This hour, we’re exploring music in and about the Americas during the first centuries of European colonization. Our focus this episode is New France, a vast territory extending from what is now eastern Canada through the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley. Join us as we consider the musical legacies of Jesuit missions, fur trading outposts, and occupied indigenous nations between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. We’ll hear musical imports from Sermisy to Lully alongside the work of New World artists. On our featured recording, Exaudi Vocal ensemble performs madrigals and motets by a cohort of sixteenth century harmonic revolutionaries.
PLAYLIST
Le Livre d'Orgue de Montreal
Kenneth Gilbert
Analekta | FL23022-3 (2005)
Anonymous
Tr. 24–26 Pange lingua (4:44)
Segment A:
Au Joly Bois
Kate Clark, Nigel North
Ramee | RAM1201 (2012)
Claudin de Sermisy
Tr. 1 Au joly bois en l’ombre d’un soucy (3:14)
Queen of Hearts
The Gesualdo Six, Owain Park
Hyperion | 00028948760343 (2024)
Jean Mouton
Tr. 19 De tous regrets (2:02)
Francis I, King of France: Music of a Reign
Doulce Mémoire, Denis Raisin Dadre
Zig-Zag Territoires | ZZT373 (2015)
Jean Mouton
Tr. 5 Da pacem Domine (3:18)
Noël: Early Canadian Christmas Music
The Elmer Iseler Singers
Marquis Classics | MAR-227 (1998)
Jean de Brébeuf, arr. C. Ford
Tr. 1 Jesous Ahatonia (1:52)
Au Sainct Nau
Ensemble Clément Janequin, Trio Musica Humana
Alpha | ALPHA198 (2014)
Eustache Du Caurroy
Tr. 13 Une jeune pucelle (3:41)
Musique Sacrée en Nouvelle-France
Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Christopher Jackson, Réjean Poirier
ATMA Classique | 00722056655323 (2017)
Charles Amador-Martin
Tr. 16 Prose de Sacre Familie (2:39)
Le chant de la Jerusalem des terres froides
Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Réjean Poirier, Christopher Jackson
Phaia Music | K617052 (2016)
Nicolas Lebègue
Tr. 24 Regina Coeli (2:18)
Midpoint Break Music Bed:
Le Jardin des Melodies
The King’s Noyse
Harmonia Mundi | HMU907194DI (1997)
Claude Le Jeune
Tr. 25 Allons, allons gay
Segment B:
Musique Sacrée en Nouvelle-France
Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Christopher Jackson, Réjean Poirier
ATMA Classique | 00722056655323 (2017)
Anonymous
Tr. 1 O quam suavis (1:52)
La Bergère
Marie Magistry, Sylvain Bergeron
ATMA Classique | 00722056658829 (2020)
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Tr. 12 Récit de la beauté: Si l'Amour vous soumet à ses lois inhumaines (5:44)
Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre
L’Ensemble des idées heureuses
ATMA Classique | 00722056605021 (2000)
Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre
Harpsichord Suite No. 3 in A Minor:
Tr. 18 VI. Chaconne (2:17)
Rameau: Les Indes Galantes
Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
Harmonia Mundi | HMC90136769DI (1991)
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Tr. 55 Danse du grand calumet de la paix (2:01)
Featured release:
Chromatic Renaissance
Exaudi Vocal Ensemble
Winter and Winter | 910293-2 (2025)
Nicola Vicentino
Tr. 10 Musica prisca caput (2:41)
Vincente Lusitano
Tr. 8 Heu me Domine (4:12)
Luzzasco Luzzaschi
Tr. 22 Itene mie querele (1:58)
Theme Music Bed: Ensemble Alcatraz, Danse Royale, Elektra Nonesuch 79240-2 [ASIN: B000005J0B], T.12: La Prime Estampie Royal