1405, Easter Monday
The Archbishop of Bourges consecrates the Sainte-Chapelle of the Duke of Berry, which is housed in his palace. With this institution, the Burgundian duke was clearly competing with other royal and princely chapels and strove to outdo them, including the prominent Sainte-Chapelle of Paris. This a-cappella program contains a selection of chansons which explore a continental soundscape which precedes the much-celebrated sounds of England – the so-called “Contenance angloise” – which set the tone in the following generation.
Free entry, with donation at the door
Tessa Roos – Cantus
Doron Schleifer – Cantus
Loïc Paulin – Contratenor & Tenor
Cyril Escoffier – Contratenor & Tenor
Raitis Grigalis – Contratenor & Tenor
Matthieu Romanens – Contratenor & Tenor; direction
Château de Dourdan in «Avril», aus «Les Tres Riches Heures du duc de Berry», 1412
Pierre Fontaine (c1380–c1450)
Interview with singer and director Matthieu Romanens is available in German only.
Why I’ll be there
by DAVID FALLOWS
One day I find it hard to forget was in the summer of 1987 at the International Musicological Society congress in Bologna when Paula Higgins revealed the musical riches of the Duc de Berry in Bourges. Of course, we all knew about his gorgeous manuscripts: the Très riches heures volumes and the grandest of the Machaut collections among them. But nobody seems to have thought of investigating his chapel. And as Higgins reeled off the names of composers known only from the famous music-book from the Veneto, now MS Can. Misc. 213 in the Bodleian Library, we clocked that these were the real roots of the revolution that Dufay and Binchois operated in the years a little before 1420.
Most of this music has never been heard; so, it will be a special pleasure to hear whether Matthieu Romanens did well to dub the style Contenance françoise. I am particularly looking forward to the group of pieces by Guillaume Legrant. The scholar Reinhard Strohm pointed out that they are all in the same style. He also noted that the first is in the voice of a wooing man, the second is the lady’s reply and the third invites all to participate in the merrymaking. They are scattered widely across the manuscript; but Strohm was surely right to suggest performing them together as a kind of mini-drama. Another highlight in my view is the piece by one of the most influential composers of that generation, Pierre Fontaine. His Pour vous tenir has two texts, once again the lover and his lady, each running the full length of a rondeau, so together creating a massive panel. That should help us to enjoy the truly glutinous textures of the music.
1 Adieu m’amour et ma maistresse – Gilles Binchois (1400–1460)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Canon. Misc. 213 («Oxford Codex»), fol. 86v
2 Pastourelle en un vergier – Pierre Fontaine (c1380–c1450)
Oxford Codex, fol. 121v–122r
***
3 Filles a marier – Gilles Binchois
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Urb. Lat. 1411, fol. 13v–14r
4 J’ayme bien celui qui s’en va – Pierre Fontaine
Bologna, Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna, Q15, fol. 281r
5 La plus belle et doulce figure – Nicolas Grenon (c1375–c1456)
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, NAF 6771 (Codex Reina), fol. 114v–115r
6 Mon seul voloir / Certes m’amour – Johannes Cesaris (fl.°1406–1417)
Oxford Codex, fol. 122r
***
7 Gloria – Guillaume Legrant (fl.°1405–1449)
Oxford Codex, fol. 104v–105r
8 Ariere tost – Johannes Cesaris?
Oxford Codex, fol. 43v
9 Ma chiere maistresse – Guillaume Legrant
Oxford Codex, fol. 96v–97r
10 Pour l’amour de mon bel amy – Guillaume Legrant
Oxford Codex, fol. 94r
11 Or avant gentilz fillettes – Guillaume Legrant
Oxford Codex, fol. 111v–112r
***
12 Je vueil vivre au plaisir d’amours – anonym
Oxford Codex, fol. 124v
13 Pour la doulour / Qui dolente – Johannes Cesaris
Oxford Codex, fol. 84v
14 Esclave puist yl devenir – Gilles Binchois
San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Palacio Real, Monasterio de San Lorenzo, MS1, fol. 44v–45r
15 Pour vous tenir / mon doulx amy – Pierre Fontaine
Oxford Codex, fol. 95r
Mögliche Darstellung der Sainte-Chapelle in Bourges, von Jean Fouquet, im Stundenbuch des Etienne Chevalier (c1452–c1460). Chantilly, Musée Condé, Ms 71, fol. 6r
Ce livre de Machaut est de Jehan, filz de roy de France, Duc de Berry et d'Auvergne, Conte de Poitou, d'Estampes, de Bouloigne et d'Auvergne FLAMEL. Exlibris von Jean, Herzog von Berry, in Machauts Handschrift E. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Français 9221, fol. Br
«Janvier», with the Duke of Berry sitting in blue in the lower right. Chantilly, Bibliothèque et archives du château, MS 65 («Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry»), fol. 1v
Jubal Caym trouva les accors de Musique. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Français 12476 («Le Champion des Dames»), fol. 97v
Maistre Guille Dufay. Binchois. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Français 12476 («Le Champion des Dames»), fol. 98r
Pour vous tenir / Mon doulx amy, Oxford Codex, fol. 95r
Ariere tost, Oxford Codex, fol. 43v
Barfüsserkirche
Historical Museum Basel
Barfüsserkirche
Historical Museum Basel
Basel, Martinskirche
