Three Medieval English Songs

Paul Paccione

SATB Choir and Orchestra

Merciless Beauty (Chaucer) I Sing of a Maiden (Anonymous)

Welcome, Summer (Chaucer)

Three Medieval English Songs (1992)

Instrumentation

2 flutes Oboe

2 Clarinets in Bb Bassoon

2 Horns in F

SATB Choir

Violin I Violin II

Viola Cello

Contra Bass

This piece was first performed in Hainline Theatre on the campus of Western Illinois University (Macomb, Illinois) on May 4, 1993,

by the Western Illinois University Singers and Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Stegall.

TIIREE MEDIEVAL ENGIJSH SONGS

PROGRAMNOTES

AbouttheTb:ds

The texts date from the late 12th through the 14th centuries. It is probable that all the texts wereoriginally meant to be sung. Howeve4 with theexception of Crist and Sainte Marie, none of themusic has survived. I have arranged the texts in the form of a medieval triptych that is, a pictureor carving in three panels side by side. The two outer panels (Movements I and III) are secular innature, while the center panel (Movement II) is sacred. The central theme of all of the texts is thenature and spiritual effects of love.

Merciless Beauty (Cbaucer)

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) was an English contemporary of the great French poeUcomposerGuillaume de Machaut (1300-1377). Of all of the poets and musiciani in Englancl and France inthe 14th century Chaucer and Machaut were certainly the most important. ih" po"* MereilessBeaut]' is in the form of the roundel and was modeled by Chaucer after the French "oorrd"l, * itwas perfected by Machaut. It is a poem of 13 lines in which the first lines repeat in the middie andthe end of the piece (the first refrain being of two lines and the second of threl lines). Though thereare originally three verses to the poem, making this a triple roundel, I have set only the first twoverses in Movement I. Each of the verses express a different experience or stage in the joys andagony of human love (Captivity, Rejection, Escape). Beginning with the troubadours in the 12thcentury, and continuing with Chaucer and Machaut, the courage to love was an expression of one'sidentity as an individual. For the first time in Western history, the medieval poet was involvedwith validation of individual experience through the poetry of love. The poem }deacjlesrEe.aslyrefers to the same sense the troubadours had that "through the eyes, love att"i.rs tt" t""rf-ttJm_e9!ing of the eyes provides an opening of the heart to both love's joy and anguish, the wounds ofwhich can only be healed by the one who has inflicted the blow.

I sing of a maiden (anonJrmous)

This is a 14th-century hymn to the Virgrn. What music there may have been has been lost. Thelyric is recognized for its *ineffable grace" and for achieving the highest level of lyrical beauty ofwhich medieval poetry was capable. G. Saintsbury says: "in no previous verse had this Aeol-ianmusic - this'harp of Ariel'- that distinguishes English at its very best in this direction - been givento the world." (Short History of English Literature, 1913)

The angel-like Cupid of the Middle Ages was a figure sometimes emblematic of Christ, and theSpring of Cupid's herald was also a traditional reiurrection symbol, "a foreshadowing type likeIoveitself,ofthespiritualjoyoustime,lifeeverIasting."@,Joh-nGardner,L977). All of the images in the poem borrow from church decorations (ie. flowers are always acentral detail in the medieval paradise).

One of the accompanying texts in this movement, Crist and Sainte l{arie, survives as both musicand words and is reputed to have been "revealed to" or composed by Saint Godric (d.1120). SaintGodric spent some time as a hermit; one day, when he was in prayer in his chapel of Saint Mary, hesaw a vision of two angels in white, preceded by the Virgin and between them the soul oi hitrecently deceased sister. His sister's soul from its position on the altar sang repeatedly to him thesong Crist and Sainte Marie. The other accompanying text, Ki bien aime a tart oubl]e (He who

loves well is slow to forget), is another hymn to the Virgin. The phrase seems to have been acommon proverb in Medieval times. It is also the first line of a "lai" tune by Machaut ('Qui bienaime a tard oublie'). However, the text by Moniot de Paris, used in Movement II, was written a longtime before Machaut.

TY elome, $rrvnmsl (Chaucer)

This poem is also in the form of a roundel and occurs at the close of Chaucer's longer poem lbgParlement of Fowles. A poet has been reading all day, falls asleep and dreams he is brought to agarden where he sees a multitude of birds carrying out their annual custom, where, under thesupervision of the Goddess of Nature on Saint Valentines Day, the birds choose their mates. Whenthey have at last chosen their mates, they fly away singing and chirping the roundel, We.lco.me.Summer. The loud chirping wakes the poet who returns to his books. In the Parlement of FowlesChaucer alludes to the tune "Qui bien aime a tard oublie,'by Machaut as the basis of the melody towhich Weleome- Summer should be sung. It is not known how this could have been done, since thetune by Machaut is a different poetical and musical form (it is a "lai") and the form of Weleome.Summeris a roundel but the association is nonetheless interesting.

AbouttheMusic

The music of Three Medieval English Songs is meant to evoke, within a new and personal context,the sonorities, forms and musical gestures of the Medieval musical world in which the textsoriginated. Each of the three movements incorporate and reinterpret various elements andconstructive devices of Medieval music.

The Medieval composers, with their focus on principtres of musical construction and variousaspects of musical proportioning are, in fact, very closely allied with many of the composers of thiscentury (ie. Igor Stravinsky, Anton Webern, and more recently Steve Reich and Arvo Part). Apreoccupation with older music is in faet a distinguishing characteristic of musical modernism,particularly in the first half of this century.

My main sources of influence in Three Medieval English Songs were the works contained in E. J.Dobson's and F. L. Harrison's massive collection of English texts and music up to about 1400:Medieval English Songs (1979). The recent recording of this music by the Hilliard Ensemble wasalso of invaluable help. In addition to the above, the composers whose music I more specificallychose as an influence included Guillaume de Machaut, the 15th century English composer JohnDunstable and the neoclassical works of Igor Stravinsky. In the music's emphasis on the linearaspects of polyphony, the independence and individuality of superimposed melodies, that proceedwith a minimum of harmonic restraint and the unprepared and accented dissonances, fh11lgMedieval English Songs alludes to the music of Machaut. In the canonic writing, the alternationof duets with full textures and the rhythmic proportioning of the movements (61 nSlZ in Movement

I, 9lqi, Movement ll, Lil4 in Movement III), along with the alternation and combination ofpatterns in 3ln arrd 6/9, the music is reminiscent of the motets of John Dunstable. In myorchestration, I have aimed for a transparency common to the neoclassical works of Stravinsky.

Merriless Beauty

The idea of a triple roundel poem suggested for the musical setting the motet form - that is, thesimultaneous presentation of the different verses (in this case the first two verses). The movementbegins in a homophonic 'conductus" style common in Medieval music and then proceeds in acontrapuntal "motet" style with simultaneously sung texts.

I singof a'neiden

Movement II is primarily set in a simple, syllabic, "discant" or "conductus" style: voicesproceeding in note-against-note counterpoint. An important aspect of the text setting is the use of apopular medieval technique referred to as "stimmtauch' or "voice exchange". This occursparticularly in the soprano and alto duets and in the woodwind writing. With this simple device,contrasting tone qualities distinguish between simple repetitions in which the melodie andharmonic structure remains unchanged. The effect I was after was the stillness expressed in thetext. In addition to employing the above compositional techniques, this movement contains directreferences. The flute solo near the beginning of the movement is from the lai by Machaut, "Quibien aime a tard oublie." This is the tune Chaucer refers to in the Parlement of Fowles. Theopening verse of lr$iIg-qf,a-!0aidf.tris my own version of a type of medieval processional dance.ThismusiciscombinedwithSaintGodric,ssong,@ig.'lVelcome, Sr tntner

The structure of Welcome. Summeris similar to Movement I. Both poems are in the roundel form.In general, the voices and instruments exchange material between the two movements: what thevoices did in Movement I, the instruments do in Movement III, and vice versa. The music of thespheres was a preoccupation of most medieval poets and musicians and it is believed that thestructure of Chaucer's poem was built on musical principles, with all aspects of musicalproportioning reflected in the verse structure.

Thus embodied in the proportional relations of Chaucer's stanzas and the relation of his rhymesare what were the three principle consonances of music (2:1, octave; 3:2, perfect 5th; 4:3, perfect4th). I have tried to reflect these particularly at cadences and have used these proportions as a typeof structural underpinning for the text.

There are many other allusions to medieval music in this piece as well as different techniquesemployed, however, I have now forgotten what they were.

Three Medieval English Songs was commissioned by and is dedicated to Western IllinoisUniversity's College of Fine Arts. I would like to thank Dean James Butterworth for hisconfidence and for providing the opportunity to compose such a work. In addition, I would like tothank Dr. James Stegall (Director of Choral Activities), Professor John Borg (Director ofOrchestras) and the students, for the time and effort spent in preparing the work for performance.The copying of the score and the preparation of parts was made possible by a grant from the W.I.U.Foundation. Finally, I would like to extend appreciation to my wife, Molly Paccione, and myfriend, Eric Bichards: their advice and support were indispensable in the composing of this work.

TIIREE MEDIEVAL ENGLISH SONGS

I.MercilessBeauty

(GeofteyChaucer)

Captivity

Your eyen two will slay me suddenl54I may the beauty of them not sustengSo woundeth i! ttuoughout my herte lrene.

And butyourword will helen hastily,I[y hertes wounde, while that it is green,

Your eyen two will slay me suddenly;f may the beauty of them not sustene.

IJpon my tnoth I say you faithfully,Thatye be of mylife and death the queen;Forwith nry death the brrthshallbe seen

Your eyen two will slay me suddenly;I may the beauty of them not sustengSo woundeth it thmughout ry herte kene.

Bejection

So hath yotr beauty fitm 5,our herte draedPit5r, that me ne anaileth not to plain;For Daunger halt your mercXl in his chain

Guiltless my death thus have ye me purchased;Isayyou sooth, me needethnotto feign

So hath 5our beauty fiom your herte cbaedPity, thatme ne availeth nottoplain.

AIas! that nattrre hath in you compassedSogreatbeauff that no ynqn rtay attainTo merc1r, though he stenre for the pain!

So hath your beauty from your herte clranedPity, that me ne availeth not to plain;For Daunger halt your mercy in his chain"

1. eyenreyes 16.halt,holds

II.I singof a maiden

(anon.)

f sing of a'naidenThat is makeles,

Kingof allekingesToherson slre dres

Ee came all so stilleTherehismoderwag

Ase dewinA$rilThatfalleth on tJre grass.

Ee came all so stilleTohismoden'sbovr,

Ase dew inAprilThat falleth on the flower.

Ee ce'ne all so stilleTherehis moderlay,

Ase dewinAprilThatfalleth on the spray.

ModerandmaidenIVas never nonebut she;

Wellmay suc*r a ladyGodesttoderbe.

2 makeleg withoutmate. 4. chesreJrose.

SaintGodriCs Song

Glist and Sainte lVlarieswa on scamel me i ledde.'(€lrrist and Saint lt{arythus bmught rne to the (altar) table-)

Ki bien qi'''e s tart oublieIllonoitde Paris

Ifi bien aime a tart oublie;llllais ne le puis oublierLa doucevierge Marie.'(Tle wholoves well is slowtoforgetButonerennotforgetThe sweetpure lt{ar:y. )

f,tL

Welome, Strmmenftrom tlre ?arlement of Fowled

(GeofrmyC1rauer)

Now welome, Srrrrnrtrer, with thy sunne sofr,That hast this winter's weather over.shake,And driven awa5rthe longe nightes blake!

Saint Valentine that art full high ou lofte;lhtrs singen srnalle fowles for thy sake-

Now welcome, Sumoeri with thy sunne so&that hast ttds winter's weather oven-shake.

Well have they cause for to glraden o&Sine earfi dthem reorrered hath his makeffbll blissfui may they singen when they wake.

Now welcome, gumrmer., a{ft t}rv sunne soft,That bast this wintcr's weathen overshakgAnd driven away the longe uightes blake.

8. blalreblack