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| The
Triumphs of Maximilian Songs and Instrumental Music
Musica Antiqua of London
Programme Notes Throughout Europe the early sixteenth century produced music of great power and innovation. Under the patronage of princes such as Henry VIII, Lorenzo de Medici, Isabella d'Este and François I, true national styles were actively developed; but at the same time the best players and composers were increasingly mobile, and were aggressively 'head-hunted' from court to court. Franco-Flemish polyphony, which had dominated music for so long, still formed an important part of the repertoire, but in secular music at least its importance was waning. In its place a new, artfully simple, often homophonic style was becoming popular, with the clarity of the words being prized above contrapuntal elegance. Nowhere is this mix of styles and influences more clearly illustrated than at the German court of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian the First. Old and new, polyphony and homophony, national and international, all blend together to produce a repertoire of great variety and richness. In music, as in the visual arts, Maximilian was a patron of unusual discrimination: the volumes of woodcuts by Dürer and Burgmair, commissioned to ensure that the Emperor's fame outlived his reign, pay tribute to his artistic judgement, whilst the music of Isaac and Senfl, both in his employ, is in itself a great monument to him. Heinrich Isaac (c.1450 - 1517), Flemish by birth, served Lorenzo de Medici as court composer from 1479 until Lorenzo's death in 1492. A few years later he entered the employ of Maximilian, becoming Kapellmeister in 1497. He continued to spend much time in Italy (particularly in Ferrara and Florence) as a diplomatic agent for Maximilian, and died in Florence. In sacred music, Isaac's magnum opus was undoubtedly the mighty Choralis Constantinus - settings of the Propers of the Mass for every day of the year. Isaac was to die before he completed this undertaking, though what survives represents, like his other masses and motets, Franco-Flemish polyphony at its finest. In secular music, Isaac adapted himself to national styles with both skill and conviction. The carnival songs he wrote for Lorenzo in Florence are true examples of Florentine art, whilst the tenor songs composed for Maximilian (including the most famous of all, Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen) are both original and idiomatic. Isaac is represented on this disc by three pieces: the tenor song Ich Stünd an einem Morgen [27] - whose flowing imitative counterpoint disguises the fact that the melody is indeed intact in the tenor part; the disconcerting Fortuna in Mi [3] - which changes the mode of the tenor part of Busnois' chanson, thus making tones into semitones and vice-versa, adding two new parts; and Der Hundt [26] - an exuberant three-voice instrumental piece, based on fragments of an anonymous song, whose extended sequences amount almost to self-parody. Ludwig Senfl (1489 - 1543) was Isaac's successor as Maximilian's Kapellmeister. Born in Switzerland, Senfl was to serve not only Maximilian but also Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria - thus directing the music at the two most His protestant sympathies, are nowhere in evidence in, for example, his epic reworking in six parts of Josquin's simple 4-voice Ave Maria. Alongside such glittering Catholic repertoire we find more austere but deeply felt vernacular sacred works such as the setting of the Seven Last Words based on a Lutheran melody. Both styles are handled with ease and mastery. It is Senfl's secular works which form the core of this present disc. The form of the tenorlied (or tenor-song) might not seem a rewarding vehicle for invention. A melody - either newly composed or a cantus prius factus, sometimes of folk origin - must be presented in the tenor part, with between two and four free parts added around it. The theorist Heinrich Glarean has distinguished between the skills of the Phonascus, who could invent new melodies, and the Symphonet, whose skill was in the setting of pre-composed melodies. He casts Senfl as a Symphonet of extraordinary ability. Examination of almost three hundred of Senfl's surviving tenor songs show this to be the case. At one end of the scale stands Will niemand singen [1], where two treble parts dance around each other in an extended prelude, giving a querulous flavour to the eventual entry of the voice - 'No-one wants to sing, then I will!'. The other extreme is represented by Patientiam müss ich han [19], a four-voice tenorlied of great economy and intensity. But it is perhaps in the settings of Ich stünd an einem Morgen [30-34] that we may appreciate just how skilled a
Symphonet Senfl was. The two settings in three voices [30 and 32] are probably intended for instrumental performance, but unlike most such
carmina they preserve the
original melody complete in one voice. The The four-voice setting [33] puts three parts in disjunct parallel movement, while the remaining (altus) part freely meditates. The easy cultured polyphony of the instrumental parts in the five- voice setting [31] gives way to an expressive homophonic accompaniment in the second half. The final six-voice setting [34] combines Ich Stünd with the melody of Es taget vor dem Walde
over a third song, Kein Adler. This is a tour de force of composition, which also raises intriguing possibilities in the words: are the Germany enjoyed the skills of many fine composers in the early 16th century - Heinrich Finck and Thomas Stolzer, for example, both of whom are represented on this CD. But the early music revival has not yet placed Ludwig Senfl in the pre-eminent position he deserves. I hope this recording may help to address this situation. Philip Thorby [1] Will niemand singen Ich sing' ein Lied, das will ich aufgeben. Wer soll ein' bessere Pflegerin sein? Wer soll des Annelein Helfer sein? If no one else will sing, then I will! I'm singing a song I want to give up. Who will care for it better? Who will help Annie? [6-14] Elslein & Es taget vor dem Walde (Ach) Elslein, liebstes Elselein, Das bringt mir große Schmerzen, Hoff, Zeit werd es wol enden, Es taget vor dem Walde, stand auf, Kätterlein! Es taget in der Aue, stand auf, Kätterlein, Es taget vor dem Holze, stand auf, Kätterlein, Ah Else, dearest Else, It causes me great pain, I hope that time will end it, Day breaks at the edge of the woods; arise, sweet Kate! The hares will soon be running, arise, sweet Kate, sweet heart! Heigh-ho, you are mine and I am yours, arise, sweet Kate. Day breaks in the meadows, arise, sweet Kate, Day breaks in front of the grove; arise, sweet Kate, [15-17] Ein frolyk Wesen Ein frolyk Wesen Wann es nun kem I have been blessed with a cheerful nature If only it suited me [18-19] Pacienta Patientiam muess ich han, Patiencia überwind' Patientia, nun lass ab! I must be patient, and I could be if things were different. Patience softly and gently overcomes the world's troubles. Patience, begone, I have had enough! [21-24] Entlaubet ist der Walde Entlaubet ist der Walde Was lässt du mir zue Letze Sei weis', lass dich nit affen! The wood is stripped of leaves at the approach of winter cold, and I shall soon be robbed of my love, Why do you leave me,
my fair brown maid, to give me joy
while I must be away from you? Be wise, do not be fooled. [25-26] Der Hundt Der Hundt mir vor dem licht umb gat Thu was ich wöl, so hasst er mich So denk ich doch einr gutten zeit The cur stands in my light both early and late. Do what I will, he hates me. Many a hard thrust he gives me straight, Yet I look forward to a better time,
which gladdens me, when I should have no fears; [27-34] Ich stünd an einem Morgen Ich stünd an einem Morgen Herzlich ich hab vernummen Das Fräulein das schrei: 'Morte! I stood one morning in a secret place. [she:] 'Beloved, I have heard that you will from hence away. The maiden then cried, |
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