The
Missa ad placitum (‘however you wish’
or ‘as you like it’) seems to have been the only Mass composed by Claude
Le Jeune – that he composed it at all, when he had converted to Protestantism
early in his career, is something of a mystery, as is the title. Perhaps
it signified that his heart was not in the work or that it was in a
variety of styles, partly in the syllabic style known as
musique
mesurée, which he employed for his French works and partly in an
older, more florid style. As you might expect from a reformed composer,
much of the music conforms to the simpler style which Tallis and Byrd
adopted in England at much the same time when writing for the Anglican
Chapel Royal.
This is the only available recording and, while those who insist
on historically accurate performance may frown on the instrumental
accompaniment for sacred as opposed to secular music, it is well worth
acquiring, especially at its new budget price. In fact, the instrumental
doubling of the vocal parts is not too prominent and the quality of
the singing can support it.
Le Jeune wrote a good deal of secular music and Huguenot religious
works in French, some of them admittedly somewhat tedious, such as
his settings of the
Octonaires du vanité du monde, but much
also well worth hearing, as in the works by him included on an earlier
Harmonia Mundi d’Abord recording from Ensemble Clément Janequin:
Songs
and Psalms of the Reformation (HMA1951672). His
Ten Psalms
of David are available from Ramée (RAM1005 –
review).
Three of the psalm settings appear with music by Le Jeune and some
of his contemporaries on Glossa GCDC80012.
Dominique Visse and his Ensemble have also recorded some of Le Jeune’s
secular music on a fine collection entitled
Autant en emporte le
vent (Harmonia Mundi d’Abord HMA1951863 –
review).
In addition to the secular and reformed sacred settings, Le Jeune
also composed Latin motets, two of which appear on this recording.
Benedicite
Dominum – O praise the Lord, ye angels of his – is a joyful polyphonic
setting which would hardly have put Tallis or Byrd to shame, while
Tristitia obsedit me – sorrow has laid siege to me – is very
different in manner, though far from gloomy. The two contrast well
and the performances do them both justice.
Though the
Magnificat, especially in Latin, would not have
found a place in a Huguenot service, since that branch of reform was
more radical than the Lutheran and Anglican, where
Magnificat
still found a place in Vespers or Evensong, it is less remarkable
that Le Jeune should have set it than that he composed a Mass, since
the words are taken directly from the New Testament. It’s an elaborate
setting, ranging from 4 to 7 parts, and it’s well performed here,
though my ears pricked up when
timentibus eum came out sounding
more like
timentibus eam. No doubt that reflects the French
pronunciation of Latin at the time.
I listened to this recording as a lossless download from
eclassical.com.
Not all eclassical downloads of this budget-price series are competitively
priced when the CDs cost around £6.50 but this being a fairly short
album and eclassical charging by the second, their price of $9.69 is
competitive for this album, especially in the US.
There’s no booklet, however, which may not be so important when
Harmonia Mundi usually provide only the merest of details and no texts
with their d’Abord reissues, but that’s irrelevant: if you are paying
almost as much for the download, you at least deserve such booklet
as comes with the physical product. The texts of the ordinary of
the Mass and
Magnificat may be easy enough to come by, but
not those of the two motets.
Benedicite Dominum is the text of the Introit for the Feast
of St. Michael:
Benedícite Dóminum, omnes Angeli ejus: poténtes
virtúte, qui fácitis verbum ejus, ad audiéndam vocem sermónum ejus.
Bénedic, ánima mea, Dómino: et ómnia, quæ intra me sunt, nómini sancto
ejus. Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancti sicut erat in principio
et nunc, et semper, et saecula saeculorum. Amen. O praise the
Lord, ye angels of his, ye that excel in strength: ye that fulfil
his commandment and hearken unto the voice of his words. Praise the
Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me praise his holy name.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it
was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. Amen. (Psalm 012
(103)).
You can find the text and translation of
Tristitia obsedit me
in a BIS booklet available online
here.
This is the only recording of the Mass and there is only one other
of the
Magnificat and
Tristitia obsedit me in the current
catalogue, on another all-Le Jeune album which I haven’t been able
to access (Alpha 032). Music, performance and recording all warrant
my recommendation, especially at the new reduced price, though the
lack of a booklet with the download warrants a serious reservation.
Brian Wilson
