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Welcome to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.
Humans first started making wine about 8,000 years ago in the Southern Caucasus region of what is now the country of Georgia, and we’ve been writing, making art, and yes, singing about it, for almost as long. More than just drinking songs, this hour on Harmonia, we’ll hear about the ritual aspects of wine from the cult of Bacchus to Communion. Wine in music can also evoke a connection to the Earth, through agriculture and geography. Pour a glass of your favorite or simply let the music intoxicate you as we sample five centuries of music about wine. Plus, in our featured recording, Alta Early Music Ensemble takes us on a passeggiata with Leonardo Da Vinci.
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MUSIC TRACK
Food, Wine & Song: Music and Feasting in Renaissance Europe
The Orlando Consort
Harmonia Mundi | HMU907314DI (2005)
Loyset Compère
Tr. 14 Sile fragor [Be silent] (4:39)
The Orlando Consort with “Sile fragor; Be silent,” a motet written around 1500 by Loyset Compère. The text is from the perspective of the choir, who implore the mother of God to receive their prayers through song. The final sentence reads, [quote] “Now it is meet to approach the fountain where Bacchus himself is enthroned, and let water depart while we draw the free streams.”
The ancient wine deity known as Dionysus in the Greek tradition and Bacchus to the Romans was also a symbol of music, dance, and theatre. He was worshipped as early as 1000 BC, and festivals in his honor often marked important events in the agricultural year, such as the beginning of spring, the grape harvest, and the winter solstice. The Roman rites of Bacchanalia, celebrated with inebriation and freedom from inhibition, became so popular and threatening to political order that the state banned the cult of Bacchus in the second century BC. After the Christianization of Europe, the figure of Bacchus persisted in neoclassical literature and of course, the music that came with it.
MUSIC TRACK
Carmina Burana: Codex Buranus original version
The Clemencic Consort
Oehms Classics | OC635 (2008)
Anonymous
Tr. 1 Bacche, bene venies [Bacchus, we welcome you] (3:18)
MUSIC TRACK
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/music/player/albums/B01MYROS9C in prod folder
La Fabula di Orpheo
La Compagnia dell’Orpheo, Francis Biggi
Phaia Music | K617200 (2016)
Poliziano (text)
Tr. 27 Ognun segua, Bacco te! [Everyone follows you, Bacchus!] (2:11)
We just heard Francis Biggi lead the Compagnia dell’Orpheo in a performance of “Ognun segua, Bacco te!; Everyone follows you, Bacchus!” that closes Poliziano’s late fifteenth-century Fabula d’Orfeo. Before that, the Clemencic Consort with “Bacche, bene venies; Bacchus, we welcome you” from the Carmina Burana, a thirteenth century collection of satirical songs and dramatic texts [created by students and clergy] / [in Southwestern Austria or the South Tyrol region of what is now Italy]. Next up, we have a pair of Bacchic songs from sixteenth-century Florence.
MUSIC TRACK
In vino: Il vino in musica tra XV e XVI secolo
La Rossignol, Domenico Baronio
Tactus | TC400004 (2005)
Mattio Rampollini
Tr. 7 Bacco Bacco (2:54)
MUSIC TRACK
Trionfo d’Amore e della Morte: Florentine music for a Medici Procession
Piffaro, Concord Ensemble
Dorian Sono Luminus | DOR-90312 (2003)
Anonymous
Tr. 10 Trionpho di Bacco (2:57)
Mattio Rampollini’s “Bacco, Bacco,” performed by La Rossignol with Domenico Baronio, and then Piffaro and the Concord Ensemble with an anonymous Triumph of Bacchus for a Medici procession. Recorder diminutions courtesy of the inimitable Tom Zajac.
Even Handel got in on the fun of composing songs in honor of the god of wine; let’s hear a Bacchic chorus from his 1734 serenata Parnasso in Festa celebrating the marriage of Princess Anne to William of Orange.
MUSIC TRACK
Handel: Parnasso in Festa
La Cetra, Andrea Marcon
PentaTone | PTC5186643 (2017)
George Friederic Handel
Disc 1 Tr. 17 Cantiam a Bacco [We sing to Bacchus] (Chorus) (1:22)
Andrea Marcon led La Cetra on “Cantiam a Bacco” from Handel’s Parnasso in Festa.
Imaginary Bacchic rites aren’t the only place wine shows up in ritual music. Wine has continued to play an important role in religious observances long past the cult of Bacchus. In Judaism, the Kaddish is a prayer of sanctification said over wine on Shabbat. We’ll hear a setting by Salamone Rossi published in 1622. In Christianity, wine is part of the sacrament of Communion, representing the blood of Christ. Heinrich Isaac set the offertory prayer “Diffusa est gratia, Grace flows from your lips because god has blessed you forever,” which is used to consecrate the bread and wine of the Eucharist at the altar.
MUSIC TRACK
Salamone Rossi: The Song of Solomon and Instrumental Music
Profeti Della Quinta, Muscadin
Pan Classics | PC10214 (2008)
Salamone Rossi
Tr. 20 Yitgadal veyitkadash [Magnified and sanctified] (3:57)
MUSIC TRACK
Circa 1500
Capilla Flamenca
Fra Bernardo | FB2101297 (2021)
Heinrich Isaac
Tr. 13 Diffusa est gratia [Grace flows from your lips] (1:24)
First, we heard Profeti Della Quinta and Muscadin with Salamone Rossi’s Kaddish setting, “Yitgadal v’yitkadash; Magnified and sanctified,” from his 1622 collection Hashirim asher lish'lomo, the Songs of Solomon. After that was Heinrich Isaac’s offertory “Diffusa est gratia,” performed by Capilla Flamenca.
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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 Music Bed
MUSIC TRACK
Eloge du vin et de la vigne
La Maurache
Arion Music | 3325480682483 (1993)
Pierre Attaignant
Tr. 12 Sansserre (excerpt of 1:49)
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Welcome back…we’re sipping on some early music about wine this hour on Harmonia.
Often times, wine shows up in music as a pastoral trope; vines, vineyards, and grape-farming maidens made for pleasant imagery that French songwriters in particular loved to evoke, like the following text set by Orlando de Lassus: [quote] “Vine, vine, little vine; he who planted you was a wise man. You were cut with a pruning knife. It seems I am drinking my mother’s milk when you pass down my throat.”
MUSIC TRACK
Lassus: Chansons
Ensemble Clément Janequin, Dominique Visse
Harmonia Mundi | HMA1951391DI (1992)
Orlando de Lassus
Tr. 6 Vignon vignon vignette [Vine, vine, little vine] (1:05)
MUSIC TRACK
Roland de Lassus: Bonjour mon coeur
Capilla Flamenca
Arion Music | 3325480682483 (2009)
Jean De Castro after Orlando de Lassus
Tr. 9 O vin et vigne [O wine and vine] (3:40)
MUSIC TRACK
Madrigals and Songs from the Renaissance
The King’s Singers, Consort of Musicke
Warner Classics | 190295691004 (2018)
Jacques Arcadelt
Tr. 20 Margot labourez les vignes (1:07)
Three French songs about grapevines. First was Orlando de Lassus’ “Vignon vignon vignette; vine, vine, little vine” performed by Ensemble Clement Janequin with Dominique Visse; then Capilla Flamenca with Jean De Castro’s “O vin et vigne; O wine and vine;” and finally, the King’s Singers with Jacques Aracdelt’s “Margot labourez les vignes; Margot works on the vines.”
Wine can also evoke particular locations due to the variety of styles and drinking cultures that developed in different environments. In the next tune, Guillaume DuFay bids goodbye to the fine wines of Laon or Lannoy in Northern France.
MUSIC TRACK
Food, Wine & Song: Music and Feasting in Renaissance Europe
The Orlando Consort
Harmonia Mundi | HMU907314DI (2005)
Guillaume DuFay
Tr. 12 Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys (4:31)
MUSIC TRACK
Si vous vouliez un jour… Airs sérieux et à boire, Vol. 2
Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
Harmonia Mundi | HAF8905306DI (2019)
Étienne Moulinié
Tr. 2 Amis, enivrons-nous du vin d'Espagne en France (:50)
We heard an air à boire, a drinking song by Étienne Moulinié entitled “Friends, let Spanish wine intoxicate us in France,” (“Amis, enivrons-nous du vin d'Espagne en France”), performed by Les Arts Florissants led by William Christie. Before that, Guillaume DuFay’s “Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys; Goodbye to the fine wines of Lannoys,” performed by The Orlando Consort.
Quite a number of drinking songs have come down to us through the centuries from which written music survives. Lassus wrote about wine in multiple languages, and we’ll hear his German ode to the beverage next: “Wine is so pleasing to my palate; I drink my fill of it summer and winter.” After that, we’ll hear an earlier German drinking round by Oswald von Wolkenstein: “Landlord we are thirsty, bring wine!”
MUSIC TRACK
Singphonic di Lasso
Die Singphoniker
CPO | 999855-2 (2002)
Orlando di Lasso
Tr. 4 Der Wein, der schmeckt mir also (1:50)
MUSIC TRACK
Minnesang
Augsburg Early Music Ensemble
Christophorus | CHR77271 2004
Oswald von Wolkenstein
Tr. 18 Her wiert uns durstet also sere (2:06)
“Der Wein, der schmeckt mir also” by Orlando de Lassus, performed by Die Singphoniker; followed by Augsburg Early Music Ensemble with a round by Oswald von Wolkenstein, whose title translates to “Landlord we are thirsty.”
As we know nowadays, drinking alcohol can have a variety of negative health effects, but in the past, wine was prescribed as a treatment for certain ailments. The next song by 16th-century French composer (lutenist) Gabriel Bataille advises: [quote] “Whoever wants to rid themselves of a migraine needs only to drink the good stuff,” and further, in the refrain, that: [quote] “Water does nothing but rot the lungs! Throw, throw, throw it out, friends! Empty this glass for us and we shall refill it.”
MUSIC TRACK
Les Fables de la Fontaine
Marie-Claude Chappuis, La Chapelle Harmonique, Valentin Tournet
B Records | LBM046 (2022)
Gabriel Bataille
Tr. 28 Qui veut chasser une migraine [Whoever wants to rid themselves of a migraine] (2:01)
“Qui veut chasser une migraine; Whoever wants to rid themselves of a migraine” by Gabriel Battaile, sung by Marie-Claude Chappuis with La Chapelle Harmonique and Valentin Tournet.
Our featured album this hour is Alta Early Music Ensemble’s Passeggiata Musicale: Leonardo Da Vinci, released on Ayros in 2021. Alta pairs selections from the musical zeitgeist of turn-of-the-century Florence with some of Da Vinci’s own texts and musical inventions. We’ll start with their dramatic interpretation of the Florentine triumph of Bacchus.
MUSIC TRACK
Passeggiata Musicale Leonardo Da Vinci
Alta Early Music Ensemble
Ayros | 5902768283136 (2021)
Josquin des Prez
Tr. 2 Trionfo de Bacco e Ariadna (6:27)
Ayros Early Music Ensemble with a “Trionfo de Bacco e Ariadna; the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne,” the tune here attributed to Josquin des Prez.
In the 1480s, Da Vinci drew plans for a viola organista, a keyboard instrument whose strings are sounded by horsehair belts rather than plectra, creating a bowed effect. Keyboardist Sławomir Zubrzycki created his own modern replica in 2013, which we’ll hear next.
MUSIC TRACK
Passeggiata Musicale Leonardo Da Vinci
Alta Early Music Ensemble
Ayros | 5902768283136 (2021)
Claudin de Sermisy
Tr. 16 J’attends secours (1:36)
Claudin de Sermisy’s “J’attends secours” on a viola organista after Leonardo Da Vinci’s design, by Sławomir Zubrzycki. Zubrzycki joined Alta Early Music on their 2021 Ayros release, Passeggiata Musicale: Leonardo Da Vinci, this hour’s featured recording.
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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 writer for this edition of Harmonia was Chelsey Belt.
Thanks to our studio engineer Michael Paskash, and our production team: LuAnn Johnson, 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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