[Theme music begins]
Welcome to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.
If you’ve spent any time in the early European wing at your local art museum, you might have noticed just how musical religious art can be. This hour on Harmonia, we’re “listening” to some of these scenes, or imagining that we are, anyway. Far from the stoic church musicians we might expect, celestial beings of the past are some of the most fascinating depictions of music-making available to us, from the earliest representations of the violin to fantastical renderings of ancient and biblical instruments. Join us for harmonies both heavenly and terrestrial as we explore the soundscapes of angel concerts in medieval and Renaissance art.
[Theme music fades at :59]
MUSIC TRACK
On the Way to Bethlehem
Oni Wytars Ensemble & Ensemble Unicorn
Naxos | 8.553132 (1995)
Guillaume Dufay
Tr. 14 Urbs beata Ierusalem (4:47)
Guillaume Dufay’s setting of Urbs beata Ierusalem, “Blessed city of Jerusalem,” an office hymn used for church dedication ceremonies. Adapted by Ensemble Unicorn and performed here with members of the Oni Wytars Ensemble.
Constructed over the course of the 12th through 14th centuries, the Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Exeter, England is home to a distinctly musical structure. The minstrel’s gallery, a small balcony in the nave, dates to about 1360, and while it may have been used by musicians during services, its name owes to its design: twelve carved and painted wooden angels, each playing a musical instrument, occupy its front panel. From left to right, the instruments depicted are gittern, bagpipe, shawm, vielle, harp, jaw harp, trumpet, portative organ, citole, recorder, tambourine, and cymbals. Let’s hear how some of those instruments sound.
MUSIC TRACK
Le Parfaict Danser
Into the Winds
Ricercar | RIC452 (2023)
Anonymous
Tr. 2 Suite de ducties (3:40)
MUSIC TRACK
Hodie Christus Natus Est: A Medieval Christmas
The Boston Camerata, Anne Azéma
Harmonia Mundi | HMM905339DI (2021)
Anonymous
Tr. 15 Edi be thu (2:20)
We’ve been listening to some of the instruments depicted in the hands of 12 musical angels carved across the front of the Exeter minstrel’s gallery. First was “Into the Winds” with a suite of Ducties on recorders, shawms, and percussion, dances from a late 13th-century English manuscript known as Harley 978. Also, from 13th-century England was the anonymous two-part Edi be thu hevene quene, “Blessed be thou Queen of Heaven,” featuring the piping of Christa Patton with the Boston Camerata.
The tune we’ll hear next, Angelus ad Virginem, was another Marian carol popular at the time of the gallery’s construction. It survives in multiple versions with and without text, and even features in Chaucer’s “Miller’s Tale”: the scholar character Nicholas is described singing the carol to the accompaniment of a psaltery.
MUSIC TRACK
On the Way to Bethlehem
Oni Wytars Ensemble & Ensemble Unicorn
Naxos | 8.553132 (1995)
Anonymous
Tr. 11 Angelus ad Virginem (1:52)
Ensembles Unicorn and Oni Wytars with the anonymous carol Angelus ad Virginem, which circulated in Britain beginning in the thirteenth century. This 3-voice version was copied in a manuscript known as the Dublin Troper around 1360, the same year that the Exeter minstrel’s gallery was completed.
So why are medieval and Renaissance angels so often musicians, and why are they sometimes playing instruments that we associate with dancing and secular music? In the broader symbolic context of European Christian traditions, music usually represents either an act of praise or the perfection of heaven. For a historical viewer, the sight of such angels might call to mind Psalm 150, an imperative to praise the Lord loudly, joyfully, and in fact, instrumentally: [quote] Praise him with the sound of the trumpet, praise him with psaltery and harp.” Instruments of all kinds show up in praise scenes, but verses like these account for the particularly raucous ones. This psalm text also made particularly good material for sacred compositions with instruments over the years.
MUSIC TRACK
Heinrich Schütz: Psalms of David
Hanns-Martin Schneidt, Regensburger Domspatzen, Hamburger Bläserkreis für Alte Musik
Deutsche Grammophon | 00028945317922 (2008)
Heinrich Schütz
Tr. 17 Alleluja, lobet den Herren, SWV 38, "Psalm 150" (7:15)
A bombastic setting of Psalm 150, “Alleluja, lobet den Herren; Praise ye the Lord” from Heinrich Schütz’s Psalmen Davids. Hanns-Martin Schneidt led the Regensburger Domspatzen and Hamburger Bläserkreis für Alte Musik.
More often than not, angel musicians aren’t alone; they are surrounding important figures like the Madonna and child or various saints. Angel concerts in these cases can also have a praise function, but if the figures are depicted as residing in or ascending to heaven, the music can be understood as emanating from above; a signifier of the holiness or immortality of their subject.
Pausing in England for the moment, we’ll head up to Norfolk, where mid-fifteenth century glass artists decorated the lights and traceries of local churches with an impressive variety of angel performers. These would have been seen as part of the heavenly sphere, carrying their divine harmony into the sacred space as sunlight passes through. Six of the best-preserved examples at St. Agnes in Cawston play plucked string instruments including psalteries, citole, lute, and Irish harp.
MUSIC TRACK
The Medieval and Renaissance Harp
Elena Polanska, La Camerata
Turnabout | PVT7146 (2003)
Anonymous
Tr. 5 Elend, du hast umfagen mich (1:20)
MUSIC TRACK
An Old Hall Ladymass
Trio Mediæval
2L | 2L175SABD (2023)
Leonel Power
Tr. 6 Ave regina caelorum, OH 43 (1:40)
We first heard Harpist Elena Polanska with the fifteenth-century popular tune “Elend, du hast umfagen mich; Misery surrounds me,” followed by Trio Mediæval with a motet by Leonel Power, Ave Regina Caelorum, “Hail queen of heaven,” preserved in the Old Hall manuscript.
[Theme music begins]
Early music can mean a lot of things. What does it mean to you? Let us know your thoughts and ideas. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org, where you’ll also find playlists and an archive of past shows.
You’re listening to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.
[Theme music fades]
(1:00) Mid Break Music Bed:
MUSIC TRACK (Naxos) in prod folder
https://iub-naxosmusiclibrary-com.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/catalogue/item.asp?cid=RIC452
Le Parfaict Danser
Into the Winds
Ricercar | RIC452 (2023)
Anonymous
Tr. 3 Retrove [Robertsbridge Codex, 14th century] (excerpt of 3:00)
(fades out at :59)
Welcome back…
Our next angel concert takes us South to the Kingdom of Navarre, where, at the behest of Spanish merchants in Bruges in 1487, Flemish-German painter Hans Memling created an altarpiece for the church of Santa Maria la Real in Nájera. At the center of this triptych is a regal Christ against a golden background, surrounded by sixteen angels singing and playing instruments. The entire scene is bordered by shadowy clouds.
Memling’s angels play a variety of instruments popular in the late fifteenth century. In the left panel, we see a psaltery, tromba marina, lute, trumpet, and shawm. On each side of Jesus in the central panel are three singing angels. In the right panel, there are two trumpets, a portative organ, harp, and vielle.
MUSIC TRACK
Stadtpfeifer – Waits – Ministriles – Piffari; Instrumental Music of the 16th and 17th Centuries
Capella de la Torre
Coviello | COV20804 (2008)
Juan de Urrede
Tr. 11 Tantum ergo sacramentum (2:57)
Capella de la Torre performed Tantum ergo sacramentum by Juan de Errede, a Flemish composer active in Spain during the mid fifteenth century. The text consists of the last two verses of the Pange lingua, a hymn attributed to Thomas Aquinas: (it reads,) “Sing, my tongue, of the Savior’s glory.”
Next up, we have two more pieces inspired by Hans Memling’s altarpiece for Santa Maria la Real. An untexted late fifteenth-century villancico from the Cancionero de Columbina, and a sixteenth-century hymn on the death of Margaret of Navarre.
MUSIC TRACK (Naxos) in prod folder
https://iub-naxosmusiclibrary-com.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/catalogue/item.asp?cid=HMU907083DI
Secular Music of 15th Century Spain
The Newberry Consort, Mary Springfels
Harmonia Mundi | HMU907083DI (1992)
Anonymous
Tr. 7 Propinan de Melyor (1:20)
MUSIC TRACK
Rions Noir
Ratas del viejo Mundo
Etcetera | KTC1617 (2018)
Claude Goudimel
Tr. 6 Hymne triomphale sur la mort de Marguérite de Navarre (2:18)
Mary Springfels led the Newberry Consort on an anonymous instrumental villancico Propinan de Melyor, followed by (ensemble) Rions Noir Ratas del viejo Mundo with Claude Goudimel’s “Hymne triomphale sur la mort de Marguérite de Navarre.”
Angel concerts are commonly found as decorations of the cupolas or domed ceilings of churches. Let’s make our way to Italy to listen to some of the heavenly paintings of Gaudenzio Ferrari. Active in the first half of the sixteenth century, he is famous among scholars of music iconography for his detailed renderings of bowed strings, which constitute some of the earliest depictions of violin family instruments. In Ferrari’s cupola fresco in Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Saronno, seemingly hundreds of singing and playing angels surround a central figure of God the Father. Among their ranks are instruments contemporary, ancient, and imaginary: organ, lutes, cornetti, flutes, an angelic violin band, harps and psalteries of various shapes and sizes, auloi and ancient trumpets, even a double bagpipe in the shape of breasts.
MUSIC TRACK
Italian Renaissance Dances Vol. 2
The King’s Noyse, David Douglass, Paul O’Dette
Harmonia Mundi | HCX3957127DI (1994)
Orazio Vecchi
Tr. 1 Saltarello detto Trivella (2:31)
Cipriano de Rore
Tr. 28 S’eguale a la mia voglia (5:20)
The King’s Noyse played Orazio Vecchi’s “Saltarello detto Trivella” and were joined by soprano Ellen Hargis for Cipriano de Rore’s madrigal “S'eguale a la mia voglia; Equal to my desire.”
Over in Venice at the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, the altarpiece of the chapel of the Milanese features an enthroned St. Ambrose surrounded by additional saints. At his feet sit an angelic lute duo. Most of the painting was created around 1503 by Alvise Vivarini, and after his death in 1505, it was completed by Marco Basaiti.
MUSIC TRACK
Renaissance Duets
Anthony Rooley and James Tyler
Decca | 00028947587323 (2008)
Joan Ambrosio Dalza
Tr. 4 Piva (1:50)
Anthony Rooley and James Tyler played a “Piva” by Milanese lutenist Joan Ambrosio Dalza, who was active around the same time that the artist Marco Basaiti added a pair of lute-playing angels to the altarpiece of the chapel of the Milanese in Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.
Our featured release this hour is inspired by the Cancionero de Palacio, a manuscript dating to the reign of the pair known as the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella the first of Castille and Ferdinand the Second of Aragon. On their 2021 PentaTone release Melancolía, Musica Temprana pairs contemplative pieces from the Cancionero with new works for early instruments by Adrián Rodríguez van der Spoel.
MUSIC TRACK
Melancolía
Musica Temprana
PentaTone | PTC5186294 (2021)
Anonymous, arr. A.R. van der Spoel
Tr. 9 Muchos van de amor heridos (1:18)
Musica Temprana performed “Muchos van de amor heridos; Many have been hurt by love,” an anonymous villancico from the Cancionero de Palacio. Next up is the title track (of Musica Temprana’s recording Melancolía), a musical reflection on the worries shared by humanity across time.
MUSIC TRACK
Melancolía
Musica Temprana
PentaTone | PTC5186294 (2021)
Adrián Rodríguez van der Spoel
Tr. 5 Melancolía (2:58)
Melancolía, a new work for early instruments by Adrián Rodríguez van der Spoel, and the title track of this hour’s featured recording, a 2021 PentaTone release by Musica Temprana.
We’ll close with another anonymous tune from the Cancionero de Palacio, on a rather concise text: “Ojos, mis ojos / tan garridas ojos; such beautiful eyes!”
MUSIC TRACK
Melancolía
Musica Temprana
PentaTone | PTC5186294 (2021)
Anonymous, arr. A.R. van der Spoel
Tr. 3 Ojos, mis ojos (1:44)
Musica Temprana’s adaptation of “Ojos, mis ojos” from the Cancionero de Palacio on their 2021 album Melancolìa.
[Fade in theme music]
Harmonia is a production of WFIU and part of the educational mission of Indiana University.
Support comes from Early Music America: a national organization that advocates and supports the historical performance of music of the past, the community of artists who create it, and the listeners whose lives are enriched by it. On the web at EarlyMusicAmerica-dot-org.
Additional resources come from the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
We welcome your thoughts about any part of this program, or about early music in general. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org. You can follow us on Facebook by searching for Harmonia Early Music.
The writer for this edition of Harmonia was Chelsey Belt.
Thanks to our studio engineer Michael Paskash, and our production team: LuAnn Johnson, Aaron Cain, and John Bailey. I’m Angela Mariani, inviting you to join us again for the next edition of Harmonia.
[Theme music concludes]
