Corpus

With Gregorian chant and polyphony, Corpus evokes suffering, dying and weeping in the work of Leuven master Dieric Bouts. Hendrik Vanden Abeele gathers a young Psallentes DIERIC collective with six singers/songwriters and a recorder player. They perform moving songs from the 15th century. A real soundtrack to some of Bouts' paintings.

The suffering, dying and weeping body forms an important part of the oeuvre of the Leuven painter Dieric Bouts. For example, Bouts painted the dying body (Last Supper), the tortured body (Martyrs of Saint Erasmus and Saint Hyppolytus), the suffering body (Man of Sorrows), the buried body (Funeral) and the lamented body (Lamentation). There is also the bread that becomes the body (Triptych of the Blessed Sacrament), or the body that feeds and is fed (Mary with Child).

This makes us think about how the late medievalist, like Bouts, looked at the body and how we can evoke this with music.

You will hear Gregorian chant and polyphony from the 15th century. The Gregorian chant is from Flemish sources from the late 15th century. The polyphony comes from Jacob Obrecht, Josquin Desprez and Jacob Clement, among others.

Under the auspices of the Dirk Snellings Fund, Hendrik Vanden Abeele has compiled a 'young Psallentes'. This is a tribute to the singer Dirk Snellings, founder of the Capilla Flamenca, which was so successful until his death in 2014.

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artistic direction Hendrik Vanden Abeele with six singers including Lisa De Rijcke and Veronica Samyn (recorders) photo Marcel Van Coile