Cafe Adriaan

In fact, not Café but Coffeebar Adriaan.

En route home, tired and ready for a coffee, I dropped into Cafe Adriaan, near the Theatre, on Adriaan Willaertsstraat, where I have been with friends a couple of times before. I admire the spaciousness there and the lovely wall-end display cabinet with various utensils from the past, like an old coffee grinder, lovingly collected. I casually picked up an information card in the window near me, to find a great deal of information in Dutch, about Adriaan Willaerts after whom the place, and the street, is named. I was intrigued enough, Early Music fan that I am, to discover more about Adriaan of whom I knew nothing.

Adriaan Willaerts 1490-1562

He was born in Roeselare not far from Brugge in 1490 and went to Paris originally to study law though, following his interests and talent, switched to music, eventually studying with Jean Mouton, principal composer of the French Royal Chapel. In 1515 he entered the service of Cardinal Ippolito 1 d’Este di Ferrara and travelled widely in Europe in that capacity. After Ippolito’s death in 1520 Willaerts joined the court of Duc Alfonso di Ferrara, becoming a member of the court chapel until 1525.

Andrea Gritti, Doge of Venice

His most important appointment came two years later when he was appointed Maestro di Capella of St Mark’s in Venice. The music there had languished under his predecessor, Pietro de Fossis, but the Venetian Doge, Andrea Gritti had recognised Adriaan's abilities and chosen him, determined to elevate the standard of music in San Marco to its former glory. From 1527 until his death in 1562 Willaerts retained this highly influential post, attracting composers from all of Europe to study with him, burnishing his reputation with his output of sacred music, particularly motets, and composing many madrigals, a secular form much admired. He was considered a Flemish madrigalist composer of the first rank and became the most influential musician in Europe between the death of Josquin and the time of Palestrina.

Adriaan was reputedly the inventor of the antiphonal style of choral song. It seems to have been a practical solution to the architectural quirk of there being two choir lofts in San Marco’s, one on each side of the main altar, each with an organ. He simply divided the choir into two equal sections, using them both antiphonally and simultaneously. This innovation met with instant success and created a strong fashion, followed by his successors, of cultivating this antiphonal choral style which led to the polychoral style of the Venetian school. In fact, in 1550 Willaerts published his Salmi spezzati, antiphonal settings of the Psalms, the first polychoral work of the Venetian school. This tradition of writing works for contrapuntal choirs, thus established, was continued throughout the 17th century.

San Marco, Venice, interior

[Antiphonal/ Polychoral: two, four part choirs sing church music alternately, occasionally in combination, in two separate spatial areas.

Polyphonic/contrapuntal: the weaving together of two or more, equally important melodic lines, to fit harmoniously.
Begun by Willaerts, and a typical feature of the late Renaissance, it led directly to the formation of the Baroque style. The two separate choirs were often referred to as cori spezzati= separate choirs.]

Willaerts was thus a significant figure in sixteenth century music and his legacy remains influential today. His fame was widespread when he lived; less so beyond the world of musica barocca today though this little blog seeks to address that in a small way.

What an interesting and informative time I have had following the trail of Adriaan Willaerts about whom I knew nothing! As has been often remarked, ‘One can take the girl out of teaching, but not the teaching out of the girl!’ Sometimes a quest is irresistible and usually, rewarding.