Francisco Guerrero - Ave Virgo Sanctissima

Francisco Guerrero (c. 1527 - 1599):
AVE VIRGO SANCTISSIMA

An interesting feature with this great motet: The 2 soprano parts are in strict canon throughout, the second exactly echoing the first at four bars distance.

Ave Virgo Sanctissima
Dei mater piisima
Maris stella clarissima
Salve semper gloriosa
Margarita pretiosa
Sicut lilium formosa
Nitens olens velut rosa

Hail, Holy Virgin
most blessed Mother of God
bright star of the sea
Hail ever glorious
precious pearl
lovely as the lily
beautiful and perfumed as the rose

Sei gegrüßet, heiligste Jungfrau
hochgesegnete Mutter Gottes
hellster Meeresstern
Sei gegrüßet, allzeit Ruhmreiche
kostbare Perle
schön wie die Lilie
prächtig und wohlriechend wie die Rose

(Anonymous medieval poem)

The Cambridge Singers
Directed by John Rutter

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Francisco
• Guerrero
• Ave
• Virgo
• Sanctissima
• Hail
• Holy
• Virgin
• Palestrina
• Victoria
• Cambridge
• Singers
• John
• Rutter
• score
• stigekalder

[shibusazappa]

beautiful!!

[alipitogen]

@alipitogen I'd be interested to know, from your listening and experience, do you consider Guerrero a more satisfying composer than Victoria? I only ask because Victoria has been so much more celebrated in recent centuries, whereas , even though I adore Victoria's work, my ears and responses tell me the different story that Guerrero and Morales are slightly more important to me .

[alipitogen]

@AlainNaigeon I take and accept all your points.I actually do think this performance is beautiful. I find it actually exceptional for it's manifestation of the individual lines and it's thus perfect to listen to with the score in your hands. I should have been more specific, though. In the passage leading up to "margarita pretiosa", I think that the music calls for lifted voices, but this choir seems to surrender at the same level. It could have been really special. Guerrero might not agree.

[AlainNaigeon]

@alipitogen I understand what you mean, I often have this problem with English performances of Renaissance music - though some groups, like "I fagiolini", precisely want to perform differently.

This said, I wouldn't say the problem is quite terrible in this case since, after all, it's all about cool adoration, and I'd bet Guerrero wrote it with this in mind.

[AchillesValda]

PERFECT composition, PERFECT interpretation!!

[alipitogen]

@musicamaxima I would hope that most conductors worth their salt ignore editorial accretions and go their own way. I think this music withstands more robust treatment but not because I have seen any score covered in dynamic directions etc. We can't really know. We would ultimately have to hear Guerrero himself giving direction, but if we could I would bet on us hearing a more passionate reading. Sorry to disagree but I'm happy to talk to a Renaissance music fan -not enough of us.

[musicamaxima]

@alipitogen the music does not dictate anything, these renaissance scores were muddled up by 19th-century-æsthetical markings by editors. It's all about subtlety, not overt expression.

[alipitogen]

What I like about this performance is that the restraint he's putting on his singers makes the whole thing very transparent and all the lines can be clearly followed. What I don't like is that the drama of this powerful motet is largely erased by that same restraint. He should really have let these fine singers loose where the music dictates. The overall effect is to reduce a masterpiece to something very suitable for night time in the lobby of a 3 star hotel.

[alipitogen]

@ZeroBlack82 There's a free pdf download from Wikipedia.The version on the list with the pdf icon beside it is handiest to me. I use adobe to view them, and then just print. Go to choralwiki (www1.cpdl.org) and search Francisco Guerrero and Ave Virgo Sanctissima.

[UnionJaked]

Saw this live and it made me weep. I felt so foolish