© Zani-Casadio
Tribute to Josquin Desprez (1455-1521) for the 500th anniversary of his death
La Stagione Armonica
conductor Sergio Balestracci
Alberto Pedretti contralto trombone
Stefano Belotti tenor trombone
Fabio De Cataldo bass trombone
Lorenzo Feder organ
Gregorian Hymn Ave Maris Stella
Josquin Desprez
Motet Ave Maris Stella
Loyset Compère
Motet Regina caeli (instrumental performance only)
Josquin Desprez
Missa Ave Maris Stella
Heinrich Isaac
Benedictus II
Josquin Desprez
Agnus Dei
Motet Mirabilia testimonia
“Josquin, don’t say the heavens are cruel and merciless, that gave you genius so sublime”: this is what Serafino Aquilano wrote to Josquin Desprez, his fellow musician at the Sforza court. And indeed, the genius of the Burgundian composer, the greatest innovator of sacred polyphony, is still greatly admired. His fame especially grew after the development of music printing in Italy, where he spent much of his career: in 1484 he was in Milan, then at the Pope’s court until 1499, and finally, after a short period in France, in the service of Duke Ercole I d’Este in Ferrara. The Missa Ave Maris Stella, based on the homonymous Gregorian hymn, probably dates back to his Roman period, and paves the way for the ecstatic contemplation of the divine that culminated in the motet Mirabilia testimonia(Psalm 118).
