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Home , Ars antiqua, Chant, Conductus, Discant, Flamen, Hilliard Ensemble

CORO hilliard live CORO hilliard live 1 The Hilliard Ensemble For more than three decades now The Hilliard Ensemble has been active in the realms of both early and contemporary music. As well as recording and performing music by composers such as Pérotin, Dufay, Josquin and Bach the ensemble has been involved in the creation of a large number of new works. James PÉROTIN MacMillan, , Arvo Pärt, Steven Hartke and many other composers have written both large and the and small-scale pieces for them. The ensemble’s performances ARS frequently include collaborations with other musicians such as the saxophonist , violinist ANTIQUA , violist and orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. ’s contribution was crucial to getting the Hilliard Live project under way. John has since left to take up a post in the Music Department of York University. His place in the group has been filled by Steven Harrold. www.hilliardensemble.demon.co.uk the hilliard ensemble To find out more about CORO and to buy CDs, visit www.thesixteen.com cor16046 The hilliard live series of recordings came about for various reasons. 1 Vetus abit littera Anon. (C13th) 3:47 At the time self-published recordings were a fairly new and increasingly David James Rogers Covey-Crump John Potter Gordon Jones common phenomenon in popular music and we were keen to see if 2 Deus misertus hominis Anon. (C13th) 5:00 we could make the process work for us in the context of a series of David James Rogers Covey-Crump John Potter Gordon Jones public concerts. Perhaps the most important motive for this experiment 3 Veni creator spiritus Anon. (C13th) 7:22 was our desire to capture the atmosphere and excitement of concert David James Rogers Covey-Crump John Potter performances of some of our favourite repertoire. Performance rather 4 Pérotin 10:31 David James Rogers Covey-Crump John Potter Gordon Jones than recording is, after all, what music is about. There is the unavoidable 5 risk that all will not be perfect; audience noise or human frailty on our Gloria: redemptori meo Léonin 5:44 Rogers Covey-Crump John Potter part may detract from the polished perfection that can be achieved with 6 Haec dies Anon. (C13th) 4:28 a studio recording but such risks are part of our daily life of concert David James Rogers Covey-Crump John Potter Gordon Jones giving and lend to the event an added degree of excitement and, we 7 Stirps Iesse Anon. (C13th) 5:06 hope, engagement with the audience. David James Rogers Covey-Crump John Potter Gordon Jones We are happy to make this series of discs more widely available on CORO. 8 Mundus vergens Anon. (C12th) 2:21 David James Rogers Covey-Crump John Potter Gordon Jones Gordon Jones 9 Procurans odium Anon. (C13th) 1:59 Rogers Covey-Crump John Potter Gordon Jones The Hilliard Ensemble on CORO: bl . Nativitas Anon. / Pérotin 5:26 David James Rogers Covey-Crump John Potter Gordon Jones hilliard live 1 Pérotin and the bm Christus surrexit (C13th) 4:43 coming soon: hilliard live 2 For Ockeghem Gordon Jones hilliard live 3 bn Sederunt principes Pérotin 11:46 hilliard live 4 Guillaume Dufay www.thesixteen.com David James Rogers Covey-Crump John Potter Gordon Jones 2 3 he history of late-twelfth-century set in motion the idea that settings of and have the overall structure respond – composition: the sections based on highly was first written a did not have to be in two parts. verse – respond. Within each of these melismatic that use the rhythmic T hundred years after the event by Greater rhythmic precision enabled the main sections are settings of both solo modes are called clausulae. a monk who may have come from Bury more complex co-ordination of three- and choral chants; the respond consists In three and four - part the St Edmunds; history has not entrusted us and four-part plainsong settings. Pérotin’s of polyphony followed by the remainder elaborate, rhapsodic dupla of Léonin’s with his name and he is usually referred to greatest fame rests on two works from of the chant, and the same pattern is pieces are not practical because of the by the title he received when his treatise the last decade of the twelfth century: followed in the verse, and of course in co-ordination of the three upper parts; was first published in the nineteenth settings of the for the third mass the return of the respond. Usually, the all the polyphony is organised along century: Anonymous IV. Anonymous as on Christmas Day and the mass on the second respond is simply a repeat of the lines of the rhythmic modes. The he was, he tells us about two of the most feast of St Stephen in four parts, Viderunt the first one. However, in the case of differences between clausulae and the important composers of the fifty years omnes and Sederunt principes. These Sederunt principes, the second respond is rest of the piece is that, in a clausula, the either side of 1200: Léonin and Pérotin. works were quite possibly performed composed anew. On major feasts, when tenor moves at more or less the same respectively in 1198 and 1199, and the was followed by an alleluia, Léonin, we are told, wrote a cycle of speed as the upper voices and in the represent the best guesses we have the repeat of the respond was usually two-part settings of the most important rest of the piece the tenor is deployed about fixed points in the chronology of omitted. In around 1200, however, chants in the liturgical year - Christmas, in long, sustained notes. Clausulae may the works of both Pérotin and Léonin the practice was different. Léonin’s organa Easter, Assumption and other feasts; this be heard, for example, in Viderunt omnes Organa; whether the two-part types that dupla of the Magnus organi took the cycle was called the organi on the word dominus and in Sederunt make up Léonin’s Magnus liber organi plainsong and did one of two things with - the great book of organum. principes on the words [domi]-ne deus or the four-part Viderunt and Sederunt it: for the more syllabic sections of the meus. The result of the exclusive use Pérotin played an important role in the are polyphonic settings of plainsong. chant that he set, he laid out the lowest of the rhythmic modes in the three and careful recasting and elaboration of this The original chants employ two musical part (the tenor) in long notes and wrote four parts is that it frees up additional repertory. According to the monk from styles: the solo sections are elaborately highly elaborate, rhapsodic lines above compositional resources, and it is perhaps Bury St Edmunds, he either shortened melismatic and contrast with the simpler, it (the duplum). Alternatively, he took one of Pérotin’s greatest contributions to or edited (interpretations vary) Léonin’s more syllabic, sections sung by the schola. the long melismas of the chant and the to have exploited great book of organum; long sections It is the melismatic solo sections of the organised them into repeating rhythmic imitation and even canon for the first time of almost improvisatory scope were chant that are set polyphonically. The cells and wrote a correspondingly tight in these four-part compositions. rewritten according to the tighter result is that a performance of organum rhythmic duplum above it. The rhythmic principles of composition that involves polyphony and plainsong. organisation of this procedure gave rise It used to be thought that the sustained Pérotin himself may have contributed to to what are called the rhythmic modes. notes in organum duplum, triplum and Viderunt and Sederunt are both graduals codifying. Perhaps more importantly, he Both types of music exist within the same quadruplum were to be held relentlessly: a

4 5 challenge to breath control and the sanity poetry. Their regular poetic structures the . Mundus vergens is however requires a hybrid treatment. of the singer taking the part. Re-readings give rise to regular phrase length, and topical; the poem, of which some stanzas The decoration of plainsong with polyphony of thirteenth-century theory suggest that their stanzaic structure is reflected directly may be missing, seems to refer to a was as important to the embellishment of the tenor is responsible for contributing in the musical setting in that the music for period when was experiencing a the liturgy as was stained glass to the with great subtlety to the texture of the the first stanza is usually repeated for time of trouble after a period of peace windows of the cathedral whose name work by breaking the sound, at the same subsequent ones; this is the case for all although the final line of the third stanza was appropriated by scholars looking for time as one or more of the upper voices, conducti recorded here. - which continues a maritime metaphor a peg on which to hang this repertory: and this is the procedure that the Hilliard - suggests that she does not lack a rudder. The subject matter for conducti varies the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. It's Ensemble employ in the recording here. Commentators have suggested a variety widely, and has little relationship with the certainly true that almost all the evidence of occasions to which this text might By any standards, Pérotin must have been number of voice-parts or the musical surrounding Pérotin’s later contributions refer: Philip disagreements with an extraordinary composer. He wrote style of the composition. The first two to Léonin’s Magnus liber organi seem to Richard I after 1189, the Norman wars, and revised organa in two to four parts, four-part conducti, Mundus vergens and centre on the cathedral and its immediate the Battle of Bouvines, and so on. but also contributed to the other main Deus misertus play off Old and New suroundings. The Hilliard Ensemble genre that was cultivated in Paris around Testament imagery. In the case of Vetus There are two manners of performing contrast this Parisian centrality of organa 1200: the . Conducti were abit littera, Christ’s nativity is characterised conducti, and the recordings here and conducti with works from the south- newly-composed settings of non-liturgical by the replacement of the Old Law with exemplify both; they are termed west of present day France and from texts in ; they could be composed in the New with a passing allusion isosyllabic and modal. In an isosyllabic . The three-part setting of the anything from one to four parts. Pérotin’s to Isaiah XL, 4; in Deus misertus, which performance, each syllable of the poetry alleluia for the feast of the Nativity of Beata viscera is a magnificent example of deals with sin and the cleansing of sin, the is rendered approximately equal, and The Blessed Virgin Mary, Alleluia. Nativitas, what the monk from Bury St Edmunds third stanza has the poet alluding to the groups of two or three notes are fitted appears to have been composed in called a conductus simplex - a piece in one story of Elisha's difficulty in raising a dead in accordingly; Deus misertus and Mundus England and to have incorporated one part only. This recording includes all three boy after his servant, Gehazi, had tried, vergens are performed this way. In a section of the music of Pérotin’s setting surviving four-part conducti: Vetus abit and to how the boy was only restored modal performance, the rhythmic modes of the same chant; the text to this section littera, Deus misertus and Mundus vergens when Elisha himself lay across the boy's familiar from the clausulae in organa are was new; Pérotin’s clausula: Ex semine alongside two three-part specimens: Veni body. Veni creator spiritus, on the other superimposed on the music in an attempt is effectively troped by being supplied creator and Procurans odium. hand, extensively tropes odd words of to reflect the perceived accentual qualities with a new text - Ex semine Habrahe / the Pentecost hymn of the same title; and of the poetry. Veni creator and Procurans divino moderamine / ignem pio numine : Conductus texts were non-liturgical, it focuses extensively on the sevenfold odium are performed this way; Vetus abit From the seed of Abraham, by divine rhymed and constituted part of the gifts of grace from the third stanza of littera, because of its musical structure management you bring forth a fire. corpus of medieval rithmi or accentual

6 7 The troped Gloria: Redemptori meo Christus surrexit is a monophonic TEXTS and TRANSLATIONS survives in Parisian sources but is here from twelfth-century Aquitaine, and performed in an English version known accompanies the sequence: Stirps Iesse. 1 only in a manuscript in Cambridge. This This is something of a curiosity. It is a Vetus abit littera Anon. (C13th) is a setting of the first few phrases of the monophonic sequence with a polyphonic Vetus abit littera, The Old Law passes away, Gloria interspersed with new text (the Amen. This means that the six stanzas ritus abit veterum, the rite of the ancients has gone, original is italicised) of the poem employ three musical units: dat virgo puerpera a virgin in child-birth gives to us the first for the first two stanzas, the novum nobis puerum, a new son, Gloria in excelsis Deo, second for stanzas three and four and munus salutiferum, a -bearing gift, redemptori meo, the third for the last two stanzas. The regem et presbyterum, a king and high priest Galileo, sidero, austere of this sequence is qui complanans aspera who, making the rough places plain, bine maiestatis, firmat pacis federa, strengthens the bond of peace, contrasted with the three part polyphonic et in pax hominibus purgator et scelerum. the cleanser of our sins. Amen which is every bit as complex non tamen omnibus! as the three-part discant produced by Felicis puerpere The blessed child-bearing Ergo quibus? Pérotin and his contemporaries. The felix puerperium of the blessed mother Fidelibus bone voluntatis.... piece is found in a collection of and Babilonis misere revokes the exile and, as can be seen from the translation sequences now preserved in a manuscript revocat exilium, of wretched Babylon, of this passage in the British Library in London. Among iam plebs ceca gentium, and now the blind race of gentiles, videns lucis radium, seeing the ray of light, these monodies are eight monophonic Glory in the highest to God, fracto mortis carcere, now that death’s prison is broken, sequences which end with polyphonic my redeemer, non adheret littere does not abide by the Law Amens. All are in two parts with the man of Galilee, starlike one, propter evangelium. because it has the Gospel. exception of Stirps Iesse, recorded here. twofold majesty; This copy of the piece seems to date Funis pene rumpitur Punishment’s cord is broken and on earth peace to men, from around 1300, and is notated in the nato rege glorie, by the new-born King of Glory; but not to all. precise notation associated with the end mortis torrens bibitur the flood of death is swallowed up To which, then? of the thirteenth century. Like Christus data lege gratie, by the gift of the law of grace; To the faithful men of good will.... dies est letitie, this is a day of joy, surrexit, it originates in the south west of lux iugis psallentie, the perpetual light of , the poet makes the new text elide with France, perhaps from around Périgueux. munus festi solvitur, for the reward of the feast-day is granted; the liturgical text of the Gloria. Mark Everist gaudeamus igitur let us rejoice, therefore, culpa data venie. since our guilt has been forgiven.

8 9 2 Deus misertus hominis Anon. (C13th) 3 Veni creator spiritus Anon. (C13th) Deus misertus hominis, God, pitying man, Veni creator spiritus, Come, creator spirit, lavit reatum criminis washed man charged with Eve’s guilt, spiritus recreator, recreator spirit, Eve per partum virginis; through a virgin’s son: tu dans, tu datus coelitus, you give, our heavenly gift; 0 quam dulce remedium, O what a sweet remedy! tu donum, tu donator, you are the gift, you are the giver, ut vitium that sin tu rex, tu digitus, you are the king, you are his finger, purgetur per contrarium; should be purged by a contradiction; alens et alitus, nourishing and nourished, fit electis compendium, may salvation come to the elect, spirans et spiritus, breathing and breath, ne tedium lest tedium spiratus et spirator. the breathed and the breather. fit currenti per studium, should overwhelm the runner of the course si differatur bravium. if a reward is to be disbursed. Mentes tuorum visita, Visit the minds of your people, mentium visitator, visitor of minds, Virgo concepit filium, A virgin conceived a son, visitando inhabita, dwell where you visit, cui ferunt testimonium to whom testify visorum habitator, dweller with those visited. Pater et evangelium, the Father and the Gospels; tu fons, tu rivulus, You are the fountain, you are the stream, quos serpens nequam inficit, those whom the serpent has defiled, frutex et surculus, the shrub and the shoot, hic reficit, he heals doctor discipulus, the teacher and the pupil, qui sanctus sanctos perficit; who, being holy, has made them holy; servorum coronator. the crowner of servants. sine fide non proficit, without faith there is no profit, sed deficit, but loss, Tu septiformis gratie You by your sevenfold grace, quia, qui fidem abicit, because he who casts off faith dans septiforme donum, giving a sevenfold gift, non hunc fidelem efficit. does not make himself faithful. virtutis septifarie of sevenfold virtue septem petitionum, of the seven petitions; Non Elisei baculo Not by Elisha’s rod, tu nix non defluens, you are the snow that does not melt, nec Giezi signaculo nor by Gehazi’s sign, ignis non destruens, the fire that does not destroy, immo crucis umbraculo but by the covering of the Cross pugil non metuens, the fighter who does not fear, infanti vita redditur. is the young boy returned to life. propinator sermonum. the deliverer of discourse. Hic creditur, Christ is believed, a Patre natus mittitur, he is sent, born of the Father, qui dum in cruce leditur and while he suffers on the Cross et moritur, and dies, eclipsim patitur, the moon suffers an eclipse, nam sub nube tegitur. for the sun is hidden by a cloud. 10 11 Tu gratis data gratia, You are the free gift of grace, 5 Gloria Léonin et tu faciens gratos, and you are the one who makes us grateful: tu primo purgas vitia, first you purge our sins, Gloria in excelsis Deo, Glory in the highest to God, post conservas purgatos, then you save the purged. redemptori meo, my redeemer, absolve debita, Forgive our trespasses, Galileo, sidereo, man of Galilee, starlike one, extolle merita, praise our good deeds, bine maiestatis, twofold majesty; virtute solita and by your accustomed virtue et in terra pax hominibus and on earth peace to men, salvans predestinatos. save those predestined for salvation. non tamen omnibus! but not to all. Ergo quibus? To which, then? Ergo accende sensibus So inflame our senses, Fidelibus bone voluntatis, To the faithful men of good will; hi te lumen et flamen, you our light and flame; hinc amor, inde tremor; love arrives here, and fear departs, hi te inspira cordibus inspire our hearts, inter utrumque premor. and I am pressed between one and the other. qui es vite spiramen; you who are the breath of life. Alleluia. Expositum. Alleluia. It is revealed. tu sol, tu radius, You are the sun, you are the ray, Laudate invisibilem Praise the invisible mittens et nuntius, the sender and the messenger; Patrem, Filium, Father, and the Son, persona tertius, third person of the Trinity, Spiritum magnum, the great Spirit, salva nos. Amen, amen. save us. Amen, amen. ruffum et humilem. fiery and humble. Christe, nostrum electum Christ, our chosen, tu nostre plectrum you are the plectrum of our lyre; 4 angelicis adapta make us angelic, Viderunt omnes Pérotin formam nostram reforma, reform our form, R. Viderunt omnes fines terrae All the ends of the earth have seen the nos angelis conforma, make us like the angels, salutare Dei nostri: salvation of our God: captivitate capta. by the capture of captivity. iubilate Deo omnis terra. rejoice in God, all the earth. Ergo sit gloria Patri et Filio Therefore glory be to the Father and to the Son, et sit laus tertia and the third praise be V. Notum fecit Dominus salutare The Lord has made his salvation known: flamini tertio to the third flame suum: ante conspectum gentium he has revealed his justice in the sight of Patri potentia, nato scientia, by the power of the Father, knowledge by the Son, revelavit iustitiam suam. the gentiles. flamini bonitas! and goodness by the Spirit. Trina est gratia una essentia, His grace is threefold, his being is one, equalis deitas. his godhead equal.

12 13 6 Haec dies Anon. (C13th) Oves virgo decorata Rejoice, O virgin, lux in patria, light and adornment of our land, Haec dies quam fecit Dominus: This is the day which the Lord has made: nobis testis vite data, given to us exultemus et letemur in ea. let us rejoice and be glad in it luminaria. as an illustrious witness of life. Confitemini Domino Let us put our faith in the Lord, Esto nobis preparata Be ready for us quoniam bonus. for he is good. inter agmina, in the battle ranks, ut ex nobis sociata, that, though parted from us, sis in gloria. Amen. you may be our glorious ally. Amen.

7 Stirps Iesse Anon. (C13th) 8 Stirps Iesse de gremio, From the bosom of Jesse Mundus vergens Anon. (C12th) foret in aurora sprang a shoot in the East; Mundus vergens in defectum The world, turning in revolt, oritur ex thalamo, a radiant star casum probans per effectum, proving its destruction by its result, stella radiosa. is risen from the bridal bed. se fallacem exuit. shakes itself free from falsehood. Sol fulget in solio, The sun shines upon earth, Nam remota fraudis arte For it is removed from the art of deceit to fugans tenebrosa making the shadows flee, nos delere vi vel arte obliterate us, by strength or by art; what is et ex Christi filio, and from her son Christ quod iam patet astruit. now obvious is added on. sic miraculosa. thus appears this miraculous lady. Et dum hiis se applicat, And while it applies itself to these ends, Mater regis exaltata Mother of the king, quod explicit explicat. it unfolds what is the end. super omnia, exalted above all things, Mundus florens diu pace, The world which for a long time flourished et semper illuminata and ever shining iam accensus belli face, in peace is now inflamed by the torch of war, supra sydera. brighter than the stars. Gallia præmoritur. and Gaul dies before her time; Amene nobis nosina, Sweetly attend to us Et iam navis marl data and now the ship, given to the sea, in hac patria in this our fatherland portu carens desperata in desperation lacking a harbour, ne valeat per turbare that our flesh may not prevail procelis concitatur is shaken by the tempest nostra viscera. in the midst of confusion. et fractatur turbine, and, shattered by the storm, non eget regimine. has no need of a rudder.

14 15 9 Procurans odium Anon. (C13th) bl Alleluia. Nativitas Anon. / Pérotin Procurans odium Inciting hatred, Alleluia. Alleluia. effectu proprio the act of pulling people apart Nativitas gloriosae The nativity of the glorious vix detrahentium scarcely rejoices at its own effect virginis Mariæ virgin Mary gaudet intentio; upon those it divides; ex semine Habrahæ from the seed of Abraham, nexus est cordium the binding together of hearts divino moderamine by divine management ipsa detractio: is its own act of separation: ignem pio numine you bring forth a fire, sic per contrarium thus, through a contradiction producis, Domine, O Lord; ab hoste nescio, by an ignorant enemy, hominis salutem, and the salvation of man fit hic provisio what in one case is foresight paupertate nuda, in his naked poverty, in hoc amantium becomes in another case virginis nativitate by the birth of the virgin felix conditio. the happy condition of lovers. de tribu luda. of the tribe of Judah. lam propinas ovum Now on this new birthday Insultus talium I perceive that the insults per natale novum; you promise us an egg, prodesse sentio, of such people are profitable piscem, panem dabis and you will give us fish and bread tollendi tedium and the opportunity drips away partu sine semine, by this immaculate birth, fluxit occasio. of removing tediousness. orta de tribu luda, sprung from the tribe of Judah Suspendunt gaudium They defer their happiness clara ex stirpe David. and of the bright stock of David. pravo consilio, by a perverse resolution, Alleluia. Alleluia. sed desiderium but longing auget dilatio; is increased by delay. tali remedio By such a cure, de spinis hostium I gather grapes uvas vendemio. from an enemy’s thorn-bushes.

16 17 bm Chant (C13th) Christus surrexit A concert given during the Christus surrexit ex mortuis Christ is risen from the dead, mortis confractis vinculis breaking the bonds of death. 1996 Hilliard Summer School gaudentes angeli voces Rejoicing, the voices of angels in altissimis proclamant dicentes: in the highest shout out saying: The Hilliard Ensemble Alleluia! Alleluia! Carmina laudum suscipe, Accept their of praise David James redempta ab arche superna redeemed from the supreme rule. Rogers Covey-Crump tenor Annua sancti martiris The anniversary of the holy martyr John Potter tenor nam festa conciliata. is completed by this festival. Gordon Jones baritone Ortus in romulea urbe In the Romulean city his rising fulsit splendida ut lucerna. gleams brightly like a lamp. Recorded on 1 August 1996 Urbs vertebat orbita The city of Rome has reversed its orbit in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge cum millesimam monarchiam. with this millennial monarchy; by kind permission of the Master and Fellows Tormentorum genera superata having overcome all manner of torments, Previously released as Hilliard Live HL 1001 omnia it is decked triumphantly in the royal robe Producers: Chris Ekers and The Hilliard Ensemble Regna triumphali redimitus trabea. of state. Recording Engineers: Chris Ekers and Bob Burnell New re-mastering: Raphael Mouterde (Floating Earth) Editor: Dave Hunt Design: Andrew Giles bn Sederunt principes Pérotin Cover image: 'Lovers' 1929 by Eric Gill, with thanks to the Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham R. Sederunt principes, et adversum me Kings sat in counsel against me and dealt www.goldmarkart.com loquebantur: et iniqui persecuti sunt me. wickedly with me. V. Adiuva me Domine Deus meus: Help me, 0 Lord my God: For further information about recordings on CORO salvum me fac, propter misericordiam save me, according to your mercy. call +44 (0) 20 7488 2629 tuam. or email coro@ thesixteen.org.uk www.thesixteen.com

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