1592 Vespers

New College School Chamber Choir and Choral Society

The Choir of St. Michael the Archangel, Burghclere

Ensemble Res Sacra

His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts

Thomas Neal

A concert to celebrate the quincentenary of Giovanni Pierluigi 'da Palestrina' (c.1525-1594). The programme is structured as a service of Vespers for the feast of The Annunciation, using music published in Giovanni Matteo Asola's anthology Sacra omnium solemnitatum psalmodia vespertina cum cantico B. Virginis [...] quinque vocibus [...] (Venice: Ricciardo Amadino, 1592), which he dedicated to Palestrina. Music includes compositions by Asola, Giovanni Croce, Pietro Pontio, Girolamo Vespa, Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi, and of course Palestrina himself--framed by the liturgical 'Gregorian' chants of the feast. Much of this music has been newly transcribed and edited specially for this concert, and may well be being performed for the first time since the sixteenth century.

Host or Publisher New College School, Oxford