La chanson dans tous ses états :
Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) and his contemporaries
In the collective imagination, Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) is the epitome of musical genius. This "Mozart of the 14th century" occupies a privileged position in songwriting, so much so that the musical output of his contemporaries has almost been forgotten. The 100 songs by Machaut that have come down to us represent no less than a quarter of all French-language songs from the 14th century. The reason for this unequal ratio lies in the transmission of the works: conscious of his status as a poet-composer, Machaut compiled his "complete works" in manuscripts that he himself supervised, thus ensuring their passage to posterity. This was not the case for his contemporaries, whose compositions, mostly anonymous, are scattered across several manuscripts, such as the Codex Ivrea. Recently, musicological research has turned its attention to these so-called "peripheral" songs. It has brought out of oblivion little musical gems such as the virelai Mors vient a moy or the ballad Comben que loytemps, which we now wish to reveal to the public.
Our program is conceived as a dialogue between some of these little-known pieces and Machaut's chansons. Often simpler but no less appealing, these contemporary songs allow us to grasp the extraordinary originality of Machaut's style. The program also seeks to demonstrate various musical treatments of the "formes fixes", the standardized poetic-musical structures of the 14th and 15th centuries: the ballade, the rondeau and the virelai. We tackle monodic songs, in two or three voices. We also alternate between a capella, instrumental (fiddle and guiterne) and mixed pieces, illustrating several historically informed performance possibilities. Considering that strophic repetition and the subtle variations it engenders is precisely one of the expressive strengths of medieval song, we are keen to interpret the forms in their entirety. Thus, the brevity of some anonymous virelais (Mors vient a moy, less than two minutes) contrasts with the hypnotic slowness of some of Machaut's ballads (Honte, paour, nearly 10 minutes). Machaut's songs deal exclusively with courtly love. There's no trace of the lighter subjects addressed in pastourelles or onomatopoeic pieces, for example. To mark this contrast with Machaut's aesthetic, we are featuring here two folâtres, Or sus vous dormez trop and Par maintes fois, both of which imitate birdsong. Vocal and instrumental virtuosity is not to be outdone: in Amis tout dous et je voy le bon tens venir, for example, the upper voice presents rapid diminutions, i.e. ornaments subdividing a long note into several short values.
"La chanson dans tous ses états" is a program designed for music-lovers and neophytes alike. The latter will plunge into a fascinating musical universe whose traces are still palpable in today's French chanson, while Machaut aficionados will rediscover "hits" such as Honte paour in the light of unpublished pieces from his time.
Our program is conceived as a dialogue between some of these little-known pieces and Machaut's chansons. Often simpler but no less appealing, these contemporary songs allow us to grasp the extraordinary originality of Machaut's style. The program also seeks to demonstrate various musical treatments of the "formes fixes", the standardized poetic-musical structures of the 14th and 15th centuries: the ballade, the rondeau and the virelai. We tackle monodic songs, in two or three voices. We also alternate between a capella, instrumental (fiddle and guiterne) and mixed pieces, illustrating several historically informed performance possibilities. Considering that strophic repetition and the subtle variations it engenders is precisely one of the expressive strengths of medieval song, we are keen to interpret the forms in their entirety. Thus, the brevity of some anonymous virelais (Mors vient a moy, less than two minutes) contrasts with the hypnotic slowness of some of Machaut's ballads (Honte, paour, nearly 10 minutes). Machaut's songs deal exclusively with courtly love. There's no trace of the lighter subjects addressed in pastourelles or onomatopoeic pieces, for example. To mark this contrast with Machaut's aesthetic, we are featuring here two folâtres, Or sus vous dormez trop and Par maintes fois, both of which imitate birdsong. Vocal and instrumental virtuosity is not to be outdone: in Amis tout dous et je voy le bon tens venir, for example, the upper voice presents rapid diminutions, i.e. ornaments subdividing a long note into several short values.
"La chanson dans tous ses états" is a program designed for music-lovers and neophytes alike. The latter will plunge into a fascinating musical universe whose traces are still palpable in today's French chanson, while Machaut aficionados will rediscover "hits" such as Honte paour in the light of unpublished pieces from his time.