Map of Ferrara c1600
Brumel: Missa Et ecce terrae motus
VOICES & INSTRUMENTS
Tutor: William Carslake
Location: St Martin’s Chapel, University of Cumbria, Lancaster
Reviewer: Clive Walkley
Brumel’s ‘Earthquake Mass’, Missa Et ecce terrae motus
The spacious acoustic of the chapel on the University of Cumbria’s Lancaster campus proved to be an ideal venue for our workshop on 26th May. The main focus for the day was Antoine Brumel’s ‘Earthquake Mass’, Missa Et ecce terrae motus, so called because the cantus firmus, which appears in canon at several points throughout the work, is the plainsong Easter antiphon. The mass – a huge contrapuntal edifice in twelve parts – survives in one single source, a choirbook in Munich dating from long after the composer’s death and copied under the aegis of Lassus, possibly for a performance in 1568. Negotiating its rhythmic complexity proved a huge challenge for the thirty singers and eight instrumentalists who attended the workshop, ably led by William Carslake.
He began the day with a short vocal warm-up and then launched into three short motets by three Franco-Flemish composers of the late 15th century before tackling the intricacies of Brumel’s great mass. Clemens non Papa’s motet, Ego flos campi, proved to be an ideal start for the day and it was interesting to see how his contemporary, Jacobus Vaet (1529-1567), drew on material from Clemens’ work for the Agnus Dei of his Missa Ego flos campi. William then introduced us to Brumel’s short four-part motet Sicut lilium, its simplicity of style such a contrast to the big twelve–part mass to follow.
Much of the rest of the day was spent grappling with the rhythmic intricacies of the mass. William chose to focus on the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei, all lengthy movements with little rest for singers and players. This proved to be a highly challenging exercise even for experienced performers of renaissance music, as many attending the workshop were.
This was William Carslake’s first workshop with NWEMF and he proved to be a dynamic leader, clear in his direction and patient in his approach. At the end of day I think everyone was exhausted but happy having been given an insight into one of the most complex examples of renaissance polyphony ever written.
Finally, I would like to thank Bob Foster for preparing parts for the instrumentalists. William left the printing of performing material for this workshop to us (an exercise which was not without its difficulties!) and Bob took on the onerous task of extracting from the full score in pdf format instrumental parts for the players which were models of clarity and layout.
Clive Walkley
First published in June 2018 Newsletter
