The Marian Antiphonies

05 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Feasts, Marian Hymnology, Music

Tags

Ave Regina Caelorum, Giovanni Legrenzi, madrigals, Marian Antiphons, Mater Dolorosa, polyphony, Regina Cæli, sacred music

Mater Dolorosa by Carlo Dolci (25 May 1616 – 17 January 1686) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Marian Antiphons

The Marian year has its seasons and each season has its antiphon. There are four antiphons, one for each Marian season. Antiphons, sometimes called antiphonies, are a call and response hymn. (See Posts on Marian Hymnology.)

Marian antiphonies are:

Alma Redemptoris Mater (Advent through February 2)
Ave Regina Cælorum (Presentation of the Lord through Good Friday)
Regina Cæli (Easter season)
Salve Regina (from first Vespers of Trinity Sunday until None of the Saturday before Advent)

Last week, on Good Friday, the seasonal Marian antiphon became the Regina Cæli. It had been the Ave Regina Cælorum, which ends on Good Friday. Good Friday, or ‘holy’ Friday, is the day that commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Christ, in whose name Christianity was founded.

As you may know, the growth of polyphony, music combining several voices, is linked to Sacred Music mainly. During the Middle Ages, the Church was the main patron of composers. Most composers therefore became Kappelmeisters. It was their profession.

However, composers such as Italian Luca Marenzio (18 October 1553 or 1554 – 22, August 1599) wrote madrigals, secular music. Marenzio worked for Italian aristocratic families: the Gonzaga, the Este, and the Medici. Madrigals became the leading genre during the Renaissance and could be called the secular birthplace of polyphony. The largely courtly madrigal was rooted in the medieval song or chanson. Trouvères (northern France), troubadours[1] (southern France), and Minnesingers (German-speaking lands) wrote and sang chansons.

Piazza San Marco (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Piazza San Marco, Venice (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Renaissance

The Renaissance began with the collapse of the Byzantine Empire (Greek), or Eastern Roman Empire. Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks on 29 May 1453 and its Greek scholars fled to Italy. The Ottoman Empire’s Sultanate collapsed on 1 November 1922 and its Caliphate was abolished on 3 March 1924. (See The Last Crusades: the Ottoman Empire.) Constantinople became Istanbul in 1929 and is the largest city in Turkey. The arrival in Italy of Greek scholars escaping the Ottoman Turks would change western Europe profoundly. It ushered in a renaissance (rebirth).

San Marco, or St. Mark’s Basilica, reflects the influence of the Byzantine Empire, the empire that preceded the Ottoman Empire. (See Constantine the Great, Wikipedia.)[2] However, the Venetian School of music was founded by Adrian Willaert of the Franco-Flemish school. (See Venetian polychoral style, Wikipedia)

In 1527, Netherlandish composer Adrian Willaert (c. 1490 – 7 December 1562)travelled to Venice, where he had been appointed maestro di cappella at San Marco and taught music. At St. Mark’s Basilica, he had the best of facilities and remained its maestro di cappella until his death in 1552.

Music for Easter

Two years ago, I posted an article entitled Music for Easter (31 March 2013). That post featured the Regina Cæli, the Easter season’s antiphon. If you wish to listen to Michel Richard de Lalande‘s Regina Cæli, please click on Music for Easter. Music for Easter is a short post also featuring, as does this post, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi‘s (4 January 1710 – 16 March 1736) “Quando corpus morietur.” Pergolesi died at the age of 26, but had already composed several mature works. I love Pergolesi. His “Quando corpus morietur” is inspired music.

Giovanni Legrenzi

Giovanni Legrenzi[3] (baptized 12 August 1626 – 27 May 1690) was a 17th-century Italian composer. By the 17th century, western Europe had entered its Baroque period (1600 – 1750) and composers had started to write operas. However, Legrenzi was first employed as organist at Santa Maria Maggiore, in Bergamo, Italy. In the mid 1650’s, he was maestro di cappella at the Academy of the Holy Spirit in Ferrara. Later, he settled in Venice where he lived comfortably and was named maestro di cappella at San Marco, Venice’s splendid Basilica. In other words, the Church had remained an important employer of musicians.

Both Giovanni Legrenzi and Michel Richard de Lalande were active at the height of the Ottoman Empire, the period when turquerie was fashionable, but it should be noted that polyphonic music is entirely a product of the Graeco-Roman civilization.

RELATED ARTICLES

The Last Crusades: the Ottoman Empire (12 February 2015)
The Codex Manesse (20 September 2014) (Minnesingers)
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, revisited (5 December 2013)
Music for Easter (31 March 2013)
Posts on Marian Hymnology (7 January 2013)
A Portrait of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (20 December 2011)

Sources and Resources

The Byzantine Rite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Rite
Notre-Dame de Paris
Ave Regina Cælorum (Presentation of the Lord through Good Friday)
Notre-Dame de Paris
Regina Cæli (Easter Season)

Ave, Regína cælórum
Ave, Dómina Angelórum,
Sálve rádix, sálve, pórta,
Ex qua múndo lux est órta.
Gáude, Vírgo gloriósa,
Super ómnes speciósa ;
Vále, o valde decóra
Et pro nóbis Christum exóra.

Hail, Queen of the Heavens!
Hail, ruler of the angels!
Hail, root of Jesse! Hail, portal from whom light has shone to the world!
Hail, Virgin most glorious,
Beautiful above all!
Farewell, O most comely,
And pray to Christ for us.
(Courtesy of Notre-Dame de Paris)

Madonna by Raphael (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This post was published mistakenly a few minutes after I started writing it. The “publish” button is next to the “save draft” button. This morning, I realized that my image of San Marco was missing. I decided to insert it, but pressed on the “draft” button instead of the “pending review” button. The post is now dated 5 April 2015.

Wishing all to you a Happy Easter.♥

____________________
[1] Troubadours sang in langue d’oc and trouvères in langue d’oïl.

[2] Constantine I was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity. He founded the Christian Church, as an institution, at the First Council of Nicaea (325 CE) and the Council of Nicaea and Constantinople, in 381 CE. The Nicene Creed dates back to these two councils.

[3] “Giovanni Legrenzi”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 04 avr.. 2015
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335137/Giovanni-Legrenzi>.

Ave Regina Cælorum
Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor) and Marie-Nicole Lemieux (contralto)

Pergolesi’s Quando corpus morietur

composer: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (4 January 1710 –16 or 17 March 1736)
piece: “Quando corpus morietur,” Stabat Mater
performers: London Symphony Orchestra, 1985
Margaret Marshall, Soprano; Lucia Valentini Terrani, Contralto
conductor: Claudio Abbado

Mater Dolorosa (detail, ca. 1485) attributed to Simon Marmion (Photo credit: rebloggy.com)

News, Comments & Andrea Mantegna

03 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Sharing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Andrea Mantegna, Ave Regina Caelorum, Candlemas, Feasts, Groundhog Day, Jesus, Lupercus, Nunc Dimittis, Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Simeon

: Présentation de Jésus au temple, Andrea Mantegna, 1465

Andrea Mantegna (c. 1431 – 13 September 1506) Italian Renaissance

Photo credit: Wikipedia

More on Candlemas

Today is February 3rd, but there are more Candlemas stories to tell. For instance, Candlemas is also “pancake feast,” la fête des crêpes, a tradition that goes back to ancient Greece. In ancient Greece, Lupercus was the god Pan. In ancient Roman, the feast was called Lupercalia (lupus, loup) but it was usually celebrated in mid-February, on the 13th. It had to do with keeping the wolf away from innocent sheep. Lupercus was the god of shepherds. I will tell more stories next February 2nd.

We now have three posts on Candlemas and know about

the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple,
the Nunc dimittis, a canticle, Simeon’s song of praise,
the Purification of the Virgin,
the beginning of a new Marian season,
the antiphon of the season “Ave Regina Cælorum,”[i]
and Groundhog Day.

I realize that fewer people go to a service on Sunday or attend Mass, but music and the fine arts have kept alive religious, mythological and mythical “reality.” Aert de Gelder (or Arent, 26 October 1645 – 27 August 1727), a student of Rembrandt, painted Simeon holding the child Jesus and, as noted above, Simeon sang the Nunc dimittis when he saw Jesus, as he had been told by none other than the Holy Ghost. (See Nunc Dimittis, Wikipedia). Religious feasts are usually associated with the seasons, mythologies give us a past, myths provide metaphors, and feed the imagination. Yet myths are the fruit of imagination.

William Byrd (English Renaissance) composed a very fine “Nunc Dimittis.” It is featured in a post entitled: Nunc Dimittis, Simeon’s Song of Praise (2 February 2012). A second “Nunc Dimittis,” composed by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (3 February 1525 or 2 February 1526 – 2 February 1594), is featured in Candlemas: the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple & a Festival of Lights (2 February 2012).

Palestrina is known for composing “transparent” polyphonic (many voices) music. Although the voices blend, one can still hear the text. This was important because the Reformed Churches favoured simple songs. I have found precious gems in the Church of England’s anthems. They engaged the faithful who were invited to sing. The English wrote lovely, melodious anthems. Martin Luther wrote hymns, the most famous of which is Ein’ feste Burg is unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress is our God).

In the News

Canadian Conrad Black, no choirboy himself, has stated that “[t]he election of Kathleen Wynne and Pauline Marois’ Scotland visit might incite fear that much of Canada is being led by nasty women.” (See The National Post.)

He could be right; women can be as nasty as men. I know, from personal experience, that women can in fact surpass men in cruelty, jealousy, hypocrisy, etc. They can be extremely manipulative, devious and vindictive. Think of my little blue house. (See From House to House.) My “case manager” was a woman employed by a fine insurance company. She did not lose her position.

One day, a “good” woman posted the results of an examination on the door of her office, listing her students’ marks, not next to a number, but next to a name. I talked with her gently, but she did not know what I was talking about… However, a little later, such behaviour became an official violation. This may seem a detail, but good educators respect their students. That’s rule number one.

Not that men are better. I am thinking of that student in India, raped and probably impaled to death. The poor young woman and her poor parents! And there is violence in the Middle East. Why? Also in the news is suicide. Young people are committing suicide!