Gotham Early Music Scene (2/20/25)

Hesperus – O Italia! Celebrating the Codex Faenza 

Tina Chancey ~ director, vielles, rebec & menj; Barbara Hill ~ voice & percussion; Dan Meyers ~ recorders, douçaines & percussion; Cameron Welke ~ lute 

Bel fiore dança – Anonymous
De tout flors – Guillaume de Machaut (1300–1377)
Hont’ par – Guillaume de Machaut
Non ara m’a pietà – Francesco Landini (1325/1335–1397)
Jay grant désespoir – Anonymous
De ce fol penser – Pierre de Molins (fl. 14th c.)
Ecco la primavera – Francesco Landini
Contantia – Anonymous
Benedicamus – Anonymous
Or su, vous dormés trop – Anonymous

Boy, Anonymous was a very prolific composer. I know I have sung Machaut; I may have sung Landini; I think this is the first time I've ever heard of de Molins. And I had to look up fl. again – it means flourished, i.e., flourished in the 14th century. You will most likely never need to remember that again.

On to the instruments. A rebec is a sort of scratchy violin wannabe; a vielle is an early wannabe cello; a menj is ... I don't know (and the internet has not been helpful at all). The layout of columns in the church and the very tall man who plopped down in the pew in front of me moments before the concert started meant that I could not see the vielles, rebec & menj player. The douçaine is a reed instrument (oboe-esqe) that sounded more squeaky than sweet to me.

The music was a nice mix of rebec, recorder, lute, vielle, and percussion as well as lute, douçaine, and percussion. Voice was added in several pieces. The music varied between gentle, dance-like, energetic, jaunty, etc. Ecco la primavera was scored for lute, vielle, recorder, and voice. It was very energetic and included finger cymbals! At one point, the recorder player also played a mouth harp. This piece was a major crowd pleaser.

A note on the Codex. The Faenza Codex was a collection of 14th-century pieces. Sort of a mish-mash that included 52 Italian and French secular works. Can we believe that story? Maybe. Maybe not.

The group Hesperus had been featured on the NYC classical station WQXR recently. As a result, attendance was quite a bit larger than the regular Thursday series concerts. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it might have led to the tall person who plopped down in front of me moments before the concert started.

Oh, I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. And the concerts are free.

ConcertMeister