are linked by predominant stylistic elements and an attention to text expression which transcend political boundaries, as well as by the dedication and passion of each composer to his art and to his beliefs. The five pieces on this recording are indicative of the greater wealth of sacred, sixteenth century music, and can truly be counted among the jewels of the Renaissance.

CD Jacket notes © Katherine Wallace 2002.