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Clemencic Consort & René Clemencic
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Clemencic Consort & René Clemencic · René Clemencic was born in Vienna in 1928 and died there in 2022 at the age of 94. He studied at the University of Vienna and deepened his studies further in France, the Netherlands and West Germany. He was a composer, conductor and harpsichordist, also played the clavichord and the recorder, and in Vienna led the Capella Musica Antiqua and the Drama Musicum, among others.
Music and breakthrough
In 1958 Clemencic founded Musica Antiqua, which after 1959 was called Ensemble Musica Antiqua. The group played early music on instruments of the period itself, at a time when that approach was still new. In 1968 the Clemencic Consort followed. With that ensemble he recorded, between 1974 and 1977, a five-LP series of the Carmina Burana, the medieval songs from the monastery of Benediktbeuern, released by Harmonia Mundi France. Clemencic also wrote work of his own, such as the Missa Mundi for five voices and orchestra from 1981, the oratorio Kabbala in Hebrew and the oratorio Apokalypsis on the Greek text of the Book of Revelation.
Influence
In School of Rock, the Consort represents the medieval troubadours. A chantar is a song by the Comtessa de Dia from the twelfth century, one of the few surviving songs by a female troubadour. Ensembles such as Clemencic's made sure that such songs sounded again, with the distinctive colour of old instruments and a vocal line that moves freely through the text.
Listening
A chantar (Comtessa de Dia) · Clemencic Consort & René Clemencic, 1175