La Battaglia - Francesco Usper
Have you ever heard of Francesco Usper (c1561-1641), an almost exact contemporary of Claudio Monteverdi? I hadn't until recently. He was born in Istria, the peninsula across the Adriatic from Venice, but spent most of his adult life in the watery city, arriving there some 20 years before Claudio Il Divino.
It turns out that he was quite a fine composer. (I mean Usper, though Monteverdi did OK too.) In 1619, he issued a publication wwhose title is quite a mounthful 'Compositioni armoniche nelle quali si contengono motetti, sinfonie, sonate, canzoni & capricci a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8 voci, et in fine la battaglia'. This translates roughly as 'Harmonic compositions among which are contained motets, symphonies, sonatas, canzonas and capriccios for any number of voices, and at the end, The Battle'.
Now what could this battle be? Good question. If you can figure it out, please let send me a telegram or perhaps a carrier pigeon. Many other pieces late Renaissance and early Baroque whose titles encompass the word 'Battaglia' are based (usually loosely) upon a very famous program chanson by Clement Janequin called 'La Bataille de Marignan. Or, on the Italian peninsula, perhaps upon a similar piece by Orazio Vecchi.
But if Usper's piece is based upon one of these, 'loosely' would be a mild word to describe the connection. Perhaps it lies in the vaguely martial quality of the horn calls.
At any rate, 'La Battaglia' is today's motet because a) I like it a lot; and b) it brings to these weekly projects a fine and fresh compositional voice.
Actually the piece resembles more closely an 8-part double-choir canzona, with lots of back-and-forthing between the two brass ensembles. (One could actually orchestrate the piece in a number of different ways.) In between these outbursts of antiphonal celebration, a couple of singers make their way through the famous Psalm 150, a musical psalm if there ever was one, accompanied only by basso continuo.
Then, in a final gesture worthy of the piece's position as the finale of Usper's Big Volume of Harmonic Compositions, a choir enters at psalmist's final verse: 'Let everything that has breath praise the Lord', and caps it off with a number of stirring alleluias.
What could be a better way to begin a weekend? I suggest equipping yourself (and possibly one or more like-minded personages within your orbit) with a pleasant libation and a snack, and have a Friday Festival! Kick it off with this piece, and then roll into music of your choice.
Feel good, if you can. And if you can't seem to, try jangling around gently as you listen.
It worked for Satchel Paige.
A score with a translation is attached, along with a very nice recording.
Have you ever heard of Francesco Usper (c1561-1641), an almost exact contemporary of Claudio Monteverdi? I hadn't until recently. He was born in Istria, the peninsula across the Adriatic from Venice, but spent most of his adult life in the watery city, arriving there some 20 years before Claudio Il Divino.
It turns out that he was quite a fine composer. (I mean Usper, though Monteverdi did OK too.) In 1619, he issued a publication wwhose title is quite a mounthful 'Compositioni armoniche nelle quali si contengono motetti, sinfonie, sonate, canzoni & capricci a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8 voci, et in fine la battaglia'. This translates roughly as 'Harmonic compositions among which are contained motets, symphonies, sonatas, canzonas and capriccios for any number of voices, and at the end, The Battle'.
Now what could this battle be? Good question. If you can figure it out, please let send me a telegram or perhaps a carrier pigeon. Many other pieces late Renaissance and early Baroque whose titles encompass the word 'Battaglia' are based (usually loosely) upon a very famous program chanson by Clement Janequin called 'La Bataille de Marignan. Or, on the Italian peninsula, perhaps upon a similar piece by Orazio Vecchi.
But if Usper's piece is based upon one of these, 'loosely' would be a mild word to describe the connection. Perhaps it lies in the vaguely martial quality of the horn calls.
At any rate, 'La Battaglia' is today's motet because a) I like it a lot; and b) it brings to these weekly projects a fine and fresh compositional voice.
Actually the piece resembles more closely an 8-part double-choir canzona, with lots of back-and-forthing between the two brass ensembles. (One could actually orchestrate the piece in a number of different ways.) In between these outbursts of antiphonal celebration, a couple of singers make their way through the famous Psalm 150, a musical psalm if there ever was one, accompanied only by basso continuo.
Then, in a final gesture worthy of the piece's position as the finale of Usper's Big Volume of Harmonic Compositions, a choir enters at psalmist's final verse: 'Let everything that has breath praise the Lord', and caps it off with a number of stirring alleluias.
What could be a better way to begin a weekend? I suggest equipping yourself (and possibly one or more like-minded personages within your orbit) with a pleasant libation and a snack, and have a Friday Festival! Kick it off with this piece, and then roll into music of your choice.
Feel good, if you can. And if you can't seem to, try jangling around gently as you listen.
It worked for Satchel Paige.
A score with a translation is attached, along with a very nice recording.