The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

For the convenience of concertgoers the Garden Cafe

remains open until 6:00 pm for light refreshments.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue NW

Washington, DC

Mailing address

2000B South Club Drive

Landover, MD 20785

www.nga.gov

cover: Hans Baldung Grien, Madonna and Child. 1515/1517, woodcut on

laid paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Patrons’ Permanent Fund

The Sixty-eighth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,777th Concert

amarcord

Wolfram Lattice, tenor

Martin Lattice, tenor

Frank Ozimek, baritone

Daniel Knauft, bass

Plolger Krause, bass

March 17, 2010

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612)

“Tanzen und Springen”

From Lustgarten Neuer Teutscher Gesang/Balletti, Galliarden und Intraden,

Niirnberg 1601

Orlande de Lassus (c. 1532-1594)

“Bon jour: et puis, quelles nouvelles?”

From Livre de chansons nouvelles a cinq parties, Paris, 1571

de Lassus

“Bon jour mon coeur”

From Le Premier Livre de Chansons, Antwerp, 1564

Ludwig Senfl (c. 1490-1543)

“Ach Elselein, liebes Elselein”

From Der erst teil. Hundert und ainund zweintzig newe Lieder,

Niirnberg, 1534

Hassler

“Mein gmiith ist mir verwirret”

From Lustgarten Neuer Teutscher Gesdng/Balletti, Galliarden und Intraden

Thoinot Arbeau (1520-1595)

“Belle qui tiens ma vie—Pavane”

From Orchesographie, Langres 1588

Antonio Scandello (1517-1580)

“Ein henlein weis”

From Nawe und lustige Weltliche Deudsche Liedlein, Dresden, 1570

Gilles Binchois (c. 1400-1460)

“De plus en plus”

Josquin des Prez (c. 1440/55-1521)

“je ne me puis tenir d’aimer”

Pierre(?) Passereau (c. 1509-after 1547)

“II est bel et bon”

From Chansons musicales, Paris, 1534

Heinrich Isaac (c. 1450-1517)

“Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen”

From Ein Ausszug guter alter und newer Teutscher Liedlein,

Niirnberg, 1539

Nicolas Gombert (c. 1495-c. 1556)

“Triste depart”

From Le cincquiesme livre, Antwerp, 1544

des Prez

“Mille regretz”

From Chansons musicales a quatre parties, Paris, 1533

Pierre Certon (c. 1500-1572)

“La la la, je ne l’ose dire”

From Tiers livre contenant vingt-neufchansons, 1540

Clement Janequin (c. 1485-1558)

“La Guerre”

From Premier Livre des Inventions musicales de M. Clement Janequin,

contenant la Guerre, Paris, 1555
The Musicians

Since its founding in 1992 by former members ofthe Thomanerchor—the

choir ofmen and boys of Saint Thomas’ Church in Leipzig, Germany—

amarcord has become one ofthe world’s leading vocal ensembles, amarcord’s

hallmarks include a unique tone, breathtaking homogeneity, musical authenticity, and a liberal dose of charm and humor. The quintet’s musical activities

focus on Medieval and Renaissance compositions. In addition, the ensemble

collaborates with contemporary composers such as Sidney M. Boquiren,

Bernd Franke, Marcus Ludwig, Ivan Moody, Dimitri Terzakis, and Siegfried 

Thiele, all ofwhom have written pieces especially for amarcord. The ensemble’s repertoire includes various thematic programs ranging from madrigals

and romantic compositions to a cappella arrangements offamous songs,

spanning all facets ofvocal music.

amarcord has won prizes at international competitions in Pohlheim,

Germany; Tampere, Finland; and Tolosa, Spain as well as at the First Choir

Olympiad in the Austrian city of Linz. In 2000 amarcord joined the ranks of

the young musicians singled out by the German Music Council for special 

support, and in 2002 the ensemble won the German Music Competition. In

2004 amarcord became the first group ofsingers to be awarded the Ensemble

Prize at the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Festival. Now one ofthe leading

representatives of Leipzig’s music scene in Germany and abroad, amarcord

regularly appears at important music festivals, and its frequent concert tours

have taken the ensemble to Australia, North America, and Southeast Asia.

amarcord has established a festival of vocal music in Leipzig, which

in recent years has hosted such renowned performers as Chanticleer, the

Fluelgas Ensemble, The Real Group, and the Swingle Singers. The ensemble

appears at the National Gallery by arrangement with Colbert Artists Management of New York City.

4

Program Notes

The visual arts in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Germany and Austria were

as lively and accomplished as the musical arts, and the National Gallery of

Art has one ofthe finest collections of German Renaissance paintings in

the United States. In considering Germany during the Renaissance, it is

useful to keep in mind that, from 1440 until well into the sixteenth century,

members ofthe Habsburg family of Austria ruled the German-speaking

provinces. The German language was the source of unity among these

disparate regions. Because ofthe large number of German-speaking provinces in central Europe, German painting has a strong regional character

focused on such cities as Cologne, Nuremberg, and Vienna. Some ofthe

greatest and best-known artists of all time were sixteenth-century Germans:

Albrecht Diirer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, and Hans Holbein the Younger,

not to omit Matthias Griinewald, whose Small Crucifixion (Gallery 35) is a

masterpiece ofreligious intensity.

The works of art produced in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in what

is now Belgium, The Netherlands, and part of France testify to the economic

and cultural vitality ofthe region. Although overly close comparisons are 

dangerous, the fluorescence ofpainting in the Netherlands in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries that resulted in the astonishing realism of

Jan van Eyck’s Annunciation (Gallery 39) finds some parallels in the polyphony

ofsuch composers as Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois, who worked for

the Burgundian court. Their music was marked by an approach to notation

and voice leading that was more regulated than that ofprevious generations

of composers. Jan van Eyck was court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of

Burgundy. For most ofthe fifteenth century the city of Bruges was a center

for commerce, banking, and the production of art and luxury goods. Italian

merchants and bankers resided in the city and evidence oftheir patronage

can be seen in Petrus Christus’ portraits of donors who are members ofthe

Lomellini and Vivaldi families ofGenoa and Hans Memling’s Saint Veronica,

which probably belonged to Bernardo Bembo ofVenice or Verona in the

early sixteenth century (both in Gallery 39).

5
Ofspecial interest to musicologists is the large and splendid Mary, Queen

ofHeaven (Gallery 40) by the Master ofthe Saint Lucy Legend. Painted by an

artist active in Bruges, the picture was commissioned for a convent in Spain.

The tide comes from the Marian antiphon “Ave Regina Caelorum” sung by

the angels on either side ofthe Virgin’s head. The music is close to a motet by

the English composer Walter Frye, whose compositions were popular at the

Burgundian court.

By the early sixteenth century Antwerp had replaced Bruges as the

mercantile and financial hub of northern Europe. The city was home to the

bourse, or stock market, and merchants bought and sold a wide variety of

goods from Europe and Great Britain as well as Asia and the New World. One

could say that modern capitalism began in Antwerp. Artists and musicians

flocked to the prosperous city. Jan Gossaert, Joos van Cleve, and Quentin

Massys are among the artists based in Antwerp who are represented by

outstanding paintings in the National Gallery ofArt’s permanent collection 

(Gallery 41). In the sixteenth century there was an increased demand for

secular subjects. For example, Massys’ Ill-Matched Lovers treats a theme that

can be traced back to antiquity, but also represents the kind ofmoralizing

satire found in the writings ofErasmus, Massys’ contemporary. The musical

landscape in Antwerp was equally varied, with compositions written for

performance in church, the court, or a domestic setting. Music published

in Antwerp in today’s concert includes Orlande de Lassus’ “Bon jour mon

coeur,” Nicolas Gombert’s “Triste depart,” and Heinrich Isaac’s “Innsbruck,

ich muR dich lassen.”

Program notes by John Hand, curator ofNonhem Renaissance Paintings,

National Gallery ofArt

6

Next Week at the National Gallery of Art

Dan Franklin Smith, pianist

Music by Chopin, Gershwin, and Liszt

March 21, 2010

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Ignacio Prego, harpsichordist

Music by Cabezon, Cabanilles, and other Spanish composers

Presented in honor of The Sacred Made Real:

Spanish Painting and Sculpture, iGoo-iyoo

March 24, 2010

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building Lecture Hall