Music of the Holy Roman Empire

On Thursday March 28, Musica Transalpina once again explores its namesake: the phenomenon of Venetian-style sacred music making its way over the Alps.

We shall feature works from two important collections intended to appeal to the Austrian court: Monteverdi’s Gloria in excelsis Deo à 7. & Credidi à 8. from his immensely influential collection of sacred works, Selva morale e spirituale, published at Venice over the years 1640 and 1641 and dedicated to the Holy Roman Empress Eleonora Gonzaga, and Rigatti’s Magnificat con Istromenti à 7., likewise published at Venice in 1640 and dedicated to the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand III.  These works preserve an opulent style which was quickly falling out of style in Italy, but which was still very much in demand at the Austrian court, which delighted in pomp and which favored an older, more grandiose style.  The fact that these two collections call for such large vocal & instrumental forces imply a court orchestra, rather than the reduced performing forces that remained in Venice following the devastating plague of 1630-1631.

Additionally, we are including an offertorium by Polish composer Mikołaj Zieleński, who was important for assmiliating the Venetian compositional idiom and helped spread polychoral musical composition in Northern Europe. Interestingly, his Offertoria were published at Venice in 1611, the capital of music publishing at the time.

Reserve your free spot at: https://VenetianMusic.eventbrite.com

On Friday March 29, Musica Transalpina explores the rich & complex music of the Spanish Renaissance.

While the Holy Roman Empire included Spain & her territories in the personification of Emperor Charles V. – arguably the most powerful man who ever lived – his dramatic abdication in the year 1556 so that he could retire to a monastery divided the Holy Roman Empire into two branches: the Spanish Empire was given to his oldest son Philip, while his brother, Ferdinand, was given control of the Austrian Branch, which consisted of the the original Holy Roman Empire.  Both branches of the House of Habsburg became inseparably linked through dynastic alliances.

Charles V. not only united Europe politically, he also quite directly standardized musical composition throughout the continent by bringing his renowned Flemish Chapel along with him on campaign.  In addition to the elaborate polyphony of these Netherlandish composers such as Gombert and Manchicourt, we are presenting the first modern performance of a recently-rediscovered Passion setting that Fray Miguel de Guerau composed for King Philip IV.’s Good Friday observances at the famous El Escorial palace complex, which doubled as a monastery.

Reserve your free spot at: https://SpanishRenaissance.eventbrite.com

On Saturday March 30, Musica Transalpina presents the pinnacle of its Holy Week music series, consisting in large-scale ceremonial music for the courts of Vienna & Salzburg. 

We are proud to present the first modern performance of Antonio Bertali’s Missa Consecrationis à 26. vocibus, which was likely composed for one of the many coronations that Emperor Leopold I. underwent in the 1650s.  You may recall that exactly one year ago we performed the mass from his Imperial coronation of 1658, Bertali’s Missa Sancti Spiritus.  The Missa Consecrationis was possibly written for Emperor Leopold’s coronation as king of Hungary or Bohemia, and it exceeds the Missa Sancti Spiritus in size & instrumentation.  It is even larger by one voice than Muffat’s monumental Missa in labore requies that we performed in August of 2023.

Salzburg was technically a free city within the Empire, led by an independent prince archbishop.  The prince archbishops during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were famous for their musical patronage, with the last prince archbishop, Hieronymus von Colloredo, being best remembered as a patron of the Mozart family.  The prince archbishops had a symbiotic relationship with the  Emperor, and the musical establishments of both courts were comparable in splendor, with Salzburg arguably cultivating a more impressive music program than even the Chapel Royal.  In addition to Bertali’s Missa Consecrationis that was written for the royal court, we are performing an anonymous Magnificat from Salzburg in twenty parts, as well as two large offertoria, possibly by Salzburg kapellmeister Abraham Megerle, intended for Salzburg Cathedral’s Easter observances.

Reserve your free spot at: https://Habsburg.eventbrite.com