布拉格大學1360-1460的音樂 - 七天 布拉格葛利果學院聖詠團 科琳娜·瑪蒂 古大鍵琴 Schola Gregoriana Pragensis / Septem Dies

布拉格大學1360-1460的音樂 (聖樂/儀式/娛樂合唱曲集)
布拉格葛利果學院聖詠團
科琳娜·瑪蒂 古大鍵琴

The music played at Prague university according to mid-15th-century sources, following the Hussite wars and the institution's renovation. The album provides a wide array of liturgical music, sacred pieces by young clerics, as well as music the university students played for entertainment. It features Gregorian chant, anonymous creations and compositions by Bernard de Cluny, Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz and Antonio da Cividale.

Schola Gregoriana Pragensis: Hasan El-Dunia, Ondrej Holub, Jan Kukal, Tomas Lajtkep, Ondrej Maňour, Michal Medek, Stanislav Predota. Artistic director: David Eben. Corina Marti - clavisimbalum

Contemporary university students would be hard pressed to imagine life without social networking on their smartphones. In the 15th century, the role of social networking was pursued by communal singing, bringing the students together and being part of their everyday life on a variety of occasions. The foundation charter of the Recek College of Prague university (1438) stipulated for the students the duty to perform music every day within the liturgical services. On the other hand, secular music, including instrumental and dance, was prohibited (especially playing resonant instruments, singing in the vernacular languages and ribald songs), but the students constantly bent the rules. The liturgy prescribed for each day of the week served as the basis for the repertoire of the present recording, which, however, also affords scope to the secular music that in all likelihood the students used to play during their leisure time beyond the walls of the college. The unique album of Schola Gregoriana Pragensis and their very special guest, the clavisimbalist Corina Marti (La Morra), is being released along with an extensive study providing a comprehensive depiction of the 15th-century university music life. The fruit of the collaboration between musicians and musicologists from across Europe is a book with a CD, an artefact that will become a natural part of the library of every connoisseur and lover of medieval music.

Listen to the music on the "playlist" of a Prague university student 600 years ago...

Reviews

"It consists of excellent singers who fully command the art of legato singing. At the same time their diction is such that the texts are always clearly understandable, even in languages one does not understand, such as Czech. The clarity and transparency of sound are further assets of this choir, which is in superb form here… In short, this is a superb disc. Its theme, the selection of music and the performances justify a special recommendation."
MusicWeb International, July 2021

"These are competent performances, full of spiritual fervour, and the singers don't shy away from using subtle expressive nuances to help the music speak to modern ears. The lush church acoustic adds a bloom to the sound."
BBC Music Magazine, September 2021