La Harpe de Melodie

The time of Benedict XIII, Pope Luna, which covers more or less from the middle of the XIV century to the beginning of the XV, is the new center of interest of the celebrated Capella de Ministrers group, directed by Carles Magraner. In this autumn of the Middle Ages there is just the flowering of the Ars nova, from the famous treatise by Philippe de Vitry that establishes a new system of musical notation and with it greater harmonic and rhythmic variety in the composition, greater expressivity, and also of the Ars subtilior, which takes to the limit the harmonic complexities and the possibilities of dissonance, turning the text into an intellectual conundrum of thick symbolism. Of course, not all of these advances were to the liking of the Church, which would eventually forbid the new style for its avant-garde and lightness.

Although Guillaume de Machaut is the most overwhelming creator of the period, the true star of the Ars Nova, some of his followers showed themselves capable of writing beautiful compositions, as evidenced by the present program that drinks codices like those of Chantilly, Apt, Ivrea, Barcelona and Valencia. We can enjoy the ballads and virelais of Jacob de Senleches (whose piece entitled La Harpe de melodie gives the album its title), Johannes de Janua or Jehan Simon de Haspre and Jaquet de Noyon, as well as other anonymous authors. But we are also offered, for example, the Missa coram Papa, made from fragments of various anthologies, or the beautiful hymn Gaude flori virginali, contained in the Cantoral of the Poor Clares of Valencia.

Although Guillaume de Machaut is the most overwhelming creator of the period, the true star of the Ars Nova, some of his followers showed themselves capable of writing beautiful compositions, as evidenced by the present program that drinks codices like those of Chantilly, Apt, Ivrea, Barcelona and Valencia. We can enjoy the ballads and virelais of Jacob de Senleches (whose piece entitled La Harpe de melodie gives the album its title), Johannes de Janua or Jehan Simon de Haspre and Jaquet de Noyon, as well as other anonymous authors. But we are also offered, for example, the Missa coram Papa, made from fragments of various anthologies, or the beautiful hymn Gaude flori virginali, contained in the Cantoral of the Poor Clares of Valencia.