Micrologus; Johannes Ciconia

81-26 JOHANNES CICONIA

On today's show, we are going to explore the music of Johannes Ciconia, really the first of the long line of composers to come out of France and Flanders, and dominate the musical life of Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. You would think that, for someone so important, we would have a pretty good idea of who he was and what he did. But so confused is the picture, that musicologists are not even sure if the musical works ascribed to Ciconia are written by one man or two men with the same name. Whoever the composer was--or composers were--the works of Ciconia had an important influence on the style of later composers, such as Guillaume Dufay. They are also beautiful, fascinating works which, like countless treasures of music, are unknown to modern audiences. The first selection we are going to hear is "Sus un' fontayne," a chanson in the Ars subtilior style. Apparent to listeners of the time, but not to us, would be the fact that Ciconia quoted directly from three different songs by a fellow composer, Philipoctus da Caserta. This quoting would have been understood not as plagiarism, but as a tribute by Ciconia to the art of his colleague. "Sus un' fontayne" (near a fountain) by Ciconia, performed by the Early Music Quartet, directed by Thomas Binkley.

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I mentioned that Ciconia was a Franco-Flemish composer. Oddly enough, he seems to have written very few pieces with French text. Most of his output consists of sacred motets and Mass movements, and therefore has Latin text. But, of his secular works, all but three are in Italian, written, no doubt, during his period of residence in the city of Padua, where he--or, rather, where at least one Johannes Ciconia--ultimately died in 1411. Even one of Ciconia's three works in French has a strong Italian connection, "Le ray au soleyl" (The ray of sunlight), seems to have been written to honor the powerful Visconti family of Milan, although the text is cryptic and the symbolism is obscure. The music is pretty obscure, too, consisting of a puzzle canon, which no one yet has been able to resolve to everyone's satisfaction. In the version we will hear, the single line of music written by the composer is performed at three different tempos simultaneously. Mild chaos results, but the effect is charming and not too outlandish, if again we hear it in the context of the Ars subtilior. "Le ray au soleyl," performed by the Early Music Quartet, directed by Thomas Binkley.

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The next piece we will hear is a madrigal, "Per quella strada." The term "madrigal" conjures up images of four or five people singing about spring, birds, and love; but the Italian madrigal of the 14th century is something different altogether. Usually, there are only two voices, which sing lines which are often florid and very virtuosic, as you will hear. The text of the piece translates as follows:

“Along that milky way in the sky of lovely stars, where the heavenly firmament is, there was seen a chariot moving all aglow, covered with drapery of red and fine gold, holding its course towards the singing angels. The triumphant carriage climbed up on high bearing a wreath of green laurels to adorn who so adorns the earth beneath.”

"Per quella strada" by Johannes Ciconia, performed by Benjamin Bagby and Barbara Thornton, best known as members of Ensemble Sequentia, but, here, performing live in concert with the Elizabethan Enterprise, directed by Lucy Cross.

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Actually, Ciconia's madrigals are among his least innovative works; in spite of their beauty, they are old-fashioned, even for the year 1400. Much more in the vanguard are Ciconia's Mass movements. Of these, we have only three or four Glorias, and four Gloria-Credo pairs. This does not sound like much, since Machaut had already written a Mass consisting of all the movements of the Mass which stayed the same every day, that is, what we call the "Mass Ordinary”—Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Ite missa est. But, although Machaut obviously intended these movements to be grouped together as a single Mass, they were not unified by any musical relationship. And this is where Ciconfa's Mass pairs were significant: They were unified in overall musical style, and they shaped melodic modes and meters. Beyond this idea of unity--which you will not experience, since you will hear only a single movement--there is Ciconia's pioneering use of imitation at the beginnings of phrases of text. This, of course, is something which becomes a trademark of musical style over the next two hundred years. A Gloria movement by Johannes Ciconia, performed by the Early Music Quartet, directed by Thomas Binkley.

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The last piece on today's show ranks as my personal favorite among Ciconia's many delectable compositions. The ballata “O rosa bella," set to a text ascribed to Leonardo Giustiniani. The stunning effect, achieved by Ciconia in repeating the supplicating portions of this lovesong in ascending sequences, is a remarkable dramatic technique, not exploited again by composers for hundreds of years. The complete text runs as follows:

“O beautiful rose, my sweet love, do not let me die for pity's sake. O let me end my painful longing by serving well and loving loyally. Bring me relief at last from my languishing. Heart of my heart do not let me suffer. O God of Love, how painful is this love. You see that I die this very hour because of this heartless lady. O beautiful rose, my sweet love, do not let me die for pity's sake. O let me end my painful longing by serving well and loving loyally.”

This memorable performance is by Willard Cobb and the Early Music Quartet, directed by Thomas Binkley.

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Ciconia's important achievement was to combine the suavity of the 14th century Italian style with the subtlety of the 14th century French style, a synthesis, which, it is now clear, formed the basis of the international stylistic mainstream of the musical Renaissance. After centuries of obscurity, Ciconia is only now emerging to take his rightful place among the giants.