Heinrich Finck
A rare major German contemporary of Josquin Desprez, Heinrich Finck was probably born in Bamberg in the 1440s; but unlike Josquin and many other Franco-Flemish composers he remained in Northern Europe all his working career. He was Kappelmeister to several very distinguished Catholic courts including that of Poland, Stuttgart, Salzburg and finally of Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria in Vienna. Perhaps the last position was mainly honorary since by then he was an octogenarian and held the post only six months before he died in June of 1527. So highly was Finck regarded by Ferdinand, that the Archduke ordered a memorial medal struck in his honour.
Like Josquin with his College at Condé, Finck spent his last years leading a cloistered “Kantorei” at Schottenkloster in Vienna. His surviving oeuvre (printed in modern edition in ‘Das Erbe deutsche Musik’ edited by L. Hoffmann Erbrecht) includes four settings of the Ordinary, two Magnificats, numerous motets and hymn settings, and over thirty secular songs.
Missa Dominicalis – Kyrie
The complete Mass is to be found in a ms. in the Bavarian State Library in Munich originating c. 1520.
Heinrich Finck 'Missa Dominicalis - Kyrie'
Text:
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.
Translation:
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Missa Dominicalis – Credo
Heinrich Finck 'Missa Dominicalis - Credo'
Text:
Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium, et invisibilium. Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum. Et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, lumene de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero. Genitum, non factum, consubstantialem Patri: per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine: Et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis: sub Pontio Pilato passus, et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas. Et ascendit in caelum: sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, judicare vivos et mortuos: cujus regni non erit finis. Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum, et vivificantem: qui ex Patre Filioque procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur, et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per Prophetas. Et unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum batisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum. Et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.
Translation:
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, and giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the Prophets. And I believe one catholic and Apostolic Church; I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen..
Missa Dominicalis – Sanctus
Heinrich Finck 'Missa Dominicalis - Sanctus'
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
Dóminus Deus Sábaoth.
Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua.
Hosánna in excélsis.
Benedíctus qui venit in nómine Dómini.
Hosánna in excélsis.
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and Earth are full of Thy glory.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest!
Missa Dominicalis – Agnus Dei
Heinrich Finck 'Missa Dominicalis - Agnus Dei'
Text:
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the World. Have mercy on us.
Veni Redemptor gentium
This Advent hymn is found in the 1542 collection, ‘Sacrorum hymnorum liber primus’ published by Georg Rhau in Wittenberg, 15 years after Finck’s death. It is a polyphonic rendering of the original Catholic hymn text and melody written by St. Ambrose in the 4th century. And adapted by Martin Luther for the Lutheran chorale “Nun komm der heiden Heiland”.
Just one of 8 verses is sung here.
Heinrich Finck "Veni Redemptor"
Text:
Veni, redemptor gentium;
ostende partum Virginis;
miretur omne saeculum:
talis decet partus Deum.
Come, thou Redeemer of the earth,
and manifest thy virgin-birth:
let every age adoring fall;
such birth befits the God of all.