Het Retorisch Kwartet

‘The rhetorical quartet’ is an early music vocal quartet based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
01 October 2016
Adrian Willaert & Jacob Clemens non Papa

On 1 October, Het Retorisch Kwartet will perform a selection of sacred and secular works by Adrian Willaert and Jacob Clemens non Papa. On 2 October, Het Retorisch Kwartet will perform the same programme at a private concert.

Het Retorisch Kwartet in Kralingen

Adriaen Willaert (1490 - 1562) has returned to the spotlight since last Utrecht Early Music Festival. This is indeed a return, as Willaert enjoyed great fame in his own time. He was a master at combining complex compositional techniques with clarity and affect, setting text to music. This was new in his time.

The works of Clemens non Papa (1510 - 1555/56) also illustrate this trend, even more expressively. Clemens was an exceptional figure, famous for his music, but also notorious for his lifestyle. He owes his nickname to the latter: indeed, he was ‘not the Pope’.

With both sacred and secular music by Willaert and Clemens, Het Retorisch Kwartet will perform music that aims for zest, for warm expression, and for a rich life. There is humanism in this music.

Programme:

  1. Un giorno mi prego - Adrian Willaert (c. 1490 – 1562)
  2. O bene mio - Willaert
  3. Madonna io non lo so perche lo fai - Willaert
  4. Vecchie letrose - Willaert
  5. Dulces exuviae - Willaert
  6. Mirabile mysterium - Willaert
  7. O magnum mysterium - Willaert
  8. Missa Christus Resurgens - Kyrie - Willaert
  9. Pour une, las, j’endure - Clemens
  10. Au joly boquet croist la violette - Clemens
  11. Crux fidelis - Clemens non Papa (c. 1510 – c. 1555)
  12. Missa pro defunctis - Clemens