Cypriot Vespers Graindelavoix & Björn Schmelzer

• 1Arsala 'llah [Maronite tradition]03:29
• 2O Sapientia [plainchant]01:52
• 3O Sapientia incarnata / Nos demoramur04:06
• 4O Adonai [plainchant]02:07
• 5O Adonai domus Israel / Pictor eterne syderum04:00
• 6Bithleem estimazu [Greek-Byzantine tradition]03:09
• 7O Radix Jesse [plainchant]01:49
• 8O radix Jesse splendida / Cuncti fundent precamina04:12
• 9O clavis David [plainchant]01:47
• 10O clavis David aurea / Quis igitur aperiet03:22
• 11I parthenos simeron [Greek-Byzantine tradition]01:37
• 12O Oriens / O Rex Gentium [plainchant]01:36
• 13O Oriens, lucis eterne splendor / Veni splendor mirabilis05:17
• 14O rex gentium [plainchant]02:45
• 15O Rex virtutum gloria / Quis possit digne exprimere04:33
• 16Alyawma youlado mina lbatoul [Arabo-Byzantine tradition]05:33
• 17O Emanuel [plainchant]01:34
• 18O Emanuel rex noster / Magne virtutum conditor03:19
• 19O Virgo virginum [plainchant]02:13
• 20O sacra Virgo Virginum / Tu nati nata suscipe03:56
• 21Simeron ghennate ek Parthenou [Greek-Byzantine tradition]06:01
• 22Hodie Christus natus est [plainchant]01:11
• 23Hodie puer nascitur / Homo mortalis firmiter06:28
• Total Runtime01:15:56

Info for Cypriot Vespers

The little-known composer Jean Hanelle was a petit vicaire (professional musician) at Cambrai Cathedral and possibly later a teacher of Guillaume Dufay, also spending more than 20 years from 1411 onwards at the French court of Lusignan in Nicosia, Cyprus, a stay which involved him becoming the chapelmaster there. According to leading scholars, Hanelle was the author of the ars subtilior cycle of Magnificat-antiphons - the so called “O”-antiphons traditionally performed during the last week of Advent - found in the Codex Turin J.II.9 and included in this new Graindelavoix production. Both the original plainchant and the Hanelle troped antiphons are presented in a series of nine pairs, between which the ensemble also performs an appropriate and context-defining selection of Maronite and Byzantine chants.

The Belgian ensemble, as always directed by Björn Schmelzer, performs these pieces, marked by a moving beauty, with one female and eight male singers, producing another of their peculiar and intriguing soundscapes.

These Cypriot Vespers come with an interview with Björn Schmelzer carried out by Anne-Kathryn Olsen, a selection of late 19th-century photographs taken in Cyprus by John Thomson, and the first English translation of the antiphons, made by scholar Jeannine De Landtsheer from the University of Leuven.

Graindelavoix
Björn Schmelzer, direction

No biography found.

Booklet for Cypriot Vespers