Vidi Speciosam - Eine Messe im Nonnenkloster der Renaissance

In Spanish nun convents it has been common practice since the early 16th century to use wind instruments to fill the lower voices of polyphonic music. The use of reed instruments was very common during the services in Spain and male singers were not allowed to enter the monastery. With the addition of appropriately deep instruments such as Dulcianen, on the other hand, the full wealth of contemporary polyphony also opened up to nunneries. This may also explain why a large number of Dulcians came to us in Spanish monasteries. The program combines female voices with wind instruments, including Dulcians, and thus reconstructs the described practice. It follows the course of a mass in the combination of Tomás Luis de Victoria’s six-part movement Vidi speciosam as Ordinarium with the Proprium for the Feast of the Assumption, In Assumptione Beatae Mariae Virginis, in the sense of the Alternatim practice here especially as Gregorian chant.

The music is completed by further sound sets by Victoria.

Tiburtina Ensemble - Barbora Kabatkova
Capella de la Torre - Katharina Bäuml