Sacred Treasures of Rome (Palestrina & His Contemporaries – A Golden Age of Polyphony in Rome) London Oratory Schola Cantorum & Charles Cole

• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 - 1594): Dum complerentur:
• 1 Palestrina: Dum complerentur: I. Dum complerentur 03:17
• 2 Palestrina: Dum complerentur: II. Dum ergo essent 03:01
• Super flumina Babylonis:
• 3 Palestrina: Super flumina Babylonis 05:14
• Canite tuba:
• 4 Palestrina: Canite tuba: I. Canite tuba 02:57
• 5 Palestrina: Canite tuba: II. Rorate caeli 03:42
• Giovanni Animuccia (1520 - 1571): O crux ave, spes unica:
• 6 Animuccia: O crux ave, spes unica 04:25
• Luca Marenzio (1553 - 1599): Magnificat octavi toni:
• 7 Marenzio: Magnificat octavi toni 04:58
• Giovanni Maria Nanino (1543 - 1607): Adoramus te, Christe:
• 8 Nanino: Adoramus te, Christe 03:54
• Francesco Soriano (1548 - 1621): Regina caeli laetare:
• 9 Soriano: Regina caeli laetare 01:29
• Felice Anerio (1560 - 1614): Adoramus te, Domine Jesu Christe:
• 10 Anerio: Adoramus te, Domine Jesu Christe 04:18
• Giovanni Francesco Anerio (1567 - 1630): O Maria gloriosa:
• 11 Anerio: O Maria gloriosa 05:37
• Ruggiero Giovannelli (1560 - 1625): Iubilate Deo:
• 12 Giovannelli: Iubilate Deo 03:30
• Gregorio Allegri (1582 - 1652): Christus resurgens ex mortuis:
• 13 Allegri: Christus resurgens ex mortuis 04:25
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Sicut cervus desiderat:
• 14 Palestrina: Sicut cervus desiderat: I. Sicut cervus desiderat 03:57
• 15 Palestrina: Sicut cervus desiderat: II. Sitivit anima mea 04:06
• 16 Palestrina: Exultate Deo 02:39
• 17 Palestrina: Peccantem me quotidie 06:12
• Tu es Petrus a 6:
• 18 Palestrina: Tu es Petrus a 6: I Tu es Petrus 03:35
• Total Runtime 01:11:16

Info for Sacred Treasures of Rome (Palestrina & His Contemporaries – A Golden Age of Polyphony in Rome)

The London Oratory Schola Cantorum—whose singers have an average age in this recording of just fourteen, across all four voice parts—celebrates the quincentenary of Palestrina’s birth with a selection of his motets, together with works by some of the other composers active in sixteenth-century Rome.

One name more than any other dominates the Vatican Library’s collection of musical manuscripts: Prenestinus—the latinized name of the small city of Palestrina, twenty miles east of Rome, now best known for its most famous son. The young Giovanni Pierluigi became a chorister at Santa Maria Maggiore, the major basilica to which he would return later in life as maestro di cappella. His first major appointment in Rome was as maestro of the Cappella Giulia, following which he was promoted to the Sistine Chapel. However, a subsequent Pope, Paul IV, reinstated the rule that members of the Sistine should be celibate, and thus the married Palestrina became ineligible. Palestrina took up the position of maestro at San Giovanni in Laterano and later moved to Santa Maria Maggiore as maestro. He returned to the Cappella Giulia in 1571, a position which he held until his death in 1594.

The magnificent six-part Dum complerentur and its accompanying secunda pars, Dum ergo essent, were written for the Feast of Pentecost and describe the drama of the scene as the Holy Spirit descends on the Apostles in the upper room. The excitement at ‘Et subito’ leads to a vivid depiction of the great sound coming down from heaven. In the second part, Palestrina uses John’s account in conjunction with the previous text from Acts of the Apostles to reiterate the story. Super flumina Babylonis demonstrates Palestrina’s consummate ability to weave extraordinary beauty within the relative limitations of a four-part motet. There is a great sense of proportion and balance of the phrases, together with the symmetry of their gently rising and falling lines.

Canite tuba and the accompanying Rorate caeli are both Advent texts and, like many such motet pairs, share similar musical material in their second halves, although Palestrina swaps around the two treble parts the second time, no doubt to keep his young charges on their toes. The bold opening chords of ‘Canite tuba’ herald the trumpet of Zion, while the line ‘Come Lord, and do not delay’ hurries impatiently towards the end.

Amongst the many things which St Philip Neri understood was the power and importance of art and music as an instrument of evangelization. Even in the days of the humble beginnings of the Oratory, when Neri’s disciples would meet in a room attached to San Girolamo della Carità, music played a major role. During those times, before the formal establishment of the Oratory at the Chiesa Nuova, there were at least two composers amongst St Philip’s brother priests, one being the Spaniard Tomás Luis de Victoria. The other was Giovanni Animuccia, who like Neri was a Florentine by birth. ...

London Oratory Schola Cantorum
Charles Cole, conductor

London Oratory Schola Cantorum
The Schola Cantorum of The London Oratory School sings at the London Oratory every Saturday evening in term time and on major feast days for School Mass throughout the year. Founded in 1996, the choir gives Catholic boys the opportunity of a choral education within the state education system from age 7 to 18. As well as its liturgical role, the Schola has made many recordings and has toured widely abroad, performing throughout the USA and Europe.

In 2013 the Schola sang at High Mass in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and was the first visiting choir in history to sing at Vespers there. In 2015 the Schola toured Spain, singing a programme of Spanish renaissance polyphony at the Cathedrals of Madrid, Segovia and Toledo as well as the Monastery of San Lorenzo el Real in El Escorial. In 2016 the Schola toured Venice singing Mass at St Mark’s and a concert at the Church of San Salvador. The same year the Schola sang at a choral festival in Bavaria with the Tölzer Knabenchor. In 2017 the Schola toured southern Spain singing in Seville and Granada. Later in 2017 the Schola went on tour to the USA singing in Boston, New York and Washington DC.

In July 2019 the Schola undertook a major tour in the USA, singing at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, at a number of the Californian Missions, as well as the first concert at the newly-consecrated Christ Cathedral, Orange County. In October 2019 the Schola was invited to sing at the Canonisation of John Henry Newman at St Peter’s, Rome. The choir also sang a number of services and concerts in Rome leading up to the Canonisation, a reception attended by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and a private audience with the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI.

The Schola’s most recent recording, Sacred Treasures of Spain, was released in July 2019 on the De Montfort/AimHigher Recordings label. This anthology of Spanish renaissance music follows the Schola’s previous recording, Sacred Treasures of England, which features music from the Tudor period. The Choir is closely associated with Aid to the Church in Need, singing for services and events to help the Charity’s work in providing support to persecuted Christians, most particularly in Syria and Iraq. The Trebles also sing for a number of the Royal Ballet’s productions at the Royal Opera House including The Dream and Nutcracker.

Recent performances by the Schola include J.S. Bach’s St John & St Matthew Passions and the Christmas Oratorio at the London Oratory with evangelist Nicholas Mulroy and Monteverdi’s Vespers with the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble.

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