The Florentine Renaissance
The Orlando Consort
rec. 2020, Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Loughton, UK
Texts and translations included
Reviewed as a 16/44 FLAC download with pdf-booklet from Hyperion
HYPERION CDA68349 [73]
Florence was one of the major political powers in Italy, and - as was so often the case - this went hand in hand with a flourishing of arts and sciences, which were important instruments of representation. The programme spans a period of around eighty years, starting with Guillaume Dufay's stay in the city, and ending with the execution of Girolamo Savonarola in 1498.
Dufay moved to Italy in 1420. He worked as a singer in the papal choir under Eugene IV, and it was in his retinue that he visited Florence in 1436. In that year the Cathedral was consecrated, and Dufay composed his motet Super rosarum flores for the occasion. The title refers to the Cathedral's name: Santa Maria del Fiore. Patrick Macey, in his liner-notes, writes: "Dufay's motet has sparked discussion about the relation of its dimensions to architectural elements of the new cathedral. The work has a clear formal design with eight segments based on the alternation of high-voice duets with full-voice sections. This progression of duet–tutti sections creates the effect of increasing speed as the duration of the breve in each statement decreases from six units to four to two, and then broadens out to three in the final section. The proportion of 6:4:2:3 has been the focus of studies that seek to relate the motet’s temporal dimensions to those of the cathedral - or to its prototype, the Temple of Solomon (...)." However, there is no general agreement on this. It is one of Dufay's best-known pieces, and it is an appropriate start of this recording. It is followed by a chant for the Mass of dedication, which is only found in the cathedral's service books. It is not certain that Dufay is the composer, but it seems quite likely. The two other motets are written at the same time, also for Florence. This section of the programme also includes two chansons, by Dufay and Binchois respectively. The latter was never in Florence, but he was held in high esteem. Piero de' Medici (1416-1469) owned a manuscript which included twelve chansons by Binchois. However, here the two chansons are sung with a sacred text: we have here two examples of the contrafactum practice which was very common in the Renaissance. The two chansons have been turned into laude, with an Italian text and scored for a single voice with accompaniment. Laude were very popular at the time; for the church it was an important instrument to spread and strengthen the faith among those who did not understand Latin. The two contrafacta are from the pen of Feo Belcari, a playwright and author of religious poetry.
The second and largest section of the programme is devoted to music connected to the main feasts in the calender in Florence: carnival, the May festival and the celebrations of the feast of St John the Baptist, the city's patron saint. Carnival was an important part of the calender, as everywhere in Italy. However, due to several disasters, among them an outbreak of the plague in 1478, carnival was cancelled for some years, but restored in the late 1480s. At that time Florence was under the reign of Lorenzo de' Medici, nicknamed Il Magnifico (1449-1492). He had written a number of carnival songs in the 1470s, which he revived when carnival was celebrated again. Several of these are performed here in anonymous settings, which may be from the pen of Heinrich Isaac. He was one of the most famous composers at the time, alongside Josquin Desprez. He entered the service of the Medici dynasty in 1484. He apparently always remained in contact with this powerful family, even after the latter were banished from Florence in 1494. Two years later Isaac entered the service of Emperor Maximilian I. When the Medicis returned to Florence and a member of the family was elected Pope as Leo X, they granted Isaac a pension. Ben venga maggio was written for the May festival; it is an anonymous setting of a text by Angelo Poliziano, a poet who served the Medici family for most of his life.
The pieces connected to the feast of St John the Baptist are certainly from the pen of Isaac, starting with Prophetarum maxime ("Greatest of prophets"). The celebrations also included secular elements, such as a trionfo - a parade of costumed characters on an elaborately decorated wagon pulled by oxen. Isaac's Trionfo delle dée with the title Né più bella di queste was written for such an occasion. Corri fortuna was intended for domestic performance; here we get a vocal performance for the first time, as previously it was considered an instrumental piece. Another first performance concerns Lasso quel ch'altri fugge, whose missing bass part has been reconstructed.
When Lorenzo died in 1492, the above-mentioned Poliziano wrote the text which Isaac set to music: Quis dabit capiti meo aquam? - "Who will give my head water, who will give my eyes a fountain of tears, that I may weep by night, that I may weep by day?" Isaac made use of music from his Missa Salva nos based on the chant for the last antiphon of the evening office of Compline, a translation of which reads thus: "Protect us, Lord, in our waking, and guard over us in our sleeping, so that we may keep vigil with Christ, and may we rest in peace." Notable is the third section, which is headed by the statement "tenor laurus tacet" - "the laurel (Lorenzo) is silent". Here the tenor is omitted. The disc also closes with a piece connected to the death of Lorenzo, who is addressed as if he were a saint. It ends with a pray for peace, which is especially meaningful as Lorenzo played a major role as a peacemaker between the Italian states, and soon after his death the country fell victim to war again.
In between we get pieces connected to Girolamo Savonarola, whose power strongly increased after the death of Lorenzo. He urged for religious, social and political reforms and in 1496 he banned carnival festivities. He was a great promoter of the singing of laude and that is why we get three such pieces. Ora mai sono in età is a text by the above-mentioned Feo Belcari, whereas the text of Che fai qui core is by Savonarola himself. These laude were to be sung to the music of carnival songs performed earlier in the programme (Hora mai che fora son and Ben venga maggio respectively). The anonymous text Viva, viva in nostro core was set to another carnival song. The conflict between Savonarola and Pope Alexander VI (Borgia), who had been compared with the Pharao in the third lauda just mentioned, resulted in the former's execution in May 1498.
The reader may have gathered by now that this is a most interesting production. It was a nice idea to paint a musical portrait of one of the main political and artistic centres in 15th-century Italy. This also allows for the performance of pieces that are seldom part of a programme of renaissance music, and to put them into their historical and social context. The fact that several items are recorded here for the first time only emphasizes its importance. It was a particular good idea to combine carnival songs with their spiritual counterparts, demonstrating the wide-spread practice of contrafactum. The singing is excellent, despite the slight vibrato in the lowest voices. The Orlando Consort has recently finished its complete recording of Machaut's oeuvre, which is a major achievement. This disc is another jewel in their crown. It is also going to be one of its last, as the ensemble announced its dissolution in 2023. That is sad news.
Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen
Previous review:
Gary Higginson (February 2022)
Contents
Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474)
Nuper rosarum flores/Terribilis est locus ist a 4
Nuper almos rosae flores a 1 (attr)
Salve flos Tuscae gentis/Vos nunc Etruscae iubeo/Viri mendaces a 4
[Vanne mio core] à 3 (after Va t'en mon cueur)
Gilles Binchois (c1400-1460)
[Vanne mio core] à 3 (after Pour prison)
Guillaume Dufay
Mirandas parit haec urbs Florentina a 3
anon
Hora mai che fora son' à 3
Quando ruguardo el nostro viver rio à 3
?Heinrich Isaac (c1450-1517)
Canto de' profumi à 3
Canto dello zibetto à 3
O maligno e duro core à 3
anon
Ben venga maggio à 3
Heinrich Isaac
Prophetarum maxime a 4
Né più bella di queste (Trionfo delle dée) à 4
Corri, Fortuna à 4
Lasso quel ch'altri fugge à 3
Quis dabit capiti meo aquam? a 4
anon
Ora mai sono in età à 1
Che fai qui core? à 3
Viva, viva in nostro core à 3
Heinrich Isaac
Quis dabit pacem populo timenti? a 4
Published: October 6, 2022
