Minim Sagas
A concert inspired by the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher
Ever wondered how Renaissance composers put together their beautiful motets? Or are you curious to hear music that can be read backwards? Or both right way up and upside-down, and still sounds exactly the same?Join Tactus for a unique performance, demystifying polyphony from Machaut to Mouton and from Ockeghem to Tallis, featuring new musical puzzle pieces devised especially for this show! The concert will include a simultaneous audio-visual presentation for an added dimension to your experience. You'll never think of choral music the same way again.
Join us in exploring the music and its connection to the works of M. C. Escher in a free multi-media pre-concert talk beginning 30 minutes before the concert.
| Saturday, May 27, 8 pm St Matthew's Lutheran Church 3281 16th Street, San Francisco |
Sunday, May 28, 3 pm St Jerome's Catholic Church 308 Carmel Ave, El Cerrito |
Concert Live Stream
Both concerts will be live-streamed on-line. The stream link will be posted on Friday, May 26 on our Patreon page, and is accessible to all Patrons pledging $5 / month or higher to support Tactus. To access the live stream, please sign up at the $5 / month or higher level before the concert, and check the list of recent posts for the live stream link. Your card will not be charged before June 1st, and you can cancel your subscription at any time. Therefore, you may attend the concert live on-line for free, should you wish!Pre-concert Talk
Join the the director of Tactus for a pre-concert talk exploring the connection between M. C. Escher and the Renaissance masters, beginning 30 minutes before each concert! In this music-meets-visual-arts slideshow and discussion, we will transcribe the music from the concert program into colorful bar graphs, show how Busnoys' In hydraulis hides tributes to Ockeghem in the lengths of its phrases, and explore mensuration canons in Tallis' Miserere and Ockeghem's Missa prolationum. The talk will be broadcast LIVE on-line, and the link to the live slideshow will be posted right here on Friday, May 26. For the simulcast audio of the presentation from the concert hall, however, you'll need to sign up on Patreon as described above.
Send any queries to the director at tactussf@gmail.com
Concert program
| Organ prelude: Toccata ottava | Girolamo Frescobaldi |
| Ma fin est mon commencement | Guillaume de Machaut |
| In hydraulis | Antoine Busnoys |
| Organ interlude: G Minor suite (FbWv 618, sarabande) | Johann Jakob Froberger |
| Nuper rosarum flores | Guillaume Dufay |
| Descendi in hortum meum (Op 31) | Tanmoy Laskar |
| Organ interlude: Gigue | Etienne Richard |
| Pater noster | Gioseffo Zarlino |
| Organ interlude: Capricio cromatico | Girolamo Frescobaldi |
| Descendi in hortum meum | Cipriano de Rore |
| Nesciens mater | Jean Mouton |
| Missa prolationum (Kyrie) | Johannes Ockeghem |
| Quae est ista (Op 49) | Tanmoy Laskar |
| Ave Maria gemma virginum | Jean Mouton |
| Organ interlude: Quatuor sur le kyrie | Jean-Henri d'Anglebert |
| Ero quasi ros (Op 53) | Tanmoy Laskar |
| Organ interlude: Sonata I | Gioanpietro del Buono |
| Miserere nostri | Thomas Tallis |
| Ma fin est mon commencement (Op 51) | Tanmoy Laskar |
| Organ postlude: C Major suite FbWV 612 (Gigue) | Johann Jakob Froberger |