Three poems from the Renaissance

Three Renaissance poems, compositions by Jacques Barathon (1936-2003) upon texts of 16th century. It was while conducting A Cur Joie choirs that Jacques Barathon developed an early interest in Renaissance polyphony. When he was subsequently called upon to train young conductors, he had the opportunity to share this interest - not exclusively - with his students. This long work, the last six years of his life, inspired him to compose these three pieces. They have in common the poetic inspiration of the Renaissance as well as the synthesis of the composer's musical language. Indeed, we find in them the care he took in the choice of texts and prosody. With him, the words are always comprehensible in spite of a rhythmic freedom that can go as far as improvisation, as in Si le ciel est un cercle et son poinct est la terre . His attachment to heterochronous rhythms (akzaks), common to all three pieces, is found throughout his work. In this way, he liked to integrate into his writing the rhythms of popular music from the East, heard for example in the music of the Balkans. In " Qu'as-tu ? povre amoureux ", this 7/8 takes the form of a throbbing ostinato at the beginning of the piece, thus illustrating the almost desperate repetition of the question asked. Rich and expressive harmonies, varied modes that force the listener's ear out of the usual major/minor box. The composer was indeed fond of natural modes, going back to the first western melodies. They are featured in the two pieces mentioned above. He chose the tonal scale in "Fay refraischir mon vin", another allusion to Eastern music. The choice of Ronsard's poem for this last piece is also the last expression of the composer's hedonism. In these three polyphonic songs, it is a demanding and original writing which will find its place among a repertory of the XXth century. Without denying anything of the history of vocal music, these compositions offer themselves to our present, the topicality of the texts testifies to it. Content: Si le ciel est un cercle et son poinct est la terre text Antoine de Chandieu (1534-1591) for 4 mixed voices SATB (divisi) Qu'as-tu ? povre amoureux text Antoine de Chandieu (1534-1591) for six equal voices SSMMAA Fay refraischir mon vin text Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) for six mixed voices SMATBarB