Tactus TC 472001
1998
reedición 2006
Tactus TC 472001
1998
reedición 2006
Bartolomeo TROMBONCINO
(c.1470-c.1535)
Laudi e Lamentazione
01 - Ben sarà
crudel e ingrato [5:11]
02 - O sacrum convivium [2:49]
03 - Adoramus te, Christe [2:40]
04 - Sancta Maria [2:26]
05 - Ave Maria 48 [2:26]
06 - Ave Maria, regina [2:46]
07 - Ave Maria 40 [2:27]
08 - Vergine bella [2:45]
09 - Ave Maria 47 [2:30]
10 - Tu se quell'advocata [5:34]
11 - Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae [10:58]
12 - Eterno mio signor [1:51]
13 - Per quella croce [2:22]
14 - Salve croce [5:04]
15 - Arbor victorioso [2:31]
16 - L'Oration è sempra bona [1:28]
Ensemble LES NATIONS
Maria Luisa Baldassari
Stefano Albarello,
cantus
Matteo Zenatti, tenor/altus, arpa diatonica
Massimiliano Pascucci, tenor/altus
Marco Scavazza, bassus
Paolo Fanciullacci, cornetto e cornetto muto
Luigi Lupo, traverse
Paolo Faldi, bombarda, flauto dolce contralto e tenore
Pamela Monkobodzky, flauto dolce contralto e tenore
Mauro Morini, trombone
Alberto Santi, dulciana
Stefano Rocco, liuto
Maria Luisa Baldassari, organo
Bartolomeo Tromboncino (Verona ca. 1470
- Venezia post 1535) compare sui testi musicologici soprattutto come
compositore di musica profana; a lui e al suo collega Marchetto Cara si
deve buona parte della produzione frottolistica nata fra il XV e il XVI
secolo sotto gli auspici di Isabella d’Este a Mantova dove
entrambi servirono per lungo tempo. L’interesse dei musicologi
per la frottola e l’importanza dell’opera di Tromboncino in
questo settore hanno concentrato gli studi sulle sue composizioni
profane, considerate principalmente in una prospettiva di evoluzione
stilistica. Quasi completamente ignorati rimangono invece gli
interventi in campo sacro, che condividono peraltro il destino comune a
tutta la produzione sacra di autori italiani fra ’4 e ’500,
messa in ombra dal preponderante interesse per l’attività
dei musicisti fiamminghi. Se si escludono le introduzioni alle edizioni
e poco altro non esistono scritti specifici sulle laude di Tromboncino,
che si rivelano tuttavia di grande interesse, sia dal punto di vista
storiografico sia da quello musicale, per l’alta qualità
della scrittura e la particolarità dello stile, che coniuga
esperienza frottolistica, tradizione laudistica e conoscenza del
contrappunto fiammingo; proprio l’unione di queste componenti
consente una grande varietà nella sonorizzazione delle laude e
permette di spaziare fra sonorità più piene e altre
decisamente cameristiche. La scelta dell’organico per questa
incisione nasce dall’esame delle consuetudini musicali presso la
corte mantovana da un lato e della prassi tenuta dai cantori di laude
delle Scuole Grandi veneziane dall’altro.
Italian sacred music
in the Age of Josquin
Bartolomeo Tromboncino: Laudi e Lamentazioni
Bartolomeo Tromboncino (Verona, c. 1470 - Venice, after 1535) appears
in musicological texts primarily as a composer of secular music. He,
together with his colleague Marchetto Cara, were responsible for a
large number of the frottolas composed between the 15th and the 16th
centuries, under the auspices of Isabella d'Este of Mantua, in whose
service both musicians served for an extensive length of time. The
interest on the part of musicologists in the frottola and the
importance of Tromboncino's work in this genre has resulted in a focus
of study on his secular compositions, considered principally in the
context of stylistic evolution. His sacred output, on the contrary, bas
been almost entirely neglected, a fate which it shares with practically
the entire sacred repertoire by Italian composers active between the
two centuries, for it has been overshadowed by the dominating interest
in the music by Flemish composers. If one excludes the introductions to
modern editions and little else, there are no specific studies
dedicated to the laude of Tromboncino, which are indeed of great
interest, both from an historical and musical standpoint. These works
exhibit a high quality of composition and an individuality of style,
uniting elements of the frottola and the lauda with knowledge of
Flemish counterpoint. It is the very union of these experiences which
allows for their great variety in timbre, ranging from full sonorities
to decisively more intimate ones.
The choice of forces for this recording is based on an examination of
the musical customs at the Mantuan court, on the one hand, and on the
practice of singing laude at the Venetian Scuole Grandi, on the other.
The principal manner of performance of the frottola was with a solo
voice accompanied by a lute, but this does not exclude the possibility
of an entirely vocal performance nor of one with voices and chamber
instruments (recorders, lutes, transverse flutes and even organ). The
resulting sonority would have been well suited to private worship in
the same venues frequented by cantors of laude with lutes or by
frottola singers. Written and iconography documents testifying to the
performance of the polyphonic laude during feasts and processions
usually refer to four singers: a soprano or alto, two tenors with wide
ranges, and a bass, by placing the two different performance practices
side by side, we are able to reconstruct two quite different and even
opposing musical images, which correspond to two musical worlds still
active at the beginning of the sixteenth century: the "bas" music of
the chamber and that of the louder and less refined "hauts" instruments
playing in the open air. In assigning the corresponding typology to
each piece, the determining factor has been the extent to which the
writing style adhered to the model of the frottola. Those compositions
in which the upper voice is distinctly separate from the others, and is
of a declamatory or more melodic character (the Ave Marias, for
example) have been considered more frottola-like, and assigned to the
"bas" instruments. In other works where the two, the marked homophony
or the accentuated rhythms suggest a possible processional performance
or refer to public situations and collective worship, a "outdoor'
sonority bas been chosen. The presence of "hauts" wind instruments,
which throughout the renaissance denoted public office and regalry,
provide breadth and richness to these pieces. In these performances the
group of winds is often antiphonically juxtaposed against the voices.
Cristoforo da Messisburgo cites a rather unusual ensemble of trombone,
two recorders and transverse flute, which we have employed for Salve
Croce. Most of the works seem to have originated as sacred music rather
than being a reworking of celebrated secular compositions. This latter
practice, called contrafactio, was otherwise extremely widespread in
the lauda repertoire, and consisted in applying a sacred text to
frottolas or other secular music. A rare example of this type of piece
is L'oration è sempre bona, extant (perhaps significantly) only
in the Grey codex. A curious example of reversed contrafactum is Sancta
Maria: built upon a plain chant and thus probably sacred in origin, it
had already been published as a strambotto (Me stesso incolpo) in
Petrucci's 4th book of frottolas.
The scarcity of original prints of laude confirm the "minor" role
played by Italian as opposed to Flemish sacred music, and also
underlines the uniqueness of the compositions by Tromboncino, extant
almost exclusively in the publications by Petrucci. It is conceivable
that Petrucci intentionally embarked on a promotional campaign, albeit
short-lived, of Italian sacred music. In any case, it must be stressed
that not even Cara and Tromboncino, who were certainly Italy's most
important musicians, were able to have their own publications of
entirely sacred music. Some of the original pieces can clearly be
defined as frottolas, meaning by this term a particular style of
composition more than a specific literary form. Eterno mio signor is an
example of a "declamatory" frottola with a sort of repeated reciting
note and phrases ending in simple cadences. Arbor victorioso and Ben
sarà crudel e ingrato, on the other hand, exhibit a more active
melodic line and rhythmic importance, In the case of compositions on a
Latin text, the frottola model is replaced by stricter counterpoint, a
more homogeneous texture and an absence of the distinct treatment of
the upper voice in opposition to the others which is so typical of the
genre. The polyphonic construction does not employ the breadth of line
typical of Flemish counterpoint, nor does it strictly develop motifs
and imitation. There pre- dominates instead a great conciseness which
excludes long melismas and shapes the musical phrases to fit the text;
the structure of the phrase is made evident without an attempt to find
a perfect match between words and music. In a few cases, such as the
Ave Maria performed here by 4 voices, there prevails a homophony
punctuated only occasionally by imitative ideas. Conciseness, essential
imitation, and- strong links between music and text: these are the
elements that will prove to be fundamental in the subsequent
development of Italian polyphony in the 16th century.
The lamentationes merit a separate discussion for they differ from the
lauda in length, destination and compositional style. The example heard
here is only a part of the lamentationi printed by Petrucci, but its
unique style justifies the decision to include it on this recording
without the rest of the composition. The Lamentationi were destined to
be performed ad matins of Thursday, Friday ad Saturday of Holy Week.
The long texts divided into three lectiones for each day, concluding
with the words Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum, and
interrupted by Responsories sung in plain chant. Tromboncino sets all
nine lectiones using as a basis the cantus firmus Incipit Lamentatio
Jeremiae Prophetae, which is present in a good many sections of the
composition. Decisively syllabic moments alternate with others in which
a brief contrapuntal idea circulates among the voices for just the
amount of time necessary to finish the phrase. In the presence of the
cantus firmus, the other voices provide a contrapuntal "commentary",
developing what might be called a "deviation": this device both reveals
its frottola origin and simultaneously provides an Italian solution to
sacred counterpoint.
ensemblelesnations.eu
translation Candace Smith