rhythmic modes – Early Music Muse

Rediscovering the vitality of medieval chant: an interview with Bruno de Labriolle

Ian Pittaway bourdon, chant, church modes, contrary motion, ecclesiastical chant, Gregorian chant, historically informed performance, Jerome of Moravia, Labriolle Bruno de, modes, Notre Dame school, ornamentation, Pérès Marcel, rhythmic modes, Solesmes Abbey 21st June 202327th June 2023 2 Comments

This interview with Bruno de Labriolle, Gregorian choir leader in Lyon, discusses why historically informed performance of medieval ecclesiastical chant has proved controversial. In this wide-ranging interview, Bruno discusses:

• how very recent changes in chant are wrongly considered to be the way things have always been;
• how and why the work of the Abbey of Solesmes in the 19^th century standardised previously diverse, varied and rich traditions of singing;
• the plainness of modern chant compared to the emotional vitality of medieval singing;
• ways to make sense rhythmically of chant written non-mensurally (without signs for rhythm);
• historical evidence for ornamentation in medieval chant.

The article begins with a recording of Bruno and his singers of Saint-Bruno-des-Chartreux, and includes further videos of Lycourgos Angelopoulos leading the Greek Byzantine Choir, Marcel Pérès leading Ensemble Organum, and soundfiles of Bruno demonstrating singing technique.

Polyphonic treasure in Lambeth Palace: three unique pieces from MS 457, c. 1200

Ian Pittaway Astripotens famulos (Kind ruler of the stars), citole, gittern, gymel, historically informed performance, Lambeth Palace Library MS 457, Mater dei (Mother of God), medieval notation, Miro genere (By a wondrous birth), Notre Dame school, polyphony, rhythmic modes 23rd November 202225th January 2023 5 Comments

Lambeth Palace Library, the national library and archive of the Church of England, has a collection of medieval and renaissance manuscripts which includes MS 457, a compilation of religious matters and, on one folio, four pieces of music from c. 1200, all unique to this source. Three are complete, and two have not been previously performed or recorded to my knowledge.

This article presents a video performance of the three complete and beautiful polyphonic pieces:

Miro genere (By a wondrous birth)
Astripotens famulos (Kind ruler of the stars)
Mater dei (Mother of God)

In the video, each piece is sung in two or three voices as in the manuscript, then played polyphonically on citole or gittern. The article then explains the principles of interpreting the medieval notation.

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 9th February 20221st March 2023 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.

Foweles in þe frith (birds in the wood): mystery and beauty in a 13th century song

Ian Pittaway Foweles in the frith, Foweles in þe frith, gymel, Harley 913, historically informed performance, Lollai lollai litil child, Man mai longe lives weene, mediaeval, medieval, medieval modes, modes, Notre Dame school, polyphony, rhythmic modes, troubadours, Western wind, Westron wynde 12th March 201922nd April 2024 6 Comments

Bibliothèque nationale de France,
Latin 1156 B, folio 4r, 15^th century.
(As with all pictures, click to see larger.)

The 13^th century song, Foweles in þe frith, is among the earliest that survive in the English language. The manuscript has two complete polyphonic voices but only one verse, and so the meaning of its nature imagery and lament for the “beste of bon and blod” has been much debated.

This article places Foweles in þe frith in the context of other surviving secular songs in English; then decodes and deciphers its words and debates its various interpretations: is it a lover’s lament; sorrow for a lost animal; or a song of religious contemplation?

The melody was written by the scribe in notation usually presumed to be non-mensural (non-rhythmic). I argue that the music shows rhythm, clearly written on the page according to medieval musical principles, performed in the video which begins the article.

Kalenda maya, the troubadours, and the lessons of traditional music

Ian Pittaway ars antiqua, estampie, folk music, historically informed performance, Jean de Grouchy, Johannes de Grocheio, Kalenda maya, medieval, medieval notation, Notre Dame school, O'Neill's Music of Ireland, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, rhythmic modes, Souvent souspire mon cuer, traditional music, troubadours, trouvères 10th August 201713th February 2024 4 Comments

BnFms854f.75vRaimbautdeVaqueiras — Raimbaut de Vaqueiras as depicted
in a 14^th century French manuscript
(Bibliothèque nationale de France ms. 854, folio 75v).

Kalenda maya is a 12^th century song by troubadour, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, one of the Occitanian (later southern French) poets and singers who developed the musical tradition of fin’amor, refined or perfect love. Via Roman fertility festivals and Irish fiddle tunes, this article discusses the poetic content of the song and the problems of interpreting the musical notation of Kalenda maya, penned when written music was still developing in medieval Europe. Can there be a definitive version when there are textual variants of the same song or melody? How credible are renditions of Kalenda maya that impose a musical rhythm not present on the original page?

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras based the melody of Kalenda maya on an estampie he heard at court in Italy. Using principles written in 1300, I attempted to reverse engineer the sung estampie back into the tune it originally was. The reasons this proved impossible tell us something important about medieval music and the continuance of the spirit in which it was played.

We begin with a video of two interpretations of the melody played on gittern.

Bird on a briar: interpreting medieval notation, with a HIP harp arrangement

Ian Pittaway bird on a briar, bourdon, bryd one brere, Chaucer Geoffrey, early instruments, early music, Gothic harp, harp, historically informed performance, Lambertus, Langland William, Magister Lambertus, mediaeval, medieval, medieval notation, rhythmic modes, square notation, troubadours, trouvères 27th July 201517th May 2023 7 Comments

The aim of this article is to arrive at a performable and historically justifiable arrangement of the problematic song, bryd one brere, c. 1290–1320. This is the oldest surviving secular love song in the English language with a complete lyric and so it is early music gold-dust, but it does have some severe holes: it is for two voices, but one voice is missing; and some of the roughly-written notation is difficult to decipher. What follows is not the only possible musical solution; but on this journey I’ll take you through the process step by step, so you can decide for yourself if you’re convinced. I’ll also delve a little into the background of the song, arguing that it is clearly influenced by the troubadour and trouvère tradition of fin’amor – refined or perfect love. The article starts with a video performance on voice and medieval harp.