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Concert

Field of the Cloth of Gold – 1520 : a mass for Peace

The meeting for the Field of the Cloth of Gold culminated with the celebration of High Mass. Which was the more impressive: the complex, virtuosic English style, or the French style with its use of wind instruments?

The election of Charles V to the imperial throne on 28 June 1519, uniting Spain with the Holy Roman Empire, immediately prompted the reconciliation of France and England.
Kings Henry VIII and Francis I met near Calais, at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, where, for eighteen days, from 5 to 23 June 1520, the two kings invited each other to attend the most splendid events, including tournaments and banquets, which were accompanied by their musicians.
The meeting culminated with the celebration of High Mass on 23 June, which Doulce Mémoire recreates in this programme.
Which was the more impressive: the complex, virtuosic English style, or the French style with its use of wind instruments?

Denis Raisin Dadre

Informations

Cast

Anne Delafosse, Clara Coutouly, soprano
Paulin Bündgen, alto
Vincent Bouchot, Hugues Primard, Martial Pauliat, tenors
Marc Busnel, Philippe Roche, basses

Philippe Vallepin, narrator

Eva Godard, cornett
Elsa Frank, Jérémie Papasergio, shawms, dulcinas, recorders
Stéphane Müller, Franck Poitrineau, sackbut
Denis Raisin Dadre, shawms, dulcinas, recorders and artistic direction

In the Press

“The real revelation was the French group, Denis Raisin Dadre’s Doulce Mémoire, a mixed consort of instruments and voices […]. Not since the late David Munrow’s day can sackbuts and cornets, Renaissance flutes and bombardes have been so characterfully played. I loved the comradely way that the instrumentalists shared copies with the singers and sometimes embellished their lines with wild swirls of ornaments.”
Richard Morrison, The Times