The Sound Table

 

For those friends and dear ones who were unable to be in York for my first recital and asked to hear it - I've compiled my programme notes and live recordings into some Youtube videos to somewhat recreate the afternoon. I hope you enjoy! I've copied the links below (underlined in purple). A Young Performer's Disclaimer: It's far from perfect, but I think it's a pretty good starting place. Two more recitals to go in the next 7 months! The whole programme lasts about 28 minutes so if you have a half hour and want to have the whole experience of the recital then they're intended to be listened to in this order (Suggestion - right click the link and choose 'open in new tab'. Then you won't have to keep going back and forth) : 

I. Sacred

 

Alma Redemptoris Mater and Ave Maria 

O quam mirabilis

O pastor animarum...

II. Secular

Comtessa de Dia: A Chantar

Martim Codax: Cantigas de Amigo

 (These can be individually linked to as well if you prefer: Cantiga I ; Cantiga II ; Cantiga III ;  

Cantiga IV  ; Cantiga V ; Cantiga VII ) 

Extra note: A sixth cantiga does exist in poetic form, but unfortunately, its original music does not survive in manuscript. Performing options include composing a setting in the Medieval style of the other cantigas. I have chosen to exclude the sixth Cantiga from the canon of this cycle in my performance, but will print its translation here in order to acknowledge its potential for inclusion:

In Vigo and on holy ground

A body fair danced round and round,

All in love am I.

In Vigo, in this holy place,

Danced so slim and full of grace,

All in love am I.

Danced a fair body round and round

That never had a lover found,

All in love am I.

Danced so slim and full of grace

That ne'er had looked upon love's face,

All in love am I.

That never had a lover found

And danced there on holy ground,

All in love am I.

That ne'er had looked upon love's face

And danced in this holy place

All in love am I.

I tend to imagine, perhaps idealistically or romantically, that this lone cantiga is not in the voice of the maiden, but is actually from the perspective of her lover out at sea. It is not definitely so, but I struggle to place this poem amongst the others if it is actually from the feminine point of view. It was not uncommon for troubadour songs to shift perspective, from man to woman, from mother to daughter, etc... In this case I would argue that he is, perhaps, daydreaming about her from his ship, battling the guilt and irony that she is off on Vigo’s shore, dancing, waiting for him, while she never gets to look upon his face, and yet he remains entirely in love with her.

In attempting to recreate, my task also becomes to perpetuate the development of this music, asserting my own environmental constraints, freedoms, and parameters on the performance. In this way the performance ideally surpasses imitation and becomes authentic, rather than emulative singing, and I, as a performer in the twenty-first century, am able, in turn, to take my place amongst the Medieval women who came long before me, soaking up the lavish fruits of joining them at their vibrant sound table. I hope you enjoy the journey.

Hope you like it! Thanks for joining me at my Sound Table : )

 

~Nia