The Low Countries might not have had much to say in the 18th century, but they did produce music!
Most of the music we play in Sansscouci comes from Germany or Austria. This isn’t very surprising, as the royal courts here were competing with each other to see who could realise the most splendid, most impressive court culture. Nevertheless, the grandeur of the classical style spread further through Europe and we can find interesting composers in any country from this period. Today, we look for them in the Low Countries.
We start in Liège – a prince-bishopric, until the French invaded in 1794. The diocese had been in decline for centuries, but the prince-bishops were eager to pretend that Liège was still the powerful city it had been in the Middle Ages. That’s why they liked to impress with grand and monumental church music. They were lucky to have a local musical talent in their midst, Jean-Noel Hamal, who was born in Liège and had learned the trade in Italy with composers like Paisiello. Today, we listen to his long motet Astra coeli and the much shorter Ecce panis angelorum, written for the holy communion.
The rest of the Low Countries were at that time under the rule of the Habsburg emperor of Austria. His court was in Vienna, so there was no court culture in Brussels for instance, but we do find a world of bourgeois music becoming ever more important. The Italian meisters usually called the tune (esp. the Fiocco family), but around 1750 a local hero pops up: Pieter van Maldere. He was from Brussels and just as accomplished in writing symphonies as his Italian counterparts. His symphonies are of a courtly style and even have a hint of the future in them.
Playlist
1. Jean-Noël Hamal – Astra coeli
2. Jean-Noël Hamal – Ecce panis angelorum
3. Pieter van Maldere – Symphony in A minor with obligato viola
