Saint Mark

Available for 29 days

By the beginning of the 16th C, Venice was in commercial decline, the financial clout of the first and longest lived of the European Empires was fading. However, just as the Republic’s political power was starting to ebb, artistic and cultural life began to flourish as never before. Venice became the centre of the cultural world. Over the course of this week, Donald Macleod explores this extraordinary period when music flourished throughout Venice’s streets and in the churches, palaces and public buildings which had sprung up all across the city, and the composers whose work came to define the age – the Venetian School. In Tuesday’s programme, Donald explores the influence of Venice’s patron saint – St. Mark on the music making in the Republic, with a host of music dedicated to the Saint. He also examines music-making in the state church of the republic – the basilica of St. Mark’s – and the impact of the 35 year reign of its director of music, Adrien Willaert. Adrien Willaert Lauda Jersusalem Dominum Collegium Vocale e Strumentale Euterpe Antonio Eros Negri, director Claudio Merulo Cumque beatissimus Marcus Evangelista Quoniam Ensemble Adrien Willaert Vespro della beata Vergine: Dixit Dominus Capilla Flamenca Cipriano de Rore De le belle contrade d’oriente Consort of Musicke Anthony Rooley, director Jacques Buus Recarcare Klaus Eichhorn, organ Giovanni Bassano Deus qui beatum Marcum His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts Gentlemen of the Chappell Peter Bassano, conductor Giovanni Bassano La rose (after Willaert) La Guilde des Mercenaires Adrien Mabire, director Cipriano De Rore Missa Praeter rerum seriem excerpt – Credo and Sanctus & Benedictus Huelgas Ensemble Paul van Nevel, conductor