Andreas de Silva [c. 1474/1480-c. 1540?]: Nigra sum sed formosa à 5.
The Song Company - Roland Peelman.
The incredible talent of the "minor" composers.
In The New Grove. Dictionary of Music and Musicians we find following about de Silva:
"(b c1475–80). Singer and composer. His nationality is uncertain, but some aspects of his style suggest Spanish origin and early musical training in French court circles and later in northern Italy. He is not to be confused with Andreas Silvanus (also known as Andreas Waldner), the ‘good friend’ referred to by Virdung in Musica getutscht (1511). In 1513 de Silva wrote the motet Gaude felix Florentia on the occasion of the election of Pope Leo X. He joined the large circle of musicians retained by Leo in Rome: in 1519 and 1520 he was recorded as ‘cantor et compositor’ of the papal chapel and as ‘cantor secretus’ of the pope’s private chapel. He probably stayed in Rome until shortly before the recorded payment from the Duke of Mantua in December 1522; extant sources suggest that he was still alive and in Italy at the end of the decade.
De Silva was held in extremely high regard, particularly while under the patronage of the pope and the Medici family. As late as 1567 Cosimo Bartoli, in his Ragionamenti accademici, described the composer as one of Josquin's successors ‘who taught the world how music should be written’. Five of De Silva's motets were the basis for parody masses by Arcadelt, Francesco Cellavenia, Lupus Italus and Palestrina. His main creative period appears to lie between 1510 and 1530. With Carpentras, Verdelot, Divitis, Févin, Bruhier, Costanzo Festa and Stoltzer, he belongs to the generation that formed the historical link between the French development of the late 15th-century Netherlands style typified by Josquin and Mouton, and the more modern school around Willaert, Morales and Gombert. Within this intervening group De Silva emerges as an original composer who adapted many local stylistic influences. His masses are distinctive to some extent for their undoctrinaire handling of both established and newer techniques. The masses on the antiphons Angelus ad pastores ait and Tu es pastor ovium (composed for Leo X or Clemens VII) are of the standard cantus firmus type; the Missa La mi sol fa mi, constructed on a solmization subject, is also representative of a traditional technical model. With the exception of the Missa Tu es pastor ovium, all De Silva's other masses use many chanson melodies and melodic fragments, often subjected to increasingly elaborate variation. In nearly all his compositions the technical aspect is overlaid by a notable feeling for sonority and sensitive treatment of the text. His compositional style is characterized by a fairly straightforward structure in which a simple, powerfully expressive melody tending towards the declamatory is combined with a strong sense of harmonic colour within an overall formal design that is always clear. With his decidedly individual, extrovert style, above all in his motets, De Silva was a musician who understood the signs of the new era; in pieces such as Omnis pulchritudo Domini his sense of new developments led towards an adventurous exploratory style. In a relatively small output, he left behind at least a few pieces (e.g. Omnis pulchritudo Domini, Illumina oculos meos and Ave regina caelorum, ave domina angelorum) that can be numbered among the best works in the corpus of early 16th-century sacred vocal music."
In my opinion, this piece is really wonderful. Exist a copy of this piece dated on 1539. The quality of this motet is absolutely comparable with any other piece of Spanish or Portuguese Renaissance polyphony of this time.
I thank to Luisa D. Camacho for discover to me this amazig piece.
The domain of the imitative form and the counterpoint is fantastic, also the beauty of the five lines is really exciting, very impresive.
The performance of this australian ensemble is very good. The balance of parts and sonority are very interesting.
Andreas de Silva, a fantastic composer who demonstrates once again the immense talent of composers considered minor and aren't still recognized.
The Song Company - Roland Peelman.
The incredible talent of the "minor" composers.
In The New Grove. Dictionary of Music and Musicians we find following about de Silva:
"(b c1475–80). Singer and composer. His nationality is uncertain, but some aspects of his style suggest Spanish origin and early musical training in French court circles and later in northern Italy. He is not to be confused with Andreas Silvanus (also known as Andreas Waldner), the ‘good friend’ referred to by Virdung in Musica getutscht (1511). In 1513 de Silva wrote the motet Gaude felix Florentia on the occasion of the election of Pope Leo X. He joined the large circle of musicians retained by Leo in Rome: in 1519 and 1520 he was recorded as ‘cantor et compositor’ of the papal chapel and as ‘cantor secretus’ of the pope’s private chapel. He probably stayed in Rome until shortly before the recorded payment from the Duke of Mantua in December 1522; extant sources suggest that he was still alive and in Italy at the end of the decade.
De Silva was held in extremely high regard, particularly while under the patronage of the pope and the Medici family. As late as 1567 Cosimo Bartoli, in his Ragionamenti accademici, described the composer as one of Josquin's successors ‘who taught the world how music should be written’. Five of De Silva's motets were the basis for parody masses by Arcadelt, Francesco Cellavenia, Lupus Italus and Palestrina. His main creative period appears to lie between 1510 and 1530. With Carpentras, Verdelot, Divitis, Févin, Bruhier, Costanzo Festa and Stoltzer, he belongs to the generation that formed the historical link between the French development of the late 15th-century Netherlands style typified by Josquin and Mouton, and the more modern school around Willaert, Morales and Gombert. Within this intervening group De Silva emerges as an original composer who adapted many local stylistic influences. His masses are distinctive to some extent for their undoctrinaire handling of both established and newer techniques. The masses on the antiphons Angelus ad pastores ait and Tu es pastor ovium (composed for Leo X or Clemens VII) are of the standard cantus firmus type; the Missa La mi sol fa mi, constructed on a solmization subject, is also representative of a traditional technical model. With the exception of the Missa Tu es pastor ovium, all De Silva's other masses use many chanson melodies and melodic fragments, often subjected to increasingly elaborate variation. In nearly all his compositions the technical aspect is overlaid by a notable feeling for sonority and sensitive treatment of the text. His compositional style is characterized by a fairly straightforward structure in which a simple, powerfully expressive melody tending towards the declamatory is combined with a strong sense of harmonic colour within an overall formal design that is always clear. With his decidedly individual, extrovert style, above all in his motets, De Silva was a musician who understood the signs of the new era; in pieces such as Omnis pulchritudo Domini his sense of new developments led towards an adventurous exploratory style. In a relatively small output, he left behind at least a few pieces (e.g. Omnis pulchritudo Domini, Illumina oculos meos and Ave regina caelorum, ave domina angelorum) that can be numbered among the best works in the corpus of early 16th-century sacred vocal music."
In my opinion, this piece is really wonderful. Exist a copy of this piece dated on 1539. The quality of this motet is absolutely comparable with any other piece of Spanish or Portuguese Renaissance polyphony of this time.
I thank to Luisa D. Camacho for discover to me this amazig piece.
The domain of the imitative form and the counterpoint is fantastic, also the beauty of the five lines is really exciting, very impresive.
The performance of this australian ensemble is very good. The balance of parts and sonority are very interesting.
Andreas de Silva, a fantastic composer who demonstrates once again the immense talent of composers considered minor and aren't still recognized.
1 comentario:
Estupendo, como siempre, tu trabajo de investigación en esta entrada, Mario.
¡Enhorabuena y gracias!
Besos
Luisa ♪
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