Francisco de Santa Maria (1532/38-1597)
Missa O beata Maria
Arte Minima/Pedro Sousa Silva
rec. 2022, Igreja de São Salvador, Vilar de Frades, Portugal
Texts and translations included
Reviewed as a 16/44 download from Naxos
Pan Classics PC10452 [59]

There is no lack of recordings of music written by Spanish composers during the 16th century. In comparison, music by Portuguese composers appears less often on the programmes of concerts and on disc. This is partly due to the earthquake that hit Lisbon in 1755, which destroyed the complete library of the royal palace. It included the country’s musical heritage, and much of it is unavailable from any other source. Apart from that, Portugal is one of the countries on the outer edges of the European musical map, which means that only local performers see it as their duty to explore its musical history. Thanks to the growing interest in early music across Europe, in recent decades music from countries like Poland, the Balkans, Malta, Ireland and Portugal has been performed and recorded. In many cases, it is by composers many music lovers have never heard of. That certainly goes for Francisco de Santa Maria, who – unsurprisingly – has neither an entry in New Grove nor is the subject of an article in the English language Wikipedia.

Strictly speaking, one should call him Spanish, because he was born in Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain, near the Portuguese border. He sang in the town’s cathedral while young and in this capacity is mentioned in a document from 1553. He seems to have moved to Portugal shortly afterwards; in Guarda he was active as mestre de capela, and then in the same position in Coimbra, in the north of Portugal. He had been ordained a priest, and in 1562 he took the habit in the Monastery of Santa Cruz, and was professed in 1563 to become an Augustinian Regular. There he worked for more than thirty years as mestre de capela. Among his pupils was Pedro de Cristo.

Francisco de Santa Maria composed music for the theatre and sacred works. Among the latter, are the mass performed on the present disc, and a set of Lamentations. He may also be the composer of a substantial number of pieces, which have been preserved in copies without the name of the composer.

The Missa O beata Maria is a parody mass, for which Santa Maria used material from the motet of that title by Pedro Guerrera, the elder brother and first teacher of the much better-known Francisco, one of the great masters of the Spanish Golden Age. This four-part motet consists of two sections. Santa Maria uses material from both sections in the course of his mass. The opening of the first section can be heard, for instance, in the first Kyrie, the first section of the Gloria and the Sanctus, the opening of the second section of the motet in, among others, the Christe eleison and the Hosanna, and in the internal sections of the Credo and the Gloria.

The Kyrie and the Agnus Dei are in alternatim form. This was quite usual, but it is notable that in the two Kyries the first and third statements are in plainchant, and the second in polyphony, whereas in most masses of the Renaissance – as far as I can remember – it is the other way round. The second Agnus Dei is also in plainchant. Another notable aspect of this mass is that it does not end with the Agnus Dei, but rather the Benedicamus Domino, seldom added in polyphony.

The performance has some notable features as well. First, the vocal works are performed with one voice per part. Unfortunately the liner-notes don’t discuss aspects of performance practice. I would have liked to know where this mass may have been performed (probably the monastery) and how many singers might have been involved. The same goes for another feature of this performance: the singers are supported by a quartet of recorders. It is known that wind instruments participated in sacred music at the Iberian peninsula, but scholars and performers seem not to agree how widespread this practice was and on what occasions instruments were used. It is mostly loud wind instruments that are used. I can’t remember having heard recorders in this role. They play colla voce, but in some passages the number of voices is reduced, and some parts are performed instrumentally. An example is the passage on the resurrection in the Credo, where one voice is accompanied by recorders. A third feature is that two instrumental pieces are inserted, as indicated in the tracklist, which are played by the recorders. It is a bit odd that one of them is played between the Kyrie and the Gloria, as in the mass these sections are never separated. A placement of Carreira’s Tento do quinto tom between Gloria and Credo would be more logical. Lastly, I should mention that the plainchant – the intonations and the alternatim sections – is taken from a chantbook from the mid-16th century, copied in Santa Cruz. It couldn’t be more authentic.

This disc is of great importance; it very likely is the first recording devoted to Francisco de Santa Maria. His Missa O beata Maria is a fine work which fully deserves a recording. I had never heard of this composer and the ensemble is also new to me. It makes an excellent impression. The four singers are a real ensemble, whose voices blend perfectly. The recorders are noticeable, but never obtrusive; the balance between voices and instruments is just as it should be. The recorders, extended to a quintet in the person of the director, are on their own in the instrumental works, which are intended for organ, but can be perfectly played on recorders, and the five players do a fine job.

Lovers of Renaissance polyphony, and also those who have a special interest in music of the Iberian peninsula, should not hesitate to add this disc to their collection.

Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen

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Contents
Pedro Guerrero (c1520-after 1560)
O beata Maria
Francisco de Santa Maria
Missa O beata Maria:
Kyrie
António Carreira (c1520/30-c1587/97)
Tento de 5º tom
Francisco de Santa Maria
Missa O beata Maria:
Credo
Gloria
anon
Tento do 7º tom
Francisco de Santa Maria
Missa O beata Maria:
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
Pedro de Escobar (c1465-after1535)
O Maria mater pia (instr)
Francisco de Santa Maria
Missa O beata Maria:
Benedicamus Domino