Manuscrit du Roi – La Septime Estampie Roial

Описание: Niccolo Seligmann, vielle
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This Anonymous 13th-c. French dance comes from the "Manuscrit du Roi"—the Songbook of the King, a collection of hundreds of trouvère songs (troubadours hail from Southern France, trouvères from Northern France), motets (polyphonic songs, often "sacred-ish" and with multiple texts sung simultaneously), and dances like this "estampie". The estampies in the Manuscrit du Roi form part of the very small body of specifically-instrumental music written down before 1500. This particular estampie is the seventh of eight estampies in this collection, and my particular favorite. The "estampie form" is very particular. All estampies have repeating sections called "puncta", and each punctum is repeated, first with an "open" ending on some note other than the finalis (the main note of the mode) and then with a "closed" ending on the finalis. Usually each punctum features a different scale degree, and the pacing of which punctum features which scale degree is what gives these pieces such a satisfying arc. As you listen, see if you can hear the form in this context. Can you feel when an open or closed end is coming? How does each punctum make you feel, and how does that change when you're listening focusedly for form vs. listening unfocusedly for beauty? Let me know in the comments!