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Gilles BINCHOIS (c1400 - 1460): Sacred and secular works
[I] "Loyal souvenir - Sacred works, chansons, intabulations"
Le Miroir de Musique
Dir: Baptiste Romain
rec: April 2024, Leymen (F), Église Saint-Léger
Ricercar - RIC 473 (© 2025) (74'00")
Liner-notes: E/D/F; lyrics - translations: E/D/F
Cover, track-list & booklet
Spotify
Adieu, jusques je vous revoye;
Adyeu ma tres [Adieu mes tres belles amours];
Adyeu ma tres belle [Adieu mes tres belles amours] [1];
Agnus Dei 'cum jubilo';
Depuis le congié que je pris;
Dixit sanctus Philippus;
En sera il mieulx voustre cuer;
Geloymors [Je loe amours] [1];
Gloria 'hominibus';
J’ay tant de deul que nul homs peut avoir;
Jamais tant que je vous revoye;
Je loemors [Je loe amours];
Qui vult messite [Qui veut mesdire si mesdie] [1];
Redeuntes in re [1];
Salve sancta parens;
Sanctus;
Triste plaisir basse danse;
Veneremur Virginem
Sources:
[1] Buxheimer Orgelbuch, [ms]
Dorothea Jakob, soprano;
Grace Newcombe, soprano, harp, organ;
Sabine Lutzenberger, Tessa Roos, mezzo-soprano;
Ivo Haun de Oliveira, Jacob Lawrence, tenor;
Cyprien Sadek, baritone;
Silke Schulze, bombard, pipe, tabor;
Henry van Engen, slide trumpet;
Aliénor Wolteche, vielle;
Elizabeth Rumsey, vielle, viola d’arco;
Baptiste Romain, vielle, rebec, bagpipes;
Claire Piganiol, harp;
Rui Stähelin, lute;
Marc Lewon, gittern, lute
[II] "Adieu Ma Doulce"
Ensemble Les Alizés
Dir: Clémence Comte
rec: [no date, no place]
Et'cetera - KTC 1836 (© 2025) (59'59")
Liner-notes: E/F; lyrics - translations: E
Cover & track-list
Spotify
Adieu, jusques je vous revoye;
Adieu ma doulce;
Adieu mon amoureuse joye;
Amoreux suy;
Amours merchi;
Bien puist;
Dueil angoysseux;
En regardant;
Je loe amours;
Joyeux penser et souvenir;
Les tres doulx yeux;
Ma dame que j’ayme;
Qui veut mesdire;
Triste plaisir
Capucine Keller, voice;
Clémence Comte, recorder;
Liam Fennelly, Myriam Ropars, vielle;
Nolwenn Le Guern, vielle, rebec;
Angélique Mauillon, harp;
Etienne Demange, percussion
Scores
Gilles Binchois was one of the main composers in the first half of the 15th century. He was a contemporary, and probably even a personal friend, of Guillaume Dufay, but in modern reception the latter has overshadowed him. He is not badly represented on disc, but it seems that his works are more often part of anthologies than the sole subject of recordings. From that angle it is remarkable and satisfying that two recordings entirely devoted to his oeuvre have been released simultaneously. It is a matter of good luck that they are almost completely different with regard to the selection of pieces. Only two items are included in both programmes, but the way they are performed is different. That makes them complementary rather than competitive.
Binchois was born around 1400 in Mons in present-day Belgium, and was baptized with the name Binche. He may have received his first musical education around the court in Mons, which had close ties with the courts of France and Burgundy. He would spend nearly his entire life in the Burgundian culture. His first documented musical activities are as organist at Ste Waudru in Mons. He may have been trained as a chorister at St Germain. It is possible that he was in the service of William Pole, Earl of Suffolk, who participated in the English occupation of parts of France.
In the 1420 he joined the Burgundian court chapel. The first sign of his presence there is from 1431, when a motet of his pen was performed and he is mentioned as one of the singers. Apart from being active as a singer and composer, he was given several positions, which indicates that he was held in high esteem. That is supported by the frequency with which his compositions were quoted, borrowed, parodied and intabulated. The first disc includes several instrumental versions of compositions by Binchois.
The largest part of his oeuvre concerns sacred music, but in our time it is mainly the secular part of his output that is given attention. The inclusion of some sacred pieces by Le Miroir de Musique is therefore most welcome. Three of these are mass movements. Binchois has not left any complete mass setting, but quite a number of ordinary settings, sometimes in pairs (such as Kyrie/Gloria). In the Gloria the voices sing in various combinations; some passages are for the full four-part ensemble. The Agnus Dei is based on a Marian cantus firmus.
Salve sancta parens, scored for three voices, is an introitus for Marian feasts. The upper voice carries the plainchant cantus firmus, with some additions here and there. The piece includes passages in three-part fauxbourdon. Veneremur virginem is a sequence of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary for three voices; the cantus firmus, whose identity is not known, is in the tenor.
The secular part of Binchois' oeuvre comprises pieces in the two main forms of the time: the ballade and the rondeau. Notable is that the second genre clearly dominates, which attests to the development at the time from the former to the latter. Baptiste Romain, in his linr-notes, states: "The ballade in the 1420s was a form reserved for lamentations and texts of a serious or celebratory character. Conversely the rondeau with its cyclical form was evolving towards a certain lightheartedness while still incorporating the conventions of courtly poetry. Binchois belonged to the first generation of composers for whom the rondeau was the predominant form of secular song; by later in the 15th century the rondeau would make up more than three-quarters of the polyphonic song repertoire." Two rondeaux included here are certainly not light-hearted: Depuis le congié que je pris (about the separation between two lovers) and Adieu, jusques je vous revoye, a song of farewell. En sera il mieulx a voustre cuer has been reconstructed for this recording.
Instrumental performance of vocal music was common practice in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Sometimes vocal works were transcribed for an instrument (such as lute or organ) or a combination of instruments, and sometimes they were arranged, meaning that the original was adapted. One of the main sources of intabulations is the Buxheimer Orgelbuch. The disc of Miroir de Musique includes several of them. They don't need to be played on the organ; they can also be performed on (an ensemble of) other instruments.
There is much debate among scholars and performers about the way the secular works should be performed. One of the issues is the participation of instruments. Romain writes that the use of instruments was increasingly documented from 1440 onwards. "Despite this, a cappella performance was probably still an important reference point in the 15th-century musical tradition. For this recording, we have sought to represent a diversity of practices by including a cappella, mixed vocal and intrumental, and purely instrumental versions of the songs."
In the booklet to the second disc this issue is mentioned but it is not indicated that it is a matter of debate. The use of instruments is taken for granted. With regard to one of the pieces, Jean-Yves Haymoz writes: "The text could also be taken by all the voices, something that is not possible here since for this recording the Ensemble Les Alizés does not have three singers." That is a rather simplistic way to treat the issue.
The entire programme is devoted to the secular oeuvre. It includes ballades and rondeaux. Je loe amours and Dueil angoysseux are specimens of the former genre, Adieu, jusques je vous revoye and Triste plaisir are rondeaux. As I mentioned, some pieces appear on both discs, but are performed differently. That sometimes even concerns their form. Je loemors (Le Miroir de Musique) is identical with Le loe amours, but whereas the Ensemble Les Alizés performs the original piece instrumentally, Grace Newcombe in Le Miroir's disc plays an intabulation from the Buxheimer Orgelbuch on the organ. Another version from the same source are Geloymors and Qui vult messite. The latter is an intabulation of Qui veut mesdire, which is performed by Les Alizés, again instrumentally. The booklet does not give the sources of the items that are performed instrumentally; I assume we get Binchois' original piece here. In the case of Adieu, jusques je vous revoye both ensembles perform Binchois' original rondeau, but Le Miroir de Musique offers a vocal performance, whereas Les Alizés performs it instrumentally.
The latter's programme is a little one-sided. Only six of the fifteen pieces are performed vocally. That may be the effect of the participation of one singer, whereas Le Miroir de Musique's line-up is more diversified. Clémence Comte has taken some debatable decisions. In two pieces, the second stanza is split into two: the first two lines are sung, the third and fourth only played (Triste playsir, Les tres doulx yeux). I find that rather unsatisfactory. The least convincing item is Dueil angoysseux (twice spelled wrongly, in the liner-notes and in the track-list). The first stanza is performed by Capucine Keller alone, without any instrumental accompaniment, although the piece is scored for three voices. Even more problematic is the performance. The content is very sad: "Anguished mourning; unmeasured rage; hopeless grief full of madness; unending languor; discontented life, full of tears, anguish, and torment" etc. Apparently an attempt was made to perform it with expression: the tempo is extremely slow (the whole piece takes ten minutes) and single words are given much attention. This is the way to perform a baroque piece, not a work from the Middle Ages. It sounds very unnatural.
Capucine Keller is a fine singer, and in other pieces she is much more convincing. The players are also excellent, and therefore there is certainly much to enjoy here. Moreover, this disc offers a good opportunity to become acquainted with Binchois' secular music. It is a shame that for some reasons that I have given above, it is not entirely satisfying.
That is different in the case of the recording by Le Miroir de Musique, one of the top-class ensembles for medieval music. The virtue of this disc is that it offers a comprehensive survey of Binchois' oeuvre, with specimens of each genre, and some arrangements of pieces of his pen. That makes it a fine portrait of a composer whose oeuvre is not as well-known as it should be. The sacred pieces are performed vocally, and here one can admire the singers, whose voices blend perfectly and create an amount of transparency which makes it possible to follow the various lines. Romain makes sure that the cantus firmus is always clearly discernible. The secular items are given excellent performances, obviously in historical pronunciation. The combination of voices and instruments is as it should be. The instrumental items are a substantial and interesting part of the programme. This disc can be recommended unequivocally.
The two discs are complementary, as I mentioned in the first paragraph. Despite the issues of the second disc, lovers of medieval music have every reason to be happy with these two productions with music by one of the great composers of the Middle Ages.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)
Relevant links:
Ensemble Les Alizés
Le Miroir de Musique