Concertzender Live: exclusive recordings of concerts in the Netherlands and Belgium. In this episode: Camerata Trajectina – the Musical Memory of the Netherlands
In 2024, Camerata Trajectina celebrates its 50th anniversary. To mark this milestone, the ensemble will have an array of festive events, including a special jubilee programme at the Festival of Early Music in Utrecht. In February 2024, the group following in the footsteps of Joannes Stalpart van der Wiele on his Italian travels. During a tour with the Network for Early Music, they will perform the vibrant and ingenious Dutch texts written by Van der Wiele, set to the Italian madrigals of composers such as Orlando di Lasso and Luca Marenzio.
Camerata Trajectina was founded in 1974 by two Utrecht musicology students, Jan Nuchelmans (who later established the Festival of Early Music Utrecht) and early music specialist Jos van Veldhoven.
Since its beginning, Camerata Trajectina has brought Dutch history to life through music. The ensemble specializes in 16th and 17th-century music, including compositions by Sweelinck as well as street songs. They have become known as the musical memory of the Netherlands.
For their 50th anniversary in May 2024, Camerata Trajectina will go on tour with the concert programme Groots in een kleine taal (Great in a Small Language). For this programme, they have selected music from their extensive repertoire over the past decades: Geuzen songs, the first Dutch opera Bacchus, Ceres, and Venus, and pieces from the Antwerp Songbook, for which they received an Edison award.
The core members of the ensemble are Saskia Coolen (recorder & viola da gamba), Nico van der Meel (tenor), Cassandra Luckhardt (viola da gamba), Constance Allanic (viola da gamba & harp) and Arjen Verhage (lute & zither). Every now and then, musicians Klaartje van Veldhoven, Wendy Roobol, Sytse Buwalda, Berend Eijkhout join in, as well as other guest musicians.
Over the past 50 years, Camerata Trajectina has performed at national commemorations and state visits, as well as on radio and television. They have produced more than 45 LPs and CDs. For the Antwerp Songbook, they received an Edison Classical award. ‘The joy radiates from their performances’, wrote the jury, while ‘Het Parool’ concluded, ‘Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.’ In 2014, Camerata Trajectina was awarded the Visser-Neerlandia Prize for Culture by the Algemeen-Nederlands Verbond: ‘Thanks to research and performance, Camerata Trajectina has significantly expanded our knowledge of Dutch music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Early Baroque. The ensemble has brought to light a wealth of previously unknown musical works and performs them at a high professional level and in an engaging manner, reaching a wide audience of culture enthusiasts.’
Playlist:
- Concert 2 February 2024, Church of de Broedergemeente Zeist
Luca Marenzio (1553-1599)
Ziet hier de morgen met haar roode wangen
Hoe vrolijck, hoe blijde maeckt nu lucht en aerde
Lacht en verheugt u nu / Gracy Jesu Meester
Giovanni de Macque (1548/1550-1614)
Partite sopra Ruggiero
Orlando di Lasso (1523-1594)
Maegd, maegden kroon
Luca Marenzio (1553-1599)
‘Ick sloeg mijn betraent gesicht na de zee-sterre
Orlando di Lasso (1523-1594)
‘Na dien u tranigh schreyen’
Giovanni de Maque (1548/1550-1614)
Jesu! Ick voel een aantocht van uw’minne
Luca Marenzio (1553-1599)
Voor ‘t graf des Heeren ‘s avonds versch begraven
Anonymous
Passamezzo d’Italye
Giovanni Gastolodi (ca. 1554-1609)
Een Jager nieu te veld, sagh ick dees dagen
Alloynus Bavo
Luca Marenzio (1553-1599)
De Salamander op den dach van S. Laurens, Martelaer
Giovanni Gastoldi (ca. 1554-1609)
uit zijn set balletti
Luca Marenzio (1553-1599)
Adieu, ick schey van aarde
Giovanni Maria Nanino (1543/44-1607)
Mijn hart en kan niet sterven
Stefano de Maza Gatto (-)
De soete slaep quam neder
Van d’hemelsche genuchten
Luca Marenzio (1553-1599)
Verblijdt u aan de Serafinische dansen
Giovanni Ferretti (ca. 1540-ca. 1609)
Ic placht mijn tijd voorleden
Dat Glory, prijs en d’eer van Giovanni Gastoldi.
Performed by: Camerata Trajectina, featuring Wendy Roobol, Klaartje van Veldhoven, Sytse Buwalda, Nico van der Meel and Berend Eijkhout: vocals. Saskia Coolen: recorder and viola da gamba, Constance Allanic: harp and viola da gamba, Cassandra Luckhardt: viola da gamba and Arjen Verhage: lute
Recording technician: Theo van Soest
- Concert 22 May 2016, Vondelkerk in Amsterdam, Festival De Muze van Zuid
Adriaan Valerius (1570-1625)
Merck toch hoe sterck
Heere keere van ons af
Laet sang en spel
Op de Engelse Foulle
Cornelis Schuyt (1557-1616)
Musijck die ongeschende maeght
Pieter Cornelisz Hooft (1581-1647)
Klaere wat heeft er uw hartje verlept
Hoogher Doris niet mijn gloedtje
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1561-1621)
Onder de linde groen
Carolus Hacquart (1640-1701?)
Kom laat ons geen genuchten
Constantijn Huijgens (1596-1687)
Serenata e riposta
Performed by: Hieke Meppelink: soprano. Nico van der Meel: tenor. Saskia Coolen: recorder. Erik Beijer: viola da gamba. Arjen Verhage: lute and theorbo
Recording technician: Frans de Wolff
- Live recording, 13 October 2023 at the Hellebecq church, Henegouwen, Belgium
Francesca Caccini (1587-1641)
Lasciatemi qui solo
Performed by: Les Belles Dames sans Merci: Hannelore Devaere, harp, Laura Pok, viola da gamba and Marie de Roy, soprano
Recording technician: Leo August De Bock
Pictured: Camerata Trajectina (Challenge Records)
