Missa Prolacionum OCKEGHEM@600 $ Concert 9

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2019 Firs Church in Cambridge, Congregational

SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 2019 S. Stephen’s Church, Providence Missa Prolacionum Of contrapuntal wizardry, subtlety and suavity OCKEGHEM@600 $ Concert 9 Tis season’s programs in Blue Heron’s Ock- Glarean, writing in the middle of the sixteenth (before 1459-1522) eghem@600 projec feature the few works for century, relegated Ockeghem (whom he knew Ave Maria gemma virginum which was known in the as Okenheim, jus one of the many versions of sixteenth century. In the fall we encountered the composer’s name found in early sources) Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1420-1497) the Missa Cuiusvis toni, which may be sung in to the satus of a footnote to his ecsatic treat- Prenez sur moi vostre exemple amoureux • jm st pg any of three modes; today we present the song ment of Josquin, the anointed maser of the Prenez sur moi and the Missa Prolacionum, the next generation. Ockeghem frs a minature maserpiece of canon, the sec- Missa Prolacionum ond a canonic encyclopedia. A somewhat older composer was 3 Gloria 3 Credo Okenheim, also a Belgian, who is Te rather detailed technical notes that follow said to have excelled everyone in this are intended to help the curious lisener appre- skill [of writing canons]. Indeed, he intermission is known to have composed a certain ciate something of what Ockeghem created in chatering song in 36 voices. We have Ockeghem the later two pieces. I want to emphasize, how- not seen it. He was certainly admirable Quant de vous seul je pers la veue • kl jm st ever, that one need not know anything about in invention and keenness of skill. He Ung aultre l’a, n’en querés plus • mr ms sm the compositional artifce that undergirds this also loved the katholika in song, that is, Les desleaulx ont la saison • mn mb sm music in order to be enchanted by its beauty. songs composed so that they could be Je n’ay dueil que je ne suis morte • mr kl st pg Ockeghem was as much a sensualis as he was sung in many ways [modis] according a man of formidable intellec. In the opinion to the will of the singers, yet so that the Ockeghem of his learned contemporary Johannes Tinco- relationship of the harmony and the Missa Prolacionum ris, Ockeghem’s works “exhale such sweetness consonances would be observed no Sancus 3 Agnus dei that in my opinion they are to be considered less; the following song of his is con- mos suitable, not only for men and heroes, but sidered the foremos of such a kind, in which song it is necessary that you Pre-concert talk in Cambridge by Sean Gallagher even for the immortal gods, Indeed, I never have ears. It is the Fuga trium vocum in (New England Conservatory of Music) hear them, I never sudy them, without com- Epidiatessaron (for so they seak now), ing away more refreshed and wiser.” Or, as the pos perfecum tempus. American musicologis Peter Urquhart puts it, Ockeghem’s canonic music is “as much calcu- Heinrich Glarean, Dodecachordon lated to please the ear as the eye.” (Basel, 1547), bk. 3, ch. XX, p. 454 Margot Rood, Kim Leeds, Martin Near Ockeghem@600 is Blue Heron’s long-term project to perform cantus the complete works of Johannes Ockeghem in a series of concert programs presented between 2015 and 2021. Professor Sean Within a few decades of Ockeghem’s death in In this passage, Glarean frs refers to Ockeg- Michael Barret, Jason McStoots, Gallagher joins Blue Heron as adviser for the entire project. 1497 tase had changed so thoroughly that his hem’s reputed skill at writing canons, men- Mark Sprinkle, Sumner Tompson music, at once intoxicatingly complex and be- tioning a 36-voice canon which he has not tenor & contratenor guilingly sensuous, began to seem unpleasing- seen. (Indeed, no such piece is known to exis, Blue Heron is funded in part by the Massachusets ly overcomplicated. He came to be regarded although a for 36 voices is praised in the Paul Gutry & Peter Walker Cultural Council, a state agency. a sort of wizard, as Sean Gallagher has said3 Déploration composed by Guillaume Crétin bassus BLUE HERON admired for the technical skill dislayed in a not long afer Ockeghem’s death.) He goes on Scot Metcalfe 950 Watertown St., Suite 8, West Newton, MA 02465 small handful of works, but not loved, as he to tell us that Ockeghem loved a type of music director & harp (617) 960-7956 • [email protected] • www.blueheron.org had been during his lifetime, for both subtilitas Glarean calls a katholikon which might be sung (ingenuity) and suavitas (sweetness). Heinrich in various ways (modi). As an example he pro-

2 3 vides the song Prenez sur moi, a canon (fuga) for example, or Row, row, row your boat. Tese Here the notes are preceded by a thicket of natures (albeit rather confusingly misaligned in three voices (trium vocum) at the harmonic are both simple canons in which four voices flats and sharps3and no clef to indicate on this frs sysem of music) that tell us in the interval of the upper fourth (in epidiatesseron) entering in turn sing the same melody begin- which notes fall on the lines and saces! At mos compac way possible what note each of and the time interval of one perfec breve (pos ning on the same pitch. A ffeenth-century leas, that is how modern eyes perceive it. To its three voices should sart on. Te frs voice perfecum tempus). Tis song, Glarean informs musician might describe that as a fuga quatuor a ffeenth-century musician, however, these is governed by a pair of fats or fas, one a ffh fats and sharps do not signify “accidental” in- above the other: in a scale of only natural us, “is considered the foremos of such a kind,” vocum in unisono. (And Frère Jacques, like Row, adding that in this piece “it is necessary that fecions of a note up or down, but are used notes, fa falls on C and F, and the singer begins row, row your boat, is a secies of canon that can you have ears”! But what did Glarean mean as a shorthand for the solmisation syllables fa on the note halfway between them, A. Te when he called Prenez sur moi a katholikon, and be sung forever simply by going back to the and mi, the fat representing fa and the sharp, second voice to enter reads a fa a ffh above why should this song in particular require the beginning, over and over again3a perpetual mi. (Medieval solmisation, ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la, a mi, which mus be F above B, and begins on singer to have ears? canon or round.) is the ancesor of our do-re-mi.) So these fats D. Te third reads mi above mi, B above E, and and sharps are acually three separate key sig- begins on G. A canon is a piece in which several parts are Te music can be notated with jus one line; generated out of one. Probably everyone read- the second voice sarts from the beginning ing this knows a canon or two3Frère Jacques, when the frs reaches the litle sign, and so on:

Te three voices of Prenez sur moi and their fa-mi signatures

Tis manuscript of Prenez sur moi omits the mark the entries.) From the las notes of each signs that would indicate when the second and part and the cadential formula they produce third voices are to enter, but it does include one can also easily deduce the harmonic in- Prenez sur moi, too, can be notated as one line poraries sill undersood, but that undersand- signs at the end of the piece that tell the sing- terval of the canon, which is the upper fourth: of music, but for centuries its notation posed ing was los over the next century or so and ers when to sop, and those signs are placed at that is, the second voice sarts on a note a a riddle. It was writen down in the ffeenth modern musicologiss sruggled with it until a disance of one perfec breve, pos perfecum fourth above that of the frs, and the third a century in a way that Glarean and his contem- relatively recently. tempus, jus as Glarean says. (Other sources do fourth higher sill.

Te opening of Prenez sur moi resolved into score with modern clefs and the mi-fa semitone indicated

Te opening of Ockeghem’s Prenez sur moi in the Copenhagen Chansonnier (Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, MS Tot 291 8˚, f. 39v, detail)

4 5 All three voices use the same scale of natural working out on a comparatively small scale a Canons in the Missa Prolacionum notes3the white notes on a piano. Te result procedure which is explored comprehensive- of this procedure is that the precise interval- ly in the Mass. As the table below shows, the No. of Harmonic Time How Time Interval lic content of the melody changes from voice Mass sysematically presents a series of can- Secion Voices Interval Interval Is Esablished to voice: a semitone in one voice may be an- ons at every harmonic interval from unison swered by a whole tone in another, a minor to ocave. Almos all the canons are double KYRIE third by a major third. Each of the three parts canons or canons 4 ex 2, in which two writen Kyrie I 4 ex 2 unison 2 perfec breves mensuration canon sings “a modally diferentiated version of the parts generate four sounding parts. (Prenez Chrise 4 ex 2 upper 2nd 26 or 27 perfec breves; initial ress same melody,” in Peter Urquhart’s apt de- sur moi is a canon 3 ex 1; the short Ave Maria canonic voices do not coincide scription; in Glarean’s account, the melody is gemma virginum by Jean Mouton with which Kyrie II 4 ex 2 one canonic pair 2 perfec breves mensuration canon lower 3rd, other a katholikon, a song composed so that it is “to we preface our program is a canon 8 ex 4.) pair upper 3rd be sung in many ways…yet so that the rela- tionship of the harmony and the consonances A no less sriking characerisic of the Mass is would be observed no less.” Indeed, Prenez sur the variety of time intervals among the canons. GLORIA moi features wonderful harmony and conso- And then we come to the feature that insired Et in terra 4 ex 2 lower 4th 2 perfec breves mensuration canon nance, along with a dose of wit as it sets the the name, Missa Prolacionum, with which the in upper pair, initial words “Take from me your example”; and to Mass is labelled in its earlies source (the Chigi ress in lower sing it one certainly needs ears (and a brain). Codex, copied c. 1500 in the Burgundian Low Qui tollis 4 ex 2 lower 4th 12 perfec breves initial ress Countries). Wesern polyphony from the early Plenty of composers wrote canons before 14th century onwards employed four mensura- Ockeghem. Te innovation in Prenez sur moi tions (time signatures, more or less) known as CREDO is that the precise intervallic content of the prolations. In the Missa Prolacionum, each of the imitation is not exac. All canons before Ock- four parts is read in a diferent mensuration. Patrem 4 ex 2 upper 5th 3 perfec breves mensuration canon eghem seem to be exac. What’s more, earlier Et resurrexit 4 ex 2 upper 5th lower canonic pair at a disance of 8 mensuration canon perfec breves; time interval in up- canons are at perfec intervals only3at the per canonic pair changes in a series unison or ocave, or occasionally at the ffh Prolacionum or Prolationum? of “teconic shifs” (Fitch): 2 perfec or fourth. It is, in fac, the invention of inexac breves, 4 (when lower pair enters), 6, A colleague of ours was once visiting the Im- and fnally 8 canonic imitation that makes a canon at the pressionis galleries at the Metropolitan Mu- imperfec intervals of a second, third, sixth, or seum of Art in New York when he heard two seventh possible. (Note that the third voice disinguished ladies discuss the name of the of Prenez sur moi imitates the frs at the inter- painter of a famous series of Water Lilies. One val of a fourth above a fourth, i.e. a seventh.) remarks to the other. “Now, I’ve heard Manet, Sancus 4 ex 2 upper 6th 12 perfec breves initial ress Peter Urquhart has called this sort of canon and I’ve heard Monet. Both are correc.” One Pleni 2 ex 1 lower 7th 1 perfec breve initial ress diatonic. Teory catching up to pracice well might say the same of Ockeghem, although he Osanna 4 ex 2 lower ocave 2 perfec breves mensuration canon aferwards (as usual), Giosefo Zarlino in 1558 really was one person and not two: I’ve heard Ockeghem, and I’ve heard Okenheim… (Not Benedicus 4 ex 2 lower 4th 20 imperfec breves; initial ress canonic voices do not coincide disinguished exac canon or fuga from inexac to mention Okegus, Hocquergan, Holreghan, or diatonic canon, which he dubbed imitatione. and many more.) Fifeenth-century orthogra- phy was exuberantly unsandardized, and one An encyclopedia of canon fnds both the classically correc Prolationum AGNUS DEI and the more medieval, sell-it-how-we say-it Agnus dei I 4 ex 2 lower 4th 7 perfec breves initial ress We don’t know whether Prenez sur moi was Prolacionum. Te earlies source of the Mass Agnus dei II 2 ex 1 lower 5th increases seadily augmentation canon opts for Prolacionum. I’ve wavered back and composed before the Missa Prolacionum3all Agnus dei III 4 ex 2 upper 5th 6 perfec breves initial ress the sources for the Mass date from afer Ock- forth. Both are correc! eghem’s death3but the song might be seen as 6 7 Besides being extremely clever, and another imperfec (two beats long) and the other’s tes for the performer’s ears and brain, writ- are perfec (three beats long), so the voice ing canons in which the voices read the same singing perfec breves gradually falls behind, line of music under diferent mensurations eventually winding up two perfec breves or enables Ockeghem to write a secial type of six beats behind. Afer this point there are no canon, known as a mensuration canon. Here more notes that difer in length depending on the time interval between the leading voice the mensuration, so the time interval remains (dux, leader) and its canonic imitation (comes: fxed for the res of the secion. companion, associate, or follower) changes gradually, because while reading from the Tis is, however, jus the beginning. Tings be- same writen part, not only may dux and comes come much more complicated in subsequent sart on diferent pitches; they may also realise canons, where the time interval is larger3 the duration of certain types of notes difer- sometimes much larger3and the imitation ently. Tis is due to a secial property of men- at harmonic intervals other than the unison sural notation. Our modern rhythmic notation means that the melodies can sound quite dif- is additive. All whole notes, for example, con- ferent. Remember, too, that mos of the sec- tain two half notes, and to obtain a duration tions of the Mass are double canons, so all this of three half notes one adds a dot to the whole is going on in two canons operating indepen- note. In mensural notation, in contras, notes dently but simultaneously. And all is cas in may be divided into two or three parts. A semi- Ockeghem’s ornate melodic syle, which is a breve (which resembles our whole note) can far cry from Frère Jacques. be divided into two or three minims (our half notes): this relationship is known as prolation. Te miracle of the Missa Prolacionum is that an And a breve (our double whole note) can be innocent lisener can easily remain entirely divided into two or three semibreves: this re- ignorant of its inner workings. Desite the lationship is known as tempus. A note divided extraordinary pressures placed on the coun- into three parts is known as perfec; divided terpoint by its canonic srucure, the music into two, imperfec. Te trick is that perfec sounds uterly unconsrained, full of melodic and imperfec notes may be writen in exacly and harmonic variety, with shifing textures of the same way. Only by examining the precise duets and trios as well as passages for all four context of the note and applying rules accord- voices at once. Te canonic imitation is prety ing to the mensuration under which the mu- obvious in the Kyrie I, where it occurs at the sic is being read can one determine whether a unison and afer a relatively short delay, and is perfec or imperfec. And to make maters in the two-voice Pleni sunt celi, but in much of even more complicated, certain contexts can the Mass the canonic srucure is obscured by cause a note to double in duration! disance in time as well as pitch. Te Et resur- rexit secion of the Credo features plenty of Te easies place to hear a mensuration canon audible imitation and near-imitation of short in operation is the opening Kyrie of the Mass, motivic features, but the imitation that a lis- focussing jus on the upper pair of voices. tener hears happening on a small time-scale (Te page from the Chigi Codex containing is acually not generated by the two canons, the music is reproduced on p. 8.) Te voices but emerges from relationships between non- sart together and they sing the same notes, canonically linked voices. Tis secion of the Missa Prolacionum, Kyrie, upper two parts (read from the same line under diferent mensurations). Biblioteca Aposolica Vaticana, MS Chigi C VIII 234, f. 98v. a series of breves, but one voice’s breves are Mass is the mos compositionally virtuosic 8 9 of all. One canonic pair (two voices reading Songs TEXTS & TRNSLATIONS the same line of music in diferent clefs and under different mensurations) opens the Prenez sur moi and the Missa Prolacionum may secion with a long duet. Te voices begin represent the apex of Ockeghem’s contrapun- together and gradually become separated by tal wizardry, but perhaps the mos dazzling Ave Maria, gemma virginum, mundi Hail Mary, gem of virgins, Lady of this world, two perfec breves through the operation of trick of all is how pleasing, how sweet these domina, celi regina, dominus tecum. Audi queen of heaven, the Lord is with thee. Hear the mensuration canon. Tey remain at that technical feats are made to sound, as the sub- benigna mater omnium: tu nos adjuva in us, gentle mother of all: intercede for us with disance for a while, then shif further apart tilitas of the consrucion somehow engenders mortis hora apud dominum. the Lord at the hour of our death. to a disance of four breves. At this point the a mos delicious suavitas in realization. Indeed, other canonic pair enters, its dux leading the it is surprising jus how much his canonic mu- comes at the disance of eight breves. But then sic sounds like his non-canonic music. On the the frs pair shifs yet again to a disance of six other hand, one might be equally surprised at Prenez sur moi vostre exemple amoureux: Take from me your amorous example: breves, and then once more to eight3and all how much carefully calculated compositional Commencement d’amours est savoureux the beginning of love is savory the while the other canonic pair remains fxed craf undergirds apparently simpler songs. But Et le moyen plain de paine et tristesse, and the middle full of pain and sorrow, at a disance of eight perfec breves! Tat such rather than belabor the point afer so many Et la fn est d’avoir plaisant maistresse, and the end is having a pleasant mistress, a bewilderingly involved consrucion could words about music, I will leave you to enjoy Mais au saillir sont les pas dangereux. but on the way out the steps are dangerous. produce such euphonious music is barely pos- these delicate, meticulously crafed pieces sible to believe. unmediated by verbal explanation, except to Servant d’Amours, me suis trouvé eureux Te servant of Love, I found myself happy mention that modern scholarship has not yet L’une des foiz, et l’autre malleureux, one moment and unhappy the next, It is probably fair to say that scholars have not been able to decode the text of Ung aultre l’a. Ung jour sentant confort, l’autre destresse. one day feeling comfort, the next distress. yet been able to explain the Missa Prolacio- (Tat of Les desleaulx, on the other hand, could num, though some recent sudies have begun have been writen this morning.) For a more Prenez sur moi vostre exemple amoureux: Take from me your amorous example: to grapple with how the counterpoint acually detailed consideration of Ockeghem’s two Commencement d’amours est savoureux the beginning of love is savory funcions, rather than simply describing it. A dozen songs, please refer to our forthcoming Et le moyen plain de paine et tristesse. and the middle full of pain and sorrow. full reckoning of the Et resurrexit alone would complete recording, the frs volume of which require pages and pages of analysis. (Fabrice will be released later this year! Pour ung plaisir cent pansers ennuieux, For every pleasure a hundred painful thoughts, Fitch published an excellent article two years Pour ung soulas cent dangiers perilleux, for every solace a hundred perilous dangers, ago, focussing jus on the midpoint of the 3Scot Metcalfe Pour ung accueil cent regars par rudesse: for every welcome a hundred harsh glances: secion.) Among the many other wonders of S’Amours sert doncques de telz mets a largesse, if Love serves so liberally from such dishes the Mass, one might mention the amazingly Et les loiaux fait les plus doloureux, and makes the loyal the most woeful, ornate rhythm of the end of the Benedicus (in a passage for two non-canonically related Prenez sur moi vostre exemple amoureux… Take from me your amorous example… voices), the two-voice augmentation canon of the second Agnus dei (in which the voices sart simultaneously but the lower voice sings at exacly half the seed of the upper), or the elegiac feeling of the fnal Agnus dei.

10 11 Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Quant de vous seul je pers la veue, When I lose sight of you alone, Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy. De qui tant chiere suis tenue, By whom I am held so dear, Mon mal lors si tresfort m’assault My pain then assails me so very strongly Gloria in excelsis deo, et in terra pax Glory to God in the highest, and on earth Qu’a peu que le cueur ne me fault, Tat my heart nearly breaks, hominibus bone voluntatis. Laudamus te. peace to all of good will. We praise you. We Tant suis de douleur esperdue. I am so overcome by sorrow. Benedicimus te. Adoramus te. Glorifcamus bless you. We adore you. We glorify you. We te. Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam give thanks to you for your great glory. Lord Pour estre vostre devenue Because I have become yours gloriam tuam. Domine deus, rex celestis, God, heavenly king, almighty God the Father. Plus que nul qui soit soubz la nue More than anyone under the heavens, deus pater omnipotens. Domine fli Lord Jesus Christ, only begoten Son. Lord Toute ma joie me default All my joy fails me unigenite, Jesu Christe. Domine deus, agnus God, lamb of God, Son of the Father. Who Quant de vous seul je pers la veue, When I lose sight of you alone, dei, flius patris. Qui tollis peccata mundi, takes away the sins of the world, have mercy De qui tant chiere suis tenue: By whom I am held so dear: miserere nobis. Qui tollis peccata mundi, on us. Who takes away the sins of the world, Mon mal lors si tresfort m’assault. My pain then assails me so very strongly. suscipe deprecationem nostram. Qui sedes receive our prayer. Who sits at the right hand ad dexteram patris, miserere nobis. Quoniam of the Father, have mercy on us. For you alone Dont je voi bien que je suis nue Ten I see well that I am stripped tu solus sanctus, tu solus dominus, tu solus are holy, you alone are the Lord, the Most De tous biens comme beste mue Of all things good, like a dumb beast altissimus, Jesu Christe, cum sancto spiritu High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in the A qui de plus riens il ne chault, To whom nothing maters any longer, in gloria dei patris. Amen. glory of God the Father. Amen. Car je scais bien qu’estre me fault For I know well that I must be Seulle de tous biens despourveue Alone, deprived of all good things, Credo in unum deum, patrem I believe in one God, the Father almighty, omnipotentem, factorem celi et terre, maker of heaven and earth and of all things Quant de vous seul je pers la veue… When I lose sight of you alone… visibilium omnium et invisibilium. Et in visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus unum dominum Jesum Christum, flium dei Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begoten unigenitum: et ex patre natum ante omnia of the Father. God from God, Light from Light, Rondeau royal Royal Rondeau secula. Deum de deo, lumen de lumine, true God from true God. Begoten, not made; Ung aultre l’a, n’en querés plus, Another has it, seek it no more, deum verum de deo vero. Genitum non of one being with the Father, through whom all Car dorenavant je conclus for henceforth I resolve factum, consubstantialem patri: per quem things are made. For us and for our salvation De garder en tout temps mon droit. to protect my rights at all times. omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines he came down from Heaven. He was born of Chascun se garde en son endroit, Let each look out for himself, et propter nostram salutem descendit de the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was Car bien peu me chault de surplus. for precious litle do I care about the rest. celis. Et incarnatus est de spiritu sancto ex made man. He was crucifed for our sake under Je ne vueil pas estre forcluz I do not wish to be prevented Maria virgine: et homo factus est. Crucifxus Pontius Pilate, died, and was buried. On the D’acorder ou faire refuz, from agreeing or refusing, etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato: passus third day he rose again, in accordance with Mais ce que voulez orendroit but as for what you want at present, et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and secundum scripturas. Et ascendit in celum: is seated at the right hand of the Father. He Ung aultre l’a, n’en querés plus, another has it, seek it no more, sedet ad dexteram patris. Et iterum venturus will come again to judge both the living and Car dorenavant je conclus for henceforth I resolve est cum gloria judicare vivos et mortuos: the dead, and his kingdom shall have no end. De garder en tout temps mon droit. to protect my rights at all times. cujus regni non erit fnis. Et in spiritum And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the sanctum dominum et vivifcantem qui ex giver of life, who proceeds from the Father Jamais en ce propos ne fuz Never in this mater was patre flioque procedit. Qui cum patre et and the Son, who with the Father and Son is Que mon vouloir fust si confuz my will so thwarted flio simul adoratur et conglorifcatur: qui worshipped and glorifed, who has spoken D’entendre a tout ce qu’il voudroit. in atending to everything it would like. locutus est per prophetas. Et unam sanctam through the prophets. And I believe in one De ce faire on me reprendroit, People would reproach me for doing so, catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam. holy, catholic and apostolic church. I confess Congnoissant que seroit abuz. recognizing that it would be wrong. Confteor unum baptisma in remissionem one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. And I Ung aultre l’a, n’en querés plus… Another has it, seek it no more… peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem await the resurrection of the dead, and the life mortuorum, et vitam venturi seculi. Amen. of the world to come. Amen. 12 13 Les desleaulx ont la saison Te disloyal are in season ABOUT THE ARTISTS Et des bons nessun ne tient compte, and no one takes account of the good, Mais Bon Droit de trop se mesconte but Good Rectitude too much miscalculates De soufrir si grant desraison. to permit such great unreason. Je ne scais par quelque achoison I do not know for what occasion Fortune ainsi hault les seurmonte. Fortune elevates them so high. Les desleaulx ont la saison Te disloyal are in season Et des bons nessun ne tient compte. and no one takes account of the good. Nul ne doit parler sans moison None should speak without measure De paour d’avoir reprouche ou honte; for fear of earning reproach or shame; Pour ce me tais, mais fn de compte therefore I keep silent, but in the end Tout va sans rime et sans rayson. everything happens without rhyme or reason. Blue Heron has been acclaimed by Te Boson Horse Consort, Les Délices, Parthenia, Pifaro, Les desleaulx ont la saison… Te disloyal are in season… Globe as “one of the Boson music community’s and Ensemble Plus Ultra. In 2015 the ensemble indisensables” and hailed by Alex Ross in Te embarked on Ockeghem@600, a multi-season Je n’ay dueil que je ne suis morte: I have no grief but that I am not dead: New Yorker for its “expressive intensity.” Com- projec to perform the complete works of Jo- Ne doy je bien vouloir morir? should I not wish to die? mited to vivid live performance informed by hannes Ockeghem (c. 1420-1497) and record all Dueil a voulu mon cueur saisir Grief has seized my heart the sudy of original source materials and his- of his songs and . Volume I of the songs Qui de tous biens me desconforte. and deprives me of all things good. torical performance pracices, the ensemble will be released later this year. Te projec will Ma douleur est plus que trop forte, My sorrow is more than too strong, ranges over a wide repertoire from plainchant wind up around 2021, in time to commemorate Car sans avoir aucun plaisir for having no pleasure whatsoever to new music, with particular secialities in the composer’s circa-600th birthday. 15th-century Franco-Flemish polyphony and Je n’ay dueil que je ne suis morte: I have no grief but that I am not dead: early 16th-century English sacred music. Blue Heron’s frs CD, featuring music by Guil- Ne doy je bien vouloir morir? should I not wish to die? laume Du Fay, was released in 2007. Between Je n’ay plus riens qui me conforte, I have nothing more that comforts me, Founded in 1999, Blue Heron presents a con- 2010 and 2017 the ensemble issued a 5-CD D’ueil ne voy plus que desplaisir. my eye sees nothing more than chagrin. cert series in Cambridge, Massachusets, and series of Music fom the Peterhouse Partbooks, Mort est le plus de mon desir, Death is my greatest desire, has appeared at the Boson Early Music Fesi- including many world premiere recordings of Car quelque chose que on m’aporte, for whatever is brought to me val; in New York City at Music Before 1800, Te works copied c. 1540 for Canterbury Cathedral. Cloisers (Metropolitan Museum of Art), and Te ffh CD was awarded the 2018 Gramo- Je n’ay dueil que je ne suis morte… I have no grief but that I am not dead… the 92nd Street Y; at the Library of Congress, phone Classical Music Award for Early Music the National Gallery of Art, and Dumbarton and the fve discs are now available as a boxed Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, dominus deus sabaoth. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts. Oaks in Washington, D.C.; at the Berkeley set entitled Te Los Music of Canterbury. Blue Pleni sunt celi et terra gloria tua. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Early Music Fesival; at Yale University; and in Heron’s recordings also include a CD of plain- Osanna in excelsis. Hosanna in the highest. Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, chant and polyphony to accompany Tomas Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Pitsburgh, Philadelphia, Providence, St. Louis, Forres Kelly’s book Capturing Music: Te Story Osanna in excelsis. Hosanna in the highest. San Luis Obiso, and Seatle. Te ensemble of Notation and the live recording Chrismas in has performed in Cambridge and London, Medieval England. Jessie Ann Owens (UC Da- Agnus dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the England, and in 2018-19 will make Canadian vis) and Blue Heron won the 2015 Noah Green- miserere nobis. world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who debuts in Montreal (September) and Vancou- berg Award from the American Musicological Agnus dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, takes away the sins of the world, have mercy ver (March). Blue Heron has been in residence Society to support a world premiere recording miserere nobis. on us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins at the Center for Early Music Studies at Bos- of ’s I madrigali a cinque voci Agnus dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, of the world, grant us peace. ton University and at Boson College, and has (1542), to be released in fall 2019. dona nobis pacem. enjoyed collaborations with A Far Cry, Dark Translations from the French by Scot Metcalfe. 14 15 Michael Barret is a Bos- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bach Ensemble, and in the US with the Oregon mon), John Blow’s Venus and Adonis (solois), ton-based conducor, sing- Harvard University (where he was awarded the Bach Fesival, the Handel & Haydn Society, the and Charpentier’s Acéon (as Orphée). er, multi-instrumentalist, Phi Beta Kappa Prize for excellence in teach- Grammy-nominated True Concord (Tucson), and teacher. He has per- ing), and Boson University. In 2007 he was and the Grammy-winning ensemble Te Cross- Scott Metcalfe is widely formed with many profes- Visiting Professor at Villa I Tati in Florence. ing (Philadelphia). In the Boson area, Ms. Leeds recognized as one of North sional early music ensem- He frequently presents pre-concert talks and has appeared as a solois with the Commonwealth America’s leading spe- bles, including Blue Heron, lecure-recitals on a wide range of topics. Chorale, the Cantata Singers, and Music at Marsh cialiss in music from the the Boson Camerata, the Chapel, and she can be heard on the 2017 Boson ffeenth through the sev- Huelgas Ensemble, Vox Bass-baritone Paul Gutry Modern Orchesra Projec’s recording of Jeremy enteenth centuries and be- Luminis, the Handel & Haydn Society, Boson has performed throughout Gill’s Before the Wresing Tides. yond. From 2010 to 2016 he Baroque, Nederlandse Bachvereniging (Nether- the USA and international- was music direcor of New lands Bach Society), L’Académie, Seven Times ly with Sequentia, Chanti- Reviewers have praised Ja- York City’s Green Moun- Salt, Schola Cantorum of Boson, and Exsulte- cleer, the Boson Camerata, son McStoots as having an tain Projec (Jolle Greenleaf, artisic direcor), mus. He can be heard on the harmonia mundi, and New York’s Ensemble “alluring tenor voice” (Arts- which he led again in January 2019, and he has Blue Heron, and Coro record labels. Michael for Early Music. A found- Fuse) and as “the consum- been gues direcor of TENET (New York), the has served as music direcor of Convivium ing member of Blue Heron, mate artist, wielding not Handel & Haydn Society (Boson), the Tudor Musicum since 2007. He also direcs the Me- he has also appeared in and jus a sweet tone but also Choir and Seatle Baroque, Pacifc Baroque ridian Singers, a vocal ensemble based at MIT. around Boson as solois with Emmanuel Mu- incredible technique and Orchesra (Vancouver, BC), Les Délices and Michael is currently an Assisant Professor at sic, the Handel & Haydn Society, the Boson impeccable pronunciation” Quire Cleveland, and other ensembles. Met- the Berklee College of Music, where he teaches Early Music Fesival, the Tanglewood Music (Cleveland Plain Dealer). calfe also enjoys a career as a baroque violinis, conducing courses for undergraduates. Center, Cantata Singers, Boson Cecilia, Prism In 2015 he won a Grammy award in Opera with currently playing with Les Délices (dir. Debra Opera, Boston Revels, Collage, the Boston the Boson Early Music Fesival (BEMF) for Nagy), L’Harmonie des Saisons, and Montreal Music hisorian and pianis Modern Orchesra Projec, and Intermezzo. their recording of works by Charpentier. His Baroque (dir. Eric Milnes). His scholarly ac- Sean Gallagher (pre-con- Paul can be heard on all Blue Heron’s record- recent sage appearances in period-syle ba- tivities include research on the performance cert speaker and adviser ings, on discs of medieval music by Sequentia, roque opera with BEMF include Le Jeu in Les pracice of English vocal music in the 16th and for Blue Heron’s Ockeg- Kurt Weill’s Johnny Johnson and French airs de plaisirs de Versailes by Charpentier, Apollo in 17th centuries, including two essays that will hem@600 projec) joined cour with the Boson Camerata, and on Em- Monteverdi’s Orfeo, and Eumete and Giove in be published in a forthcoming collecion, and the faculty of the New Eng- manuel Music’s Bach CDs. Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. Other he has edited music by Francisco de Peñalosa land Conservatory in 2013. recent solo performances include Pedrillo in for Antico Edition (UK) and songs from the His research focuses on late Praised for her “rich, smooth Mozart’s Abducion fom the Seraglio, Bach’s recently rediscovered Leuven chansonnier for medieval and Renaissance mezzo soprano” (St. Louis Chrismas Oratorio and St. Mark Passion with the Alamire Foundation (Belgium); he is also music in Italy, France and the Low Countries, Pos), Kim Leeds has been Emmanuel Music, and Monteverdi’s Vesers of at work on a new edition of the songs of Gilles with particular emphasis on Johannes Ockeg- a solois with the American 1610 with the Green Mountain Projec. He has Binchois (c. 1400-1460). Metcalfe has taught at hem and his contemporaries. His book on the Bach Soloiss Academy, Bach appeared with Boson Lyric Opera, Pacifc Mu- Harvard University, Boson University, Boson 15th-century composer was Akademie Charlote, Ad As- sicWorks, Boson Camerata, TENET, San Juan Conservatory, and Oberlin Conservatory. He published by Brepols in 2010, and he is editor tra Musical Festival, Bach Symphony, Te Bach Ensemble, Pablo Casals received a bachelor’s degree from Brown Uni- or co-editor of four further volumes, including Society of St. Louis, and the Fesival, Early Music Guild of Seatle, Tragico- versity (1985), where he majored in biology, Secular : Forms and Funcions Tafelmusik Baroque Cham- media, and the Tanglewood Music Center. He is and a maser’s degree in hisorical performance (Ashgate, 2013) and (with Tomas F. Kelly) ber Orchesra and Choir. She was a Virginia Bes a core member of Blue Heron and can be heard pracice from Harvard (2005). Te Century of Bach and Mozart: Persecives on Adams Fellow at Carmel Bach Fesival. As a cho- on all their recordings. With BEMF, he appears Hisoriography, Composition, Teory and Perfor- ral artis, Ms. Leeds has performed abroad with on recordings of Lully’s Psyché (nominated for mance (Harvard, 2008). He has taught at the the Weimar Bach Academy and Junges Stutgart a Grammy), Handel’s Acis and Galatea (as Da-

16 17 Martin Near has been ac- Boson Early Music Fesival, Monadnock Mu- Choral Society, among others. Mr. Sprinkle was Texas Early Music Projec, claimed for the “sweet lim- sic, St. Petersburg Opera, and Green Mountain a member of the Cambridge Bach Ensemble Staunton Music Festival, pidity” of his singing (Te Opera Fesival. Margot is a recipient of numer- and a fellow of the Briten-Pears School and has Kuhmo Kamarimusiikki, New York Times), with a ous awards, including the St. Botolph Emerging recorded for Dorian, Koch, Harmonia Mundi, Gotham Early Music, Acad- “cool, beaming counter- Artis Award, the Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fel- Decca, Arabesque, and Telarc. emy of Sacred Drama, and tenor” commended for its lowship at Emmanuel Music, and third place in Skylark Ensemble. Peter is “crystal clear…beautiful, Te American Prize competition in art song and Praised for his “elegant a member of the choir of St. blooming top notes” (New oratorio. She has been invited for performances syle” (Te Boson Globe), Luke in the Fields in New York Classical Review). He and maserclasses by composers at Columbia Sumner Tompson is high- York City and a founding enjoys a varied career exploring twin passions University, the University of Pennsylvania, Mc- ly sought afer as both bari- member of the medieval ensembles Marginalia for early music and new music. Highlights of re- Gill University, and Keene State College. She tone and tenor. His appear- and Twa Corbies. He has lecured on early mu- cent solo performances include a concert ver- has recorded numerous 20th- and 21s-century ances on the operatic sage sic at Vassar College and the University of Vir- sion of Machaut’s Remede de Fortune, created works for Albany Records, Sono Luminus, and include roles in the Bos- ginia, and won the Overseas Class in the Low- as a collaboration between Blue Heron and New World Records, mos notably the leading ton Early Music Fesival’s land and Border Pipers’ Society Competition in Cleveland’s Les Délices (Debra Nagy, direcor) role of Emily Webb in Ned Rorem’s operatic ren- productions of Conradi’s 2016. He holds degrees from Vassar College and and returning to Blue Heron’s season in 2019, dering of Tornton Wilder’s Our Town. Margot Ariadne (2003) and Lully’s Psyché (2007) and McGill University, where he sudied with Drew and Richard Rodney Bennet’s Ophelia (1987) holds degrees from the University of Michigan several European tours with Contemporary Op- Minter and Sanford Sylvan, resecively. with Boson’s Odyssey Opera under the artisic and McGill University. era Denmark as Orfeo in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. direcion of Gil Rose. Mr. Near maintains a par- He has performed across North America as a allel career in the pipe organ indusry, provid- Tenor Mark Sprinkle’s solois with the Handel & Haydn Society, Con- ing services in organ pipe reconditioning and singing has been described certo Palatino, Tafelmusik, Apollo’s Fire, Les repair, voicing, tonal fnishing, and tuning for as “expressive,” “very re- Boréades (Montreal), Les Voix Baroques, Pa- Spencer Organ Company of Waltham, and he warding,” “outstanding,” cifc Baroque Orchesra, the King’s Noyse, Mer- has also been known to compose, arrange, and “vivid,” and “supremely cury Baroque, and the symphony orchesras of engrave using Finale. stylish.” He has collabo- Charlote, Memphis, and Phoenix. Recent high- rated with the Boson Early lights include Monteverdi’s Vesers of 1610 and Soprano Margot Rood, Music Fesival, the Boson a new Vesers of 1640 with the Green Mountain hailed for her “luminos- Camerata, the Mark Mor- Projec, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nosri with ity and grace” by Te New ris Dance Group, Emmanuel Music, Boson Les Voix Baroques and Houson’s Mercury Ba- York Times, performs a wide Baroque, the Handel & Haydn Society, and roque, Mozart’s at St. Tomas Church range of repertoire. Recent many others, performed at fesivals in Bergen in New York City, a tour of Japan with Joshua and upcoming solo appear- (Norway), Vancouver, Edinburgh, and Alde- Rifin and the Cambridge Concentus, a return ances include those with burgh (UK), and worked as a solois and en- to the Carmel Bach Fesival, and Briten’s War Philharmonia Baroque, New semble singer under Seiji Ozawa, Chrisopher Requiem with the New England Philharmonic Jersey Symphony, Cleve- Hogwood, William Chrisie, Roger Norrington, and several gues choruses. land Orchesra, Charlote Symphony, Boson John Nelson, Andrew Parrot, Grant Llewellyn, Symphony Orchesra, New World Symphony, and Craig Smith. He has appeared as a solo- Described as a “rich-voiced” and “vivid” singer Handel & Haydn Society, Seraphic Fire, Lorelei is with Concerto Palatino and has sung the by Te New York Times, Peter Walker enjoys Ensemble, A Far Cry, Boson Modern Orchesra Evangelis in Bach Passions with the Handel & a varied career as a singer of early and clas- Projec, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Blue Her- Haydn Society, the Boulder Bach Fesival, the sical music. He performs regularly with the on, Cape Symphony, Bach Collegium San Diego, Oriana Singers of Vermont, Seraphim Singers, Handel & Haydn Society, Tree Notch’d Road, and Grand Harmonie, as well as onsage with the Boson’s Chorus Pro Musica, and the Andover Clarion Society Choir, Early Music New York,

18 19 WHO WAS JOHANNES OCKEGHEM? noticeable points of imitation, although many of two or three. Captivating at frst hearing, subtle instances occur, ofen almost hidden Ockeghem’s music rewards the closest possible within the texture of the music. His rhythm, too, study and repeated listening. Johannes Ockeghem was born in Saint and , recently is complex and varied, ofentimes obscuring the Ghislain, near the city of Mons in the county deceased. Nearly all the works of these music’s organization into regular metrical units 3Scot Metcalfe of Hainaut (now in Belgium) around 1420. men exhale such sweetness that in my He frst enters the historical record in 1443 as opinion they are to be considered most a vicaire-chanteur at the church of Our Lady in suitable, not only for men and heroes, but even for the immortal gods, Indeed, Antwerp, a modest appointment appropriate I never hear them, I never study them, to a young professional singer. By 1446 he had without coming away more refreshed become one of seven singers in the chapel of and wiser. THE MUSIC OF JOHANNES OCKEGHEM Charles I, duke of Bourbon, and in 1451 he joined the musical establishment of Charles Ockeghem died on February 6, 1497. His VII, king of France. He served the French passing was mourned by numerous musicians Ockeghem’s surviving music comprises two dozen songs, four motets, nine complete cyclic royal court as premier chapelain for the rest and poets. Te most famous lament on his death Masses, three partial Mass cycles, an independent Credo, and an incomplete Requiem. of his career, mainly residing in Tours in the is by the Burgundian court Nymphes des bois, SONGS Loire Valley, where he held the prestigious chronicler and poet Jean Molinet, later set to and well-remunerated post of treasurer at music by Josquin Desprez3an act of homage Aultre Venus Les desleaux ¿Qu’es mi vida preguntays? the royal collegiate church of Saint Martin. A that Ockeghem had previously rendered Baisiés moi Ma bouche rit by Johannes Cornago, with friend and colleague of the greatest musicians Binchois with Mort, tu as navré de ton dart. D’un autre amer Ma maistresse two new contratenors by of the previous generation, Guillaume Du Fors seullement contre ce Mort tu as navré Ockeghem Fay and Gilles de Bins (usually known by the Ockeghem lef us about two dozen French Fors seullement l’actente Alius discantus super O rosa bella S’elle m’amera / Petite camusete sobriquet Binchois), he was esteemed by his songs, just over a dozen Masses, and four Il ne m’en chault Permanent vierge Se vostre cuer contemporaries and successors as a master motets, a relatively small output for one of Je n’ay dueil (two versions) Prenez sur moi Tant fuz gentement beyond compare, enormously skilled as both the greatest composers of all time. Perhaps La despourveue Presque transi Ung aultre l’a singer and composer, as well as virtuous, no composer other than Bach has equalled L’autre d’antan Quant de vous generous, and kind. Ockeghem in contrapuntal skill, and the two men are also equally astonishingly able to Writing in 1477, the theorist Johannes invest their work with meaning at every level, Tinctoris placed him at the head of an exalted from the smallest surface detail to the deepest, MOTETS MASSES company of modern composers: largest-scale, awe-inspiringly complex structure, Alma redemptoris mater Missa Au travail suis Kyrie, Gloria & Credo in music that is at once intensely sensuous and Ave Maria Missa Caput Fors seullement …at this present time, not to mention rigorously intellectual, of extraordinary beauty Intemerata dei mater Missa Cuiusvis toni Kyrie & Gloria Ma maistresse innumerable singers of the most and rhythmic vitality. Ockeghem’s music has the Salve regina Missa De plus en plus Kyrie, Gloria & Credo sine beautiful diction, there fourish, miraculous efect of taking hold of and altering nomine a 5 whether by the efect of some celestial Missa Ecce ancilla infuence or by the force of assiduous our sense of time, and to do so Ockeghem uses Missa L’homme armé Credo sine nomine practice, countless composers, among means both melodic and rhythmic (pitch and Missa Mi mi them Johannes Ockeghem, Johannes duration, the basic elements of music). His Missa quinti toni a 3 Requiem (incomplete) Regis, Antoine Busnoys, Firminus counterpoint spins out long-limbed, supple, and Missa Prolacionum Caron, and Guillaume Faugues, who simply gorgeous melodies whose relationship glory in having studied this divine art to one another is not obvious3there are few under John Dunstable, , unanimous cadences and few immediately

20 21 OCKEGHEM’S LIFE & TIMES Ockeghem Music & other arts Hisory 1450 • c. 1450 frst extant compositions: • February 1453 Binchois retires • 1453 end of Hundred Years War Ma maistresse, Missa Caput from Burgundian court and moves between France and England Ockeghem Music & other arts Hisory • by 1451 joins the French royal to Soignies • 1453 Constantinople falls to the chapel of Charles VII; lives in • b. c. 1450 Otoman Turks 1400 • Guillaume Du Fay • 1404 d. Philip the Bold, duke of Tours until his death b. c. 1397, Bersele, near Brussels Burgundy; succeeded by John • b. c. 1450, • 1452 encounters Guillaume Du Fay Ghent • Gilles de Bins, dit Binchois the Fearless at meeting between French royal • John Dunstaple d. 1453 b. c. 1400, ?Mons • 1409 Pope Alexander VI elected: court and ducal court of Savoy • Rogier van der Weyden there are now three popes • Josquin Desprez • by 1454 appointed frst chaplain b. c. 1450–55, ?near Saint Quentin b. c. 1400, Tournai of French royal chapel • c. 1410 Jean, duke of Berry, • • January 1, 1454 presents the king b. c. 1457-8, Ghent commissions Très riches heures, with “a book of song”; receives illustrated by Limbourg brothers a New Year’s gif of four ells of • Leonardo da Vinci c. 1412-16 cloth in return b.1452 (died 1519) • 1455 meets Du Fay again • 1455 Johannes Gutenberg completes printing of the Bible 1410 • Johannes Ciconia d. 1412 • 1414-18 Council of Constance • January 1, 1459 gives the king “a in Mainz • October 25, 1415 very richly illuminated song” and Batle of Agincourt receives a New Year’s gif in return • 1419 d. John the Fearless, • 1459 named treasurer of the duke of Burgundy; succeeded by collegiate church of St. Martin Philip the Good in Tours

1420 • Johannes Ockeghem b. c. 1420 • Binchois is organist at St. Waudru, • 1422 Charles VII becomes 1460 • c. 1460 Mort tu as navré de ton • Binchois • 1461 d. Charles VII; in Saint Ghislain, near Mons, Mons, 1419-23 King of France dart (lament for Binchois) d. September 20, 1460, in Soignies succeeded by Louis XI County of Hainaut, diocese of • Johannes Regis b. c. 1425 • 1462 travels to Bourges • R. van der Weyden • 1467 d. Philip the Good, • Jean Fouquet b. 1420 (d. 1481) • June 1462 travels to Cambrai d. June 18, 1464, in Brussels duke of Burgundy; succeeded by Charles the Bold • February-March 1464 travels • Charles d’Orléans to Cambrai and stays with Du d. January 4/5 1465 • 1468 wedding of Charles the 1430 • Binchois at Burgundian court • 1431 Joan of Arc burned at the Bold and Margaret of York by at least January 1431 stake in Rouen by the English; Fay; ordained as a priest on this • Donatello d. 1466 occasion? • Antoine Busnoys b. c. 1430-35 Henry VI of England crowned • 1465-7 Busnoys composes In king of France in Notre-Dame • c. 1460-5 contact with Busnoys hydraulis, praising Ockeghem • Christine de Pizan d. c. 1430 de Paris in Tours • Alain Chartier d. 1430 • 1435 Treaty of Arras • 1467/8 Missa L’homme armé • François Villon b. c. 1430 between France and Burgundy copied in Bruges • Jean Molinet b. c. 1435 • 1436 armies of Charles VII • 1436 Santa Maria del Fiore reclaim Paris 1470 • 1470 travels to Spain on 1 or 2 • Du Fay • 1477 d. Charles the Bold, (Florence) completed with diplomatic embassies (adds 4th d. November 27, 1474, duke of Burgundy; Burgundy dome engineered by Filippo voice to Cornago’s Qu’es mi vida in Cambrai absorbed into the French crown Brunelleschi; Du Fay composes preguntays) • 1478 William Caxton Nuper rosarum fores for • lament for Du Fay (lost) publishes frst printed copy consecration of the Canterbury Tales • 1475/6 Missa Mi mi th copied in Bruges (writen late 14 century) 1440 • 1443-44 earliest documentation: • Jan van Eyck • 1449 French reconquer • 1476/7 Missa cuius vis toni vicaire-chanteur at church of Our d. July 9, 1441, Bruges Normandy copied in Bruges Lady, Antwerp • 1440s earliest cyclic Masses, • 1446-8 frst of seven singers in composed in England, reach the the chapel of Charles I, duke of continent via Flanders: Missa 1480 • All of Ockeghem’s surviving • 1483 d. Louis XI; Bourbon Caput, Missa Veterem hominem, etc. music composed by c. 1480? succeeded by Charles VIII • 1444 Cosimo de’ Medici founds • August 1484 travels to Damme Laurentian Library in Florence and Bruges; banquet in his honor at St. Donatian, Bruges • 1448 Pope Nicholas V founds Vatican Library • 1488 travels to Paris

1490 • d. February 6, 1497, • Busnoys d. 1492 presumably in Tours • Regis d. c. 1496 ?Soignies

22 23 HOW DID OCKEGHEM SPELL HIS NAME? OCKEGHEM@600

Jehan de Ockeghem was born around 1420 in the and Jehan very likely grew up speaking French Ockeghem@600 is a multi-year project to OCKEGHEM@600 | 2015(2021 small town of Saint Ghislain, near Mons, in the as his frst tongue. By the mid-1440s he was perform the complete works of Johannes Most programs are organized around a seting county of Hainaut and in the diocese of Cambrai. living and working in France, and from about Ockeghem, one of the very greatest composers of the mass, but all will also include motets Saint Ghislain lies in modern-day Belgium, about 1450 until his death in 1497 he was a member of of the Western tradition, in thirteen programs and songs by Ockeghem and other composers: 50 miles southwest of Brussels and less than ten the chapel of the the king of France and lived in over the course of seven seasons. Inaugurated in Binchois, Du Fay, Regis, Busnoys, Josquin, the spring of 2015, Ockeghem@600 will wind miles from the present312 border with France.LES ARTISTESTours,TOURANGEAUX in the Loire Valley. Obrecht, and others. up in 2020-21, just in time to commemorate Te county of HainautObligis or Hainaultou Obligys was (Nicolas), a Te Flemishm- brodeur, familyparoisse nameSaint- was a source of the 600th anniversary of Ockeghem’s birth in lordship within the HolyVineent, Romanil Tours Empire(1531), withavait endlessrpouse confusionJehanne toPreze, speakersfille ofde Fench, Italian, circa 1420. 2014-15 | Predecessors & contemporaries its capital at Mons Jehan (BergenPreze, in Flemish);maitre des theoeu German,vres de maconuerie and other languages,de la ville de and it may be 1. Ockeghem & Binchois: Missa De plus en plus Tours. name comes from the river Haine. Hainaut found spelled in a bewildering variety of ways in Besides concerts, the undertaking requires 2. Te Five: Ockeghem, Regis, Busnoys, comprised what is now the Belgian province contemporary sources: Ockeghem, Okeghem, and will include a signifcant component of Odin (sire Girard), TIl' brodeur des rois Louis XII et Fran- Faugues & Caron of Hainaut and part eoisof the)H. Frenchparoisse départementNotre - DameOkegheem,de I'Ecrignolle, Ockegheem,it Tours, Okeghen,est Okeghan, research into the many questions of ffeenth- of Nord, and includedeire thedans citiesI'nrventaire of Charleroi,des archivesOkenghem,d'Arnhoise, Ockenheim,en t498l'ten Okekam, Obekhan, century performance practice which remain to the east of Mons, and, to the southwest, unsolved puzzles3questions as basic as pitch 2015-16 | Early masses I 1504 eorume ayant recu plusieursObergan,payements Hockeghen,de Hoquegan,celte ville Hocquergan, Valenciennes and thepour diocesandivers seattravaux of Cambrai,de son art.Hoiquergan, Holreghan, Okegus. Eugène level, voice types, and scoring. By the end we 3. L’homme armé both in later-day France. In 1420 the county Giraudet, in Les artistes tourangeaux (Tours, expect to have a beter understanding of such Nons avons rencontre e~alement un grand nombre de fois was ruled by Jacqueline, daughter of duke 1885), reproduces a presumed autograph issues. We will also have created a new complete 2016-17 | Early masses II Wilhelm II of Bavaria-Straubing,Ie nom de eet artistebut in 1432dans lessignatureregistres ondes p.deliberations 312, but failsmu- to indicate the edition of the music of Ockeghem3all of his it was ceded to the Duchynicipales.mr of BurgundyiI fig-ure underit titre source,fie conseiller whichet ispair otherwisede la ville. unknown and is songs, motets, and masses3scrupulously 4. Ecce ancilla domini Philip the Good; in 1477,Dans uponnne assernhleethe death oftenue nowIe 7 apparentlyavril 15z3. lost.sons Nevertheless,Ia presi- modern based on the original sources and rigorously 5. Caput Charles the Bold, itdeuce passedde toJacques the Habsburgsde Beanne, scholarshiphailli de Touraine, has generallydans lehut accepted the tested in practice. with the rest of the Burgundiand'aviser aux Netherlands.mesures de sureteauthenticityit adopter ofponr the la signature,defense de in part due to 2017-18 | Masses based on songs Ia ville, Girard Odin s'eugage,the detail unusualcurieux, formationit fournir of thejus- c, which could Along the way we will also explore music of Te composer’s givenqu'au nameno.ubre was Jehande (orsoixaute Jean), ouvriersbe takenhrodeurs for an e;(I). such an oddity, as Jaap van Ockeghem’s predecessors (Du Fay, Binchois, 6. Ma maistresse & Au travail suis normally given~n as Johannes~531, in Latinii, enrich or otherit de s~~Benthemh.rod~ries has Iewripoeleten, on“mightdais enplead against any et al.), contemporaries (Regis, Busnoys, et al.), 7. Fors seulement non-French contexts.- toile Ted surnameor et d arjreut,suggests doublethat suggestiona l'interieur ofde a satiu nineteenth-centuryblanc, noir atempt and followers (Josquin, Obrecht, Agricola, his family originatedet in[auue the townet decore of Okegemde fleurs on de[at]lis forgery.”et de salnrnandres Te signature,; ce dais assuming it is Isaac, et al.), developing and sharing with our 2018-19 | Speculative music { the Dendre, IIlessI{ than. ~~ 35 milesdestine to ilthela northreception in indeedde la genuine,nouvelle establishesreioe Eleonore that, at least on audiences a sense of the entire ffeenth-century 8. Cuiusvis toni East"4~"d Flanders.,ll1'l"'t,''lf'',\ulriehe, But during the laterdont MiddleI'eutree Ages, soleullelle"'n'eutthis one occasion,lieu thequ'au composermois spelled his last repertoire. Succeeding our series of recordings 9. Prolacionum Hainaut1f"" \ wasI culturallyd'oeloLre and linguistically1532. French, name OCKEGHEM. of music from the Peterhouse partbooks (now available in a 5-CD boxed set entitled), a new 2019-20 | Freely composed masses J ;( Ockeghem (Jehan de). premier chapelain, chantre de la series of fve CDs is in the works, including a chapelle de Louis XI et de Charles VIII, tresorier de Saint, 2-CD set of all of Ockeghem’s songs and a disc 10. Missa quinti toni of motets by Ockeghem and Regis. 11. Missa sine nomine

Joining Blue Heron as adviser for 2020-21 | Last things & legacies Ockeghem@600 is Professor Sean Gallagher of the New England Conservatory, one of 12. Requiem Marlin. Peu de noms ont <'Ie aussi defigures que eelui de c; the world’s leading experts on the music of 13. Missa Mi mi grand musicieu et chanteur; ainsi, on l'a appeJe tour it tour Ockeghem and his contemporaries.

24 25 (1) Papier journal ordioaire des deliberations ot assembJees f.'lites ell l'ostel et maison de la communite de la ville et cite de Tours, tome XV. BLUE HERON CDS ON SALE AT THIS CONCERT THE LOST MUSIC OF CANTERBURY 5 CD SET MUSIC FROM THE PETERHOUSE PARTBOOKS Restored by Nick Sandon

GUILLAUME DU FAY CHRISTMAS IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

The 5-CD boxed set The Lost Music of Canterbury: Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks is the capstone of a landmark project of international musical significance which presents extraordinary music from the last generation of medieval Catholicism MUSIC FROM THE MUSIC FROM THE MUSIC FROM THE MUSIC FROM THE in England. Judged by this music, Catholic culture remained vital and confident during PETERHOUSE PARTBOOKS PETERHOUSE PARTBOOKS PETERHOUSE PARTBOOKS PETERHOUSE PARTBOOKS this turbulent period. VOL. 1 VOL. 2 VOL. 3 VOL. 4 The fifth disc in the series was recognized with the 2018 Gramophone Classical Music Award for Early Music, making Blue Heron the first North American ensemble to have “one of the won the Early Music Award in the 41 years it has been given. discoveries The set includes mostly world-premiere recordings and features masses by Nicholas Ludford, antiphons by Hugh Aston and Richard Pygott, the complete surviving works of the year” of Robert Jones (an early 16th-century musician, not the lute-song composer of the Eliz- Fabrice Fitch abethan era) and the gifted though previously completely unknown composers Hugh Gramophone Sturmy and Robert Hunt, and all but one of the surviving works of John Mason. The missing tenor parts (and, where needed, the treble parts) have been supplied by Nick Sandon, who has dedicated much of his professional life to the Peterhouse partbooks, which were copied for Canterbury Cathedral in 1540 and are now named for the col- MUSIC FROM THE PETERHOUSE PARTBOOKS lege currently housing them, Peterhouse Cambridge. VOL. 5 COLOPHON Graphic Design: Melanie Germond All photos of Blue Heron & Scott Metcalfe: Liz Linder Program Content: © 2019 Blue Heron Renaissance Choir, Inc. Front cover image: Ockeghem’s Prenez sur moi in the Copenhagen Chansonnier (Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, MS Thott 291 8˚, f. 39v)