Ruimte! (Space!)

Musically, the sixteenth century was a fascinating period in many ways. During this era, the seed was sown for musical developments which would be refined and carried on for centuries to come. During the sixteenth century the emancipation of instrumental music occurred, and opera as a genre was developed. Basso continuo is also an important development which founds its roots in this era, as is the technique of Cori spezzati (Italian for "separated choirs"). This is a compositional technique which uses spatial effects to emphasize the interplay between its various voices.

For all of the aforementioned examples, Italy was - unsurprisingly- the birthplace, and for Cori spezzati Venice was of most importance. It was a renowned composer from the “Low Countries” who introduced the multi-choral style to Italy, making use of the unique acoustic properties of the church which he used as kapelmeister: the San Marco.

Adrian Willaert was this renowned composer. Recorder ensemble Praetorius begins the project “Ruimte!” with music by him, as the starting point of a voyage of discovery into multi-choral music. A voyage which not only takes the listener along the course followed by the illustrious successors of Willaert (Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi) at the San Marco, but which will also visit Germany (Heinrich Schütz) and our own country with music by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.

The atmospheric tension created by having space between the groups is a typical technique of the Cori Spezzati. During one composition, the groups can at one moment be opposing each other, but can then blend and support one other. Another interesting point is that all parts, whether vocal or instrumental, are equal: all parts can be either sung or performed instrumentally. In this production we have chosen for a combination of voice, recorder ensemble and low brass instruments which is particularly suited to the continual switching of roles, since it provides the possibility for both blending and separation of voices.

The Cori spezzati, as has been mentioned, allowed for great expressive possibilities, which required extended instrumentation. Not surprisingly, this technique was used for especially important church services. For the vespers (after the mass, the most important service in the Roman Catholic Church), there was a large amount of multi-choral music composed. This is an important reason for choosing the form of a vesper; a fictitious church service is given in honour of the prophet John the Baptist whose birthday – June 24th – falls within the period in which this production is being performed.

Concert dates of this programme.

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