The Burgundian Cadence approach to chant elaborated:
1 We are a quartet A/bar T T Bar
2 We are NOT musicologists, therefore do not rule anything in or out, just
do what sounds best.
3 We started using drones in rehearsal for tuning purposes, in singing
monody it easy to lose track of ut, and sing diatonic intervals, losing the
peculiar characteristics of the mode. Adding a drone enables singing in pure
mean-tone - especially rich in hypolydian mode. Is there any empirical
evidence to suggest that drones (probably instrumental) were NOT used?
4 with only 4 singers (or 2 and 1 for solo verses) a much faster tempo my be
used, the twists and turns of the music become as ornamentation, rather than
a meandering line.
5 In Sarum chants the phrase lengths are very long with few obvious places
for quarterbars. A faster tempo is therefore a MUSICAL imperative, not a
cranky luxury.
6 Since there are different note shapes there must be differing emphasis on
certain notes. Let's not have chant sounding like a midi file! (That's what
we call rhythmic groups...)
Approaches to other music that we perform: c.1390 - 1480, emphasis on
Dunstaple at the moment..
Musica Ficta: double leading notes, and extended cadences for their use, as
written in recta by Cooke in Stella Celi (Old Hall). Apply what he does to
other music of this period - including early Dufay, Binchois etc, and the
sonorities are wonderful. Far too much is expunged (IMHO!) in the generally
anal-retentive performances that are so popular at the moment.
Off my soapbox!
Best
Rupert
Rupert Damerell
The Burgundian Cadence
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-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rob C. Wegman
Sent: 27 November 1998 18:40
To: Nick Sandon
Cc: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Reply: RE: Ensemble Organum revisited...
On Fri, 27 Nov 1998, Nick Sandon wrote:
> a plea for the right to be uncritical about evidence.
Granted, but who is talking about the right to be uncritical about
evidence here? If that is the charge implicit in Professor Sandon's
earlier posting re: The Burgundian Cadence, I would invite him to
elaborate a little on that, as it does seem rather a harsh thing to say.
Specifically, it might be helpful to learn what is the evidence that The
Burgundian Cadence is "uncritical" about.
> Perhaps you have evidence to support this approach;
> otherwise it seems thoroughly misconceived. What is the
> intention?
Why is a musical approach "thoroughly misconceived" when there appears to
be no "evidence to support" it?
Rob C. Wegman
Princeton University
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