Utopia Ensemble - EN Programs 2023 by utopia.ensemble

2023

Programs

Preface

We live in strange times. Although we have never known this much prosperity, many certainties are wavering and one crisis seems to follow the other. So many of us are looking for better places and the best version of ourselves. This was no different in the sixteenth century. Our regions flourished: the prosperous trade attracted artists, intellectuals and craftsmen. At the same time, though, new religious movements arose that were bloodily suppressed; witches were persecuted, war after war followed…

While music in those days mainly served a higher purpose, we now often enjoy it for relaxation. Music can not only provide a resting point in turbulent times, but also lead to deepening. We would like to contribute to this with Utopia Ensemble. Specialised in the polyphony of the sixteenth century and inspired by the book Utopia to take on a social role, we strive to be a go-between to a time that seems long gone, but which is still reflected today.

In this program brochure we would like to introduce you to a few projects. In Miroirs and En Terre Estrange we bridge the gap between the sixteenth century and our own time. Providing a contemporary answer, both in image and in music, to valuable motets from the sixteenth century. In doing this, we give a voice to the displaced person, the searching stranger; a centuries-old and burning topical issue. In other programs we delve deeper into the sixteenth-century oeuvre to highlight some unknown gems, like madrigals. Often seen as the pre-eminent Italian genre, in which our Flemish polyphonists were pioneers. We highlight Tielman Susato. He was the first publisher of printed sheet music with an eye for excellence, and a skilled composer of vocal music himself. In The Silence of the Night we give a new meaning to the program with the poignantly beautiful Lamentations of Cristóbal de Morales.

With this brochure, Utopia Ensemble hopes to arouse your interest and is happy to provide you with more information about the programs on offer.

MIROIRS

Compassion is of all times. Sixteenth-century motets reflected

Cast: 5 singers a capella and organ

Music by Andreas Pevernage, Cornelis Verdonck, Orlandus Lassus, Daniel Raymundi and Benjamien Lycke Beeld: Benjamien Lycke, among others.

MIROIRS is an integrated concert program in which Utopia Ensemble presents sixteenth-century visual motets through contemporary interpretation.

Motets are typographical works of art from Antwerp in the sixteenth century. Their dissemination with a specific message was a means for the Counter-Reformation to strengthen the faith and encourage believers to lead a virtuous and merciful life after God’s example. Because of their rarity and their uniqueness in the development of music typography in Flanders, the image motets were included in 2012 as a masterpiece in the list of the cultural heritage of the Flemish Community.

The image motets convey a message of mercy. Today, we understand it as this: don’t turn your head, don’t look away, don’t be indifferent but actively help someone, listen to someone, show compassion, be empathetic, show solidarity. These skills are not always easy to perform in a fast-paced world, yet are called on daily. Compassion may not save the world, but more of it will make life a lot more enjoyable…

In MIROIRS, the old visual motets with a one-sided religious message are mirrored against a current art form in which composer, lyricist and designer - digitally this time - again work closely together. The current reflections give spectators space to reflect on the concept of ‘compassion’.

in cooperation with

ROSA MYSTICA

Polyphonic Mary Vespers from the sixteenth century

Cast: 5 singers a capella and Bart Jacobs, organ

Music by Josquin, Palestrina, De Morales, Lassus, De Victoria, Dering, Philips en Gombert

The Marian devotion has a great tradition in Flanders. The many chapels along the roads, the imposing Churches of Our Lady, basilicas and cathedrals, processions, songs and even Marian sweets and cookies bear witness to this. In the sixteenth century, this attention to Mary increased with the presence of the Spaniards in our region: under the impulse of the Spaniards, the Basilica of Our Lady was built in Scherpenheuvel and the statue of Mary was given a prominent place in the niche on the facade of the Antwerp city hall. .

The veneration of the Virgin Mary was therefore a favourite subject for Spanish and Flemish composers of the sixteenth century. Utopia composed her own Marian Vespers with unique motets from this oeuvre. Beautiful psalms and antiphons, in combination with the wellknown lyrics from The Song of Songs, composed by Spanish and Flemish composers.

The Musical Universe of

ANDREAS PEVERNAGE

Cast: 5 singers a capella and lute

Music by Andreas Pevernage and Emmanuel Adriaenssen

In 2021 Utopia Ensemble released a new CD with chansons, madrigals and motets by Andreas Pevernage.

Pevernage’s work is unfortunately less known, perhaps because his entire career took place only in Flanders? We remember him as chapelmaster of the cathedral in Antwerp and as composer of several motets, added as masterpieces to the list of Flemish Heritage.

In his chansons, Andreas Pevernage managed to implement the innovations of the (Italian) madrigal, which was more in demand at the time.

In this way he ensured a peak in the development of the chanson genre.

The four beautifully published books by Christoffel Plantin show how much faith this famous printer had in Pevernage’s craftsmanship. His music can easily be compared with the work of more famous contemporaries. At the time he was mentioned alongside Orlandus Lassus, Clemens non Papa and Giaches De Wert. From this new album, Utopia selected the most beautiful works to offer you a varied concert program, along with lute music from Pevernage’s time.

REQUIEM FOR AN EMPEROR

A funeral mass for Emperor Charles

Cast: 5 singers a capella

Music by Pierre de Manchicourt

Pierre de Manchicourt was one of the chapelmasters of the “Capilla Flamenca”, the group of Flemish musicians that accompanied Emperor Charles on his travels to Spain. Although Manchicourt became part of the “Capilla Flamenca” after the emperor’s death, the Requiem he composed was probably to commemorate Emperor Charles. This work seems to be a testimony of how he spent his last days in sobriety: “Ecce elongavi fugiens et mansi in solitudine” (“I fled and stayed in solitude”). Manchicourt mastered the polyphonic composition technique as can be heard in his Requiem. He too used Gregorian Chant as base for this composition, mainly in the upper voice, surrounded by the movement of four other voices. This results in a funeral mass, full of moving serenity, that depicts the content: “Requiem aeternam dona eis” (“grant them eternal rest”)

SUSATO

Treasures from the Antwerp Golden 16th Century

Cast: 5 singers a capella and lute

Music by Tielman Susato, Orlandus Lassus, Jacobus Clemens en Nicolaas

Gombert, among others

“O wrede Fortune”

(“O Cruel Fortune”)

That is the title of a chanson by Tielman Susato. Fortuna is the Roman goddess of chance or fate. Was it a twist of fate that Tielman Susato ended up in Antwerp in the sixteenth century and developed a flourishing music printing business there? Perhaps not, Antwerp was then virtually the centre of the world and attracted many talents. You had to be in Antwerp for both trade and culture. Although the name Susato does ring a bell today, there are several aspects of him as a composer, as a music printer and publisher that remain underexposed. Susato is usually associated with instrumental music. As a vocal ensemble, Utopia likes to emphasise the vocal music that can be associated with him. There

is, for example, the motet “Salve quae roseo”, a wonderful ode to Antwerp, in which Susato displays a fine example of craftsmanship. His five-part mass “In illo tempore quum audisent apostoli” should also not be missed.

Utopia Ensemble also wants to highlight the music printer/publisher Susato; many big names are featured in his publications, including Lassus, Manchicourt, Gombert, Clemens, Crequillon and Josquin. The latter published his famous chanson “Mille regrets” with Tielman Susato, who immediately provided it with a “réponse”. Get surprised by this program with (hidden) pearls from the Antwerp Golden Age.

OHIMÉ!

Love poetry in polyphony around 1600

Cast: 5 singers and Korneel Bernolet, harpsichord and Thomas Baeté, viola da gamba

Music by De Wert, Monteverdi, Willaert and Marenzio

“Oh no!” or “So sweet is the torment”…admittedly, it doesn’t sound as yearning or painful as the same words in Italian: “Ohimé” and “Si dolce è il tormento”. The Italian language is a basic ingredient of the madrigal. In this sixteenth century genre passion, love happiness and misfortune are sung. Did you know, however, that this typically Italian genre could never have existed without the great influence of FrancoFlemish composers?

In this programme, Utopia Ensemble presents a musical painting of beautiful poems by Guarini, Ariosto and other Italian poets. The listener is taken on an expressive journey between desire and sorrow, between love and infidelity. The intense poems, in which human feelings are expressed in a refined way, are brought to life completely in a polyphonic fabric. These madrigals are all gems of expressiveness composed by Italian and Flemish masters.

BRUEGEL

Paintings

musically translated

Cast: 5 singers a capella, or with Arnaud Vande Cauter, organ Music by Lassus, Gombert, Crecquillon, Janequin, de Rore, Sweelinck, among others

Pieter Bruegel is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating painters from the 16th century Netherlands. No one else painted nature so precisely and forcefully, the course of the seasons, the human being in his popular habitat. But he was also a master in brushing surreal characters or situations à la Jeroen Bosch, with or without religious overtones. His eye for detail and accuracy still surprises many a museum visitor. Famous collectors such as Emperor Rudolf II had already created a whole collection of Bruegel’s works by the end of the sixteenth century. But also rich citizens, art collectors from Antwerp and Brussels bought his works. With “Bruegel” Utopia brings a varied anthology of music from Bruegel’s time. In compiling this program, Utopia was inspired by the paintings “The Triumph of Death”, “The Tower of Babel”, “The Fall of the Rebellious Angels”, “Peasant Wedding”

and “The Fight between Lent and Lent.” Using compositions by contemporaries and local people, Utopia wants to create an atmospheric portrait of Bruegel and bring the different “layers” of his character back to life. For example, it was recently discovered through infrared photography that Dulle Griet originally protruded her tongue. Bruegel subsequently decided to paint only strict lip contours. With “Bruegel”, Utopia brings a fascinating concert without self-censorship: folk songs, in contrast with religious works and devotees or some bawdy love songs, give the facets of our grandmaster of the canvas a new colour.

THE SILENCE OF THE NIGHT

Lamentations for the Fallen City of Jerusalem

Cast: 5 singers a capella

Music by De Morales, Josquin, Tubal, Weerbeke and gregorian chant

In 2016, Utopia premiered the seven lamentations of Cristóbal de Morales on CD. These beautiful laments, set by one of Spain’s greatest polyphonists, mourn the downfall of Jerusalem in a biblical poetry.

In this renewed concert programme, Utopia places four of Morales’ lamentations within the “Triduum Sacrum”, the three holy days before Easter. The music for this time attracts many because of its tranquil character. The transparent polyphony of these lamentations leads the audience to deepening and reflection. This is the ideal entry point for people who are less familiar with this genre. The other selected works are by Josquin Desprez and Gaspar van Weerbeke, predecessors of Morales at the papal court chapel, and by Adriaen Tubal, a contemporary of Morales and active in Italy and Antwerp.

EN TERRE ESTRANGE

Diary of Exiles

Cast: 5 singers a capella and an actor/narrator

Music by Lassus, Gombert, Pevernage, Gesualdo en Marenzio, among others

Texts by Ovidius, Victor Hugo, Maurice Maeterlinck, an anonymous Syrian

Political punishment, voluntary alienation to escape an impossible love or a crime committed, fleeing disasters, the causes of exile are innumerable. The departure from the native land, which was loved above all else, evokes in exile a multitude of powerful feelings, which the arts were nurtured by since ancient times. By seeking out authors and composers who have lived in exile themselves, such as Ovid, Nicolas Gombert, Carlo Gesualdo or even Victor Hugo, the Utopia Ensemble tries to evoke the intense emotions caused by the exile’s distance from his soil, its roots, its family. Whether through a biblical text set to

music, in which the captives of Babylon remember their land of Zion, or in an Italian madrigal where exile is akin to death, each radiates the same intensity, the same thirst for the impossible return to the homeland. Poetry and theatre are not disregarded and, like the “Traveler”, each in its own way, tells us that the best place to be, is where the author is not :“Dort, wo du nicht bist, dort ist das Glück”. The program closes with music that can be seen as a prayer for the exiles, as a hymn, urging God to bring the “refugees” back to their own country.

Utopia Ensemble unites five singers with a great passion for polyphony. Utopia specialises in vocal music from the 16th and early 17th centuries. The principle of equality of the five voices ensures a rich homogeneous sound, always with a lived expressiveness. Utopia Ensemble took its name from Thomas More’s book of the same name, written in Antwerp in 1516. Inspired by the interesting and innovative ideas in the book, Utopia also wants to play a social role through its projects and collaborations. For example, there is the Utopia Festival Day, an interdisciplinary initiative that links to social themes. As an ‘ensemble in residence’ in the beautiful SintPauluskerk in Antwerp, Utopia has a wonderful home base for concerts and new projects. In the meantime, a collaboration has also been started with Museum Vleeshuis. In recent years, Utopia has performed at major festivals and concert stages in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Spain, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Utopia has already released three CDs, the last of which (2021) on the Ramée label with music by the unjustly ‘forgotten’ Andreas Pevernage. A next album by Ramée around publisher and composer Tielman Susato has already been recorded and is expected in the autumn of 2023.