DOMUS ARTIS ENSEMBLE (BASEL)

Guerrero: Qué buen año

Guerrero: La tierra se está gozando

Flecha: El Fuego

Murcia: Marizapalos

Guerrero: Acaba de matarme

Victoria: O vos omnes

Morales (Missa pro defunctis): Sequencia

Offertorium

Morales: Pie Jesu

Victoria: Tenebrae factae sunt

Attaingnant: La guerre

Guerrero: Hombres, victoria!

Guerrero: O dulce y gran contento

Flecha: El Jubilate

"The Earth rejoices,

and the heavens cheer

as they see God sigh,

born in a mortal body."

Music has served mankind for centuries as a way to express thoughts and emotions that are difficult to put into words. Death and passing are certainly among these themes, as for many of us they are still taboo today. Although we know it is part of life, it still raises fears that are  difficult to deal with. Just as the birth of a new family member brings great happiness, so the loss of a beloved is one of the saddest experiences of human existence.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine - Eternal rest grant to them O Lord - this is the first line in the mass for the deceased. This unfamiliar area of ​​human existence is the source of myths and fantasies, since from a human point of view death presents an impenetrable darkness at the end of our earthly life. The Egyptians believed in the afterlife, and many other religions and philosophical trends shared these ideas. It seems that this question has been of concern to humanity at all times, so it is the pillar of the show.

Another aspect that inspired the program is the principle of duality: light and darkness, divine and earthly, finite and infinite, father and mother, tall and deep, visible and invisible, good and evil, death and life. Is it possible to express it all with music, emotions and effects?

Fueled by these questions, Domus Artis presents a string of religious and ecclesiastical works from 16th century Spain which focuses on Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate God, who brought solution, hope, joy and happiness to mankind, and solved the unsolvable problem of death. Life born from death, that is, the victory of life over death, provides the greatest dichotomy, the most striking contrast, which is the perfect link between successive musical works.

Francisco Guerrero's five-song religious songs and Villanescai (village songs) form the backbone of the program. Despite the clear religious nature of the texts, Guerrero composed these works using the popular melodies of songs of his era, which also implies a clear duality. Mateo Flecha's "Ensalada" (religious-themed pieces in Latin that combine Latin and local languages in their text, and secular melodies in their music) also represent the unity between the secular and the religious, in which birth story and redemption are expressed in popular rhythms and fashionable musical styles. Cristobald de Morales and Tomas Luis de Victoria represent the golden age of Spanish vocal polyphony, evoking light and darkness.

Domus Artis Ensemble was founded in 2017 by students of the world famous Basel Music Academy, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Its members come from Argentina, Brazil and Hungary, they met in Basel.

Tickets: 1500 Ft, Student tickets: 750 Ft