Hollandse Fragmenten [Early Dutch Polyphony] Diskantores & Niels Berentsen

• Martinus Fabri:
• 1 Eer ende lof 01:45
• Anonymous:
• 2 Adieu vous di 06:26
• 3 Indescort (Codex Faenza) 02:58
• Martinus Fabri:
• 4 Een cleyn parabel 02:12
• 5 Salve Regina 03:23
• 6 Ist mi bescheert 03:48
• 7 Och lief gesel 02:58
• 8 Au debot de no rue 00:49
• 9 Kyrie cunctipotens (Codex Faenza) 06:56
• 10 Gloria 03:19
• Hubertus de Salinis:
• 11 Psallat Chorus / Eximie Pater 01:52
• 12 Gloria Jubilacio 05:48
• Anonymous:
• 13 Deo gracias 00:39
• 14 O crux gloriosa 02:32
• 15 En ties en latin en romans 02:57
• 16 Renouveler mi feist 05:08
• 17 Empris domoyrs (Groningen tabulature) 02:51
• Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376 - 1445):
• 18 Fröleichen so well wir / N'ay je cause 06:48
• Anonymous:
• 19 Asperance (Groningen tabulature) 01:20
• 20 Ho ho ho 01:45
• Total Runtime 01:06:14

Info for Hollandse Fragmenten [Early Dutch Polyphony]

Precious little Dutch polyphonic music survives from the middle ages. Whatever is left consists of fragments of manuscripts, now kept at the university libraries of Utrecht, Leiden and Amsterdam, dating from around 1400. This means that a significant number of compositions come down to us in an incomplete state: voices are missing, and some of the music has become illegible. To make a larger portion of this repertoire accessible to the public, some of the fragments have been restored digitally, some of the lacunary pieces have been reconstructed (‘recomposed’) by ensemble leader Niels Berentsen. The exact provenance of the fragments is difficult to assess with certainty, but what is clear is that they originated from the Dutch language-area: in all collections we find songs on Middle-Dutch texts. It is probable that the fragments originated around the court of the county of Holland in The Hague, or in the urban environment of Utrecht, the bishop’s residence.

With this album, Diskantores presents a cross section of this unique, multifaceted repertoire. Liturgical pieces could have been performed as part of a mass, while secular pieces with Dutch, French or German texts would have been sung in a private circle of connoisseurs, or during festivities at the court. This then presents a project that perfectly fits muso: off the beaten track, full of joy and beautifully performed by a young vocal ensemble, joined here by Jacques Meegens on a medieval organ whose sounds leave no one indifferent. A musical treat that will lift all spirits!

Diskantores
Niels Berentsen, direction

The ensemble Diskantores
(‘singers of polyphony’) was founded in 2015 by students, alumni and teachers of the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague (Netherlands). Diskantores proposes a fresh approach to fourteenth- and fifteenth-century polyphony, sung by male voices, in innovative, engaging performances. Its interpretations are informed by an in-depth understanding of the repertoire and its historical context, as well experiments with improvised polyphony and singing from original notation.

Diskantores has appeared at the Utrecht Early Music Festival (2015) and the festival Laus Polyphoniae (Antwerp, 2016) with presentations on vocal improvisation in the later middle ages. Its latest program, De Vroegste Nederlandse Polyfonie, has been performed in the series Musica Antica da Camera (The Hague, 2017) and at the Orgelpark (Amsterdam, 2017). Diskantores is directed by Niels Berentsen (tenor), members include Oscar Verhaar (countertenor), Andrew Hallock (countertenor), Benjamin Jago Larham (tenor), Korneel van Neste (countertenor/tenor), Santo Millitello (tenor), João Luís Paixão (bariton), and Jacques Meegens (organ).

Niels Berentsen
The ensemble Diskantores is directed by Niels Berentsen, singer, researcher, and music educator. Niels regularly appears as a tenor-soloist in cantatas and oratorios, and performs with vocal ensembles such as The Ascoli Ensemble (The Hague) and Capella Sancta Maria (Amsterdam). His opera debut, as Grimoaldo in a production of G.F. Händel’s Rodelinda regina de’ Longobardi, took place in 2015.

Niels has taught the theory and performance of medieval and Renaissance music, at the Royal Conservatoire (The Hague) since 2011. Since 2018 he teaches improvised counterpoint and research at the Haute École de Musique de Genève. As a researcher, Niels has investigated techniques of polyphonic improvisation in the 1300-1500 period. For this he received his doctorate from the University of Leiden in 2017. Guest-lessons and workshops on polyphonic improvisation have been given at the Russian Gnessin’s Academy of Music (Moscow), the Israel Conservatory of Music (Tel-Aviv), the Conservatory of Amsterdam, the Kodály Institute (Kecskemét), the House of Polyphony (Leuven), and the International School of Improvisation (Verona).

Booklet for Hollandse Fragmenten [Early Dutch Polyphony]