More New Releases

Program: #94-05   Air Date: Jan 30, 1994

Preservation of this program is made possible by a generous grant in honor of Marilyn Frances Smith.

I. Tielman Susato—Danserye 1551 (New London Consort/Philip Pickett)  L’Oiseau Lyre CD 436.131.

II.  Dufaut/Gallot: Pièces par luth (Pascal Monteilhet). Virgin CD 61776.

III. Shakespeare’s Lutenist (Emmay Kirkby/David Thomas/Anthony Rooley). Erato CD 7777593212.

Robert Johnson (c.1582-1633) was associated with The King's Men from c.1610-c.1617, and wrote several songs for the later plays of William Shakespeare. The extent and nature of these performances remains something of a mystery, but Johnson was the most significant composer who has been connected to Shakespeare.

IV.  Popular Music From The Time Of Henry VIII (Hilliard Ensemble/New London Consort). Saga 5444.

V. John Taverner: Missa Mater Christi (The Sixteen/Harry Christophers). Hyperion CD CDA 66639. 

VI. Oswald von Wolkenstein (Sequentia). Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics (05472773022)

The Tirolian poet, nobleman, adventurer, singer and poet Oswald von Wolkenstein has left an astonishing number of songs to posterity, written under his supervision in luxurious manuscripts of the 15th century. Many of his shorter songs (especially the polyphonic ones) are well-known in performance today, but here Sequentia ventures into the aspect of Oswald’s art which has been most neglected: the long, monophonic storytelling songs. Barbara Thornton and Benjamin Bagby (harp and voice) are joined by fiddlers Elizabeth Gaver and Rainer Ullreich.

VII. Wanderers' Voices - Medieval Cantigas & Minnesang (The Newberry Consort). Harmonia Mundi CD ‎– 907082

VIII. Songs and Dances of the Middle Ages (Sonos). Dorian CD 80109.

IX. Et in terra pax--Geistliche Musik des Mittelalters (Ensemble für Frühe Musik Augsburg). Christophorus CHR 77139.

X. Mikolaj Gomolka—Polish Psalm Melodies (Warsaw Chamber Choir/Ryszard Zimak). Le Chant Du Monde ‎– LDC 278 1094

XI. Waclaw z Szamotul—Opera Omnia (Chór Chłopięco-Męski Państwowej /Filharmonii W Poznaniu*/Stefan Stuligrosz). Veriton SXV-744.

XII. The Sweet Look and Loving Manner (Sinfonye/Stevie Wishart). Hyperion CDA 66625.  

Mores of medieval Provence, the region of France now known as Occitania, gave women a degree of political and creative freedom which appears to have been far greater than in most other times. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries are often seen as something of a renaissance for women and, not surprisingly, it is from this time that we have inherited songs by over twenty female troubadours, known as 'trobairitz' and cited as such in the romance Flamenca (c1250). Their lyrics are particularly poignant as the only female witnesses we have from a courtly milieu whose codes of love still resonate in modern times. The troubadours usually composed their courtly lyrics to fulfil a commission for a particular patron or patroness, but it seems more probable that the much smaller group of trobairitz were wealthy and well-educated women of high social standing whose songs tend to fulfil a more personal expression of the joys and ardour of fin 'amor. Only a small proportion of troubadour lyrics survive with their music, and sadly this is also the case with the trobairitz, for it is only the Comtessa de Dia's most famous love song A chantar m'er (recorded by Sinfonye on Bella Domna, Hyperion CDH55207) that has its melody intact. However, to a certain extent there was some independence between the transmission of the poetry and music. Numerous Occitan songs share the same poetic structure, with an identical number of lines per stanza and number of syllables per line, and even share the same rhyme scheme. It was therefore possible for medieval poet-composers to set their lyrics to a pre-existing melody. This practice of contrafacture was well known throughout the Middle Ages and makes it possible to perform certain of those trobairitz songs which have only their words extant, but replicate the exact poetic structure of another song which has come down to us with its melody intact.

There are four dialogue songs conducted solely between trobairitz, and our opening pair of tensos share identical metrical structures with troubadour songs. Na Carenza steps outside the usual rhetoric of the courtly love song with two sisters asking questions of marriage and childbirth. There are a number of possible contrafact melodies and Aimeric de Peguillan's Atress-im pren com fai al jugador is particularly arresting with its unusual use of Phrygian mode. It is interesting to find that the contrafact melody for our second trobairitz dialogue also shares similar distinctive melodic features with its initial use of phrygian intervals. This two-stanza cobla takes up the conventional themes o f fin 'amor with one trobairitz, Iseut de Capio, asking her colleague, Almuc de Castelnau, to forgive a deceitful lover and end his suffering. The source of this contrafact is Uc de Saint Circ's Anc enemics q 'eu agues.

The majority of tensos are in the form of courtly debates between two troubadours, or occasionally the stanzas alternate between male and female protagonists. In Bona domna the troubadour Pistoleta debates with an anonymous trobairitz, and this tenso has a particularly convincing contrafact melody as it accompanies another song which is again by Pistoleta. There are two versions of this exquisite melody. We perform the one from the St Germain Chansonnier as a fiddle prelude to introduce the complete song which uses the version from the Cangé Chansonnier.

We also include two works by trobairitz poets who adopt the more serious high style love song which is known in Occitan as the canso. One of the most controversial is attributed to the trobairitz Beatritz de Romans who addresses her sentiments of fin 'amor to another woman, Na Maria. Although there is no exact contrafact, the unique nature of the text warranted its inclusion. Gaucelm Faidit's canso Mon cor e mi e mas bonas chansos mirrors the poetic structure of Na Maria almost exactly, needing only slight modification of its melody to accommodate an extra syllable in the final pair of lines of Beatritz's stanzas. Our second canso fares rather better, having two possible contrafact melodies attached to poems which both replicate its structure throughout. Estat ai is one of the five extant cansos by the Comtessa de Dia and is sung to the melody of Bernart de Ventadorn's canso Non es meravilla s'eu chan which survives in different versions in the Milan Chansonnier and Chansonnier du Roi. We perform the former rather engimatic melody as a prelude to the Comtessa's canso. Her song expresses the conventional courtly epithets of unrequited love but with a directness and passion that seem particularly characteristic of the Comtessa's poetic style.

The Occitan love songs tend to adopt through-composed melodies which are often musically adventurous and highly sophisticated, reflecting the ingenuity of their texts. The songs of the northern courts rework some of the sentiments of their southern predecessors, but are often more immediately accessible with a narrative theme, less rhetorical or poetically complex texts which are often refrain-based, and easily memorable melodies. The chanson de femme and chanson de toile both adopt the convention of having female protagonists, but are usually anonymous and may be of male or female inspiration. Complaints of an unhappy wife ('mal mariée') abound, often as comical send-ups, as in the dance-song Soufrés, maris, but often with more serious undertones as in Por coi me bait mes maris?

XIII. Chansons des Rois et des Princes du Moyen Age: Perceval. (Ensemble Guy Robert). Arion CD ARN 68031.

Composer Info

FRANÇOIS DUFAULT, JACQUES GALLOT, Robert Johnson (c.1582-1633), William CORNYSH, Jacques BARBIREAU, HENRY VIII, John Taverner (c1490-1545), Oswald von Wolkenstein, NEIDHART, Der UNVERZAGTE, TANNHÄUSER, Istanpitta Gaetta, Alfonso X El Sabio (1221–1284), Martin Codax, Wizlav Von Rügen (c.1268-1325), Carl Orff (1895 –1982), Walther von der Vogelweide (1170-1230 CE), Bernart de Ventadorn (1130-1140 – 1190-1200), Colin Muset (~1200), Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377), Guiraut de Bornhel, Montpellier, Bernhard von Clairvaux, Adam de la Halle, Oswald von Wolkenstein Innsbruck, Mikolaj Gomolka, Waclaw z Szamotul, Careza, Alais, Iselda, Iseut de Capio , Almuc de Castelnau, Beatriz de Romans, Pistoleta, Ventadorn, Comtessa de Dia, Wishart, Marie de Dregnau de Lille, Audefroi le Bastart (fl.1215)

CD Info

L’Oiseau Lyre CD 436.131, Virgin CD 61776, Erato CD 7777593212, Saga 5444, Hyperion CD CDA 66639, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics (05472773022), Harmonia Mundi CD – 907082, Dorian CD 80109, Christophorus CHR 77139, Le Chant Du Monde – LDC 278 1094, Veriton SXV-744, Hyperion CDA 66625, Arion CD ARN 68031