His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts give Striggio Premiere at the BBC Proms

17 July 2007

His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts

Striggio Premiere at the first late night BBC Prom

not just at the choral event of the year but possibly of the decade

The Guardian

The first Late Night Prom of the season features His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts in a major rediscovery by harpsichordist and musicologist Davitt Moroney of the lavish multi-part Mass by Alessandro Striggio (c.1536/1537 – February 29, 1592). The concert begins with The Tallis Scholars and the BBC Singers conducted by Peter Phillips in Striggio's celebrated 40-part motet Ecce beatam lucem, alongside Tallis's immortal Spem in alium, reputedly the result of a challenge by the fourth Duke of Norfolk, for Tallis to equal Striggio's 40-part triumph.

resplendent in sound

The Independent

  • Striggio Motet 'Ecce beatam lucem' (8 mins)
  • Lassus Motet and Magnificat 'Aurora lucis rutilat' (11 mins)
  • Tallis Spem in alium (9 mins)
  • Striggio Mass 'Ecco si beato giorno' in 40 and 60 parts (first performance in modern times) (28 mins)

... mega-events in the hours to midnight

The Times

For more information on the music of His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts