Alla Francesca

ARMES, AMOURS… Par ces mots Eustache Deschamps ouvre son hommage au grand poète disparu en 1377, Guillaume de Machaut. «Armes, amours» brandies comme l'étendard de toute noblesse.

A la fin du Moyen Âge, l'amour constitue toujours une source d'inspiration inépuisable pour les poètes et les musiciens, abordé tantôt selon la rhétorique courtoise des siècles passés (Jay pris amours; Est-il merchy …), tantôt sur un ton coquin (Ho, ho, ho; Ce qu on ait a quatimini).

Par ailleurs, nombreuses sont les compositions qui témoignent ou portent la trace des guerres, des événements politiques et religieux contemporains. Ainsi, Helas, Olivier Basselin est une complainte sur l'emprisonnement du poète-musicien normand au cours de la guerre contre les Anglais, qui ne s'achève qu'en 1453 (officiellement en 1475). L'année 1453 est aussi celle de
la prise de Constantinople par les Turcs qui progressent en Europe. A la Cour de Bourgogne l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or milite pour une nouvelle croisade. Dans ce contexte, la chanson de L'homme armé devient emblématique. Aussi Morton l'utilise-t-il dans son rondeau en l'honneur de «Maistre Simon le Breton», chapelain bourguignon parti affronter les Turcs.

Love variations: The variant, and its corollary the variation, inseparable from the Middle Ages, have established themselves, particularly since Eloge de la variante (In praise of the variant) by Bernard Cerquiglini and the term of “mouvance” (mobility) inaugurated by Paul Zumthor, as genuine writing processes. Extending them to the musical field sounds quite obvious, and allows us furthermore to apprehend the modes of transmission and circulation of the medieval melodic repertoires.

Troubadours songs; laude to the Virgin and estampies from trecento mingle with Sephardic lullabies and folksongs collected in Italy. They tell the stories of simple men and women of the Mediterranean world. Languages and music have survived to the din of the wars, religious conquests, political dominations between North and South… This record is an intimate compilation which raises from the old village song telling the cycle of life, the redemption sought with the Virgin, the curtly love of the Countess of Die, Tarentella or the famous separdic lullaby Nani, Nani for the beloved son…« Ever since antiquity, the shores of the Mediterranean have assembled men and women who share a cultural heritage with multiple resonances. (religious and cultural : christians, jews, arabs, languages : castillan, occitan, florentin, napolitain, sarde…).

Machaut's Genius is fully recognized, but his monodic works deserve to be better known. He was the last trouvere, poet and composer, and with him died the monodic world of the learned composers of the west. His virelais, or 'chansons balladees' as he preferred to call them, have a trace of folk art about them, while being exquisitely wrought products of a writer of poetry and melodies so natural as to create an impression of utter effortlessness. They are songs to dance to, to hum to oneself, with frequent repeated sections and a compelling charm.

Puccini's Il trittico is a triple-bill which is seldom performed as such. Of the three one-act short operas that compose it, only Gianni Schicchi is regularly seen on stage; Suor Angelica is second, but perhaps more often performed in concert form, its only famous piece being the aria "senza mamma", while Il tabarro is a real rarity. The effort to set up three different operas which demand quite different casts is certainly one of the reasons for this situation. Il tabarro calls for real spinto voices in the main roles, while Angelica is also quite demanding for the singer in the title role, not to mention the huge number of principals it calls for.