Giovanni Maria Da Crema (fl.1540-1550)
Lute Music
Domenico Cerasani (lute)
Lute used: 6-course lute made in 2021 by Urgiante Cipollini
rec. 2023, Modena, Italy
Brilliant Classics 96419 [59]
Very little is known of Da Crema’s life. This seems somehow fitting for a composer whose work is decidedly introversive, a matter of inner reflection communicated intimately, in a manner which has about it little that is attention-seeking or demonstrative. One has to listen very attentively to Da Crema’s music, but his subtle art handsomely rewards such attention.
As his name suggests, the composer was born in Crema, a city in Lombardy. From 1448 until the Eighteenth Century, Crema was an inland province of Venice. For a composer seeking to further his reputation, it would have been natural for Da Crema to move to Venice (just as a later composer born in Crema, Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676) did). Although there doesn’t seem to be any absolute evidence for Da Crema’s move to Venice, it can surely be assumed that he was there by the time his Libro primo was published in La Serenissima in 1546, by Antonio Gardane. Another book with the same contents was also published in the same year (also in Venice) by Girolamo Scotto under the title Libro terzo. Cerasani – a musicologist as well as an outstanding lutenist – tells us in his booklet notes that the volume published by Gardane carries a note saying that its contents are “novamente ristampata e del medesmo autore correte” (“freshly printed and corrected by the author himself”). It can reasonably be assumed, therefore, that the volume printed by Scotto preceded the version published by Gardane and that Da Crema corrected some errors in that version. Ceresani suggests that the title Libro terzo should not be understood as implying that it is the third book of compositions by Da Crema; but that it refers “to [the] series of monographic publications by various composers that Scotto was publishing in those years”.
This selection of pieces by Da Crema includes examples of several of his compositions in the prevailing genres of lute music of the time, such as the ricercare, dances and intabulations of chansons, motets and madrigals. His ricercari are particularly striking. They are on a par with those of his more famous contemporary Francesco da Milano (1497-1543), an acknowledged master of the genre. Indeed, in a number of manuscript collections of lute music, ricercari by da Milano are wrongly attributed to Da Crema and vice versa.
Some of Da Crema’s ricercari, like the best of those by da Milano, sound like sublime improvisations; one such is the recercar duodecimo, which alternates beautiful lyrical passages with others of sophisticated polyphony, full of subtle patterns of imitation and dialogue. Very different, but in its own simpler way just as delightful, is the quietly reflective recercar tredecimo, which is far sparser, with many effectively telling pauses. It is as if one is ‘overhearing’ thoughts and feelings not consciously sent out into the world. Three of the recercari (recercar terzo, recercar quinto and ricercar ottavo) come from a book published in Venice, by Girolamo Scotto, as Libro settimo by Francesco da Milano – a volume which also includes pieces by Giulio Segni da Modena and Da Crema. Domenico Cerasini points out that the volume describes Da Crema as a sonatore excellentissimo (a most excellent player).
Less complex than the ricercari, but no less enjoyable, are Da Crema’s dances. Highlights here include two pieces, Pass’ e mezo e Saltarello a la Bolognesa’ and ‘Pass’ e mezo e Saltarello de la Sasinata’ – in which Da Crema presents both a passamezzo (in duple metre) and a saltarello (in triple metre), dance forms for which he seems to have had a particular fondness, as shown by pieces such as his Saltarello ditto Bel fior and Pass’ mezzo e Saltarello della Lovetta. The pre-existing musical materials are used with inventive freedom.
Some of Da Crema’s finest work is to be found in his intabulations of vocal polyphony. His understanding of the resources of the lute is deeply impressive and is used with intelligent and unshowy sensitivity. Particular highlights include his instrumental ‘translations’ of Claudin de Sermisy’s chanson Vivre ne puis, Nicholas Gombert’s beautiful motet Quae est ista and Philippe Verdelot’s madrigal Con lacrime e sospiri, all of the originals being written for four voices. In each case, Da Crema captures the spirit as well as the structure of the original work. His lute version of de Sermisy’s fine chanson ‘speaks’, as the original does, both the lover’s melancholy and his hope that his lady may finally recognise and reward his service. Gombert’s Quae est ista is a gloriously refined celebration of female beauty (in, I assume, the figure of the Virgin Mary). Its text puts together lines from the Song of Songs and Ecclesiasticus; I quote the opening lines, along with my sadly pedestrian translation:
Quae est ísta,
quae procéssit sícut sol
et formósa támquam Jerúsalem:
vidérunt éam fíliae Síon,
et beátam dixérunt éam,
et regínae laudavérunt éam.
[Who is that,
she who comes forth like the sun
and as beautiful as Jerusalem:
the daughters of Zion saw her
and declared her blessed,
while queens praised her.]
Remarkably, Da Crema’s intabulation of the motet captures more than one might reasonably expect of this awestruck admiration.
Before I had heard anything of this disc I knew Domenico Cerasani to be an accomplished and perceptive lutenist on the evidence of two previous recordings also issued by Brilliant Classics: The Raimondo Manuscript (95580) and Francis Cutting: Lute Music (96099), the latter reviewed by Gary Higginson. Cerasani plays here, as on those two discs, with great lucidity and unpedantic precision. He respects what I described (at the beginning of this review) as the introversive quality of Da Crema’s elusive music. As a result, this fine disc offers a very rewarding survey of that music. I hope to hear more both of Da Crema and Domenico Cerasani.
Glyn Pursglove
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Contents
Recercar duodecimo
Recercar ottavo (Libro VII)
Et don bon soir
O felici occhi miei
Saltarello ditto el Maton
Recercar decimoquinto
Vivre ne puis
Con lacrime e sospiri
La Bertoncina – El Giorgio
Recercar ottavo
Recercar nono
Le content e riche
Recercar tredecimo
Quanto sia liet’ el giorno
Pass’ e mezo e Saltarello a la Bolognesa
Recercar quinto
De vous servir
Recercar terzo (Libro VII)
Occhi miei lassi
Pass’ e mezo e Saltarello della Lovetta
Recercar undecimo
Mon amy
Recercar terzo (Libro VII)
Mais quest ce
Recercar sexto
Iamais
Recercar settimo
Pass ‘ e mezo e Saltarello de la Sasinata
Recercar primo
Que est ista
Recercar quinto (Libro VII)
Saltarello ditto Bel fior
