Topic: Love can transpose things bass and viol to form and dignity.

[aligreto]

Cross post from the Listening Thread


Lobet ihn mit Saitenspiel:


      


Scheidt: Pavane-Galliarde-Allemande
Finger: Pastorale
Buxtehude: Jubilato Domine


I find this to be an interesting LP which may be of interest. I do not know if it ever made it to CD.

[Mandryka]

One thing that is really impressive about Robin Pharo’s new recording of music by Charles Dollé is his capacity to enter into and reveal the soul of the music, the expressive content. These pieces sometimes have titles which say what effect they’re supposed to have, and Pharo is completely in tune with Dollé’s intentions. When Dollé calls for tendre he’s tender. When Dollé calls a piece l’amoureux, you can imagine the music as an expression of the delight lovers may take in being together. When Dollé calls a piece le difficile you are indeed aware, as a listener, of how gnarly the music is. Three charming suites. I think this reveals Dollé every bit the equal of Marais and Forqueray, I terms of quality if not in terms of quantity and fame. And it reveals Dollé to be every bit his own man. While the former has a gift for evocative tunes, and the latter has a gift for intense virtuosity, Dollé has a gift for expressive poetry.

Very well recorded. Booklet has a little appreciation by the performer and an essay on the composer and his music, a pleasure to read.

[Mandryka]

This is Jonathan Dunford's second recording of music by Le Sieur de Ste. Colombe  - music from a manuscript for which Dunford himself found the attribution.

It contains three suites from the manuscript. The last of the three, the D minor, seems to me an astonishing piece of music with immediate impact and obvious depth of feeling and complexity of idea. It ends with an attractive chaconne

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/9T7RIfNT69Y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/9T7RIfNT69Y</a>

Dunford presents the music like ricercare - the sense of the musician searching for the possibilities of what can be done with an idea, the sense of the musician letting his imagination roam, is very palpable. The result is something which is very much about the balance between intellect and feeling - I like that myself. The performances are intense, and they demand intense listening, my experience is that the moment I lose concentration or good will, all is lost. It's as if I have to engage with Dunford and Ste. Colombe, follow them on their journey, or they'll just abandon me by the wayside. As often is the case for me, finding the right volume (low) is essential, if not it sounds crude and dull.

In his notes to the recording, Dunford uses the word "exquisite", and that is right. I'm reminded that Bach's contribution to this genre was the end of a rich line that includes some major musical poems by Hume, Stoeffken and indeed Le Sieur de Ste. Colombe.

Dunford recorded and published this release by himself, and it's available in good MP3 and on Spotify. This seems a shame because for me, good MP3 and spotify is not really ideal.

But considerably more satisfying in the download than on Spotify, demanding and rewarding music.

[Mandryka]

Gottfried Finger is a new composer for me, in fact I know very little in general about German music for gamba, and my feeling is that it’s an area which has been pretty much underdeveloped on record, maybe due to the strong influence of Jordi Savall’s taste.

Anyway the excellent recording of duos by Jessica Horsley and David Hatcher has caught my imagination big time, it demonstrates  that Finger wrote enigmatic music full of unusual and exciting twists and turns, surprising and imaginative variations, and unusual harmonies.

[Mandryka]

When this set of music by Antoine Forqueray first came out some three years ago, like everyone I found myself confronted with something shockingly new. Forqueray, Forqueray le diable, has a reputation for devilish virtuosity. In short his reputation is of someone whose art is about fiendishly difficult instrumental effects and satanically seductive tunes.

Sakai etc present a rather different vision, their Forqueray is someone who digs deep into the emotional possibilities of music, a Forqueray whose music prompts us more to reflect of life’s pains and joys than to drink and dance.

Three years ago this all seemed heavy. And slow.

But now, revisiting the set, it seems very satisfying indeed. A Forqueray closer to Sainte Colombe than anyone ever thought possible. Who knows, maybe  such intense emotional effects may well have been just the ticket in the court of Louis XIV.

Furthermore it should be said that Sakai is a real virtuoso - the variety of attacks, for example, is impressive. It’s just that he makes the music sound so articulate and expressive that you don’t notice unless you listen out for it. In short Sakai makes his self disappear to reveal . .  Forqueray’s self. (Sorry!) The instrumental effects are put in service of the poetry, rather than the music being about the display of said effects.

Beautifully recorded, very good for nearfield listening - volume right down, ears close to the tweeters,

And so I have no hesitation in commending the set, especially to people who had previously thought that Forqueray’s music is too superficial to be interesting,

[Mandryka]

Contrary to what you may think after reading and watching Tous les matins du monde, Jean de Sainte Colombe had a son, who in turn wrote music for viol, solo viol. In fact you can hear  echos of his father's gift for the honest expression of tortured states, though I think that it's true to say that the son (I don't know his first name -- can anyone help?) is less cerebral and indeed less complicated,  than the father. But no less tortured,  And sonny is more ready to have a good old dance.  Attractive polyphonic solo viol  music for me, no doubt about it -- in the booklet essay Savall draws a comparison to the Bach cello suites, and that seems right.

Only two recordings dedicated to the son, or indeed with substantial amounts of music by fiston. Savall and Dunford. Savall as you would expect a gruff old bear and it's jolly good like that.

[North Star]

Contrary to what you may think after reading and watching Tous les matins du monde, Jean de Sainte Colombe had a son, who in turn wrote music for viol, solo viol. In fact you can hear  echos of his father's gift for the honest expression of tortured states, though I think that it's true to say that the son (I don't know his first name -- can anyone help?) is less cerebral and indeed less complicated,  than the father. But no less tortured,  And sonny is more ready to have a good old dance.  Attractive polyphonic solo viol  music for me, no doubt about it -- in the booklet essay Savall draws a comparison to the Bach cello suites, and that seems right.

Only two recordings dedicated to the son, or indeed with substantial amounts of music by fiston. Savall and Dunford. Savall as you would expect a gruff old bear and it's jolly good like that.

It is speculated by various scholars that Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe was of Lyonnais or Burgundian petty nobility; and also the selfsame 'Jean de Sainte-Colombe' noted as the father of 'Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe le fils.'[3] This assumption was erroneous, according to subsequent research in Paris by American bass viol player and musicologist Jonathan Dunford. Dunford suggests he was probably from the Pau area in southernmost France and a Protestant, that his first name was "Jean" and that he had two daughters named Brigide and Françoise.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsieur_de_Sainte-Colombe

That Savall is one of my earliest early music sets (coupled with a Marais disc), and it's certainly splendid to my ears. But if this is the "son's" music, where can I hear the father?

[Mandryka]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsieur_de_Sainte-Colombe

That Savall is one of my earliest early music sets (coupled with a Marais disc), and it's certainly splendid to my ears. But if this is the "son's" music, where can I hear the father?

I don't understand, is Dunford saying that the son is not the son of the father? Or the son is the same as the father? 

But if this is the "son's" music, where can I hear the father?

The father is Sieur de Ste. Col. -- and there are tons of recordings of his music, see above in this thread.

[Mandryka]

Found Dunford's essay on the matter

Jonathan DUNFORD

Sainte Colombe an obscure 17th century violist, forgotten for let a handful of viola da gamba aficionados and musicologists suddenly was thrust center stage with the release of the film “Tous les Matins du Monde” in 1991. The scenario of this film was based on the novel by Pascal Quignard by the same name[1].

The film depicts an austere musician, raising two daughters by himself, living in an isolated castle and refusing the pomp and security of a fixed job at the court of Louis XIV. The novel as well as the film were based on the scarce documentation that was available to musicians and musicologists in 1991.

How close was the film character to the real Sainte-Colombe? We may never know with absolute certainty, but years of patient research[2] have unveiled leads as to who he was and how he lived. This essay will not give conclusive answers; at the moment there are none. However, the documentation presented here will hopefully correct certain mistakes and misconceptions that have slipped in over the past decade concerning the biography and works of this illusive genius as well as serve as a point of departure for future researchers.

The film was an overwhelming commercial success, winning seven French Césars. It brought world-wide recognition to the viola da gamba and its music. While the hitherto unknown Sainte Colombe was receiving so much attention an article claiming to have discovered Saint Colombe’s real identity appeared on the first page of the Le Monde.[3] According to the musicologist who wrote the article, Saint Colombe’s real name was Augustin D'Autrecourt and he lived in Lyons in the 1650's. However, a close look at the original sources revealed this to be a misinterpretation. Indeed, there had been a music teacher who also taught the viol and who lived in Lyons in the 1650's. According to the archives of the Hospice de Charité in the year 1657:

Acte de reception du Sieur de Ste Colombe, Maitre musicien, pour la maison.

Sieur Augustin Dandricourt dict Sainte Colombe, maître musicien à Lyon, a esté recu par la compagnie appres avoir esté informée de ses bonnes vies mœurs et cappacité pour enseigner et establyr la musique aux enfans adoptifs de ceste maison au nombre nécessaire maintenir celle des filles de Sainte Catherine aussi adoptives, et à ceux qu’il verra les plus proprres leur apprendre la composition et la viole, et leur fire les leçons tous les jours affin de faire au plus tos qu’il se pourra ung cœur de musique complet, et venir assister aux divins offices pour les festes acoustumees, et pour les deffuncts bienfacteurs, ce qu’il a promis de faire et de s’en aquiter le mieux qu’il luy sera possible. A remercie lesdits sieurs recteurs qui lui ont accordé pour ses gages la somme de cent cinquante livres par an, quartier par quartier.

The name D’Autrecourt mentioned in Le Monde was a misreading of the cursive hand-writing in the 17th century archives in Lyons. Rather, it was a Monsieur Dandricourt[4] who, as proven in this document, used the pseudonym Sainte Colombe or Sainte Culumbe (an important family by the name of Saint Colombe was benefactor to the Hospice de la Charité[5] and it can be assumed that there may have been some connection between the music teacher and this family). Since the publication of this article in Le Monde the misread name ‘D’Autrecourt’ has proliferated and can be found in articles, books, record sleeves, etc. It is high time to eradicate all association of the name D’Autrecourt with that of the musician Sainte Colombe.

We know too that Sainte Colombe studied with Hotman in Paris[6]. Would he have regularly made such a long journey from Lyons to Paris and back? Moreover, it seems highly unlikely that this modestly paid choir director (Dandricourt), who as part of his job taught a few girls to play the viol as a continuo instrument to sustain the choir, was the same Sainte Colombe who later, in 1678, was proclaimed in the Mercure de France to be ‘si celebre pour la viol’[7] and who was performing in Paris and teaching highly gifted students such as Marin Marais and Jean Rousseau[8].

Further search for the real Saint Colombe led to the "Insinuations de Châtelet"[9] in the French National Archives where I discovered a Françoise de Sainte-Colombe who married in 1669[10] . Her father was a certain “Jean de Sainte Colombe bourgeois de Paris” and one of the witnesses to her marriage was an organist by the name of Nicolas Caron (organist at St. Thomas de Louvre and at the Eglise St Oppurtune). Later I discovered that Jean de Saint Colombe had stood as witness to Caron’s own marriage in 1658.

Looking further I found that in the 1650’s and 1660’s Jean de Sainte Colombe had two daughters, Brigide and Françoise and lived on the Rue de Betizy (today the Rue de Rivoli) in the Saint Germain l’Auxerois district. This street intersects the Rue de la Monnaie and the Rue Bertin Poirée, curiously enough two of the first addresses of the young Marin Marais. Moreover on the Rue Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, one street over, was the residence of the celebrated violist Du Buisson's.

In his Parnasse François (1732) Evrard Titon du Tillet gives us a vivid account of Sainte-Colombe the man. From him we learn that the composer "gave Concerts at his home in which two of his daughters participated, one on the treble viol, the other on the bass, forming with their father a Consort of three Viols.[11]" Could these daughters have been Jean’s two daughters Françoise and Brigide? Again, further research unveiled that Jean’s eldest daughter, Françoise de Sainte-Colombe married Jean Varin, a teacher of mathematics to the King who was appointed to a post in Belfort while her sister, Brigide, married Louis Lebé, a secretary for the Marquis de Segnelay, who was stationed in Versailles. The Lebés, a family of printers of both books and music, were closely associated with the famous Ballard family. We also know that Saint Colombe the musician had close ties to a family of publishers named "Allain" (cf. the Concert a deux violes called "L'allain")[12]. It is interesting to note that several of the names associated with Jean de Sainte-Colombe were confirmed protestants.

These many documents all make a strong case for Jean de Sainte Colombe and yet, in my many years of searching through the French archives I have never found Jean de Sainte Colombe referred to as a musician but consistently as a "bourgeois de Paris". The possible protestant connection is an important one; antagonism against non-Catholics was quite prevalent after the 1685 revocation d’Edit de Nantes. Could Sainte Colombe have been protestant and, consequently, slighted in the official registers? Until we find at least one document referring to the musician as Jean, or referring to Jean as a musician, we cannot be certain that this was the revered French musician.

Then there is the claim to a son or sons, perhaps illegitimate and consequently not in the official registers. In his work Réflexions sur l’Opéra published in 1742 the writer, Rémond de Saint-Mard claims to have known one of Sainte-Colombe’s sons. He referred to him as "a simple man...who had not enough imagination to tell a lie[13]."

Six suites for solo bass viol by "Mr de Sainte Colombe le fils"[14] are to be found in the Durham Cathedral library. They are part of a volume of 300-odd pages of solo bass viol music, including works by Marais, Dubuisson, Simpson and many other composers. The music had all been copied by an amateur violist and protestant minister by the name of Phillip Falle.[15] Curiously, markings in red ink are found only on the music by Sainte Colombe le fils. Could Falle have been a student of Saint Colombe le fils, who we know lived in Edinburgh which is not far from Durham?[16]

The Durham library also houses a theological dissertation in Latin by a Henri Auger de Sainte-Colombe who was a protestant minister originally from the Béarn region in France[17]. His birth record indicates that he was born near Pau, in France, on the 1st of June 1680 to Monsieur le Baron Jean de Sainte Colome (one "m", no "b") and Marie de Landorte.

Many letters have been left by Henri Auger and, oddly, he can be found in London at the same time as Sainte Colombe le fils. Sainte Colombe‘le fils’is mentioned in a London newspaper, "The Daily Courant," in 1713 in a notice for a "concert benefice for Mr Sainte Colombe" held at the Hickford Room in London[18]. Were they perhaps related? Given the dates they could have been cousins. A viol teacher in London in 1716 by the name of "Mr Cynelum,"[19] may well be the same Sainte Colombe le fils, his name anglicized for easier pronunciation for English speakers.

It would seem that there were at least two branches of the original Sainte Colombe family, one protestant and from the Béarn region of France and the other Catholics from Lyons. The Paris Protestant archives have a mention in the "repertoire Haag" of a Parisian Sainte Colombe (no first name) mentioned in 1700 as being “fort suspect de religion.”

A list of Parisian musicians compiled in 1692 by Abraham du Pradel gives a Sainte-Colombe but rather than an address there is a dotted line[20] and this Sainte-Colombe’s name is not to be found in the tax register of musicians from 1696. [21]

The Tombeau de Sainte Colombe of course is in Marais’ second book of Pièces de Viole published in 1701. But the same book contains the Tombeau for Lully who of course died in 1687. This suggests that Sainte Colombe may have died some time between 1686 – 1700.

A few years ago a correspondent indicated an article by a certain Claude Astor, “Musique et Musiciens à Saint Julien au XVIIe siècle, Un Sainte-Colombe à Brioude”[22]. The article includes a testament as well as an inventory of Marie d’Estoupe widow to Le Sieur de Sainte Colombe who had been buried in Brioude by the 13th of November 1688 in the cemetery of the Saint Julien church[23]. This musician, who arrived in Brioude at an unknown date, brought with him an impressive number of musical instruments. The list contains two portative organs, two spinets, seven viols (four basses and three trebles) and a lute. Unfortunately his first name is never mentioned in any of the documents.

With more patient and meticulous research we may come up with firm and conclusive evidence that gives a birth as well as a death date and perhaps even a genealogy for this great maître de viole. In France many archives have literally vanished in smoke both in Paris as well as in the provinces. Perhaps research in Great Britain, where many archives remain for the most part intact, will one day resolve the Sainte Colombe enigma.

Works

All the extant music by Monsieur de Sainte Colombe is to be found in four books:

- Two books of solo viol music (106 pieces) in the Scottish National Library. They are not signed but in an inventory from 1685 the two books are described as “viole lessons of Mr. St. Columbe in two books”[24].

- One book of solo viol music (144-odd pieces) in Tournus (Burgundy), known as the Tournus manuscript. This manuscript is not signed but about seventy of the pieces are also found in the Scottish manuscripts. This and the style of the music make it clear that it is the work of Sainte Colombe.

- Les Concerts a Deux Violes Esgales, a collection of 67 duos now housed in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. About fourty of these pieces are found in solo versions in the above mentioned manuscripts.

It has been proposed that the solo manuscripts are missing a second viol part. However, there is strong reason to believe that, rather, these works were part of a long tradition of solo viol music prevalent in 17th-century Europe. In France alone there is, to begin with, the large solo repertoire of Hotman, who left us with approximately forty-five solo bass viol pieces and Dubuisson whose surviving works amount to over one hundred pieces. This tradition continued with the solo music of Demachy and later Marin Marais and Sainte-Colombe’s own son. Marais’ first book of viol pieces were for solo viol and was published in 1686. By 1688 Jean Rousseau reported in a letter that “everyone is playing [Marais’] music”. It was only in the following year, 1689, that Marais took an unprecedented step and published a ‘basso continuo’ part for his first book. This was the first time an accompaniment was published for the viol or for any other instrumental music in France thus beginning a new trend which would continue into the 18th century.

The bass viol in seventeenth century French society was, I believe, heard like its close cousin the lute, as an unaccompanied solo instrument[25] and Sainte Colombe’s music was very much in the continuing 17th-century tradition of solo unaccompanied viol music. As the century ended he began exploiting and developing his own new form, the duos for two viols.

The tradition of turning a solo piece into a duo for two bass viols started in France with Nicolas Hotman[26], but it is well documented in England as well with pieces for solo or duo viols by Hume, Corkine and Ferrabosco and many others. In fact, a few of the solo pieces by Sainte Colombe can be found rewritten as duos in his Concerts à Deux Violes Esgales. Often the second viol part in the Concerts is the more demanding one. One might imagine the solo part being given to a student with whom Sainte Colombe would improvise a more virtuosic second part[27].

Sainte Colombe is credited with having added the 7th string to the bass viol in France as well as inventing the wound bass strings "... we owe to him this beautiful left hand position which brought viol playing to perfection [and] allowed him to imitate the greatest qualities of the human voice ... ; we also owe to M. de Sainte Colombe the 7th string which he added to the viol. Finally, he ... introduced the use of silver-spun strings in France, and he continually works to find anything to improve this instrument, if it were possible."[28] Whether this is true or not is irrelevant. Sainte-Colombe’s music speaks for itself. It is the first music in France that uses the seventh string, evident from the very first prelude for solo viol in the Tournus Manuscript. The virtuosity required to play this music highly exceeds predecessors such as Hotman or contemporaries such as Dubuisson. Both the solo music as well as the duos show Sainte-Colombe’s flair for improvisation and a highly agile “diabolic” bow stroke that drew the admiration of disciples such as Marin Marais.

Sainte Colombe’s reputation and innovation surely led to the viol’s prominent place as a solo instrument in France under the ‘ancien regime’. Moreover, he must have had an influential role in the evolution of 17th-century French viol repertoire from solo unaccompanied music to, by the end of the century, music for solo bass viol accompanied by a second viol continuo. His extensive collection of duos, of extraordinary length and beauty, are crucial in this development but should not overshadow the fabulous solo repertoire by which it was preceded. It is only to be hoped that more of this exceptional composers viol repertoire will come to light.


Editions

Jean (?) de Sainte Colombe

Recueil de Pièces pour Basse de Viole Seule

Fac-similés des manuscripts MS 9469 et MS 9469

National Library of Scotland, Edimburgh

(Manuscrits Panmure)

Editions Minkoff Genève 2003

Jean (?) de Sainte Colombe

Recueil de Pièces pour Basse de Viole Seule

Fac-similé du manuscript M.3 de la Bibliothèque municipale de Tournus

(Manuscrit de Tournus)

Editions Minkoff Paris 1998

Concerts à Deux Violes Esgales du Sieur de Sainte Colombe

Paris

Société Française de Musicologie 1998

Sainte Colombe the younger

Five suites for solo bass viol

ed. Jonathan Dunford,

Les Cahiers du Tourdion, Strasbourg, 1998.


Articles


Claude ASTOR

Musique et Musiciens à Saint Julien au XVIIe siècle, Un Sainte-Colombe à Brioude

Almanach de Brioude et de son arrondissement 1993 Pages 89 – 107

Jonathan DUNFORD

Articles :

Le point sur Sainte Colombe

L’Écho de la viole, 2, 1999, p. 2-4

(Société Française de Viole)

Les musiciens français antérieurs à Marin Marais

L’Écho de la viole, 4, 2000, p. 2-3.

(Société Française de Viole)

F.P. GOY

Préfaces :

Jean (?) de Sainte Colombe

Recueil de Pièces pour Basse de Viole Seule

Fac-similés des manuscripts MS 9469 et MS 9469

National Library of Scotland, Edimburgh

(Manuscrits Panmure)

Editions Minkoff Genève 2003

Jean (?) de Sainte Colombe

Recueil de Pièces pour Basse de Viole Seule

Fac-similé du manuscript M.3 de la Bibliothèque municipale de Tournus

(Manuscrit de Tournus)

Editions Minkoff Paris 1998

Concerts à Deux Violes Esgales du Sieur de Sainte Colombe

Paris

Société Française de Musicologie 1998

Article :

Jean de Sainte-Colombe et le Manuscrit de Tournus dans l’histoire de la musique pour viole seule en France

Société des Amis des Arts et des Sciènces de Tournus

Tome XCIV

Année 1995

p. 61 - 76

Corinne VAAST

Préface :

Concerts à Deux Violes Esgales du Sieur de Sainte Colombe

Paris

Société Française de Musicologie 1998

Articles :

M. de Sainte Colombe Protestant?

Bulletin de la société de l’histoire du Protestantisme Français

Tome 144, 1998 p. 591-601

A propos de M. de Sainte-Colombe

Bulletin de la société de l’histoire du Protestantisme Français

Tome 145, 1999 p. 189-191

[1] Pascal Quignard Tous les Matins du Monde, Editeur – Gallimard ISBN 2070724743

[2] This research has been conducted since 1992 by a team consisting of Stuart Cheney, François-Pierre Goy, Corinne Vaast and myself.

[3] L'envol de Sainte-Colombe, Pierre Guillot, Le Monde 18 January 1992 pages 1 and 13. The newspaper Le Monde corrected it’s previous erroneous article from 1992. See Enfin, des nouvelles du sieur de Sainte-Colombe by Renaud MACHART, Le Monde, 5 January, 1996; p. 19.

[4] For more on Dandricourt see Jean-Marc BAFFERT, Les orgues de Lyon du XVIe au XVIIe siècle, 1974, Cahiers et mémoire de l'orgue, 11, p. 51

[5] Paul de Rivérieulx, Vte de VARAX Généalogie de la Maison de Sainte Colombe, Lyon Imp. générale 30 rue Condé, (1881)

[6] Jean Rousseau Traité de la Viole 1687

« De tous ceux qui ont appris à joüer de la Viole de Monsieur Hotman, on peut dire que Monsieur de Sainte COLOMBE a esté son Ecolier par exellence, & que mesme il l’a beaucoup surpassé.. »

and

Jean Rousseau Réponse de Monsieur Rousseau, Paris 1688

« … car Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe & tous ceux qui ont appris de Monsieur Hotteman… »

[7] Mercure de France février 1678

Il y a eu icy ce Carnaval plusieurs sortes de Divertissements mais un des plus grands que nous ayons eus a esté un petit Opéra intitulé Les Amours d'Acis et de Galatée, dont M. de Rians, Procureur du Roy de l'ancient Chastelet, a donné plusieurs représentations dans son Hostel avec sa magnificence ordinaire. L'Assemblée a esté chaque fois de plus de quatre cens Auditeurs, parmy lesquels plusieurs Personnes de la plus haute qualité ont quelquefois eu peine à trouver place. Tous ceux qui chanterent et joüerent des Instrumens furent extrêmement applaudis. La Musique estoit de la composition de M. Charpentier dont je vous ay déjà fait voir deux Airs. Ainsi vous en connoissez l'heureux talent par vous-mesme. Madame de Beauvais, Madame de Boucherat, Messieurs les Marquis de Sablé et de Biron, M. Deniel, Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, si celebre pour la Viole et quantité d'autres qui entendent parfaitement toute la finesse du Chant ont esté des admirateurs de cet Opéra. (pp. 131-132)

[8] Another key date is the publication of a Sarabande de Mr de Sainte Colombe, published in Paris by Bénigne de Bacilly in Recueil des plus beaux vers qui ont esté mis en chant Third part Paris (c 1665), p. 139 (Unfortunately the words for the song are printed without the music!).

[9] Archives Nationales Série Y

[10] Archives Nationales, Minutier Central XCI (365) 22 septembre 1669

[11] Evrard Titon du Tillet Vies des Musiciens et autre Jouers d'Instruments du règne de Louis le Grand edition Le Promeneur, Gallimard, 1991 pages 84 - 85.

[12] Concerts à Deux Violes Esgales , revised edition Société Française de Musicologie, Paris 1998 (article by Corrine Vaast)

[13] Rémond de Saint-Mard Réflexions sur l'Opéra (oeuvres mêlées, 1742).

[14] See edition of Five suites for solo bass viol, ed. Jonathan Dunford, Les Cahiers du Tourdion, Strasbourg, 1998.

[15] Margaret Urquhart Prebendary Philip Falle (1656 –1742) and the Durham Bass Viol Manuscript A. 27 Chelys, vol 5 pages 7 – 20.

[16] The Younger Sainte-Colombe in Edinburgh, Ian Woodfield Chelys - Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society, Volume 14, 1985 pages 43 - 44.

[17] Exercitatio Theologica de Lege et Evangelio Ad Elucidationem Loci Evangelii Johannis Cap 1 vers 17….Respondente H. Auger de Ste Colome, Bearnis Gallo

[18] Daily Courant, London 11 May 1713 "For the benefit of Mr. Ste Columbe : a consort of vocal and instrumental musik will be performed on Thursday, being the 14th of May, at the Hickford dancing room over the tennis court on James street, Hay-Market to begin exactly at 7 o'clock. Tickets may be had at St James Coffee house."

[19] Dudley Ryder 1715-1716: Extracts from the Diary of a Student Viol Player - Ian Woodfield Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of America Volume XXI - 1984 pages 64 - 68.

[20] Pradel (Abraham du), Le livre commode des adresses de Paris pour 1692.

[21] Archives Nationales Z1H657 Capitation 13 Janvier 1696 Musiciens Simphonistes

(among others listed)

De La Grauveuse – Violes

Forcroy père

Forcroy fils

Machy

Rousseau

Le Moyne

[22] Almanach de Brioude et de son arrondissement 1993 Pages 89 - 107

[23] Testatment de Marie d’Estoupe, veuve du Sieur de Sainte-Colombe 13 novembre 1688

« A esté présente honeste femme Marie d’Estoupe, veuve de feu M (en blanc) Saincte-Colombe, vivant maistre de musique de l’esglise Sainct Julien de ceste ville de Brioude,…

Prie et supplie humblement Madame de Brinai vouloir faire enterrer sondict corps au tumbeau où est enterré ledict feu sieur de Saincte-Colombe dans le cimetiere de ladicte esglise Sainct-Julien…

Donne et lègue à nos seigneurs les comptes et chapitre de ladicte eglise Sainct Julien pour l’entretien de leur maistrise et instruction des enfans de chœur, tous les instrumens de musique qu’elle a en ladicte mestrise, consistans en deux orgues, trois basses et trois dessus et d’un autre.

Donne aussi à Messire Louis Eyssamas, prebstre semi-prébandé de ladicte esglise, à présent maistre de ladicte mestrise, pour les agréables services qu’elle a reçus et reçoit journellement de luy, d’une paire d’espinettes, autre basse de violon qu’il pourra choisir entre touttes celles qu’elle a en ladicte mestrise… et le travail de musique dudict feu de Saincte Colombe. »

Inventaire avant décès de Marie d’Estoupe 14 novembre 1688

« …2 paires d’orgues

…une paire d’espinettes, 4 violes

3 dessus, un luc (luth)

[24] See article Patrick CADELL La musique française classique dans la collection des comtes de Panmure, Recherches sur la musique française classique, XXII (1984) pp. 51 - 52 et 56 - 58

[25] We must remember that Sainte Colombe’s teacher Nicolas Hotman was both a lutenist and violist. Sainte Colombe also persisted in this predeliction for plucked instruments as reported by Rousseau in Réponse de Monsieur Rousseau, Paris 1688 :

Page 9

« Il dit que je n’ay point parlé de pincer la Viole, je n’ay pas cru le devoir faire, parce que ce n’est pas un jeu de la Viole qui soit en usage & qui n’y doit pas estre, j’avoue que Monsieur de Sainte Colombe s’y fait admirer, mais c’est un divertissement particulier qu’il se donne par l’usage qu’il a des Instruments à pincer ».

[26] See Courante VDGS 9 (solo in A-ET Goëss B) (folio 63 (A)), second viol part VDGS 27 in F-Pc MS Rés 1111, 267

[27] Look at Gigue « l’aisé » Concert « La Conférence » (VIII), or the concerts Pierotine (XV), or Les Couplets (X).

[28] Jean Rousseau Traité de la Viole 1687 Page 24.

[Mandryka]

There’s a line in Tous les matins du monde which popped into my mind listening to the first volume of Little and Napper’s Ste. Colombe. When Ste. Colombe first hears the young Marais he says something like “you know how to make the bow move like an eel in the water”

This image of fluidity is what seems to me to be very much at the essence of Little and Napper in this volume. That and an extraordinary sense of rapport between the two musicians: the booklet is full of stuff about the French courtly conception of dialogue, conversation, and quite rightly so, because these two musicians somehow transmit the sense of two people really enjoying being engaged in an intense and sparkling discussion.

Sparkling like the sun shining on moving water. The sound these two make is not gruff (Savall) and it’s not austere (Dunford), it’s a very attractive mean between the two.

As far as the music is concerned, all I can say is this: every concert seems to me wonderful! Full of delightful thing for the mind and the sensibility. And never falling either into the cliché or the triviality, there’s a constant sense of invention and expression.

But there may be some things lacking, some things which Savall and Kuijken have led me to value more than all else in Sainte Colombe’s music - cerebralness,  the sense of a mind searching and going deep into its self. Maybe the best, most positive, way to put it is like this: in this first volume, Little and Napper reveal a new, sensual, side of Ste.Colombe. It’s like the difference between conversation as pleasure, harmony (that’s Little and Napper) and conversation as a Socratic quest for truth (that’s Kuijken and Savall) That’s it. It’s the difference between dialogue in The Protagoras and dialogue in Pride and Prejudice!

[Mandryka]

It is quite easy to believe, listening to this CD, that there never has been more poetical. more beautiful music, than the obscure previously unheard short pieces by obscure largely unknown composers therein contained. And I can assure you that it hasn't always appeared like that to me: the music is subtle and you have to approach it in the right frame of mind, or it will just wash over you in a vaguely irritating way -- I know this from experience. But today, I saw it in a different light.

Initially I went to the CD to explore the suite by Nicolas Hotman, who interests me because he was probably, possibly, the teacher of the Chopin of the viol, M. de Sainte Colombe. And indeed the suite, which is the only example of his music I've heard, is rather nice. There's a specially nice allemande for example. But for me Hotman's music isn't the high point of the recording -- that status goes to Anonymous, who features quite a lot with delicate, refined, complex, tortured, knotty, dark music played communicatively and with subtle, humane feeling.

Dunford is on top form here, the performances are at the level of his Stoeffkens recording, which to my mind is the greatest gamba recording ever made (apart from . . . ) Classical, restrained but there's absolutely no sense of the music coming in on the phone, he's present. Dunford is the Leonhardt of the viol.

I like it very much when he plays a whole movement pizzicato.

Does anyone have the CD with the booklet essay? If so could they let me have a look, it's nowhere on line, and in fact I can't even see a copy of the CD (maybe I've not looked too hard)

[Mandryka]

Excellent Essay on Tobias Hume from Marianne Muller's recording

Captain Tobias Hume, Scottish mercenary, dilettante composer, virtuoso exponent of the viola da gamba, scorned during his lifetime and subsequently ignored by the musical encyclopaedias (‘So I must mone bemonde of none’ in What Greater Griefe), was a colourful personality who, in the view of many, went beyond the bounds of mental equilibrium in his outrageous words, attitudes, and writings. Of his trade of arms, we know only what he himself relates: ‘When I was in Russia, I did put thirty thousand to fight, and killed six or seven thousand Polonians by the Art of my Instruments of Warre when I first invented them’ (from the ‘True Petition of
Colonel Hume’). Let’s take his word for it…

Of his works, two collections published during his lifetime have come down to us. The first of these, issued in 1605, was The First Part of Ayres, containing 117 pieces, principally for solo viol with the exception of a few duos, trios, and accompanied songs. (John Dowland had published Lachrimae or Seaven Teares the previous year.) Then in 1607, came a second anthology, Captain Humes Poeticall Musicke, consisting of twenty-five pieces for consort of viols, some of them intended to be sung and suitable for playing on other instruments, as the composer himself recommends. (In the same year, Claudio Monteverdi wrote his Orfeo.) He died at the London Charterhouse (an almshouse) on 16 April 1645.

There in bare outline are the facts about this strange individual. However, if one looks beyond the barrackroom bravado and the fashionable melancholy of the period, it does not take much effort to hear in the music of Tobias Hume a substance at once profound and vivid, concentrated; and through that substance a man of paradoxes, fragile and enigmatic. Profound, for under the most extravagant titles it develops melodies
combining intimacy and sincerity.

Concentrated, because Hume relentlessly reworks not the same themes but the same melismas, the same gestures
(his written style is unfquestionably derived from orality and the instrumental gesture; in other words, what he set down on paper was merely the final outcome of sound materials and melodies long kneaded by his own hands),
and thus the same modes implied by the practice of the viol: the keys of G and D (major or minor) make up a huge
percentage of his output. Of the 117 pieces in The First Part of Ayres, more than a third respectively are in each of these two tonics! Here too the instrumental gesture is crucial. It is really in G minor that he finds his most moving and personal colours, as in Captaine Humes Pavan, A fiuestion, and An Answere. (In the present recording, seven of the eleven pieces are in the tonic of G, including five in the minor.) Let us not forget that in the early seventeenth century equal temperament (the octave divided into twelve equal semitones) did not exist in the sense we give it today; temperament took multiple forms, and as a result each tonic developed its own intervals, possessing specific ‘humours’ that no other mode could reproduce. The standardisation of temperament based on the ‘Werckmeister’ system of 1691 should not be seen as an artistic advance but rather as an option in the history of western culture.

The inner world of the Captain (or self-styled Colonel in his senile wanderings!) is extremely precise, centripetal, and controlled; the colours of his universe are immediately identifiable on first hearing. Although he fought without the slightest diplomacy against the hegemony of the lute, claiming supremacy for the viol instead, his style derives directly from the instrument of the ‘English Orpheus’, both aesthetically – he was among the first to employ polyphony and chordal technifiqe on the viol; his counterpoint is simple, clear, and skilful – and in scribal terms, since the great majority of his scores are in the form of tablatures and table-books similar to those for lute.

The programme meticulously chosen by Marianne Muller is particularly good at teasing Hume out of his
shell (or rather his armour) and his nefarious legend, allowing us to hear his personality in all its sensuality
(Sweete Musicke), humour (Tinckeldum Twinckeldum) and melancholy melodic clarity (The Virgins Muse),
what Hume himself termed ‘the onely effeminate part of mee’.

Captaine Humes Pavan, so often recorded, assumes here a dimension of abyssal introspection tinged with
a little resigned smile, as if to excuse itself. In the repetition of the last twelve bars, the melodic line moves
irremediably downwards by means of a slowly articulated point of imitation on a diatonic motif, starting
initially on G, then a fourth lower still on D. Even the final speck of light represented by a little cell of a rising third is set in a harmonic progression which tends ever downwards until it reaches its resolution. From these depths, light is probably shed on ‘A Part of the true Face’ of the enigmatic Captain Tobias Hume!

Eric Fischer

[Mandryka]

Here's an image of a page from an Elizabethan score for viol consort, apparently Dowland's Lachrimae were written like this. The idea was that it would sit in the middle of a table for all the players to share --  they would sit  around the table, so the music is written in four separate orientations.

[San Antone]

Here's an image of a page from an Elizabethan score for viol consort, apparently Dowland's Lachrimae were written like this. The idea was that it would sit in the middle of a table for all the players to share --  they would sit  around the table, so the music is written in four separate orientations.

That was common in the Medieval/Renaissance periods; there was no "score", just each part on a separate section spanning two pages.  What is unique about this is the vertical/horizontal arrangement for players sitting at a table.  But choirs always used a similar type of manuscript, except all the parts were vertical arranged on the page such as:

Part A       |       Part C
Part B       |       Part D

I am not sure when the first composite score came into existence.

[aligreto]

Here's an image of a page from an Elizabethan score for viol consort, apparently Dowland's Lachrimae were written like this. The idea was that it would sit in the middle of a table for all the players to share --  they would sit  around the table, so the music is written in four separate orientations.

That was common in the Medieval/Renaissance periods; there was no "score", just each part on a separate section spanning two pages.  What is unique about this is the vertical/horizontal arrangement for players sitting at a table.  But choirs always used a similar type of manuscript, except all the parts were vertical arranged on the page such as:

Part A       |       Part C
Part B       |       Part D

I am not sure when the first composite score came into existence.

Most interesting and informative, gentlemen.

[Mandryka]

This Cd is the apotheosis of a technique which Pandolfo has been developing for years -- he touches the strings lightly with the bow, the result is a bit like short motifs of music are chasing each other in a game of cat and mouse -- fragile, murmuring, and above all in motion. He uses these chasing motifs to create a pulse -- it's a completely new way of marking a rhythm. It makes the music sound mysterious, elusive and shimmering with life.

The music is made up of C16 pieces for little ensembles including viols, the music is all  inspired by madrigals -- the madrigals are sung, like in those recordings of Orgelbuchlein where they sing the chorales.

Is the viol music interesting? It's beautiful, in a renaissance way, that's to say it's simple and it's sweet and sane. And it's virtuoso. Harmonically, the madrigals sound quite interesting  presumably because of enharmonic and microtonal adjustments that the singers are making. The viol pieces are often viol and some sort of accompaniment so there aren't a whole of of opportunities for harmonic juiciness unfortunately.

Pandolfo's style of playing makes it more interesting that that sounds, because it gives it nervous energy and life.

One fascinating moment is in Vincenzo Bonizzi's music based on Pierre Sandrin's Douce Memoir, where the nervous cat and mouse style is effectively contrasted with brief and memorable lyrical moments. Bonizzi also comes up trumps in a long piece based on Willaert's song Jouissance vous donnerai -- he's defo a composer I want to explore more.

Another high point, for similar reasons, is Bassani's music based on Susanna un jour. And how lovely here, the combination of viol and lute.

If this was a concert we'd be on our feet at the end shouting bravo and be we'd talking about how wonderful it was in the bar afterwards; we'd be totally enraptured by the music making, which would make us forget all other music; we'd feel honoured and fortunate to have borne the costs, and taken the time and trouble to go   -- in these days of streaming, what more can anyone want from a recording than that?

[Mandryka]

This Cd is the apotheosis of a technique which Pandolfo has been developing for years -- he touches the strings lightly with the bow, the result is a bit like short motifs of music are chasing each other in a game of cat and mouse -- fragile, murmuring, and above all in motion. He uses these chasing motifs to create a pulse -- it's a completely new way of marking a rhythm. It makes the music sound mysterious, elusive and shimmering with life.

The music is made up of C16 pieces for little ensembles including viols, the music is all  inspired by madrigals -- the madrigals are sung, like in those recordings of Orgelbuchlein where they sing the chorales.

Is the viol music interesting? It's beautiful, in a renaissance way, that's to say it's simple and it's sweet and sane. And it's virtuoso. Harmonically, the madrigals sound quite interesting  presumably because of enharmonic and microtonal adjustments that the singers are making. The viol pieces are often viol and some sort of accompaniment so there aren't a whole of of opportunities for harmonic juiciness unfortunately.

Pandolfo's style of playing makes it more interesting that that sounds, because it gives it nervous energy and life.

One fascinating moment is in Vincenzo Bonizzi's music based on Pierre Sandrin's Douce Memoir, where the nervous cat and mouse style is effectively contrasted with brief and memorable lyrical moments. Bonizzi also comes up trumps in a long piece based on Willaert's song Jouissance vous donnerai -- he's defo a composer I want to explore more.

Another high point, for similar reasons, is Bassani's music based on Susanna un jour. And how lovely here, the combination of viol and lute.

If this was a concert we'd be on our feet at the end shouting bravo and be we'd talking about how wonderful it was in the bar afterwards; we'd be totally enraptured by the music making, which would make us forget all other music; we'd feel honoured and fortunate to have borne the costs, and taken the time and trouble to go   -- in these days of streaming, what more can anyone want from a recording than that?

This is definitely something to hear, and revisiting it through a different set of speakers in a different mood even the singing sound more my style. The performances are so committed and inspired that they completely disarm criticism. It’s a case of love transposing . . .

[Mandryka]

Rés 1111 is a manuscript in Berlin, this is what the booklet says about it, and the difficulty of Juliane Laake’s rather inspiring work - maybe for the first time I’m coming to understand how the problems of scholarly musicians go beyond making musical sense of a manuscript.

Rés. 1111 has never been published in a facsimile or modern edition1. In order to access this music, one must either visit the library in person with a large stack of manuscript paper (and many hours of writer’s cramp ahead), or pay a sizable fee to obtain an authorized digital copy. Once the item is actually to hand, the challenges are not over; while close to all of the 273 pieces are titled, it is not known who composed 220 of them. Let me translate this conundrum by asking you to imagine visiting an art museum only to find that the names of the artists have not been provided! It might be immediately obvious to you that some paintings are truly original and remarkable works, but it’s difficult to argue so convincingly without comparing them to other works to which they are directly related. This was the situation that confronted Juliane Laake when planning this project. Not only were there a great number of pieces with which to come to grips, but she also had to find some way to organize them into a coherent and presentable narrative. What you have in front of you is a record of her exploration and sleuthing and discovery. Just because the author can’t be determined doesn’t mean the music is better or worse than pieces by known composers. And not every piece by “anon” sounds the same! So that you, dear listener, may better join in this journey and pick out some of the landmarks, here is some context for the manuscript, plus a few of the details that can be identified, and an explanation of what makes it so very unusual and special.

The music includes hymn settings and some songs for solo voice and viol, scholars believe it was part of a Lutheran tradition of domestic devotional music making.

Sober and meticulous performances of rare high quality music scrupulously recorded, mostly anon, mostly viol solo, mostly Lutheran in origin, some hymn settings, all dating from the century before orgelbuchlein. Very well worth exploring for those who appreciate this sort of thing - think Stoeffken, think Tobias Hume - I would have thought. For me it’s a treasure!

[Mandryka]

   

Jordi Savall recorded Marais Book 2 two times, once for Astree in 1975  with Anne Gallet and Hopkinson Smith. And then when he quit Astree to form is own label Alia Vox, he rerecorded them with Hantai and Lieslevand and Pierlot and Diaz Latour. I'm not sure of the date for the second, maybe 2003.

Anyway there is a big difference and as you'd expect if you know Savall's art, the later style is less heavy, in my opinion preferable.

The music of book 2 is well worth exploring, harmonically and rhythmically. 

There are, by the way, two Savall recordings of Book 4 -- it's just that I've not been exploring them today.


   

[Mandryka]

How delightful to find a recording of music by Marais for solo viol, especially by a sensitive academic performer like Alberto Rasi. He plays like an angel, a reflective happy angel -- even something like the Arabesque (80) is sweet. Gorgeous. He knows how to play the silences too, so La reveuse (82), for example, has you hanging off the end of your seat, such is the power of suspension. The result is a Marais which sounds close in spirit to Sainte Colombe, and for that's a jolly good thing.  This is a recording I will be exploring.

I have no information on the viol; Rasi is also a bit of a mystery, one website says he was a Savall student, that he has his own ensemble, teaches in Verona . . . no more than that.

Outstanding sound.