Hespèrion XXI is an international

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...

ensemble Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary * Ensemble cast (drama, comedy) * Ensemble (musical theatre), also known as the chorus * ''En ...

. The group was formed in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 1974 as Hespèrion XX by Catalan musical director

Jordi Savall Jordi Savall i Bernadet (; born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish conductor, composer and viol player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for popularizing the viol family of ...

(bowed string instruments, particularly the

viola da gamba The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

), his wife

Montserrat Figueras Montserrat Figueras i García (, 15 March 1942 – 23 November 2011) was a Spanish soprano who specialized in early music. Figueras was born 15 March 1942 in Barcelona, Spain. After initially training as an actress she began studying early singing ...

(soprano),

Lorenzo Alpert Lorenzo may refer to: People * Lorenzo (name) Places Peru * San Lorenzo Island (Peru), sometimes referred to as the island of Lorenzo United States * Lorenzo, Illinois * Lorenzo, Texas * San Lorenzo, California, formerly Lorenzo * Lorenzo ...

(

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

), and

Hopkinson Smith Hopkinson Smith (born December 7, 1946) is an American lutenist and pedagogue, longtime resident in Basel, Switzerland. Smith was born in New York City, the son of architectural writer and photographer G. E. Kidder Smith. He graduated from Har ...

(

plucked string instrument Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such a way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucki ...

s). The group changed its name to Hesperion XXI at the beginning of the 21st century. The name "Hespèrion" is derived from a word in

Classical Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

which referred to the people of the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and Iberian peninsulas. The ensemble is noted for its scholarship in early music, especially the music of 16th and 17th century of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Their performance practice is noted for the liberal use of

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

around the basic melodic and rhythmic structures of the early pieces, resulting in great emotional intimacy and immediacy.

Awards

* Grand Prix de l'académie du Disque Français * Edison-Prijs Amsterdam *

Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commu ...

of the Charles Cros Academy of France * Grand Prize of the Japanese Recording Academy * Cannes Classic Award *

Diapason d'Or The Diapason d'Or (French for "Golden Tuning Fork") is a recommendation of outstanding (mostly) classical music recordings given by reviewers of '' Diapason'' magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the ...

* Grand Prix FNAC * Giorgio Gini Foundation Prize

Selected discography

As Hespèrion XX

''Note: The name of composer Juan del Encina (or Enzina) is spelled below as printed on the individual CD covers.'' * 1976 - ''Music from Christian and Jewish Spain, 1450-1550''.

Villancico The ''villancico'' (Spanish, ) or vilancete (Portuguese, ) was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. Important composers of villancicos were Juan del Encina, Pedro ...

s and romances from the

cancionero A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings o ...

Colombina Columbina (in Italian Colombina, meaning "little dove"; in French and English Colombine) is a stock character in the ''commedia dell'arte''. She is Harlequin's mistress, a comic servant playing the tricky slave type, and wife of Pierrot. Rudli ...

Palacio Palacio (''palace'') is a Spanish habitational name. It may have originated from many places in Spain, especially in Galicia and Asturies. Notable people with the surname include: * Agustina Palacio de Libarona (1825-1880), Argentine writer, sto ...

, and Upsala; recercadas from the Trattado de Glossas; and sephardic romances from the

Romancero {{Short description, Collection of Spanish romances, a type of folk ballad A ''romancero'' is a collection of Spanish '' romances'', a type of folk ballad (sung narrative). The ''romancero'' is the entire corpus of such ballads. As a distinct body o ...

. * 1978 - "Cansós de Trobaritz". A recording of songs of Catalan Troubadours. * 1979 - ''

Llibre Vermell de Montserrat The ''Llibre Vermell de Montserrat'' (, "Red Book of Montserrat") is a manuscript collection of devotional texts containing, amongst others, some late medieval songs. The 14th-century manuscript was compiled in and is still located at the monaster ...

''. A 14th century pilgrimage * 1991 - ''Juan Del Enzina: Romances & Villancicos, Salamanca, 1496''. Works by Spanish composer Juan del Enzina honouring King

Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II ( an, Ferrando; ca, Ferran; eu, Errando; it, Ferdinando; la, Ferdinandus; es, Fernando; 10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), also called Ferdinand the Catholic (Spanish: ''el Católico''), was King of Aragon and Sardinia from ...

and Queen

Isabella of Castille Isabella I ( es, Isabel I; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''la Católica''), was Queen of Castile from 1474 until her death in 1504, as well as Queen consort of Aragon from 1479 until 1504 by ...

. The lyrics express Spain's anticipated rise to greatness as adventurers, such as

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, set off to return the world's riches to the homeland, thereby assuring Spain's wealth and power. * 1991 - ''

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio ( , ; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literature ...

: Intermedios del Barroco Hispanico, 1580-1680'' * 1993 - ''

Matthew Locke Matthew Locke may refer to: * Matthew Locke (administrator) (fl. 1660–1683), English Secretary at War from 1666 to 1683 * Matthew Locke (composer) (c. 1621–1677), English Baroque composer and music theorist * Matthew Locke (soldier) (1974–2 ...

'', '' Consort of Fower Parts'' 1650-1660 * 1998 - ''Elizabethan Consort Music 1558 - 1603, Works by Alberti, Parsons, Strogers, Taverner, White, Woodcoock & Anonymes'' * 1999 - ''El Barroco Hispánico'' * 2001 - ''Music for the Spanish Kings'' * 2001 - ''

J. S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

Die Kunst Der Fuge ''The Art of Fugue'', or ''The Art of the Fugue'' (german: Die Kunst der Fuge, links=no), BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, ''The Art of Fug ...

As Hespèrion XXI

* 2000 - ''Diáspora Sefardí'', Alia Vox — a recreation of music of the Eastern

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

communities * 2002 - ''Ostinato'', Alia Vox * 2004 - ''Isabel I: Reina de Castilla'', Alia Vox * 2005 - ''Altre Follie'', Alia Vox * 2006 - ''Orient-Occident'', Alia Vox * 2008 - ''Estampies & Danses Royales: Le Manuscrit du Roi ca. 1270–1320'', Alia Vox * 2009 - ''The Book of the Science of Music'' by

Dimitrie Cantemir Dimitrie or Demetrius Cantemir (, russian: Дмитрий Кантемир; 26 October 1673 – 21 August 1723), also known by other spellings, was a Romanian prince, statesman, and man of letters, regarded as one of the most significant e ...

, Alia Vox * 2009 - ''Le Royaume Oublié: La croisade contre les Albigeois – La tragédie Cathare'', Alia Vox * 2011 - ''La Sublime Porte: Voix d'Istanbul, 1430–1750'', Alia Vox * 2013 - ''Esprit des Balkans'', Alia Vox * 2016 - ''GRANADA 1013 - 1502'', Alia Vox

References

External links

Official Hespèrion XXI site

Recordings of Hesperion XXI at Alia Vox, from Jordi Savall
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hesperion Xxi Mixed early music groups Musical groups established in 1974