Date/Time
Date(s) - 3 Oct 2012
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location
St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University
Category(ies) No Categories
The Last Imperial Coronation: Emperor Charles V in Bologna: Performed by Ensemble Origo, directed by Eric Rice
St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, Wednesday, October 3, 7:00 pm
Free and open to the public. No tickets required. Sponsored by Columbia’s Music Performance Program and Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program.
On 24 February 1530, Pope Clement VII crowned the Habsburg ruler Charles V Holy Roman Emperor in Bologna. This was the last coronation of an emperor by a sitting pope in the
manner of Charlemagne’s coronation by Leo III in the year 800, and it was by all accounts a splendid event, with the choirs of both the pope and the emperor in attendance. The papal choir included the celebrated Italian composer Costanzo Festa, while the imperial choir’s most illustrious member was the South Netherlandish composer Nicolas Gombert. A surviving motet by Festa employs an acclamation from the Laudes regiae, which have their roots in the Caesar-hails of ancient Rome, along with liturgical texts of Epiphany that affirm the ruler’s role as Christ’s representative on Earth. A mass by Gombert, the Missa Sur tout regretz, has the phrase “A la incoronation” as a subtitle in its earliest printed source. These suggestive details, along with a thorough investigation of the many sources that record the event, have allowed for a reconstruction of the coronation ceremony that presents us with an evocative window into the political, religious, and musical contexts of the event. Ensemble Origo will present a partial reconstruction of the coronation of Charles V (lengthy prayers will be omitted).
Ensemble Origo aims to present vibrant performances of early music (from the Middle Ages through the baroque) that reflect the context in which the repertory was originally produced and heard; “Origo” is Latin for “earliest beginning,” “lineage,” or “origin.” Drawing on a roster of professional musicians from Connecticut as well as Boston and New York, Ensemble Origo is based in Hartford and performs at the acoustically and visually stunning Trinity College Chapel. www.ensembleorigo.org