Five Centuries of Music in the Cathedral of Reims

00:00 Vive le Roy: Fanfares for the Coronation of Louis XII (1498; Josquin Des Pres, c1450-1521) 01:13 Motet “Felix Virgo“ (Guillaume de Machaut, c1300-1377; ed. J. Chailley) Rémy Corazza, tenor; José van Dam, bass; Jacques Chailley, director 06:38 Gloria for 3 mixed voices and brass (Baude Cordier, c1380-c1440) Les Alouettes de Champagne; Arsène Muzerelle, director 10:13 Missa Quatuor Vocum “Cantate Domino“ (François Cosset, c1620-1682) Kyrie - Gloria - Sanctus - Benedictus - Agnus Dei Reims Cathedral Choir; Arsène Muzerelle, director 23:54 Magnificat (Motet for 5 Voices & Orchestra; Henri Hardouin, 1727-1808) Magnificat anima mea: Recit gracieux - Et exultavit: Recit et choeur - Quia respexit: Recit tendre et gracieux - Fecit potentiam: Choeur en faux bourdon - Deposuit potentes: Duo leger - Suscepit Israel: Recit gracieux - Gloria Patri: Choeur gracieux et lent André Mallabrera & Rémy Corazza, tenor; Roger Soyer, bass; Reims Cathedral Choir; Jean-François Paillard Chamber Orchestra; Jean-François Paillard, conductor 42:10 Hymn “Veni Creator“ (Nicolas de Grigny, 1672-1703): En taille a 5 - Fugue a 5 - Recit de Cromorne - Dialogue sur les Grands Jeux Arsène Muzerelle, González Organ, Reims Cathedral In baptizing Clovis, King of the Francs, in the year 496, Saint Remigius forecast the long tradition of sacred rites which, except for the first few, took place for many centuries in the Cathedral of Reims. This metropolis of religion rapidly became an important cultural and artistic center. Architects and sculptors as well as poets and musicians were gathered around the Cathedral. Certain of these composers participated only in local activities; others remained at Reims before attempting the capital; while still others, such as Guillaume de Machaut and Nicolas de Grigny, possessed such musical personalities that their renown rapidly spread beyond the borders of France. The “Fanfare royale” which opens this program is not by a native musician of Reims. It was, however, for the occasion of the coronation of Louis XII that this “Vive le Roy” by Josquin Des Pres was performed in the Cathedral. The beautiful motet, Felix Virgo, is one of the most perfect examples of a great motet of the Ars Nova, which returns to and enlarges upon the isorhythmic technique of the preceding epoch. As usual with this type of composition, two independent melodies with different texts are set against each other over an instrumental tenor which determines the character of the piece. It is completed, in the background, by an equally instrumental counter-tenor part (an innovation of the fourteenth century). Basis and point of departure of the composition, this particular tenor is an excerpt of the Salve Regina (solemn tone), from Ad te suspiramus up to and including advocata nostra. After an opening section omitting the theme, the cantus firmus is presented first in long-held notes divided by rests, following a complex rhythmic plan (thirty-five measures in rhythm, repeated three times) in which the counter-tenor also participates. The isorhythm, by contrast, hardly affects the vocal parts except in a very approximate way, but these are not any less elaborate melodically, with a frequent exchange of thematic motifs circulating between one voice and the other. Finally, a closing section in the form of a brilliant coda, wherein syncopations and “hockets” abound in the vocal parts, leading to the final Cum gaudio, takes up again the cantus firmus in the tenor with the note-values reduced exactly by half, which introduces interesting rhythmic combinations and contributes a truly remarkable aspect of dynamic motion to the composition as a whole. We have but little information about Baude Cordier, this poet-musician of the early fifteenth century. One manuscript, now in the Conde Museum in Chantilly, informs us, however, that the author “Master Baude Cordier, by name / From Reims, whose music as far as Rome / Is heard far and wide.” From his essential secular output, only one sacred piece has reached us, a Gloria in three parts. Dating from past the Ars Nova, the melodic shape and the rhythm of this piece already suggest the style of Dufay. François Cosset was born around 1620 in Saint Quentin or its environs. He obtained a modest post as chorister at Laon, settled for a time at Senlis, and then lived from 1643 to 1646 in Paris, where he occupied the position of Director of Music at Notre Dame. In 1647 he was named Musical Director of the Cathedral at Reims. He filled that post until 1662 and died around 1682. A large part of his sacred work was published in Paris by Ballard. His Missa quatuor vocum ad imitationem moduli “Cantate Domino” is unique in its a cappella setting. Although it dates from the middle of the seventeenth century, it is written in the tradition of the old Renaissance masters and demonstrates such learning and contrapuntal refinement that only the most highly trained choirs could perform it.