Gombert: In illo tempore

Of all Monteverdi’s works, the Missa in illo tempore marks the most important link between the composer and the Franco-Flemish polyphonic tradition. It is here presented alongside motets by Giaches de Wert, maestro di cappella at the Mantuan court at the time when the young Monteverdi was engaged there as a violinist.

Also included here are world premiere recordings of three recently-discovered Marian motets by Monteverdi that were recorded in the splendid acoustic of the Basilica di Santa Barbara in Mantua.

The Flemish composer Nicolas Gombert is believed to have been a pupil of Josquin; his style of composition is equally assured and yet there are elements of significant innovation. As early as 1556 Gombert was regarded as the absolute model of harmonic and imitative writing, and his general avoidance of rests broke much new ground.

This second Gombert recording by Henry's Eight is structured around the Missa Tempore paschali. The Mass is probably an early work; its use of dissonance is at times extraordinary and all is here recorded in a new edition more faithful to the manuscripts than ever before. Although the Mass is fundamentally in six parts, Gombert varies the texture so that the Credo is in eight, and the final Agnus Dei in a glorious twelve parts.