TRÍÓ - Blodel

Emily Baines, blokkflauta, sekjapípur Belinda Paul, blokkflauta, shawm Lizzie Gutteridge, blokkflautur

https://renaissance-winds.com

~ Prógram ~

COVER STORY                                                                            

Shawms

Anonymous (Trent Codex 87) Qui Latuit/Du pist mein hort

Anonymous (Trinity Carol Roll) Deo gracias, Anglia

Anonymous (Trent Codex 87) Untitled

Anonymous (El Escorial MS IV.a.24) A Florence/Helas la fille/En ma chambre

Recorders

John Bedyngham (c. 1422–1459/60) O rosa bella

Conrad Paumann (c. 1410–1473)

Anonymous (Trent Codex 90)

Anonymous (Berliner Chansonnier)

Shawms

Francesco Landini (c.1325–1397) Questa fanciull’amor

Johannes Ciconia (c. 1373–1411) O rosa bella

Bagpipes

Anonymous (Ms. de Marguerite d’Autriche) La danse de Cleves

Arr. E. Gutteridge & E. Baines Franchoise nouvelle

In the middle of Lent, while the God-fearing population of Europe was fasting, praying, and shunning worldly excess, court musicians across medieval Europe gathered at international trade fairs to exchange ideas, catch up with old friends, and party. These events took place from the early 14th century until the middle of the 15th century. They were usually held in the Low Countries; players travelled from as far as Catalonia to take part. They met to learn the newest songs in the latest style, buy instruments, and recruit new band members. The music they played was never written down. We know the titles of many pieces they shared at these events, but none of the music has survived. That’s a shame. It would be fascinating to know what the greatest wind players of the time were working on, year by year. On the other hand, the manuscripts we do have still tell us a lot about the spread of musical fads and styles, which tunes were hot, which were not, and which became classics. Some were carefully transcribed and barely altered as the decades passed, others were half remembered fragments, some reworked, repurposed as danse tunes, used as models in composition lessons, and as the inspiration of Masses and musical puzzles. Along the way titles were corrupted, lost in translation, and texts were replaced, or forgotten. O rosa bella is an undisputed classic. The poem was first set by Ciconia. It is a fabulous piece, one foot planted firmly in the past, the other striding forward into new a world, filled with sugary chains of 3rds and 6ths. It didn’t stand a chance against the later setting by Bedyingham, which captured the mood of the age in musical form. The sentimental, and very modern, English consonance, was instantly memorable. Of the many copies, some are faithful transcriptions, some the products of fond but defective memories. There are florid keyboard versions, and several attempts to combine it with as many popular tunes as possible. Perhaps surprisingly, dance tunes were often pulled out of art songs, rather than shoe- horned into them. A Florence/Helas la fille/En ma chambre consists of 3 folk-like melodies, with 3 separate texts, performed simultaneously. The music might be classy, but the texts really aren’t. The fact that they are so badly corrupted doesn’t make them more palatable, it just increases the range of possible unpleasant interpretations. The tenor line was transcribed by the most feted of the early Italian dance masters, Domenico da Piacenza, as the ballo, La figlia Guilielmino. His meticulous work De arte saltandi et choreas ducendi includes the earliest surviving European choreography. Dances were traditionally accompanied by a loud wind band—professional players of shawms and brass who specialised in improvising florid variations above a slow moving tenor line to accompany dancers. Precisely the players who would have found their way to the yearly musical conventions. The sounds of those ensembles have long since faded away, but we can get a flavour of the style and flamboyance from the artfully composed surviving settings scattered in manuscripts across Europe. © B Paul 2025

About Blondel Trio:

Blondel is a Medieval and Renaissance wind band. Our past performances include concerts in the Cheltenham Festival (broadcast live by the BBC) Cambridge Early Music, Brighton Early Music Festival, King’s Lynn Festival, Medieval Music in the Dales, Beaminster Festival, Leeds International Medieval Congress, the Wimbledon International Music Festival, Totnes Early Music Society, Barnes Music Festival, Worcester Early Music Festival, and Colchester Early Music. We have done work, both individually and as a group, for Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. In 2020 we received an unsolicited grant from NEMA in support of early music performers during the covid crisis. We were commissioned by the Agincourt600 Committee to create a work to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt—Owre Kynge Went Forth - Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt - told in words and music. The project included a gala performance, and a recording, which is available as a free download from Bandcamp This project is partly funded by the Continuo Foundation. A further grant from Angel Early Music will enable to record this programme later this year.                                                        

         

WindWorks í Norðri er styrkt af:

Tónlistarsjóði Menntamálaráðuneytisins, Norðurþingi, Akureyrabæ, Tónskáldasjóði Rúv og Stef´s og Istituto Italiano di Cultura í Oslo.