Heinrich Isaac

Ich muss dich lassen

Capilla Flamenca, Oltremontano Antwerpen, Dirk Snellings - Conductor

Heinrich Isaac, a native from Flanders, spent most of his career at the courts of the Medicis and the Emperor Maximilian I. By bringing his Franco-Flemish heritage to the Italian Renaissance, he became one of the first ‘European’ composers of the 16th century.

This cd is organized to follow Heinrich Isaac’s footsteps in life through his music. And even more than that, the recording demonstrates how the music itself is alive: how music, once composed and distributed, is transformed, adjusted to new contexts and necessities, and used as an inspiration for new pieces. Isaac’s popularity, both during his lifetime as during the rest of the 16th century, after his death, is demonstrated through letters that Lorenzo de Medici and the Venetian ambassador wrote to each other.

Pieces like the lute intabulations in his compositions ‘Ad te clamus, O praeclarissima’ and the liturgic parts that, when separated from context, would lead to a variety of interpretations, can only be explained by a sincere desire of the 16th century audience to experience and enjoy Isaac’s music in the form and scenery of their own choosing. Although much has changed since then, we too are given the chance to do that now.