Output details

Jacobus Clemens non Papa (c1510/15-1555/6) Requiem & Penitential Motets

Research content/process:

Although Clemens non Papa was probably the most widely circulated composer of the 1540s and early 50s, his prolific output is poorly represented in performance. This project therefore draws from a wide range of early sources, principally prints by Susato and Berg & Neuber, in order to focus on a coherent subset of Clemens’s œuvre. The penitential motets are a suitable accompaniment to the Requiem mass, and the entire project focussed largely on four-voice compositions. Like most of its contemporaries, Clemens’s Requiem Mass features chant paraphrase as a unifying compositional technique, presenting performers with the challenge of blending the chant-bearing voice(s) with free ones, whilst maintaining the atmosphere of the piece as a whole. Similarly, the motet Erravi sicut ovis features an ostinato on the text of the Lenten responsory Pater peccavi. Both of these cases offer opportunities to examine Clemens’s contrapuntal technique in a performance context, which is rather different from such contemporaries as Thomas Crecquillon (with whom he shares many conflicting attributions). Whereas Crecquillon and others construct their counterpoint based on an underlying duet (even if this duet may migrate within the texture at times), Clemens more frequently employs a texture approximating to melody and accompaniment. A fuller discussion of Clemens’s unusual compositional approach will appear in an article currently in preparation. All of these pieces were newly edited for the recording, and performers’ suggestions regarding underlay and musica ficta were incorporated during the rehearsal period. Performances of music from this CD have been given by The Brabant Ensemble under Rice's direction at the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht (August 2011), the Festival de Música Antigua de Úbeda y Baeza, Spain (December 2010), and the festival Eborae Musica, Portugal (October 2010).