Schola Hungarica / La Nuit de Noël

medieval.org
Harmonia mundi "Quintana" QUI 903037
july 1991 / april 1992
Holy Family Parish Church, Zugliget, Budapest



LA NUIT DE NOËL
Christmas Eve



I. INTRODUCTION

1 - Noël (à 2). Omnes una gaudeamus     [1:56]
2 - Hymnus. Corde natus     [3:15]
3 - Noël (à 3). Salve Sancta parens     [5:01]


II. VEILLÉE (MATUTINUM)

First Nocturn
4 - Antiphons. Dominus dixit     [2:25]
5 - Responsory. Benedictus qui venit     [1:51]
6 - Noël (à 3). Ave decus     [2:26]

Second Nocturn
7 - Antiphons. Suscepimus Deus     [2:17]
8 - Responsory. Continet in gremio     [1:52]
9 - Noël (à 3).  Cum Virtus magnifica     [2:23]

Third Nocturn
10 - Antiphons. Ipse invocavit me     [2:08]
11 - Responsory (with trope). Te laudant Angeli     [2:22]
12 - Noël (à 3). Ecce, quod natura     [3:06]


III. TRANSITION

13 - Antiphon to the Blessed Virgin. Virgo Dei genitrix     [1:00]
14 - Cantio. Resonet in laudibus     [2:43]
15 - Blessing. Dies natalis Domini     [0:44]
16 - Cantio (à 2). Novus annus adiit     [2:08]
17 - Cantio. Puer natus in Bethlehem     [1:09]


IV. MESSE DE MINUIT

18 - Introit. Dominus dixit ad me     [1:47]
19 - Reading (with tropes). Laudem Deo - Populus gentium     [7:23]
20 - Gradual. Tecum principium     [3:13]
21 - Alleluja & Sequence. Dominus dixit - Grates nunc     [2:21]
22 - Offertory. Laetentur caeli     [3:04]
23 - Communion. In splendoribus sanctorum     [2:15]


V. APPENDIX

24 - Antiphons from the Laudes. Quem vidistis pastores     [2:07]
25 - Dawn Mass, Introit. Lux fulgebit     [2:56]
26 - Dawn Mass, Sequence. Laetabundus     [2:25]
27 - Responsory (à 3). Verbum caro     [2:43]
28 - Antiphon. Virgo hodie fidelis     [0:46]




sources:

#1, 3, 6, 9, 12: Musica Britannica IV
#2: Monumenta Monodica I, nº 504/1
#4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13, 24: Antiphonale Sarisburiense, XIIIe siècle
#11: Worcester Antiphonale, XIIIe siècle
#14: Moosburger Graduale, XIVe siècle
#16: Fragments manuscrits du nord de la Hongrie, XVe siècle
#17: d'une collection de musique traditionnelle, et #27: de Kassa, XVe siècle
#18, 20-23 Missale Notatum Strigoniense, Esztergom, XVe siècle
#19: Antiphonarum Vratislavense, Wroclaw, XVe siècle
#25: Futaki Graduale, 1465
#26: Codex "Aponyi", XVe siècle (cf. Melodiarum Hungaricae Medii Aevi,p. 239)
#28: Antiphonale Strigoniense, Bratislava, Knauz 2, XVe siècle



SCHOLA HUNGARICA

Soloists:
Soós András, Mezei János, Dobszay Ágnes, Fodor Ildikó


Recitative:
Dobszay László, Mireille Lescure, Geoffrey Thomas, Victor Togobitsky,
Antonietta Agostini, Catalina Szabó Thomas, Sergio Perez, Hettmann Mátyás


Conducted by

DOBSZAY LÁSZLÓ
(1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 24, 27)
SZENDREY JANKA
(5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28)


Sung in Latin



SUNG TEXTS

Christmas Eve



This recording is presented as a series of musical evocations of the very essence of the feast of Christmas through various styles, genres and periods of medieval music: liturgy (n° 4, 18, 20, 22), chants and sequences (n° 11, 21, 26), early polyphony (n° 19, 27) or later polyphony (n° 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 16), sacred folk-songs (n° 14, 17). This seems to be a more authentic, richer way of considering this feast than the rather sentimentalised interpretations we may have today.

"Christmas night": the vigil and midnight mass are completed by the twilight and dawn liturgy and, by way of transition, by other pieces also belonging to the ritual of the nativity but taken from the everyday repertory. The hymns and the polyphonic pieces for the vigil come from English tradition, the midnight mass and related pieces, from Hungarian manuscripts (with the exception of the offertory, which comes from the Klosterneuburg Gradual, but is linked to Hungarian tradition). The five polyphonic chants correspond to different degrees of elaboration of form and technique - in order: n° 1, 12, 3, 9, 6 - but they are all based on the fauxbourdon.

As there is little room in modern liturgy for hymns during services, today's music-lover is not very familiar with the style of the antiphons of the primitive Gregorian repertory. For this reason, we have chosen the following two formulas: on the one hand, vigil antiphons (n° 4, 7, 10) are preceded by their usual intonation and by two recited verses of a psalm. On the other hand, for the three antiphons for Matins, we have worked out a sort of cycle with return to the first motif and interpolation of little-known melismatic responses; the third one (n° 11) is a typical illustration of the English tradition.

As for the text of the mass, it is sung in two parts and is broadly developed, a form which is very widespread in central Europe (as may be seen from two Hungarian sources).

Finally, chant n° 17 is a fine illustration of the penetration of medieval liturgical music into certain elements of folk-song: this melodic variant of a religious melody is still sung (in Hungarian) in the villages. This goes to show the power Christmas has had since the Middle Ages of bringing secular and sacred arts and styles together into an organic whole.

Dobszay László