Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary, after due nods to Middle English, Old French, Latin and Greek, finally concedes that the word “paradise” is of Iranian origin. It seems to derive from an Avestan word used to describe an enclosed park or garden, such as were common in Persia well into the modern era. It is also, of course, a shorthand term for the Biblical Garden of Eden.
We still have the idea firmly in our heads that a garden is, among other things, a place of refuge, a peaceful, private spot in which we can relax and enjoy a carefully tended version of nature with at least a minimum of thorns, brambles, and wildlife of uncertain temperament. In the medieval mind, the garden was this and a place in which one raised food for the table and herbs for healing — and an echo, in that most devout of ages, of innocence, a shadow, however imperfect, of that first, perfect paradise. On a slightly less lofty note, it was also, for all but the well-to-do, the only place where one might hope to find a little privacy with a friend, even — or perhaps especially — if the goal was something other than quiet repose.
It comes as no surprise, then, that there is a wealth of music from the period devoted to gardens and their multitude of uses. Given the nature of the age, there is, of course, a fair amount of sacred music, as well as a great deal that is rather more earthly (although reticent enough that it’s not quite bawdy — maybe).
The Orlando Consort has presented, in The Rose, the Lily, and the Whortleberry, a survey of medieval music about gardens. It’s a journey around Europe through time and space, beginning in thirteenth-century France, with a chanson by Guillame de Machaut, then progressing through England, Burgundy, Italy, Spain and the Low Countries, ending on the edge of the Renaissance and including motets both sacred and profane, madrigals, chansons, and even a “missa” by the fifteenth-century English composer Walter Frye (which is something like an English Gothic cathedral constructed of song; it’s quite an amazing piece).
This is court music. In spite of the subject matter of some of the songs, the impetus as often as not is the courtly romance, so that even the earthiest songs are a matter of inference, poetry, and symbolism. (In this context it seems germane to mention the metaphors and similes in the Biblical “Song of Songs,” very similar to some of the texts presented here.) Keep in mind that this was music intended for an educated audience, who would have understood the references and symbolism quite easily. There are no bouncing dance tunes with tam-tam and flute. Indeed, it is purely vocal music, songs based largely on the forms of church music, however secular the context. Consequently, there is a generous helping of subtlety here, not only in form but in lyrics. Those who remember their Shakespeare will also remember the Bard’s fondness for circumlocutions and entendres, a holdover from the traditions of the troubadours.
The Orlando Consort presents a beautifully rendered selection in a performance marked by a blend of clarity and ensemble singing that, in works such as Claudin de Sermisy’s chanson “Changeons propos,” provides a solid sense of the complexity and sophistication of the music of the time.
This is one of Harmonia Mundi’s spectacularly packaged releases, a small-scale hardbound book illustrated by works of the Limbourg Brothers, Robinet Testart, Pieter Breughel the Younger, and of course, the ubiquitous Artist Unknown. The essays, by Angus Smith, Sir Roy Strong, Susan Hitch, and Christopher Bodley-Hole, discuss not only the music but the role of gardens in medieval times and Bodley-Hole’s design for an updated medieval garden. They are entertaining and very instructive.
This is one that may not be part of our basic library (depending on how we define “basic”), but I, for one, am delighted to have it in my own collection.
(Harmonia Mundi, 2005) The Orlando Consort is Robert Harre-Jones, countertenor; Mark Dobell, tenor; Angus Smith, tenor; Donald Greig, baritone; joined on this recording by Robert Macdonald, bass. They can be found online at Orlando Consort.
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