#messe de nostre dame
Messe de Nostre Dame (Mass of Our Lady) is a polyphonic mass composed before 1365 by French poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut. It is one of the great masterpieces of medieval music and of all religious music; it is historically notable as the earliest complete setting of the Ordinary of the Mass attributable to a single composer, in contrast to earlier compilations such as the Tournai Mass.
Interesting addition of melismata, quite unlike previous recordings. I’d like to read where they got the interpretation of the opening chant from; their way of singing it makes sense based on the notation, and I’m somewhat surprised that nobody has come up with singing it in an “ornamented” way rather than just melodic chant before. One only has to think of Arabic muezzin chanting in calls to prayer, which also uses varied “ornamentation”, depending on the muezzin, time and place, to make the connection. Although the crusaders had been booted out of Palestine in 1291, there were still crusades going on in Machaut’s time (Smyrniote 1343–1351, Alexandrian 1365, Savoyard 1366) and half of Spain was still ruled by Muslims (it’s probably no accident that the first treatises on diminutions – “glosas” in Spanish and “divisions” in English – first appeared in Spain in the first half of the 16th century given that the last Iberian Muslims weren’t conquered until 1492 when Spain was united). Considering how much influence over European music and culture in general that the crusades and Al -Andalus had had since the 8th century, the interpretation makes sense. I have always thought that Monteverdi got the stutter trill on one note found in L'Orfeo and Missa Beata Vergine et al. from coming into contact with Middle Eastern vocal music in Venice (not that Muslims were allowed to chant prayer calls in Venice around 1600 though they probably frequented the city as traders; perhaps through cantorial singing in the Ghetto). It’s a rather under-researched phenomenon in music history. [Tony Villamotte]
Quite simply the best performance of this masterpiece that I have ever heard: note the embellishments, reminiscent of Bulgarian folk music, the nasal-toned voices, and the straightforward yet emotive style of performance. Note also theFrenchified pronunciation of the Latin text. [Daniel Waitzman]
@mykristeva I think this recording is brilliant, and the ornamentation plays a major role in that. The link with Middle Eastern chanting is valid, and I completely agree with the link to Bulgarian folk music. I wonder, however, if any influence also came from the Byzantine Empire, as Byzantine and subsequent Eastern Orthodox music also makes use of this ornamentation and their singing tradition predates the influence of Muslims in the East.
