Madrigal Mondays
Some people claim that they don't like madrigals. I've found that in most instances, this is because they think of them as a light, fa-la-la kind of ditty. But these aren't really madrigals at all. They're fun, but not deep. The real thing started in Italy in the first quarter of the 16th-century, joining substantive poetry with serious music, a true art-form which blossomed over the course of the century to be an expressive language of incredible range and capacity to express human emotion on a variety of levels and subjects.
At the beginning of each week, we will update our website with a new madrigal and we will try to include a few notes about each piece and why we think it's great--worthy of study and listening and singing. Then (as with the Chorales and Motets) it'll be up to you to learn your part and sing along, thus absorbing and internalizing and--in a sense--becoming part of each piece.
Some people claim that they don't like madrigals. I've found that in most instances, this is because they think of them as a light, fa-la-la kind of ditty. But these aren't really madrigals at all. They're fun, but not deep. The real thing started in Italy in the first quarter of the 16th-century, joining substantive poetry with serious music, a true art-form which blossomed over the course of the century to be an expressive language of incredible range and capacity to express human emotion on a variety of levels and subjects.
At the beginning of each week, we will update our website with a new madrigal and we will try to include a few notes about each piece and why we think it's great--worthy of study and listening and singing. Then (as with the Chorales and Motets) it'll be up to you to learn your part and sing along, thus absorbing and internalizing and--in a sense--becoming part of each piece.
Dieu! Qu'il la fait bon regarder by Claude Debussy
Since this thing (the pandemic) looks to last a while longer, I am going to take a few liberties with some of my project categories. For instance, Monday Madrigals may also include songs from countries other than Italy and England; songs from centuries other than the 16th and early 17th; and songs in various languages.
Today's song is a chanson by Claude Debussy. It's called 'Dieu! Qu'il la fait bon regarder', and it's from 'Trois Chansons'.
Debussy was interested in history and in art from the past, and often used older material directly or made allusions to past events, styles, etc. For the 'Trois Chansons' he reaches all the way back to Charles d'Orleans (1394-1465). The song texts--and thus the songs, for Debussy was very attentive to his texts--are quite different from each other.
Here the protagonist speaks (sings) of an idealized young lady (clearly he is stricken). The imagery and overall sensual feel of the text is heightened by Debussy's sensitive setting. The a cappella choir speaks generally as one in homophony, but takes off into more independent counterpoint at certain passages.
As is Debussy's wont, the harmonies are rich and super-expressive.
In addition, we get something here we don't get in early music: Detailed dynamic and articulation markings.
I sang this chanson when I was a student at SSU. I was coming from a folk-jazz-rock background, and this is one of the pieces which really hooked me into classical music--somehow there was a bridge there and I crossed it--strangely, another piece which served this function was (gasp!) 'Carmina Burana'.
'Dieu! Qui'il la fait' is a beautiful piece. I searched for a while before I came up with a truly worthy performance.
Hope you like it!
Look forward to seeing some or many of you on Wednesday evening for 'Swimming with Claudio',
a session built around the works of Monteverdi. It oughta be a good time.
Since this thing (the pandemic) looks to last a while longer, I am going to take a few liberties with some of my project categories. For instance, Monday Madrigals may also include songs from countries other than Italy and England; songs from centuries other than the 16th and early 17th; and songs in various languages.
Today's song is a chanson by Claude Debussy. It's called 'Dieu! Qu'il la fait bon regarder', and it's from 'Trois Chansons'.
Debussy was interested in history and in art from the past, and often used older material directly or made allusions to past events, styles, etc. For the 'Trois Chansons' he reaches all the way back to Charles d'Orleans (1394-1465). The song texts--and thus the songs, for Debussy was very attentive to his texts--are quite different from each other.
Here the protagonist speaks (sings) of an idealized young lady (clearly he is stricken). The imagery and overall sensual feel of the text is heightened by Debussy's sensitive setting. The a cappella choir speaks generally as one in homophony, but takes off into more independent counterpoint at certain passages.
As is Debussy's wont, the harmonies are rich and super-expressive.
In addition, we get something here we don't get in early music: Detailed dynamic and articulation markings.
I sang this chanson when I was a student at SSU. I was coming from a folk-jazz-rock background, and this is one of the pieces which really hooked me into classical music--somehow there was a bridge there and I crossed it--strangely, another piece which served this function was (gasp!) 'Carmina Burana'.
'Dieu! Qui'il la fait' is a beautiful piece. I searched for a while before I came up with a truly worthy performance.
Hope you like it!
Look forward to seeing some or many of you on Wednesday evening for 'Swimming with Claudio',
a session built around the works of Monteverdi. It oughta be a good time.
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