Journey Through Dalmatia

The oldest preserved relics of musical culture in Croatia are sacral in nature and represented by Latin medieval liturgical chant manuscripts (approximately one hundred musical codices and fragments dating from the 11th to the 15th centuries have been preserved to date).[1] They reveal a wealth of various influences and liturgical traditions that converged in this region (Dalmatian liturgy in Benevento script, Northern Gregorian chant, and original Glagolitic chant). Early in the 15th century the ideas of Humanism in Croatia brought about changes to the world of music. Interest in music began to spread outside of monastic and church walls with growing influence of new spiritual tendencies from Central European and particularly Italian cities. The writing down of folk and popular music began in mid-sixteenth century: in the poem Fishing and Fishermen's Talk from 1558, Petar Hektorović ingrained Neoplatonic ideals in popular music; and transcripts of Croatian musical folklore were printed in Venetian anthologies. Julije Skjavetić from Šibenik published his madrigals (Li madrigali a quattro, et a cinque voci 1562), while his Motetti a cinque et a sei voci, (1564) are characterised by a lavish polyphonic structure under the influence of the Dutch school. Music and dance were a component part of theatrical expression while the function of music and sound effects was under the influence of Italian pastorals. New tendencies of early Baroque monody soon found their way into the domestic musical tradition, both sacral and secular. Tomaso Cecchini, from Verona, who spent his entire working life (1603–44) as a choirmaster, organist and composer in Split and Hvar, published his madrigals Armonici concetti, libro primo (1612) as the oldest Baroque collection written for the Croatian milieu. The collection Sacrae cantiones (Venice 1620) by Ivan Lukačić from Šibenik is valuable testimony of sacral music that was performed in Split, and is generally speaking, one of the most significant monuments of old Croatian music altogether. Also, worth mentioning is Ragusino Vincenzo Comnen, the only representative of the music of the Dubrovnik nobility.

Below are all of the tracks produced by Ensemble Renaissance.

The following people contributed to Journey through Dalmatia

• album on allmusic
• album on discogs