medieval.org
Deutsche Harmonia mundi (BMG) GD 77 243
1991
(recorded: 1984)
1. Las je ne puis [1:41]
Jean LEGRANT — rondeau · Porto 714, f. 69v/70
2. Cançon de'pifari dicto el Ferrarese [2:30]
Antonio CORNAZANO (?) — bassadanza · Vatikan, Capp. 203, f. 33v/34
3. Je loe amours [2:35]
Gilles BINCHOIS — ballade · Oxford, Can. misc. 213, f. 88
4. La figlia Guiliemino [2:15]
Domenico de PIACENZA — ballo · Escorial, IV. a. 24, f. 60v-62r
5. Merce ti chiamo [4:46]
anonymus — ballata · Escorial, IV. a. 24, f. 82v-85r
6. Navaré je suy [1:36]
Guillaume DuFAY — rondeau · Cod. Reina. f. 98
7. Il re di Spagna [1:24]
Antonio CORNAZANO (?) — bassadanza · Vatikan, Capp. 203, f. 33v
8. Petit vriens [1:16]
anonymus — ballo · Paris, Ital. 476, f. 65v
9. El Ferrarese [1:14]
Antonio CORNAZANO — ballo · Vatikan, Capp. 203, f. 33v/34
10. Amoroso [2:17]
Domenico de PIACENZA (?) — ballo francese · Paris, Ital. 476, f. 65v
11. Leoncello [2:36]
Domenico de PIACENZA — ballo · Paris, Ital. 476, f. 63v
12. Petit vriens [1:57]
anonymus — ballo · Paris, Ital. 476, f. 65v
13. [5:31]
La Franchoise nouvelle
anonymus — ballo · Brussel 9085, f. 22v
La danza Ravestain
anonymus — ballo · Brussel 9085, f. 14v
La danza Cleves
anonymus — ballo · Brussel 9085, f. 22r/23
14. Il est Venus [0:57]
anonymus — rondeau · Cod. Reina, f. 118v/119
15. Qui veut mesdire [2:38]
Gilles BINCHOIS — rondeau · Cod. Reina. f. 101v/102
16. La dolce vista [2:37]
Guillaume DuFAY — ballata (?) · Vatikan, Urb. lat. 1411, f. 11v/12
17. Il re di Spagna [2:52]
Antonio CORNAZANO (?) — bassadanza · Vatikan, Capp. 203, f. 33v
18. Mon seul plaisier [1:44]
Bedyngham de ANGLIA — rondeau · Porto 714, f. 59v/60
19. Porray je avoir [1:38]
Guillaume DuFAY — rondeau · Cod. Reina, f. 97v
20. Las je ne puis [2:39]
Jean LEGRANT — rondeau · Porto 714, f. 69v/70
21. Collinetto [2:04]
Antonio CORNAZANO (?) — bassadanza · Vatikan, Capp. 203, f. 34
22. Collinetto [2:13]
Antonio CORNAZANO (?) — bassadanza · Vatikan, Capp. 203, f. 34
23. Je suy defait [1:02]
Nicolaus GRENON — rondeau · Porto 714, f. 69v/70
24. La plus belle [1:23]
Nicolaus GRENON — virelai · Porto 714, f. 69v/70
SCHOLA CANTORUM BASILIENSIS
ALTA CAPELLA:
• Randall Cook, Katharina Arkfen:
Schalmei, Pommer von Bernhard Schermer, Stafa/Switzerland 1979, 1982
Pommern von Gunter Ktirber, Berlin 1980,1982
• Lorenz Welker, Zugtrompete
nach einem Bild von Hans Memling (ca. 1435—1494) von Rainer Egger, Basel 1983
CITHAREDI:
• Crawford Young, Randall Cook: Laute, Cetera, Viella
5chórige Laute von Joel van Lennep, Boston 1980
Cetera von D. R. Miller, Gloucester, Mass., 1980
Viella nach Bildern des späten 15. Jh. von Richard Earle, Basel 1984
• Debra Gomez, Harfe
nach einem Bild von Hans Memling (ca 1435—1494) by Lynn Lewandowsky, New York 1980
• Karlheinz Schickhaus, Hackbrett
Chromatisches Hackbrett von Alfred Pichlmaier, Fraunberg 1972
Diatonisches Hackbrett, anonym Ende des 16. Jh
aus den Sammlungen des Deutschen Museums, München
℗ © 1991 harmonia mundi,
Recording producer: Meinrad Schweizer, SCB
Recorded: 18.12. - 22.12.1984
Reformierte Kirche Sornetan/Switzerland
Editing of the manuscripts: Lorenz Welker, SCB; Klaus L Neumann, WDR
Translations: Julia Cremer, Geneviève Bégou
Front Cover: Bible of Borso d'Este from Ferrara Biblioteca Estense, Modena
Text editing: Albert Gr. Lehr
All rights reserved
Eine Coproduktion mit Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln
The
present recording represents a collection of fifteenth-century north
italian courtly instrumental music. Because of the inclusion of pieces
of specifically Ferrarese origin, as well as the use of instruments or
instrumental ensembles known to have been prominent in Ferrara, a
particular historical context may be envisioned: the court of Borso
d'Este (1450-1471).
The predominance of French compositions in
Italian manuscripts of the period attests to, among other things, the
strong attraction of the wealthy humanist courts for artists from the
North. The documentation of the Este rulers as music patrons provides
envidence that Borso's musical establishment, in contrast to that of his
successor Ercole, was primarily one of instrumentalists, among whom the
most famous (and well-paid) were an Italian, the lutenist Pietrobono
del Chitarino, and the German wind-player or “piffaro” Corrado de
Alemania. Pietrobono, active at the Este court from 1441-1497 and widely
acclaimed as the foremost lutenist of his day, helped to establish the
lute as a prominent fifteenth-century instrument capable of solo music.
Musically he seems to have occupied a position between two distinct
traditions, the written polyphonic art of the Franco-Flemish (Dufay
through Josquin) on the one hand, and a local, humanist art of unwritten
(i. e., formulaic or improvisatory) narrative singing and instrumental
elaboration on the other. The figure of Corrado (active at court
1441-1481) provides an interesting contrast to that of Pietrobono, for
if Pietrobono was chief representativ of “soft” music for plucked
strings, then Corrado was responsible for the “loud” music, mainly
through his Alta Capella wind ensemble.
If the Este court had the
best Alta Capella in Italy, it also had the best dance masters. Borso
engaged Domenico da Piacenza (=Domenico da Ferrara) from 1456-70, and
the two main pupils of Domenico's, Antonio Cornazano and Guglielmo Ebreo
da Pesaro, both were patronized by Ercole. Domenico's name is
associated with Italian ballo tunes like “Leoncello” and French ones
such as “Amoroso” and “La Figlia Guilielmino”. A copy of Cornazano's
dance treatise of 1455 exists containing only three bassadanza “tenori”,
including the famous “La Spagna” tenor which was still used for counter
point exercises in the seventeenth-century.
In contrast to the
instrumental performance of “canzoni” (chansons) used for entertainment
or ceremonial occasion, the performance of fifteenth-century dance music
required impromtu part-realization. The players of the cantus and
contratenor voices used standard melodic cliches or formular appropriate
to the movement of the tenor below. Whether this is referred to as
“improvisation” or “memorized composition” is of little importance; the
point is that each musician gave his own personal rendering of the
piece.
The performace of the bassadanza involves inherently
different musical problems than the performance of the ballo. The former
is unequivocally a polyphonic form (2-4v) most often preserved in the
guise of a monophonic, arythmic notational system. Fewer choices are
available to the modern bassadanza performer than to the ballo player,
that is to say, more is known about the bassadanza performance style in
terms of its vocabulary. The performace technique of the bassadanza is
the realization of the rhythm by means of a playful, sometimes
metrically ambiguous cantus voice against the two steady lower voices.
The ballo seems to have been more dependent not on polyphonic or even
monophonic elaboration, bur rather on the element of percussion to
complete the simple melody. The most logical instrument for ballo
performance may have been pipe-and-tabor, in the absence of which, for
this recording, percussive drones have been used.
Crawford Young