The Early Interval

Joyeux Noël

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

Welcome to this Gallic musical celebration of the Christmas and Epiphany season. Our program features three primary genres of music: traditional carols, instrumental settings of noël tunes, and sacred vocal works by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. 

The word ‘carol’ derives from the Old French carole, a popular medieval dance accompanied by singing which was widespread by the 12th century. Medieval carols could be on any subject, but were often about the Virgin Mary or the Saints of Christmas. In more recent centuries the word has usually referred to strophic songs (some with refrains) associated with the Christmas season. Tonight’s carols take us on a historical tour of several regions, languages, and cultures in France.

The tune of Ce matin, j’ai rencontré le train originated in the 17th century as the military march 'Marche de Turenne', after the celebrated military leader Henri de la Tour d' Auvergne (1611-75), Vicomte de Turenne. It has been suggested by some that Jean-Baptiste Lully was the composer. The march is thought to have been written for the fifes and drums to which the French army marched, and it survived in Provence, where these instruments continued to be used. The original Provençal text (De matin ai rescountra lou trin) was written in the following century to fit the tune (the way in which noëls were often created throughout history). It is likely that the carol was created for performance at the processions of the three kings that made their way into the major Provençal towns on the eve of the Epiphany, of which it became an essential part. Georges Bizet used the tune in his incidental music to the drama L'Arlesienne, one of three tunes he took from a publication called Tambourin (1864) by the tabor player Vidal of Aix.

Il est né, le divin Enfant likely originated in the 17th or 18th century as a rustic folk carol. The text was first published in Dom G. Legeay's Noëls anciens (1875-6), and the earliest publication of the tune seems to be R. Grosjean's Airs des noëls lorrain (1862), where it is called 'Ancien air de chasse' (the old Normandy hunting tune 'Tete bizarde' is melodically very similar).

The tune of Quelle est cette odeur agréable occurs in English sources as early as ca. 1710 and in French sources from at least 1717. John Gay used it in The Beggar's Opera (1728) for a drinking song, as did Thomas D'Urfey before him (Wit and Mirth: Or Pills to Purge Melancholy, 1719-20). It was also featured in La Chercheuse d'esprit (1741), an opera comique by C. S. Favart, to the words 'Ne les laissons point seuls ensemble'. The poem dates from the 17th century, and is said to be from Lorraine. It is based on the annunciation to the shepherds in the Gospel of Luke, focusing on the pleasing scents coming from the manger after the birth of the baby Jesus. The opening is known in English today as “Whence is that goodly fragrance flowing, shepherds, to steal the senses all away?”

Provençal Christmas celebrations have featured torches for many centuries. Another tradition is the making of model villages, complete with an elaborate crèche. Both are reflected in the carol Un flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle. The French text by Emile Blemont first appeared in Julien Tiersot's Noels français (1901) and is an adaptation of the Provençal carol 'Vénès leou vieira la Pieoucelle', first published without any melody in Nicolas Saboly's Recueil de noëls provençaux (1699). François-Joseph Seguin's Recueil de noëls composes en langue provençale (1856) includes the basic tune still familiar today; it derives from the drinking-song 'Qu'ils sont doux, bouteille jolie', which Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed or adapted for performances of Moliere's play Le Médecin malgré lui in 1666.

The text of Quittez, pasteurs is from P. Garnier's La Grande Bible renouvelée de noëls (1723). The tune is a Besançon melody, also associated with the song 'Nanon dormait'.

Noël nouvelet is one of many early noëls that tell the story of the nativity. It was sung at New Year, and was one of the most popular noëls in the sixteenth century. The earliest source is a late fifteenth-century manuscript which does not include the usual reference to an existing song tune to which the poem should be sung. We are using one of the two melodies to which it is sung today; it has been associated with these words from the 17th century and may well be the original tune. It begins with the first five notes of the plainchant Marian hymn 'Ave maris stella', which is used in a similar manner in several other early noëls. Nouvelet comes from the same root as noël, both originally denoting 'news' (nouvelles in modern French) or newness. New Year was the time when the earliest carols were most frequently sung, but by the sixteenth century, noël had taken on its modern Christmas meanings. Nouvelet suggests both the New Year and a new song for the 'newborn King'.

The annunciation carol Birjina gaztettobat zegoen is one of the most widely-known Basque noëls, especially in its English version titled ‘Gabriel’s Message’. It was one of the many songs collected by Charles Bordes during his commissioned travels through the Basque country and appeared at the beginning of his volume Douze noëls populaires (1895). Bordes was an active musician, composer, and scholar with an interest in early music and French folk music.

Guillô, pran ton tamborin! (Patapatapan) is dance-like noël that remains popular throughout France as a sung carol. In Provence and Gascony it is also part of the pipe-and-tabor repertory of noëls and dances that are played at various points in the Christmas midnight mass. In some rural churches the place of honor at this service is still given to local shepherds, who bear gifts to the santon (nativity scene). Both text and tune are in Gui Barozai's Noei borguignon (1701), where the tune is called 'Ma mere, mariez-moi'. Guillo and Robin are standard characters in Provençal carols: they bring food to the manger in 'Allons, bergers, partons tous', and, like Jeannette and Isabelle in 'Un flambeau', could represent the larger village. 'Turelurelu!' is in imitation of the pipe, 'patapatapan!' of the drum 

Largely forgotten from the time of his death in 1704 until the 20th century, the music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier has enjoyed a significant rebirth and appreciation in recent decades. He created a very large quantity of church music, plus instrumental and secular compositions, including songs, dramatic cantatas, and music for the theatre. Much of this output reflects the influence of Italian music and his study in Rome with the oratorio master Giacomo Carissimi, although his work for the theatre reflects a more French style of writing.

Charpentier’s brief oratorio Pour la fête de l’Épiphanie, was probably composed for the son of Louis XIV, when Charpentier was the music master of his chapel. The composition is characteristic of the small ensemble of voices and instruments available to the composer for the daily low mass of Le Grand Dauphin, as the younger Louis became known. It sets to music Matthew’s Gospel of the feast of Epiphany, with a few adjustments to enhance the drama. The work is written in D minor, which is classified as ‘Grave & dévot’ (serious and devout) in Charpentier’s own listing of each mode’s ‘énergie’ or essence. After a short instrumental prelude, the singers recount the story of the three wise men.

Charpentier composed six Latin motets on the nativity theme, all with a stylistic blend of French and Italian influences, including instrumental ritornellos, choruses, and recitative narratives by shepherds, angels, and evangelists. The texts are adapted from the story of the nativity in the Gospel of Saint Luke. We are performing excerpts from two of these works: In nativitatem Domini canticum, H. 416 and Dialogus inter angelos et pastores Judeae, in nativitatem Domini, H. 420, which also use texts from Psalm X and Isaiah 45:8. Unlike Charpentier’s other motets sharing the same title, which were probably composed for performance at a private house, these two are somewhat grander in scale and were likely performed at one of the Jesuit churches or schools where Charpentier worked between 1688 and 1698. They are almost identical in structure, with the composer making great musical and dramatic use of the symbolism of the text.

Charpentier wrote his settings of sacred texts and themes primarily in Latin, but his more theatrical output includes two French pastorales on the Christmas story. The second of these works, Pastorale sur la naissance de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ, H. 483, is larger, more colorful, and highly dramatic, and considered to be one of his finest accomplishments. The first part is filled with solemnity. The protagonists describe the miserable condition of humanity, and call for a divine sign bringing light, peace, justice and redemption. Charpentier composed three distinct versions of the second part of this work, each with different texts. We are performing the conclusion of the second of these versions, as shepherds give praise to the Virgin Mary with an instrumental and vocal dance combining celebration and piety. This bourrée en rondeau provides a joyful ending to the work which underlines its artistic blend of sacred and secular elements.

The term noël originated from the Latin words natalis (of birth) and novus (news). The musical noël represents a tradition of popular French Christmas celebration that developed from medieval times into a very considerable repertoire of songs by around 1500, some of them derived melodically from plainchant and others making use of secular songs or dance tunes. These strophic, popular Christmas songs typically featured pastoral elements. A vast number of French noël texts were printed in the 16th through 18th centuries, sometimes with suggested melodies. They were sung in the streets and were even interpolated into the midnight Mass of Christmas. Louis-Claude Daquin, Michel Corrette, and Marc-Antoine Charpentier were among the many French Baroque composers who arranged well-loved noël tunes instrumentally for organ or chamber ensembles.

Tonight’s concert concludes with our traditional Twelfth Night finale, ‘Gloucestershire Wassail’, and we invite all to toast the season together with joie de vivre!

~ Sean Ferguson