Search - Rogier :: Marriage at the Spanish Court

This delightful record makes a speculative reconstruction of the marriage of Doña Catalina (daughter of Philip II) and the Duke of Savoy in 1595. Philippe de Rogier, the director of Philip's famed capilla flamenca (Flemish chapel--the Low Countries were Spanish possessions at the time), composed the festive Mass (for 12 voices in three choirs) that forms the centerpiece of the disc. Each choir is doubled by a different family of instruments (brass, strings, organ) according to 16th-century Spanish practice; Mozarabic chant, organ works, motets performed instrumentally and Scripture readings are included as customary at the time and place. Tubéry's singers and instrumentalists do a marvelous job of bringing this music and ceremony back to life. --Matthew Westphal