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CD reviews
"Variations amoureuses - French love songs from the 13th Century"
Alla francesca
Dir: Brigitte Lesne
rec: April 2019, Paris, Église Protestante Allemande
Paraty - 120190 (© 2020) (57'40")
Liner-notes: E/F; lyrics - translations: E/F
Cover, track-list & booklet
Spotify
ADAM DE LA HALLE (1245/50-?1285/88 or after 1306):
Fi, maris, de vostre amour;
anon:
Amis, vostre demoree/[Decantatur] (Pro patribus), motet;
Amors qui souprent, chanson d'amour;
Ave nobilis venerabilis Maria, conductus;
Dame bele et avenant/Fi, mari/Nus n'iert ja jolis, motet;
Flos in monte cernitur;
L'amours dont sui espris, chanson-conductus;
Mere au roi puissant, chanson mariale;
Or la voi/Chou est la jus desos l'olive, rondet de carole;
Procurans odium, conductus;
Que ferai/Ne puet faillir/Descendentibus, motet;
Sol sub nube latuit, conductus;
Un chant renvoisié/Decantatur, motet;
BLONDEL DE NESLE (fl 1180-1200):
Amours dont sui espris, chanson d'amour;
ÉTIENNE DE MEAUX (13th C) (attr):
Trop des mes maris jalos;
GAUTIER DE COINCY (1177/78-1236):
Por mon chief reconforter, chanson mariale;
S'amour dont sui espris, chanson mariale;
GILBERT DE BERNEVILLE (fl c1250-1270):
Haute chose a en amor, chanson d'amour;
MONIOT D'ARRAS (fl 1213-1239):
Amours mi fait renvoisier et chanter, chanson de malmariée;
[Monks of Saint-Denis]:
En non Dieu c'est la rage/[Ferens], chanson & motet;
PHILIPPE LE CHANCELIER (c1160/70-1236):
Suspirat spiritus, conductus;
RICHART DE FOURNIVAL (1201-1260):
Onques n'amai tant que jou fui amee, chanson & motet;
THIBAUT DE BLAISON (?-?1229):
Chanter et renvoisier sueil, chanson d'amour
Vivabiancaluna Biffi, voice, fiddle;
Christel Boiron, voice, bells;
Nolwenn Le Guern, voice, fiddle, bells;
Lior Leibovici, voice, bells;
Brigitte Lesne, voice, crwth, harp, percussion
In our time, we are used to distinguish between various musical genres. A symphony is not a sonata, and a cantata is not the same as a song. This habit seems to be the result of the 19th-century love for order. It was the time that encyclopedias and dictionaries were published, which attempted to define the meaning of things and words, and to establish the correct spelling of words. It was also the time which started to make a distinction between the sacred and the secular, probably partly due to the fact that an increasing number of composers had no religious affiliations and did not write sacred music, for the simple reason that their position did not require it.
This was all very different in previous times. Italian motets of the late baroque period are often not fundamentally different from secular cantatas. In the oeuvre of Giacomo Carissimi we find pieces which seem exactly the same, but are called oratorio in one case and motet in another. Bach's cantata for Ascension Day (BWV 11) is sometimes ranked among the oratorios. And then: for pre-romantic composers there was no fundamental difference, let alone opposition, between the sacred and the secular world. For a number of sacred cantatas, Bach turned to previously-written secular works. In Monteverdi's time, madrigals were given a sacred text, and he himself did so with the famous Lamento d'Arianna. It was Martin Luther who emphasized the spiritual value of music as such, not specifically sacred music. Why should the devil have all the good music, he is assumed to have said.
The present disc demonstrates the confusion of genres and the lack of distinction between the sacred and the secular. Encyclopedias make a distinction between virelais, ballades, motets etcetera on the basis of its content or structure, but the pieces included here, show that these various genres penetrated each other. There was no watershed between them, and texts were hardly fixed, as they were adapted at will for some purpose. The programme that Alla francesca has recorded, documents the way a piece could be adapted. The starting point is the love poetry of the Middle Ages; this was the subject of many variations, which explains the title of this disc: "Amourous variations".
The first section includes Sol sub nube latuit, an anonymous conductus, which was the model for Por mon chief renconforter by Gautier de Coincy and Chanter et renvoisier sueil by Thibaut de Blaison. Whereas the former is a chanson mariale, reflecting the growing importance of Marian devotion, the latter is a chanson d'amour with a secular text. The last section includes three pieces which are connected: the original Amors qui souprent, an anonymous chanson d'amour, is turned into a chanson mariale, the equally anonymous Mere au roi puissant and in Ave nobilis venerabilis Maria, an anonymus conductus in Latin.
Another form of 'variation' is what Anne Ibos-Augé, in her liner-notes, calls "travelling melodies". "They dwell in monody or polyphony, dress in Latin or langue d'oïl, adjust flexibly to various sources of textual inspiration. All the poems in laugue d'oïl are monodies but the conducti sometimes come in many versions, depending on the manuscripts." An example is Amours dont sui espris, a monodic chanson d'amour by Blondel de Nesles. It is followed by two contrafacta: Suspirat spiritus, a conductus by Philippe le Chancelier and S'amour dont sui espris, a chanson mariale by Gautier de Coincy.
A third kind of variation is the use of a melody as the foundation of a new piece. This could be a secular or a sacred piece, independent of the main text. Specimens are Dame bele et avenant/Fi, mari/Nus n'iert ja jolis and Que ferai/Ne puet faillir/Descendentibus. This kind of variation is closely linked to what is mentioned as the last here: "travelling fragments". Some textual fragments appear in quite a number of pieces, for instance as a refrain. The refrain of Amis, vostre demoree/Decantantur also appears as such after each stanza in Amours mi fait renvoisier et chanter, a chanson de malmariée by Moniot d'Arras.
This disc gives us some insight into the fascinating world of medieval poetry and music and the way material was treated at the time. We are far away from the fixed forms and compositions, which is the main subject of performances of music from later times. However, as I wrote in the opening paragraphs, in the renaissance and baroque periods some of these practices were still very much alive. Whereas in the early days of historical performance practice, the 'original' was the norm, in the course of time it has been recognized that adaptation and arrangement were common practice and the results have a value of their own. From that angle, what we have here is probably less strange to modern ears, used to listen to 'historically informed' performances of later music, than is suggested in the liner-notes.
This compelling programme is realised in excellent fashion by Alla francesca, one of the main ensembles for medieval music. It is music that has to be tackled by specialists, who have a thorough knowledge of the sources and performance practice of the time and understand what it takes to bring this repertoire to life. It is all brillantly done here by performers who are equally able to sing and to play instruments. I don't know how many of the pieces included here are available in other recordings. In this repertoire that does not matter that much as it leaves many options with regard to performance, for instance the use of instruments, and vocal or instrumental performances. Moreover, the approach results in pieces being brought together which in one way or another can be connected. That greatly helps to increase our knowledge and understanding of the world of medieval music.
This is a disc lovers of such music should not miss.
Johan van Veen (© 2021)