Ensemble Gilles Binchois

Next to, among others, Guillaume de Machaut’s much more famous Messe de Notre Dame, the anonymous Barcelona Mass, which is estimated to date back to the mid-14th century, is one of the earliest full Mass compositions in the European heritage. It is written for three voices and divided into the usual five parts of the Mass: Kirie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei – the last of these written for four voices. We do know, however, that these parts were neither written as, nor originally intended to constitute, a whole, and that they may well have been written by several authors. Despite this, the degree of consistency achieved by them as a whole is truly fascinating. We will listen to them together with the Apt Codex Mass, also from the 14th century.