Polyhymnia panegyrica – The Polychoral Style and the Art of Melodic Embellishment in 17th-Century Germany

In Germany, in the 17th century, the distinctive polychoral style of the Serenissima, the Republic of Venice, flourished, transplanted and translated into the local idiom by the greatest composers of the time. This was the era when the composition of sacred music in the vernacular of the various countries of the Western Christian Church flourished for the first time and, at the same time, when detailed instructions for the correct way of singing appeared for the first time, along the lines of the Florentine Camerata and other Italian masters. Following the example of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, specific instructions for the orchestration of each work become increasingly common.

Michael Praetorius, in his monumental edition Polyhymnia caduceatrix et panegyrica (1619), marries the brilliant polychoral style of the Venetian cori spezzati with Lutheran hymns and Gregorian chants and transforms the hitherto austere German musical compositional idiom into an explosion of timbres and embellishments. A stereophonic polyphony of singular musical beauty and expressive power, which can only be truly experienced when surrounded by cornets, trombones, violins and violas, as well as voices singing the words and elaborate musical flourishes of 17th-century masterpieces.


Programme
Anonymous (12th c.)
Christ ist erstanden, Lutheran chorale
Harmonisation: Iason Marmaras

Michael Praetorius (1571-1621)
Hallelujah! Christ ist erstanden à 5, 13, 17, 21, No. 35 from the collection Polyhymnia caduceatrix et panegyrica (1619)

Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Mit Fried und Freud, Lutheran chorale
Harmonisation: Iason Marmaras

Michael Praetorius
Mit Fried und Freud à 5, 9, 13, No. 19 from Polyhymnia caduceatrix et panegyrica

Martin Luther
Wir gleuben all an einen Gott, Lutheran chorale
Harmonisation: Iason Marmaras

Michael Praetorius
Wir gleuben all an einen Gott à 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, No. 14 from Polyhymnia caduceatrix et panegyrica

Sethus Calvisius or Seth Kalwitz (1556-1615)
In dich hab ich gehoffet HERR, Lutheran chorale
Harmonisation: Iason Marmaras

Michael Praetorius
In dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr à 5, 6, 11, 16, No. 25 from Polyhymnia caduceatrix et panegyrica

Iason Marmaras (b. 1987)
Hallelujah à 3, 8, 17, 23

BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Iason Marmaras
Specializing in historical performance and improvisation, Iason Marmaras is a singer, cembalist, organist, fortepianist, and director of ensembles. He is also the founder, a musician, and the artistic director of The Clerkes Extraordinarie ensemble. Moreover, he is a member of the Viadana Collective, the ApollΩn Ensemble and a collaborator of Leonidas Kavakos. He has performed as a soloist, harpsichordist, organist and musical director in Europe, America and Asia. He has recorded with the La Risonanza ensemble for Challenge Classics, the ApollΩn Ensemble and Leonidas Kavakos for Sony Classical and with the Viadana Collective for Passacaille. He has received awards as an improvisator, a cellist in chamber music ensembles, and a self-accompanied singer on the fortepiano. As the artistic director of the Schola Cantorum Sancti Pauli, he teaches seminars on Renaissance music and organises monthly Renaissance Vespers in Athens, while since 2022 he has been teaching improvisation at the Institut für Alte Musik of the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.

The Clerkes Extraordinarie
The international music ensemble of the "extraordinary (folk) clergy" (named after those musicians engaged by the churches of Elizabethan England on occasions that required extra voices or instruments) mostly consists of singers based in Athens and musicians from all over Europe. Using period melodic ornamentation and improvisation techniques, the ensemble performs and sings music of the Renaissance and early Baroque, reads from historical notation, uses historical accents and vocal techniques that flirt with the boundaries of "classical singing". Through these approaches and the combination and juxtaposition of voices with the earthy colors of period instruments, they explore and highlight the timbral and expressive richness of this music. The Clerkes have performed at the 1st Sacred Music Festival and the Athens Baroque Festival and are preparing their first album.

Cappella Sancti Pauli
The main vocal ensemble of the Scholae Cantorum Sancti Pauli, founded by Iason Marmaras in 2016, sings monthly Renaissance Vespers at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Athens, focusing on the music of Elizabethan England. In this way, he gives skilled singers the opportunity to come into contact with this repertoire of rare beauty, within the context for which the traditional Renaissance Anglican Vespers were written, while also opening a window to it for Athenian audiences. The Cappella also participates in concerts featuring choral music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and has performed at the GNO Alternative stage, the Athens and Thessaloniki Concert Halls, and numerous festivals abroad.