Renaissance Collection - 12 Late Renaissance Clarinet Quartets

Renaissance Collection - 12 Late Renaissance Clarinet Quartets arranged by Hugh Levey

Scored for 3 x Bb Clarinets with Bass Clarinet, or 4 x Bb Clarinets (all parts included)

The Renaissance period  saw great innovation in art, architecture, literature, and music. Renaissance art was the first to use perspective and its architecture brought us outstanding buildings with classical balance and symmetry. Music saw a flowering of rich polyphony, where the individual voices weave and intertwine with each other. The clarinet did not exist during the Renaissance, and would not appear for another 100 years, so clarinettists rarely get the opportunity to play the beautiful and inventive music of the era.

This collection of music from the late Renaissance (1530 to 1610) allows clarinettists to study and perform a variety of Renaissance musical styles first hand; including instrumental music, sacred choral works, and secular choral works. 

The collection will be particularly useful for teachers, because it contains 12 graded arrangements suitable for different stages of clarinet playing, with guidance on the performance of Renaissance music, and detailed programme notes and gradings for all pieces.

Tielman Susato (c.1510/15 to after 1570) - Flemish
La Morisque (a fanfare) from Danseyres 1551 - Instrumental

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26 to 1594) - Italian
Alma Redemptoris Mater - Sacred Choral - unpublished during his lifetime

Pierre Passereau (1509 to 1547) - French
Il Est Bel et Bon - Secular Choral Chanson - published 1531

William Byrd (c. 1540 to 1623) - English
Ave Verum Corpus - Sacred Choral Motet - published 1605

Gioseffo Guami (c. 1542 to 1611) - Italian (Venice)
Toccata for Organ - instrumental - published 1597

Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 to 1585) – English
If Ye Love Me - Sacred Choral Anthem - published 1565

Vittoria Aleotti (c. 1575 to after 1620) - Italian
Baciai per aver vita - a Madrigal (Secular Choral) - published 1593

Andrea Gabrieli (1532/33 to 1585) - Italian
Angelus ad Pastores Ait - Sacred Choral - published 1576

Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 to 1611) - Spanish
O Magnum Mysterium - Sacred Choral Motet - published 1572

Gioseffo Guami (c. 1542 to 1611) - Italian (Venice)
La Brillantina - an instrumental Canzona - published 1610

David Peebles (? to c.1579) - Scotland
Psalm 100 “All People that on Earth do Dwell”

Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) - Germany
Three Bourées - Dances from Terpsichore of 1612