Featured posts
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Two mid-16th-century Cecilian parody masses
When speaking of Cecilian music, one generally has the idea of the nineteenth-century movement, mostly centred in Germany, that pushed a reformation of Catholic church music, aiming to restore a more traditional religious feeling and the authority of the church …
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A biographical note on the composer António de Oliveira
Not much is known about the Portuguese composer António de Oliveira, besides that he was active in the last decades of the sixteenth century. Much of what is known about him comes from the short entry of Diogo Barbosa Machado’s …
A biographical note on the composer António de Oliveira Read More »
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The Medieval Soundscape of Évora from a 17th-Century Perspective
Most of the published studies about the history of music in the Portuguese city of Évora have begin chronologically in the first decades of the sixteenth century onwards. This period corresponded to the activity of the Spanish chapel master Mateus …
The Medieval Soundscape of Évora from a 17th-Century Perspective Read More »
Latest posts
- Two mid-16th-century Cecilian parody masses
When speaking of Cecilian music, one generally has the idea of the nineteenth-century movement, mostly centred in Germany, that pushed a reformation of Catholic church music, aiming to restore a more traditional religious feeling and the authority of the church … - The motet Ad te levavi animam meam by Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina died on 2 February 1594. Several months earlier, a collection of 68 motets was published. Although it appeared at the end of 1593 it is generally thought that these motets were composed over a period of …The motet Ad te levavi animam meam by Palestrina Read More »
- A biographical note on the composer António de Oliveira
Not much is known about the Portuguese composer António de Oliveira, besides that he was active in the last decades of the sixteenth century. Much of what is known about him comes from the short entry of Diogo Barbosa Machado’s …A biographical note on the composer António de Oliveira Read More »
- The Medieval Soundscape of Évora from a 17th-Century Perspective
Most of the published studies about the history of music in the Portuguese city of Évora have begin chronologically in the first decades of the sixteenth century onwards. This period corresponded to the activity of the Spanish chapel master Mateus …The Medieval Soundscape of Évora from a 17th-Century Perspective Read More »
- Pueri Hebraeorum vestimenta by Simão dos Anjos
The city of Évora, Alentejo, Portugal, is known for its musical history regarding the great Portuguese masters of polyphony of the first half of the seventeenth century. Names like Fr. Manuel Cardoso, Duarte Lobo, Filipe de Magalhães are known throughout … - The Magnificat Quarti Toni by Duarte Lobo
In 1626 the Portuguese theorist Antonio Fernandes dedicated his Arte de Musica to his former master Duarte Lobo praising him as one of the most illustrious Portuguese masters. Duarte Lobo is included in the trio of Portuguese composers (the other … - The motet Ave gratia plena by Cornelis Verdonck
Flemish composer and singer Cornelis Verdonck was born in Turnhout sometime during the year 1563 and died in Antwerp on 5 July 1625. He was a choirboy at Antwerp Cathedral and in 1572 was enrolled as a singer at the … - The villancico “Quem vio hum menino” by António Marques Lésbio
Most of the posts on the Cantum Mensurable blog have focused on sacred music, in particular Latin polyphony. The corpus of Portuguese music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is rich in para-liturgical and religious thematic music being the villancico …The villancico “Quem vio hum menino” by António Marques Lésbio Read More »
- The motet O magnum mysterium by Cristóbal de Morales
Many sixteenth and seventeenth-century composers have set the text O Magnum mysterium with wonderful polyphonic results, such as Willaert, Gabrieli, Palestrina, Victoria, and, Morales only to name a few. In Portugal during this period we find at least three settings …The motet O magnum mysterium by Cristóbal de Morales Read More »
- Two Magnificat Settings by Francesco Soriano
Francesco Soriano is one of the cases where composers of the same generation become lesser known than the popular composers of the time, and the last decades of the sixteenth century were a great time to be forgotten from the … - Alma Redemptoris Mater by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Palestrina is most certainly the sixteenth-century composer who printed almost all of his music production. The fact that his career developed in Rome, centre of the Catholic world and of important figures of the Church, contributed considerable for the numerous …Alma Redemptoris Mater by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Read More »
- In manus tuas attributed to Tomás Luis de Victoria
I have always been a fan of small-scale polyphonic works. In the case of Portuguese sixteenth and seventeenth-century polyphony, I have always included brief works, mostly the Jesu Redemptor settings, in concert programmes and recordings. These works are often forgotten from concert …In manus tuas attributed to Tomás Luis de Victoria Read More »