I. Motets--Guillaume de Machaut

 

(Hilliard Ensemble).  ECM NEW SERIES CD # 1823 (B0001859-02).The complete works of Guillaume de Machaut, (c. 1300-1377) compiled by the composer himself and preserved in several sumptuous manuscripts, have still not been recorded in their entirety. The Messe de Notre Dame is the work best represented on disc and has been the subject of several recent books. Of all the shorter fixed forms, only the 3 motets have now been recorded. The most thorough discussion of the motets can be found in Anne Walters Robertson’s recent book, Guillaume de Machaut and Reims (Cambridge, 2002). In the substantial middle section of this book, Prof. Robertson shows that motets 1-17 form a cycle on the spiritual aspect of love based on a popular mystical treatise of a contemporary Dominican friar, Blessed Henry Suso, titled “Wisdom’s Watch upon the Hours.” The Latin-texted motet 9 occupies the central point in this cycle, eight French motets leading up to it, eight more French motets returning. The other six motets are unrelated.

 

--De souspirant cuer ("With sighing, suffering heart").

--Fine Amour, qui me vint navrer ("True love, who came to pierce me").

--Puis que la douce rousee ("Because pity does not wish").

--Qui plus aimme ("He who loves most").

--Lasse! je sui en aventure ("Alas! I am in danger!").

--Ha! Fortune ("Ah! Fortune, I am far from port").

--O livoris feritas ("O savageness of envy").

--Helas! ou sera pris confors ("Alas, where shall comfort be?").

--Fine cuers dous ("Sweet noble heart").

--Eins que ma dame d'onneur ("Before my honored lady").

--Faus Samblant m'a deceu ("False Seeming has deceived me").

--Se j'aim mon loyal ami ("If I love my faithful friend").

--Bone pastor ("Good shepherd").

--Diligenter inquiramus ("Let us diligently seek out").

--Biaute paree de valour ("Beauty adorned with worth").

--Veni creator spiritus ("Come, Creator Spirit").

--Plange, regni respublica ("Weep, commonwealth of the kingdom").

--Inviolata genitrix ("Inviolate Mother, beloved conqueress of pride").

 

      

 II. Guillaume de Machaut--Les motets

 

 ( Ensemble Musica Nova).  Zig-Zag Territoires CD # ZZT 021002. The Hilliard Ensemble sang 18 of the 23 motets, unaccompanied. On another program Ensemble Musica Nova sing all 23 motets, but three are not sung as written and others are accompanied by instruments. Yet we can hear four other motets from their collection. (It may be noted that the one missing motet, no. 14, has only one recording by Cantos, a large vocal ensemble of Osnabrück Cathedral, a far cry from these vocal ensembles with one voice to a part. But it is interesting because the choir begins with the chant antiphon Anima mea, and as it reaches the last phrase, “quia amore langueo,” which is the tenor of the motet, the choir sings Machaut’s motet.) All works are by Machaut:

 

--Amara valde ("Love and perfect beauty make me fear").

--Et gaudebit cor vestrum ("Thy heart shall rejoice").

--Libera me ("Set me free").

--Super omnes speciosa (Fair above all").

 

III. The Unknown Lover--Songs by Solage and Machaut  

( Gothic Voices).  Avie CD #AV 2089. The period following the death of Machaut was marked by complexities of rhythm and notation that give the period the name Ars Subtilior. The most well-known composer of this period is Johannes Ciconia, a native of Liège who worked in northern Italy. His complete works have been recorded. (So also Jacob de Senleches, all six pieces on a L’Oiseau-Lyre LP.) His contemporaries are generally represented by single works in collections, including Andrieu’s lament for Machaut, Baude Cordier’s Belle bonne sage, Vaillant’s Par maintes foys, Grimace’s A l’arme, a l’arme, and Solage’s Fumeux fume par fumé. Solage (fl. 1380s) is a name found on ten songs in the sumptuous Codex Chantilly (which is about to appear in a gorgeous facsimile edition). Solage was active in French court circles in the 1380s; indeed, the Codex Chantilly was created for Jean duc de Berry, the king’s art-loving brother. This recording adds to the ten attributed works two other songs from the same source that Gothic Voices attribute to him on stylistic grounds. The disc is filled out with six songs by Machaut. The songs of Solage use the three fixed forms of the 14th century –  ballade, virelai and rondeau. The selections by Machaut also exemplify all three of these forms. Several of these songs – one of Machaut and two of Solage – are recorded here for the first time.  SOLAGE: La Basile ("It is the nature of the basilisk to kill").

MACHAUT: Mors sui,  se je ne vous voy ("Dead I am if I do not see you").

SOLAGE: En l'amoureux vergier ("In Love's orchard I saw a flower").

MACHAUT: Quant je sui mis au retour ("When I have returned from seeing my lady").

SOLAGE: Tres gentil cuer ("Most noble heart, loving and welcoming").

SOLAGE: Fumeux fume par fumee ("Out of dreams* the dreamer dreams up")--*literally "smoke"

SOLAGE: Joieux de cuer ("In my dreams I was glad at heart").

MACHAUT: Dame, se vous m'estes lonteinne ("Lady, even if you are far from me").

Anon. (SOLAGE?): Adieu vous di ("I bid you farewell, o sweet company").

MACHAUT: Plus dure que un dyamant ("Harder than a diamond").

SOLAGE: Corps feminin ("The female body is a gift from nature").

SOLAGE: S'aincy estoit ("Were it not for the noble actions of Jehan, Duc de Berry").

SOLAGE: Pluseurs gens ("I see many people who fill their heads with thoughts of dressing well").

MACHAUT: Douce dame, tant que vivray ("Sweet lady, for as long as I live").

Anon. (SOLAGE?): Le mont Aon de Trace ("Mount Aon in Thrace, a sweet land").

MACHAUT: Se je souspir parfondement ("If I sigh deeply").

SOLAGE: Calextone, qui fut dame ("Calextone, who was a mortal lady").

MACHAUT: Dieus, Biaute, Douceur, Nature ("God, Beauty, Sweetness, and Nature").

SOLAGE: Helas! je voy mon cuer ("Alas! I see my heart about to beat its last").

IV. Dufay--Flos florum

 

(Ensemble Musica Nova). Zig-Zag Territoires CD #ZZT 050301.  The complete works of Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474) have not yet been recorded, but we are close. The disc begins with one of Dufay’s most important iseorhythmic motets, one dedicated to honor the city of Florence, probably written in 1436 while Dufay was a singer in the papal chapel, which was in Florence for the dedication of the cathedral; this is followed by a hymn alternating polyphony and chant and a cantilena-motet. The rest of the disc offers cantilena-motets, hymns and an antiphon. All works are by Dufay:

 

--Salve flos Tusce gentis ("Hail, flower of the Tuscan race, Florence").

--Urbs beata Jerusalem ("Blest city of Jerusalem").

--Flos florum ("Flower of flowers, fountain of gardens").

--Imperatrix angelorum ("Empress of the angels").

--Ave maris stella ("Hail, star of the sea, Holy Mother of God").

--Anima mea liqefacta est ("My soul fainted when my beloved spoke").

--Jesu corona virginum ("Jesus, crown of virgins").

--Ave Virgo que de celis ("Hail, Virgin, who from heaven").

--Gaude Virgo Mater Christi ("Rejoice, Virgin, Mother of Christ").

 

 

V. Antoine Busnois: Missa O Crux lignum

 

(Orlando Consort). Harmonia Mundi CD #HMU 907333. Antoine Busnois (c. 1430-1492) is an important composer of the last half of the 15th century, but he only began to receive detailed study after 1982. Papers of a conference in 1992 were published as Antoine Busnoys (Oxford, 2000). He was a singer in Tours and Poitiers, then from 1467 he was at the Burgundian court for the reign of Charles the Bold and after till 1483. He spent his last ten years as a canon in Bruges. This recording begins with a motet, two chansons, a chanson-motet and a hymn. The only Mass other than his Missa L’homme armé is Missa O crux lignum attolamus, which seems to belong to his last years in Bruges, since its cantus firmus is a sequence for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross that was significant there. All works are by Busnois:

 

--Gaude caelestis Domine (Motet: "Rejoice, heavenly lady").

--A une damme j'ay fait veu (Chanson: "I have vowed to a lady").

--Amours nous traitte honnestement (Chanson: "Love treats us honorably").

--Rejois-toy, terre de France (Chanson/motet: "Rejoice, O land of France!").

--Conditor alme siderum ("Kindly creator of the stars").

--Missa O Crux lignum.

 

 

VI. Josquin and his contemporaries

 

(Binchois Consort). Hyperion CD #CDA 67183. The program is a mix of securely attributed Josquin works, doubtful works of Josquin, and works of his contemporaries. The point is to show how difficult it is to identify Josquin’s music on stylistic grounds. The question of attributions arose once it was determined that Josquin des Prez did not work in Milan from 1459 to 1498, as he had been identified with another musician of similar name. This resulted in moving his presumed birth year by more than a decade, placing it around 1455-58. Some works had been attributed to Josquin on stylistic grounds based on their similarity to other works no longer attributable to him. This program begins and ends with works certainly belonging to Josquin and, at the opposite extreme, includes an excellent piece that certainly belongs to an obscure contemporary, Nicolaes Craen. Tracks 1-3 begin with Josquin and end with a fine work by Nicolaes Craen that is certainly not by Josquin but is not shamed in the company of his works.Tracks 4-7 begin with a work that was attributed to Josquin when the Sistine Choir sang it. Willaert arrived and declared that he had composed it, so the choir never sang it again. The three works that follow it were formerly attributed to Josquin but have now been attributed to three other composers. Tracks 8-9 end with a work certainly by Josquin.

 

attributed to JOSQUIN: Inter natos mulierum ("Among those that are born of women").

JOSQUIN des PREZ: Planxit autem David ("And David lamented over Saul").

NICOLAES CRAEN (d. 1507): Tota pulchra es ("Thou art all fair, my love").

ADRIAN WILLAERT (c.1490-1562): Verbum bonum et suave ("The good and sweet word, let us resound it").

MATHURIN FORESTIER?: Veni sancte spiritus ("Come, Holy Spirit").

JACQUES or NICHOLAS CHAMPION?: De profundis ("Out of the depths I have cried unto Thee, O Lord").

NOEL BAULDEWEYN?: Ave caro Christi cara ("Hail, dear flesh of Christ").

attributed to JOSQUIN: Recordare, virgo mater ("Remember, Virgin Mother, in the sight of God").

JOSQUIN des PREZ: Pater noster/Ave Maria (Our Father/Hail, Mary).