Le Roman de Fauvel

Le Roman de Fauvel
The Boston Camerata / Ensemble P.A.N. - Joel Cohen
Erato 4509-96392-2
Apex (Warner) 2564-62038-2 [CD]

Contents:

    Livre 1 - Portrait de Fauvel

  1. Porchier mieuz estre ameroy (tenor, hurdy-gurdy)
  2. O Varium fortune (soprano)
  3. Motet: Quare fremerunt gentes (Ensemble PAN)
  4. Motet: Jure quod in opere (Ensemble PAN)
  5. Motet: Ad solitum vomitum (Ensemble PAN)
  6. Virtus moritur (tenor, hurdy-gurdy)
  7. Floret fex favellea (3 voices)
  8. Omnia pene curie (3 voices)
  9. Veni sancte spiritus (countertenor)
  10. Motet: Rex beatus (Ensemble PAN)

    11. Livre 2 - Fauvel et Fortune

  11. Fauvel cogita (instrumental)
  12. Inter membra singula (instrumental)
  13. Motet: Veritas arpie (mezzosoprano, vielle)
  14. Narration: "Seigneurs et dames..." (countertenor, ensemble)
  15. Douce dame débonnaire (instrumental)
  16. Motet: J'ay fait nouveletement (Ensemble PAN)
  17. Narration: "Deus roes out..." (soprano, instruments)
  18. Ay Amours (tenor, harp)
  19. Motet: Sicut de ligno parvulus (Ensemble PAN)
  20. A touz jour, sanz remanoir (countertenor)
  21. Fauvel est mal assegné (soprano)
  22. Douce dame débonnaire (countertenor, vielle)
  23. Fauvel cogita (soprano, vielle)
  24. Je qui poair seule (extrait; soprano, vielle)
  25. Buccinate in neomenia tuba (3 voices)
  26. Le lai des Herlequines: En ce dous temps d'este (extrait; soprano, harp, rebec)
  27. Ah Parisius (baritone, ensemble)
  28. Narration: Tele gent de jour en jour viennent (countertenor)
  29. Motet: Fauvel nous a fait présent (Ensemble PAN)
  30. Motet: Ci chans veult boire (3 voices)
  31. Floret fex favellea (instrumental)
  32. Charivari (countertenor, ensemble)
  33. Motet: Quomodo cantabimus (Ensemble PAN)
  34. Philippe de Vitry - Motet: In nova fert (Ensemble PAN)
  35. Porchier mieuz estre ameroy (tenor)
  36. Motet: Maria virgo virginum (Ensemble PAN)
  37. Plebs fidelis francie (tenor, ensemble)
  38. Motet: In mari miserie (soprano, harp)

The Boston Camerata:

Anne Azéma (soprano, narration), Joel Cohen (baritone, percussion), Cheryl Ann Fulton (harp), Steven Lundahl (slide trumpet), Patrick Mason (baritone), Dan Stillman (shawm, slide trumpet, recorder), Dominique Visse (countertenor, narration)

Ensemble Project Ars Nova

Laurie Monahan (mezzo-soprano, organetto), Michael Collver (countertenor), John Fleagle (tenor, hurdy-gurdy), Shira Kammen (vielle, rebec, harp)

Directed by Joel Cohen

Playing time: 66'

Recording date: January 1991

Excerpts:
[22], [26] Erato 4509-91777-2 Music and Memory - Musiques et Mémoires

This recording is also the soundtrack for a remarkable video production of the Roman de Fauvel manuscript, which is well worth seeing. (The facsimile, alas, only includes some of the folios in full color, and thus it is a treat to see everything in color.)

Nathan Wilkes

The Roman de Fauvel was one of history's first "multimedia" productions, combining colorful artwork, poetry and abstract musical works into one carefully produced book in 1316. The text was based on a manuscript by Gervais de Bus which began circulating around Paris in 1310. It is a strongly satirical work, and one of the artistic monuments of the late Middle Ages.

This recording does include a large amount of spoken text sprinkled in between items. A couple of classic renditions:

Roman de Fauvel
Studio der Frühen Musik - Thomas Binkley
EMI Reflexe 63430
Le Roman de Fauvel
Clemencic Consort - René Clemencic
Harmonia Mundi musique d'abord 190994

Some people see Philippe de Vitry (c.1291-1361), the attributed author of the somewhat ephemeral Ars Nova treatise and one of the composers represented in the Fauvel edition, as the driving force behind the multimedia compilation as a whole. A superb recording devoted specifically to de Vitry:

Philippe de Vitry: Motets and Chansons
Sequentia
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 77095

A couple of related programs:

Musique vocale du XIVe siècle
Machaut, Vitry, Fauvel, Anonymous
Mora Vocis
Mandala 4946
Heu fortuna
Musique au temps de Philippe IV le Bel (1260-1314)
La rota
Atma 2 2561

Similar drama-based programs by the present ensemble:

Tristan et Iseult
Une legende du Moyen-Age en musique et en poesie
Boston Camerata - Joel Cohen
Erato 98482
Carmina Burana
Boston Camerata - Joel Cohen
Erato 14987

Also, see the Joel Cohen Discography page.

To purchasing information for this disc.

To FAQ references to this recording.

To FAQ CD index page.

Todd M. McComb