Music Before 1800 Continues 43rd Season with CAPPELLA PRATENSIS

NYC's longest-running early music series Music Before 1800 continues its 43rd season on Sunday, October 15 at 4PM at Corpus Christi Church.

The eight-voice men's choir from the Netherlands, Cappella Pratensis and director Stratton Bull, perform Triptych - The Musical World of Hieronymus Bosch. Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450 - 1516), the Dutch painter who famously depicted music as nightmarish, lewd, or a vain pursuit in his Garden of Earthly Delights and Ship of Fools, was a member of Brabant's singing confraternity at the Church of St. John the Evangelist. This program aims to capture a sense of the devotional soundscape that the Dutch painter experienced throughout his life as a member of this music-loving Marian brotherhood.

Missa Cum jocunditate, by Pierre De La Rue, might well have been in the confraternity's repertory and is the program's main work.
There is a 3PM pre-concert lecture and Q&A by Professor M. Jennifer Bloxam in the auditorium.

MB1800, a NYC institution, is the city's longest-running series devoted exclusively to early music. Since the series' inception, concerts have been presented at Corpus Christi Church in Morningside Heights, giving audiences a uniquely satisfying experience. The 2017-18 places an emphasis on choral music (especially Renaissance), welcoming back esteemed vocal ensembles Stile Antico, Blue Heron, and Cappella Pratensis. Series debuts will be made by exciting NYC ensembles LeStrange Viols and House of Time.

Louise Basbas
Louise Basbas is the founder and director of the series. The New Yorker praised MB1800, calling it "the essential series." Time Out New York remarked: "The resonant acoustics of Corpus Christi Church will deliver you into your own personal solitude.... Few other venues can claim this fusion of strong programming and quality auditory surroundings."

Music Before 1800 is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. MB1800 is also supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.