Early Music Society of the Islands Love Makes Me Sing in the French Style

Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm.

musica fantasia

Julie Ryning, soprano and percussion

Katelyn Clark, clavicimbalum VANCOUVER

Courtly love in the 13th and 14th centuries is explored with works by Walther von der Vogelweide, trecento ballate from the Vatican Rossi Codex, virelai from the allegory Le Roman de Fauvel, and culminates with the gorgeous ballade Tres douce dame que j’aour by Guillaume de Machaut.

Ryning and Clark were mesmerizing, interpreting German and Catalan Medieval works alongside the Trecento. DIARI DEL PRIORAT

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PROGRAMME
1. Under der linden
Walther von der Vogelweide (c.1170 – c.1230)
2. song setting
Munich, Staatsbibliothek, Codex lat. 7755, Anonymous (14^th century)
3. Che ti çova nasconder ‘l bel volto
4. Per tropo fede talor se perìgola
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rossi Codex 215, Anonymous (14^thcentury)
5. Estampie
Robertsbridge Codex, Anonymous (c. 1325)
6. Amor mi fa cantar a la Francesca
7. Lucente stella, che ‘l mio cor desfai
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rossi Codex 215, Anonymous (14^thcentury)
Intermission
8. La quinte estampie real
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS fr. 844, Anonymous (13^th century)
9. Douce et de tout noble afaire
10. A touz jours sanz remanoir
11. Je, qui poair seule ai de conforter
Le Roman de Fauvel, Paris, BN fr. 146, Anonymous (14^thcentury)
12. Praeambulum super f
13. Paumgartner
Anonymous (early 15^th century)
14. Douce dame jolie
Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300 – 1377)

PROGRAMME NOTES
This programme follows the theme of courtly love, weaving through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries with the work of lyric poet Walther von der Vogelweide, trecento ballate from the Vatican Rossi Codex, and lai from the satirical allegory Le Roman de Fauvel. The concert culminates with the gorgeous virelai Douce dame jolie, written by French poet-composer Guillaume de Machaut.
Under der linden
German Minnesinger and Spruch poet, Walther von der Vogelweide is commonly considered to be the greatest of the Middle High German authors and one of the most renowned musicians of his generation. Despite his fame, relatively little is known of his life; even his name, Vogelweide or “bird pasture” does not denote a specific place. It is likely that he had been knighted before spending time traveling between various courts. Under der linden is a beautiful example of his love-themed work. The text is set to an anonymous melody, as very little of Vogelweide’s musical material has been preserved.
Rossi Codex and the Ballata
As one of the richest sources from the trecento, the Rossi Codex contains madrigals, cacce, and a group of monophonic ballate (a popular poetic form and dance-song for secular work of the 14th and 15th centuries). Its origin is likely from the Padua-Veron region, dating from mid to late 14^th century. The ballata consisted of of a ripresa, two or more piedi, followed by ripresa. The ballata form reached its height of artistic stature in Florence and Veneto by the 1360s, with over 140 examples of polyphonic ballate composed by Francesco Landini during his career. The Rossi Codex ballate are anonymous love poems, monophonic in texture and beautifully constructed.
Robertsbridge Codex and the Estampie
This codex is a two-leaf fragment containing the earliest known source of keyboard music. Although the origin of the fragment is English, the musical material finds its origin in France, with instrumental estampie and ornamented transcriptions of motets from the Roman de Fauvel. The estampie within the codex are instrumental dances, the form meaning “stamping dance” or “to resound.” The form is quite simple and repetitive, with puncta or “repeated sections” concluding with a common refrain that has ouvers “open” and clos “closed” sections.
Roman de Fauvel
The Roman de Fauvel, a work of medieval allegorical verse, comments satirically on the church, politics, and courtly life. It is at least partly cast in the tradition of admonitio regum, or advice for kings, and contains prose, pictures, and a rich variety of music and poetry, including numerous intricate monophonic works such as virelai, lai, and rondeau. It is an extended Beast Epic, with the male horse Fauvel set as the central figure, the text following his rise to power, his courtship of Fortune, and marriage to Vaine Glory. FAVVEL is also an acronym for the human vices, Flaterie, Avarice, Vilanie, Vanité, Envie, Lâcheté.
Guillaume de Machaut
Guillaume de Machaut was the most important composer and poet from the 14^th century. His work influenced countless artists for generations, and his oeuvre reflects his important place in developing form, musical quality, and poetic formulation. In particular, his use of secular monophony and ars nova techniques heralded a new type of French song with ballades and rondeaux. Douce dame jolie is an example of his use of the earlier virelai or “chanson ballade,” a form that was one of the few examples of dance-song types employed in Machaut’s output.

THE ARTISTS
musica fantasia, early music ensemble
“Ryning and Clark were mesmerizing, interpreting German and Catalan Medieval works alongside the Trecento…” Diari del Priorate
Emerging as one of Canada’s most captivating early music groups and recognized internationally for their interpretation of historical repertoire, musica fantasia specializes in the creative performance of music from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. Pairing voice and percussion with clavicymbalum and organetto, they transfix audiences with a rare glimpse into the musical world of secular Medieval performance. Each programme is carefully researched and explored through text and improvisation.
Winners of the 2010 Musica Antigua Obra Social la ‘Caixa in Spain, musica fantasia was founded by Julie Ryning (voice), Katelyn Clark (clavicymbalum/organetto), and Ji Sun Kim (recorders) at McGill University in 2008. The ensemble received its New York debut at Corpus Christi Church as finalists in the 2009 Early Music America Performance Competition, and has gone on to tour in Austria, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, Spain and Catalonia, performing at international festivals including Musica Antigua Barcelona, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht Fabulous Fringe, Festival de Musica Antigua de Caceres, and the Festival Medieval d’Elx. The 2016/17 season takes the ensemble across Canada, including concerts in Toronto ON, Whitehorse YK, and Victoria BC.
Visit us online at http://musicafantasia.org
Julie Ryning, voice & percussion
Julie Ryning holds a master’s degree in early music performance from McGill University, where she studied in the voice studios of Thérèse Boudreault-Sevadjian and Suzie LeBlanc. Ms. Ryning has had the pleasure of singing in masterclasses with many of the world’s most renowned early music singers, including Emma Kirkby, Ellen Hargis, James Bowman, and Harry van der Kamp. Equally at home in new music, Ms. Ryning has premiered many new works for soprano, including Lines from George Gordon, Go Lovely Rose and Sleep Silence’ Child by Canadian composer David Gordon Duke. She has performed across Canada and Europe, and has been broadcast on WFMT Radio in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Ryning is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Katelyn Clark, clavicymbalum & organetto
Katelyn Clark specializes in the performance of historical and experimental repertoire on early keyboards. As a soloist and chamber musician, she performs internationally, and has been an artist in residence at the Banff Centre, NES in Iceland, and OMI in New York. A native of Victoria, British Columbia, Katelyn completed a master’s degree in harpsichord and basso continuo with Bob van Asperen at the Amsterdam Conservatory in The Netherlands. She also studied with Christophe Rousset at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and holds a doctorate in performance from McGill University. Her artistic practice has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and Le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

Love Makes Me Sing in the French Style

Saturday, October 29, 2016 @ 8:00 pm

musica fantasia

Julie Ryning, soprano and percussion

Katelyn Clark, clavicimbalum VANCOUVER

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