Description
A more allegorical explanation might interpret the love between a man and a woman as representing God’s love for Israel, mankind, etc. and may also be seen as an ode to the beauty of women, to Mary, the Virgin, the Mother of God like in the song Tota pulchra es:
You are completely pure, Mary, and the stain of original sin is not within you. Your clothing is white like snow, and your face is like the sun. You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you are the honoured of our people.
Little is known about the Italian Franciscan monk Giacomo Finetti. His year of birth and death are unclear. Archival records tell us that he was working at the choir of the Duomo in Iesi around 1605 and 1606, and at the Chiesa del Santissimo Sacramento in Ancona from 1609 to 1612. After that he left for Venice, where he was appointed as organist of the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. In the motets, dialogues and vesper psalms, including O Maria quae rapis corda hominum, from his collection Concerti ecclesiastici, printed in Antwerp in 1621, Finetti manages to depict the words in music using so-called imitation techniques. Finetti’s music has been rescued from obscurity. It was found in the Bereson Library in Villa I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence.
Like on their previous album Io son ferito, Paulina van Laarhoven and her ensemble La Violetta once again demonstrate that in its power of expression and emotion, the viola da gamba is equal to the human voice.
Mary as the Mother of God, Mary as virgin, Mary as beauty, Immaculate Mary, Mary as Star of the Sea, Mary as Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Over the centuries in various countries her name and image may have changed, but Mary as mother will always remain: an ode to the woman who ensures security, protection and above all, love.
Dik Plattel
Paulina van Laarhoven pardessus, treble-, bass viol
Joshua Cheatham treble-, alt-, bass viol
Catherine Bahn bass viol
Heidi Gröger bass viol
Anna Maria Wierød soprano
Luciana Cueto mezzo soprano
Doron David Sherwin cornetto
Maria Christina Cleary arpa doppio
Karl Nyhlin theorbo
Mike Fentross vihuela
Design: Paloma Rodriguez Carrington
Images used: Harm van den Dorpel
Photography Recording sessions
Henri Berlize (BE)
Photography Paulina
Page 6: Nicolas Bruant (FR)
Page 20: Sabrina van den Heuvel (NL)
