João Lourenço Rebelo’s seven-voice
Panis angelicus, a setting of the sixth verse of the Corpus Christi hymn
Sacris solemniis was sung at Mass on Maundy Thursday at Vila Viçosa as Communion motet. Rebelo’s music, like that of Almeida and other pupils and followers of Duarte Lobo and his generation in Portugal, is characteristic of the highly expressive and extravagant style which permeated much of the music composed during the course of the seventeenth century. From a very early age, Rebelo became a regular member of the choir at Vila Viçosa (where his portrait still hangs) and, as a close friend of João IV, was endowed with many royal privileges.
from notes by Bernadette Nelson © 1996
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