sacred miscellany

Here is New York Polyphony’s performance of this polyphonic “Regina Caeli.” While most everyone knows the simple chant version, we forget that the Marian antiphons were perfect for polyphonic arrangement in the eyes of Renaissance composers. Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599) was born and spent most of his career in Sevilla, Spain. There were intervals where he traveled to Rome (very common for Spanish composers looking to learn the latest Italian stylings) and a couple of brief tenures in other Spanish cathedrals. But somehow he always came back to Sevilla. Robert Merrell Stevenson’s Spanish Cathedral Music in the Golden Age gives a detailed picture of Guerrero’s ups and downs with the Cathedral Dean and Chapter. Our composer was chronically in debt and once was bailed out by the Chapter. He was always borrowing from his employers, who towards the end of Guerrero’s life acknowledged that these “loans” were gifts. Guerrero was also somewhat of a failure with the supervision of the choi...