The Flemish composer and organist Petrus Hercules Brehy was born in Brussels in 1673. From the age of 16 he was in the employ of St Nicholas Church in Brussels, first as a choirboy and later as an organist, and from 1705 until his death in 1737 he served as zangmeester (i.e. choirmaster-preceptor-composer-in-residence) of the Collegiate Church of St Michael and St Gudula in the same city.
The five motets selected for this volume exemplify the concerted motet style in the Low Countries, as well as Brehy's fulfilment of his obligations to the Collegiate Church: two Requiem motets (De profundis; Libera me Domine), a Te Deum (as an example of an early composition), a motet dedicated to the Apostles (Isti sunt triumphatores), and a motet for the Blessed Sacrament (O Salutaris Hostia), possibly to be situated in the context of the Brussels Feast of the ‘Miracle of the Bleeding Host'. These works show Brehy's professional skill, and their style reflects both French and Italian influence.
