XI — XVI c.
THE MUSIC OF KINGS Ana Matovich, musicologist
The Music of the Kings /
Musica Antiqua consort
medieval.org
worldcat.org
2000
2007: Meridian CDE 84542
1. Anonymous (c. 1300)
LAMENTO DI TRISTANO ET ROTA · THE TRISTAN'S LAMENT AND ROTA [5:58]
The
dance of the court aristocracy is found among the manuscripts from
c.1200 and c.1300. A bit melancholic melody, oriental in its expression,
connects the legend of Tristan and Rota. The Rota is a variation of the
lament.
2. ALFONSO X el SABIO (c. 1200)
MARAVILLOSOS ET PIADOSOS · HOW THE MIRACLE WAS MADE ·
cantiga [4:46]
CSM 139
The
song is [about] glorifying the miracles of the Virgin. This kind of
music with religious thematic but not a part of church services was very
common up to c.1600 and c.1700. The Lord was a part of everyday secular
life.
3. RICHARD I CŒUR de LION (c. 1100)
JA NUN HONS PRIS NE DIRA SA RAISON · THE ONE IN LOVE DOES NOT TELL
THE REASON [3:36]
The
trouvere ballade wrote in Austrian imprisonment. Probably has something
in common with the picturesque tale of Richard's rescue from prison by
Blonde! de Nesle which is sadly apocryphal.
4. Anonymous (c. 1200)
AGNIAU DOUS · THE SWEET LAMB [3:16]
This
troubadour song is [a] result of religious feelings of a gifted
believer. It is about our Lord's walk to Golgotha, his mother's lament,
and her begging for his blessing.
5. ALFONSO X el SABIO (c. 1200)
ROSA DAS ROSAS · A ROSE ABOVE ALL ROSES ·
cantiga [4:42]
CSM 10
The song [is] dedicated to Virgin Mary, with carefully chosen vocabulary and pure simple melody.
6. Anonymous (c. 1300)
SALTARELLO [4:05]
A lively dance for one person or a couple cherished on the Italian court.
7. ALFONSO X el SABIO (c. 1200)
COMO PODEN · IF I FALL ILL ·
cantiga [2:41]
CSM 166
One more of his songs glorifying the Virgin and the power of [to] her prayers.
8. Anonymous (c. 1200)
ESTAMPIE [3:48]
An
important medieval instrumental dance-form[;] consisted of a number of
sections, each repeated, though perhaps with different endings.
9. Anonymous (c. 1400)
CANZONETA TEDESCHA · THE GERMAN CANCONET [6:28]
A short, gay song with an archaic rich theme.
10. ALFONSO X el SABIO (c. 1200)
QUEM A OMAGEM DA VIRGEN · WHO WORSHIPES THE VIRGIN ·
cantiga [2:25]
CSM 353
All Alfonso X's songs and this one as well are showing the glow of Spanish monody and troubadour activity.
11. Anonymous (c. 1200)
AU RENOUVIAU · TOWARD SPRING [4:04]
Nature
was [a] favoured theme of troubadours and trouveres, usually mentioned
in the title. This kind of introduction became the convention. It gave
the pastoral atmosphere[,] very convenient when describing a hunt, like
here.
12. HENRY VIII (c. 1500)
PAST TIME WITH GOOD COMPANY [2:24]
The
king's own "balade" assumes a young and happily married king whose
chief preoccupations are hunting, singing and dancing. It is the reason
for believing that this and similar songs were mostly composed in the
early years of Henry VIII's reign. The first version of the song is
anonymous, in lute tablature possibly transcribed from a vocal setting.
13. Antoine de FEVIN (c. 1400)
FORS SOLEMANT · FOUR LOTUSES [1:54]
The
song of Luis XII's professional musician is [a] so called
"international hit". "Fors solemant" is found in innumerable manuscripts
and printed anthologies of the period. One of the foreign songs in
Henry VIII's Book. It is distinct from the general style of the English
court-music and the chivalric songs in barbarous Anglo-French.
14. HENRY VIII (c. 1500)
WHOSO THAT WILL ALL FEATS · WHOSE WILL BE THOSE SIGHS [1:56]
The
form of the song is puzzling. The text do not in any case easily fit
the music. Only one line of words is underlaid, and that to the bass.
Perhaps it is an instrumental piece based on a song with which the words
also are in some way connected.
15. HENRY VIII (c. 1500)
O MY HEART [1:12]
The author of this composition is the King himself.
16. HENRY VIII (c. 1500)
CONSORT VIII [1:35]
The [A] chamber instrumental piece for the family of recorders resembling the organ's register.
17. William CORNYSH (c. 1400)
A ROBYN GENTYL ROBYN · AH ROBIN GENTLE ROBIN [2:02]
This
song has sometimes been used to support a latter date for Henry VIII's
Book, because the second and longer version of the poem is found in Sir
Thomas Wayatt's (b.1503-d.1542) autograph manuscript. An explanation
which fits in better is that Wayatt at a later date took and expanded a
song already popular at court. Four singers are ideally required to
preserve the dialogue effect in Voice III.
18. HENRY VIII (c. 1500)
TAUNDER NAKEN [2:11]
This
instrumental piece is Henry's most considerable secular composition.
The melody on which it is based was one of the best known of the period.
19. HENRY VIII (c. 1500)
HELAS MADAME [4:28]
The chanson was listed as a basse-dance by Antonius de Arena. Henry VIII may simply have added Voice III to an original setting.
20. Francisque CAROUBEL (c. 1500)
GAVOTTE · THE HENRY III'S GAVOTTE [3:13]
A
kind of branle, popular in the end of c. 1500 [sic] at the French
court, later widely spread. This one is a composition of Henry III's own
musician.
21. Anonymous (c.1400)
LE DANCE DES SAGES · THE COURT DANCE OF [THE] WISE MEN [3:41]
It is found in an anonymous manuscript in Munich. A dance specially composed for the "wise heads" gathered around thrones.
Musica Antiqua Consort, Serbia
Vera Zlokovich
Vera Zlokovich – mezzo-soprano
Predrag Djokovich – countertenor
Branislav Rakich – tenor
Alexandar Petrovich – bass-baritone
Vojka Djordjevich, Rajna Vuletich – sopranos
Bojan Blidarevich – countertenor
Radmilo Petrovich – tenor
Nikola Radan — crumhorn, recorders, cornett, cornamuses, rauschpfeif
Vladimir Chinch — vielle, soprano gamba, cornamuses, tenor recorder
Sasha Borovich — vielle, Serbian lyre
Ljubisha Jovanovich — bass and tenor recorders, cornamuses
Petar Kodzas — lute, Serbian lyre
Slobodan Vujisich — lute, crumhom
Boris Bunjac — darabouka, nakers, medieval tambour, tamburine, bells
Darko Karajich — medieval lute, lute, Serbian lyre, Moorish lute
Ljubomir Dimitrijevich — recorders, gemshorn, cornett, crumhom, kortholt, cornamuse, cowhorn
Zeljko Nestorov — tenor and bass sackbut
Dragan Karolich — recorders, cornamuses, shawm
Marko Steegelmann — shawm, recorders, cornamuses
Nenad Jelich — timpane, darabouka, tamburine
Recorded by Danica Velashevich and Zoran Marinkovich
Produced by Milorad Kuzmanovich
Postproduction by Boris Bunjac
Selection of chants: Vera Zlokovich
℗ & © Meridian Records 2007
The medieval courts, besides churches, were
the main gathering centres of professional musicians. No wonder then
that even some of the "crowned heads" tried themselves in this creative
field. Very often though they rather stayed anonymous so the authorship
cannot be always claimed with certainty.
This program consists of
compositions of tree medieval European kings: Richard l the Lionheart,
Alfonso X the Wise, Henry VIII and other performed at courts or
thematically attached to court-life (dances, troubadours and trouvères
songs and those dedicated to the rulers...)
The songs of
troubadours and trouvères though on common language, were also court
music. Troubadours were aristocratic poet-musicians from the
Provençal-speaking area of southern France. From c.1100 they devoted
themselves to the cultivation of chivalrous love through poetry and
music. Some 2600 poems survive together with 282 melodies in their
chansonniers. They had a great influence in central France and Spain,
due to their connection with Alfonso el Sabio the king of Spain and
troubadour as well.
Trouvères, like the Provençal troubadours,
were aristocratic poets, composers and performers, active in northern
France from the mid-c.1200. Trouvère songs resemble those of troubadours
in being monophonic but place more emphasis on formal structure [sic].
About 2100 of their texts and 1400 melodies are preserved.
This music
was based on church models but, under the influence of common music,
more free in its expression. That is why the religious themes are [...?]
very often, among those speaking of love, nature, even some social or
political happenings [sic].
Richard I (b.1157.; d.1199),
King of England, Duke of Aquitaine was known as "Coeur de Lion". His
[great-]grandfather William IX, Duke of Aquitaine was the first of [the]
noble troubadours; his were the earliest troubadour songs to survive.
His mother (William's [grand-]daughter), Eleanor Queen of England, was
the leading patron of troubadours. Raised among artists, Richard himself
became a poet and composer - a trouvère. Two of his poems survived but
only one with music, wrote [written]during his imprisonment in Austria, a lament about his destiny but also an indication of his political activity.
The monarch of Spain [sic] Alfonso X el Sabio
(b.1221.; d.1284.) was one of the most educated rulers of his time (
"el Sabio" means "the Wise" or "the Learned"). He was a great patron of
arts, sciences, culture in general and reformer of social life,
education, law, which all brought Spain an honourable place among other
European countries. He was tolerant of all religions and made his court a
centre of Christian, Islamic, Jewish scientists and artists.
He
was proclaiming the usage of mother-tongue in science and art and so was
translating numerous books - above others the Bible, Koran [?], Talmud.
Under his auspice were also cherished the Castilian literature,
historiography, astronomy. Many troubadours found favor at his court and
Alfonso el Sabio initiated studies of music at the Salamanca
University, specially treasuring Spanish monody. The most significant
act of his creative energy was compiling the manuscript[s] known as
"Cantigas de Santa Maria", the song-book containing about 500 songs
[sic]. Alfonso himself probably composed some of these melodies. The MS
is precious for the history of music and court poetry.
Henry VIII
(b.1491; d.1547.) King of England, as younger son of Henry VII was
trained and learned to be a priest, so he acquired a fine musical
education. According to his contemporaries he was interested in various
fields of art. Henry made his court a centre of musical culture,
increasing the number of professional musicians and encouraging foreign
artists to join them. Music became a very important part of court-life,
included in all formal ceremonies (meetings of counsellors, processions,
celebrations, knights' tournaments ...). He introduced the
Franco-Flemish style of church music, composed both sacred and secular
pieces, built up an enormous collection of musical instruments and
played several of them (organs, lute, virginal, a few wind instruments)
and was a very good singer. Moreover in the first 10 or so years of his
(new) reign he gathered the "Henry VIII's Book". It contains 109 songs
and instrumental pieces, well-written with extremely lucid notation. The
title indicates that lots of them are the King's own compositions; 33
in all bear the superscription: "the kynge henry viii". This manuscript
is of great value for the history of music and social history of the
early Tudor court.
Dances were special part of court-life. Here we have six of them of different origin: The Tristan's Lament and Rota, Saltarello, Estampie, The German Canzonet, The Henry III's Gavotte, and The Court-dance of Wise Men.
Institute of Musicology, SANU
(The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts)