Requiem for an Emperor

Charles V was certainly the most powerful and charismatic of the Renaissance rulers. Exhausted and worn down by the challenges of imperial rule, he abdicated towards the end of his life and led a secluded existence in the monastery of Cuacos de Yuste in Castile under the motto ‘Ecce elongavi fugiens et mansi in solitudine’ (‘I fled and remained in solitude’). The Utopia Ensemble seeks out the man behind the monarch and examines the duality of power and greatness as well as solitude. Pierre de Manchicourt – court composer to Charles's son and director of the famous Capilla Flamenca – could well have written his Requiem for one of the countless commemorations of Charles V. It radiates serenity and splendour and is juxtaposed here with chansons that moved the heart beneath Charles’s imperial armour.

Works:

 • Gombert: O malheureuse journee
 • Luis de Narváes: Mille regres (La Canción del Emperador)
 • Manchicourt: Missa de Requiem
 • Crecquillon: Le monde est tel
 • Canis: Mariez moy mon père
 • Gombert: Ayme qui vouldra
 • Févin: Fors seulement
 • Richafort: Cuidez vous que Dieu nous faille
 • Canis: Si par souffrir
 • Crecquillon: Il me suffit de tous mes maulx
 • Gombert: Mort et fortune
 • Payen: Nunc dimittis
 • Utopia Ensemble
 • Adriaenssen: Slaepen gaen