Bob Marley Non Papa
I was delighted when John Bradley selected Ego Flos Campi by Jacobus Clemens non Papa (c. 1510- c. 1555) as the second motet for Polyhymnia’s series of virtual choir recordings. This was in part because [...]
A Canadian Jew in Queen Elizabeth’s Court: A Jewish perspective on Byrd’s Ne irascaris
When I tell non-musicians that I sing in a choir that specializes in Renaissance sacred music - by which I really mean, sacred music of the Christian tradition - I am sometimes met with puzzled [...]
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love my Early Music Sound
I never got to meet my maternal great grandmother “Ma-Ma-Ma” (Rahela Jelinek, née Poljokan) but she lives on as a fascinating and colorful figure in my imagination. A Sephardic Jew from former Yugoslavia, she studied [...]
Gombert’s In Illo Tempore from an Alto’s Perspective
When we were asked to pick a motet we loved to write about, I was stumped. To be honest, almost everything we sing in choir becomes something of a favorite. It usually doesn’t start that [...]
Empty Highways with Vivanco
When John Bradley asked us to write blog posts about our favorite motets, I was sure I would choose one from the Spanish renaissance. In November 2015, my first Polyhymnia concert was a Morales program, [...]
Charting a Course Through 16th Century Europe
How the discovery of one composer and half of a motet led to 25 years of concert material I am guessing that anyone who has ever sung in a church choir has run into the [...]
Thomas Tallis – Loquebantur variis linguis a7
Thomas Tallis Thomas Tallis was born around 1505. We know nothing of his career or of his education until his appearance at Dover Priory in 1531 or 1532. Dover Priory fell to the dissolution in [...]
