Douce Dame / The Waverly Consort
Music of Courtly Love from Medieval France and Italy





medieval.org
amazon.com
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