Bella Incognita: The Imagination of Marco dall'Aquila Lukas Henning

• Marco dall’Aquila (1480 - 1544):
• 1 Phrygian Ricercar 02:04
• 2 La cara cossa 02:04
• Lukas Henning:
• 3 La Santa Anna 03:33
• Marco dall’Aquila:
• 4 Sesquialtera Ricercar 03:48
• 5 Nous bergiers (After Clément Janequin) 02:14
• 6 Frottolesca 00:56
• 7 Priambolesca 00:31
• 8 Dorian Ricercar 03:28
• 9 La traditora 02:00
• 10 Hypodorian Ricercar 01:33
• 11 Hypolydian Ricercar 01:47
• 12 Caelorum Regina Ricercar (After Josquin Desprez) 01:22
• Lukas Henning:
• 13 Senza canto, sonata & mezana 01:30
• 14 Senza tenore, bordun & contrabasso 01:29
• Marco dall’Aquila:
• 15 La cara cossa sul contrabasso 02:34
• 16 Recercar de Maestro Marco da Laquila–caro–a–h–he 01:34
• 17 Il est bel et bon (After Pierre Passereau) 02:41
• 18 Senza canto 02:32
• Lukas Henning:
• 19 La compagna della solfamifa 01:14
• 20 Solfamifa Ricercar 04:19
• 21 Tocha tocha la canella 01:06
• 22 La cara cossa sul tenore 01:50
• 23 Fantasia de Maestro Marcho da Laquila 03:28
• 24 La battaglia (After Clément Janequin) 03:53
• Total Runtime 53:30

Info for Bella Incognita: The Imagination of Marco dall'Aquila

With lutenist Lukas Henning, Glossa unveils a striking new talent as he presents Bella incognita, a recital devoted to the enigmatic 16th-century Venetian composer Marco dall’Aquila, a musician frequently referred to in the sources but one who is difficult to characterize. With the increased use of the six-course instrument, writing for the lute became more polyphonic, with a greater level of complexity and frequently making use of existing musical works such as the chanson Il est bel et bon by Pierre Passereau; the system – called tablature – of graphically representing this complexity was introduced as the 16th century commenced.

Curiously, Marco made an early petition to hold the rights to the printing of tablature in Venice. Yet apparently, no imprints from him appeared and very little of his own music was printed for some three decades. The story of how some of Marco’s music has survived to this day and the relationship that his kind of compositions – often Ricercari but also an early example of a Fantasia – had with the paintings of Giorgione is engagingly told by Lukas Henning in the booklet essay to this new recording.

Henning, whose credentials as a performer and as an investigator are backed by his having studied at the prestigious Schola Cantorum Basiliensis – and with no less a star in the lutenist firmament than Hopkinson Smith –, intersperses this new selection of works by Marco dall’Aquila with some of his own sympathetic and informed compositions – including a delightful piece which explores the nightmare of breaking a string!

Lukas Henning, lute

Lukas Henning
studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, a leading research and teaching institution on the field of historically informed performance practice, where he received his Master of Arts degree in 2016.

​He studied Lute and Theorbo under Hopkinson Smith and received additional teaching from various influential scholars and performers such as Crawford Young, Jesper Christensen or Anthony Rooley. Since 2011 Lukas Henning has been performing throughout central and northern Europe.

Simultaneously, Lukas is curating and producing me:mo, a series of video essays about music and art history. The aim is to present music in its cultural context, offering a glimpse into the lives behind it, past and present. The videos are directed both at listeners just discovering this music as well as connoisseurs, showcasing the most recent advancements in the understanding of our shared sounding heritage: www.musicamemo.com

Booklet for Bella Incognita: The Imagination of Marco dall'Aquila