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What Can Compère?

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Welcome to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani. The names Dufay, Ockeghem, and Josquin are household words - well, in a household interested in Renaissance music at least - but they were surrounded by influential musicians and composers, many of whom we’ve never heard. This hour, we’re going to meet one, Loyset Compère—10 years older than Josquin, and the innovator of many stylistic features the two composers share. This hour, we’ll sample Compère’s broad range of sacred and secular compositions, Plus, on our feature recording, works by Giovanni Legrenzi performed by the ensemble Nova Ars Cantandi.

[Theme music fades]


MUSIC TRACK .mp3
Trionfo D'amore E Della Morte: Florentine Music for a Medici Procession         
Piffaro and The Concord Ensemble
Dorian, 2006 / B00O2KDXWG               
A. Agricola             
Tr. 8 Cecus Non Judicat (4:40)
 
Piffaro played Alexander Agricola’s Cecus non judicat de coloribus (“The blind man cannot judge color”) on their self-produced 2008 recording Trionfo D'amore E Della Morte: Florentine Music for a Medici Procession. [The mysterious title of this piece is the only text found in this most unusual three-part song.]
 
This hour, we’re going to forge an acquaintance with one of the leading chanson and motet composers of the late 15th and early 16th centuries—Loyset Compère.

Until fairly recently, Compère was considered a “lesser contemporary” of Josquin des Prez, but he is now believed to be a substantially earlier composer than Josquin, making it just possible that Compère was the true originator of the fully imitative style that Josquin perfected. Despite being born c. (around) 1445 in Artois, and therefore Flemish, Compère was naturalized as French by Charles VIII, in whose court he worked. Before he landed in Charles VIII’s court, he sang in the Duke’s chapel in Milan for Galeazzo Maria Sforza, and later, he probably spent his remaining years at the collegiate church of St. Quentin where he held a canonry.

Let’s begin our acquaintance with Compère’s most popular work, the motet Ave Maria gratia plena, one of the most widely disseminated pieces of its time. In it, the well-known “Hail Mary” prayer is embellished with extra text asking all the saints and angels to pray for us. 

MUSIC TRACK
Compère: Missa Galeazescha, Music for the Duke of Milan
Odhecaton, Paolo da Col
Arcana , 2017 / B073XBYBPQ
Loyset Compère
Tr.19 Ave Maria (5:14)

Paolo da Col directed the ensemble Odhecaton in Compere’s Ave Maria on their recording Compere: Missa Galeazescha.

One of Compère’s earliest surviving works is his massive motet Omnium bonorum plena. The text, which he probably also wrote, mentions a number of older, revered musicians, including Dufay, Ockeghem, Busnois, Tinctoris, and some whose names are otherwise unknown. The opening words can be translated “full of all goodness,” which in French might be rendered De tous biens playne, which is in turn the opening of a very well-known tune by Hayne von Ghizeghem; [early music afficionados might even hear echoes of that very song in this motet.]

MUSIC TRACK
Dufay/Loyset Compère Missa Puisque Je Vis/Omnium Bonorum Plena
Binchois Consort, Andrew Kirkman
Hyperion 2000 / B00009NJ1V
Loyset Compère
Tr. 7 Omnium bonorum plena (10:25)

Compère’s motet Omnium bonorum plena was sung by the Binchois Consort, Andrew Kirkman, director, on their 2003 Hyperion release Missa Puisque Je Vis/Omnium Bonorum Plena.

Compère was an inventive and skilled composer whose chansons are among his best work. Au travail suis is a quodlibet, quoting both text and music from three songs by Ockeghem, two by Dufay, and once again, Hayne von Ghizeghem’s De tous biens playne.

MUSIC TRACK
Loyset Compere: Magnificat, motets and chansons
Orlando Consort
Hyperion, 2015 / B00YT9IRNK
Loyset Compere
Tr. 8 Au travail suis (6:24)

Au travail suis, by Loyset Compère, from the Orlando Consort’s 2015 Hyperion recording Loyset Compere: Magnificat, motets and chansons.
 

[Begin theme music]

[Theme Music Bed: Ensemble Alcatraz, Danse Royale, Elektra Nonesuch 79240-2 / B000005J0B, T.12: La Prime Estampie Royal]

You can hear highlights from recent and archival concert recordings of early music on Harmonia Uncut -- our podcast, curated and hosted by Wendy Gillespie. Listen online at harmonia early music dot org and through iTunes.

You’re listening to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.

[Fade out theme music]

Mid Break: (1:00)

MUSIC TRACK
La Peste
Les Barocudas and Marie Nadeau-Tremblay
Atma Classique 2020
Michelangelo Rossi
[TOCCATE E CORRENTI D’INTAVOLATURA D’ORGANO E CEMBALO. BOLOGNE, 1657]
T. 6 Toccata settima [excerpt of 5:36]

(fades out at :59)
 

Welcome back. We’re listening to music of Renaissance composer Loyset Compère, from whom we’re now going to hear a motet-chanson that combines a sad love song in the upper voices in the poetic form of a virelai with text from the Lamentations of Jeremiah in the bass voice. Compère composed five such compositions with a Latin cantus firmus supporting [a setting of a French poem in the] two upper voices 

MUSIC TRACK
Loyset Compere: Magnificat, motets and chansons
Orlando Consort
Hyperion, 2015 / B00YT9IRNK
Loyset Compere
Tr. 2 Tant ay d'ennuy/O vos omnes (8:17)

Once again from their recording, Loyset Compere: Magnificat, motets and chansons, we heard the Orlando Consort perform Compère’s Tant ay d’ennuy/O vos omnes.

Compere composed 14 four-voiced chansons that are quite different from his other compositions, setting amusing, often satirical popular verses to sprightly melodies. Here’s an example: a chanson entitled “Nous sommes de l’ordre de Saint Babouin,” literally “We are of the order of Saint Babouin,” whose text extols the virtues of an easy life - sleeping late, eating, and drinking well. It is the final piece on a recording by the Ensemble Clément Janequin and Les Sacqueboutiers that combines C16 French chansons and dance music with readings of poetry by the person that many consider to be the French Shakespeare - François Rabelais – of a similarly satirical nature:

MUSIC TRACK
Rabelais: Fay ce que vouldras - Plaisirs de gorge et joyeux instruments
Les Sacquebouteirs, Ensemble Clement Janequin
Flora 2012
Tr 17 Nous sommes de l’ordre de Saint Babouin… (4:07…with recitation; 3:07 of music)

The Ensemble Clément Janequin joined Les Sacqueboutiers to present a rollicking 4-part chanson by Loyset Compere entitled “Nous sommes de l’ordre de Saint Babouin,” a song about the pleasures of good food and drink— [from a CD titled Rabelais: Fay ce que vouldras,—not the Celine Dion song, but rather “Do what thou wilt!,” the main rule of the abbey founded by the giant Gargantua – a character in Rabelais’ writing.] 

Let’s turn now to our featured release, brought to you by the ensemble Nova Ars Cantandi. In 2020, Naxos released their world premier recording entitled Giovanni Legrenzi: Compiete Op 7 Final Prayers for the Divine Office.

Compiete is the Italian word for compline, the final moment of prayer in the monastic day. In 1662, Giovanni Legrenzi published in Venice a collection of complete litanies and Marian antiphons for 5 voices as his Opus 7, hence the title of this recording. Of the fifteen pieces in the collection, 6 are psalms, four are songs to the Virgin, and the others are unvariable parts of Compline. We’ll sample each of those categories. First, a psalm, In te domine speravi - known in English as "In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust."  

MUSIC TRACK
Giovanni Legrenzi: Compiete Op 7
Nova Ars Cantandi, Giovanni Acciai, director.
NAXOS, 2020 / B08L1N6MPM
Giovanni Legrenzi
Tr. 5 In te Domine (5:28)

A psalm from the office of Compline composed by Giovanni Legrenzi, sung by Nova Ars Cantandi. Did you hear how Legrenzi repeats the word “non” to emphasize “non confundar” - “not confounded?”

Next, a Marian antiphon. Let’s listen to Alma redemptoris mater - a title that will probably sound familiar to some listeners, because there are hundreds of pieces set to this ancient text. Listen toward the end for some very juicy dissonance, painting the contrite words of the sinner, “Ave, peccatorum miserere”

MUSIC TRACK
Giovanni Legrenzi: Compiete Op 7
Nova Ars Cantandi, Giovanni Acciai, director.
NAXOS, 2020 / B08L1N6MPM
Giovanni Legrenzi
Tr. 12 Alma Redemptoris mater [2:54]

Legrenzi’s antiphon to the Virgin Alma redemptoris mater, performed by Nova Ars Cantandi.

Now, finally, we’ll hear yet a third familiar title - Te lucis ante terminum - this time a well-known hymn, especially if you were a monk attending his daily office, because you would hear it every single day at Compline! 

MUSIC TRACK
Giovanni Legrenzi: Compiete Op 7
Nova Ars Cantandi, Giovanni Acciai, director.
NAXOS, 2020 / B08L1N6MPM
Giovanni Legrenzi
Tr. 8 Te lucis ante terminum [1:23]

Te lucis ante terminum is a very fine place to end Compline and to end this edition of Harmonia. We’ve been listening to our featured release of the week, Giovanni Legrenzi: Compiete Op 7 Final Prayers for the Divine Office. The ensemble Nova Ars Cantandi, directed by Giovanni Acciai*, are joined for this 2020 Naxos recording by Ivana Valotti on the organ.


[Fade in theme music]


Harmonia is a production of WFIU. 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. And, you can follow our Facebook page by searching for Harmonia Early Music.

The writer for this edition of Harmonia was Wendy Gillespie.

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.

Omnium bonorum plena, a motet by Compère

Manuscript of "Omnium bonorum plena," a motet by Compère, possibly his earliest surviving work, written c. 1472. (Public domain, Wikipedia)

The names Dufay, Ockeghem, and Josquin are household words - well, in a household interested in Renaissance music at least - but they were surrounded by influential musicians and composers, many of whom we’ve never heard. This hour, we’re going to meet one, Loyset Compère—10 years older than Josquin, and the innovator of many stylistic features the two composers share. This hour, we’ll sample Compère’s broad range of sacred and secular compositions. Plus, on our feature recording, works by Giovanni Legrenzi performed by the ensemble Nova Ars Cantandi.

PLAYLIST

Trionfo D'amore E Della Morte: Florentine Music for a Medici Procession
Piffaro and The Concord Ensemble
Dorian, 2006 / B00O2KDXWG
A. Agricola
Tr. 8 Cecus Non Judicat (4:40)

Segment A:

Compère: Missa Galeazescha, Music for the Duke of Milan
Odhecaton, Paolo da Col
Arcana , 2017 / B073XBYBPQ
Loyset Compère
Tr.19 Ave Maria (5:14)

Dufay/Loyset Compère Missa Puisque Je Vis/Omnium Bonorum Plena
Binchois Consort, Andrew Kirkman
Hyperion 2000 / B00009NJ1V
Loyset Compère
Tr. 7 Omnium bonorum plena (10:25)

Loyset Compere: Magnificat, motets and chansons
Orlando Consort
Hyperion, 2015 / B00YT9IRNK
Loyset Compere
Tr. 8 Au travail suis (6:24)

Theme Music Bed: Ensemble Alcatraz, Danse Royale, Elektra Nonesuch 79240-2 / B000005J0B, T.12: La Prime Estampie Royal

:59 Midpoint Break Music Bed:

La Peste
Les Barocudas and Marie Nadeau-Tremblay
Atma Classique 2020
Michelangelo Rossi
[TOCCATE E CORRENTI D’INTAVOLATURA D’ORGANO E CEMBALO. BOLOGNE, 1657]
T. 6 Toccata settima [excerpt of 5:36]

Segment B:

Loyset Compere: Magnificat, motets and chansons
Orlando Consort
Hyperion, 2015 / B00YT9IRNK
Loyset Compere
Tr. 2 Tant ay d'ennuy/O vos omnes (8:17)

Rabelais: Fay ce que vouldras - Plaisirs de gorge et joyeux instruments
Les Sacquebouteirs, Ensemble Clement Janequin
Flora 2012
Tr 17 Nous sommes de l’ordre de Saint Babouin… (4:07…with rcitation; 3:07 of music)

Featured Release:

Giovanni Legrenzi: Compiete Op 7
Nova Ars Cantandi, Giovanni Acciai, director.
NAXOS, 2020 / B08L1N6MPM
Giovanni Legrenzi
Tr. 5 In te Domine (5:28)
Tr. 12 Alma Redemptoris mater [2:54]
Tr. 8 Te lucis ante terminum [1:23]

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