Albert Recasens, director and musicologist, has coordinated this recovery that aims to "bring the public closer to the figure and musical production of Carlos Patiño through his most outstanding works", as he pointed out in an interview for Omnes. The disc, Carlos Patiño: Sacred Music for the Courtis the result of Recasens' work on the Culture and Society Institute (ICS) of the University of Navarra, was recorded at the head of his ensemble. La Grande Chapelle in the church of St. Quintin in Sobral de Monte Agraço, Portugal. This is the world's first recording of the most emblematic religious compositions in Latin by this baroque genius who served at the court of Philip IV.
A careful selection
Albert Recasens has pointed out that the work carried out constitutes a "reconstruction of the sonority that the royal chapel had in the reign of Philip IV, one of the richest reigns in artistic and cultural terms in Spain. Carlos Patiño is the most important composer we have in the first half of the 17th century in Spain. Listening to his music means going into the music that Calderón de la Barca or Velázquez listened to".
Unlike projects such as the Oficio de Difuntos by Tomas Luis de Victoria, Carlos Patiño (1600-1675) Sacred Music for the CourtThe work is a selection of pieces composed by Patiño as part of his sacred music production. As Albert Recasens points out, in this case "we have focused on the Latin repertoire, and, within this group, a selection has been made of the pieces of the highest artistic quality, which have a value for some element: either the relationship between text and music, or because they are artistically "daring" pieces in which the harmony, melodies or structure are very advanced, or simply for their beauty".
The recording consists of a first part of the disc "focused on Marian works in a broad sense: motets, antiphons, litanies dedicated to the Virgin Mary or psalms such as the Lauda Ierusalem, which were sung on the eve of the Virgin's feast days. Along with this, a second part dedicated to the deceased, and some "loose" pieces such as the sequence Veni, Sancte Spiritus and a motet to the Blessed Sacrament".
Patiño, the "musical painter" of the Virgin Mary
Albert Recasens describes Carlos Patiño as a "great painter of the Virgin", like Murillo in the pictorial arts: "Patiño has a special predilection for texts dedicated to the Virgin Mary. He composed a series of Magnificats, Salve Regina and, most surprisingly, a series of litanies, something particular in the panorama of the 17th century. Of these Marian works, I would highlight the Mary Mater Dei.
In this work the 'musical discourse' follows the liturgical discourse to the millimeter, the religious text," says this expert, "it is a prayer to Mary with several passages, about all the attributes of the Virgin, invocations, texts that come from different books of Sacred Scripture and usual prayers. What makes this piece unique, very baroque, is the great contrast between the soprano soloist and the rest of the choir. What in music we know as the stile concertato. The play of musical textures is very beautiful, for example, when she sings "o Clemens, o pía..." everything is melismatic, sinuous, a cascade of very sweet melodies".
Recasens points out that in addition to considering it one of Carlos Patiño's best works, "it was one of the composer's own favorites. We know this because, when he donated a selection of his works to the Monasterio del Escorial, chosen by himself as a memorial of his work, the Maria Mater Dei was one of them. We also have a portrait of Patiño, something exceptional, painted by his son Pedro Félix and preserved in the National Library, which shows an elderly Carlos Patiño who, curiously, holds in his hand a sheet music that reads Mary Mater Dei".
Albert Recasens combines research and staging in his work. Each work requires "a very arduous investigation but then a very practical part: fundraising, logistics so that the set can be produced, transcriptions, permissions, editing, etc.".
To carry out this work, he has consulted the archives of numerous archives in which the legacy of the master from Cuenca is preserved, such as those of the monasteries of Montserrat and El Escorial, which holds the main collection of his works in Latin; those of the cathedrals of Avila, Burgos, Cuenca, Valencia, Las Palmas, Valladolid, Segovia, Salamanca and Santiago de Compostela; and the National Library of Catalonia, among others.
He has also accessed documents preserved in the New Continent: Guatemala City and Puebla, since Patiño's influence reached beyond the limits of the peninsula driven by the power of the Spanish Crown. In fact, as Albert Recasens points out, "Patiño's importance is central to the sacred music of that time. Since he was appointed master of the Royal Chapel in 1634, he held that position for three decades. That position is a beacon: all the churches in Spain look to the Royal Chapel, it is the model to imitate, not only in Spain but in all the influential places of the Hispanic monarchy at that time".
The work of dissemination is essential
The work carried out by this Institute has followed rigorous historical criteria. As Recasens points out: "the prevailing style in the sacred music of the time has been recreated, polycoralwith two or more choirs placed in different areas of the temples: presbytery, choir, pulpit... that make games of 'chiaroscuro', creating an effect of stereophony. The recording was made with period instruments, following the treatise of the time, how it was interpreted, the tempo... everything is a historically informed interpretation, that is, gathering the information provided by the documents".
"We know the main painters and writers of the 17th century, but we do not know who the Spanish musicians of this time were."
Albert Recasens
A work that from the ICS they make known to the general public, an essential task in our country, defends Albert Recasens: "it seems incredible that we know perfectly well who were outstanding writers or painters of the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries in our country, but as for our knowledge of the musicians, we are somewhat embarrassed. We do not know how the music sounded in the churches; theoretically yes, with the manuscripts, studies... but a very important element is missing, the divulgation. This is where the work we do at the ICS on the dissemination of Spanish musical heritage comes in".
