COURTLY SONGS OF THE EARLY FIFTEENTH CENTURY

The Garden of Zephirus

MARGARET PHILPOT ROGERS COVEY-CRUMP IMOGEN BARFORD

GOTHIC VOICES CHRISTOPHER PAGE

THE GARDEN OF ZEPHIRUS

COURTLY SONGS OF THE EARLY FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Na pas long temps que trouvay Zephirus En son gardin Anon (1:2) The Ancients represented Youth as the goddess of flowers and according to the poets she was married to Zephirus, the West Wind Le Jardin des nobles

EDIEVAL love-poets had only to mention the name of Zephirus, the god of the West Wind, to evoke the keenest desires of courtly society: the passion for clean colours, clear sounds and fresh odours; the longing to ride into the fields bearing a hawk or to sit by a castle window-seat and muse in the breeze. Above all Zephirus was associated with Springtime and youthso much so that the fifteenthcentury Le Jardin des nobles makes Zephirus the husband of Youth the goddess of flowers. It is this freshness and candour which pervades so much of the music composed and performed during the period covered by this record: the decades from c1400 c1440. It is certainly there in the poetry. Several of the songs recorded here celebrate that quality of youth, or jeunesse, which the fifteenth century understood as a mixture of joyfulness, candour, amorous bearing and precocious wisdoma combination so perfectly embodied in our pictures of a courtier carrying green branches and of an elegant young herald. In Mon cuer me fait tous dis penser 6, a rondeau set by the outstanding composer of the fifteenth century Guillaume Dufay (c1400 1474), a lover praises his lady who is young, fair, white as fleece, loving and wise in speecha ringing catalogue of the ideals of jeunesse, while the speaker in Francus de Insulas Amours nont cure de tristresse 9 laments that to be unlucky in love is, in effect, to be old and an exile from courtly festivities: there is no mirth or amusement, he bemoans, except amongst glad-hearted young people. This jeunesse is also there in the music. There is an

ebullient gaiety in Briquets Ma seul amour et ma belle maistresse 4 and in the anonymous Je la remire, la belle bn which we do not often find in the more precious and self-conscious works of the fourteenth century. Yet fifteenthcentury composers excel in capturing the candour and freshness which were so much admired by the courtiers of their day, and they are caught to perfection in Mon cuer me fait tous dis penser. It is impossible to imagine a fourteenthcentury composer writing such a piece, not only because of the modernity of the counterpoint (instantly familiar to any modern Western ear in a way that French counterpoint of the fourteenth century rarely is), but also because of the sheer candour of the work: each voice has a melody of simple yet ingratiating beauty; nothing is allowed to darken the harmony; nothing is extravagant or flamboyant. In accordance with this ideal of jeunesse, songs were sometimes performed at court by the jeunes gens (especially the younger squires and pages) who were expected to entertain their princes. Once they arrived at court to receive their education these youthful attendants, constantly looking for presents and favours, soon learned that the first step to preferment was to make themselves noticed in the throng of the court. What better way to attract attention than a conspicuous display of musical talent? No doubt they performed with feeling, for it was their role as attendants upon a great lord which underpinned the literary convention of the lover beseeching his lady for favour:
Juse mon temps et passe ma jonesse En atendant de merchi la douchour.

The earliest French pieces on this record, Fortune, faulce, parverse 8 by Matheus de Sancto Johanne, and Va ten, mon cuer, avent mes yeux 7 by Gacien Reyneau, are from the celebrated Chantilly Codex, probably copied by an Italian scribe (though not necessarily in Italy) during the last years of the fourteenth century. These songs have a distinctively French
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and fourteenth-century sound with their busy textures and pungent dissonances. Yet both of them prepare us for the fifteenth century: Fortune, faulce with its remarkably rich harmonies, and Va ten, mon cuer with its declamatory style and placement of text in all parts; compare Dufays Jatendray tant quil vous playra 1 or Brollos Qui le sien vuelt bien maintenir bl . Full texting of this kind is a prominent feature of some important fourteenth-century Italian styles, as in Francesco Landinis Nessun ponga sperana 5 , a ballata whose poem offers a counterbalance to the courtly cult of jeunesse. This song, like the other work by Landini recorded here, Giunta vaga bilt bm , appears in the celebrated Squarcialupi Codex of the early fifteenth century. Another Italian manuscript, MS Canonici misc. 213 in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, compiled a few decades after Chantilly, is the source of several of the later items recorded here. These pieces convey some of the most characteristic sounds of the French chanson in the 1420s and 30s: a

consonant texture, more euphonious than is usual in fourteenth-century styles (in harmonic and contrapuntal terms the distance between Reyneaus Va ten, mon cuer and Dufays Jatendray tant is enormous); a marked fondness for a diatonic, Dorian harmony in which C sharp is a keenly expressive note used near the beginning of a piece and most selectively thereafter (hear, for example, Brollos Qui le sien vuelt bien maintenir or Francus de Insulas Amours nont cure de tristresse). There is a mood of plangency and introversion in these last two pieces which appears to its fullest advantage in what is surely one of the finest of all fifteenth-century songs, Dufays Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys bo , written in the composers mid-twenties. Yet Dufay generally avoided this plangent tone in his early songs; their characteristic voice is heard in Jatendray tant, a light, airy rondeau which is a perfect embodiment of jeunesse de cuer.
CHRISTOPHER PAGE 1985

Recorded in the Church of St-Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead, London, on 28 and 29 June 1984 Recording Engineer ANTONY HOWELL Recording Producer MARTIN COMPTON Executive Producer EDWARD PERRY P Hyperion Records Limited, London, 1985 C Hyperion Records Limited, London, 2007 (Originally issued on Hyperion CDA66144) Front illustration: Gathering green bushes in April from the calendar in a Book of Hours illuminated in France for the English market by the Fastolf Master, c1440 (Oxford Bodleian Library MS Auct.D.inf.2.11,f.4r), reproduced by permission

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GUILLAUME DUFAY

rondeau

1 Jatendray tant quil vous playra

A vous declarer ma pense, Ma tres chiere dame honoure ; Je ne say sil men desplayra. Mais toutes fois, pour complaire a Vostre personne desire, Jatendray tant quil vous playra A vous declarer ma pense. Car jay espour, quant avendra Qua ce vous sers acorde, Que ma doulour sera cese ; Je le vous ay dit long temps a.
ANONYMOUS

I will wait as long as you wish before declaring my thoughts to you, my most dear and honoured lady; I do not know if I will suffer for it. Nevertheless, in deference to you whom I so desire, I will wait as long as you wish before declaring my thoughts to you. For I hope, when the time comes when you will agree to this, that my grief will be ended; I told you this long ago.

chanson

2 Na pas long temps que trouvay Zephirus

En son gardin regardant ses flourettes, Lequel disoit au noble roy Phebus, Merci te rens de tes cures bien faittes, Car mes flours sont belle(s), plaissans et nettes Et oudourans plus que piement ne graine; Et par vertu je treuve moult humayne Une playsant ou mon cuer se delitte; Nommer la puis sans pense vilayne: La tres playsant et belle Margaritte .
ANTHONELLO DA CASERTA

Not long ago I found Zephirus in his garden admiring his flowers, saying to the noble king Phoebus: I thank you for your loving care, for my flowers are beautiful, pleasing and bright, and sweeter smelling than mead or spice; and I find most worthy and kindly one pleasing flower in which my heart delights; I can name her without any base thought: the most pleasing and beautiful Marguerite.

ballade stanza

3 Amour ma le cuer mis en tel martire

Que mayntes fois le jour mon corps tressue Et souvent fois pense et souvent sospire, Souvent me cange la colour et se mue : En tel estat ma vie est tenue. Pour ce nest il pas del tout a sejour, Celli qui est sourpris de fin amour.

Love has set my heart in such torment that many times a day I tremble, and often I muse and often I sigh, often my colour changes and fades: such is the state my life is in. This is why there is no respite at all for him who is smitten by true love.

BRIQUET

rondeau

4 Ma seul amour et ma belle maistresse,

Aiis pit de la dure dolour Que jendure de longtamps nuit et jour Pour vostre amour sans rencontrer liesse. Juse mon temps et passe ma jonesse En atendant de merchi la douchour ; Ma seul amour et ma belle maistresse, Aiis pit de la dure dolour ; Si vous supply, amoureuse desse, A ceste fois sans y fere sejour, Que me dons liement vostre amour Ou aultrement toute joye me blesse.
FRANCESCO LANDINI

My only love, my fair mistress, have pity on the harsh sorrow which I endure so long, night and day, for love of you, without receiving joy. I spend my time and pass my youth waiting for your sweet mercy; My only love, my fair mistress, have pity on the harsh sorrow; so I beg you, goddess of love, at once without delay, to give me your love willingly; otherwise all joy is torment to me.

ballata

5 Nessun ponga sperana

Nella suo giovinea Che sella in s vaghea Tosto va via per naturale usana. Vo ben che ciaschedun Iabbia s chara Per ca virt diel tempo ; Che se nel tempo verde non simpara Tropp grave nel tempo. Vo, giovani, per tempo, Volgliatel tempo porre, Che si veloce corre, Nella virt chongnaltra cosa avana.
GUILLAUME DUFAY

Let no one put his trust in his own youthfulness, for though it be excellent in itself it quickly wastes away. I truly wish that all would value it so as to devote that time to virtue; for unless that is learnt in the freshness of youth, it will be too hard to do so later on. And I wish that you who are young would in good time resolve to use your time, fast fleeting as it is, in the pursuit of virtue which is more precious than all else.

rondeau

6 Mon cuer me fait tous dis penser

A vous, belle, bonne, sans per, Rose odourans comme la graine, Jone, gente, blanche que laine, Amoureuse, sage en parler. Aultre de vous ne puis amer Ne requerir ny honnourer, Dame de toute beault plainne;
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My heart makes me think continually of you, fair one, good and peerless, rose as fragrant as spice, young, fair, white as fleece, loving and wise in speech. I can love, desire or honour none but you, lady endowed with all beauty;

Resjos sui et vueil chanter, Et en mon cuer na point damer; Ayns ay toute joye mondaynne Sans avoir tristresse ne painne, Quant veoir puis vo beau vis cler.
GACIEN REYNEAU

I am cheered and wish to sing, and in my heart there is no bitterness; rather I have all the joy in the world without any sadness or sorrow, when I can behold your fair radiant face.

rondeau

7 Va ten, mon cuer, avent mes yeux,

Veoir le beaut angeline Qui tant est digne et pure et fine Conques ne fist plus belle Dieux. Valoir nen pourras senon mieux Quant bonne Amour a ce tencline ; Va ten, mon cuer, avent mes yeux, Veoir le beaut angeline. De la servir suy empenieux Toutdis que pense et ymagine En la douce qui menlumyne A dire ce mot gracieux : Va ten, mon cuer, avent mes yeux, Veoir le beaut angeline Qui tant est digne et pure et fine Conques ne fist plus belle Dieux.
MATHEUS DE SANCTO JOHANNE

Go forth, my heart, before my eyes, to see her angelic beauty which is so noble and pure and fine, that God never made any more beautiful. Your worth can only be enhanced when true Love inclines you to this; Go forth, my heart, before my eyes, to see her angelic beauty. I am anxious to serve her whenever I muse and reflect on the sweet one who inspires me to say these gracious words: Go forth, my heart, before my eyes, to see her angelic beauty which is so noble and pure and fine, that God never made any more beautiful.

rondeau

8 Fortune, faulce, parverse,

Vers mas en grant martire. Taire si mest trop adverse, Fortune, faulce, parverse, Tu me fiers a la traverse Traversement ; si puis dire : Fortune, faulce, parverse, Vers mas en grant martire.

False, perverse Fortune, you have thrown me into great torment. It is too burdensome to keep silent, false, perverse Fortune, you strike me from behind perversely; so I may say: False, perverse Fortune, you have thrown me into great torment.

FRANCUS DE INSULA

rondeau

9 Amours nont cure de tristresse,

Ce set on bien certainement, Car il nest jeux nesbatement Quen jone gens plain de liesse. Quant il lont, leur dame et maistresse Vivre leur fait joyeusement, Amours nont cure de tristresse, Ce set on bien certainement; Et tous jours user leur jonesse A bien amer secretement ; Si aront amoureusement Des biens dAmours a grant largesse.
(BARTHOLOMEUS?) BROLLO

Love has no use for sadness, this is well known for sure, for there is no mirth or amusement except amongst glad-hearted young people. When they are glad, their lady and mistress makes them lead a joyful life. Love has no use for sadness, this is well known for sure and spend all their youth in loving honourably and discreetly; thus they will lovingly receive Loves gifts in great plenty.

ballade

bl Qui le sien vuelt bien maintenir

Se doibt garder de foler, De faire a nulluy desplaisir, Ne chose qui doye anuier. Ce sont vices a delessier, Car je vous jure en leiault : Au plus parant prend on le d. Se par Fortune puet venir A un riche quelque encombrier, Assez un le fera souffrir, Et le pourra on bien manecier ; Mais en la fin por cent denier Eschapera disant, v, v ; Au plus parant prend on le d . Un maleureux porra fur Ou en quelque lieu se mucier, Cure nara on de porseuvir, Car on ny pourra nient gangnier. Qui riens na, riens ne puet laissier, Pour ce vos dy en verit : Au plus parant prend on le d. Envoi : Princes, partout ou jay est, Au plus parant prend on le d.
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Whoever wants to hold his own must avoid acting foolishly, displeasing anybody or causing any annoyance. These are vices to be shunned. for I swear to you truly: the bigger they are the harder they fall. If Fortune should bring some embarrassment to a rich man, he will be made to suffer much, and may well find himself threatened, but in the end, for a tidy sum, he will get off, crying Alas! Alas! the bigger they are the harder they fall. A wretch will be able to flee or hide somewhere or other; no one will care to pursue him, for there will be nothing to gain. He who has nothing has nothing to lose, so I tell you truly: the bigger they are the harder they fall. My lords, everywhere I have been, the bigger they are the harder they fall.

FRANCESCO LANDINI

ballata

bm Giunta vaga bilt con gentilea

Ornata di costumi, Vedi che volge lumi Nel viso che del ciel ne fa certea E che mi fa dAmor fedel suggeto E pi che libert dolce servire; Che come son dinani al suo cospetto In piacer pongho ongni mio disire. Ongni vilt nel cor sento perire En se virt destare. Chi lusa di mirare ne costumi suoi lanimavea.
ANONYMOUS

Excellent beauty allied with nobility, adorned with good manners, you may see radiant in her face which is a true picture of heaven and which makes me a faithful servant of Love and makes service sweeter to me than freedom; for when I am before her all my desires are fulfilled. I feel all vice dissolve from my heart and virtue awaken there. Whoever looks on her is exalted by her noble bearing.

rondeau

bn Je la remire, la belle
De bon voloir, sans mentir ; Mon cuer ne sen peut partir, Nuit et jour voirement delle Qui tres bonne est et non felle ; Pour quoi mestuet proferir : Je la remire, la belle, De bon voloir, sans mentir ; Car vraiement bien est celle Qui tous tans me peut merir En la servant sans mentir. Je dirai, sertes, pour elle : Je la remire, la belle De bon voloir, sans mentir ; Mon cuer ne sen peut partir, Nuit et jour voirement delle.
GUILLAUME DUFAY

I contemplate her, the fair one, kindly and faithful; my heart, truly, cannot leave night or day her who is so good and without malice; therefore I must speak out: I contemplate her, the fair one, kindly and faithful; for she is certainly the one who may at any time reward me by letting me serve her truly. I may indeed say of her: I contemplate her, the fair one, kindly and faithful; my heart, truly, cannot leave night or day.

rondeau

bo Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys,

Adieu dames, adieu borgois, Adieu celle que tant amoye, Adieu toute playssante joye, Adieu tous compaignons galois.
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Farewell to the fine wines of the Laonnais, farewell ladies, farewell townsmen, farewell to her I loved so much, farewell to all joy and pleasure, farewell all boon companions.

Je men vois tout arquant des nois, Car je ne truis feves ne pois, Dont bien souvent [au cu]er mennoye. De moy sers par plusieurs fois Regrets par dedans les bois, Ou il ny a sentier ne voye ; Puis ne scaray que faire doye Se je ne crie a haute vois : Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys, Adieu dames, adieu borgois, Adieu celle que tant amoye, Adieu toute playssante joye, Adieu tous compaignons galois.

Off I go cracking nuts, for I can find no beans or peas, which often makes my heart grieve. I will often miss you out in the woods where there is no path or track; I do not know what else to do but cry aloud: Farewell to the fine wines of the Laonnais, farewell ladies, farewell townsmen, farewell to her I loved so much, farewell to all joy and pleasure, farewell all boon companions.
French translations by STEPHEN HAYNES Italian translations by NICHOLAS HARELEY

LE JARDIN DE ZPHYR
Na pas long temps que trouvay Zephirus En son gardin Anon (1:2)

CHANSONS COURTOISES DU DBUT DU XVe SICLE

Cette jeunesse se retrouve galement dans la musique. Ma seul amour et ma belle maistresse (Briquet) 4 et lanonyme Je la remire, la belle bn sont animes dune bouillonnante gaiet gnralement absente des uvres du XIVe sicle, plus prcieuses et gnes. Les compositeurs du XVe sicle, eux, excellent saisir la candeur et la fracheur si prises des courtisans dalors, comme lillustre merveille Mon cuer me fait tous dis penser. Jamais un compositeur du XIVe sicle naurait crit pareille pice, vu la modernit de son contrepoint (immdiatement familier toute oreille occidentale moderne, ce qui est rarement le cas du contrepoint franais du XIVe sicle) et son absolue candeur : chaque voix a une mlodie dune beaut simple, mais qui vous envahit le cur ; rien ne vient assombrir lharmonie ; rien nest extravagant, flamboyant. Conformment cet idal de jeunesse, les chansons taient parfois interprtes la cour par les jeunes gens (surtout les cuyers et les pages) chargs de divertir leurs princes. Une fois arrivs la cour pour y tre duqus, ces jeunes serviteurs, toujours en qute de prsents et de faveurs, apprenaient vite que, sils voulaient de lavancement, il leur fallait dabord se faire remarquer. Et quoi de mieux pour attirer lattention quune clatante dmonstration de talent musical ? Nul doute quils y mettaient du sentiment car leur rle de servant auprs dun grand seigneur sous-tendait toute la convention littraire de lamant implorant les faveurs de sa dame :
Juse mon temps et passe ma jonesse En atendant de merchi la douchour.

Les Anciens peignaient la Jeunesse sous les traits de la desse des fleurs et les potes la disaient marie Zphyr, le Vent douest Le Jardin des nobles

L SUFFISAIT aux potes damour mdivaux de mentionner le nom de Zphyr, le dieu du Vent douest, pour voquer les plus intenses dsirs de la socit courtoise : la passion pour les coloris purs, les sonorits claires et les senteurs fraches ; lenvie de chevaucher travers champs, un faucon la main, ou de sasseoir sur une banquette, sous la fentre dun chteau, et de rver dans la brise. Surtout, Zphyr tait associ au Printemps et la jeunesseau point que, au XVe sicle, Le Jardin des nobles fait de lui le mari de la Jeunesse la desse des fleurs . Cette fracheur et cette candeur, qui imprgnent lessentiel de la musique compose et joue durant la priode couverte par le prsent enregistrement (env. 1400env. 1440), se retrouvent coup sr dans la posie. Plusieurs des chansons runies ici clbrent ainsi la jeunesse, que le XVe sicle comprenait comme un mlange de joie, de candeur, de comportement amoureux et de sagesse prcoceune combinaison quincarnent la perfection le courtisan charg de branches vertes et le jeune hraut lgant de nos illustrations. Dans Mon cuer me fait tous dis penser 6 , un rondeau mis en musique par le remarquable Guillaume Dufay (env. 14001474), un amoureux fait lloge de sa dame, qui est jone, gente, blanche que laine, amoureuse, sage en parler une vibrante numration des idaux de la jeunesse ; dans Amours nont cure de tristresse (Francus de Insula) 9 , le narrateur dplore qutre malheureux en amour, ce soit en ralit tre vieux et exclu des festivits courtoises : il nest jeux nesbatement , se lamente-t-il, quen jone gens plain de liesse .

Les plus anciennes pices de ce disque, Fortune, faulce, parverse (Matheus de Sancto Johanne) 8 et Va ten, mon cuer avent mes yeux (Gacien Reyneau) 7 , proviennent du clbre codex de Chantilly, probablement copi par un scribe italien (mais pas forcment en Italie) dans les dernires annes du XIVe sicle. Avec leurs textures denses et leurs
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dissonances mordantes, ces chansons ont une sonorit typique de la France et du XIVe sicle, ce qui ne les empche en rien de nous prparer au sicle suivant, lune avec ses harmonies remarquablement riches (Fortune, faulce), lautre avec son style dclamatoire et son texte distribu toutes les partiesvoyez, par comparaison, Jatendray tant quil vous playra 1 de Dufay ou Qui le sien vuelt bien maintenir bl de Brollo. Un tel texte complet est lune des principales caractristiques de certains grands styles italiens du XIVe sicle, comme dans Nessun ponga sperana 5 , une ballata de Francesco Landini dont le pome contrebalance le culte courtois de la jeunesse. Tout comme Giunta vaga bilt bm , lautre uvre de Landini enregristre ici, cette chanson figure dans le fameux codex de Squarcialupi (dbut du XVe sicle). Un autre manuscrit italien (MS Canonici misc. 213 conserv la Bodleian Library dOxford), compil quelques dcennies aprs celui de Chantilly, nous a fourni certaines des pices tardives de cet enregistrement. Ces uvres vhiculent quelques-unes des sonorits les plus typiques de la chanson

franaise des annes 1420 et 1430 : une texture consonante, plus euphonique que celle des styles du XIVe sicle (harmoniquement et contrapuntiquement parlant, un vritable foss spare Va ten mon cuer de Reyneau et Jatendray tant de Dufay) ; une nette prdilection pour une harmonie diatonique, dorienne, o ut dise est une note profondment expressive utilise presque en dbut de pice et trs slectivement par la suiteentendez, par exemple, Qui le sien vuelt bien maintenir de Brollo et Amours nont cure de tristresse de Francus de Insula. Latmosphre plaintive et introvertie de ces deux dernires pices ressort merveille dans ce qui est srement lune des plus belles chansons du XVe sicle, Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys bo , crite par un Dufay de vingt-cinq ans environ, dont les premires chansons vitaient pourtant ce ton dolent ; la mme voix caractristique retentit dans Jatendray tant, un rondeau lger, arien, parfaite incarnation de la jeunesse de cuer.
CHRISTOPHER PAGE 1985
Traduction HYPERION, 2007

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CDH55289

The Garden of Zephirus

Courtly songs of the early fifteenth century
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 bl bm bn bo Jatendray tant quil vous playra rondeau GUILLAUME DUFAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b c e Na pas long temps que trouvay Zephirus chanson ANONYMOUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c g Amour ma le cuer mis en tel martire ballade stanza ANTHONELLO DA CASERTA . . . b c f Ma seul amour et ma belle maistresse rondeau BRIQUET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b d Nessun ponga sperana ballata FRANCESCO LANDINI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c d f Mon cuer me fait tous dis penser rondeau GUILLAUME DUFAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a b c e Va ten, mon cuer, avent mes yeux rondeau GACIEN REYNEAU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a c d Fortune, faulce, parverse rondeau MATHEUS DE SANCTO JOHANNE . . . . . . . . . . . . . a b c d Amours nont cure de tristresse rondeau FRANCUS DE INSULA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b c f Qui le sien vuelt bien maintenir ballade (BARTHOLOMEUS?) BROLLO . . . . . . . . . . . . . b c f Giunta vaga bilt ballata FRANCESCO LANDINI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b g Je la remire, la belle rondeau ANONYMOUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b c f Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys rondeau GUILLAUME DUFAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b c f
[2'22] [1'52] [3'44] [3'28] [4'05] [6'05] [3'38] [4'23] [5'35] [3'28] [3'21] [2'35] [3'57]

GOTHIC VOICES
GILL ROSS soprano (a) MARGARET PHILPOT contralto (b) ROGERS COVEY-CRUMP tenor (c) ANDREW KING tenor (d) JOHN MARK AINSLEY tenor (e) LEIGH NIXON tenor (f) with IMOGEN BARFORD medieval harp (g)

CHRISTOPHER PAGE director

NOTES EN FRANAIS

HELIOS CDH55289

I dont know a finer record of such fascinating material. Beautifully done (BBC Record Review) I believe this is the finest record of medieval polyphonic song yet produced (Gramophone)

CDH55289
Duration 49'53

THE GARDEN OF ZEPHIRUS GOTHIC VOICES / CHRISTOPHER PAGE

The Garden of Zephirus

Courtly songs of the early fifteenth century
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 bl bm bn bo Jatendray tant quil vous playra GUILLAUME DUFAY [2'22] Na pas long temps que trouvay Zephirus ANONYMOUS [1'52] Amour ma le cuer mis en tel martire ANTHONELLO DA CASERTA [3'44] Ma seul amour et ma belle maistresse BRIQUET [3'28] Nessun ponga sperana FRANCESCO LANDINI [4'05] Mon cuer me fait tous dis penser GUILLAUME DUFAY [6'05] Va ten, mon cuer, avent mes yeux GACIEN REYNEAU [3'38] Fortune, faulce, parverse MATHEUS DE SANCTO JOHANNE [4'23] Amours nont cure de tristresse FRANCUS DE INSULA [5'35] Qui le sien vuelt bien maintenir (BARTHOLOMEUS?) BROLLO [3'28] Giunta vaga bilt FRANCESCO LANDINI [3'21] Je la remire, la belle ANONYMOUS [2'35] Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys GUILLAUME DUFAY [3'57]

THE GARDEN OF ZEPHIRUS GOTHIC VOICES / CHRISTOPHER PAGE

A HYPERION RECORDING

DAD

MADE IN ENGLAND

GOTHIC VOICES
CHRISTOPHER PAGE director

Recorded on 28 and 29 June 1984 Recording Engineer ANTONY HOWELL Recording Producer MARTIN COMPTON Executive Producer EDWARD PERRY P Hyperion Records Limited, London, 1985 C Hyperion Records Limited, London, 2007 (Originally issued on Hyperion CDA66144) Front illustration: Gathering green bushes in April from the calendar in a Book of Hours illuminated in France for the English market by the Fastolf Master, c1440 (Oxford Bodleian Library MS Auct.D.inf.2.11,f.4r), reproduced by permission

HELIOS CDH55289