Welcome to Harmonia…I’m Angela Mariani. In symphony orchestras, we have strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. In Renaissance Europe, there were the softs and the louds. Soft instruments were used in intimate spaces, for private practice, or were combined to make larger sounds. Loud instruments were designed for use in large cathedrals, dance parties, and outdoors…This hour on Harmonia, we’re getting loud! …with celebratory, brash, awesome sounds of slide trumpets, shawms, sackbuts, dulcians, and more. Plus, masses and motets by Jean Mouton on our featured release by The Brabant Ensemble, led by Stephen Rice.
MUSIC TRACK
L'alta Bellezza: Wind Music from 15th-century Italian Courts
Alta Bellezza
Arcana 2021 / Naxos A122
Guillame DuFay
Tr. 5 Je me coplains piteusement (arr. for shawm and trumpet) (4:51)
We heard Guillaume DuFay’s “Je me coplains piteusement” [“I complain piteously”], arranged for shawm and trumpet, performed by Alta Bellezza, [on their 2021 recording L'alta Bellezza: Wind Music from 15th-century Italian Courts].
Sound the alarm! Loud reed, brass, and percussion instruments were used in moments that demanded attention. From the horrific gore of battlefield to the splendor of courtly banquets, certain musical instruments have been used to mark big moments both indoors and outside. In late fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Europe, bagpipes, shawms, slide trumpet, and percussion dominated this rich, regal sound. Let’s hear two pieces played by loud band: “Corps femenin” by Solage and [the anonymous] “Réveillez vous Piccars” arranged by Lizzie Gutteridge.
MUSIC TRACK
Of Arms and a Woman: Late Medieval Music
Blondel
First Hand Records 2019 / Naxos FHR69
Solage
Tr. 13 Corps femenin (3:25)
Anon. (15th century)
Tr. 7 Réveillez vous Piccars [15th century] (arr. E. Gutteridge for chamber ensemble) (2:57)
Ensemble Blondel performed “Réveillez vous Piccars” on bagpipes, slide trumpet, and drum. Before that, we heard “Corps femenin” by Solage on soprano and alto shawms.
Loud wind instruments were heard in battles both real and imagined. Men and women of all classes attended Shakespeare’s plays and would have been accustomed to hearing bagpipes, shawms, trumpets, and percussion as well as the soft sounds of the broken consort, often including flute, violin, lute, bandora, cittern, and viol.
Here’s music from one of today’s Globe Theater performances--music that would have been familiar to audiences in Shakespeare’s day. Here is “La Montagnura” from a Romeo and Juliet production and “Battle Jig” from a Richard II production at The Globe.
MUSIC TRACK
This World's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe / dir. William Lyons ??? (check booklet)
Signum Classics 2006 / Naxos SIGCD077
Gasparo Zanetti
D. 1 Tr. 1 Romeo and Juliet: La Montagnura (3:45)
Arr. William Lyons after Susato
D. 1 Tr. 39 Battle Jig (Pavane de la Bataille) (Arr. Lyons after Susato) (3:00) *cut at live applause
“La Montagnura” by Gasparo Zanetti and “Battle Jig,” by William Lyons after Tielman Susato, performed by musicians and actors of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.
[Theme music begins: Ensemble Alcatraz, Danse Royale, Elektra Nonesuch 79240-2 / B000005J0B, T.12: La Prime Estampie Royal]
Early music can mean a lot of things. What does it mean to you? Let us know your thoughts and ideas. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org, where you’ll also find playlists and an archive of past shows.
You’re listening to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.
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1:00 Mid Break
Of Arms and a Woman: Late Medieval Music
Blondel
First Hand Records 2019 / Naxos FHR69
Anon.
Tr. 20 La Spagna (excerpt of 1:37)
(fades out at :59)
Welcome back. We’re getting loud this hour with music for “loud” instruments, and now it’s time to strike up the band! Winds and percussion have long been used to provide music for both courtly and country dance. Let’s hear dances from English Waytes… (“Waytes” being a term used for town bands in Renaissance England). Here is a slow Pavane and a moderate-speed Almande, music for louds.
MUSIC TRACK
Waytes: English Music for Renaissance Band
Piffaro
Navona 2009 / Naxos NV5823
Augustine Bassano
Tr. 15 Pavane (arr. P Holman) (2:14)
Ferrabosco II
Tr. 16 2 Almandes (arr. P. Holman and C. Patton) (3:03)
We heard two Renaissance dances performed on winds by Piffaro from their 2009 recording Waytes: English Music for Renaissance Band. That was “Pavane” by Augustine Bassano and an anonymous “Almande” arranged by Peter Holman and Christa Patton.
Improvisation was a core performing principle in Renaissance wind bands. This was vividly displayed in their practice of basse danse, which used well-known tenor lines. The players improvise using some basic rules of harmony around the tenor line, creating complex (if sometimes clashing) textures. Some of these basse danse survive with written out improvisations by performers and composers. We’ll hear two dances performed on shawms, slide trumpet, and bagpipes from the Brussels Basse Danse manuscript 9085 -- music from 15th-century Italian courts.
MUSIC TRACK
L'alta Bellezza: Wind Music from 15th-century Italian Courts
Alta Bellezza
Arcana 2021 / Naxos A122
Anon. (Brussels Basse Danse Ms 9085 “Basse danses dites de Marguerite d’Autriche”)
Tr. 16 La Danse de Cleves (arr. Nathaniel Wood) (2:38)
Tr. 17. Basse Danse “Avignon” (arr. (arr. A. Allen, H. Geisel, N. Wood, Alta Bellezza) (2:12)
Courtly dances: “La Danse de Cleves” and “Bassa Danse ‘Avignon’” performed by Alta Bellezza.
In addition to courtly entertainments, louds were used in sacred contexts such as regular services, festivals, and religious weddings. Ludwig Senfl’s Missa Super Nisi Dominus is dedicated to Martin Luther and included in Capella de la Torre’s recording Luther’s Wedding Day. Let’s hear the Kyrie and Gloria from Senfl’s Missa Super Nisi Dominus performed by an ensemble of louds—shawms, dulcians, sackbuts, and voices.
MUSIC TRACK
Luther's Wedding Day
Capella de la Torre / dir. Katharina Baüml
Challenge Classics 2013 / Naxos CC72598
Ludwig Senfl
Tr. 3 Missa Super Nisi Dominus, Kyrie (5:29)
Tr. 4 Missa Super Nisi Dominus, Gloria (3:44)
Kyrie and Gloria from Missa super Nisi Dominus by Ludwig Senfl. Katharina Baüml led Capella de la Torre.
As we’ve heard, Renaissance composers showed their skill with music played by louds—shawms, sackbuts, and more. These composers were known mainly for their polyphonic music for voices, and Jean Mouton is no exception, which brings us to our featured release… The Brabant Ensemble’s recording of masses and motets by Jean Mouton. Here’s “Benedicam Dominum.”
MUSIC TRACK
Jean Mouton. Missa Faulte d'argent & Motets
The Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice
Hyperion CDA68385 – 034571283852 2020
Jean Mouton
Tr. 4 Benedicam Dominum (4:48)
“Benedicam Dominum” by French composer Jean Mouton. Stephen Rice led The Brabant Ensemble.
Mouton worked for the French court, and he was favored by Pope Leo X as well as prominent intellectuals of his day. Music theorist Heinrich Glarean was complementary of Mouton, saying that [quote] “everyone had copies of his music.” Let’s hear “Credo et in Unum” and “Et in Spiritum Sanctum” from Mouton’s Missa Faulte d’argent.
MUSIC TRACK
Jean Mouton. Missa Faulte d'argent & Motets
The Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice
Hyperion CDA68385 – 034571283852 2020
Jean Mouton
Tr. 21 Missa Faulte d’argent, 7 Credo et in Deum (3:29)
Tr. 24 Missa Faulte d’argent, 10 Et in Spiritum Sanctum (3:23)
“Credo et in Unum” and “Et in Spiritum Sanctum” from Jean Mouton’s Missa Faulte d’argent. Stephen Rice led the Brabant Ensemble on their 2020 Hyperion release: Jean Mouton. Missa Faulte d’argent & Motets.
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Harmonia is a production of WFIU and part of the educational mission of Indiana University.
Support comes from Early Music America: a national organization that advocates and supports / the historical performance of music of the past, the community of artists who create it, and the listeners whose lives are enriched by it. On the web at EarlyMusicAmerica-dot-org.
Additional resources come from the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
We welcome your thoughts about any part of this program, or about early music in general. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org. You can follow us on Facebook by searching for Harmonia Early Music.
The writers for this edition of Harmonia were Sarah Huebsch Schilling.
Thanks to our studio engineer Michael Paskash, and our production team: LuAnn Johnson, Wendy Gillespie, Aaron Cain, and John Bailey. I’m Angela Mariani, inviting you to join us again for the next edition of Harmonia.
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