Search - John Fleagle, Cheryl Ann Fulton, Shira Kammen :: Le Roman De Fauvel

Satire and blasphemy

FrKurt Messick | Bloomington, IN USA | 12/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Boston Camerata has long been one of my favourite groups. I have this disc on the same shelf with another of their productions, 'The Sacred Bridge', also by Erato (which is also one of my favourite labels). Under the direction of Joel Cohen, the Boston Camerata has over a dozen musicians who play instruments from the medieval and Renaissance periods; they also play into later periods. This disc is firmly planted in the period of their expertise.



-- Le Roman de Fauvel --

This piece is almost an early musical, a setting of an ironic satire based on the French corut and the papal court during its exile in Avignon. The composition dates from 1310-1316. It was considered blasphemous at the time, which made it all the more popular. The author of the first story is unknown, but likely to be Gervais du Bus, an official at court in Paris. Fauvel stands in as an acronym for six major vices of the court, and of course, Fauvel rises rather quickly in the court to become very powerful.



The story was added to several years later, this addition without doubt from du Bus, in which Fauvel tries to marry Fortuna, but ends up with Dame vaine glorie, and the two populate the world with offspring.



The music here draws upon the styles of the time - polyphony, motet, chant-inspired pieces, conductus, sequence, prosa, lai, rondeau, virelai - there is a real variety here.



This is a wonderful recording of rare music."

Sobre los autores del texto literario

FrKurt Messick | 05/20/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Los autores del texto literario son Gervais du Bus y Chaillou du Pestain. Describen la vida de un asno que se llama Fauvel cuyo nombre es el acróstico de los principales vicios encontrados en este mundo: Adulación, avaricia, villanía, veleidad, envidia y cobardía). Hay algunos motetes que son de Felipe de Vitry. El volumen de las piezas musicales es mucho mayor que en el "Jeu de Robin et de Maion" y se pueden considerar como una auténtica antología de los generos musicales en uso."