Polyphonic Postcards

Events

Friday, 6 February 2026 at 8:00 pm

Plaza Centre, Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom

The flourishing cities of Renaissance Europe played host to an explosion of cultural activity. Papal Rome dripped luxury, Paris was renowned as a centre of learning, and port cities such as Lisbon and Seville were deluged with treasure from newly discovered corners of the globe. These cities were fertile ground for musicians: the Sistine Chapel could afford to employ the finest composers of the day, the resources of seventeenth-century Venice spurred the groundbreaking music of Claudio Monteverdi, and the chaos of Parisian street markets provided inspiration for Jannequin’s Les cris de Paris. This programme provides a fascinating snapshot of music, politics, and culture at the apogee of the European Renaissance.

Thomas Tallis: Loquebantur variis linguis

PARIS
Pierre Moulu: Mater floreat
Claude de Sermisy: Tant que vivrai
Clément Janquein: Les cris de Paris

SEVILLE
Francisco Guerrero: Ave virgo sanctissima
Guerrero: Niño dios d’amor herido
Alonso Lobo: O quam suavis es

MUNICH
Ludwig Daser: Fratres, sobrii estote
Ludwig Senfl: Das Geläut zu Speyer
Orlandus Lassus: Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes

ROME
Felice Anerio: Christus factus est
Philippe Verdelot: Trist’Amarilli mia
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Tu es Petrus

LISBON
Manuel Cardoso: Lamentations a6 (Vau & Zain)
Pedro de Escobar: Pasame por Dios
João Rebelo: Panis angelicus

VENICE
Claudio Monteverdi: Adoramus te Christe
Claudio Merulo: Vergine, madre figlia del tuo figlio
Andrea Gabrieli: Ecco Vinegia bella