The Blossoming Vine: Italian Maestri in Poland

Featuring

Eamonn Dougan
The Sixteen
Asprilio Pacelli
Giovanni Francesco Anerio
Vincenzo Bertolusi

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Composer Biography

Giovanni Francesco Anerio, another Italian composer, came from a musical family and was influenced by St. Philip Neri, a charismatic religious figure who used music extensively in his Counter-reformation efforts.

Historical Context

King Sigismund III Vasa, who reigned for 45 years, was largely responsible for transplanting Italian music to Poland, aiming to make Poland a model Counter-reformation Catholic state.

Composer Biography

Asprilio Pacelli, an Italian composer, served as maestro di cappella for King Sigismund III in Poland from 1602 until his death in 1623, after a thriving career in Rome.

Historical Context

Over 100 Italian composers, singers, and instrumentalists worked in Poland from the mid-1590s for five decades, effectively colonising major music chapels in Cracow and Warsaw.

Album & Artwork

This album is the second volume in a series exploring Polish composers and the Italian maestri who influenced them.

Compositional Technique

Pacelli's Dum esset rex, a Marian Vespers antiphon, is a 'colossal baroque' example for twenty voices in five choirs, mixing Roman and Venetian polychoral styles.

Recording & Production

This recording was made at St Alban the Martyr, Holborn, London, in November 2013, with Mark Brown as Recording Producer and Mike Hatch as Recording Engineer.