Martini: Sacred Music

This two-volume edition presents all of the motets by Johannes Martini and Johannes Brebis, most of them for the first time in a modern edition. Martini was an important composer active in Ferrara (ca. 1471–97) between the compositional generations of Ockeghem and Josquin; Brebis was a minor composer who spent his last years in Ferrara as a singer and composer (ca. 1471–79). The two composers collaborated on four hymns: Brebis wrote the odd-numbered stanzas and Martini the even-numbered ones. In addition to these pieces, Brebis also composed one Magnificat and one ceremonial motet, “Hercules omni memorandus evo,” written for Ercole I d¹Este circa 1472. Martini’s two passions are the earliest Italian settings of the passion story and alternate chant and polyphony. All of the psalms and a few of the hymns and Magnificats are in a deliberately simple style (some using fauxbourdon), one that was common in the fifteenth century but is often neglected by scholars today. Part 1 includes the hymns, Magnificats, miscellaneous liturgical pieces, passions, and ceremonial motets, and part 2 presents the psalm settings for vespers as well as for matins and lauds of Holy Week.