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Lost Songs of a Rhineland Harper

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Program: #04-44   Air Date: Oct 25, 2004

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NOTE: From its source in the Rheinwaldhorn Glacier in the Swiss Alps, down to Basel and along the 500 navigable miles to the north Sea, the Rhine has been a source of culture.

This week, Benjamin Bagby of Sequentia shares his stunning reconstruction of the earliest secular music of the German-speaking peoples.

This SACD recording is on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, and is CD #82876 58940.

Support for these programs comes in part from PRS, Presence Switzerland; with additional support from Swiss Radio, Pro Helvetia, and the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C.

I. Songs of the Harp

  • Felix qui potuit boni (setting from Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy).
  • Caute cane, cantor care (meditation on body & soul as instruments
    to praise God).
  • Magnus cesar Otto (in honor of Otto I "the Great" [936-973]).
  • Rota modod arte (in praise of the harp).
  • David regis inclita proles (celebration of King David & all harpers).

II. The Image of the Dawn

  • Cigni ("the swan"--rare instrumental piece).
  • Foebus abierat (woman's song--earliest to treat her lover's ghost).
  • Clangam, filii (lament of the swan).
  • Phebi claro (illicit lovers fear the dawn).
  • Aurea personet lira (praising the song of the nightingale).

III. Desire and Seduction

  • Iam, dulcia amica, venito (song of seduction).
  • Advertite, omnes populi ("Story of the Snow Child").
  • O admirabile Veneris idolum (controversial song of lament as young lover is seduced by another).
  • Puella turbata ("the troubled girl").
  • Suavissima nunna (dialogue between seducer & nun).

CD Info

CD #82876 58940

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