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eruanto
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« on: 21:12:29, 08-08-2007 » |
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There is currently only one mention of Guillaume de on the board, and on my one  exposure to the music I found it was unlike anything I had ever experienced previously. So; any recommendations helpful!  |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #1 on: 21:45:35, 08-08-2007 » |
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I am delighted to support any drive to further the appreciation of so great a man  For many reasons his Mass setting is well-known (and justly so), but Machaut was - despite the impression one might sometimes get from recordings of his works - far from being purely an ecclesiastical composer. Firstly, he was not only a composer - he was a distinguished poet in his own right, and wrote a large body of literature which is quite separate from his musical output. He had also, mainly in his youth, been a highly efficient personal aide to a sequence of important noblemen - he served Jean de Luxembourg (who was, for reasons to complicated to explain, also King of Bohemia), following in his retinue (as a courtier, not a poet or musician) for 12 years, including military service at the Battle of Crecy and on an extensive campaign in Lithuania. After Jean died (and a brief period in the service of his daughter Bonne), Machaut went into the service of Charles, King of Navarre, where he seems to have handled a number of confidential and highly delicate political matters. When his master was captured in war (by the English), Machaut arranged that he would be released in exchange for two of his sons, who would be held hostage against Charles's future non-aggression towards English interests. Machaut even accompanied the sons as far as Calais on their journey into forced exile. But turning to his music once again... I come back again and again to the quality of work in the songs, the virelais and ballades. They are at the heart of the corpus of secular work of the Ars Nova - their poetry is of substance and quality, and the melodic interest never fails to sustain the verses. This chanson repertoire is worth serious attention - it's not merely accomplished, it's also subtle and tender music. |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #2 on: 21:48:15, 08-08-2007 » |
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PS - I can't resist adding the touching hommage of his pupil and protege, Eustaches Deschamps, written on Machaut's death:
O fleur des fleurs de toute melodie,
Tresdoulz maistres qui tant fustes adrois,
O Guillaume, mondains dieux d'armonie,
Apres vos faiz, qui obtendra le chois
Sur tous faiseurs ? Certes, ne le congnoys.
Vos noms sera precieuse relique,
Car l'en plourra en France et en Artois
La mort Machaut, le noble rhetorique.
La fons Circé* et la fonteine Helie
Dont vous estiez le ruissel et les dois,
Ou poetes mistrent leur estudie
Convient taire, dont je suis moult destrois.
Las ! C'est par vous qui mort gisez tous frois,
Qui de tous chans avez esté cantique.
Plourez, harpes et cors sarrazinois,
La mort Machaut, le noble rethorique.
Rubebes, leuths, vielles, syphonie,
Psalterions, trestous instrumens coys,
Rothes, guiterne, flaustes, chalemie,
Traversaines, et vous, nymphes de boys,
Tympanne aussi, mettez en euvre dois,
Et le choro n'y ait nul qui replique,
Faictes devoir, plourez, gentils Galois,
La mort Machaut, le noble rhetorique
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #3 on: 21:59:43, 08-08-2007 » |
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Let's not forget that King Charles of Navarre gave him a horse in 1361. Eruanto I think you would like this:  At least if you don't like Charles Daniels' singing in particular (he has a drop-dead-gorgeous unaccompanied solo number) then verily, there is no pleasing you. |
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Evan Johnson
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« Reply #4 on: 22:01:35, 08-08-2007 » |
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Let's not forget that King Charles of Navarre gave him a horse in 1361. Eruanto I think you would like this: At least if you don't like Charles Daniels' singing in particular (he has a drop-dead-gorgeous unaccompanied solo number) then verily, there is no pleasing you. Thank God, Ollie recommending a disc I already have... my wallet is temporarily safe. Seconded, by the way. |
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eruanto
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« Reply #5 on: 22:07:28, 08-08-2007 » |
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is that CD still available, Oli? Doesn't seem to appear on amazon or mdt. Looks great though!
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #7 on: 22:59:17, 08-08-2007 » |
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #8 on: 23:06:41, 08-08-2007 » |
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Ahem. Yes. Beaucoup mieulx.
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eruanto
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« Reply #9 on: 23:12:26, 08-08-2007 » |
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Vraiment, mein Herrn. |
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #10 on: 01:12:58, 09-08-2007 » |
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The disc ollie recommends is wondrous, I would also recommend this one:  |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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Kittybriton
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« Reply #11 on: 13:34:29, 09-08-2007 » |
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Am I hopelessly off-course in carrying around a mental image of Machaut as the jongleur who preceded the body of the troops into battle on one occasion, hurling his sword into the air and catching it again, presumably in much the same manner as some heralds did with banners?
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Click me -> About meor me -> my handmade storeNo, I'm not a complete idiot. I'm only a halfwit. In fact I'm actually a catfish. |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #12 on: 14:56:59, 09-08-2007 » |
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Am I hopelessly off-course in carrying around a mental image of Machaut as the jongleur who preceded the body of the troops into battle on one occasion, hurling his sword into the air and catching it again That sounds rather like the jongleur Taillefe(u)r, a minstrel in the retinue of William Of Normandy, who famously juggled a sword in front of the assembled army of the English king, Harold Godwinson (Harold II), in 1066 at the Battle Of Senlac. Harold had arranged his army in a superior position on Senlac Ridge, having achieved a phenomenal forced march from the North of England... where William believed he was fully engaged fighting-off the assault of Harald Hardrada, King Of Norway. (William confidently expected to land unopposed when he came ashore at Pevensey Bay). Taillefer not only juggled his sword in a taunting way in front of the English, but did so whilst singing the Chanson de Roland (presumably not all of it, as this would have taken the entire day). He then mounted a one-man attack on the line of English longshields, and was immediately killed. However, the sight of seeing their minstrel slaughtered in front of their eyes so angered the assembled Normans at the foot of the ridge that they charged the English line and routed Harold's army entirely, paving the way for William's conquest of England. |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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Kittybriton
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« Reply #13 on: 16:18:36, 09-08-2007 » |
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Am I hopelessly off-course in carrying around a mental image of Machaut as the jongleur who preceded the body of the troops into battle on one occasion, hurling his sword into the air and catching it again That sounds rather like the jongleur Taillefe(u)r, a minstrel in the retinue of William Of Normandy, who famously juggled a sword in front of the assembled army of the English king, Harold Godwinson (Harold II), in 1066 at the Battle Of Senlac. Harold had arranged his army in a superior position on Senlac Ridge, having achieved a phenomenal forced march from the North of England... where William believed he was fully engaged fighting-off the assault of Harald Hardrada, King Of Norway. (William confidently expected to land unopposed when he came ashore at Pevensey Bay). Taillefer not only juggled his sword in a taunting way in front of the English, but did so whilst singing the Chanson de Roland (presumably not all of it, as this would have taken the entire day). He then mounted a one-man attack on the line of English longshields, and was immediately killed. However, the sight of seeing their minstrel slaughtered in front of their eyes so angered the assembled Normans at the foot of the ridge that they charged the English line and routed Harold's army entirely, paving the way for William's conquest of England. Thank you RT for reassuring me that my unreliable memory didn't fabricate the whole picture. Perhaps I should offer an apology to Machaut in his absence for suggesting that he was a jongleur which would imply that he was not concerned with polyphonic music? |
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Click me -> About meor me -> my handmade storeNo, I'm not a complete idiot. I'm only a halfwit. In fact I'm actually a catfish. |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #14 on: 16:28:14, 09-08-2007 » |
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I'm sure Le Noble Rhetorique would not have been too miffed at the juxtaposition of terms I think that by Machaut's time there was a division between entertainers (jongleurs) and musicians - but in Taillefer's time there hadn't been. Juggling a sword does smack a bit of Saturday Night At The London Palladium, but singing the Chanson de Roland from memory hints at an artistry of rather greater refinement... the menestrel of his age was expected to cover all the bases |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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