In our last newsletter I wrote about the three early Renaissance lamentations that we are performing in our January concert and also included information about Monteverdi's "Beatus vir."  If you'd like to read the previous newsletter see our archive of Renaissance Project newsletters.  In this newsletter I'd like to write about one very unusual piece that we will be performing. 

 

Crazy, tortured, reclusive, evil, genius, depressive, penitent.  What Renaissance composer is brought to mind by these adjectives?  Gesualdo of course.  Carlo Gesualdo, jealous murderer of his young bride, protected from the law by his title and protected from his bride's relatives by his own guards, lived a reclusive life in his castle surrounded by a group of professional musicians and wrote music unlike any other music of his time, or of any time.  To state that his life was not a happy one would be a huge understatement.  In his later years he was so guilt-ridden that he had his servants physically punish him on a regular basis.  

 

His music is full of outrageous harmonic changes that on first exposure seem to make no logical sense, but on deeper study one finds a profound structure and logic that Heinrich Schenker would have appreciated.  The expression in his music can seem either very personal or very abstract, depending on how you releate to his compositional style, but whatever you find in the expression it is always intense.  This is the favorite piece in the concert of many of our singers.

 

The text of "O vos omnes" translates as "O ye who pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow." (Lamentations 1:12).  This text is often applied to the sufferings of Jesus on the cross. so it is not surprising that the most anguished of Renaissance composers would create this spectacular motet on the most anguished of biblical texts. 

 

I have written in these newsletters about the three lamentations we will be performing as well as the Gesualdo motet based on a lamentation.  In order not to scare anyone away I would like to promise you that the rest of the concert will be all happy music!

 

I hope to see you at our January 10th concert.

 

Yours,

 

Art

 

 

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