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Who will give peace?
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OPEN REHEARSAL
Saturday, June 12th, 2021 Repertoire
Pierre de la Rue Credo Angeli, Archangeli Lamentationes (2nd Lesson of 3) Salve Jesu Adieu comment Dedans boutez Sailliés avant (Tant esjoïst) Dr. Kempster's Pierre de la Rue website can be accessed here: https://pierredelaruescores787ad8.webflow.io/ |
All of the music featured at this open rehearsal was by Franco-Flemish Renaissance composer Pierre de la Rue (c.1452 - 1518), and it is unlikely that any of the featured works would have been heard anywhere prior to this event for half a millennium.
Notes from the Director
Dedans boutez
This short piece appears in the Basevi Codex (a famous Italian manuscript of 16th century polyphony), but the text is pretty much illegible. For this reason it has been incorrectly identified as "Dedens bouton". The rest of the text has also never (seemingly) been identified due to this illegibility in the source. In compiling the complete edition of la Rue's works, however, I came across a 19th century French book which included a detailed description of the whole manuscript, including the full text of all pieces. Looking at this text and comparing it to the manuscript you can see - now that you know what you are looking for - that it is correct.
Adieu comment
This piece is unattributed, but a number of commentators have suggested it is very possibly la Rue. I agree, not just because the canon between the lowest part and the middle part is typical of la Rue, but for other stylistic reasons as well. The original text is lost, so I have assembled a text after Rondel VIII by Francois Villon (c.1431 - c.1463), who was a very popular poet amongst la Rue's generation of composers, and many of his poems were used for chanson settings by these artists. The addition of a text makes this now available for vocal/choral performance, as was pretty much certainly the original intent.
Saillies avant
This piece features the same canon construction as the previous one, and is disputed as either la Rue or Josquin. I don't see it as Josquin, but again lots of la Rue's stylistic traits are there. As with Adieu comment, the original text (outside the actual title) is lost, so to render this performable for voices I have added a text based on a roundel of Christine de Pisan (1364 - 1430) which fits the music exceptionally well.
Salve Jesu
A six-part motet "Salve Jesu" is known to have been written by Pierre de la Rue, as it appears in an inventory of pieces written under the reign of Phillip the Fair (for whom la Rue worked), but until very recently it has been considered lost. That was until 2018 when Dutch musicologist Eric Jas discovered - in a North German library - a manuscript copy of a six-part "Salve Jhesu summe bone" which he believed was indeed the missing la Rue motet. I have no doubt he was/is correct, and I transcribed my edition from the same manuscript Jas used, which is available online.
Credo Angeli, Archangeli
This free-standing Credo is based on Heinrich Isaac's motet Angeli, Archangeli, which was probably written sometime in the 1490s. Exactly when la Rue composed his parody version is not known.
This is a major piece, and it is difficult to believe that it has never been performed or recorded in modern times.
Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae
The history of this piece is massively complicated, and involves numerous conflicting attributions and a total of seven different sources, none of which are particularly helpful in truly identifying the composer. In working on the complete la Rue edition I nearly did not include this as the conventional wisdom now days was that it is not by la Rue. I am glad I did look into it in the end, however, as the 1549 print that attributes this to la Rue is, I believe, partially correct in that attribution. There is certainly music under la Rue's name there that is not by la Rue, but a large body of it is, I believe. When editing this music I was particularly struck by the numerous passages in the piece that are seemingly related to the ending of la Rue's "O salutaris hostia" motet, passages that in some cases could exactly replace that ending without anyone being the wiser. This issue is the subject of a forthcoming paper in which I will argue that the bulk of the music presented in the 1549 print as being by Pierre de la Rue is indeed the work of this composer.
This short piece appears in the Basevi Codex (a famous Italian manuscript of 16th century polyphony), but the text is pretty much illegible. For this reason it has been incorrectly identified as "Dedens bouton". The rest of the text has also never (seemingly) been identified due to this illegibility in the source. In compiling the complete edition of la Rue's works, however, I came across a 19th century French book which included a detailed description of the whole manuscript, including the full text of all pieces. Looking at this text and comparing it to the manuscript you can see - now that you know what you are looking for - that it is correct.
Adieu comment
This piece is unattributed, but a number of commentators have suggested it is very possibly la Rue. I agree, not just because the canon between the lowest part and the middle part is typical of la Rue, but for other stylistic reasons as well. The original text is lost, so I have assembled a text after Rondel VIII by Francois Villon (c.1431 - c.1463), who was a very popular poet amongst la Rue's generation of composers, and many of his poems were used for chanson settings by these artists. The addition of a text makes this now available for vocal/choral performance, as was pretty much certainly the original intent.
Saillies avant
This piece features the same canon construction as the previous one, and is disputed as either la Rue or Josquin. I don't see it as Josquin, but again lots of la Rue's stylistic traits are there. As with Adieu comment, the original text (outside the actual title) is lost, so to render this performable for voices I have added a text based on a roundel of Christine de Pisan (1364 - 1430) which fits the music exceptionally well.
Salve Jesu
A six-part motet "Salve Jesu" is known to have been written by Pierre de la Rue, as it appears in an inventory of pieces written under the reign of Phillip the Fair (for whom la Rue worked), but until very recently it has been considered lost. That was until 2018 when Dutch musicologist Eric Jas discovered - in a North German library - a manuscript copy of a six-part "Salve Jhesu summe bone" which he believed was indeed the missing la Rue motet. I have no doubt he was/is correct, and I transcribed my edition from the same manuscript Jas used, which is available online.
Credo Angeli, Archangeli
This free-standing Credo is based on Heinrich Isaac's motet Angeli, Archangeli, which was probably written sometime in the 1490s. Exactly when la Rue composed his parody version is not known.
This is a major piece, and it is difficult to believe that it has never been performed or recorded in modern times.
Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae
The history of this piece is massively complicated, and involves numerous conflicting attributions and a total of seven different sources, none of which are particularly helpful in truly identifying the composer. In working on the complete la Rue edition I nearly did not include this as the conventional wisdom now days was that it is not by la Rue. I am glad I did look into it in the end, however, as the 1549 print that attributes this to la Rue is, I believe, partially correct in that attribution. There is certainly music under la Rue's name there that is not by la Rue, but a large body of it is, I believe. When editing this music I was particularly struck by the numerous passages in the piece that are seemingly related to the ending of la Rue's "O salutaris hostia" motet, passages that in some cases could exactly replace that ending without anyone being the wiser. This issue is the subject of a forthcoming paper in which I will argue that the bulk of the music presented in the 1549 print as being by Pierre de la Rue is indeed the work of this composer.
Love and Loss
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Quant il survient
Pierre de la Rue September 2019 Dover City Hall Dover, NH Free HD Audio download:
24-bit/96khz recording of Quant il survient. This is a large file (242 MB), but it is guaranteed as a .WAV file and virus-free. Download with confidence! Click the button below: |
Domine, a lingua dolosa Annibale Padovano September 2019 Dover City Hall Dover, NH |
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Plus nulz regretz Josquin des Pres September 2019 Dover City Hall Dover, NH |
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O Magnum Mysterium, August 2014
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