The court of Eleanor
of Aquitaine estranged and yet apparently
beautiful wife of King Henry II of England,
flourished at its headquarters in Poitiers
from about 1180 until her death in 1204.
She lies to this day however next to
her husband in Fontrevard Abbey. It
was an artistic melting pot, and you
can read about it in Alison Weir’s superb
book on Eleanor (Jonathan Cape, 1999).
There the concept was developed of ‘amour
courtois’. This was really an excuse
which offered an opportunity for the
finest artists of the day to try out
and to develop ideas of all kinds in
a relaxed and cultured environment.
One particular outcome
was a book ‘The Art of Courtly Love’
by Andreas Capellanus (published by
Columbia University). This takes the
form of an extensive colloquy between
‘The Man’ and ‘The Woman’. Of the many
subjects which are discussed the one
which takes up most of their conversation
is, "Which takes priority: the
lover or the married partner?"
One answer is ‘when a new marriage alliance
is made it does not properly replace
an earlier love-liaison unless the woman
chances to cease devoting herself to
love entirely". This phrase is
quoted by Stevie Wishart in her interesting
but brief notes in the CD booklet.
One such colloquy has
survived with music: Giraut de Borelh’s
‘S’ie-us quer conselh’. This is performed
by Mary Kieke to the accompaniment of
the harp and lute. She cleverly manages
to characterize the conversation between
man and woman by altering the colour
of her voice.
The use of harp and
lute and in other songs the fiddle was,
in 1990 a quite different approach leading
the ‘Gramophone’ to describe the disc
as ‘Refreshingly unusual". But
the seeds of performances like these
can be found in Christopher Page’s groundbreaking
book ‘Voices and Instruments in the
Middle Ages’ (Dent 1987). There he comments
that when colloquies were performed
(pages 27-28) the minstrel would draw
the audience in by singing at first,
without accompaniment. To quote Page,
"when the minstrel reached the
most sensitive point in the management
of the audience, his next and final
stage was to offer to sing accompanied".
This plan is followed by Wishart. Stanza
1 is unaccompanied, the plot is, as
it were, laid out. Then the harp enters,
improvising and above this the singer
"presents the argument". The
lady has "withdrawn what she has
granted me before" and he asks
how can he win her over as she has returned
to the arms of her husband.
These songs, by Bornelh
and de Ventadorn are from the so-called
‘High style’ without Refrains, in which
the beloved is never named; they are
in no strict metre. They are rhapsodic
in form and execution and accompanied
by the highest ranked of all string
instruments. the harp.
Other songs are accompanied
by Stevie Wishart on the fiddle, again
in the same improvisatory style. Indeed
the disc begins with the sound of the
fiddle, which may well have been the
most common instrument of the middle
ages. Page confirms (page 23) that "there
is confirmation of a link between the
fiddle and the genres of descort and
dansa". One such ‘dansa’ is the
famous ‘Kalenda Maya’ by Raimbaut de
Vaquieras which starts as a complaint
to the audience that "Neither May
Day nor beech leaves ….. Can please
me, worthy and joyous lady until I receive
a swift massage from your fair self,
which brings me love." We hear
all six stanzas of the song and then
it is performed immediately after as
an ‘estampida’ by fiddle and drum, prompted
by the final lines "There Sir Engels,
I have finished the estampida".
The whole song was in fact little more
than an excuse to dance!
Of course it is perfectly
acceptable to play troubadour songs
entirely instrumentally - even the non-dance
type. The last four tracks play, as
a continuum, related songs by Gace Brule
one of the leading lights of the court.
These are played on fiddle and a kind
of drum called a bendir sounding like
the bongos in some respects but related
to the more common nakers.
I have to admit that
when I first heard Sinfonye on an 1980s
Hyperion disc entitled ‘Bella Donna’
(CDH 55207) I was not especially impressed.
I became more intrigued and fascinated
as time went by with a disc like ‘The
sweet look and the loving manner’ (CDA
66625). I now find that these and ‘Gabriel’s
Greeting’ (CDA 55151) have passed the
test of time and I come back to them
feeling fresh and captivated. Mary Kieke
on this CD often uses a rather harsh,
nasal tone which takes as its starting
point the Eastern or possibly south-eastern
Mediterranean folk singers you can hear
to this day in Turkey or S.E. Spain.
Kieke also has other colours to her
voice. If you play track 8, the only
surviving song by one Cadnet ‘S’ance
fuy belha’, you can hear her use it
either for characterization, as mentioned
above or for expressivity. Throughout
she is ably and sensitively accompanied
by Wishart on the fiddle, Paula Chateauneuf,
as ever elegantly expressive on the
lute and the rest of the group.
I know that this is
probably my problem, and you might criticize
me for sexism, but I do find it odd
when a female troubadour (actually called
‘troubaritz’) sings lines like Ventadorn’s
Advise me now my Lords/you who have
wisdom and sense a lady has granted
me her love ..." etc. Ah well ....
All texts are given
and are well translated some with further
introductions given originally by the
composer by way of ‘arguments’ and explanations.
Although the voice may at times sound
a little harsh to the uninitiated the
disc is worth hearing/ Listening to
it carefully will offer much pleasure
and fascination.
To quote ‘The Art of
Courtly Love’: "It is a glorious
thing to take part in the services of
Love". This disc paints a colourful
and potent picture of life in the late
12th century court of Queen
Eleanor.
Gary Higginson
Sinfonye/Stevie Wishart 
