Seville Cathedral c.1470-1550

Ave Maris Stella
Music to the Blessed Virgin from Seville Cathedral (c.1470-1550)
Orchestra of the Renaissance - Richard Cheetham
Almaviva 0115

Contents:

  1. Escobar: Ave Maris Stella
  2. Morales: Kyrie de la Misa De Beata Virgine
  3. Rodrigo de Ceballos (c.1530-1581): Virgo Dei Genetrix (instrumental)
  4. Peñalosa: Ave Regina Caelorum
  5. Peñalosa: Sancta Mater, istud agas
  6. Morales: Gloria de la Misa De Beata Virgine
  7. Morales: Virgo María
  8. Fernando Pérez de Medina (fl.c.1479): Salve Regina
  9. Palero: Ave Maris Stella (instrumental)
  10. Peñalosa: O Domina Sanctissima (instrumental)
  11. Morales: Credo de la Misa De Beata Virgine
  12. Anon: Ay, Santa María
  13. Morales: Agnus de la Misa Ave María (instrumental)
  14. Morales: Sanctus de la Misa De Beata Virgine
  15. Morales: Exaltata est
  16. Morales: Agnus Dei de la Misa De Beata Virgine
  17. Anon: Salve Regina (instrumental)

Performers: Luiz Alves da Silva (countertenor), Josep Cabré (bass), Jean-Pierre Canihac (cornet), Andrew Lawrence-King (harp), Jean Louis Commoretto (countertenor), Simon Berridge (tenor), Simon Davies (tenor), Henry Wickham (baritone), Charles Gibbs (bass), Beatrice Delpierre (dulcian, shawm), William Lyons (dulcian, shawm, recorder), Francis Mercet (dulcian, shawm), Richard Cheetham (sackbut), Patrick Jackman (sackbut), Timothy Roberts (organ), Christopher Wilson (vihuela), Susanna Pell (viol)

Playing time: 78'

Recording date: January 1994

The material for this recording is taken from the repertory of Seville Cathedral in the decades around 1500. It includes the complete Misa De Beata Virgine of Cristóbal de Morales (c.1500-1553) along with several motets by Spanish composers of the early 16th century. Instruments are used extensively, in keeping with the emerging evidence from Spanish sources. The liner notes are especially informative regarding the period.

Other recordings by the present ensemble, illustrating Spanish music from a similar period:

All Souls' Vespers
Requiem Music from Córdoba Cathedral
Orchestra of the Renaissance - Richard Cheetham
Virgin Veritas 45203
The Marriage of England and Spain
Taverner / Rhys / Morales
Orchestra of the Renaissance - Richard Cheetham
Glossa 921401
Guerrero: Requiem
Orchestra of the Renaissance - Richard Cheetham & Michael Noone
Glossa 921402
Canticum Canticorum
Morales / Guerrero / Ceballos / Victoria / Vivanco / Févin / Gombert
Orchestra of the Renaissance - Richard Cheetham & Michael Noone
Glossa 921403
Morales: Assumption Mass
Orchestra of the Renaissance - Richard Cheetham
Glossa 921404
Vivanco: In Manus Tuas
Orchestra of the Renaissance - Michael Noone
Glossa 921405

A few other recordings which include more general selections from this period:

Spanish and Mexican Renaissance Vocal Music
Music in the Age of Columbus / Music in the New World
Hilliard Ensemble
EMI Reflexe 54341 (2 CDs)
Music from the Time of Columbus
New London Consort - Philip Pickett
Linn 007
The Voice in the Garden
Spanish Songs and Motets, 1480-1550
Gothic Voices - Christopher Page
Hyperion 66653

Also featured in the present recording, Francisco de Peñalosa (c.1470-1528) was the most prominent Spanish composer in the generation that brought the style of Josquin to Spain. He is in fact called the "inventor of music" in some hagiographies of the period. A recording devoted entirely to Peñalosa:

Peñalosa: Complete Motets
Pro Cantione Antiqua - Bruno Turner
Hyperion 66574

Recording devoteds to Pedro de Escobar (c.1469-c.1535) & Juan de Anchieta (1462-1523), important contemporaries of Peñalosa:

Escobar: Requiem
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 45328
Anchieta: Missa Sine Nomine / Salve Regina
Capilla Peñaflorida / Ministriles de Marsias - Josep Cabré
Naxos 8.555772

It is this style of Peñalosa & Escobar which Morales develops into a more thoroughly Spanish one.

A fine recording devoted to the older layer of repertory at Seville:

El Cancionero de la Catedral de Segovia
Ensemble Daedalus
Accent 9176

Finally, another recording of the present mass:

Morales: Missa de Beata Virgine / Polyphonies mariales du XVIe siècle espagnol
Ensemble Jacques Moderne - Joël Suhubiette
Ligia 0202102-01

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Todd M. McComb