Found My Groove

So, speaking of the past, and we often are, when I was a sophomore at Texas Tech, we studied Medieval music as part of the music history survey, and I was introduced to the music of Guillaume de Machaut. He was not only a poet of high regard, but also a composer of both miniatures and larger musical works; for me, this introduction was yet another life-changing experience. The New York Pro Musica released their 1967 album, Ah Sweet Lady: The Romance Of Medieval France, with works by Machaut and others and it was—and still is—amazing.

This was yet another disc (of many) that I listened to so much that I created grooves in the album…. (The triple canon Sanz Cuer M'en Vols – Amis, Dolens – Dame, Par Vous especially affected me. How much fun it was to be able to sing it in the first Texas Tech University Collegium Musicum concert!) The discovery of all of the ars nova repertoire was another of the key events that directed my future interests.

Anyway … Our upcoming concert of music from Machaut and earlier is entitled Ah Sweet Lady as a tribute to the trailblazers of the NY Pro Musica.

And also: Love's Illusion: Music From the Montpellier Codex was released by Anonymous 4 in 1994, and they presented their concert of that album at UT in Bates Hall in 1996, sponsored by TEMP and the Handel-Haydn Society. In honor of those friends, we named our 2019-2020 season Love’s Illusion, fitting in many ways but also because our upcoming concert will be featuring several pieces from the Montpellier Codex as well. You can read more about our Ah, Sweet Lady concert below.

So history begat history?

And thanks for Amplifying TEMP! We will use it to bring more inspiring music to central Texas!

À Bientôt!
-Danny

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Ah, Sweet Lady:
Passion in Medieval France

Saturday, March 28, 2020, at  7:30 pm
St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 8134 Mesa Drive
Sunday, March 29, 2020, 3:00 pm
First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive

Admission $30 general; $25 seniors (60+); $5 students (at the door only)
Tickets available in advance online or by cash, check, or credit card at the door.

Take advantage of preferred seating and other perks by sponsoring a concert!

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email info@early-music.org.

The music from the 12th through the 14th centuries in France takes us back to days of yore with knights, monks, and poets. Songs of unrequited love, daily trials, melancholy, exuberance, and even blissful love are a natural reflection of the society at that time. Like the original troubadours in Southern Occitania, the trouvères in Northern France continued their poetic and musical tradition and extended the influence of the early singer-songwriters long after the troubadours were dispersed in the early 1200s. The songs often revolve around idealized treatments of courtly love, observations of nature, stories about loss due to death from wars or jousting. 

The Montpellier Codex contains early polyphonic works in France and was likely compiled around 1300. Guillaume de Machaut, who died in 1377, was the greatest and most important composer of the 14th century. Machaut’s compositions reveal skilled treatments of polyphony while invigorating the solo song with more subtle and adroit poetry, almost always on the topic of courtly love. 

This exciting, exuberating, sometimes experimental music in France from about 1175–1375 will be performed by a small ensemble of 16 singers, including soloists Jenifer Thyssen, Shari Alise Wilson, Cayla Cardiff, Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, Tim O’Brien, and more, along with our period orchestra of vielles, rebec, oud, gittern, harp, hurdy-gurdy, and psaltery. Our special guests are Ryland Angel (tenor & countertenor), Peter Walker (bass & also Medieval bagpipes), percussionist Peter Maund, and vielle master Mary Springfels.

Join us for some sweetness, a few giggles, toe tapping and joy,
melancholy and empathy.
BYO Armor.

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!

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