O Mediatrix Domina; In Te Domine speravi; Quae habitas in hortis; Currite, pastores; Vulnera cor meum; Domine, ne in furore tuo; O dulcis amor; Ad te, dulcissime Iesu; Ave, dulcis Iesu; Ah, horrida bella; Vulnerasti cor meum; O Iesu mi, dulcissime spes; Fili, ego Salomon; Rogo te, dulcissime Domine Iesu Christe; Cantate Domino canticum novum; Salve mi Iesu; O Iesu, splendor aeternae gloriae; In nomine Iesu

North and South
The Golden Age of the Dutch Republic, the 17th century, was full of splendor in the fields of trade, painting and literature, but in music the situation was anything but rosy. The epicenter of musical innovation lay in Italy, whose composers were regarded as outstanding throughout Europe. While this may have hurt the pride of composers in Northern Europe and elsewhere who publicly disputed this supremacy, privately most of them sought to profit from their Mediterranean contemporaries by studying the latest Italian music or apprenticing with Italian masters. In the Netherlands, the style of Monteverdi and other Italian composers had a profound influence on the music of Jan Baptist Verrijt, who was probably born in Oirschot around 1600 and died in Rotterdam in 1650. Together with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Verrijt is perhaps the most important Dutch composer of the 17th century, an assessment based on his only surviving work: the Flammae divinae op. 5. It consists of six two-part and twelve three-part motets as well as two three-part mass settings. The work was probably intended for use in Roman Catholic churches in the southern Netherlands as well as in secret Roman Catholic churches in the predominantly Protestant Republic. The high level of vocal technique demanded by Verrijt initially seems to rule out a performance by lay singers. However, it is known that Verrijt's Opus 4 and 5 were in the library of the Collegium musicum Groningen, a group consisting almost exclusively of amateur musicians.

In the Flammae divinae, Verrijt shows consummate mastery in combining the liveliness of the new Italian concertato style with the polyphonic techniques of the old Franco-Flemish school. The music sounds imaginative and dramatic, but is at the same time balanced and controlled. Like Claudio Monteverdi and Alessandro Grandi, for example, Verrijt enlivens his complex polyphonic church music with techniques from the madrigal and opera. Verrijt's Opus 5 is therefore not only interesting as an unusual expression of Roman Catholic culture in the northern Netherlands, but also as a musically fascinating work on an international level.

Further information:
- Recorded in May 2000 in Rotterdam
- Trilingual booklet in English, Dutch and German with liner notes by Kees Vlaardingerbroek

- Together with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Jan Baptist Verrijt was perhaps the most important Dutch composer of the 17th century. His most important surviving work, Flammae divinae, Opus 5, consists of six two-part and twelve three-part motets as well as two three-part mass arrangements. It was published when Verrijt was organist at the Great Church of St. Lawrence in Rotterdam in 1644-1650.

- In this work, Verrijt demonstrates consummate mastery in combining the liveliness of the new Italian concertato style with the polyphonic techniques of the old Franco-Flemish school. The music sounds imaginative and dramatic, but is at the same time balanced and controlled. Like Claudia Monteverdi, Verrijt enlivens his complex polyphonic church music with techniques from the madrigal and opera and uses the old imitative techniques in a new way to achieve a strong emotional effect.

- Performed by one of the most important and pioneering early music vocal ensembles of the 20th century, the Consort of Musicke, with Emma Kirkby under the direction of Anthony Rooley - A reissue on the NM Classics label, the label for music from the Netherlands.