le banquet céleste damien guillon Céline Scheen, soprano [cs] Damien Guillon, countertenor [dg] Thomas Hobbs, tenor [th] Benoît Arnould, bass [ba] Julien Barre, cello [jb] André Henrich, lute [ah] Kevin Manent-Navratil, harpsichord [kmn] Marie-Domitille Murez, harp [mdm] MN Recorded at the Église de Froville, France, on 24-28 June 2017 Engineered and produced by Aline Blondiau Executive producer & editorial director: Carlos Céster Editorial assistance: María Díaz Design: Rosa Tendero Photographs: Julien Benhamou © 2018 note 1 music gmbh girolamo frescobaldi (1743-1805) Affetti amorosi Arie musicali. Firenze, 1630 01 Oscure selve [dg, ah] 2:25 16 Non vi partite [cs, th, ah, mdm] 2:03 02 Corilla danzando sul prato [cs, dg, th, ah, mdm] 0:59 17 Doloroso mio core [dg, th, ba, ah, mdm] 2:47 03 Eri già tutta mia [cs, th, jb, ah, kmn] 3:36 18 Gagliarda terza (instr.) [kmn] 1:40 04 Balletto e Ciaccona (instr.) [kmn] 1:10 19 Gioite oh selve [cs, th, jb, ah, kmn, mdm] 3:14 05 Se l’aura spira [th, ah, mdm] 1:15 20 Così mi disprezzate [cs, jb, ah, kmn, mdm] 3:09 06 Dunque dovrò [cs, jb, ah, kmn, mdm] 3:08 21 Passacagli (instr.) [kmn] 2:16 07 Troppo sotto due stelle [ba, jb, ah, mdm] 3:46 22 Ohimè che fur [cs, jb, ah, kmn] 2:41 08 Oh dolore [dg, th, ba, jb, ah, mdm] 3:52 23 Maddalena alla croce [dg, jb, ah, kmn] 2:45 09 Toccata per spinetta, over liuto (instr) [ah, jb] 2:18 24 Ancidetemi pur (instr.) [mdm] 6:52 10 Vanne o carta amorosa [cs, mdm] 3:16 25 Ti lascio anima mia [dg, jb, ah, mdm] 4:14 11 Ardo e taccio il mio mal [dg, jb, ah, kmn, mdm] 4:22 12 Con dolcezza pietate [dg, th, ba, jb, ah, kmn] 1:16 13 Non mi negate ohimè [dg, jb, ah, kmn, mdm] 2:06 MN 14 Dove ne vai pensiero [cs, th, jb, ah, kmn] 1:31 15 Voi partite mio sole [th, jb, kmn] 2:16 6 7 english english the prelate Guido Bentivoglio on a journey to the smooth and the spirited, which either came from could live forever. Other poets and musicians have Brussels, and had his Il primo libro de’ madrigali pub - the Renaissance or were imported from a range of been conscious of this movement and its “double”: in lished (in Antwerp); passing by Milan on his return to newly-emerging countries. And also, transformed the time of the Ars Subtilior – often, like the pre- Girolamo Frescobaldi Rome (which he would subsequently leave only for especially into the dynamic structures born with the Baroque, deemed to be “mannerist” – Jean Solage short periods of time), he saw published also Il primo Baroque or which gave it birth. Some of these struc - wrote and composed a work which become rather Affetti musicali libro delle fantasie a quattro . tures are frequently slow-moving: the Tiento (a cross famous in later times, Fumeux fume par fumee . This Frescobaldi defined the rules – or the absence of between experimentation and the hesitant) or the piece flaunts the goodwill of smoke, the curls of “It is the play of opposites that greatly moves our souls.” them – for performing his works in an exemplary Intonazione (evoking the instrument that is tuned or which range over distant tones; the intensity and jux - fashion in the course of his labours on his publica - a key/mode which needs to be specified). Others are taposition of time passing and, simultaneously, The works on this recording span some fifteen years, tions and their re-editions: “This style of playing cheerfully unrestrained: the Toccata (at that time, an remaining, are sifted through the smoky essence (this from 1615 to around 1630; from the death of Vincenzo should not be subjected to a beat [...] in some cases instrument was “touched”), the Caccia (the hunt) or was probably “composed” of hashish, given that I Gonzaga of Mantua to the decline of that city’s one must carry this through slowly, and in others the Ricercar (the search). Impulsive forms which pre - America was still waiting to be “discovered”). musical life once plunged headlong into war. For a quickly, and even by leaving it hanging in the air.” figured the fugue. short period, in 1615, Girolamo Frescobaldi was Such a level of freedom also is relevant for the orna - Two movements are involved here – or rather a “Quar fumer molt le agree / Tant qu’il ait son entencion.” engaged at the court of Mantua as a replacement for mentations and... also the performer’s potential with - double one, since these musical forms of an unfixed (For smoking pleases him greatly / for as long as that is his Monteverdi, now departed for Venice. At the age of in a work, “to stop where he or she thinks best”. nature are at the same time hounded and fleeing, har - intention.) 32, Frescobaldi was already both celebrated and con - Such an absence of rules, such an irregularity or rying and fleeting. What is their target, what prey are sidered enigmatic as a musician. Today, he can be con - something which is contrary to the rules, which in they hunting, from what are they running away, to In another vein, these lines by Barbara, jointly hymn sidered as one of that group of “cult composers” subsequent works would metamorphose into the where are they fleeing? In answer, the Romantics pleasure and farewell, without separating them out which includes Gesualdo, Luzzasco Luzzaschi (his durezze (clashing, unprepared dissonances), had would reply (they did indeed respond) simply by con - completely: teacher in his home town of Ferrara) and Froberger already been intriguing Portuguese composers. They trasting pleasure with the fleeting nature of time: (his future pupil). were the first to apply a name to this notion: barroco . “Quel joli temps pour se dire au revoir. / Quel joli soir pour Some fifteen years previously, at the close of the This is like an irregularly-shaped pearl, beyond the “[...] let us hasten to relish the transient pleasure!” jouer ses vingt ans. / Sur la fumée des cigarettes.” sixteenth century, Frescobaldi had moved to Rome, norm for perfect spheres; in a similar fashion the and: (What lovely weather it is for saying adieu to each other. / taking his leave of the Ferrara of Luca Marenzio, nature of the Baroque spiral “escaped” the circular “O time, pause in your flight.” What a splendid evening to act as though one was but Claudio Merulo, John Dowland, Giacches de Wert, plan to which Renaissance architects had been so (Lamartine) twenty. / Like the smoke of cigarettes...) Orlando di Lasso, Ottavio Rinuccini and Giulio much attracted, transforming it into a movement Caccini. When Alfonso II d’Este died without an heir, within space, into a space in movement. Such a response was also to be found in the “resur - The supreme representation of all this comes in the city came under the control of the Papal States. This becomes transformed into movement, or gent” art – in painting and music, contrapuntal lines Italian art, in all Italian art, which sings, paints, films, Frescobaldi was the organist at Santa Maria in in a pair of movements, such as are encountered in were used for creating a landscape or a space – which by moulding these pairs, the time which passes/the Trastevere until 1607, in which year he accompanied Baroque and pre-Baroque music: dancing or dances, had as its ideal that of stopping time, so that one time which remains, anxiety/pleasure: 8 9 english english “... a beauty which hurriedly passes / You do not sulk about ambiguous and subtle. As a consequence of this artifi - bloom”... This carpe diem will not last, the dance gives cholic and intimate lines comes the energetic Troppo a lack of embraces. / You look at the green sky at the close cial casualness (among other things), Eri già tutta mia way to the recitative where the lover gives himself sotto due stelle , complete with a declamatory style which of the evening.” seems to have been conceived, sketched and written over volubly to lamenting. Doloroso mio core , which is is theatrical, almost operatic in scope. (Sandro Penna) down at the very moment when the performers are both a canzona and a lamento , is tailored on a similar Sometimes, the composer seems to be looking experiencing their emotion of the piece, indeed at pattern, although in this case the piece ends with a over his shoulder, in the direction of Tintoretto or These are rather ambiguous musical forms given that the moment when we are hearing it. This aria is a kind victory for the dance. Notwithstanding, there is a cer - Titian, in order to work full-out on Con dolcezza e these pursuits and flights have perhaps no other aim of Barcarolle onto which is grafted a Sicilienne whose tain flat bitterness, which calls to mind Shakespeare’s pietate and Oh dolore with thick textures. than their movement, a movement which also indi - cell (dotted crotchet - quaver - crotchet) punctuates “My heart dances; But not for joy, not for joy” (from In Ohimè che fur , the first of the two spiritual cates the time remaining. Which is remaining for us. the E-ri già of the beginning and some of the non più s The Winter’s Tale ). This aria finds itself reflected in the sonnets, no hope appears to be being offered to the And the pleasure of living it. From there derives this at the conclusion. Sensual – to the point of being Toccata per Spinetta which, dreamy at the outset, ends repentant sinner, forsaken by one and all.