In Naxos' Let Voices Resound, Jeremy Summerly and the female singers within Oxford Camerata tackle a 1582 publication that launched several tunes that remain with us more than five centuries on. Compiled by Jakko Suomalainen, then headmaster of the Turku Cathedral School in Finland, Piae Cantiones was a compilation of 74 sacred pieces married to popular melodies already several centuries old, and probably intended as a publication for use in training amateur choruses. In Finland, Piae Cantiones is regarded as representing ...
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In Naxos' Let Voices Resound, Jeremy Summerly and the female singers within Oxford Camerata tackle a 1582 publication that launched several tunes that remain with us more than five centuries on. Compiled by Jakko Suomalainen, then headmaster of the Turku Cathedral School in Finland, Piae Cantiones was a compilation of 74 sacred pieces married to popular melodies already several centuries old, and probably intended as a publication for use in training amateur choruses. In Finland, Piae Cantiones is regarded as representing the remainder of what pre-seventeenth century they have, and it is still a standard text in use by choruses there, although the 1625 edition, which contains Finnish language texts over the Latin, is preferred over that in use here.In English-speaking lands, the performance of Tempus adest floridum will be of particular interest, as the tune, transformed in the nineteenth century, became our Christmas song "Good King Wenceslas." "In dulci jubilo" is a melody so closely associated with...
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