Galway Early Music Festival: The King’s Manuscript – An introduction to medieval (instrumental) music (on-demand until 12/26/2020)
Free (registration required)
Jacopo Bisagni, double flute, duct flutes, pivana (Corsican horn flute), muse (reedpipe), & bagpipes
What is medieval music? Manuscripts, paintings and sculptures from the Middle Ages are full of men and women playing all kinds of instruments: but what did they play? And how? Who played music, and for whom? And what did instrumental music mean? Was it simply for entertainment, or did it have a more complex and deeper function?
These are only some of the difficult questions that we must deal with if we want to understand – and play! – the very few extant medieval pieces that were not intended for singing, but rather to be played with instruments.
In this talk and performance we shall explore this distant musical world by focussing on a single source: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Fr. 844, also know as Manuscrit du Roi or Chansonnier du Roi ("The King’s Manuscript", or "The King’s Songbook"). Indeed, while this is first and foremost a large songbook, an anonymous scribe also added to its contents eleven instrumental tunes – eight estampies and three dances – giving us a fascinating (and tantalising) glimpse of aristocratic secular music in France around the year 1300.
In addition to being played by Jacopo on flutes and bagpipes, each of these eleven pieces shall be used to address a specific question, with the help of art, literature and music treatises from the same age as the manuscript itself.
The broadcast will be available December 17 at 5pm UTC / 9am Pacific. Available until December 26
This multi-media talk is free. Register for broadcast link.
View full Festival schedule here: http://galwayearlymusic.com/winter-festival-events/
Tickets: €10 / $12.16 USD