For the third consecutive time we started the year festively with an online New Year’s concert. This time we presented a wonderful program of Gregorian and polyphonic music for the ancient ritual of the Golden Mass.
The Annunciation was from early times regarded as one of the most fascinating mysteries of Christianity. The story, described in the Gospel of Luke, tells how the angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will conceive through the ‘aflatus superi flamini’, the ‘breath from heaven’. The fifteenth-century polyphonist Guillaume Dufay wrote his magnificent Missa Ecce ancilla Domini for the liturgy associated with this event.
When it took place in the dark days of December this liturgy was known as the Missa Aurea or ‘Golden Mass’, as flickering candles created a warm golden glow to accompany the story of Jesus’ conception, which was often given a dramatic presentation.
Missed this concert? No problem, it’s still available. Just click the video link below!
PROGRAMME
Jacobus Clemens non Papa (ca. 1510-1555/56) | Ave Maria
Chant | Introit: Rorate Coeli
source: the Den Bosch Choirbooks, ‘Codex Smijers’
Guillaume Dufay (1397?-1474) | Missa Ecce ancilla Domini – Kyrie
source: Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, Ms. 5557
Chant | Sequence: Mittit ad virginem
source: the Den Bosch Choirbooks ‘Codex Smijers’
Annunciation gospel: Luke 1: 26-38
Guillaume Dufay | Missa Ecce ancilla Domini – Sanctus
Chant | Communio: Ecce virgo concipiet
source: the Den Bosch Choirbooks ‘Codex Smijers’
Anonymous | Communion hymn: Quem terra, pontus, aethera
source: the Den Bosch Choirbooks, Ms. 158
Recorded December 12, 2022
Pieterskerk Utrecht, The Netherlands
SUPERIUS Stratton Bull, Tim Braithwaite, Andrew Hallock
CONTRATENOR Lior Leibovici, Korneel Van Neste
TENOR Peter de Laurentiis, Pieter De Moor
BASSUS Marc Busnel, Grantley McDonald
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Stratton Bull
VIDEOREGISTRATIE:
Concertomedia
AUDIO:
Lex van Diepen Music Productions
