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1 LP -
1C 063-30 122 - (p) 1974
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1 CD - 8
26491 2 - (c) 2000 |
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ESTAMPIE
- Instrumentalmusik des Mittelalters |
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- Saltarello
- (Anonym) |
5' 48" |
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- Istanpitta
Gaetta - (Anonym) |
6' 15" |
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- La Manfredina
und Rotta - (Anonym) |
2' 27" |
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- Istanpitta
Palamento - (Anonym) |
7' 35" |
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- Stanpitta
Belicha - (Anonym) |
8' 27" |
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- Lamento de
Tristano und Rotta - (Anonym) |
3' 52" |
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- Istanpitta
Isabella - (Anonym) |
7' 31" |
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- Istanpitta
Pricipio di Virtu - (Anonym) |
6' 05" |
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STUDIO DER FRÜHEN
MUSIK / Thomas Binkley, Leitung
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Richard Levitt, Schlaginstrumente |
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Sterling Jones, Rebec, Fidel,
Lira |
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Thomas Binkley, Flöte |
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Teilnehmer
der |
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SCHOLA CANTORUM
BASILIENSIS |
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Alice Robbins, Fidel, Rebec |
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Anne Smith, Flöte |
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Catherine Lidell, Psalterium |
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Sally Smith, Psalterium |
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Hopkinson Smith, Laute, Chitarra
Saracenica |
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Jay Bernfeld, Fidel |
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Jonathan Rubin, Laute |
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Paul O'Dette, Chitarra
Saracenica, Cittern
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Richard Glenn, Laute |
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Luogo
e data di registrazione |
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Bürgerbräu.
München (Germania) - 21-23 &
27-29 dicembre 1970 |
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Registrazione: live /
studio |
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studio |
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Producer / Engineer |
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Gerd
Berg / Thomas Binkley
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Prima Edizione LP |
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EMI
Electrola "Reflexe" - 1C 063-30
101 - (1 lp) - durata 44' 58" -
(p) 1974 - Analogico |
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Prima Edizione CD |
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EMI
"Classics" - 8 26467 2 - (1 cd) -
durata 44' 58" - (c) 2000 - ADD |
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Note |
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ESTAMPIE -
INSTANPITTA Instrumental
Music of the Middle Ages
When we think of the Middle
Ages we often detatch
ourselves from the scenes that
pass before our eyes.
Depending upon our own
particular background, we may
call to mind the heroes of the
political world - Barbarossa,
St. Louis, Innocent
III,
etc., or those representing
the world of the mind, - Peter
Abelard, Grossetesta, Bacon,
etc., or we may focus on the
masters of the world of art -
Giotto,
Dante, the Archpoet, etc..
What we find in this
recording, however, is the
personal world of some unnamed
Italian
family, fond of entertaining,
wealthy enough to do so well.
Here is a collection of
instrumental music, part of
the repertory of some group of
musicians who belonged to this
unnamed household, who played
in gardens such as those of
the Alberti after a manner
described by Giovanni de
Prato, Simone Prudenzani,
Sacchetti, Boccaccio and many
others.
The repertory contained in
this record is all taken from
the single manuscript
described below. No pieces
similar to these are contained
in any other sources. The
source presents no instruction
pertaining to performance
style, choice of instruments,
nor even an indication whether
these pieces are dances or
simply chamber music.
We do have some general
information we can apply to
these pieces in our search for
a meaningful performance
style: we know the provienance
of the manuscript, the
terminus ad quem for the
writing of the manuscript and
we know something about the
instruments of the time. We
also know something of the
approach to composition and
structure of the music, but
unfortunately little of dance
that is pertinent here.
Our manuscript designates
these pieces Istanpitta,
the Italian form of Estampie.
Grocheo, writing about 1300
says that a stantipe
(estampie) is a textless piece
which is divided into
sections, with difficult tonal
arrangement and irregular
metre, unlike the ductia.
Each section is repeated and
has a different close. Most
have six sections but some
have more.
The manuscript is now in
London, British Museum
Additional 29987. It was
written in Umbria or Tuscany
in the late 14th century
(about 1396). It
contains 36 ltalian madrigals,
45
ballata, 8 caccia, 3 French
virelais, 1 motet, 8 Latin
pieces, 4 monophonic chançonette
tedesche without text and 15
estampies. It is this last
genre that interests us. The
eight pieces selected here are
representative of the whole
group and fall into 2
categories.
The pieces in the first
category are certainly dances,
for they exhibit all the
salient features of slightly
later known social dances.
These include the Saltarello
and Rotta combination,
the dance and after-dance, or
in Italian sources the
Saltarello and Piva. In the
manuscript all the pieces in
this category are grouped
together on fol. 62-63, seven
pieces not counting the
Ftottas, as separate group of
pieces.
Pieces in the second category
may be dances or may be
instrumental chamber music. If
these pieces are dances, they
are a different sort of dance
from the first group involving
complicated choreography
required by the irregular
rhythmic and metric structures
of the pieces. These pieces
are found immediately
preceding the dances in the
first category, with two
ballatas of Landini inserted
between Belicha and Palamento.
Much
later in the manuscript are
four chansonete
tedesche which possibly are
also instrumental dance music
or chamber music.
It is important to stress that
both social and professional
dancing, that is dancing for
an audience, was cultivated in
Italy during the Middle Ages.
In Ferrara during the early
15th century, a dancing master
by the name of Domenico of
Piacenza acquired a wide
reputation. One of his pupils
was Guglielmo Ebreo of Pesaro.
This Giuglielmo went to
Florence, where he danced and
taught, and compiled a book of
dances which has survived.
Some of the dances are
credited to his teacher
Domenico, and two are said to
have been composed by Lorenzo
de Medici.
The titles of the dances are
suggestive character titles
such as Jupiter or Prixionera,
the music is monophonic and
involves changes of metre. The
dance steps are known and are
combined to yield a sort of
short ballet.
And while Florence is in mind,
we ought not forget the
beautiful Anna, subject of a
series of Madrigals
composed by three competing
young composers, Giovanni da
Cascia, Jacopo da Bologna and
Piero. Anna lived in a large
and beautiful garden near a
stream, and her attentions
were highly regarded. She
spent her time dancing, and
when she was not dancing she
rested beneath a tree which
had the name Perlaro,
and talked with her lady
friends. The governor of
Florence at this time was Mastino,
who may have commissioned the
works, and who may himself
have had frequent need for
instrumentalists to accompany
his “Anna” for her dances, and
play for guests. Seven
compositions of Jacopo da
Bologna and five of Giovanni
da Cascia (but none of Piero)
are included in our
manuscript. Jacopo is the
composer of a madrigal “O in
Italia felice Liguria" written
for the baptism of an
offspring of Visconti and his
wife, Isabella. Isabella is
not an uncommon name, and it
would be folly to suggest that
this Isabella has anything to
do with our dance Isabella.
Still, our piece must have
been written with some
Isabella in mind. It seems
also farfetched to associate
the tree of our virtuous Anna
with our dance Palamento
(= Parlamento?),
although we cannot avoid
associating Jacopo’s madrigals
O dolc’apress
un bel perlaro
fiume
and Un bel parlare viva
sulla riva with this
theme, for in both the words
“Anna” are stressed in the
text, and both are in our
manuscript.
There are so many questions
about this repertory we can
pose but not answer, however,
the main point is that these
pieces constitute the
repertory of some specific
ensemble that made use of
these pieces to entertain
guests at soirées,
either as accompaniment to
trained dancers or simply as
chamber music. Whichever it
is, the music is carefully
composed.
The longer compositions make
use of a compositional
technique quite common in the
12th and 13th centuries, in
which melodic fragments are
combined to form longer
melodies. Thus some musical
idea will be employed as an
opener and then extended by
various fragmentary formulas
which also may recur in other
pieces, seldom ever returning
to the original material.
Sometimes it is clear that
there is a hidden basic melody
which although unstated is
apparent in analysis, and
confirmed through its
repetition in varied form (e.
g. Lamento di Tristano & Rotta).
A great deal of the figuration
seems to be instrumentally
derived, in other words seems
to be what someone played on
his instrument when performing
his version of the underlying
basic melody. The relationship
of these figurations to
instrumental techniques and
tunings is helpful in
determining the
instrumentation of the pieces.
Although many of the
figurations are found in
several pieces, the ranges of
the pieces are not the same.
The range of Belicha
for example is an octave and a
seventh. This is a greater
range than many instruments of
the period possessed. The
recorder, for example in that
period would have been unable
to play it. A shawm might have
been able to do so - we don’t
know. String instruments would
have been able to do so
easily, but not all string
instruments can conveniently
negotiate all the figurations
- clearly, not all the
figurations were thought out
for just any string
instrument. After an analysis
of all the pieces it must be
concluded that they were
written for a group of
instruments the parts being
reduced into a single line by
writing out the most active
line, and leaving it up to
each musician to make a
sensible part for himself.
What we have then is a sort of
medieval orchestral music in
which instruments having
differing ranges and playing
techniques combine their
virtues. The basic orchestra
employed here - seldom exactly
the same - employs the
following instruments:
2 or 3
lutes
1 gittern
2
psalteries
3 viells
1 rebec
1 lira
1 flute
1 moorish
guitar
1 rhythmic
instrument player.
The Instruments
Lutes
Two differing groups of lutes
were employed during our
period, the manystringed,
arabic Ud inspired the short
necked lute with large body,
quite unlike the
fewerstringed, longer necked
lute with srnall body. Both
were strung with gut strings and
were played with a plectrum.
(Makers unknown)
Gittern
This instrument occurs with
rounded body in Near Eastern
sources from the 9th century.
The Western instrument had a
flat back and was strung with
wire strings, also played with
a plectrum. (Fabrizio
Reginato, Fonto Alto [Tv],
Italy)
Psaltery
There were five different
types of psaltery employed
during the 13th-14th centuries
in Europe. The one employed
here is the large trapezoid
instrument having the most
versatile characteristics. It is
identical to the Middle
Eastern Qa'nun, and was called
canon as well as psalterium. It is
strung with gut or silk
strings and played with long
picks held in each hand.
(Maker unknown)
Vielle
This denotes a group of bowed
string instruments, from the
early Middle Ages to the 16th
century. Of course, during the
centuries there were a great
many sorts of vielles - each
sort of music requires a
particular instrumental
characteristic - and here we
have three different shapes,
each somewhat different in its
qualities. The instrument had
from three to five strings,
including drone strings
sometimes plucked by the left
hand (as in the prelude to
Palamento here); Jerome of
Moravia gives us several
tunings which favour each a
particular aspect. Played
under the chin or on the leg.
(Fabrizio Fteginato, Ponte
Alto [Tv], Italy)
Rebec
Small, pear-shaped bowed
instrument, high in tessitura.
Three strings. Played off the
chest. (Eugen Springer,
Frankfurt, Germany)
Lira
Robust pear-shaped instrument
of low tessitura, and played
on the leg. The bow is heavy,
the strings thick. Large in
sound. (Maker unknown)
Chitarra
Saracenica
Long necked lute found
frequently in Western sources
from the Stuttgarter Psalter
to the Cantigas manuscripts.
Similar to the later Colichon
and the present-day Turkish
Saz and Bagloma. The strings
are of wire, and there are at
least 20 frets on the neck.
The body is tiny in relation
to the string lenght. (Maker
unknown)
Timbrel
This instrument possessed a
clear playing technique
involving 3 distinct sounds
1) the jingles
2) the rim
3) the head
The instrument is held
vertically in one hand, the
fingers ot that hand striking
the head. The rim sound is
caused by striking the
instrument against the other
hand or arm.
Recorder
During this period the
instrument had seven to eight
fingerholes and a cylindrical
bore (later recorders employed
a reverse-expanding bore in
order to improve response of
the upper register. But it is
not only the instrument, it is
the playing style that
separates it from its later
relative, e.g. Prelude to
Belicha. (Fr.
von Huene, Boston USA)
*****
The Studio der
Frühen
Musik is presently engaged at
the Schola Cantorum
Basiliensis in Basel
participating in a new
programme of specialized study
in the performance of medieval
and renaissance music. A
number of students
participating in this
programme have cooperated in
the preperation of this
recording as part of their
work. Without this
cooperation, daily rehearsal
for most ot a year, this
directorless, spontaneous and
lively performance could never
be attained.
Thomas
Binkley
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EMI Electrola
"Reflexe"
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