On Good Friday, 3 April, Spanish Renaissance tenebrae were performed by the international ensemble Ramilete de Tonos at the Jesuit Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Brno as part of the Easter Festival of Sacred Music.
Unfortunately, Renaissance music is not a common and natural part of the regular concert repertoire. The sold-out concert which didn’t start until 9 p.m. and the audience’s absolute silence and concentration during the nearly seventy-five minutes was evidence of major interest. The individual movements of the Lamentations by the Spanish composer Cristóbal de Morales (c.1500–1553) were very sensitively interspersed with instrumental compositions by other Renaissance composers such as Adriano Willaert, Giovanni de Macque, Paolo Quagliati and Miguel de Fuenllana. The Book of Lamentations, associated with the prophet Jeremiah, recalls the pain of the people of Jerusalem after the invasion of the Babylonians and is masterfully set to music by Cristóbal de Morales. Each part of the Lamentations ends with the words Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum, Deum tuum – Jerusalem, turn back to the Lord your God! Words that are perhaps more relevant now during Easter than ever before.
Renaissance music carries purity and brightness. It is a period of musical style transformation, full of innovative, inventive techniques in the horizontal management of individual voices and their harmonies in the vertical, rhythmic intricacies, all of which seem and are meant to seem as if nothing could be more obvious. What fascinates me about Renaissance music is its unpredictability. The sections of a dialogue – I deliberately do not write “accompaniment” – between the male voice and solo instrument – cornetto, sacbut or vihuela – were remarkable. Interpreting such demanding works is not easy at all, it requires absolute precision, harmony and listening to each other because every little detail is noticeable. It is music that leads musicians and audiences to concentrate on the experience of the here and now, on beauty and pure spirituality. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why there are not many ensembles dedicated purely to this period of music.
Friday's concert took place in a dimmed church, where the darkness and concentration were not disturbed by the usual green-lit emergency exits and where the light came only from the musicians themselves.
The performance of the Ramillete de Tonos Ensemble, only in existence since 2022, was absolutely exceptional. Three musicians – Indré Kucinskaité (cornetto), Filip Hrubý (organ), BJ Hernandez (sackbut) – and three singers Marcel Jorquera Vinyals, Loic Paulin and Martin Kautzsch under the artistic direction of Kateřina Maňáková playing vihuela de mano and theorbo managed to convey a powerful artistic and spiritual experience touching the heart and soul with the veracity of their performance. The interpretation of the young musicians was delicate, fragile and elusive, carried by the excellent acoustics of the Jesuit church. These young performers know what they sing and play about and why.
After the last piece, the musicians turned off their music stand lights and let the music fade away – within the space, within the silence and within the listeners themselves. The audience's applause was framed by the illumination of the church ceiling with frescoes that seemed to symbolically open the heavens. It was an extraordinary experience reminding us of the true message and meaning of Easter – of humility, moderation and self-restraint.
3 April 2026
Jesuit Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Brno
Lamentations – Spanish Renaissance Tenebrae
Cristóbal de Morales, Paolo Quagliati, Adrian Willaert, Giovanni de Macque, Miguel de Fuenllana
Ramillete de Tonos Ensemble
Indré Kucinskaité – cornetto
Filip Hrubý – organ
BJ Hernandez – sackbut
Marcel Jorquera Vinyals, Loic Paulin and Martin Kautzsch – vocals
Artistic direction by Kateřina Maňáková – vihuela de mano and theorbo
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