Overview
Stile Antico is firmly established as one of the world’s most accomplished and innovative vocal ensembles. The group performs regularly throughout Europe and North America and its recordings have received major awards including the Diapason d’Or de l’Année. Working without a conductor, they rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the musical result. Their performances have repeatedly been praised for their vitality, expressiveness and imaginative response to the text.
Their programme of four concerts takes the audience on a musical tour around Renaissance Europe, beginning in Italy and ending in Spain, via the Low Countries and England. Within this, each concert will take you on its own self-contained journey, exploring different cities, figures or perspectives from the era.
For this inaugural choral variant of our ‘Chamber Music Breaks’ in the UK, our audience will take over two hotels in the small Suffolk market town of Lavenham. An almost completely medieval town, Lavenham’s timber-framed buildings were preserved by the 500-year slump which followed a burst of prosperity in the wool trade in the 15th century. The result is one of the delights of England.
All four concerts will be held in Lavenham’s Church of St Peter & St Paul, which has a decorated chancel dating to the early 14th century and a perpendicular nave begun in 1486, famous for its homogeneity and beauty and one of the most perfect manifestations of the style. The fine furnishings include misericords, chancel screen and an exceptional pair of chantry chapels.
Concert 1: Wednesday 26 November, 5.30pm
‘Italian Dynasties – Music and patronage in Renaissance Italy’
The great families and institutions of Renaissance Italy lavished their patronage on the cream of musical talent from all over Europe. Dukes of Ferrara and Mantua were significant patrons for Flemish musicians like de Wert and Josquin des Prez; the Vatican employed great singers like Josquin as well as Italians Allegri and Aneiro; and Spanish composers such as Victoria were drawn to Rome as the centre of the burgeoning Counter-Reformation. Home-grown talent also flourished in these cities, with Palestrina and Monteverdi becoming synonymous with music from their beloved Rome and Venice respectively. This concert takes a grand tour of these great 16th-century Italian centres of patronage: from Florence to Rome via courts in Ferrara, Manua and Venice.
Mantua
Giaches de Wert, Gaudete in Domino
Claudio Monteverdi, Ecco mormorar l’onde
Jacquet of Mantua, Dum Vastos Adriae
Ferrara
Luca Marenzio, Tribus miraculis
Leonora d’Este, O salutaris hostia
Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Quivi sospiri
Rafaella Aleotti, Angelus ad pastore ait
Venice
Claudio Monteverdi, Adoramus te, Christe
Andrea Gabrieli, Benedictus Dominus
Claudio Merulo, Salvum fac populum tuum
Florence
Anon., Venite a laudare
Maddelena Casulana, O notte, o ciel, o mar
Josquin des Prez, Inviolata, integra es
Rome
G.P. da Palestrina, Tu es Petrus
Tomas Luis de Victoria, Trahe me post te
G.P. da Palestrina, Surge, propera amica mea
Felice Anerio, Christus factus est
Gregorio Allegri, Christus Resurgens
G.P. da Palestrina, Laudate Dominum in tympanis a12
Concert 2: Thursday 27 November, 10.30am
‘Capilla Flamenca – Franco-Flemish musicians at home and abroad’
As the Middle Ages gave way to the Renaissance, Flemish musicians were the most admired in Europe. Many of the region’s finest singers and composers were recruited to work for the powerful Habsburgs, while others found their way to the Sistine Chapel in Rome. As the 16th century progressed, the Low Countries continued to flourish as a centre of cultural creativity. Its booming trading ports, not least Antwerp with its famous printing industry, and rich cities such as Amsterdam, renowned for religious tolerance, proved fertile ground for both home-grown and foreign musical talent.
Philippe Rogier, Laboravi in gemitu meo
Flemish composers at the Sistine Chapel
Josquin des Prez, Salve Regina
Jacques Arcadelt, Pater noster
A cultural melting pot
Clemens non Papa, Pastores quidnam vidistis
Peter Phillips, Ecce vicit Leo
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Estans assis aux rives aquatiques
Richard Dering, Factum est silentium
Clemens non Papa, Ego flos Campi
La Grande Chapelle – Music for the Habsburgs
Nicolas Gombert, Media Vita
Philippe Rogier, Regina caeli a8
Pierre De la Rue, Absalon fili mi
Philippe de Monte, Super flumina Baylonis
Lassus – the final flowering of the Flemish Renaissance
Orlandus Lassus, Musica Dei donum
Orlandus Lassus, Toutes les nuitz
Orlandus Lassus, Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes
Concert 3: Thursday 27 November, 5.30pm
‘Gloriana – Treasures of Elizabethan England’
The immensely powerful Tudor monarchs presided over an unparalleled musical flowering in England – especially under the long-lived Elizabeth I, herself a musician and lover of music, who came to Lavenham on a Royal Progress in 1578. We hear works from Elizabeth’s Protestant Chapel Royal – the finest musical institution in the land – but also music that circulated in clandestine Catholic circles, and we draw on two printed collections dedicated to her: the 1575 Cantiones sacrae and The Triumphs of Oriana. Stile Antico’s programme closes with an exceptionally vibrant piece written especially for them by Huw Watkins – a setting of a metaphysical poem by William Shakespeare.
William Byrd, O Lord make thy servant Elizabeth
‘In Quires and churches’ – music for the Chapel Royal
Robert Parsons, Deliver me from mine enemies
John Taverner, Christe Jesu, pastor bone
William Byrd, Nunc dimittis from the Great Service
‘In a strange land’ – the recusant Catholic community
William Byrd, Quomodo cantabimus
William Byrd, Haec dies
William Byrd, Tristitia et anxietas
Musical monopolies – Cantiones Sacrae
William Byrd, Laudibus in sanctis
Thomas Tallis, Salvator mundi
William Byrd, Emendemus in melius
William Byrd, In resurrectione tua
Thomas Tallis, Miserere nostri
William Byrd, Miserere mihi
‘Fair Oriana’ – madrigals for the Virgin Queen
William Byrd, This sweet and merry merry month of May
John Wilbye, The lady Oriana
John Bennet, All creatures now
Thomas Weelkes, As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending
Huw Watkins, The Phoenix and the Turtle
Concert 4: Friday 28 November, 10.30am
‘A Golden Age – Spain: the first global superpower’
With the Reconquista and the discovery of the Americas in 1492, Spain found itself entering a century-long Golden Age during which it became widely recognised as the first global superpower under the powerful Habsburg rulers. With the ensuing flow of wealth from the newly conquered lands came an explosion in cultural activity, producing some of the period’s finest painters, architects and musicians. The Spanish Court and Spain’s major cities were a hotbed of musical innovation and produced some of the finest liturgical music ever written. Composers such as Morales, Guerro and Victoria were considered amongst the finest in Europe. Music from the Spanish cathedrals was even exported to the hastily built cathedrals in the New World, where they inspired a homegrown musical tradition.
Seville & Toledo, centres of musical excellence
Cristobal Morales, Asperges Me
Francisco Guerrero, Ave Virgo Sanctissima
Cristobal Morales, O Sacrum Convivium
Alonso Lobo, O quam suavis
Alonso Lobo, Ave Regina Caelorum
Francisco Guerrero, Vexilla Regis
The Iberian diaspora
Cristobal Morales, Jubilate Deo
Tomas Luis de Victoria, O vos omnes
Tomas Luis de Victoria, Tenebrae factae sunt
Vicente Lusitano, Regina Caeli
A gateway to the New World
Gaspar Fernandez, Xicochi Conetzintle
Juan de Padilla, Exsultate justi
Hernando Franco, Sancta Maria e y un il huacac
Tomas Luis de Victoria, Vidi Speciosam
With thanks to Stile Antico for providing these concert descriptions.
Accommodation and prices
The Swan at Lavenham
An inn since 1667, The Swan spreads through a number of contiguous half-timber buildings which date to the 15th and 16th centuries.
Refurbishment of the rooms has retained their historical character – wooden beams, uneven floors, casement windows – and the modern insertions have been designed with taste and restraint. Most of the en-suite bathrooms have a bath with shower attachment (only one room has a walk-in shower).
Facilities include a bar, extensive lounges, brasserie and a good restaurant. Service is of a high standard. The hotel’s car park is on Hall Road, c. 2 minutes’ walk from its front door, and is free of charge.
The Swan is located c. 5 minutes’ walk from St Peter & St Paul’s Church.
Prices, per person:
Double for sole use: £1,190
Superior double for sole use: £1,270
Standard double (two sharing): £1,070
Superior double (two sharing): £1,160
Junior suite (two sharing): £1,240
Suite (two sharing): £1,310
The Great House, Lavenham
A small, five-bedroom hotel situated on the market square, The Great House is the smartest place to stay in Lavenham. It was built in the 14th and 15th centuries and the façade added in the 18th century.
Rooms are smart, contemporary and comfortable with all mod cons including a minibar and tea and coffee making facilities.
The historic nature of the building means that creaky, uneven floorboards and low doorways are a feature, as well as steps. There is no lift.
Public areas are limited – there is a restaurant and bar (within the restaurant), but no lounge. Wireless internet is available free of charge. There is free parking in the market square and in the surrounding streets.
The Great House is located c. 8 minutes’ walk from St Peter & St Paul’s Church.
All rooms are double occupancy.
Price, per person: £1,490.
Included
Four concerts, accommodation for two nights, breakfasts and two dinners in your hotel, two afternoon teas at The Swan, interval drinks, programme, tips for hotel staff.
Start and finish
Rooms are available for occupancy from 3.00pm on Wednesday 26 November. The final concert, on Friday 28 November, will end by 12.30pm.
Getting there
Transport to and from this event is not provided. The nearest train station is Sudbury, a c. 10-minute taxi ride from Lavenham (to get here from London currently, take a train from Liverpool Street and change at Marks Tey). There is ample free parking in the centre of Lavenham for those arriving by car.
Tickets to individual concerts
£30 mornings; £35 evenings. Interval refreshments and a programme are included. To book, please visit this page.
Combine with
The Art of Florence, 17–23 November
