Journey to Jerusalem
Ensemble Renaissance

medieval.org
play.google.com

1995
Al Segno AS 2011 2

april, 1995
Crkva Svetog Petra, Beograd

1 - La quinte Estampie Real (13th century)   [2:13]
2 - MARCABRU. Pax! in nomine Domini   [3:23]
3 - Jaufre RUDEL. Lanquan li jorn son lonc en may   [4:29]
4 - Cauda II, III (13th century)   [3:20]
5 - Chevalier, mult estes guariz (13th century)   [3:59]
6 - Cauda I (13th century)   [3:11]
7 - Guiot de DIJON. Chanterai por mon corage   [4:16]
8 - Chastelain de COUCI. Li nouviaus tens et mais et violete   [2:33]
9 - Rimbaut de VAQUEIRAS. Calenda maya   [1:58]
10 - Richard I COEUR-DE-LION. Ja nus hons pris   [3:41]
11 - TASSIN. Four Dances   [1:40]
12 - Gaucelm FAIDIT. Fortz causa   [3:34]
13 - Walther von der VOGELWEIDE. Palästinalied   [3:33]
14 - La quarte Estampie Royal (13th century)   [2:19]
15 - CB 90. Exiit diluculo   [2:00]
16 - Moniot d'ARRAS. Ce fut en mai   [2:20]
17 - Guillaume d'AMIENS. Prendes i garde (rondeau) – C'est la fins (virelai)   [2:01]
18 - Oxford Estampie (13th century)   [1:45]
19 - Adam de la HALLE. Hareu, li maus d'amer – Tant con je vivrai – Bonne amourete (rondeaux)   [2:44]
20 - Walther von der VOGELWEIDE. Under den linden   [2:23]
21 - Tuit cil qui sunt enamourat (13th century)   [1:38]






Ensemble Renaissance

Ljudmila Gross Maric • soprano
Predrag Djokovic • countertenor
Dragan Mladjenovic • vocal, sargija, saz, tranverse flute, zurla
Ljubomir Dmitrijevic • frula, gemshorn, zurla
Miomir Ristic • fiddle, al'ud
Zoran Kostadinovic • vielle, rebec
Darko Karajic • al'ud, baglama, tzouras
Veljko Nikolic • percussions










Journey to Jerusalem
900 Years of Crusade
1095–1995

900 years has clasped since the time when the Pope Urban II at the church councils at Piacenza and Clermont proclaimed the war against Muslims for liberation of Jerusalem from the rule of the „infidels”. Four years later, on 15 July 1099, the Crusaders entered the Holy City, Jerusalem, which until then had been visited only by pilgrims, in the following two and a half centuries became the goal of soldiers – the crusaders.
In several campaigns aimed at liberation and safekeeping of the Holy Land „upon which God walked as man” (Palästinalied, Walther von der Vogelweide), also participated the highest nobility, led by their rulers, such as King Philippe August of France, Richard I Lion's Heart of England, Friedrich I Barbarossa of Germany...

In the eyes of the believers, the Crusades had a very deep religious and most noble humane Christian meaning. In front of the mirror of history those wars, directed under the watchful eyes of the Holy See, had primarily a political character and importance. The sickening scenes of cities burnt down and destroyed, and of massacred and plundered population (Jerusalem 1099, Constantinople 1204), made the „historians and philosophers” label the crusades as „a nauseating conflagration of fanaticism and madness” (M. Eliade).

Nevertheless, being the central event of the medieval history, the Crusades deeply influenced the parts of the time. The age of the Crusaders was at the same time period of birth and full flourishing of European poetry and music, embodied in the works of French troubadours and trouvères, German Minnesingers, and English minstrels. Heroic feats in the Holy Land, laments over one's master's death, longing for the beloved in the homeland – became favourite subjects of medieval lyrical, poetry. Some of the famous master-poets themselves touched the soil of the Holy City of Jerusalem. In this recording the Ensemble Renaissance follows in their footsteps. This representative, anthological selection of the most famous pieces of medieval poetry and music from the age of the Crusaders and their journeys to Jerusalem, is at the same time a story of how the crusaders sang, what their topics were, what their joys were, whom they lamented, or dreamed, to what music they danced.

The repertoire of medieval instrumental and dance music is mainly represented by the works of anonymous or little known 13th century authors. Already at the times of the crusaders, highly popular songs sung without words, or performed exclusively instrumentally, were named estampies. Together with Caude I, II and III and Four Dances by Tassin, the estampidas played on this disc belong among the oldest known instrumental forms in Europe.

Pax! In nomine Domini is a work by the Provencal troubadour Marcabru (b. c. 1100-10, fl. 1128-50) one of the first medieval authors whose works have been preserved and which are mentioned in later troudadour and trouvère writings. His works were created at the court of his master Guillaume X of Aquitaine, about whose virtues Marcabru sung in many verses, and whose death on 7 April 1137 during the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela was recorded and lamented in the song Pax! in nomine Domini.
Marcabru's chanson Cartezamen voill comensar from the year 1147/8, was dedicated to another famous troubadour Jaufre Rudel (Rudel de Blaja, mid-12th century), who himself took part in the Second Crusade. Already in his lifetime he was well-known as the author of songs to his „distant love” – amor de lonh. Rudel was indeed in love with the Countess of Tripoli, as testified by his Vida (biography).
He never saw her, and when he decided „to take the cross” and sail towards Tripoli, he fell ill during the voyage. He died in Tripoli, in the arms of his beloved, and the countess, broken with the heartache caused by his death – became a nun. Rudel's song Lanquan li jorn, composed in BAR form (in contrast to the troubadour tradition) and with the initial musical refrain, is of particular historical interest, having been used as the model for Palästinalied of Walther von der Vogelweide. This is also the only corroborated example of the influence of troubadour melody on the art of minnesingers. Having in mind that in time Walther's song was made into another two arrangements, Rudel's original melody in the following 300 years reincarnated in its three new versions.

Guiot de Dijon (fl. 1215–25) to whom musical history attributes 17 chansons, created his lyrics under the protection of Erard II de Chassenay.
Guiot's master participated in one of the Crusades, and in his song Chanterai par mon corage the composer describes amorous feelings, sadness and longing of the crusader's lady. Interesting in its form, which is one of the earliest examples of variations on the opening phrase, Guiot's song seems as if it is a counterpart to the composition Li noviaus tens by Chastelain de Couci (c. 1165–1203), who was a member of the renowned and powerful feudal landowner's family and a famous trouvère. Elegance and intimacy of poetic expression that characterize his rhymes, created in the great tradition of the Provencal poetry, permeate also this farewell song of the knight-crusader. It is moreover assumed that this song is the result of a personal, intimate experience, as it is most likely that the poet himself joined other trouvères who participated in the Third and Fourth Crusades.

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (c. 1150-60 – 1207), troubadour-poet, composer and companion at arms of Boniface, Marquis of Montserrat (1152–1207) who was elected the leader of the Fourth Crusade, had an exciting and adventurous life. The poet did not immediately follow his master on the journey to the Holy Land in 1202. Probably he returned to Provence, but when he heard the news that the direction of the campaign had been changed and that the aim of the crusading army was conquest of Constantinople, in 1203 he himself arrived in the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Four years later Boniface was killed in a surprise attack by the Bulgarians.
It is generally thought that Raimbaut de Vaqueiras was killed on the same spot, fighting together with his master. Out of his poetic output, which includes 35 titles, 7 pieces with music were preserved. Among them, the most famous is certainly the estampida Calenda Maya, the earliest known example of his genre, although its structure differs from that of subsequent estampidas. It is well known that medieval estampidas are purely instrumental forms. Thus, it is very likely the story according to which Raimbaut heard the melody of this song for the first time from two French jongleurs, who played it on their vielles (violar).

Richard I Lion's Heart (Coeur-de-lion 1157–1199), the king of England, along with the two most powerful kings in Europe – Philippe August and Friedrich I Barbarossa, leaded the Third Crusade (1189–1192). Upon his return from the Holy Land the English King was captured by Austrian and German feudal lords, who set him free only after the ransom for him was paid.
The reputation of Richard I Lion's Heart as a poet and singer, influenced by legends, was in time exaggerated, but musical history still confirms his authorship of two songs. One of them, Ja nus hons pris, was actually composed during the King's captivity in Austria. Of precious value is the fact that music was preserved together with the next, thanks to Richard's many contemporaries and admirers – troubadours and trouvères, who recorded it in their song-books.

The following number on this disc is also related to the King of England. The lament Fortz causa was composed on the death of Richard I in 1199, by a troubadour from the South of France, Gaucelm Faidit (c. 1150 – c. 1220). Like Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, this musician was also under the protection of Boniface, Marquis de Montferrat. Recorded in twenty medieval sources, Gaucelm's lament (planh) is valuable for history as one of rare examples of this kind, preserved together with music (in four sources).

In his famous Palästinalied, unquestionably the greatest German minnesinger Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170 – c. 1230), described his excitement at his first encounter with the Holy Land. His poems, which are the peak of German medieval lyrical poetry, reach full beauty and power of expression after 1194, in the time of Friedrich I Barbarossa (died in the Crusade of 1198). Although it has never been proved that he himself journeyed to the Holy Land, Walther's late verses were actually dedicated to the Crusade of 1228/29. Palästinalied is one of the rare pieces preserved in full with music. It was melodically modeled after Jaufre Rudel's chanson Lanquan li jorn.
The close ties between the French and the German medieval poetry are reflected in Walther's joyful song Under der Linden, which was composed to the tune of the chanson En Mai an douz tens nouvel.

Love, along with the Crusade campaigns, the most important subject of medieval poetry, is in the focus of attention of the student pastourelle Exiit diluculo (taken from the collection Carmen buranum, from the manuscript which is perhaps the most important source for Latin secular poetry of the 12th century goliardic repertory), as well as of the loveable song Ce fut en mai by Moniot d'Arras (fl. 1213–1239). The author of the rondeau Prendes i garde and vidai C'est la fins, these typical medieval musical forms, Guillaume d'Amiens, Paignour (late 13th century) was a contemporary of the very famous Adam de la Halle (c. 1245-50 – c. 1285-8 or after 1306), versatile poet and composer, whose works in themselves are treasure trove of practically all musical and poetic genres of his time. From Adam de la Halle's precious collection Li Rondel which includes 14 three-part compositions in conductus style with early examples of polyphony, this disc contains three rondeaux: Harea, li maus d'amer, Tant con je vivrai and Bonne amourette.
This collection is specific not only in that its leading melody is most frequently exposed in the middle voice, but also in variations of melodies of the accompanying voices during the repetition; the composer actually introduced the variation principle in the strict medieval rondeau form.

Tuit cil qui sunt enamourat – All those who are in love, join the round dance, others no! – invites the unknown author (13th century) in the final item on this disc performed by the Ensemble Renaissance. Their music, reviving the spirit and atmosphere of the times of the Crusades to the Holy City of Jerusalem, at the same time reveals all beauty and splendour of medieval musical and poetical inspiration.

Katarina Tomaševič