Free liturgical performance
Sunday June 15, 2025 at 1 P. M.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux parish
1100 E Alhambra Road
Alhambra, CA 91801

Personnel

MaryRuth Miller & Anselm Decker, cantus
Dr. Kiri Tollaksen, cornetto

Hannah Little & Nathaniel Decker, cantus secundus
Carrie Holzman Little, viola da braccio

Dr. Matthew Tresler, altus
Spencer Schaffer, tenor sackbut

Dr. Jon Lee Keenan, tenor secundus
Noah Gladstone, tenor sackbut

Gregory Billion, tenor
Brad Close, tenor sackbut

Scott Graff, bassus
Dr. Jonthan Stehney, dulcian

Alejandro Acosta, archlute
Matthew Xie, theorbo

Sean Maxwell, organ

Bryan Roach, director

The Year 2025 marks 500 years since the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, who is arguably the single most influential composer of all time.  Palestrina worked closely with the popes in Rome, and almost singlehandedly determined the sound of Catholicism.  The implementation of his musical reforms changed the course of music history forever.

Humanists during the Renaissance perceived several flaws in the way that music was composed during the sixteenth century (for instance, long melismatic passages on weak syllables, as well musical phrases that seemingly failed to adequately emphasize the rhetorical imagery of the words), which were corrected by Palestrina and his contemporaries, laying the foundation for the Baroque.  Palestrina’s style would reach legendary status during the baroque era, and it has been performed continuously over the past 450 years, inspiring countless revival movements ever since. 

To reflect the timelessness of Palestrina’s music, we have included 17th-century arrangements of Palestrina’s works for solo voice in a baroque idiom, as well as later compositions from the 18th and 19th centuries directly inspired by Palestrina’s style: all this in addition to featuring Palestrina’s immortal compositions performed in the manner that they would have been encountered during the 16th century.

Musica Transalpina is proud to present the first known American performance of Emperor Leopold’s Missa pro defunctis, which he composed for the death of the Empress Margaret Theresa in 1673.  The marriage between the Infanta Margaret Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. was one of the most important dynastic alliances in history, so her untimely death was of immense historical significance, ultimately leading to the extinction of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg.  It was also personally devastating to the Emperor.  We are recreating the music that accompanied this historic event, and now you get to hear it.

Concert performance:

Sunday April 6, 2025 at 7:30 PM

The Parish Church of St. Andrew
311 North Raymond Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91103

In a rapidly modernizing world marked by conflict, Jacobus de Kerle masterfully weaves the ethereal votive antiphon Da pacem, Domine into a magnificent cantus firmus mass as a cry for peace. Possibly written as a commemoration of the epic sea victory at Lepanto in 1571, this work was lavishly published in 1583 by the legendary press of Christophe Plantin, the most prestigious publishing house in history.

We are proud to present first complete performance of this glorious Mass setting in modern times, sung for the first time in America. We hope that you will find its soaring melodies & noble harmonic language a moving call to peace in your own heart.

Free liturgical performance

Sunday December 1, 2024 at 9 A. M.
The parish church of Ss. Peter & Paul
515 West Opp Street
Wilmington, CA 90744.

Join Musica Transalpina as we present Heinrich Biber’s rarely-heard Requiem in A Major for All Souls’ Day: Saturday November 2, 2024 at 11 A. M. and Sunday November 3, 2024 at 7 P. M.

Concert performance
Sunday November 3, 2024 at 7 P. M.
The church of the Blessed Sacrament
6657 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028.

The Return of the Bucentaur to the Molo on Ascension Day by Canaletto

Ascension was one of the most important holidays during the golden age of Venice, when the Doge would officially consecrate Venice to the sea by throwing a wedding ring into the lagoon. This ceremony was followed by solemn liturgical celebrations at the abbey church of San Nicolò la Lido with elaborate musical accompaniment, and it was concluded with a huge fair in S. Mark’s Square that was famous throughout Europe for its splendor & opulence.

Musica Transalpina seeks to recreate the Mass as it could have been celebrated on Ascension for the Doge and his court on Saturday May 11, 2024 at 7 P. M.  We are proud to present enormous polychoral works from Venice written at the dawn of the Baroque, including Giovanni Gabrieli’s Omnes gentes à 16. (published in 1597), one of the earliest extant works written for four separate choirs.  Alongside this masterpiece, we are presenting Giovanni Croce’s equally large Missa à 16. super Iubilate Deo, apparently written at the request of Archduke Ferdinand (future Emperor Ferdinand II.) who met Croce while at Venice in 1598.  This enormous mass setting survives in manuscript form in the Graz Chorbuch, and is receiving its American première – and quite possibly its very first modern performance anywhere – by our Ensemble on Saturday May 11 at the parish church of S. Vincent de Paul:

621 West Adams Boulevard,
Los Angeles, CA 90007.

While this event is free of charge & open to the public, we encourage our patrons to donate in increments of $20 ($40, $60, &c.).  You are also welcome to wait until the conclusion of our performance and drop your donation off on your way out!  Please reserve your spot at whatever price works for you at the following link:

The coronation of Joseph II. at S. Bartholomew’s Cathedral in Frankfurt (1764), school of Martin van Meytens. 
Courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Musica Transalpina is proud to present the following three programs in partnership with Ss. Peter & Paul this Spring: 

Image drawn from The Coronation of Charlemagne by Raphael, painted 1516-1517, and located in the Room of the Segnatura in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican.

Music of the Holy Roman Empire

March 28, 29, & 30 at 12 noon.

Ss. Peter & Paul Church
515 West Opp Street
Wilmington, CA 90744.

Additional parking can be found at: Ss. Peter & Paul Grammar School:
706 Bay View Ave,
Wilmington, CA 90744

All performances are free of charge, but we welcome donations in lieu of ticket purchases – you may find us on Venmo @Transalpina.

 Please note that parking is limited, but additional parking can be found at the parochial school situated a quarter of a mile away from the church. 

On Saturday March 30th, we encourage patrons to arrive closer to one o’clock, when the music is set to begin.

Presenting a second program of Austrian Baroque

Following the resounding success of our inaugural concert, Musica Transalpina is proud to satisfy a newfound demand for this opulent sacred repertoire with even more music in the so-called Colossal Baroque style — this time from Lambach Abbey in Upper Austria — on Wednesday, November first at seven o’clock in the evening at Ss. Peter & Paul church in Wilmington, California.

This event is free & open to the public, but we deeply appreciate donations in lieu of ticket purchases at the link below :

AustrianBaroque.eventbrite.com

On Saturday November 11, 2023, Musica Transalpina is proud to present Vespers music from viceregal-era archives as part of a celebration of Hispanidad on the occasion of the 372nd birthday of Mexican literary genius Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz — “the tenth muse”.  Lecture at 6 P. M. by Rev. Hugh Barbour, O. Præm. with a performance of Mexican Baroque Vespers music following at 7.30 P. M. at Ss. Peter & Paul church in Wilmington, California. 

This event is free & open to the public, but donations in lieu of ticket purchases are deeply appreciated.  Please reserve your spot at the following link:

MexicanBaroque.eventbrite.com

On October 7, 1571, the Holy League’s out-numbered naval fleet famously triumphed over the militarily superior Turkish navy at Lepanto.  Immediately after the victorious news reached Venice, Mass was sung in St. Mark with great splendor. Contemporary witness Rocco Benedetti talks about the concerti divinissimi, which combined both church organs along with various other instruments and singing, in an outpouring of divine harmony:

The opulence of the celebrations which followed this epic sea battle were unprecedented, and historians such as Iain Fenlon argue that the grandeur of the art & music which ensued were a prefigurement of the triumphalist & politically-charged Baroque æsthetic which would emerge in just a few short decades.

On Saturday October 7, 2023, the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, Musica Transalpina commemorates this historic event with celebratory music which was composed before & after this legendary battle which helped shape the course of European history.

Concerti divinissimi: Compositions commemorating the naval victory at Lepanto in 1571.

Ss. Peter & Paul church in Wilmington, California

Saturday October 7, 2023 at 1.30 P. M.

Many thanks to Raphael Zendejas for making this performance possible.