Ensemble Musica Universalis | Marc Busnel

In ca. 1500 Europe experienced a similar radical upheaval of values as are today. Man, with humanity at the centre, looked back on a lost metaphysical order and created for itself new space and a new perception of time. The first 12-voice mass in musical history was written at this time, with the vocals circulating the individual at the centre, a grandiose, unique work. Antoine Brumel created this musical cosmos on the basis of seven tones, which after the death of Jesus on Easter Morning and before the Resurrection, recalls the earthquake that accompanied the death of God.

In the context of MaerzMusik, festival of contemporary music dealing this year with the theme of [lost] utopia, the premiere of a unique sonic space performance with exceptional vocal soloists under the direction of Marc Busnel will present this historical music in a new form in the large hall of Radialsystem V. Et Ecce Terrae Motus – The Earth Quaked by Antoine Brumel and Clemens Goldberg, utopian music in the face of the downfall, leads the audience on a journey of both manmade and natural disasters from the present day up until the year 1500. With images and text as well as parts of the mass by Antoine Brumel, the listener experiences the questions raised by the artworks as their own current issues. Can the magical music of the mass about the earthquake on Easter Sunday answer the question of survival in the face of destruction?