La Serenissima

Old Venetian Masters and Their German Contemporaries
A. Willaert, G. Zarlino, A. Gabrieli, H. L. Haßler, H. Schütz

SINGER PUR (Germany)
Claudia Reinhard – soprano
Rüdiger Ballhorn, Markus Zapp, Manuel Warwitz – tenor
Reiner Schneider-Waterberg – baritone
Marcus Schmidl – bass

Thursday 21. 7. 2016, 20.00
Former Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia, St. Salvator Church,
Anežská 12, Prague 1

The concert took place under the auspices of the General Director of the National Gallery in Prague, Doc. Dr. et Ing. Jiří Fajt, Ph.D., with the financial support of the Deutsch-Tschechischer Zukunftsfonds and in collaboration with The National Gallery in Prague.

Human voices interlacing in mutual harmony – we would hardly find a more beautiful image of an ideal arrangement of our world. Of all those who have tried, it was the Venetian maestri di cappella – choirmasters Adrian Willaert, Cipriano de Rore, and Gioseffo Zarlino – who have come perhaps the closest to achieving this ideal. Their art, in turn, inspired musicians from beyond the Alps, such as Hans Leo Hassler, Thomas Stoltzer, or Heinrich Schütz. Members of the prominent German ensemble Singer Pur gave voice to those lasting musical longings, assisted in their endeavor by St Agnes of Bohemia (in whose cloister the concert took place), but also by St Mark whose influence was so closely connected with the glory of the Serene Republic of Venice, called “La Serenissima” for short.

Concert Programme

Adrian Willaert (ca 1480–1562)
Salve sancta parens – Virgo Dei genitrix
Thomas Stoltzer (ca 1480–1526)
Herr, neige deine Ohren
Andrea Gabrieli (ca 1510–1586)
Iniquos odio habui
Cypriano de Rore (ca 1515–1565)
Justus es Domine
Gioseffo Zarlino (1517–1590)
Virgo prudentissima, Exaudi Deus orationem
Hans Leo Haßler (1564–1612)
O admirabile comercium, Domine, Deus meus
Giovanni Gabrieli (ca 1554/57–1612)
Timor et tremor
Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672)
Alma aflitta, Es wird das Scepter von Juda, Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt

Singer Pur at St. Agnes Cloister
Opera PLUS, 22. 7. 2016, Jan Baťa
Singer Pur brought a very demanding programme offering no chance for the voice to rest. Yet, they managed to maintain perfect intonation, concentration and mutual harmony from the very start to the last notes of the performance. The individual members of the ensemble are each a musical individuality with a specific voice timber. Together, however, they form a coherent whole in which no one is heard at the expense of the others. The overall approach of the ensemble to the performance of this repertoire is sensible and dedicated to finding the right expression for each of the pieces without employing large, dramatic gestures. The way they were able to use the acoustic of the church was also remarkable. Singer Pur [...] left a great impression and the audience went home enriched by an exceptional musical experience.