Byrd: Infelix ego Collegium Vocale Gent & Philippe Herreweghe

• 1 Emendemus in melius 03:42
• 2 Infelix ego 12:36
• 3 Gradualia, Book 1: Ave Maria 02:56
• 4 Peccantem me quotidie 03:55
• 5 Kyrie 01:15
• 6 Gloria 04:36
• 7 Credo 07:15
• 8 Sanctus 01:59
• 9 Benedictus 01:14
• 10 Agnus Dei 02:59
• 11 Christe, qui lux es et dies 03:15
• 12 Miserere mei, Deus 03:38
• Total Runtime 49:20

Info for Byrd: Infelix ego

Philippe Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale Gent present their third project for Phi focussing on vocal music of the Renaissance. This time, it is the English composer William Byrd (c.1540-1623) who is being honoured. The title of the programme is that of Byrd’s motet Infelix ego, one of the greatest artistic statements of the 16th century. Its text is a meditation on Psalm 50, written by the Dominican Girolamo Savonarola, a remarkable man who waged a campaign against the corrupt Medici family in Florence.

Taking the form of several rhetorical questions and assertions, the text describes all the emotions felt by a tormented soul: guilt, fear, embarrassment, anger but above all the gift of deliverance upon acceptance of Christ’s mercy. Byrd seems to have felt a powerful emotional connection with the words.

The Collegium Vocale Gent also presents the Mass for 5 Voices and a selection of motets by Byrd, along with Alfonso Ferrabosco’s Peccantem me quotidie a5 and Philippus de Monte’s Miserere mei a5.

Collegium Vocale Gent
Philippe Herreweghe, conductor

No biography found.

Booklet for Byrd: Infelix ego