MOTETS AND SONGS FROM THIRTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE

THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL

GOTHIC VOICES CHRISTOPHER PAGE

UR COVER shows a young cleric, perhaps a student at the university of Paris, offering money to a girl who, to judge by the drum in her hand, is off to take part in a ring-dance, or carole. To the left stands a libidinous demon, while to their right a friar holds an open book of the Old Testament and raises his hand in warning. This Parisian picture is a fine emblem of the music on this record: the motet of the thirteenth century. Like the student and the girl, the motet of the years between 1200 and 1300 was caught between the lure of the secular and the summons of the sacredbetween Heaven and Hell. Although it developed from the liturgical music of Paris, the motet form has come down to us with texts of every kind: some devout, some lascivious, some facetious, some wistfully romantic. The music, we may be sure, often has something in common with the songs of the ring-dances, the caroles. It is often music of marvellous daring. To sense what was revolutionary in these pieces between 1210 and 1240 or so, listen to a conductus like Festa januaria bs or any of the polyphonic conducti featured on the Gothic Voices recording Music for the Lion-Hearted King (Helios CDH55292). Those pieces are generally shaped in this way:

VOICE 1 VOICE 2 VOICE 3

Schematic representation of a section of a three-part conductus

This diagram emphasizes that each voice in a polyphonic conductus sings musical phrases of the same length, the phrases entering and leaving together and constantly tending towards units of four beats. This happens because a polyphonic conductus is essentially a strictly measured recitation of one Latin text by two, three or four voices, often a text cast in accentual lines of four stresses. The motet, which emerged around 1200 and had eclipsed the conductus by 1300, followed a different set of principles:
TRIPLUM MOTETUS TENOR
Schematic representation of a section of a three-part motet

As this diagram shows, the Tenor part of a motet (so called from Latin tenere, meaning to hold, because the Tenor part held the piece together) was often arranged in short, stereotyped rhythmic units that were constantly repeated. This Tenor was usually a section of plainchant, whence the Latin cues in the titles of the motets recorded here. These cues, generally present (but not always correctly identified) in the sources, indicate the word or syllable which originally bore the Tenor melody in the chant. Now all of this may seem a sad decline from the humane ideals of the conductus; there the Tenor was usually an expansive and melodious part, freshly made by a composer striving to produce (in the words of one thirteenth-century musician) as beautiful a melody as he can make. This only shows how paradoxical changes in artistic style can be, for the technique of iterating rhythmic units in a small section of plainchant excited the imagination of composers in a powerful way, and hundreds of motets have survived which use this technique. Above all, perhaps, this Tenor organization helps to give the motet its characteristic sense of being suspended in time; we hear that the piece is advancing, and yet the Tenor, exercising many subtle controls over the register and content of the upper parts, keeps circling in one place, refusing to develop. There is another revolutionary concept embodied in the above diagram of motet structure: an overlap of musical phrases. This represents a reaction against the style and sound of the conductus, for motet style exploits the delicious sense of forward movementand of liltwhen a voice brings a phrase to an end just as a phrase in another voice is beginning. A further difference between the conductus and the motet is that in a conductus the voices sing the same words, but in a motet each texted voice has words of its own. Sometimes, indeed, the parts of a motet carry texts which treat different subjects in different languages (track 6 , for example). This produces a sound-picture quite unlike that of a conductus where all the vowelsand all the vowel changesare synchronized. We might say that in a conductus the changes in the harmony of the music are dramatized by abrupt and unanimous changes in the harmonics of the sound (to sing a vowel is to set the vocal tract in a way that will privilege certain
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partials in the note). In the motet, however, a chord may contain two, three or four distinct vowels, and since the texts are different there are no simultaneous changes of vowel timbre. Indeed, synchronization of vowel colour is so rare in the motet that it becomes a special artistic device, as at the end of track bo , where a motet is brought to a decisive close as both the Triplum and the Motetus sing the word amorete, or as in several other items where syllables of the same of similar sound are cunningly placed at the same point in all the voices. A principal result of this contrast is that the conductus lends itself very well to a forthright declamation; the unanimity of vowel timbre produces a bright set of primary shades. The motet, however, often possesses a more veiled sound in performance since the primary colours of the vowels are mixed together, and the more one mixes colours the more opaque the shade becomes. THE MILIEU OF THE MOTET
This kind of music should not be performed before the general populace for they do not understand its subtlety, nor do they delight in hearing it, but [let it only be performed] before the learned and before those who are seeking for subtleties in the arts.

So says Johannes de Grocheio in his De musica of c1300. Johannes adored Paris; leaving his Norman home, where the great town fairs were the principal distractions in a province of vast fields and seigneurial castles, he found in Paris a great city where the bread of the world was baked. This saying, a common one in the 1200s, conveyed more than an assurance that all was well in the wharves and markets by the Seine; it embodied a proud claim that Paris supplied all Europe with the most rigorous theology and the most prudent legal advice. Between 1200 and 1300 the Parisians also provided Europe with the most inventive polyphonic music. As far as we can tell, the motet as represented on this recording was a Parisian creation, and these pieces would originally have been performed either in Paris or in the Parisian circles of men who had spent some time in the schools before returning home or to their religious community. They might be friars, perhaps, who had studied at the expense of their order, or members of a cathedral
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chapter gathered in some house in the close. As Johannes de Grocheio says, motets were for the learned; in other words they were not for the people who thronged the churches of St Gervase and St Leufroy on the great feastsnot for the tanners, carpenters and apothecaries. This is all very well, but there is something suspicious about the ideaa common one todaythat motets were only for intellectuals and connoisseurs. For one thing, it is an idea with a tinge of anachronism; we run the risk of confusing the medieval musician with the twentieth-century stereotype of the composer as intellectual, experimenting with dissonance to produce intense miniatures for the discerning few. Let us remember that the texts of motets are often in the vernacular and would have been intelligible to any tanner or apothecary; what is more, the lively texts and melodies of many voice-parts in motets probably had something in common with the idiom of the dance songs, the caroles, which the students, tradesmen and girls of Paris celebrated on the fields of St Germain (it is a near certainty that snatches of dance songs, both text and music, are quoted in some motets). In short, while it is true that the motet repertoire contains many musical subtleties for the discerning listener, we miss much of the pleasure which they can give if we fail to recognize that their characteristic tone is often poised, to borrow a good phrase from Chaucer, betwixt earnest and game. MELODY AND PERFORMANCE Part of the game lies in the melodic fluency of many of these pieces; they offer lyrical, vocal melodies of an instantly accessible kind. The melodies are highly variable in character, needless to say, but in general they are ingratiating, are beautifully judged to lie in the best part of the voice, and are so delightfully phrased that they embody all the qualities so often celebrated in motet poetry, being cler and legier. Often, in performing these motets, the singer can be moved by the sheer lilt of the music, a quality not usually associated with thirteenthcentury polyphony of any kind. It was certainly a daring step to combine twoor even threesuch melodies, each with its own text, in one composition. How was one supposed to listen to such a piece? It has

been suggested that a motet challenged the listener to follow all the texts at the same time, but that seems unlikely. The comprehensibility of even one text is reduced when we hear it sung, for word-bearing melody has the power to weaken the discursive attention that we usually bring to language when we see it written or hear it said. If two texts are sung simultaneously then full comprehension of each becomes well-nigh impossible and was perhaps not the principal source of delight; the pleasure comes from the sense of sheer diversity and invention that we receive when the ear discerns a moment of one text, now a moment of another, amidst the kaleidoscope of vowel colours. Achieving brightness of vowel timbre, indeed, is a cardinal matter in performing these motets, not only because of the tendency to a certain veiled quality which is present in all polytextual music, but also because vowel colour in a motet is a crucial part of each melodic lines assertion of independence. In this recording we have tried to emphasize the melodic aspect of these pieces by performing some of the motets in layers, presenting one or all of the voices separately, with or without the Tenor, and then assembling them. This practice is not mentioned in any source contemporary with the music but it accords with the sequential nature of the texts in tracks 2 , 5 and 9 (although in the case of track 9 we have opted for a simultaneous performance only). When this technique is employed for a substantial piece such as track 5 the effect is to create an experience of music and poetry in which monophonic melody, polyphony, lyric poetry and narrative sense come together into something much largerand much more variedthan anything suggested by the appearance of the piece in a modern edition. This style of performance can be extended to motets whose poems do not call for sequential presentation; as the individual parts unfold by themselves, we delight both in them and in the anticipation of the final result. MOTETS AND TROUVRE SONG It has often been suggested that the French poetry of motets is derived from the poetry of the trouvres and so on, but judgements of that sort hide more than they reveal. Granted, the love celebrated in motet verse often sounds like the amor of the
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troubadours and trouvreslove as suffering, the lady as physician, and so onbut that was how one spoke of love in Old French poetry, both lyric and narrative; there was no other way. Instead of mistakenly seeking to trace the origins of motet poetry to the trouvres we should rather linger over the differences between the French motet and the trouvre chanson. Before c1240 very few trouvres of note composed poems like those given here for the French motets; compare the songs by Blondel de Nesle or Gautier de Dargies with any of the French motet texts and the contrasts begin to emerge. Trouvre poems are usually made from a set of identical stanzas, not from a single verse paragraph with lines of widely varied length; they rhyme according to a strict pattern, not in an opportunistic way; their rhyming is essentially discreet, not noisy with the iterated sounds of the front vowels i and e; trouvre songs in the High Style are lyrics, not narratives or semi-narratives of shepherds and their rustic loves. The motet poems, in contrast, display all of the features which the trouvre songs do not have, and they wed this essentially light-courtly poetry to a learned musical technique. Compare, for example, the classic troubadour song by Bernart de Ventadorn, Can vei la lauzeta mover bn with the motet voice whose text is initially based upon it bo ; where Bernart is expansive and serious, the motet voice is light and tripping. There is not the least indication in thirteenth-century sources that contemporary musicians would have regarded the large monophonic chanson of the troubadours and trouvres as a slight form beside the polyphonic motet; on the contrary, trouvre songs in the best style were increasingly associated in the thirteenth century with the memory of aristocratic trouvres of the first generationGace Brul, for example, or Gautier de Dargies; our Parisian witness who spoke of the motet, Johannes de Grocheio, rules that trouvre songs should be performed for a royal and princely audience. According to the understanding of vernacular song which developed in twelfth- and thirteenthcentury France, the vernacular motets, with their tendency to short-range melodic patterns, chirping rhymes and the rest, were inherently light and unserious; the pleasing paradox was that their game was wedded to a musical technique that was very much in earnest.
CHRISTOPHER PAGE 1990

All parts of motets are sung simultaneously unless otherwise indicated. The texts are usually laid out in descending order of parts (QuadruplumTriplumMotetusTenor) unless a layered performance is used following narrative sense; in that case the parts are presented in the order in which they are sung.

1 Je ne chant pas / Talens mest pris /

APTATUR / OMNES This four-part piece reminds us that there is no such thing as a typical motet. The contrast between the chattering Triplum and the slower-moving Motetus is a text-book feature of the motet genre, as are the overlapping phrases, yet here they are combined with two Tenors! This piece also shows how the speed of the Tenor relative to the upper parts affects the impetus and indeed the entire character of a motet, for here the Tenors move rapidly, constantly repeating the same six measures of music, giving the piece a considerable thrust. The four-part motets of the thirteenth century have often been regarded as imperfect, over-ambitious works; this recording, which features a high proportion of such pieces, is an attempt to rehabilitate the fourpart motet.
Performance order I Motetus ROGERS COVEY-CRUMP + APTATUR / OMNES II All parts Triplum Je ne chant pas per renvoiserie ne par joliet, car trop mont amors longuement grev, et sai je tous jours bonement endur, nonques ne mi vi damours servir lass, si le ma, ce mest avis, trop mal guerredonn, car nul secours ne nul confort nai encore trouv a ma douce dame, en cui sont nuit et jour tuit mi pens. Las ! si mal la vi, quant ele ma refus ! Car pour samour sui en doulour et en griet, sen ai souvent souspir ; car ja ne me verrai gari dou mal que jai ; quautre de li ne mi puet donner sant. 5

I do not sing from cheerfulness or gaiety, for love has made me suffer so long, and yet I have always endured it willingly, and have never been weary of serving love, though it seems to me that I have been very poorly rewarded; for I have not yet found any help or comfort from my sweet lady, who occupies all my thought night and day. Alas! she was my undoing when she refused me! For love of her I suffer grief and pain, and have heaved many a sigh; I will never see myself cured of this complaint, for none but she can restore me to health. Motetus Talens mest pris de chanter pour celi que jai tant amee; Dieus ! tant mi plaist a remirer son cors gent et sa face coulouree que je ne la puis oublier nuit ne jour, mais sans sejour me convient a li penser ; et si nos a li parler ne dire ma doulour. Las ! par ma folour mit tient li maus que je ne puis endurer, si sai bien que je mourrai des maus damer. I wish to sing for the sake of her I have loved so long; God! I find such pleasure in looking at her fair body and her rosy face that I cannot forget her night or day, but must constantly be thinking of her; and yet I dare not speak to her or tell her of my torment. Alas! through my foolishness I am constrained by my unbearable pain, and I am sure I will die of the pangs of love. APTATUR / OMNES

2 Trois sereurs / Trois sereurs / Trois sereurs /

PERLUSTRAVIT Here is a striking approach to the challenge of composing a motet. The texts are very similar in technique, vocabulary and tone, but the musical settings of the poems, while homogeneous in style, go their own way when sung together and fight for mastery. The level of dissonance is high (the last musical phrase unwinds a string of major seconds between the Triplum and the Quadruplum). This motet exploits a technique which is explored (in a much more spacious way) in track 6 below: a section where all the voices phrase and rest together is followed by one where the voices overlap and tangle. Like many motet texts, these three set us wondering about their literary tone. As I read it, the tone of these poemsas of so much pastoral and semi-pastoral poetry in the motetis wistful (certainly not giving way to boistrous merriment) and even a touch melancholic.
Performance order I Motetus LEIGH NIXON II Triplum RUFUS MLLER III Quadruplum ROGERS COVEY-CRUMP IV All parts Motetus Trois sereurs sor rive mer Three sisters on the seashore chantent cler. sing clearly. Lainnee dit a : The eldest said: On doit bien bele dame amer One should love a beautiful lady, et samor garder and he who has her love cil qui la. should cherish it. Triplum Trois sereurs sor rive mer chantent cler. La mainnee a apel Robin son ami : Prise mavez el bois ram ; reportez mi ! Quadruplum Trois sereurs sor rive mer chantent cler. La jonete fu brunete, de brun ami saati : Three sisters on the seashore sing clearly. The younger called for Robin, her love: You took me from the leafy wood; take me back there! Three sisters on the seashore sing clearly. The youngest one was dark, and had chosen a dark lover: 6

Je sui brune, savrai brun ami ausi. PERLUSTRAVIT

I am dark, so I will have a dark lover as well.

3 En tous tans que vente bise

En tous tans que vente bise, pour cele dont sui soupris, qui nest pas de moi souprise, devient mes cuers noirs et bis. De fine amour lai requise, qui cuer et cors ma espris, et sele nen est esprise, pour mon grant mal la requis. Mais la doleurs me devise qu la meilleur me sui pris qui ainc fust en cest mon prise ; se jestoie a son devis. Tort a mon cuer qui sen prise, quar ne sui pas si eslis. Sele eslit, quele meslise ! Trop seroie de haut pris. Whenever the breeze blows, my heart becomes dark and sombre on account of her whom I love, and who is not in love with me. I have courted her out of True Love, who has captured me body and soul, and, if she too is not captured, it is my great misfortune that I court her. But my grief reminds me that I have addressed myself to the fairest lady who was ever found in this world; if only I were to her liking. My heart is wrong to seek her favour, for I am not sufficiently exalted. If she chooses any, let her choose me! Then I would be exalted indeed.

BLONDEL DE NESLE

Pour cest drois sAmours magree, Thus it is rightso help me Love que mon cuer li ai doun. that I have given my heart to her. Se samour ne ma dounee, Though she has not granted me love, tant la servirai a gr, I will serve her so willingly that, sil plaist a la desirree, if the object of my desire so wishes, que un baisier a cel I shall have a secret kiss avrai de li a celee, from her in secret, que tant ai desirr. as I have desired for so long.

4 Plus bele que flors / Quant revient / Lautrier jouer / FLOS FILIUS EIUS The Quadruplum is an unusual one; it has a strict syllable count (all the lines having five syllables) and a rigorous ABAB rhymescheme throughout. This is matched in the setting. The minor triad which opens the pieceand the major triad which provides its penultimate sonorityshows the kind of strategic dissonance (for so these combinations of intervals were classified) that is to be found in the thirteenth-century motet. See the comments on tracks 6 and bo below. On the whole, however, this is a remarkably restrained and mellifluous piece and one that reveals the beauty of sound which thirteenth-century composers often achieved.

Quadruplum Plus bele que flors est, ce mest avis, cele a cui matour. Tant com soie vis, navra de mamor joie ne deliz autre mes la flor quest de paradis : mere est au Seignor qui si nous a mis et nos au retour veut avoir tout dis. Triplum Quant revient et foille et flor contre la saison dest, Diex ! adonc mi souvient damours qui tot jours ma cortoise et douce est. Molt aim son secors, ca ma volent maliege de mes doulours. Mout en vient biens et honours destre a son gr. Motetus Lautrier jouer men alai par un destor ; en un vergier men entrai por cuillir flor. Dame plaisant i trovai, cointe datour ; cors ot gai, si chantoit par grant esmai : Amors ai, quen ferai ? Cest la fin, la fin, que que nus die, jamerai. FLOS FILIUS EIUS

More beautiful than flowers, I believe, is she to whom I devote myself. As long as I live, none shall have the joy and pleasure of my love save the flower of paradise: she is the mother of the Lord who put us in this world and who always wants us to return to him. When leaves and flowers return and summer approaches, God! then I think again of love which has always been kind and sweet to me. I love the solace of love, which contents me by relieving my suffering. Much good and honour come from serving Love. The other day I went to amuse myself to a secluded place; I went into a garden to pick flowers. I found a fair lady there, elegantly dressed; she was pretty, yet she sang in great distress: I am in love; what shall I do? There is nothing for it: whatever people say, I shall love.

homogeneous is their style; they share a preference for stepwise motion, for a virtually identical range and tessitura, and for a shared repertoire of ornaments. When they are combined and each part competes for attention, we hear the kind of exhilarating tangle and clamour which was so attractive to thirteenth-century listeners, and which restores to the perfect consonanceswhere all the parts agree in fifths and octavesthe almost magical power which medieval music theory attributed to them.
Performing order I Quadruplum ROGERS COVEY-CRUMP II Motetus LEIGH NIXON III Triplum RUFUS MLLER IV All parts Quadruplum [The rustic, lascivious love of shepherds is disdained] Par un matinet lautrier The other morning o chanter un fou bergier, I heard a foolish shepherd singing sen sui esmuz, and I was annoyed, qui se vantoit quil ot ge for he boasted that he had lain tout nuz quite naked entre les deus braz samie. in the arms of his sweetheart. II se vantoit de folie, This was a foolish boast, car tel amour est vilaine ; for love of this kind is disgraceful; mes jain certes plus but I am sure loialment que nus. that I love more nobly than any. Puis que bele dame maime, Since a fair lady loves me, je ne dement plus. I am no longer sad. Motetus [Another speaker addresses the shepherd and envies his success] H, bergier ! si grant envie Hey, shepherd! I am so envious jai de toi, of you de ce que si bone vie since you lead such a merry life as envers moi ; compared to me; onques loialt ne foi I have never found loyalty trover ni poi or faithfulness la ou je lai deservie. where I have deserved it. Et toi, qui de rien servie But as for you who have nas amours, jor ten voi done nothing to serve Love, et vanter toi: I see you rejoicing and boasting: En Iaunai, Beneath the alders, ju en Iaunai I lay beneath the alders os braz mamie. in the arms of my sweetheart. 7

5 Par un matinet / H, sire ! / H, bergier ! / EIUS Here, as in track 2 , are three closely related texts which
welcome a sequential presentation. Isolating the three parts helps to emphasize how well formed they are and also how

Triplum [The shepherd resents what he has just heard, and especially the way his own love-life has just been described] H, sire ! qui vos vantez Hey, sir! you who boast que vos avez that you have deservie deserved cortoisie courtesy et loialt, and loyalty, tel folie do not say ne dites mie such a foolish thing quen vostre amie as that you have found tel vilanie such baseness aiez trouv ; in your sweetheart; et reprov and you were wrong mavez fausement, to accuse me conques amour of never nul jour having served ne servi loialment : Love loyally: Nunques mes ne les senti, I have never les maus damours, felt the pangs of love mes orendroit. till now. EIUS

car la foi Dieu preescha, son cors de pechi garda, en martyre devia. Pour ce quelle sermona et vie dangle mena, lenporta Nostres Sires par ses angles ou mont ou il bailla la sainte loi quil dona a ceus ou tant de bien a. Tant motroi ! Et se vous me demandez pour quoi je ai si grant foi, a mon cuer le demandez, ne mie a moi. Let all who believe in Jesus Christ sing of the virgin Catherine; since this virgin found such great grace in God that she will suffer no evil, near or far. He loved her so much that she received the three crowns which he destined for her, in addition to the common gift which he granted to all who are destined for salvation: for she preached the word of God, kept her body from sin, and died a martyr. Because she preached and led an angelic life, Our Lord had her taken up by his angels to the mountain where he delivered the holy law which he vouchsafed to those who are full of goodness. May he grant me the same! And if you ask me why I have such great faith, ask my heart, not me. Triplum Quant froidure trait a fin encontre la seson que chantent en leur latin par bois cil oiseillon, et verdissent cil gardin, lors est bien raison que je chant de cuer tres fin, quar jai bone achoison, quant cele por qui je chant ma donee samor. Bouche o grant savour 8 As the cold weather comes to an end and the season approaches when the little birds sing in their language in the woods, and the gardens grow green, then it is fitting that I should sing most sincerely, for I have good cause to do so since she of whom I sing has granted me her love. Delightful mouth full of sweetness,

6 De la virge Katerine / Quant froidure / Agmina milicie /

AGMINA In this piece the essential idea of the polytextual motet is carried to its limit. Here are three separate poems which speak of two different subjects in two different languages. Since the notevalues of the Tenor are fairly long relative to those of the upper parts, there is a pedal effect in many measures. There is a very clear contrast in the piece between a first section, where all the voices phrase together, and a second, where the phrases overlap and we sense that each part is struggling for mastery. The strategic placing of the penultimate dissonancein this case an added sixthproduces a striking effect.
Quadruplum De la virge Katerine chantera chascun qui en Jhesuchrist fiance a ; quant la virge en Di si grant grace trouva que nus mas, ne loing ne pres, cele ne lavra. Tant Iama que les trois corones a que li destina par desus le comun bien qua chan douna que sauvez sera:

plaine de douour, euz verz, face vermeilleite de fresche colour ; souz ses mamelettes duretes, blanches comme flour, sa crine a sorete : cain ne fu paintour, nule chose nest portraite com cele est por qui je chant. Diex ! je Iaim tant, ni puis durer : bien sai que mocirra. Diex ! qui li dira ? Ne puis endurer les maus que soufferz ai ja : trop mi fait comparer. Jai beu du boivre amer dont Tristrans morut ja. Je ne sai combien vivrai, fors tant sanz plus com li plera.

green eyes, rosy face fresh of hue; below her breasts, firm, white as flowers, her fair hair hangs down; never was there an artist, never was anything painted like her of whom I sing. God! I love her so much that I cannot last any longer; I am sure it will kill me. God! who will tell her? I cannot bear the pains which I have suffered already: I pay too dearly for my love. I have tasted the bitter drink of which Tristran died long ago. I do not know how long I may live: just as long as it pleases her.

gaudet requie. Carnis habet spolia apex Arabie; Caro caret carie, Mens immundicia. Oleum hec gracie dat et precum suffragia. AGMINA

she rejoices at rest. The summit of Arabia [Mount Sinai] has the spoils of her flesh; her flesh is not decaying, nor her mind impure. She gives this oil of grace and the intercession of prayers.

7 Trop volentiers chanteroie

Trop volentiers chanteroie se je savoie coment, et bone vie menroie se li siecles valoit tant qui me tormente forment ; et nomporqant tote voie chanterai joieusement, que Bone Amors lo maprent. Puis kAmors vuet que je soie liez et renvoisiez sovent et mes fins cuers si outroie si tres debonairement, se li siecles se repent, nule riens je ni donroie, ke Bone Amors me deffent que ja naie cuer dolant. Se giere Deus, je feroie lo siecle tot altrement, et meillor gent i metroie, car cist ni valent neient. Kant plus ont or et argent, vair et gris et dras de soie, tant sont moins large metant; plus que jeus usure prent. De Waignonrut la menroie a Widemont maintenant. Lo boen conte prieroie, kads a lo cuer joiant ; molt en dient bien la gent ; au siecle a bien fait sa voie ; que nus hom ne li deffant tant con lo savront vivant. I would most willingly sing if I knew how, and would lead a happy life if this world which mistreats me so badly had any happiness to offer; but still in spite of this I will sing joyfully, for True Love teaches me how. Since Love wishes me to be happy and cheerful often, and my noble heart consents to this with such good grace, if only the world would mend its ways I would not hold back, for True Love forbids me ever to have a heavy heart. If I were God, I would remake the world quite differently, and put better people in it, for these are quite worthless. The more gold and silver they have, the more furs and silken cloth, the less generously they spend; they are worse than a usurious Jew. I will turn at once from Vignory to Vaudmont. I would exhort the good Count, whose heart is always cheerful; people speak very well of him; he has led a good life; let none oppose him as long as they know him to be alive.

COLIN MUSET

Motetus (text by Philippe the Chancellor) Agmina milicie All the troops celestis omnia of the heavenly army martyris victorie run forth to celebrate occurrunt obvia. the victory of the martyr. Virginis eximie They shout aloud laudant preconia, the praises of the peerless virgin, rosam patiencie the rose of patience, pudoris lilia, the lily of modesty, donum sapiencie, the gift of wisdom, legis eloquia. eloquent advocate of the Law. Virgo regia The royal virgin, regis filia the daughter of the king, Christum regem hodie sees Christ the king in celi regia in the realm of heaven in glory revelata facie with his face revealed. videt in gloria. The gates stand open Christi hostie to the victim for Christ; patent ostia; the fluencies sapientum Grecie of the Greek sages facundie and the arguments sophismatum of sophistries et dogmatum and dogmas argucie and all their lucubrations silent et studia. are silent. Post hec stadia After these contests 9

8 Ave parens / Ad gratie / AVE MARIA

This is probably an English piece, like the next. It is the kind of lyrical, mellifluous hymn to the Virgin that English musicians produced easily (perhaps too easily) in the thirteenth century. Unlike the French pieces, it responds to an intonation closer to Just than Pythagorean.
Triplum Ave parens prolis eximie, virgo carens carnali carie. Flos non arens es tu, lux curie, semper clarens vernanti specie. Stirps [m]arcebat humana crimine; revirebat virente germine; flos florebat, florente virgine, dum latebat deus in homine. Flos, odore fugans demonia, flos, candore lilia et decore precellens omnia, nos amore tibi consocia Maria. Duplum Ad gratie matris obsequia ecclesie gaudet familia. Rex hodie dat matri gaudia ad superne curie vehens sublimia; fit glorie regie regina regia, Hail, mother of a wondrous offspring, virgin lacking in all fleshly corruption. You are a flower that never withers, O light of the [heavenly] court, always resplendant and fresh as Spring. The human stock was withered by sin; it became green once more as the shoot began to blossom; the flower flourished as the virgin flowered while God lay concealed in Man. O flower, whose fragrance puts demons to flight, O flower, surpassing every lily in whiteness and beauty, bring us close to you in love, O Mary. The retinue of the Church rejoices in the rites of the mother of grace. Today, the king gives joys to the mother who is borne aloft to the heights of the heavenly court; she becomes the royal queen of royal glory, 10

leticie latrix egregia. Milicie specie superna gloria, O nimie laudis materia, progenie regum prosapia, mundicie primipilaria, nos hodie venie visita gracia Maria. AVE MARIA

receiver of joy in the sight of all. O celestial glory in the sight of the [heavenly] host, O subject for unceasing praise, descendant from the lineage of kings, leader in all that is pure, come to us today, O Mary, for the sake of forgiveness.

9 Super te Jerusalem / Sed fulsit virginitas /

PRIMUS TENOR / DOMINUS This is either an English piece or a Continental one to which a fourth part has been added to produce a characteristically English triadic sonority. The text flows from the Triplum to the Duplum and therefore a sequential performance would have been possible, but we have opted for a simultaneous one with the lower two parts vocalized. Note the major triad which ends the piece, unthinkable in French music of the thirteenth century.
Triplum Super te Jerusalem de matre virgine ortus est in Bethleem deus in homine; ut gygas substancie processit gemine virginis ex utero sine gravamine. Non fuit feconditas hec viri semine Duplum sed fulsit virginitas de sancto flamine. Ergo, pie virginis flos, pie domine, da medelam criminis matris pro nomine Over you, Jerusalem, God has arisen, becoming man of a virgin mother in Bethlehem; he came forth like a giant of twin substance from the virgins womb without pain. This fertility was not caused by the seed of a man but her virginity took flame from the holy fire. Therefore, O merciful lord, flower of a merciful virgin, give us the remedy for our sin for the sake of your mothers name

ne nos preda demonis simus pro crimine quos preciosi sanguinis emisti flumine. PRIMUS TENOR / DOMINUS

lest we, whom you have bought with the river of your precious blood, become the devils prey through sin.

bl A vous douce debonnaire

A number of motet voices survive, detached from the motets to which they belong, and set down as free-standing secular songs. Here we have taken the Motetus of a two-part motet and present it as an independent song, first as it survives in a motet, and then with editorial ornaments based upon what can be deduced about thirteenth-centry ornamentation from musical and theoretical sources.
Performing order: I Motetus II Motetus with ornamentation [Motetus] A vous douce debonnaire, restors de toute ma vie, me complai[n]g de mes dolor[s] et di, que ne sai que fere, se je nai la vostre ae. Aimi, bele douce amie, qui jaim de loial amor ; pour Diu, prengne voz envie ne conforter vostre ami ! Si fers comme loiale et seront li mal meri, que jai por vos, damoisele, quautrement mavs trai ; si di : Aimi, aimi, Marotele, voz trais fame de mi ! TENOR omitted

above it in pitch. The Motetus shows motet melody at its best: generously filling the best part of the voice, and full of lilt. When the Triplum enters the composers scheme becomes clear, for this motet begins farily low in the two voices and then, towards the middle, moves its whole tessitura up a minor third and seems to linger there in that suspended way so characteristic of the motet. A pungent and sustained dissonance of a minor second, quite unlike anything else in the piece, prepares the final cadence.
Performing order I Motetus RUFUS MLLER + MULIERUM II All parts Triplum Mout souvent mont demand Time and again many people plusours have asked me if I am in love, se jaim, pour ce que je sui jolis. since I am so cheerful. Ol, que jaim la meillour Yes, for I love the best qui soil en tout cest pas. lady in all the land. Mout a biaut, ce mest vis : I find her most beautiful; ses cors est poliz, she is of graceful bearing chief luisant, sorciz, with shining hair, fine eyebrows, biaus euz verz, menton bien asis, beautiful green eyes, well-shaped col plus blanc que ne soit flour chin and a neck which is whiter de lis. than lilies. Quen puis je, se je sui ses amis, How can I help being in love with her quant elle est si bele et si gentis when she is so beautiful, so gracious quen li ne faut fors mercis ? that she lacks nothing but mercy? Motetus Mout ai est en dolour longuement pour bien amer, et sui encor chascun jor ; si ne men puis destourber, tant a douour, biaut, bont, et cors gent de bel atour, euz rianz pour cuer navrer, douz vis, fresche colour. Je ne vi en li rien a blasmer, fors que je ne puis merci trover ; ensi me tient en langour, ne ja pour ce ne partirai de samour. MULIERUM 11 I have suffered for a very long time for loving faithfully, and I suffer still each day; yet I cannot leave her, for she has such sweetness, beauty, goodness and such graceful bearing, smiling eyes which pierce my heart, sweet face and fresh colouring. I have found nothing to criticize in her, except that I cannot obtain mercy; thus she keeps me languishing, but nonetheless I cannot stop loving her.

To you, sweet and courteous one who has restored my whole life, I complain of my sorrow and say that I do not know what to do unless you come to my aid. Alas! beautiful and sweet friend whom I love with a loyal love, for the love of God, may you soon wish to comfort your friend! That would be a faithful gesture and the pains that I have suffered for you, lady, would be recompensed, for otherwise you have betrayed me. Thus I say Alas, alas Marotele, you have captured my soul.

bm Mout souvent / Mout ai est en dolour / MULIERUM

The opening duet of Motetus and Tenor shows how much delicious and carefully controlled counterpoint there is to be found in the two-part writing of the motet repertoire. Notice how the Tenor (here vocalized, as are all the Tenors on this recording) moves in very similar note values to the Motetus and often lies

bn Can vei la lauzeta mover

Can vei la lauzeta mover de joi sas alas contral rai, que soblide.s laissa chazer per la doussor cal cor li vai, ai ! tan grans enveya men ve de cui queu veya jauzion, meravilhas ai, car desse lo cor de dezirer no.m fon. Ai, las ! tan cuidava saber damor, e tan petit en sai ! car eu damar no.m posc tener celeis don ja pro non aurai. tout ma mo cor, e tout ma me, e se mezeis e tot lo mon ; e can sem tolc, no.m laisset re mas dezirer e cor volon. Pus ab midons no.m pot valer precs ni merces ni.l dreihz queu ai, ni a leis no ven a plazer queu lam, ja mais no.lh o dirai. assi.m part de leis e.m recre ; mort ma, e per mort li respon, e vau men, pus ilh no.m rete, chaitius, en issilh, no sai on. Tristans, ges no.n auretz de me, queu men vau, chaitius, no sai on ; de chanter me gic e.m recre, e de joi e damor mescon. When I see the lark unfurl his wings for joy against the suns rays, and how he lingers and lets himself swoop down because of the sweetness that floods his heart, ah! I am filled with such great envy towards all creatures I see rejoice; I marvel that my heart does not immediately melt with desire. Alas! How much I thought I knew about love, and how little I know of it! I cannot keep myself from loving one from whom I will never have any reward. She has taken from me my heart, myself, herself and the whole world, and when she robs me she leaves me nothing but desire and a longing heart. Since entreaties, mercy, my rights cannot help me to win my lady, and since it does not please her that I speak of my love, I speak no more. Thus I yield and leave her service; she has killed me, I reply with death. Since she will not have me in her service, I go wretched into exile, I know not where. Tristran, you will hear no more of me for I am going wretched away, I know not where; I forsake singing and withdraw from it, and I flee from love and joy.

BERNART DE VENTADORN

Diex ! damer la plus bele del mont : to love the fairest lady in the world; les ieus a vairs, le chief a blont, her eyes are bright, her hair is blond, bele bouche et poli front, her mouth is fine and her forehead la char a blanchete smooth, her skin is fairer than the plus que la noif qui vient damont. snow which falls from above. Sest bele joenete, She is young and pretty, but the mes mesdisant grev mi ont ; scandalmongers have slandered me; Diex leur pait leur dete, may God make them pay for it, si leur criet les ieus du front : may he tear the eyes adonques en pais seront out of their heads: amoretes. then love will be left in peace. Motetus Diex ! je ne men partir ja de ma douce amiete, qui tant est doucete : sa tres grant biaut soupris ma, et sa bele bouchete, sa tres douce gorgete. Tot mon cuer membla quant premiers a moi parla : tant la vi joliete et si douce me sembla sa face vermeillete, qui si mesprist et embrasca le cuer soz la mamelete, que touz jourz mon cuer avra et plus renvoisiez en sera damoretes. NEUMA God! I will never leave my fair sweetheart, who is so very sweet; her great beauty has captivated me, her pretty little mouth and her sweet little throat. She stole my heart away the first time she spoke to me; she looked so pretty and her rosy little face seemed so sweet that my heart was enamoured and inflamed in my breast, and my heart will always be hers, which will make her all the more happy in love.

bo Quant voi Ialoete / Diex ! je ne men partir ja / NEUMA

Compare the melodic style of the Triplum with Bernarts song.
Performing order: I Triplum ROGERS COVEY-CRUMP II All parts Triplum Quant voi laloete qui saut et volete en lair contremont, adont me halete le cuer, et semont,

bp En non Dieu / Quant voi la rose / NOBIS This is one of the most closely wrought motets in the whole repertoire. The texts are interrelated to an extraordinary degree, sharing phrases, syntactical constructions and rhyme words. Some of these echoes are cunningly placed to mark points of melodic imitation (e.g. et le roussignol chanter in the third line of both poems), for the melodies display as many interrelations as their texts.
Performing order I Motetus RUFUS MLLER II All parts Triplum En non Dieu, que que nus die, quant voi lerbe vert et le tens cler 12

When I see the lark swooping and soaring up in the air, then my heart leaps and exhorts meOh God!

In Gods name, whatever people say, when I see the fresh green grass and the fine weather

et le roussignol chanter, adonc fine amour me prie doucement dune joliete chanter : Marion, laisse Robin pour moi amer ! Bien me doi asss pener et chapel de flours porter pour si bele amie, quant voi la rose espanie, lerbe vert et le tens cler. Motetus Quant voi la rose espanie, lerbe vert et le tens cler et le roussignol chanter, adonc fine amour menvie de joie faire et mener, car qui naimme, il ne vit mie ; por ce se doit on pener davoir amours et amie et servir et honourer, qui en joie vuelt durer ; en non Dieu, que que nus die, au cuer mi tient li maus damer. NOBIS

and the nightingale singing, then true love compels me to sing sweetly about a pretty girl: Marion, leave Robin and love me! I ought to try my best and wear a wreath of flowers for such a pretty sweetheart, when I see the rose in bloom, the fresh green grass and fine weather. When I see the rose in bloom, the fresh green grass and fine weather and the nightingale singing, then true love urges me to be joyful, for he who does not love does not live; so anyone who wants lasting happiness ought to try his best to find love and a sweetheart and to serve and honour them both. In Gods name, whatever people say, the pangs of love assail my heart.

je men doi trop bien doloir ; quant plus serai clamez las, plus devroie joie avoir. Sa faon a deviser voudroie tous jours or ; tant est bele, a li loer nus hom nen porroit mentir ; pour ce nen fais a blasmer se me pain de li servir. Vendre me puet u douner, ses sers sui sanz rachater, ne ja ne men quier franchir ; mieuz aim ensi endurer quun grant roiame a tenir.

I have good cause for grief; the more people think me wretched, the more joyful I ought to be. I would like every day to hear her appearance described. She is so beautiful that in praising her no one could overstep the truth; I do not deserve to be criticized for exerting myself in her service. She may sell me or give me away, I am her servant unconditionally and wish never to be freed; I prefer to suffer thus than to rule a great kingdom.

br Je men vois / Tels a mout / OMNES Perhaps more than any other, this piece conveys that feeling of time standing still which seems to lie at the heart of the motet idea. The Tenor is a simple and very short musical phrase, constantly repeated, in which the note F predominates. As a result the piece is almost one long, decorated chord of F.
Performing order I Triplum MARGARET PHILPOT + OMNES II All parts Triplum Je men vois, ma douce amie, I am going, my sweetheart, si vous lais, ce poise moi, and it grieves me to leave you, quonques mais en ma vie for never in my life ne fis si grief departie. was I so sorry to depart. Bien sai quon ma encus ; I know I have been criticized, mes som ma sevr but though I have been separated de vo compagnie, from your company ne sont aillours mi pens. my thoughts are of none but you. Jains la bele, la blonde, la sage ; My love is pretty, blonde, well bred; tout li ai mon cuer donn. I have given my heart to her wholly. Bien le tieng a assen ; I think him fortunate indeed: a son gr he may enjoy himself faire en puet sa volent ; with her to his hearts content; ne li fera fors bont, she will always treat him well car pleinne est dumilit. for she is full of humility. Motetus Tels a mout le cuer hardi en cuidier et en penser, qui la couart et failli quant ce vient au demonstrer ; 13 Some men are bold enough in thought and imagination, but craven and cowardly when it comes to action;

bq Autres que je ne sueill fas

Autres que je ne sueill fas mon chant des autres mouvoir, car ainc ne fui un jour las damer celi mon pooir qui si me tient en ses las : de li ne me puis mouvoir. Petit me vaut mes pourchaz ; dune chose la manas : se je muir par son voloir ce sera mauvez eschaz ; mainz en avra de pooir. Ses gens cors et si bel braz me font en samour manoir ; ses simples vis, ses reguars me sorent si decevoir quen remirer son soulaz ai mis trestout mon pooir ; ne sui mie espris a gas : se jai choisi haut ou bas, Contrary to my usual custom I am composing a song just like the others, for never for a single day have I been weary of loving to the best of my power her who holds me in thrall; I cannot leave her. My pursuit of her is fruitless. I warn her of one thing: if I die by her wish, it will be the worse for her; her power will be diminished. Her fair body and her graceful arms keep me in love with her; her sincere expression and her look deceived me so successfully that I have devoted all my powers to enjoying her company; this is no frivolous infatuation. Whether I have aimed high or low,

GAUTIER DE DARGIES

ce puet on bien esprouver en amant ; pour moi le di, qui soupris sui damer celi que jonques ne vi ses ieus envers mi tourner ; si ne la puis oublier ; certes, ce poise mi, car je lains tant et craing si que ne sai comment a li puisse parler. Dieus ! je ni os aler, comment aroi merci ? OMNES

this can easily be seen in a lover. I mean myself, for I am stricken with love for her whom I have never seen turn her eyes in my direction; yet I cannot forget her; it grieves me indeed, for I love and fear her so much that I do not know how I can possibly speak to her. Oh God! I dare not go to her; how shall I obtain mercy?

A knowledge of the history of the motet can do much to enhance ones enjoyment of these pieces but cannot be discussed here. See the entry Motet in The New Grove. For further information on the style of performance adopted for this recording, see Christopher Page, The performance of Ars Antiqua Motets, Early Music, 16 (1988), pp 147164 All parts of motets are sung simultaneously unless otherwise indicated. The texts are usually laid out in ascending order of parts (Quadruplum, Triplum, Motetus, Tenor) unless a layered performance is used following narrative sense; in that case the parts are presented in the order in which they are sung. Translations are by Stephen Haynes (tracks 1 7 , bm and bo br ) and Christopher Page (tracks 6 [Latin text], 8 bl , bn and bs ).

bs Festa januaria
This is the one conductus on this recording. It shows the kind of sound which the motet composers were trying to replace with another, so very different.
Performing order I Top part ROGERS COVEY-CRUMP II All parts Festa januaria festiva sunt festorum, vera figuralia insignia signorum. Hec luminum oblatio, hec est illuminatio qua patet declaratio rataque rerum ratio. [Sillabatim neumata proinde perstringamus pariter organica; ornate predicamus quod reseratur janua et complanantur ardua. Cantemus nunc melliflua per festa januaria!]

The feasts of January are the festivities of all feasts, true symbols and the most significant of signs. This offering of lights is an illumination in which there is a declaration and a true understanding of things. [Let us therefore join musical phrases together, syllable by syllable, all of them equally polyphonic; we proclaim in an ornamented fashion that the door is unbarred and that the steep places have been levelled. Let us therefore sing honeyed things throughout the feasts of January!]

Special thanks to Ann Lewis and Mark Everist for much help and advice, and also to Duane Lakin-Thomas and Rgine Page.

Recorded in the Church of the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, on 2123 March 1990 Recording Engineer TONY FAULKNER Recording Producer MARTIN COMPTON Executive Producers CECILE KELLY, EDWARD PERRY P Hyperion Records Limited, London, 1990 C Hyperion Records Limited, London, 2007 (Originally issued on Hyperion CDA66423) The front illustration is taken from a Bible illuminated in Paris c1250 London, British Library, MS Harley 1526, f.31r

[Second verse of text by Christopher Page] All notes by CHRISTOPHER PAGE 1990 All Hyperion and Helios compact discs may be purchased from

www.hyperion-records.co.uk
where you will also find an up-to-date catalogue listing 14

Also available: The Castle of Fair Welcome Courtly Songs of the later fifteenth century Compact Disc CDH55274

Gothic Voices Gramophone Award Winners Collection A FEATHER ON THE BREATH OF GOD Sequences and hymns by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen THE SERVICE OF VENUS AND MARS Music for the Knights of the Garter A SONG FOR FRANCESCA Music in Italy, 13301430 3 Compact Discs CDS44251/3

The Spirits of England and France Music of the later Middle Ages for Court and Church Compact Disc CDH55281

15

LE MARIAGE DU CIEL ET DE LENFER

MOTETS ET CHANSONS DE LA FRANCE DU XIIIe SICLE
UR NOTRE COUVERTURE, un jeune clerc, peut-tre un tudiant de lUniversit de Paris, offre de largent une jeune fille qui, en juger daprs son tambour, sen va prendre part une ronde, une carole. Sur la gauche, un dmon libidineux guette, tandis qu droite un frre tient un exemplaire ouvert de lAncien Testament et lve la main en signe davertissement. Cette image parisienne est un bel emblme de la musique de ce disque : le motet du XIIIe sicle qui, comme ltudiant et la jeune fille, se trouva pris entre la tentation du profane et lappel du sacrentre le Ciel et lEnfer. Bien que ne de la musique liturgique parisienne, la forme motet nous est parvenue avec tout un ventail de textes : dvots, lascifs, factieux, mlancoliquement romantiques. Quant la musique, elle a, pour sr, frquemment voir avec les chansons des rondes (caroles). Cette musique est merveilleusement ose. Pour prouver le caractre rvolutionnaire de ces pices composes entre 1210 et 1240 environ, il nest que dcouter un conductus comme Festa januaria bs ou encore lun des conducti polyphoniques enregistrs par les Gothic Voices sur le disque Music for the Lion-Hearted King (Helios CDH55292). Ces uvres sont gnralement structures ainsi :

Le motet qui, apparu vers 1200, avait clips le conductus en 1300, suivait un tout autre ensemble de principes :
TRIPLUM MOTETUS TENOR
Reprsentation schmatique dune section de motet trois parties

VOIX 1 VOIX 2 VOIX 3

Reprsentation schmatique dune section de conductus trois parties

Ce diagramme met en lumire le fait suivant : dans un conductus polyphonique, chaque voix chante des phrases musicales de mme longueur, des phrases qui entrent et sortent ensemble, tendant constamment vers des units de quatre mesures. cela, une raison : le conductus polyphonique est avant tout la rcitation strictement mesure (par deux, trois ou quatre voix) dun texte latin souvent coul dans des vers accentuels de quatre accents.
16

Comme le montre ce diagramme, la partie de Tenor dun motet (partie qui tire son nom du latin tenere, tenir , le Tenor tant ce qui tient la pice) tait souvent arrange en units rythmiques courtes, strotypes et constamment rptes. Ce Tenor tait habituellement une section de plain-chant, do les entres latines dans les titres des motets enregistrs ici. Ces entres, gnralement prsentes (mais pas toujours correctement identifies) dans les sources, indiquent le mot ou la syllabe qui portaient lorigine la mlodie du Tenor dans le plain-chant. Or, tout ceci peut sembler un triste dclin par rapport aux idaux humanistes du conductus, o le Tenor tait en gnral une partie expansive et mlodieuse, frachement crite par un compositeur singniant produire (pour citer un musicien du XIIIe sicle) une mlodie aussi belle quil se pourra . Voil qui montre seulement combien les changements de style artistique peuvent tre paradoxaux, car litration dunits rythmiques dans une petite section de plain-chant excita puissamment limagination des compositeurs, et des centaines de motets nous sont parvenus, qui utilisent cette technique. Surtout, peuttre, cette organisation du Tenor concourt ce que le motet donne le sentiment, si caractristique, dtre suspendu dans le temps : on entend que la pice progresse et, pourtant, le Tenor, exerant maints contrles subtils sur le registre et le contenu des parties suprieures, ne cesse de tourner sur place, refusant de se dvelopper. Le diagramme de la structure du motet renferme un autre concept rvolutionnaire : le chevauchement de phrases musicales. Ragissant contre le style et le son du conductus, le

motet exploite le dlicieux sentiment de mouvement vers lavantet de rythmequi survient lorsquune voix termine une phrase au moment mme o une autre voix en entame une nouvelle. Autre diffrence entre conductus et motet : dans le premier, les voix chantent les mmes paroles, tandis que, dans le second, chaque voix dispose de son propre texte, voire de textes traitant de diffrents sujets, dans diffrentes langues (piste 6 , par exemple). Do une image sonore trs loigne de celle dun conductus, o toutes les voyelleset tous les changements vocaliquessont synchronises. On pourrait donc dire que, dans un conductus, les changements dans lharmonie de la musique sont dramatiss par de brusques et unanimes changements dharmoniques (chanter une voyelle, cest placer le tractus vocal de manire privilgier certains partiels dans la note). Dans le motet, en revanche, un accord peut renfermer deux, trois ou quatre voyelles distinctes et, comme les textes sont diffrents, il ny a aucun changement de timbre vocalique simultan. En fait, la synchronisation de la couleur vocalique est si rare, dans le motet, quelle en devient un procd artistique part, comme la fin de la piste bo , quand un motet sachve rsolument sur le Triplum et le Motetus chantant le mot amorete , ou bien, comme dans plusieurs autres pices, quand des syllabes identiques, de mme sonorit, sont habilement disposes au mme endroit, toutes les voix. De ce contraste, il rsulte surtout que le conductus se prte fort bien une dclamation franche et directe, lunanimit du timbre vocalique produisant un ensemble clatant de nuances primaires. Le motet, lui, possde, une fois interprt, une sonorit davantage voile car les couleurs primaires des voyelles sont mlanges, et plus on mlange les couleurs, plus la teinte sopacifie. LE CONTEXTE DU MOTET On ne doit pas servir cette musique-l devant la masse, car elle nen peroit pas la subtilit et ne se plat pas lcouter,
17

mais devant les lettrs et ceux qui recherchent les subtilits de lart. Ainsi sexprime Johannes de Grocheio [Jean de Grouchy] dans son De musica (vers 1300). Johannes adorait Paris : ayant quitt sa Normandie, province de vastes domaines et de chteaux seigneuriaux o les grandes foires municipales constituaient les principales distractions, il trouva l une importante cit o le pain du monde tait cuit . Ce dicton, courant dans les annes 1200, ne se contentait pas dassurer que tout allait bien sur les quais et les marchs de la Seine : il incarnait la fire affirmation selon laquelle Paris fournissait toute lEurope la thologie la plus rigoureuse et les conseils juridiques les plus aviss. De 1200 1300, les Parisiens offrirent cette mme Europe la musique polyphonique la plus inventive. Pour autant quon puisse dire, le motet, tel quil apparat sur ce disque, fut une cration parisienne et ces pices ont t, lorigine, interprtes soit Paris, soit dans les cercles parisiens constitus dhommes qui avaient frquent quelque temps les coles de la ville avant de retourner chez eux ou dans leur communaut religieuse. Peut-tre sagissait-il de frres qui avaient tudi aux frais de leur ordre ou de membres dun chapitre cathdral runis dans une maison de lenceinte. Johannes de Grocheio le dit bien : les motets sadressaient aux lettrs ; en dautres termes, ils ntaient pas pour le peuple pas pour les tanneurs, les charpentiers, les apothicairesqui, lors des grandes ftes, se pressait dans les glises de SaintGervais et de Saint-Leufroy. Voil qui est trs bien, mme sil y a quelque chose de suspect dans lide, courante aujourdhui, de motets destins aux seuls intellectuels et connaisseurs. Dabord, il sagit dune ide empreinte danachronisme, qui nous fait risquer de confondre le musicien mdival avec notre strotype du compositeur intellectuel, exprimentant la dissonance pour produire dintenses miniatures destines la minorit sagace. Rappelons que les textes des motets sont souvent rdigs en langue vernanculaire et donc intelligibles nimporte quel

tanneur ou apothicaire ; au surplus, les textes enjous et les mlodies plusieurs parties vocales de ces uvres ntaient certainement pas sans lien avec lidiome des chansons danser (caroles), que les tudiants, les marchands et les filles de Paris glorifiaient Saint-Germain (on est presque sr que certains motets citent des fragments de chansons danser, texte et musique). Bref, sil est vrai que le rpertoire du motet renferme maintes subtilits musicales lintention de lauditeur sagace, nous passons en grande partie ct du plaisir de ces pices si nous ne parvenons pas renconnatre que leur ton caractristique tient souvent lquilibre entre srieux et jeu , pour reprendre un bon mot de Chaucer. MLODIE ET INTERPRTATION Le jeu rside en partie dans la fluidit mlodique de nombre de ces pices aux mlodies vocales lyriques instantanment accessibles et de caractre fort variable, il va sans dire, mais gnralement avenantes, merveilleusement jauges pour occuper la meilleure partie de la voix et si dlicieusement phrases quelles incarnent toutes les vertus tant clbres dans la posie du motet (cler et legier). Souvent, lorsquil interprte ces motets, le chanteur peut tre mu par le rythme pur de la musique, une qualit que lon ne prte habituellement pas la polyphonie, quelle quelle soit, du XIIIe sicle. Combiner dans une mme composition deux, voire trois de ces mlodies, avec chacune son propre texte, constitua certainement un pas audacieux. Comment tait-on suppos couter une telle pice ? Daucuns ont suggr que le motet mettait lauditeur au dfi de suivre tous les textes la fois, mais cela semble peu probable. La comprhensibilit dun texte, ftil unique, est rduite quand il est chant, la mlodie porteuse des mots ayant le pouvoir daffaiblir lattention discursive que nous donnons gnralement au langage crit ou prononc. Si deux textes sont chants en mme temps, la pleine comprhension de chacun deux devient presque impossible, mais peut-tre la principale source de plaisir tait-elle ailleurs, dans le sentiment de diversit et dinvention absolues que nous prouvons lorsque notre oreille discerne, dans le kalidoscope de couleurs vocaliques, un moment dun texte ou de lautre. La
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clart de timbre vocalique est, en ralit, un but cardinal quand on interprte ces motets, non seulement cause dune certaine tendance au voile inhrente toute musique pluritextuelle, mais parce que, dans un motet, la couleur vocalique concourt pour beaucoup laffirmation dindpendance de chaque ligne mlodique. Dans cet enregistrement, nous avons tent daccuser laspect mlodique des motets en en interprtant certains en couches , en prsentant une voix ou lensemble des voix sparment, avec ou sans le Tenor, avant de les runir. Cette pratique nest mentionne dans aucune source de lpoque mais elle saccorde avec la nature squentielle des textes des pistes 2 , 5 et 9 (mme si, dans ce dernier cas, nous navons opt que pour une interprtation simultane). Lorsquelle est employe pour une pice substantielle comme celle de la piste 5 , cette technique vise crer une exprience musicopotique o mlodie monophonique, polyphonie, posie lyrique et sens narratif sunissent en quelque chose de bien plus grandet de bien plus varique tout ce que peut suggrer une dition moderne de cette pice. Ce style dexcution peut tre tendu aux motets dont les pomes nappellent pas de prsentation squentielle : comme les parties se dploient individuellement, nous prenons plaisir et elles, et lanticipation du rsultat final. MOTETS ET CHANSONS DE TROUVRES On a souvent avanc que la posie franaise des motets tait drive de la posie des trouvres , etc., mais ce genre darguments tait plus quil ne rvle. Certes, lamour clbr dans les vers du motet ressemble souvent lamor des troubadours et des trouvres (lamour-souffrance, la damemdecin ), mais ctait ainsi que lon parlait damour dans la posie en vieux franais, lyrique et narrativeainsi et pas autrement. Alors, au lieu de chercher fallacieusement chez les trouvres les racines de la posie du motet, mieux vaudrait sattarder sur ce qui distingue le motet franais de la chanson de trouvre. Avant 1240 environ, bien peu de trouvres renomms composrent des pomes comme ceux des motets franais prsents ici : comparez les textes de nimporte quel motet

franais avec les chansons de Blondel de Nesle ou de Gautier de Dargies et les contrastes ne tarderont pas apparatre. Les pomes de trouvres reposent gnralement sur un ensemble de stances identiques, et non sur un seul paragraphe aux vers de longueur extrmement variable ; ils riment selon un schma strict, et non de manire opportuniste ; leur rime, foncirement discrte, nest pas rendue bruyante par les itrations des voyelles antrieures ( i et e ) ; enfin, les chansons de trouvres en style lev sont des pomes lyriques, ni narratifs ni semi-narratifs, qui voquent les bergers et leurs amours agrestes. Les pomes des motets, a contrario, affichent toutes les caractristiques absentes des chansons de trouvres et marient une posie avant tout courtoisement lgre une technique musicale savante. Comparez, par exemple, la classique chanson de troubadour Can vei la lauzeta mover bn (Bernart de Ventadorn) avec la voix de motet dont le texte repose initialement sur cette chanson bo : l o Bernart est expansif et srieux, la voix de motet est lgre et primesautire. Rien, absolument rien dans les sources du XIIIe sicle nindique que les musiciens dalors regardaient la grande chanson mono-

phonique des troubadours et des trouvres comme une forme faible compar au motet polyphonique ; au contraire, les chansons de trouvres du meilleur style furent de plus en plus associes, au XIIIe sicle, au souvenir des trouvres aristocrates de la premire gnration (ainsi Gace Brul ou Gautier de Dargies) ; notre tmoin parisien en matire de motet, Johannes de Grocheio, stipule que les chansons de trouvres doivent tre interprtes devant un auditoire royal et princier. Conformment la comprhension de la chanson vernaculaire qui se dveloppa aux XIIe et XIIIe sicles, les motets vernaculaires, avec leur propension des modles mlodiques restreints et, entre autres, des rimes guillerettes furent intrinsquement lgers et frivoles ; le paradoxe plaisant venait de ce que leur jeu tait mari une technique musicale des plus srieuses .
CHRISTOPHER PAGE 1990
Traduction HYPERION 2007

Remerciements particuliers Ann Lewis et Mark Everist, qui mont beaucoup aid et conseill, ainsi qu Duane LakinThomas et Rgine Page.

If you have enjoyed this recording perhaps you would like a catalogue listing the many others available on the Hyperion and Helios labels. If so, please write to Hyperion Records Ltd, PO Box 25, London SE9 1AX, England, or email us at info@hyperion-records.co.uk, and we will be pleased to post you one free of charge. The Hyperion catalogue can also be accessed on the Internet at www.hyperion-records.co.uk Si vous souhaitez de plus amples dtails sur ces enregistrements, et sur les nombreuses autres publications du label Hyperion, veuillez nous crire Hyperion Records Ltd, PO Box 25, London SE9 1AX, England, ou nous contacter par courrier lectronique info@hyperion-records.co.uk, et nous serons ravis de vous faire parvenir notre catalogue gratuitement. Le catalogue Hyprion est galement accessible sur Internet : www.hyperion-records.co.uk
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CDH55273

THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL

Motets and songs from thirteenth-century France
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs
Je ne chant pas / Talens mest pris / APTATUR / OMNES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a b d e Trois sereurs / Trois sereurs / Trois sereurs / PERLUSTRAVIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b c d e BLONDEL DE NESLE (fl 11801200) En tous tans que vente bise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a Plus bele que flors / Quant revient / Lautrier jouer / FLOS FILIUS EIUS . . . . . . . a b c d Par un matinet / H, sire ! / H, bergier ! / EIUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b c d e De la virge Katerine / Quant froidure / Agmina milicie / AGMINA . . . . . . . . . . . . a b c e COLIN MUSET (fl c12001250) Trop volentiers chanteroie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a Ave parens / Ad gratie / AVE MARIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a b d Super te Jerusalem / Sed fulsit virginitas / PRIMUS TENOR / DOMINUS . . . . . . . a b c d A vous douce debonnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b Mout souvent / Mout ai est en dolour / MULIERUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b c d BERNART DE VENTADORN (11251195) Can vei la lauzeta mover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d Quant voi laloete / Diex! je ne men partir ja / NEUMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b c d En non Dieu / Quant voi la rose / NOBIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b c d GAUTIER DE DARGIES (c1165after 1236) Autres que je ne sueill fas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b Je men vois / Tels a mout / OMNES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a b f Festa januaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b c d
[2'19] [2'11] [2'50] [1'15] [4'37] [2'15] [3'44] [1'35] [1'10] [3'08] [2'50] [3'43] [1'52] [2'41] [4'01] [2'40] [2'18]

GOTHIC VOICES
MARGARET PHILPOT alto (a) ROGERS COVEY-CRUMP tenor (b) RUFUS MLLER tenor (c) LEIGH NIXON tenor (d) STEPHEN CHARLESWORTH baritone (e) directed by CHRISTOPHER PAGE medieval harp

(f)

NOTES EN FRANAIS

HELIOS CDH55273

A wonderful collection. Lusciously sung sensuous music a remarkable addition to the distinguished series of records from Gothic Voices (Gramophone) A compelling musical experience and a provocative intellectual one (The Good CD Guide)

CDH55273
Duration 46'26

THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL GOTHIC VOICES . CHRISTOPHER PAGE

THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL

Motets and songs from thirteenth-century France
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs
Je ne chant pas / Talens mest pris / APTATUR / OMNES [2'19] Trois sereurs / Trois sereurs / Trois sereurs / PERLUSTRAVIT [2'11] BLONDEL DE NESLE En tous tans que vente bise [2'50] Plus bele que flors / Quant revient / Lautrier jouer / FLOS FILIUS EIUS [1'15] Par un matinet / H, sire ! / H, bergier ! / EIUS [4'37] De la virge Katerine / Quant froidure / Agmina milicie / AGMINA [2'15] COLIN MUSET Trop volentiers chanteroie [3'44] Ave parens / Ad gratie / AVE MARIA [1'35] Super te Jerusalem / Sed fulsit virginitas / PRIMUS TENOR / DOMINUS [1'10] A vous douce debonnaire [3'08] Mout souvent / Mout ai est en dolour / MULIERUM [2'50] BERNART DE VENTADORN Can vei la lauzeta mover [3'43] Quant voi laloete / Diex! je ne men partir ja / NEUMA [1'52] En non Dieu / Quant voi la rose / NOBIS [2'41] GAUTIER DE DARGIES Autres que je ne sueill fas [4'01] Je men vois / Tels a mout / OMNES [2'40] Festa januaria [2'18]

THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL GOTHIC VOICES . CHRISTOPHER PAGE

A HYPERION RECORDING

DDD

MADE IN ENGLAND

GOTHIC VOICES CHRISTOPHER PAGE director

Recorded on 2123 March 1990 Recording Engineer TONY FAULKNER Recording Producer MARTIN COMPTON Executive Producers CECILE KELLY, EDWARD PERRY P Hyperion Records Limited, London, 1990 C Hyperion Records Limited, London, 2007 (Originally issued on Hyperion CDA66423) The front illustration is taken from a Bible illuminated in Paris c1250 London, British Library, MS Harley 1526, f.31r

HELIOS CDH55273