Micrologus; Ludwig Senfl

81-21 POSITIVELY SENFL

The music on today's Micrologus is "Positively Senfl," which is not to say that it is morally depraved--although, come to think of it, some of it might be--but rather, that it is by the great Swiss-German composer Ludwig Senfl. He was born about 1486, and by the age of ten, he had joined the choir of the Emperor Maximilian of Austria, under the tutelage of the great Franco-Flemish composer, Heinrich Isaac. Isaac himself was a recent arrival, being a refugee from the asceticism and iconoclasm of Florence under Savonarola. Senfl became Isaac's assistant to the point that, when the older master died in 1517, Senfl edited and completed the huge cycle of polyphonic Mass Propers, the Choralis Constantinus, which Isaac was working on. When Maximilian died in 1519, Senfl hung around Augsburg for a while, trying to secure an appointment at the new Imperial court under Charles V, but was not successful, and so he moved to Munich, where he became court composer to the Duke of Bavaria.

Senfl's epithet among his contemporaries was: "Prince of all German music," and this was on the strength of some three hundred German Lieder. The essential German-ness of these pieces is emphasized by the fact that many of them are based on pre-existent German folk tunes. The first piece we will hear is "Ach Elslein, liebes Elselein," which is based on such a folk tune, set here in the upper voice. The third time through the piece, the performers here choose another version of "Elselein," in which Senfl ingeniously introduces the melody of yet a second German tune, "Es taget vor dem walde." "Ach Elslein, liebes Elselein" and then "Elselein" combined with "Es taget vor dem walde," performed by the Hilliard Ensemble.

[MUSIC: “O Elsie, my dear little Elsie, how I long to be with you, but there are two deep waters parting thee from me." Senfl's "Ach Elslein" and then "Ach Elslein" performed with "Es taget vor dem Walde" (Day Is breaking over the forest)]

Senfl's music has, to me, always been performer's music. The score may look completely unremarkable and yet, when it is performed, there is always something which makes it speak. Listen in this next piece to the way Senfl piques our interest by contrasting the rhetorical chordal sections with the more florid lightly-imitative ones. "Patientia" by Ludwig Senfl. The performance, once again, is by the Hilliard Ensemble.

[MUSIC: A German Lied with a Latin title, "Patientia."]

The Lied—or Tenorlied, as it is often called, since the borrowed melody so often appears in the tenor part--was not the only form which Senfl used for his secular music. Maximilian's second wife was Bianca Maria Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan, and it is perhaps because of her presence at the Imperial court that Senfl wrote two frottole. His Teutonic ingenuity, however, caused him to write a much flashier counterpoint for this frottola than is normally found in the ingenuous Italian models. "S' Io non venni non importa" (If I do not come, it does not matter). The performance is by the Ricercare Ensemble of Zurich.

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Although many of the parts in Senfl's Lieder are obviously written for instruments, pieces written exclusively for instruments are comparatively rare in the corpus of Senfl's works--as they say in the musicological trade--but, even in this small number, there is considerable variety. We are going to listen to two examples, the first is a simply beautiful piece, entitled "Lamentatio"; the second, a vigorous work in the style of the early 16th century improvised basse danse, based on a Dutch folk melody "Tandernaken." "Lamentatio" and "Tandernack," both performed by the Ricercare Ensemble of Zurich, Senfl's birthplace.

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The imperial court and the ducal court at Munich, were both Catholic, and Senfl composed much music for the Catholic liturgy. But he also seems to have flirted dangerously with Protestantism throughout his later life. I say "dangerously," because one of his successors at Munich was forced to appear three times before the Inquisition to justify his beliefs, and Senfl once received a letter warning him not to have such open Protestant contacts. But Protestant contacts he did have, and one of them was the original Protestant, himself, Martin Luther. At Luther's request, Senfl composed a motet on the words "Non moriar sed vivam" (I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord). These words must have held a very special significance for Luther, because he himself used them in one of his only two compositions with Latin text. "Non moriar sed vivam," by Ludwig Senfl, performed by the Capella Antiqua of Munich, directed by Konrad Ruhland.

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It is not surprising to find, in view of Senfl's Protestant leanings, that he wrote some sacred music with German texts. Perhaps his greatest piece in this genre is "Da Jakob nu das Kleid ansach." It is a piece filled with intense drama and deep-felt emotion. It tells the Biblical story of Jacob finding the bloody cloak of his son Joseph, and realizing that he must have been killed by wild animals.

"When Jacob saw the cloak he spoke with great dolor. Ah, woe, my dear son is dead. The wild beasts have devoured him and torn him apart with their teeth. O Joseph, my dear son, who now will console me in my old age? I must surely die of grief and sadly journey from this earth."

The performance is by the Studio der Frühen Musik, directed by Thomas Binkley.

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In a time when it was very rare in sacred works for composers to give such explicit expression to the text, this piece stands as an exquisite exception. But for all his talent at composing such fine religious works, Senfl was not above composing works of very broad humor, and the last piece we are going to hear on today's program is an example of this. It tells a story, "Es hett ein Biedermann ein Weib":

“A good chap had a wife who liked to play around, that came of her straight, proud, body. So she asked her husband to go off to the field to mow the hay. The husband wished to do what his wife had asked, but he climbed back through the window. She thought he had gone off to the field to mow the hay. Just then a young man came into the house and was from this same woman very well received. ‘My man has gone to the field to mat the hay’. He took her by the waist and what more I do not know as Hermann called from the loft: ‘Get out, I am still here, I am not yet gone to the fields to mow the hay’. ‘O my good, dear Hermann, please forgive me this. I will for all my life long cook for you the better. I thought you had gone to the field to mow the hay’. ‘And even if I had gone out to fetch a little straw you would lie with other men, so let the devil go mow the hay.’”

[MUSIC: Senfl's "Es hett ein Biedermann ein Weib," performed, once again, by the Studio der Frühen Musik, directed by Thomas Binkley] It is a piece of no great sophistication, but not, I think you will agree, by now, due to any lack of skill on the part of the composer.

You have been listening to a program exploring the music of the early 16th century Swiss-German composer Ludwig Senfl.