Album insights
Pierre de La Rue's music remains unfamiliar to many even today. Known as a significant figure of Josquin's generation, he held the leading composer position at the Habsburg-Burgundian court for twenty-four years. La Rue's prolific output includes twenty-nine masses, four mass sections, six magnificats, fourteen motets, and two dozen secular pieces. He gradually secured esteemed positions through various engagements until landing a prestigious role at the Habsburg-Burgundian Chapel, where he spent the rest of his career.
Gothic Voices, dedicated to medieval music, found initial disorientation in adapting Pierre de La Rue's more modern material. La Rue's compositions emphasize a strong bass part, evident in works like Missa De Feria, showcasing his fascination with lower tones. His harmonic language, centered around the intervals between thirds and sixths, differs from the medieval music with open fifths and octaves that Gothic Voices singers are accustomed to. La Rue's use of counterpoint sounds particularly consonant to modern ears, emphasizing imitative techniques absent in medieval music.
La Rue's composition style involves unique forms of imitation and canonic structures, creating a sense of choreography within the music. Notably, his masterpiece motet Pater de celis Deus showcases intricate six-part canonic arrangements, demonstrating a sophisticated level of musical interplay. These refined structures require singers to be arranged in a specific way, promoting mutual dependence and cooperation within the ensemble. Esthetically, La Rue's manipulation of canons offers a rich depth and complexity for performers and listeners to appreciate.
The title of La Rue's Mass, Missa De Feria, suggests a work intended for a non-festive week. La Rue cleverly weaves canons into plainchant melodies typically reserved for feast days, adding a grandeur exceeding the title's simplicity. With a five-voice setting, Missa De Feria stands out among La Rue's predominantly four-voice masses, illustrating a dynamic progression inherent in Renaissance polyphony. The music transitions from dense, text-driven sections like Gloria and Credo to melismatic passages in Sanctus and Agnus Dei, reflecting the shifts in intensity and the transition from elaborate textual expression to prayerlike supplication.
In contrast, the radiant Missa Sancta Dei genitrix, a compact four-voice composition, offers a streamlined structure compared to Missa De Feria. This Mass serves as a backdrop, drawing parallels to its predecessor while exhibiting a consistent format across the Ordinary of the Mass. Additionally, adaptations of La Rue's motets for two lutes by Christopher Wilson, inspired by Phalèse's editions, highlight the intricate contrapuntal nature of the original compositions. Wilson's lute transcriptions mirror the Northern European lute tradition during La Rue's era, blending harmoniously with the Flemish musical heritage.
© 1998 Christopher Page