Release Date: 01 January 2000
Label: Naxos / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943418024
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: Piae Cantiones - Latin Song in Mediaeval Finland
Description
Piae CantionesLatin Song inMediaeval FinlandOne early but ill fated attempt to create a Greater Northern Union ofstates in Scandinavia was made in 1397, when all Nordic countries were to bebrought under Danish rule. The Union of Kalmar finally fell apart in 1523 afterrepeated Swedish rebellions. This ultimate dissolution was preceded by thefamous Stockholm massacre in which 82 noblemen and clergy who suppol1ed Swedishindependence were executed by the Danes.The leader of the successful Swedish uprising was Gustavus Vasa who thenbecame king of Sweden and its eastern duchy, Finland. It was not, however,solely bravery and national patriotism that secured victory. Mercenaries wereexpensive and warfare in the sixteenth century typically included a provider ofcapital with commercial interests, in this case the Hanseatic merchants ofL??beck. In consequence the war left Gustavus Vasa seriously in debt. This hasoften been considered one reason why Sweden and Finland so quickly adopted thenew Protestant religious doctrines. According to these, the head of the statewas also head of the national church. This, in torn, translated into the rightof the crown to confiscate church property.In Sweden the whole Reformation was accomplished without much conflictor bloodshed and this was even more the case in Finland, which with its owndiocese in Turko (Latin Aboa) had enjoyed a large measure of religiousindependence since the fourteenth century. The first Finnish hymnal, publishedin 1583 by Jaakko Finno, headmaster of Turku Cathedral School, notably lacksthe militant combat songs so typical of many other contemporary hymnals.Together with Theodoricus Petri, a Finnish student at the University ofRostock, Jaakko Finno was also the principal editor of a curious collection ofLatin devotional songs for the schola Aboensi in Finlandia, published inGreifswald in 1582. This book, under the title Piae Cantiones ecclesiasticaeet scholasticae veterum episcoporum, contains music of extensivechronological and geographical scope. Stylistically the content is clearlyolder than the publishing date might suggest and some compositions can betraced back to the turn of the millennium. The main body of compositions,however, can be placed within the fifteenth-century Germanic-Bohemian Cantiotradition.The question arises as to why a book such as Piae Cantiones shouldhave been produced in Protestant Finland by a clergyman who on another occasionhad called the use of Latin in the liturgy a Devil's invention and whyit should have been published in continental Europe and not, for instance inStockholm, the capital. It seems that the impulse for this book came directlyfrom King Johan III of Sweden, who had strong Catholic sympathies and, as aformer governor and Duke of Finland, was well acquainted with its culturalheritage. As the title of the book suggests, it seems that Piae Cantiones, ratherthan being a coherent musical entity, is an attempt to salvage a centuries oldlocal musical tradition d
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
The Brahms Trio
Roman Fediurko
London Symphony Orchestra; Rafael Sanz-Espert
