Collegium Musicum Amsterdam, Anthony Zielhorst - Giaches de Wert: Motets, Book I, 1566 (2014)

Giaches de Wert was one of the main representatives of the Franco-Flemish school in the late 16th century. At an early age he was taken to Italy; there he remained for the rest of his life. He first acted as a singer in the household of Maria di Cardona, Marchese of Padulla. He developed strong ties to the county of Novellara, which was ruled by a branch of the Gonzaga family. It is probably thanks to these ties that he was able to work as maestro di capella at the court of the governor of Milan. In 1565 he became maestro di capella di chiesa e di camera at the court of Mantua.

De Wert became especially famous for his madrigals: ten books were printed during his lifetime. In this genre he strongly influenced composers of later generations; for instance Claudio Monteverdi who also worked at the Mantuan court for a number of years. Wert's madrigals have left their mark on his motets. He composed a considerable amount of sacred music and most of it has been preserved in manuscript, including a number of masses. Only three books with motets were printed during his lifetime. In 2008 Signum Classics released a recording of the second book of 1581 (review). The present disc is devoted to the first book of 1566 which includes 19 motets; 16 of them have been recorded here. They are all for five voices, except Adesto dolori meo which is for six.

The connection to the madrigals comes to the fore in the way Wert sets the various texts. He makes use of harmony, contrasts in metre, musical figures and a juxtaposition of polyphony and homophony to express words or phrases. He was not unique in this respect: in the second half of the 16th century there is a general increase in text expression in sacred music. Another representative of the Franco-Flemish school whose oeuvre bears the traces of this fashion is Orlandus Lassus. In the first book of motets by Wert some show rather strict imitative polyphony, others include 'old' and 'modern' elements, and some are even quite dramatic. That goes especially for those which have a text from the Gospels where some of Jesus's actions are described. The most striking example is Cum intrasset Jesus which describes how he entered Jerusalem and caused a stir. People asked: "Who is he?" and this is vividly painted in the music. These words are sung in declamatory fashion, and repeated at various pitches, suggesting the crowd talking. The answer: "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee" is then repeated at the end of the motet to the same music.

Deus, tu scis insipientiam ends with the prayer: "Hear me", which is set to a striking rising figure in the upper voices. "For thou hast considered my trouble" in Ego autem in Domino sperabo is set at a low pitch, and the words "pacem habentes" (live in peace [with all men]) homophonically. This way these words get special emphasis.

It is known that in the Basilica of Santa Barbara in Mantua which was built from 1562 to 1565 sacred music was often performed with instruments. Here all the motets are performed with voices alone. This is regrettable: the inclusion of instruments in some motets would have created greater variety, and some of pieces certainly lend themselves to such an approach. The choir comprises 18 voices, exactly the same as the Collegium Regale which recorded the second book. However, there is quite a difference: the transparency in the latter recording is much greater, and as a result the texts are more clearly understandable. In the present recording I sometimes found it hard to hear exactly what was sung. That goes especially for Domine, si tu es - it took a while until I discovered that the text which is sung here is not the same as the one which is printed in the downloadable file. The latter words are taken from the book of Acts rather than from St Matthew, the text Wert has set. The expression of the meaning of the words doesn't always come off to best effect. A smaller ensemble would be more appropriate in this repertoire.

That said, this recording has to be welcomed. To my knowledge it is the first to offer the almost complete first book of motets, and sacred nusic by Wert is not well represented in the catalogue anyway. These performances are not ideal but are good enough to demonstrate the art of Wert as a composer of sacred music.

A word about the booklet: the lyrics are not included and have to be downloaded from the Brilliant Classics site. They come with only a Dutch translation which doesn't make any sense. This disc is released for the international market; the liner-notes are only in English. The sources of the texts are indicated, but only in Dutch. "Jes." means Isaiah, "Mat." St Matthew, "Lc" St Luke and "Joh" St John. "Eccl." doesn't refer to Ecclesiastes but to the deuterocanonical book Ecclesiasticus, also known as Sirach. From that source O mors, quam amara est and Qui vindicari vult are taken. The booklet mentions the book of Daniel as the source of O sacrum convivium, but that is incorrect; it is in fact a liturgical text.

Review by Johan van Veen, MusicWeb-International.com

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 18. April 2015, 21:21

Collegium Musicum Amsterdam, Anthony Zielhorst / Giaches de Wert - Motets, Book 1

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log date: 2016-07-08 13:44:17

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Analyzed: Collegium Musicum Amsterdam, Anthony Zielhorst / Giaches de Wert - Motets, Book 1
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
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DR12 -2.32 dB -18.27 dB 3:19 01-O sacrum convivium
DR12 -3.82 dB -20.66 dB 6:03 02-O mors, quam amara est
DR12 0.00 dB -16.79 dB 3:20 03-Deus, tu scis insipientiam meam
DR13 -4.42 dB -21.79 dB 2:47 04-Omnia in vero iudicio
DR13 0.00 dB -17.81 dB 7:47 05-Nolite esse prudentes
DR12 -1.10 dB -17.48 dB 5:11 06-Ego autem in Domino sperabo
DR12 -1.68 dB -19.04 dB 4:13 07-Adesto dolori meo
DR11 -5.11 dB -20.49 dB 4:30 08-Clama, ne cesses
DR11 -4.18 dB -19.77 dB 3:06 09-Qui vindicari vult
DR11 -5.00 dB -20.76 dB 4:01 10-Tu Deus clemens
DR14 -3.87 dB -21.71 dB 5:16 11-Cum intrasset Jesus
DR12 -1.01 dB -18.09 dB 1:46 12-Omnis homo
DR13 -3.26 dB -20.32 dB 4:50 13-Domine si tu es
DR13 0.00 dB -16.88 dB 5:05 14-Paraclitus autem spiritus
DR13 -1.16 dB -17.94 dB 7:58 15-Intravit Jesus
DR12 -2.90 dB -18.96 dB 5:28 16-Transeunte Domino
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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