Géry de GHERSEM. Ave Virgo Sanctissima
Currende



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diverdi.com
Accent ACC 24235
febrero de 2010
St. Jan de Doper church in Mechelen










Géry de GHERSEM. Missa Ave Virgo Sanctissima
SSATB
01 - Kyrie   [5:18]
02 - Gloria   [7:29]
03 - Credo   [12:00]
04 - Sanctus   [5:36]
05 - Agnus Dei   [3:43]


06 - Francisco GUERRERO. Ave Virgo Sanctissima · SSATB   [3:58]


Regina coeli
07 - gregorian chant   [0:39]
08 - Francisco GUERRERO. SSAATTBB   [6:02]
09 - Pieter CORNET. organ & gregoriant chant   [11:50]
10 - Philippe ROGIER. SSAT-SATB   [2:52]
11 - Peter PHILIPS. SATB-SATB   [3:14]


12 - Francisco GUERRERO. Salve Regina SATB   [8:15]



Currende
Erik van Nevel

soprano • Sarah Abrams • Marina Smolders
mezzo-soprano • Sabine Lutzeberger • Kerlijne van Nevel
alto • Ann Baptist
countertenor • Rob Cuppens • Bart Uvyn • Gunther Vandeven
tenor • Wouter Bossaer • Gunter Claessens • Lode Somers • Han Warmelinck
baritone • Joachim Brackx • Erik van Nevel
bass • Paul Mertens • Walter van der Ven
organ • Ben Van Nespen




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Géry de Ghersem is an illustrious unknown in the world of music. Although the Portuguese King John IV, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, owned more than 280 manuscripts by de Ghersem, only one complete surviving composition by him is known, his Missa Ave Virgo Sanctissima. This mass is the main work on the present CD. The other seven works on this recording, motets by Francisco Guerrero, Pieter Cornet, Philippe Rogier and Peter Philips are all connected with de Ghersem and his mass. From Guerrero de Ghersem borrowed his five-part motet Ave Virgo Sanctissima. The Regina Coeli and Salve Regina have been chosen thematically, for all the other motets on this recording carry the same title, and were anyway composed by musical colleagues of de Ghersem from Spain (Rogier) or Brussels (Cornet and Philips).

Géry de Ghersem was born in 1573 (1575?) in Tournai, and, for a short time, was taught by Georges de la Hèle at the Cathedral of Tournai. In 1582 de la Hèle set out for Madrid. De Ghersem, then at most eight or nine years old, remained for several years in Tournai. In 1586, he travelled to Spain with thirteen other Flemish choirboys aged from seven to twelve, to sing as a cantorcillo in the Capilla Flamenca at the Madrid court.

In August of the same year, shortly after de Ghersem's arrival in Madrid, the Kapellmeister de la Hèle died. So the young choirboy came under the direction of the new Kapellmeister - also Flemish - Philippe Rogier.

On the 4th December 1593, de Ghersem left the choirboys (the cantorcillos), possibly because his voice broke (the young men at that time could retain their soprano voice until they were 18 or even 20!), and joined the adult singers, the cantors. During his third year as an adult singer the Kapellmeister Philippe Rogier died (1596). Rogier's successor was Mateo Romero (Mathieu Rosmarin), who was also Flemish. Under Romero de Ghersem was appointed Vice-Kapellmeister of the Madrid court on the 10th October 1598. In this post he had to teach the choirboys under the direction of the Kapellmeister, and always accompany them when they went to the castle. He must keep track of the materials in the possession of the choirboys, and he was responsible for their welfare. For this work as Vice-Kapellmeister he received 60 maravedis (Spanish coinage at the time) extra, per day! From the archives it appears that de Ghersem held the post of Vice-Kapellmeister until 1604. In that year he was given permission to return to the Netherlands, and he took advantage of the opportunity. It is uncertain whether this was a result of homesickness or disappointment at not becoming Kapellmeister when he was almost the same age as Romero. De Ghersem's name appears again in the accounts of singers in Valladolid between 1609 and 1630, but it remains unclear whether he actually went back to Spain in these years.

In the Netherlands he expected a bright future. The Archduke Albrecht and Isabella had been established as Regents of the Netherlands since 1598. The rulers were commended for their peace-loving policy, their piety and gentleness and above all for their respect for the arts. Music, the visual arts and science formed the essence of the culture in their court. It was a cosmopolitan centre for the arts, of international renown, and one of the leading centres of culture in Europe.

In this court de Ghersem was the musical director ("maitre de musique"). Only the latest research about de Ghersem (Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2006) uses the word Kapellmeister to describe his function there. His musical colleagues in Brussels were Peter Philips, Pieter Cornet and John Bull.
De Ghersem described his "Kapellmeister-ship" for the Archduke as being a priest-choirmaster. So he had several additional jobs in the Brussels area. Sources mention his presence in the chapel of St. John the Baptist in the Waldrudis Church (Mons, 1606), the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels (1610), as a choirmaster in Tournai (1614) and in Saint-Jacques-sur-Coudenberg in Brussels (1622).

In the Brussels archives he is referred to as "Chaplain of the Oratory and Precentor of the Court" during the "Ommegang", one of the most important annual city festivals of Archduke Albrecht. In one illustration he himself can be seen at the ceremony. When Albrecht died in 1621, the peace and prosperity of the Southern Netherlands came to an end. The heritage of the Archduke reverted to Spain.

De Ghersem wrote his will on the 20th February 1629, and died on the 25th May 1630. He was buried in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Tournai, before the altar of St. Anna. This final resting place remains intact today. His epitaph reads: "Monumentum memoriae Venerabilis Viri Domini Gauceri de Gherssem, Hujus ecclesiae canonici Qui obiit XXV maii MDCXXX".

De Ghersems seven-part mass (Madrid, 1598), which can be heard on this CD, is part of a collection of six masses Missae Sex Philippi Rogerii Atrebatensis sacelli Regii Phonasci Musicae peritissimi, Et aetatis suae facile Principis Ad Philippum Tertium Hispanarium Regem. Matriti ex typographia Regia, MDXCVIII. The other five masses are by Philippe Rogier. In his will, Rogier expressly asks de Ghersem to publish a collection of five masses, and to dedicate them to Philipp II. When Philipp II died in September 1598, the masses were dedicated - a month later in October 1598 - to Philipp III. Whether de Ghersem added his Missa Ave Virgo Sanctissima to the collection as the sixth mass on his own authority or at the request of the King is unclear. The collection was printed by the Fleming Johannes Flandrum, who was active in the royal court in Spain. Although de Ghersem was highly regarded, apparently only his Missa Ave Virgo Sanctissima was printed. The mass is based on the five-part motet with the same name by Francisco Guerrero.

To complete the picture we mention the works of de Ghersem which are still known: half of the motet Benedicam Dominum exists, and from it the full second tenor part; finally, the second bass part of the eight-part Missa sine nomine (Antwerp, 1642).

After his death, de Ghersem was performed well into the seventeenth century. During his lifetime the theorist Pietro Cerone commended de Ghersem for his masses in his El melopeo y maestro (1613). Johann IV of Portugal was also full of praise for the perfect marriage between text and music in de Ghersem's compositions. André Catullius (1652) was among his admirers as well. The Portuguese theorist Manoel Nunes da Sylva quoted from the Lamentations of de Ghersem to explain the art of counterpoint (1685).



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Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599)

"el más único de su tiempo en el Arte de Música" ("the most unique of his time in the art of music"), said Francisco Pacheco in 1599 on the occasion of Guerrero' s death. Guerrero was a pupil of De Morales in Seville cathedral. In 1554 he was employed there, and, with some interruptions, remained there until his death in 1599. In 1581/82 he travelled to Italy, and in 1589 to the Holy Land (Damascus, Bethlehem and Jerusalem). He published an adventurous diary, El Viage de Jerusalem, about this trip. Four important collections of motets by Guerrero appeared in 1555 (Seville), 1570, 1589 and 1597 (all in Venice). He spent so much money publishing these works that he was in financial distress. His creditors had him arrested, but Guerrero was released when his employer, the Bishop of Seville, paid his debts and bought his freedom.

Guerrero's five-part Ave Virgo Sanctissima (1570) was the starting point for de Ghersem's mass. This motet contains a unison canon between the two upper voices. A unison canon is then also the starting point for each part of the mass. Thus, in the Kyrie, the second alto imitates the second cantus. In the Christe eleison the second cantus imitates the first cantus etc. Only in the four-part Crucifixus in the Credo does de Ghersem not use a unison canon. Guerrero's motet quotes a Gregorian chant for the words "Ave Virgo sanctissima". For the word "Salve" he takes another Gregorian chant, in this case from that of the Salve Regina. De Ghersem quotes this Salve Regina in the Gloria and in the second Agnus Dei (recognisable by the falling second, which immediately rises again). Likewise, the key of E minor, in which Guerrero composes unusually and continuously on "pretiosa", de Ghersem makes varied use of in his mass.

The eight-part Regina Coeli (1589) quotes the Gregorian chant literally at the beginning of each new text phrase in all the voices. Choir 1 is a high choir (two mezzo and two alto clefs), choir 2 is a low choir (two tenor and two bass clefs). The customary expressiveness for the words "laetare" and "alleluia" is achieved by the use of semiquavers. The regularly repeated "alleluia" is used as a refrain in this mass.

The Salve Regina (1570) is an alternatim composition, in which Guerrero has set the even verses polyphonically. It is a magnificent four-part motet in a very linear style of writing with a climax on "O clemens, O pia".


Pieter Cornet (c.1570/80-1633)

Pieter Cornet, from Brussels, was born into a musical family, and was organist of the Sint-Niklaaskerk in Brussels from 1603 to 1606. He then became organist at the court of Albrecht and Isabella. Only instrumental music by Cornet has survived. Instrumental works at that time, however, were often provided with religious titles, like this Regina Coeli. Cornet was also active as an organ builder and consultant. In this capacity he advised on the construction of the organ for the Sint-Rombouts Cathedral in Mechelen.


Philippe Rogier (c.1561-1596)

"Rogier, pride of Flanders, glory and light ... departed this life at the height of his genius; we have been robbed of our beloved Orpheus", wrote Lope de Vega in his poem Laurel de Apolo in 1630.

At aged eleven Rogier was taken to Spain as a choirboy by Geert van Turnhout, Kapellmeister to Philipp II (1572). When the Kapellmeister de la Hèle died in 1586, Rogier succeeded him in the post. In the above-mentioned library of Johann IV of Portugal, there were 243 works by Rogier, including the five masses published de Ghersem in 1598.

Rogier's Regina Coeli (Naples, 1595) is scored for double choir and explicitly quotes the Gregorian original at the beginning of each phrase and in every voice. It is a simple work which rejoices on "alleluia" and "resurrexit".


Peter Philips (1560-1628)

In his youth, Peter Philipps sang as a choirboy in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. As a committed Catholic, he fled from Anglican England, in order to remain true to his beliefs, even though Queen Elizabeth I pleaded for tolerance between Protestants and Catholics. After a detour via Brussels, he landed first of all in Rome, where he met Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina, among others. He remained there for three years, and then travelled to Genoa, Madrid and Paris, finally returning to Brussels and Antwerp. After his trip to the Northern Netherlands in 1597, he got a permanent position as organist to the Chapel of Albrecht and Isabella (see above - Pieter Cornet was the court organist), where he came into contact with his compatriot John Bull. Philips was the godfather of one of Cornet's children, so the two composers became good friends.

From then on Philips prospered, editions of his music appeared, first madrigals, then motets. In 1613, in Antwerp, the Phalesius Press published his collection Cantiones Sacrae octonis vocibus.

Regina Coeli and Salve Regina are two works from this collection, both composed for double choir. At the beginning of the seventeenth century Gregorian chant was often still used as a starting point for religious works. In Regina Coeli Philips initially uses the Gregorian chant with very long note values, but soon the mood changes, and the "alleluia" rejoices with fast notes and counter-rhythms throughout the whole piece. It is written for two four-part choirs (S, A, T, B). Salve Regina is written for the same forces, but from the text, and above all from the musical setting, a very devout character is achieved. Certainly here Philips also used rather rapid changes of choir and rhythmic accelerations, and thereby bequeathed a true high point of strict polyphony at the end of the sixteenth century.


Renate Weytjens

Translation by Christopher Cartwright and Godwin Stewart


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