Overview
“Du Fay: The Virgin & the Temple – Chant & Motets” is an album of vocal music by Guillaume Du Fay (1397?–1474), a Flemish composer of the early Renaissance and a central figure in the Burgundian School.
It contains four motets and a plainchant.
Performed by American vocal ensemble Pomerium.
Commentary
Pomerium is an early music choral group founded by Alexander Blachly at the University of Notre Dame in 1972.
All tracks of the album except tracks 2 & 3 were recorded in March 1995 in the Grotto Church of Notre Dame, New York. Tracks were 2 & 3 recorded May 1996 in Corpus Christi Church, New York.
Directed by Alexander Blachly.
The album was released on CD by Archiv Produktion in 1997.
The highlights of the album are motets (polyphonic vocal music including plainsong of Gregorian chant) featuring mixed chorus with clear and pure sounds and beautiful harmony of polyphonic melodies.
The most famous among them is “Nuper rosarum flores”, a ceremonial motet performed in the consecration of Florence Cathedral. It has been regarded as a monumental composition in Italian Renaissance culture.
Though “Plainchant for Vespers I” (from “Recollectio festorum beate Marie virginis”) is a plainchant like a recitation, it includes beautiful polyphonic parts (Magnificat and Benedicamus Domino) in the postlude.
The CD includes a 28-page booklet with English texts.
Track Listing
Ceremonial and Liturgical Motets
- Nuper Rosarum Flores – 6:27
- Alma Redemptoris Mater II – 3:38
- Letabundus – 6:40
- Ecclesie Militantis – 6:06
Recollectio Festorum Beate Marie Virginis
- Deus In Adiutorium Meum – 0:42
- Tenebrae Diffugiunt/Laudate Pueri Dominum – 3:19
- Solem Iusticie/Laudate Dominum Omnes Gentes – 2:12
- Gabriel Archangelus/Lauda Anima Mea Dominum – 4:28
- Non Concava Vallium/Laudate Dominum Quoniam Bonus Est – 4:15
- Virgo Puerum/Lauda Iherusalem Dominum – 3:31
- Hymn: Gaude Redempta – 2:36
- Responsory: Surge Propera, Columba Mea – 3:08
- Vidi Speciosam/Magnificat Sexti Toni – 11:32
- Benedicamus Domino II – 1:33