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Vanguard VSD 71179
1974
CD: Omega Vanguard Classics OVC 8201, 1997
A
1. Douce dame jolie [4:20] Guillaume de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377)
virelai — ensemble
2. Oselleto selvaggio [2:26] Jacopo da BOLOGNA (fl. c. 1350)
canonic madrigal — Joan Summers, Jan DeGaetani and vielle (Judith Davidoff)
3. Commnet qu'à moy lonteinne [2:53] Guillaume de MACHAUT
virelai — Jan DeGaetani, harp and lute
4. Foys porter [2:40] Guillaume de MACHAUT
virelai — Alan Baker, oud, lute and drum
5. Je sui aussi com cilz qui est ravis [3:05] Guillaume de MACHAUT
ballade — Joan Summers, organetto and vielle (Judith Davidoff)
6. Lamento di Tristan and Rotta [4:12] Anonymous (Italian)
oud, psaltery, kemençe, vielle, shawm, recorder and drum
B
1. Ecco la primavera [1:57] Francesco LANDINI (1325-1397)
ballata — ensemble
2. Par maintes foys [3:11] Jean VAILLANT (fl. 1400)
virelai — Joan Summers, lute and viell (Lucy Bardo)
3. Apposte messe [3:34] Lorenzo da FIRENZE (fl. c. 1375)
caccia — Constantine Cassolas and Alan Baker
4. Or sus, vous dormez trop [2:38] Anonymous (French)
virelai — recorder (Kay Jaffee), lute, plucked and bowed vielles
5. Rose, liz, printemps [4:37] Guillaume de MACHAUT
rondeau — Constantine Cassolas, harp, lute, two vielles
6. Istampitta Isabella [8:59] Anonymous (Italian)
oud, lute, shawm, kemençe, vielle (Lucy Bardo) and percussion
THE WAVERLY CONSORT
Michael Jaffee
Joan Summers — soprano
Jan DeGaetani * — mezzo-sopran
Constantine Cassolas — tenor
Alan Baker * — baritone
Lucy Bardo — vielle
Kay Jaffee — recorder, harp, organetto
Sally Logemann — shawm, recorder
Judith Davidoff * — kemence, vielle
Michael Jaffee — lute, psaltery
George Mgrdichian * — oud
(*) GUEST ARTISTS
Recording: Vanguard's 23rd Street Studio, New-York – June 1973
These scenes illustrate the trend towards secularization exhibited in the 14th century,
in which Gothic chivlary and courtliness replaced the battle ethics of Romanesque feudalism.
Just as the clergy sang praises of Notre Dame, so the knights dified their ladies in particular,
and Our Lady in general.
Thus woomanhood, as seen in secular circles, was the courtly parallel of the religious cult of the Virgin.
One
of the most significant changes in the course of Western music occurred
in the fourteenth century, for it was then that the church lost, for at
least a time, some of the attraction it held for composers throughout
the earlier Middle Ages. The declining interest in church music, and the
corresponding flourishing of secular music, was a reflection of the new
spirit of the age, a time when the unquestioned authority of the church
began to weaken in the wake of new philosophies and secular pressures.
It
is no coincidence then, that the great writers of the century — Dante,
Bocaccio, Chaucer — wrote works inspired not by the church but concerned
more with the earthly pursuits of men. As it was in literature, so too
in music: composers like Machaut and Landini spent most of their
creative energies providing music for the nobility, festivals, and civic
functions. This new emphasis on secular music coincided with the birth
of a "new music," a music that brought with it new concepts and
techniques that were to change the course of music forever.
In France, this new style was known as the Ars nova,
which took its name from a treatise on music by Philippe de Vitri.
Briefly summarized, de Vitri's treatise set forth new techniques for
utilizing a greater variety and combination of rhythms and meters. The
greatest exponent of the Ars nova school, indeed the greatest composer of all Europe in the fourteenth century, was Guillaume de Machaut.
Born
at the turn of the century, in the year 1300, Machaut was typical of
his age in many ways. Although educated as a cleric, comparatively
little of his music was written for the church. As secretary to King
John of Bohemia, Machaut travelled widely in his youth; by the age of
thirty he had visited and was known at almost every important court in
Europe. He pursued three careers throughout much of his life: diplomat,
poet and musician. Considering Machaut's lifelong interest in poetry, it
is not surprising that he wrote the bulk of his music in the poetic
forms of the day: the virelai, rondeau, and ballade. Machaut also wrote many lais, an older form harking back to the epic poems of the trouvères.
The virelai, like the lai, is most often written for a single voice, with a straightforward, almost folksong-like melody. Douce dame jolie, Foys porter and Comment qu'à moy are typical examples. It is in the rondeau and ballade, however, where Machaut shows his full power as a master of Ars nova techniques. In the rondeau, Rose, liz, printemps,
Machaut achieves an exquisiteness of expression by use of unusual,
sometimes strangely dissonant harmonies and innovative rhythmic
techniques that invite comparison with music written in the twentieth
century. In the lovely three-part ballade, Je sui aussi,
Machaut uses somewhat more simple methods, but the final result is one
of surpassing beauty and enormous, although subtle, emotional impact.
Both virelais, Par maintes fois and Or sus vous dormez trop
belong to a genre of songs depicting birds of various kinds, both
allegorically and realistically, by way of imitating bird calls in the
music. This type of piece did not exist in the Italian repertory,
although the trecento composers exercised their word-painting abilities to the full in the caccia, a canonic piece usually describing a hunt or other spirited outdoor activity. A typical example is Lorenzo da Firenze's Apposte messe, a virtuoso piece that graphically depicts, in words and music, the excited cries of men and animals in the heat of the chase.
Jacopo da Bologna's canonic madrigal, Osellate salvazo, is more reminiscent of the French bird virelai,
as it begins by describing how sweetly the birds sing, but are quickly
drowned out by all those who fancy themselves "Filipotti et Marchetti"
(a reference to Philippe de Vitri and Marchettus of Padua, two famous
fourteenth-century theorists) . Jacopo, among the first generation of Trecento composers, was probably the teacher of Francesco Landini, the most famous Italian composer of the fourteenth century.
Blind
from his early childhood, Landini was a skilled performer on many
instruments, but he was particularly renowned in Florence as the
greatest organist that city had ever known. Landini's skill on the small
hand-held portative organ was legendary. His total output of music was
prodigious; amazingly, one-quarter of all the surviving music of the Trecento was written by Landini. As a composer, Landini excelled in the ballata, the Italian equivalent of the French virelai. Both the text and music of Landini's ballata, Ecco la primavera radiate a freshness and joy, epitomizing the spirit of the Trecento.
Some Notes on Performance Practice
In
most of Machaut's polyphonic secular vocal music, usually only one
voice has text. In this situation, it is generally assumed that the
texted part is the only one meant to be sung, as the other parts are
often written as to suggest instruments rather than voices. As Machaut
rarely, if ever, specifies what instruments are to be used in a given
piece, the performer must use his own judgement in the selection of the
appropriate accompanying instruments. The hypothesis that this freedom
of choice may have been the actual intent of the composer is supported
by a letter Machaut wrote to Peronne of Armentieres in which he wrote
that a ballade he has sent her can be performed on the organ,
bagpipes or other instruments. Writing to the same lady, Machaut further
advises her to learn the ballade "without adding or taking
away," a clear indication that improvisation was practised at the time.
Certainly, in Machaut's carefully constructed and sophisticated
polyphonic ballades and rondeaux there is no reason to "add or take away." In the case of the more simple monophonic virelais,
however, the addition of drones and melodic embellishments, if
tastefully done, can enhance the performance without violating the
composer's basic intention. The entire question of "improvisation",
therefore, is in this case one of degree, since any accompaniment at
all, if not provided by the composer, must be considered an "addition."
In the dance forms of the fourteenth century, the argument for improvisation is strong. One must remember that the estampie
was a dance, subject to as many repetitions by the musicians as were
needed to fill out the allotted time needed for the satisfaction of the
dancers. Judging from the many accounts of the time describing the
enjoyment of popular dancing, one might easily imagine a single estampie
lasting fifteen minutes or more. In such circumstances, it seems
inconceivable that the musicians (particularly very skilled ones) would
be content to simply play the same, repetitive melodic patterns
endlessly without any variation. Indeed, many passages in the Istampita Isabella seem to be stock melodic formulas, or skeletons, upon which the inventive performer is invited to test his improvisatory skill.
Michael Jaffee