Pres du soloil
Instrumentation: voice organetto, recorder, lute, vielle
After the long, cold winter, the yearned-for spring arrives in the merry month of May. Day and night the sounds of chirping can be heard, from the lark to the nightingale. For ages birdsong has moved people to wonder. Indeed, songbirds enliven myths, fables, songs and poems. In music, not only does one find the easily mimicked cuckoo song, but also its counterpart, the nightingale, has been represented in tone painting. Birds had great symbolic value in Medieval times: while the eagle or the falcon, as hunting birds, were a sign of power or sublimity, the cuckoo, calling out the French word "cocu", can represent deception or betrayal. The nightingale can stand for love, and the lark as the messenger of spring. All of these birds are chief players in virelais, madrigals and ballades, for example, in the well-known Lais, "Laüstic", by Marie de France. Italian and French songs of Senleches, Pauolo da Firenze, Borlet, among others, presented in this program by Santenay, were inspired by this story.
Jacob de Senleches: En ce gracieux tamps
Modena: Biblioteca Estense,
Ms. 524, fol. 25v
Anonymus: Or sus vous dormez trop
Ivrea: Biblioteca Capitolare
Ms. 110, fol. 14v-15