T here was one dominant theme in medieval France: since the temporal world was moving continually toward decay, progress was always to be found in renovation, rather than innovation... Expansion and thus, by implication, maintenance of the cohesion of the body politic (res publica) were in fact entrusted to two separate powers: secular and ecclesiastical... Both were corrupt.”
— George Duby.
A nother dynamic aspect of intellectual life in Paris in the 12th Century was the art of rhetoric, during a time which saw the rise of virtuoso sermons and the power of the word in political and spiritual life. In ‘Minor natu filius’ we hear a concise retelling of the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) and a completely new manner of vocalizing... in which musical language and rhetoric shape the simple tale with an intensity that no mere reading [or forthright truth-telling] could ever approach.”S equentia, Benjamin Bagby’s early music ensemble, will perform their ‘Voices from the Island Sanctuary: Ecclesiastical Singers in Paris (1180-1230)’ program on Friday night in Kansas City, a performance in the Early Music series presented by Friends of Chamber Music.
— Benjamin Bagby, program notes.
A pre-concert talk will be given by Prof. Nolan Gasser, Musicologist Emeritus of Pandora.com, and UMKC Conservatory’s Prof. Bill Everett at 6:30 p.m. in Grace and Holy Trinity’s Founders’ Hall.
T he program is filled with hot intrigue and cool subterfuge, all in florid Latin.
- Ave gloriosa virginum regina
- Aurelianis civitas [commemorating the riots in Orleans in 1236]
- Procurans odium
- O varium fortune lubricum
- Curritur ad vocem nummi
- Anglia planctus itera
- Bulla fulminante
- Descendit de celis
- Minor natu filius
- Zima vetus expurgetur
- Veneris prosperis
- Vitam duxi
- Olim sudor Herculis
- Annus renascitur
- Novus annus hodie
T he ‘Curritur’ is a jaunty exhortation to listeners, instructing them to perfect the art of usury and trickery. Greed is good! Avaritia ipsa loquitur!
S equentia will perform this program again on Saturday evening in New York, at 20:00 at Church of St. Mary the Virgin at 145 W. 46th St, as part of Columbia University’s School of the Arts series. Are-way ou-yay orruptible-cay?
C urritur ad vocem nummi vel ad sonitum: hec est vox ad placitum!
Omnes ultra debitum, ut exempla docent, nitimur in vetitum.
Disce morem et errorem, fac et tu similiter!
Hac in vita nichil vita, vive et non aliter! ...
Quod vis aude, dolo, fraude, et potestas punctorum!
Nil vitandum credidi. Mundo gere morem! Vere mos gerendus Taydi.
Legi nichil sit astrictum, iuri nichil sit addictum!
Sancciatur hoc edictum tibi: Ubi virtus est delictum, Deo nichil est relictum ibi.
[Run to the sound of money calling: a pleasant invitation!
We all have a secret lust for the forbidden, even though we know we shouldn’t.
Learn, then, how to fool people. Just do it!
Deny yourself nothing in this life and live like the rest of us. ...
Dare everything, even if you use trickery, fraud, 4-color litho termsheets, and glitzy PowerPoints.
Leave nothing out. Pump and dump! That’s my credo: let the gullible bastards enrich you!
You have no need to adhere to the law, and no need to worry about justice.
Let this edict be holy to you: Where virtue is a crime, there is no place for God.]”
O varium Fortune lubricum, dans dubium tribunal iudicum,
non modicum parans huic premium, quem colere tua vult gratia
et petere rote sublimia: dans dubia tandem prepostere
de stercore pauperem erigens, de rethore consulem eligens.
[O Fortune, changing and unstable, your tribunal and judges are also unstable.
You prepare huge gifts for him who you would tickle with favors as he arrives at the top of your wheel.
But your gifts are unsure, and finally everything is reversed:
you raise up a poor man from his filth and the insufferable bullshitter then becomes a consul.]”
[Note the innovative 12th Century semicolon! ↑ ]
- Sequentia website
- Voices from the Island Sanctuary program notes
- Sequentia. Trouveres: Hofische Liebeslieder aus Nord. (PID, 2009.)
- Ensemble Alegria. Curritur ad vocem nummi. MP3 download.
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