- Composer: Alphonsus Johannes Maria Diepenbrock (2 september 1862 -- 5 april 1921)
- Choir: Vocaal Ensemble Markant
- Conductor: Marc Versteeg
- Year of recording: 1996

Caelestis Urbs Jerusalem, for mixed choir a capella, written in 1897.

00:00 - I. Maestoso poco con moto
01:38 - II. Più con moto
02:54 - III. Animato
04:20 - IV. Vivace
05:20 - V. Poco pesante et largamente

Diepenbrock composed the five-part Caelestis urbs Jerusalem for the ceremony on 17 May 1897 in the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), which celebrated the seventieth anniversary of the architect Pierre Cuypers. In the hymn for the consecration of a church (Hymnus in festo dedicationis ecclesiae) the knocking and chiselling of skilled stonemasons is praised, who know how to create everything "in its right relation" {untranslatable: the word used for relation was 'verband', which means both 'relation' and 'brickwork bond'}.

Diepenbrock's composition is a tribute to the master builder who played a major role in the formation of his aesthetic approaches. (As a boy who loved to draw and was fascinated by the construction activities in his home city of Amsterdam, Diepenbrock was for some years a regular in the studio of Cuypers where his son Joseph made him familiar with the principles of the Gothic style.)

Concerning the compositional style, Caelestis urbs Jerusalem is strongly related to both his Stabat Mater compositions [both uploaded on this channel], which is not surprising given the similarity in verse structure: stanzas of six octosyllabic lines in the hymn; in the sequences stanzas of three lines, two of which are octosyllabic and the third counts seven syllables.

The piece is dedicated: "Ter viering van den 50-en verjaardag van Dr. P.J.H. Cuypers" {In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. P.J.H. Cuypers}.

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