Taco Tuesday #106: Medieval French Crêpes
Danny Johnson
It’s been a busy 2 weeks since last we spoke/communicated/fonted. We’ve been finishing up the concert program, getting ready for rehearsals, getting all the travel plans finalized (well ok, they’ve been finalized for a few weeks now) and getting all the things ready for this week’s concert. More about that at the end.
As promised, we are back with some more Musical Tacos from our Covid-lockdown era concert video with music from Medieval France, and this time we’re featuring the women. Let’s get started!
Ah, Sweet Lady: Passion in Medieval France
A Video Premiere for the Public
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Montpellier Codex
The Montpellier Codex contains early polyphonic works in France and was likely compiled around 1300. While many of the texts deal with some truly tender variations on love themes as well as more jovial ones (“I love B but C loves me and I don’t know what to do, because B loves D who loves C...”), there are others about country kids visiting the big city (Paris) with Medieval versions of the still popular trope.
S’on me regarde /Prennés i garde/ Hé, mi enfant ☙ Montpellier Codex, Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de médecine, H. 196, Mo Fasc. 8, No. 325, f. 375v–376v
Triplum: Gitanjali Mathur & Jenifer Thyssen
Motetus: Cayla Cardiff & Shari Alise Wilson
Tenor: Nooshin Wilson & Laura Mercado-Wright
[In order of performance:]
Motetus:
Take note, if someone looks at me;
I am too daring, so tell me, in the name of God, I beg you.
For when one looks at me, I can hardly wait
For him to have me with him;
And I see another here who is, I believe,
(May hell fire burn him!) jealous of me.
But I refuse to cease loving on his account,
It doesn’t do him any good to watch me, he’s wasting his time:
I’ll find an escape and have the love of my sweetheart.
I must do it; I will be a coward no longer.
Triplum:
If anyone is looking at me, tell me;
I see well that I am too daring;
I can’t stop my gaze from wandering,
For when a certain one looks at me,
I can hardly wait for him to have me with him
And receive in faith the gift of my love fully.
But here I see another who is, I believe,
(May hell fire burn him!) jealous of me.
But I refuse to cease loving on his account,
For by my faith it doesn’t do him any good to watch me,
He’s wasting his time: I’ll find an escape!
Tenor:
Hé, my child!
Guillaume de Machaut, c. 1300–1377
And now we’re back to the music of Guillaume de Machaut. He was not only a poet of high regard, but also a composer of both musical miniatures and larger works. When I was an undergraduate music student, learning about him was yet another life-changing experience. The New York Pro Musica Antiqua had recently released their album, Ah Sweet Lady: The Romance of Medieval France, with works by Machaut and others, and it was a great way to introduce us to the amazing possibilities of this music. This was another disc (of many) that I listened to so much that I created grooves in the album. (Yes, I apologized to the music librarian!) The title of our concert is a tribute to the New York Pro Musica album. I think that spending so much time with those records as well as singing music by Machaut in the very first Texas Tech University Collegium Musicum concert was when I became hooked on early music. At that time, I didn’t know how long that relationship would last.
De triste cuer/Quant vrais amans/Certes, je di ☙ Ballade 29, Paris,
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Triplum: Gitanjali Mathur & Jenifer Thyssen
Motetus: Cayla Cardiff & Shari Alise Wilson
Tenor: Nooshin Ghanbari & Laura Mercado-Wright
Triplum:
From a sad heart to compose joyfully, that, I think, is a thing contrary;
But he who composes out of joyous feelings,
I say should compose more joyfully.
And so it is that my songs are rude,
They come from a heart blacker than peat,
Grieving, distressed, weeping tears of blood.
Tenor:
Truly, I say, and in this ask to be judged,
That, when Love oppresses and tortures a heart,
Because it can receive no comfort
From his lady, noble and of high bearing,
Then the suffering which Alexander wrought on Darius
Is not so great as that which falls on him,
Grieving, distressed, weeping tears of blood.
Motetus:
When a true lover loves lovingly
With such true heart that he can do no wrong,
And his lady has such a heart that he can in no way
Draw from it mercy, sweetness or grace,
His heart cannot be so debonair that its liquor would not run to his eye,
Grieving, distressed, weeping tears of blood.
Se je souspir parfondement ☙ Virelai 36/30, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Gitanjali Mathur, soloist
Elaine Barber, harp & Bruce Colson, vielle
If I sigh deeply and tenderly weep in secret, it is, I swear, for you,
When your noble fair body, my lady I do not see.
Your sweet demeanor, simple and modest, your fair carriage, pretty and pleasing,
Your fearless manner, these three have seized me so sweetly
That to you most lovingly and entirely I give and entrust my heart,
Which far from you has no joy nor pleasure.
If I sigh deeply and tenderly weep in secret, it is, I swear, for you,
When your noble fair body, my lady, I do not see.
Lady, you have put me in such a plight, I clearly see, that, in truth,
I use my senses, time and life for you and always believe in this fortune.
And if I am far from relief and hear very little of mercy
I do not swerve, for such a great honor I do not deserve at all.
If I sigh deeply and tenderly weep in secret, it is, I swear, for you,
When your noble fair body, my lady, I do not see.
Jehan Vaillant, fl. 1360–1390
Par maintes foys ☙ Virelai, Bibliothèque du château de Chantilly, MS 564, f. 60
Cayla Cardiff & Shari Alise Wilson, soloists
Elaine Barber, harp ~ Bruce Colson, vielle
Scott Horton, gittern ~ John Walters, vielle
How many times are the skies filled
With the sweet song of the nightingale!
But the cuckoo never joins in;
He prefers to sing enviously.
“Cuckoo, cuckoo” all his life.
He wants his song to bring discord.
So the nightingale cries out:
“I command that you shall be killed.
Slain, slain, killed, killed, fie upon you, fie upon you,
Cuckoo who wants to speak of love.”
“I beg you, my very sweet skylark,
Thus to sing your song:
Lire, lire, liron, as God tells you.”
It’s time for the nightingale’s little song:
“Killed, they’re killed, those who wage war with you.”
“Flock together, bring the goldfinch
And make him and the starling sing out.
Kill the cuckoo and silence him.”
He is taken, let him be killed.
In the lovely springtime
Praise the hawk, our friend, our friend;
And praise the god of love.
Speaking of bird songs, be sure to catch this weekend’s concert and Clément Janequin’s brilliant Le chant des oiseaux, during which you might think you’re in a Renaissance forest!
We’ve almost reached our goal for our CariCATures fundraising campaign! Can you help us get across the finish line? We have just about $3000 left to meet our $15,000 goal. Thank you so much for your support of early music in Austin and beyond!
We will be back in approximately exactly two weeks with a lovely new Taco for you!
Stay safe, stay sane!
Danny