Il me suffit
In 1528, Pierre Attaingnant, the great Parisian music publisher, issued a collection of chansons by various composers--'Trente et quatre chansons musicales à quatre parties'--including a certain song by Claudin de Sermisy (c1490-1562), one of the best composers of the generation following Josquin Desprez. Today we have the story of that song, featuring a few of its many transformations and peregrinations over the years.
The piece is called 'Il me suffit', a typical courtly love-song of the period. A text-translation sheet is attached herewith (along with the melody sheet from the original print and a modern score) but here are a few phrases which will give you an idea of the content and mood: 'My heart languishes if I do not see your face. What shall I do to win your favor?'
For some reason--who knows exactly why these things happen?--our song took off and became a hit, top of the charts, known near and far. Its melody, in the superius part, is a classic of its type, with a repeated A section and a contrasting B section, rounded by a return of the A. You can see the melody here, and here are three diverse recordings of this wonderful chanson to tickle your ear-drums:
A vocal performance by a talented and utterly sincere Hungarian quartet;
A nice rendition by the Sekishi Recorder Quartet;
And a transcription for lute by Miguel Rincón.
As generally occurred during this halcyon period before copyrights and legal battles over creative property, the melody was appropriated for various uses. The great Orlande de Lassus, for example, used it as the basis for his 'Missa super Il me suffit'. The piece has unfortunately not been recorded, but I've attached the score for the Kyrie and a guitar-like track derived therefrom. If you've become even moderately familiar with the tune, you'll be able to trace it in the three sections of the movement.
In a tradition extending all the way back to the inclusion of the 'Song of Songs' in the biblical canon, this beloved song (as so many others) was adapted by means of a process called contrafactum--a re-texting of an existing piece--for use as a sacred piece. First it appeared in 1540 in the 'Souterliedekens', a psalm collection, as the melody for Psalm 129. In 1547, Duke Albrecht of Prussia used our melody as the basis for his 'Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit', written in memory of his recently-deceased wife.
The melody thus entered the canon of the German chorale, and received many, many settings by the usual suspects throughout the ensuing centuries. The tune was also used as the basis for other sacred verse-poems--further contrafacta--making it appropriate for various liturgical occasions.
We'll trace a few of its appearances in the works of our beloved namesake, Johann Sebastian Bach:
The exciting opening movement of BWV 111: Was mein Gott will (1725);
The closing chorale of the same cantata;
The very different opening movement of BWV 92: Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, premiered just a week after BWV 111 during Jahrgang II;
The fourth movement of the same cantata, featuring a fabulous rendition of the tune by the alto section, accompanied by two oboes d'amore and basso continuo;
A totally crazy recitative for bass, also from Cantata 92, in which the chorale tune appears in alternations with recitative including outbursts of all types by both the bass and the continuo;
And, last but by no means least, the touching appearance of our chorale as No. 25 of the St. Matthew Passion, just as Jesus acknowledges that he must take the cup of his fate and drink it.
The scores for these various pieces are all attached herewith for your pleasure. The text-translation for Cantata 111 is to be found here; for Cantata 92 here; and for the Matthäuspassion here.
In 1528, Pierre Attaingnant, the great Parisian music publisher, issued a collection of chansons by various composers--'Trente et quatre chansons musicales à quatre parties'--including a certain song by Claudin de Sermisy (c1490-1562), one of the best composers of the generation following Josquin Desprez. Today we have the story of that song, featuring a few of its many transformations and peregrinations over the years.
The piece is called 'Il me suffit', a typical courtly love-song of the period. A text-translation sheet is attached herewith (along with the melody sheet from the original print and a modern score) but here are a few phrases which will give you an idea of the content and mood: 'My heart languishes if I do not see your face. What shall I do to win your favor?'
For some reason--who knows exactly why these things happen?--our song took off and became a hit, top of the charts, known near and far. Its melody, in the superius part, is a classic of its type, with a repeated A section and a contrasting B section, rounded by a return of the A. You can see the melody here, and here are three diverse recordings of this wonderful chanson to tickle your ear-drums:
A vocal performance by a talented and utterly sincere Hungarian quartet;
A nice rendition by the Sekishi Recorder Quartet;
And a transcription for lute by Miguel Rincón.
As generally occurred during this halcyon period before copyrights and legal battles over creative property, the melody was appropriated for various uses. The great Orlande de Lassus, for example, used it as the basis for his 'Missa super Il me suffit'. The piece has unfortunately not been recorded, but I've attached the score for the Kyrie and a guitar-like track derived therefrom. If you've become even moderately familiar with the tune, you'll be able to trace it in the three sections of the movement.
In a tradition extending all the way back to the inclusion of the 'Song of Songs' in the biblical canon, this beloved song (as so many others) was adapted by means of a process called contrafactum--a re-texting of an existing piece--for use as a sacred piece. First it appeared in 1540 in the 'Souterliedekens', a psalm collection, as the melody for Psalm 129. In 1547, Duke Albrecht of Prussia used our melody as the basis for his 'Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit', written in memory of his recently-deceased wife.
The melody thus entered the canon of the German chorale, and received many, many settings by the usual suspects throughout the ensuing centuries. The tune was also used as the basis for other sacred verse-poems--further contrafacta--making it appropriate for various liturgical occasions.
We'll trace a few of its appearances in the works of our beloved namesake, Johann Sebastian Bach:
The exciting opening movement of BWV 111: Was mein Gott will (1725);
The closing chorale of the same cantata;
The very different opening movement of BWV 92: Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, premiered just a week after BWV 111 during Jahrgang II;
The fourth movement of the same cantata, featuring a fabulous rendition of the tune by the alto section, accompanied by two oboes d'amore and basso continuo;
A totally crazy recitative for bass, also from Cantata 92, in which the chorale tune appears in alternations with recitative including outbursts of all types by both the bass and the continuo;
And, last but by no means least, the touching appearance of our chorale as No. 25 of the St. Matthew Passion, just as Jesus acknowledges that he must take the cup of his fate and drink it.
The scores for these various pieces are all attached herewith for your pleasure. The text-translation for Cantata 111 is to be found here; for Cantata 92 here; and for the Matthäuspassion here.