ZODIAC: Capilla Flamenca - Dirk Snellings

ZODIAC

Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior in the Low Countries and Europe

Capilla Flamenca
Dirk Snellings, artistic director

Two treatises appearing in France around 1320 provided a name for this age in music, Philippe de Vitry's Ars Nova(New Art) and Ars novae musicae(The Art of the New Music) by Jean de Muris. Modern scholars liked the term Ars Nova so much that they adopted it as a convenient catchphrase denoting 14th-century polyphony; by extension the polyphony of the preceding century (some expand it to include the Notre Dame school) became the Ars Antiqua. More specifically, Ars Nova refers to the music of 14th-century France; the Italian counterpart is dubbed the Trecento.

More than any other medieval musician, Guillaume de Machaut marks the end of one era and the beginning of another. He was the last representative of the trouvère tradition, yet the quintessential learned artist as well. He took holy orders at an early age, though he lived and worked almost entirely in courtly circles: like his most illustrious Ars Nova predecessor, Philippe de Vitry, Machaut was at once poet, composer, canon, and servant of kings. But unlike Vitry, who apparently devoted little time to artistic pursuits during the last 40 years of his life, Machaut miraculously managed to make the most out of all his careers.

Notational advances in the 14th century were but the means to an end: the triumph of polyphony. The principal musical action took place in the two mainstream countries, France and Italy, where old forms were revised and new ones invented to accommodate multipartite music. In France the chief novelties were the isorhythmic motet, the creation of polyphonic mass movements, and the extension of polyphony to such troubadour/ trouvère forms as the ballade, virelai, rondeau, and lai. A new, entirely polyphonic form was devised--the strictly canonic chace. In Italy secularization was even more thorough. The Italians had their own equivalents of the virelai and the chace, the ballata and caccia, and a form all their own, the madrigal. In both countries the harmonic language grew increasingly refined. Towards the end of the century, this was to lead to the ever more complex development of L'Ars Subtilior,of which some of the best-known examples are to be found in the Chantilly Codex.

Capilla Flamenca expertly delivers a stunning recording. A rich spectrum of moods, with the seasons as backdrop, resounds in these fourteenth-century songs, creating a timeless connection of deeply human feelings between the past and present. CD comes with detailed essays on the topic and fully translated libretto of the songs.

Product Description

always seductive if not always subtle

Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior music, much of it from the 'Ghent Ars Nova fragments' (c.1400), is here presented to simulate an aural experience inspired by the signs of the Zodiac. The selected works by, amongst others, Machaut, Solage and Molins, are performed in a variety of ways - a cappella, 1 singer accompanied by soft instruments (usually lute and viele, sometimes with recorder), or in purely instrumental versions. The interpretations are suave, seductive and stylish, comfortably rivalling the best recordings by other respected ensembles (English a cappella groups or Continental consorts).

Given present knowledge of performance practice, most of these interpretations are academically plausible, both regarding the forces and the accuracy of the transciptions. Just occasionally, however, this norm is broken. One may question, for example, why bagpipes and percussion accompany baritone Lieven Termont in trouvere Mahieu de Gant's (fl.1250) 'De faire chancon envoisie' instead of the more likely viele, especially given the text's scornful remark about those who sing 'com menestreus'. The bell in Baude Cordier's (fl.1400-1410) 'Tous par compas suy composes' is similarly difficult to justify with evidence, and in any case detracts from the otherwise beautiful and not implausible performance. Of greater concern, perhaps, are the two tracks where the surviving notation is actually changed. 'Istanpitta Isabella' is here butchered from its original four punctum to one puncta, and is introduced by an improvisation that is not particularly aesthetic. And in the anonymous 'Or sus, vous dormes trop madame joliette' a recorder plays an added heterophonic line, attempting to emphasize the text's various onomatopoeic bird calls through dubious trills and hoqueting. Lastly, the success with which music really brings out the various qualities of the Zodiac characters is doubtful; where a connection is made, it is more to do with a mentioned month (in light of which, 'Or sus, vous dormes trop' should surely have been linked to May [the month it mentions] and not June...)

Yet in spite of the above observations, this is without question a five star disc. Of the many highlights, Ciconia's 'Sus un' fontayne' deserves special mention. Possibly the best recorded performance of this chanson, it is a model of how early music should be: musicologically plausible and beautifully executed. August 14, 2006

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