Leonel POWER. Masses & Motets
The Hilliard Ensemble
medieval.org
EMI "Reflexe" 1C 069 46 402 (LP, 1981)
EMI "Reflexe" 63 064 (CD, 1989)
1. Ave Regina [1:55]
motet à 3 / 1 2 4 6 7 5 3
2. Gloria [3:17]
à 5 / 5 1 7 6 3 4 2
3. Beata viscera [1:31]
motet à 3 / 1 5 7 6 4 3 2
4. Credo [4:19]
à 2 ... à 5 / 5 1 7 6 3 4 2
5. Sanctus [3:35]
à 4 / 1 3 6 4 5 2
6. Agnus Dei [3:55]
à 4 / 1 3 6 4 5 2
7. Salve Regina [7:03]
motet à 3 / 1 2 6 4 5 2
MISSA 'Alma redemptoris mater'
1 2 6 4 5 3
8. Gloria [3:48]
9. Credo [5:29]
10. Sanctus [4:19]
11. Agnus Dei [6:14]
12. Ibo michi ad montem [3:11]
motet à 3 / 1 3 5
13. Quam pulchra es [4:16]
motet à 3 / 7 6 3
THE HILLIARD ENSEMBLE
Paul Hillier
1 David James, countertenor
2 Ashley Stafford, countertenor
3 Paul Elliot, tenor
4 Leigh Nixon, tenor
5 Rogers Covey-Crump, tenor
6 Paul Hillier, baritone
7 Michael George, bass
Ⓟ EMI Electrola GmbH
Digital remasterring Ⓟ by EMI Electrola GmbH
Aufgenommen: 8.-11.IX.1980, Ev. Kirche, Seon (CH)
Produzent: Gerd Berg
Tonmeister: Johann-Nikolaus Matthes
Titelseite: Roberto Patelli (CD)
LEONEL POWER
In the early years of the 15th century, English music was recognised as
the leading force in Western music and John Dunstable (d. 1453) as its
leading composer. It does not diminish Dunstable's reputation to say
that the music of his older contemporary Leonel Power (d. 1445) is of
comparable stature and that several younger composers also contributed
to the eminence of the English sound, known abroad as la contenance
angloise. This sound in fact derived from a mixture of French and
more traditional English styles, together with some rhythmic impulses
from Italy — but it was indeed a sound. The sweetness of thirds
and sixths was exploited for practically the first time in Western art
music, expanding the harmonic language and encouraging the use of
fuller sonorities, which has often been a trait of English music. To
this Leonel added his own peculiar brand of waywardness that happily
defies all analysis.
In the sound of a particular music lies its immediate appeal which will
either attract a listener or not: but there is always another aspect
awaiting our deeper appreciation (though ideally the two are
inseparable): its structure. In the structure of music is based the
true foundation of its expressive power, and it is in the history of
musical form that Leonel's significance lies no less than in the
sonorities of his music. The major achievement of this English school
was to establish the cyclic tenor Mass as a form of major importance,
and Leonel's Missa "Alma redemptoris mater" is probably the
earliest example we have of such a work.
The bulk of Leonel's earlier music is found in the Old Hall manuscript,
(OH), an important collection of English polyphony (mostly settings of
individual Mass movements) dating from the late 14th century. In some
ways this collection marks the culmination of medieval English music
and it is unusual, perhaps significantly so, in providing us with the
names of many of its composers. Anonymity is one trait common to most
aspects of medieval art that has been equally uncommon ever since. The
medieval composer was a craftsman in sound whose music sought to
reflect the harmonious proportions of the universe (the music of the
spheres) and the perfection of God; self-expression was not his
immediate purpose. This sense of order and number plays a profound part
in medieval music, and while it has never ceased to be important, has
again today become a prominent aspect of the composer's craft. In the
sudden flush of names provided in OH, Leonel's clearly dominates; over
twenty pieces can be credited to him, while no other composer reaches
double figures.
Leonel is first encountered among the records of November 1419 for the
Household Chapel of Thomas, Duke of Clarence, (who was Henry V's
brother, and thus heir presumptive to the throne) where he appears as
clerk and instructor of the choristers. Later, after Clarence's death,
he was received into the fraternity of Christ Church Cathedral Priory,
Canterbury, on May 14th, 1423 — an honour rather than an
appointment. In September 1438 he appears on a legal document, also in
Canterbury, styling himself "armiger" (gentleman). Then from 1439 he
appears regularly in the cathedral archives at Canterbury, where his
duties seem to have been light and to have involved serving as the
first Master of the Lady Chapel choir. A private chronicle records that
he died on June 5th, 1445, within the cathedral precincts, and was
buried the following day. In addition to his music there has also
survived a treatise on counterpoint — designed as a practical
guide in the training of choirboys, and doubtless belonging to this
latter period in his life.
These few facts, a bare skeleton, may be tentatively fleshed out
following the researches of Professor Bowers. It may be assumed,
working backwards, that Leonel was born in about 1375, so that his
earliest extant music, in OH, probably dates from around the turn of
the century. Henry IV's sons were Henry (later Henry V), Thomas (Duke
of Clarence), John (Duke of Bedford) and Humphrey (Duke of Gloucester);
Thomas was created Duke of Clarence in 1412 and it may be assumed that
this household, including the Chapel, was established at the same time.
Leonel probably served from this period until 1421, when the Duke was
killed while fighting in France. During his time in the Chapel Leonel
would have spent at least a year in northern France in areas then
occupied by the English. When his brother Henry returned to England for
his wedding, Thomas remained as Lieutenant of France. At his death, the
household would have been dispersed and the next period in Leonel's
life, 1421-1438, is obscure.
His recorded fraternity with Christ Church Priory in 1423 is no proof
that the then remained in Canterbury or had any duties there, although
he may already have begun to feel an identity with the place where he
certainly lived out his final years. It is generally accepted that
Dunstable served in the Chapel of John, Duke of Bedford —
Clarence's younger brother; and it has been proposed that Leonel may
have done likewise. There is no proof of this at all, but it would
partly explain why so much of these composer's works survive in foreign
sources as Bedford spent much time abroad, and also why an important
work (the Missa Rex Saeculorum) survives in two sources,
attributed in one to Dunstable and in the other to Leonel.
The final period of Leonel's life involved him in work at Christ Church
Priory. The establishment there of a Lady Chapel as a secular adornment
of the monastic Cathedral liturgy fits the overall pattern of religious
life at the time. The Lollard heresy, seeking amongst other things to
simplify the service ritual and its elaborate music, provoked a
reaction that was very favourable to the English musician, who was
encouraged to produce a yet richer art to confute the teachings of
Wycliffe and his followers, (whose spiritual descendants eventually had
their way a century later under the guidance of Thomas Cranmer). This
receptive atmosphere must have contributed in part to the preeminence
of English music at the turning of the 14th century, as found in OH,
leading to the creation of la contenance angloise.
The Music — Old Hall
The simplest style of music found in OH is a continuation of the
traditional English Discant technique — often little more than
the harmonisation of a given melody, usually plainsong. The unique
fascination of the OH music derives from the fusion of this harmonic
sensibility with certain more complex and essentially linear styles
from abroad. These were a French "chanson" style in which the melodic
interest was concentrated in the top line, isorhythm (mostly the
preserve of motets during the C 14th), and from
Italy a secular canonic style. All three of these emphasised rhythmic
and melodic independence in the upper voices, supported by more
sustained lower parts. Leonel's OH music is most closely influenced by
the "chanson" style, though he also displays complete mastery of the
sort of rhythmic and metrical complexities which represent the style
recently described as the "C 14th avant-garde", Mathews de Perugio,
Ciconia and others).
Ave Regina — A votive antiphon to the Blessed Virgin Mary
that was usually sung after Compline. The style is English Discant, but
of a developed kind; the chant is paraphrased and the cadences somewhat
decorated, a mensuration change divides the piece in two and the parts
occasionally cross. Beata viscera (a setting of the Communion
text at Mass for the B.V.M.), is simpler in style and survives, not in
OH, but in a manuscript from Aosta.
Gloria — The piece is a subtle yet powerful blend of
melody, rhythm and sonority. The abundant use of syncopation, the
varying phrase lengths and the use of imitative entries create an
imposing choral sound that is lyrically offset by the solo passages,
equally flexible in rhythm yet sustaining an overall melodious quality.
The chorus at first consists of two texted parts supported by two
lower, quasi-instrumental parts (all parts are vocalised on this
recording). But in the final section the top voices divide into three,
creating a five-part texture that is uncommon for the period and makes
for an exciting climax at the Amen.
The Credo is so similar to the Gloria in terms of
material, style and structure, that they must be seen as a pair, and
this Credo, though anonymous in the manuscript, as clearly
attributable to Leonel. The longer text produces correspondingly longer
phrases and more use is made of fast declamation of the text. There is
again a final five-part section, but here Leonel also employs the
common medieval device of polytextual setting, so that three sets of
words are sung simultaneously.
Sanctus — The two upper voices weave an imitative duet
that is both rhythmically buoyant and melodiously abundant, while the
lower two voices supply the harmonic basis (the Tenor following quite
closely the plainsong Sanctus, though they too join in the game
of imitation and rhythmic ingenuity. There are four sections, marked by
changes of mensuration. Although the Osanna chant is the same
both times, Leonel varies the melodic treatment (as well as the
different mensuration); the second Osanna also creates a sense
of a reprise of the Sanctus.
The Agnus shows such strong stylistic and even melodic
similarities to the Sanctus as to suggest a conscious pairing.
There is a greater rhythmic variety in the lower voices and the chant
is considerably ornamented in the Tenor. There are again four sections.
Missa "Alma redemptoris mater"
This Mass by Leonel is probably the earliest one in which all the
movements are linked by a common cantus firmus. Looking back it is easy
to regard this as an obvious development, but in fact it was not so
inevitable. The Ordinary of the Mass (the unchanging portion) was
served by chants that bore no particular musical relationship to each
other: and when these chants were used as canti firmi for polyphonic
writing, the diversity of the original material did nothing towards
linking the various movements musically. Furthermore, the texts are of
two utterly different kinds — short and repetitive in the Kyrie,
Sanctus and Agnus, long and declamatory in the Gloria
and Credo. Thus it is not surprising to find in Machaut's Messe
de Nostre Dame that the short-texted movements are in one style
(isorhythmic motet), and the two longer texts in another (conductus
with strophic variation). Any musical unity emerges more as the
composer's autograph (in terms of style and use of musical formulae)
than from any overall structural device. OH consists mostly of separate
Mass movements grouped in the manuscript, as was customary, according
to liturgical function: thus all the Gloria settings are
together then the Credos and so on. There are instances of
paired movements and these, as might be-expected, are Gloria—Credo
and Sanctus—Agnus groupings.
The implications therefore of Leonel's Missa Alma redemptoris
are historically very significant, having regard for the importance of
the Mass as an art form throughout the Renaissance and indeed through
to the present day. It had long been the practice to adapt existing
works or melodies into new music, particularly so in the case of motet
composition. Owing perhaps to the sanctity of its central position in
the liturgy, the Mass was the last portion of the rite to become
subject to purely musical considerations. Leonel took a major step in
this direction by choosing a non-liturgical chant (the Marian antiphon Alma
redemptoris mater on which to base his Mass. In the medieval
fashion he laid out the chant in various note-lengths interrupted by
rests in a seemingly arbitrary manner — certainly with no regard
for the original melody. The rhythmic scheme thus arrived at for the
Tenor is used unaltered in all four movements. This was the standard
method used for isorhythmic composition, except that usually the Tenor
was then proportionally varied. The rhythmic scheme (Talea) and the
melodic design (Color) were sometimes of different lengths, so that as
they were repeated they coincided at different points. A common
practice was simply to diminish the Talea section by section in
proportions such as 3 : 2 : 1, producing a sense of acceleration and
climax. Leonel does not so alter his Tenor — nevertheless, that
medieval delight in number symbolism, though never so apparent in
Leonel's music as in Dunstable's, does seem here to be in evidence.
Leonel's Tenor is constructed in two sections, one consisting of 56
measures in triple time, the other of 84 measures in duple time. The
implied 3 : 2 proportion is in a sense illusory as the actual number of
single beats in either section is the same; 56 x 3 = 84 x 2 =168. The
whole design of the Mass is thus: (I and II represent the sections
built on the Tenor, the duets are outside the scheme though related to
it).
part / tenor - (bars in triple measure) - (bars in duple measure) -
(single beats)
Gloria
I · (56) · (--) · (168)
II · (--) · (84) · (168)
Credo
duet · (36) · (--) · (108)
I · (56) · (--) · (168)
duet · (--) · (18) · (36)
II · (--) · (84) · (168)
Sanctus
Credo
duet · (9) · (--) · (27)
I · (56) · (--) · (168)
II · (--) · (84) · (168)
Agnus
I · (56) · (--) · (168)
duet · (32) · (--) · (96)
II · (--) · (84) · (168)
If we then take the Tenor itself, counting sung beats and rests* we
find:
I 48 / 12*/ 48 / 24* / 36
II 40 /16* / 76 / 16* / 20
We can quickly discern the importance of 2 (or its double, 4), 3, 7 and
12. The factors of 168 are 23 x 3 x 7; 12 = 2 + 3 + 7; leaving 7 out,
12 = 23 x 3.
In primitive cosmology the stars imaged the will of the gods. The
phases of the moon indicated to early man a special relationship
between 4 and 7. The great astrological numbers were 4, 7, and 12.
Christian symbolism had no trouble in fitting itself to these ancient
patterns. 7 indicated harmony, the 7 tones, the 7 planets, the Universe
(created in 7 days); it came to symbolise the Virgin Mary (and much
else). 12 was seen as another form of 7 (3 x 4; 3 + 4). There are 12
signs in the zodiac; 12 hours of the day (daylight); Christ chose 12
disciples, indicating himself as the spiritual day/ light. Medieval
sculpture often represents the disciples in 4 groups of 3 x 8 (23) is
also important; as 1 more than 7 it indicated regeneration, baptism and
eternity. It would be tiresome to enumerate here all the possible
interconnecting arithmetic and imagery, and there is certainly a danger
of pressing these ideas too far. However, the incidence of 7 in a Mass
based on a Marian antiphon is possibly significant and there is
certainly an overall sense of numerological design.
Returning to purely musical considerations, the plainsong Tenor also
furnishes material for the two upper voices. The chant begins by
climbing through the third, fifth and sixth to the octave and then
winds back down to the third. The melodic contours thus created recur
throughout the chant in various inversions, retrogrades and melodic
extensions, giving Leonel the basis for many related shapes in addition
to those occasions when he paraphrases the chant more directly (e.g.
the duets in the Sanctus and Agnus).
Having established his formal framework, Leonel works freely within it
to create a variety of texture and treatment that is astonishing in a
Mass for three voices. The verbal declamation does not seek to be
naturalistic, although it frequently reflects the overall sense of the
words; the music mixes together points of imitation and parallel
movement, chordal sonority, contrasting subdivisions of metre, all
types of syncopation and pulse suspension; there are solo sections
played off against the Tenor as well as the formal duet sections
without the Tenor.
This music, as in the case with all but the simplest types of medieval
polyphony, is essentially soloist music, best sung by one or two voices
to a line. The use of instruments (other than the organ) in church was
rare and music that today may seem instrumental was almost
certainly vocalised — this applies to chant-tenors as well as the
lower parts of freely composed works (such as the OH Mass movements).
Three Marian Antiphons
Salve Regina is a rather unusual though expressive work and to
understand it we must look at the text. In England it was customary to
supplement the standard text of the poem with some extra lines, this
addition being known as a trope. This has the effect of surrounding and
high-lighting the three exclamations O clemens, O pia, O dulcis
Maria in a way that balances the first part of the text up to Ostende.
Following a traditional division of the latter portion of the text into
alternately solo and full sections, Leonel sets the troped texts as
duets to contrast with the otherwise three-part texture.
The truly unusual feature of this work, however, is that Leonel uses
the plainsong melody of Alma redemptoris mater rather than that
of Salve regina. In the first section the complete melody is
freely paraphrased almost exclusively in the top voice. The plainsong Salve
regina melody is however hinted at in the three exclamations. It is
difficult to say whether this mixture of music and text sources is a
deliberate illusion or the result of adaptation of an earlier work that
had been left incomplete.
Quam pulchra es - lbo michi ad montem
In these late works Leonel's style is very far removed from that of his
early career and foreshadows many developments that took place later in
the century. The voices are equally balanced and independently
melodious, a wider pitch range is explored, a warm major triadic
harmony is sustained and there is constant variety in the word setting.
Held chords, melismas, rhythmic figures, imitation and syllabic
declamation all display a strong sensitivity towards the verbal sense
and articulation, a concern which belongs more to the Renaissance than
the late Middle Ages. The two works chosen here, both settings from the
Song of Songs, form a contrast in range and colour. Quam
pulchra es exploits unusually low regions for the time. Beginning
with a brief duet, it continues in three parts leading to a cadential
pause and then a change of metre at Ibi dabo tibi. lbo michi
lies much higher, the tenor voices encompassing quite a large range; it
begins directly in three parts, there is a central duet, but with no
pause or changes of metre. Both works end with an Alleluya.
© Paul Hillier, 1981
