L’homme armé: Music of War and Peace

From the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods, powerful music of conflict and reconciliation by great masters like Monteverdi, Byrd, and Schütz, in this classic reissue by one of the world’s pre-eminent early music ensembles.

BAROQUE, RENAISSANCE

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THE BOSTON CAMERATA
Direction: Joel COHEN
Roberta Anderson, Nancy Armstrong, Anne Azema: sopranos
John Clarke, David Ripley: basses
Kenneth Fitch, Fred Raffensperger: counter-tenors
Frank Kelley, Bruce Lancaster: tenors
Sanford Sylvan: baritone
Joel Cohen: lute & percussion
Jane Hershey: viola da gamba & recorder
Laura Jeppesen: viola da gamba
Tom Coleman: violone
Frances Fitch: organ & harpsichord
Daniel Stepner and Carol Lieberman: violins

THE BOSTON SHAWM AND SACBUT ENSEMBLE
Marilyn Boenau: dulcian, recorder & shawm
Steven Lundahl: sacbut & recorder
Mac Ramsey and Dan Stillman: shawm & sacbut

THE HARVARD RADCLIFFE COLLEGIUM MUSICUM
Jameson Marvin, director

PROGRAM NOTE from the 1986 release:
We grow weary of the strife and conflict of our own time, in our own lives. And we turn to the music of the distant past to find the serenity and repose that is so often missing in our present. The pure, triadic consonances of Renaissance music; the graceful interweaving of diatonic melodies, the simple, direct instrumental colors – these sounds offer us relief. They seem to speak of a time when men lived in harmony and peace.

Yet even the quickest glance at the history of those times will contradict that impression. The socio-political milieu of Titian and Botticelli, of Josquin and Monteverdi, was full of cruelty and injustice, of ambition and violent upheaval. Still, the spiritual world of those paintings and musical compositions only rarely evoke the tempestuous politics, the rapacious governments and corrupt statesmanship of those centuries. The artists’ inner world depended only in part on the flow of current events. We do find serene and timeless beauty in much art and music of these periods. We also find restlessness, and an increasingly determined effort to portray the passions and struggles of the real world. Such was the dialectic of the evolving musical language during the late Renaissance and early Baroque.

The depiction of battle scenes and armed combat, for instance, became a well-defined genre during the mid-sixteenth century. Starting with Clement Jannequin’s La bataille de Marignan (from which Andrea Gabrieli’s Battaglia and Susato’s Bataille of this present recording both borrow musical motifs), there were many dozens of musical combats for voices, for instrumental ensembles, for solo players.

What kind of effect were these pictorial works supposed to produce? Our modern ears are now accustomed to later battle music, from the 1812 Overture to the score for the original Star Wars. The
sheer physical force of the modern symphony orchestra, when it sets out to do a battle number, has gotten us used to truly monstrous effects of massed sound. Our modern repertoire of war music may
strike us as more imposing, more terrifying, than these early works.

In their own day, however, the madrigals and chansons of battle could and did arouse powerful emotions in their hearers; contemporary accounts leave no doubt on that score. The early depictions in music of combat are stylized – but they are not jokes.

In other ways, too, not just in the battle pieces, the harsh realities of conflict are present in these repertoires. Claude Goudimel, who sings of peace and brotherly love in this recording, was killed because he was a Protestant. The “captivity” of William Byrd’s haunting motet refers to the plight of the persecuted English Catholics. Salamone Rossi’s astonishing setting of the solemn Jewish prayer for the dead leaps over the high ghetto walls to the dancing rhythm of an Italian gagliarda. And the horrible events of the Thirty Years’ War are frequently reflected in the texts chosen by Heinrich Schütz, who lived through that sorry time. When Schütz, at the war’s end, composed “Es ging ein Samann aus,” Jesus’ parable of the sower, he was probably celebrating the return of some hope for life after so many years of brutality.

Did the men and women of that age contemplate, as we do, the possible destruction of the human race? Their terror before the abyss was not unlike ours – Lassus’ In hora ultima, like some medieval fresco on an ancient church wall, paints a vivid picture of the Apocalypse.

A spirit of rebirth and renewal is nonetheless strong in the compositions of those troubled times. Our first impression of this music, that these composers were deeply rooted in eternal values, is after all a correct one. Such works, if we can recognise their message across the centuries, invite us to look beyond the sterile confrontations of our own day, [and, in 2017, the demagogic rantings that emanate from certain centers of political power ] and to seek out other, better alternatives to war and destruction. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!
JOEL COHEN (1984)

TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

L’HOMME ARME (ANONYMOUS)
L’homme arme doibt on douter. On a fait partout crier Que chascun se vingue armer D’un haubregon de fer. L’homme arme doibt on douter.

The armed man is to be feared. Everywhere has the cry gone out, That each one should arm himself With a coat of armour. The armed man is to be feared.

UNA SANOSA PORFIA (JUAN DEL ENCINA)
Una sanosa porfia sin ventura va pujando.
Ya nunca tuve alegria, ya mi mal se va ordenando.
Ya fortuna disponia quitar mi prospero mando,
Qu’el bravo leon de Espana mal me viene menacando.
Su espantosa artilleria, los adarves derribando,
Mis villas y mis castillos, mis ciudades va ganando.

(The Moorish king contemplates his impending defeat by the Christian army:) A furious and ill-omened battle is building, happiness is departing, and harm is my fate. Hortune is leaving my command, menaced by the brave lion of spain. His amazing artillery is breaking down my walls, and be is taking my palaces, my castles, and my cities.

ALTRI CANTI D’AMOR (MONTEVERDI)
Altri canti d’Amor, tenero arciero I dolci vezzi ei sospirati baci Narri gli sdegni e le bramate paci Quando unisce due alme un sol pensiero.
Di Marte furibondo e fiero io canto: I duri incontri e le battaglie audaci Fo nel mio canto bellicoso e fiero Strider le spade e bombeggiar le faci.
Tu, cui tessuta han di Cesar alloro La corona immortal, mentre Bellona Gradite il verde ancor novo lavore Che mentre guerre canta e guerra suona;
Oh gran Fernando, 1’orgoglioso choro Del tuo sommo valor canta e ragiona.

Let others sing of Love, the tender archer, of sweet charms and longed for kisses; let them tell of anger and yearned – for peace when a single thought binds together two souls. Of Mars, the proud and furious, do I sing: I sing of harsh encounters and reckless battles; and in my proud and warlike song 1 make swords clash and torches blaze. You, whose immortal crown is woven from the laurels of Caesar, while Bellona enjoys your still youthful feasts, as she sings of war and sounds war’s alarm: O great Ferdinand, the proud chorus sings and relates your sublime valour.

SENTO UN RUMOR (ANDREA GABRIELI)
Prima parte della Battaglia Sento, sent’un rumor ch’al ciel si estolle E turba 1’afia e fa tremar la terra; Quest’e ‘] nemico nostro, invido e folle, Ch’ad hor ne chiama a sanguinosa guerra, E, scorrendo veloce il piano e ‘1 colle, Preda i beni, arde i campi e i muri atterra. All’arme, all’arme ognuno, all’arme gridi; E il tambur chiocchi, e 1’aversario sfidi. Dobbe dob.
Seconda parte della Battaglia.
Alia battaglia, o forti cavalieri,
Venite tutti meco arditamente ;
E de’ nemici nostri audaci e fieri
Domiam col ferro Forgoliosa mente.
Su, trombette, suonate ! Fan fari rari raron fan.
E voi, guerrieri, ferite e amazzate
La vil gente ; che, vinta con suo danno,
E nostra gloria,
A noi lascia fuggendo la vittoria.

I hear – I hear a sound that rises to the sky, and disturbs the air, and makes the earth tremble. This is our enemy, jealous and insane, that now calls us to bloody war and, quickly overrunning the plain and the hill, plunders ours possessions, burns our fields, and demolishes our walls. To arms, to arms everybody! Cry to arms. Beat the drums and challenge the foe. Dobbe dob.
To battle, o brave knights! All come with me fearlessly, and with the sword let us conquer the haughty spirit of our daring and proud enemies! Up! sound the trumpets! Fan fari rari raron fan. And you, warriors, wound and slay the vile mob who, vanquished with their injuries and our glory, in flight leaves victory to us.
(translation: A. Tillman Merritt).

TRISTE ESTAVA EL REY DAVID (A. MUDARRA)
Triste estava el rey David ; triste y con gran passion, Quando vinieron nuevas De la muerte de Absalon.
Quando le vinieron nuevas De la muerte de Absalon, Palabras tristes dezia, Salidas del coracon.

King David was desperately sad, when he received news of the death to Absalom. When he received news of the death of Absalom, he said sad words, which came out of his heart.

FILI MI, ABSALOM (HEINRICH SCHUTZ)
Fill mi, fili mi, Absalon. Quis mihi tribuat, Ut ego moriar pro te. Absalon! Absalon!

Absalom, my son, my son. Would to God I had died for thee!

QUIVI SOSPIRI (LUZZASCHO LUZZASCHI)
Quivi sospiri, pianti ed alti guai Risonavan per 1’aer senza stelle, Per ch’io al cominciar ne lagrimai. Diverse lingue, orribili favelle, Parole do dolore, accenti d’ira, Voci alte e fioche, E suon di man’ con elle.
(text: Dante Alighieri, L’Inferno)

Therein deep sighing, weeping, groans, loud and fearful were resounding through air no stars did brighten, Whence pitymy eyes at first made sad and tearful. Each nation’s language, base dialects that frighten, Sad words or bitter sorrow, foul anger’s accents, Shrill voices and hollow, and hands the din to heighten.
(translation : Gustave Reese)

IN HORA ULTIMA (ROLAND DE LASSUS)
In hora ultima, peribunt omnia: tuba, tibia, et cythara ; jocus, risus, saltus; cantus et discantus.

In the last hour, everything will perish trumpets, flutes, and lutes; laughing, joking, jumping; song and discant.

KYRIE ELEISON (GREGORIAN)
Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

O COMBIEN EST PLAISANT (GOUDIMEL)
O combien est plaisant et souhaitable De voir ensemble en Concorde amiable Freres unis s’entretenir! Cela me fait de 1’onguent souvenir, Tant precieux, dont perfumer je voi Aaron, le Prestre de la Loi.

Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ! It is like the precious ointment that ran down upon AarOn, the priest.

KADDISH (SALAMONE ROSSI)
(original text in Aramaic and Hebrew)
Magnified and sanctified be the name of God throughout the world, which He hath created according to His will. May he establish His kingdom during the days of your life and during the life ol’al I the house of Israel, speedily, yea, soon: and say ye. Amen. May His great name be blessed for ever and ever.
Exalted and honored be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, whose glory transcends, yea, is beyond all praises, hymns, and blessings that man can render unto Him: and say ye.
Amen.
May the prayers and supplications of the whole house of Israel be acceptable unto their Father in heaven; and say ye. Amen.
May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life for us and for all Israel; and say ye. Amen.
May He who establisheth peace in the heavens, grant peace unto us and to all Israel: and say ye. Amen.

TURN OUR CAPTIVITY, O LORD (WM. BYRD)
Turn our captivity, O Lord, as a brook in the South. They that sow in tears, shall reap in joyfulness. Going they went and wept, casting their seeds; But coming, they shall come with jollity, carrying their sheaves with them.

ES GING EIN SÄMANN AUS (H. SCHUTZ)
Es ging ein Sämann aus, zu säen seinem Samen.
Und in dcm er säet fiel etliches an den Weg, und ward vertreten;
und die Vogcl untcr den Himmel frassen’s auf.
Wer Ohrcn hat zu hören, der höre.
Und etliches fiel auf den Fels,
Und da es aufging, verdorete es,
darumb dass es nicht Saft hattc.
Wer Ohrcn hat zu hören, der höre.
Und etliches fiel mitten unter die Dornen,
gingen mit auf, und erstickten es.
Wer Ohrcn hat zu hören, der höre.
Und etliches fiel auf ein gut Land,
Und es ging auf, und trug hundert faltige Frucht.
Wer Ohrcn hat zu hören, der höre.

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER, FROM MARK, V
Behold, there went out a sower to sow; as he sowed, some fell by the wayside,
and the fowls of the air came, and devoured it up.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
And some fell upon stony ground, and withered away, because it had no nurture.
He that hath cars to hear, let him hear.
And some fell among thorns. And the thorns grew up and choked it.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
And some fell on good ground, and brought forth good fruit, many hundredfold.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The Boston Camerata 2016

Anne Azéma, Artistic Director

L’homme armé:
Music of War and Peace

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