Christo è nato / Trefoil
Lauding the Nativity in Medieval Italy
medieval.org
msrcd.com
allmusic.com
MSR Classics 1094
2003
Johannes CICONIA
1. Gloria in excelsis [3:31]
Codex Tridentinus 87
2. Ortorum virentium ~ Virga yesse ~ Victimae paschali laudes [2:28]
3. Da ciel venne messo novella [4:28]
Laudario di Firenze, ms. BR 19 olim Magl. II.I.122
4. Aquila altera [3:13]
Codex Faenza
5. Regina pretiosa [4:17]
6. Sovrana si né sembianti [5:07]
Laudario di Firenze, ms. BR 19 olim Magl. II.I.122
7. Ave maris stella [1:43]
Codex Faenza
Gratiosus da PADUA (fl. end of 14th c.)
8. Sanctus [3:25]
Biblioteca Universaria, Padua, ms. 684
9. Stella nova [2:47]
Laudario di Cortona
10. Christo è nato [4:52]
Laudario di Firenze, ms. BR 19 olim Magl. II.I.122
11. Ave stella matutina [2:56]
convento di Santa Maria dei Servi, Siena
12. Puer natus in Bethlehem [2:29]
Biblioteca Estense, Modena, ms. M.5.24
13. Co la madre del beato [2:16]
14. Nova stella apparita [5:23]
Laudario di Firenze, ms. BR 19 olim Magl. II.I.122
Matteo da PERUGIA
15. Gloria in excelsis [4:34]
Biblioteca Estense, Modena, ms. M.5.24
Trefoil
Drew Minter — countertenor, harp, percussion
Mark Rimple — countertenor, lute, gittern, psaltery
Marcia Young — soprano, harp
recorded: January 2003, Vassar College
digital editing, mastering: Wayne Hileman
sound engineer, producer: Gregory K. Squires
The small repertoire of surviving medieval Italian praise songs, or Laude, was first brought to modern attention in the late 19th century by the German scholar Friedrich Ludwig. Ludwig and Guido Adler both published selections from a beautifully copied collection of these songs, the Florentine Laudario (now in the Florence Biblioteca Nazionale: BR 19 olim Magl. II.I.122). This collection and the Cortona Laudario are the only two large collections of laude that survive complete with their musical notation.
Believed to have originated with the followers of St. Francis of Assisi, the lauda repertoire came into being in the latter half of the thirteenth century. These songs allowed the general public to perform religious services in their own language, and outside of the Latin liturgy, which offered little in the way of congregational participation. The songs were sung by lay confraternities called Laudesi and Disciplinati in Siena, Arezzo, Cortona, and Florence. The Laudesi performed their own para-liturgical ceremonies in oratories attached to churches. Disciplinati divided their time between their own private ceremonies, which sometimes included self-flagellation, and processions through the streets of Florence and its environs. All of these services apparently included the singing of laude. Those on this disc are drawn from the repertoire of the Laudesi of the Church of Santo Spirito, where the songs were performed in procession, in chapel services around a central painting of Madonna and Child, and in liturgical ceremonies requiring the assistance of a cleric or priest.
Lauda texts were modelled after the secular ballata, originally a dance song, which was divided into a repeating pattern of refrains and stanzas sung by a soloist. Professional musicians were employed to lead the music and to perform as cantor/soloists and instrumentalists. The payment records of Laudesi companies contain entries for musicians whose ‘trade’ names identify their function, such as "Cellino della viuola" (Cellino who plays the viol). In the mid fourteenth century, three singers were regularly employed to lead the service at one Florentine church, often in addition to instrumentalists. Iconography of the time corroborates the common use of organ, lute, harp, psaltery, vielle, and other instruments to accompany devotional singing.
One of the challenges posed by this repertoire is its ambiguous notation. Its cursory nature indicates that improvisation was likely an element of the lauda performance tradition. Precise rhythmic values are not indicated, so there can be no single answer to the question of how the songs may have been performed. We have used a variety of approaches from chant-style delivery to metric treatments based on the natural rhythm of the texts. In other instances, such as the highly ornate soloistic chants 'Nova Stella' and 'Sovrana ne sembianti,' we opt for an unmeasured delivery that allows the soloists to sing with a maximum amount of rhetorical freedom.
The lack of accidentals in the manuscript invites a certain freedom as well; in some instances we employ a hands-off approach that allows modal dissonance to reign, as in "Nova Stella." We have also taken the liberty of improvising vocal parts in the manner of 14th-century part singing, for example in "Da ciel venne messo novello." We take our lead from the knowledge that polyphonic laude did exist — written by Andrea Stefani in the 14th century — but are now lost.
To complement our laude we have chosen a number of pieces of late fourteenth and early fifteenth century 'ars subtilior' polyphony by Johannes Ciconia, Matteo da Perugia, and their anonymous compatriots. This was the music of the cathedral clerks of Padua and Perugia. In its elaboration and mannerism it stands in stark contrast to the humble urban middle-class music of the lauda. It is replete with sophisticated musical effects such
as hocket and dramatic chromaticism. We also include two instrumental works from the Faenza codex, as demonstrations of contemporary experiments in improvisational division writing over existing melodies. The older monophonic laude continued to be sung by the lay confraternities up to the sixteenth century, so our juxtaposition of the popular and arcane is within the bounds of known tradition.