estampida

The complete French estampies of c. 1300: music, analysis, performance

Ian Pittaway Ars musice, Chansonnier du Roi, chant, church modes, citole, contrary motion, Doctrina de compondre dictates, drones, ecclesiastical chant, Edi beo thu heuene quene, Edi beo thu hevene quene, estampida, estampie, estanpie, fiddle, gittern, harp, heterophony, historically informed performance, istanpitta, Johannes de Grocheio, Manuscrit du Roi, medieval fiddle, medieval harp, modes, monophony, musica falsa, musica ficta, musica recta, musica vera, Notre Dame school, organum, parallel harmonies, parallel polyphony, polyphony, postlude, prelude, prime Estampie Royal, quarte Estampie Royal, quinte estampie Real, rhythmic modes, Roman de Horn, seconde Estampie Royal, septime estampie Real, Sexte estampie Real, stampen, stampita, stantipede, stantipedem, stantipedis, stantipes, tierce Estampie Roial, Uitime estampie Real, viella, vielle 0 Comment

Among the treasures of surviving medieval instrumental music are eight French royal estampies in the Manuscrit or Chansonnier du roi, c. 1300. This article includes:

• an outline of the manuscript, putting the estampies in context;
• a description of the estampie form from a contemporaneous French source, Ars musice by Johannes de Grocheio, c. 1300;
• a video of each of the eight royal estampies performed on either gittern, citole or medieval harp;
• the music for all the royal estampies in the original neume notation and in modern notation;
• music analysis and historically-informed performance suggestions, looking at a different aspect of performance for each estampie.

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La prime Estampie Royal: completing the fragment of a medieval melody

Ian Pittaway Ars musicae, carolling, carols, Chansonnier du Roi, church modes, dance, estampida, estampie, gittern, Grocheio, historically informed performance, istampitta, istanpitta, Jean de Grouchy, Jerome of Moravia, Johannes de Grocheio, Manuscrit du Roi, mediaeval, medieval, medieval dance, medieval modes, medieval scales, modes, prime Estampie Royal, rhythmic modes, stampita, stantipes, Summa musice, Tractatus de Musica 5 Comments

The estampie was an internationally popular musical form of the late middle ages. Eight beautiful French estampies from circa 1300 are written in the Manuscrit du Roi, seven of which are complete. The first estampie is a fragment, due to the top half of the page being torn to remove illuminated letters, seen on the right.

After examining what we know about the estampie and the particular characteristics of French estampies, this article searches for historical principles upon which the fragment of La prime Estampie Royal can be made whole again.

The article begins with a video performance of the finished piece played on gittern, then explains the process of historically-informed construction, and ends with the completed music in modern notation.

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The English estampie: interpreting a medieval dance(?) tune

Ian Pittaway Ars cantus mensurabilis, citole, Douce Francis, English dance, estampida, estampie, Franco of Cologne, historically informed performance, istampitta, istanpitta, Jean de Grouchy, Johannes de Grocheio, Lambertus, Magister Lambertus, mediaeval, medieval, medieval notation, stampita, stantipes 13 Comments

One of the earliest surviving pieces of English instrumental music has survived with the 13th–14th century manuscript, Douce 139, now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It is exciting in its musical drive and complexity, but interpretation of the neume notation has its problems, leaving us to make judgements about intention. The music is untitled, and is often named Estampie or English Dance in modern sources.

This article works through the puzzles in order to gain some performable answers. What is an estampie? Is the Douce 139 piece an estampie? How can the musical problems left by the scribe’s imperfect notation be reconciled? Drawing on music theorist, Johannes de Grocheio, writing in c. 1300, this article looks for solutions, with a video of the music played on citole.

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