Synopsis:

Taken in 1511, Malacca was the first European colony in South-East Asia. What music fills a newly-conquered and newly-Christianised city? Our reconstruction includes church music possibly heard at the cathedral, songs and dances heard in the chambers of the ruling class, as well as the rougher songs of the sailors and cut-throats in the taverns.

Among the works we will perform are a mass setting, motets, cantigas, and vilancicos both sacred and secular, by Cardoso, Escobar, Lobo, Brito, and Machado. These are composers who were famous not only in the Portuguese empire, but also in the Spanish empire.

Join us as we explore music that may have been heard in this region five hundred years ago!

Cappella Martialis' singers will be accompanied by a selection of instruments that would have been familiar to Portuguese of the Renaissance and early Baroque periods: vihuela, lute, renaissance and baroque guitars, violin, renaissance recorders, and viola da gamba.

The pieces will be sung in Portuguese, Castilian, and Latin. Full texts and English translations will be provided in the programme booklet.

Admission is free, with a retiring collection to help us defray the expense of performance and rehearal venue rental, as well as programme printing.