PROGRAMME: Brabant 1653
Musical traditions of 17th-century monastic life in North Brabant
HOLLAND BAROQUE
SOLO artists
Camille Allérat – soprano
Reginald Mobley – countertenor
Mirko Ludwig – tenor
Dominik Wörner – baritone
The central figure of this program is composer Benedictus à Sancto Josepho (1642-1716) who was associated with the Carmelite monastery in Boxmeer. Intrigued by this figure, who worked just around the corner from their hometown, Judith and Tineke Steenbrink set out to investigate. This is how they discovered the irresistible quality of his music and the surprisingly rich musical culture of which he was a part. This resulted in the beautiful new album ‘Brabant 1653’.
In this program you will hear the music sung by a choir as it might have sounded in the convents of the Clarissen te Megen and the sisters of Maria Refugie in Uden.
Tineke Steenbrink: “Mapping your own musical landscape is incredibly exciting. Judith and I grew up in Oeffelt, near Boxmeer. It is often mistakenly thought that the Netherlands in the 17th century, with the work of Sweelinck as the great exception, was a musical morass. We are touched by the individuality and expressiveness of this repertoire.”
Judith Steenbrink: “In the 1980s, musicologists including Frans Jespers, Frits Noske, and Rudolf Rasch did much to document musical life in the Netherlands. We think it’s important to bring this music to life again. Brabant 1653 is an enrichment of the musical canon of our country.”