Sacrae Cantiones

Jacobus de Kerle (1531-1591) wrote his Sacrae Cantionesas a kind of application portfolio. De Kerle, originally from Flanders, was working at that time at the court in Augsburg and sent his collection of motets for three to eight voices to Prince Abbot Eberhard von Stein (1571-1584) in Kempten. De Kerle was a cosmopolitan of the Renaissance era; Venice, Rome, Vienna and Prague are only a few of the places he worked. At that time the [now less well-known] cities of Augsburg, Kempten and Dillingen were also important centers of trade. His composition “Preces speciales…“ played an important role at the mid-century Council of Trent, where significant reforms in church music were discussed and implemented. Along with Palestrina, de Kerle was also declared one of the “saviors of church music.“

In 2019 ensemble cantissimo received a prize to further the ensemble’s musical goals from Swabia (Musikförderpreis Schwaben). Thanks to this prize, cantissimo will combine forces with Spektral Records to record this masterwork. There will also be two live performances in Regensburg.