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'Flour de beaulté' focuses
on secular song repertoire from a magnificent early fifteenth-century
parchment manuscript housed in the University Library in Torino
(identified as J.II.9), considered 'by far the largest repository
of French music – or at least of music in the French tradition
– between the Ars Nova compilations of the fourteenth and
the Franco-Burgundian manuscripts of the late fifteenth century'
as well as 'the most neglected major source of late medieval polyphony
that has come down to us' (Karl Kügle).
Although traditionally associated
with the members of the French dynasty of Lusignan, rulers of
Cyprus between 1192 and 1489 (according to one of the hypotheses,
it could have been a marriage offering for princess Anne de Lusignan),
the exact origin of 'Torino J.II.9' is still unclear. Its music
- ranging from plainchant through polyphonic Mass Ordinary settings
and motets to secular songs - is entirely anonymous and, except
for a certain part of plainchant, is not known from other sources.
For a 'major source of late medieval polyphony', 'Torino J.II.9'
remains quite a mistery.
Pieces selected for this programme
are among the finest of the 166 secular songs preserved in this
manuscript. Seldom performed, many of these did not previously appear
on disc.
This release became Recording
of the Year at www.medieval.org
in 2006.
Where to buy
[RAMÉE]
(international)
[AMAZON.DE]
(Germany)
[FNAC]
(France)
[SHOPFORTE.COM]
[AMAZON.COM]
(USA)
[HMV]
(Japan)
IN THE UPPER-RIGHT CORNER:
map of Cyprus (1698)
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