Le Chansonnier Cordiforme

3 CD - MP3 192 Kbps - 3 RAR (260Mb)


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CD 2
CD 3


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CD 2
CD 3

Le Chansonnier Cordiforme is a ravishingly beautiful illuminated manuscript, shaped like a double heart, and assembled in the early 1470s, about the time of the death of Dufay, a generation after the deaths of Dunstable and Binchois, and just as men such as Ockeghem were becoming famous. According to annotator David Fallows, “The Chansonnier contains the most compact and representative surviving collection of the classic European courtly song repertory in those years. Most of the songs that achieved the widest popularity at the time are here.” The book looks sublime; its original owner, though, was evidently a scoundrel. Jean de Montchenu was described at the time as “a great scoundrel, shameful of conduct, highly unchaste, destestable, dissolute, and full of vices.” He became a monk and then a bishop, but was finally excommunicated. The book came about, it is thought, when he was connected with the Duchy of Savoy (since 1860 a part of France).Most of the music collected on these three CDs is anonymous or of uncertain provenance, but there are songs by Dufay, Ockeghem, Bedyngham, and Busnoys. Perhaps illustrating the ambivalent political stance of the House of Savoy, the first disc is in Italian; the others are in French. Some of these songs are sweetly plaintive; others, such as Ockeghem’s L’Autre d’antan l’autrier passa, energetic. The Ockeghem tells the story of a man who repeatedly is enticed by the looks or embraces of women who desert him; the first has a “look forged in Milan,” which is evidently particularly devastating. (Avoid women whose looks seem to have been “forged.”) While there are now readily available discs devoted to Ockeghem and Dufay, including excellent ones on Naxos, there’s no other song collection that I know of like this one: It’s an anthology of medieval music before things started to change. It’s a rich collection, beautifully played and sung, highly recommended for anyone with an interest in early music. Reproductions of the manuscript have evidently been made with infinite care. The notes tell you where you may find them, but warn the gentle reader that you also cannot afford them.

contents:


CD-1

Anon: Hora gridar 'oimè (2 voices, fiddle, bass lute)
Anon (ballata): Ben lo sa Dio (voice, fiddle, harp)
Dufay (rondeau): Dona gentile (voice, harp, flute)
Bedyngham: Zentil madonna (soprano, harp, lute)
Anon: Chiara fontana (2 voices)
Anon: O pelegrina luce (voice, 2 fiddles, harp)
Bedyngham: O rosa bella (voice, 2 fiddles, harp)
Anon: La gracia de voi (2 voices, flute)
Anon: Perla mia cara (3 voices)
Cornago: Morte mercè (3 voices)
Anon: Finir voglio la mia vita (voice, flute, bass lute, harp)
Anon: O pelegrina luce (2 voices, harp, bass lute)
Anon: O meschin' inamorati (2 voices, bass lute)

CD-2

Anon (rondeau): Comme ung homme desconforté (voice, harp, bass lute, flute)
Regis (rondeau): S'il vous plaist que vostre je soye (2 voices, bass lute)
Anon (ballade): L'aultre jour par ung matin (2 voices, lute, fiddle)
Anon (rondeau): J'ay pris amours (2 voices, bass lute)
Ockeghem (rondeau): L'autre d'antan l'autrier passa (2 voices, bass lute)
Hayne van Ghizeghem (rondeau): De tous bien plaine (voice, flute, lute, bass lute)
Busnoys (bergerette): J'ay moins de bien (voice, flute, lute, bass lute)
Dufay (rondeau): Vostre bruit et vostre grant (2 voices, flute)
Caron (rondeau): Cent mille escus (2 voices, harp, bass lute)
Morton (rondeau): Le souvenir de vous me tue (voice, harp, lute, bass lute)
Barbingant (rondeau): L'omme bany de sa plaisance (2 voices, harp, fiddle)
Morton (rondeau): N'aray je jamais mieulx (2 voices, harp, bass lute, fiddle)
Dufay (rondeau): Le serviteur hault guerdonné (2 voices, flute)
Vincenet (rondeau): Fortune, par ta cruaulté (2 voices, bass lute)
Busnoys (rondeau): Est il mercy de quoy l'on peust finer? (voice, harp, flute)


CD-3
Binchois (rondeau): Comme femme desconfortee (voice, 2 fiddles)
Frye (rondeau): Tout a par moy (voice, flute, lute, bass lute)
Ockeghem (bergerette): Ma bouche rit (2 voices, harp, fiddle)
Bedyngham (rondeau): Mon seul plaisir, ma doulce joye (voice, lute, fiddle)
Anon: Ma bouche plaint (2 voices, fiddle)
Anon (rondeau): Vray dieu d'amours (voice, 2 fiddles)
Anon: Hélas! je n'ay pas osé dire (3 voices, harp, lute, bass lute)
Anon (rondeau): Or ay je perdu (voice, lute, bass lute)
Anon (rondeau): Adieu vous dy (2 voices, flute)
Anon (bergerette): Terriblement suis fortunee (voice, 2 fiddles)
Anon (rondeau): De mon povoir vous veul complaire (2 voices, bass lute)
Anon (bergerette): Hélas! n'aray je jamais mieulx (2 voices, lute, bass lute, 2 fiddles)
Anon (bergerette): Quant du dire adieu (2 voices, bass lute, 2 fiddles)
Binchois (rondeau): Je ne veis onques la pareille (3 voices)
Anon (rondeau): Faites moy sçavoir de la belle (voice, 2 fiddles)

The Consort of Musicke
Emma Kirkby (soprano)
Margaret Philpot (alto)
John York Skinner (countertenor)
John Elwes (tenor)
David Thomas (bass)

Lewis Jones (flute)
Frances Kelly (harp)
Christopher Page (lute)
Anthony Rooley (bass lute)
Trevor Jones (fiddle)
Alison Crum (fiddle)