medieval.org
Erato NUM 88047 (LP)
Erato ECD 88047 (CD)
1984
1. Tre fontane [4:43]
estampie — groupe instrumental
2. Stella splendens [5:32] LV 2
groupe vocal & instrumental
3. Imperayritz de la ciutat joyosa [2:29] LV 9
saz & harpe
4. O virgo splendens [2:11] LV 1
groupe vocal
5. Los set goyts [0:59] LV 5
groupe instrumental
6. Improvisation [3:57]
zarb
7. Polorum regina [3:27] LV 7
groupe instrumental & vocal
8. Cuncti simus concanentes [2:21] LV 6
groupe vocal & instrumental
9. Bellica [4:36]
estampie — groupe instrumental
10. Maria matrem virginem [5:05] LV 8
voix de femmes, vièle, harpe, saz
11. Splendens ceptrigera [0:41] LV 4
voix d'hommes a cappella
12. Laudemus virginem I [0:47] LV 3
3 flûtes à bec, harpe
13. Laudemus virginem II [0:40] LV 3
voix de femmes et harpe
14. Estampie [4:11]
2 flûtes à bec, orgue, percussion
15. Ad mortem festinamus [8:00] LV 10
groupe vocal & instrumental
GROUPE VOCAL CLAIRE CAILLARD-HAYWARD
BERRY HAYWARD CONSORT
Claire ANTONINI, saz, setar (luths)
David BELLUGI, flûtes a bec, cornamusa
Claire CAILLARD-HAYWARD, orgue
Bruno CAILLAT, daf, zarb (percussion)
Berry HAYWARD, flûtes a bec, bombardes, chalumeau
Chris HAYWARD, flûte a bec, bendhir, crotales
Françoise JOHANNEL, harpe
Jacques MAILLARD, vièle a archet
Enregistrement numérique / Digital recording
Direction artistique de l'enregistrement / Recording supervision : Jérôme Paillard
Ingénieur du son / Sound engineer : Pierre Lavoix
Montage musical / Editing : Ysabelle Van Wersch-Cot
Enregistrement réalisé en / Recording : février/February 1983, Eglise Notre-Dame du Liban, Paris
Révision musicologique : Berry Hayward
Enregistré avec des microphones de studio Brtiel et Kjaer
Disponible en/Available in : (LP) NUM 75122 & (cassette) MCE 75122
© Editions Costallat 1984
recto : parement d'autel dédié a la Vierge (XIIIe
siècle) — Barcelone, musée d'art catalan —
photo Bulloz
verso : Berry Hayward — photo X
El Llibre Vermell de Montserrat
The Llibre Vermell
is a collection of ten pilgrim songs in Latin and Catalan; the
composer's identity is anonymous, but it is likely that a monk, or group
of monks, from the Montserrat Abbey, composed these songs to entertain
and instruct the pilgrims that flocked to Montserrat, one of the most
significant shrines in fourteenth century Spain.
The ten songs
are what remain of a much larger collection that has been subject to the
ravages of time. Its survival and its historical significance have
turned it into a symbol of Catalonian identity: in his autobiography,
Casals praises this "national treasure".
In spite of obvious
"European" influences — French and Italian — and the elaborate writing
of "O Virgo Splendens", all of the evidence seems to indicate that the
songs were popular dance songs to which the monks of Montserrat
contributed religious words. They are all devoted to the celebration of
the Virgin Mary, with the exception of "Ad Mortem Festinamus", a "dance
macabre". Despite the thematic and structural unity of these songs, one
is struck by the great variety of emotions and feeling expressed in
each one of them. Although the golden age had passed, the Llibre Vermell
still revealed what Americo Castro identified as the conviviality
between the streams of Jewish, Islamic and Christian cultures which took
place in Medieval Spain. (For further musicological details concerning
these pieces I refer the reader to H. Angles's article on the Llibre Vermell in the "Anuario Musical", Instituto Espanol de Musicologia, and to Gilbert Chase's book, "The Music of Spain").
The Llibre Vermell
thus illustrates the significant shift in religion and art that was
occurring in the late Middle Ages: the "profane" element predominates.
Georges Duby identifies this with a gradual desacralisation of art; the
"human" element obtrudes, obscuring the more metaphysical and liturgical
functions of religious art; even religious art becomes a source of
"pure" enjoyment. The arabesque — ornamentation — is its essential
feature. The courtly, non-religious virtues extolled in the thirteenth
century poetry of the Trouvères penetrate the fabric of devotion brought
down to human scale. The profane and the sacred intermingle: this is
the main basis for our approach to the Llibre Vermell. However, this intermingling takes on a particular form: in this recording the religious pieces of the Llibre Vermell
are, on first hearing, more "profane" and less musically complex than
the non-religious instrumental pieces which in their musical complexity
reflect the new mentality emerging in fourteenth century art.
This
revaluation of fourteenth century religious art reflects the serious
searching thrust on fourteenth century man, caught in a period of
terrible crisis: War, the Plague, the growing disillusionment with the
Knightly Ideals, the failure of the Crusades, caused fourteenth century
man to seek what Duby has called a "new intimacy". Happiness became
internal reminiscence, anxiety pushed him towards new, more personal
solutions, towards a renewed, increasingly intimate devotion and towards
greater individuality in expressing it. These cultural currents, the
stridency and the tensions of the fourteenth century, lead to the
specific interpretations developed for this recording.
The nature
of the drama of the fourteenth century has echoes for us in the crises
of the twentieth and this fact may lay behind the unusual appeal that
this music seems to have for us as we attempt today to recapture its
beauty.
Berry HAYWARD