Micrologus; Battle Music

81-05 BATTLE MUSIC

Today on Micrologus, we take a look at how composers of earlier centuries reacted musically to the phenomenon of war. In other words, battle music. But the first piece we'll listen to uses the battle motif in a metaphorical way within the context of the French courtly love lyric. It's by the late-14th-century French composer Grimace. And not only is the battle motif used in a metaphorical way in this piece, but it's used in a punning way as well:

“To arms, to arms! no time to waste! For my weary heart is grieving. Quick, to arms! my angel, to arms! For I have been struck such a blow that I am surely doomed. May God have mercy on my soul.”

[MUSIC: "À l'arme, à l'arme," by Grimace, performed by the early music consort of London, directed by David Munrow]

The second piece on the program is entitled "Deo Gracias Anglia," which does not mean, as many of my English friends would have it, “Thank God for England," but rather “Give thanks, O England, for the victory.” It was written apparently in commemoration of the English victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, when the forces of England, under Henry V, devastated the French forces so roundly that it could only have been attributed to divine intervention. The performance is by the New York Pro Musica, directed by Noah Greenberg.

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The next piece is by the great Spanish composer of the late 15th century, Juan del Encina. It's a description of the Battle of Granada, in which the Moors were finally expelled from Spain, but it's told from the point of view of the Moorish King. He describes the defeat of his armies at the hands of the mighty forces of Ferdinand and Isabella. A more reflective, mournful view of war than the other pieces we'll be hearing on today's show.

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A contemporary of Encina’s was Heinrich Isaac. He was a Flemish composer who, at various times, was master of music to Lorenzo il Magnifico de Medici in Florence, and later to the Emperor Maximilian of Austria. We'll hear a stirring instrumental piece by Heinrich Isaac entitled Alla Battaglia (at the Battle). It needs no further introduction except to say that it's performed on sackbuts and then with cornett and rauschpfeif by the Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow.

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That piece certainly moves more in the direction of programmatic music. But the touchstone of programmatic battle pieces has to be the chanson “La Guerre” by the 16th-century French composer Clement Jannequin. The piece describes the preparations for and the frenetic activity during the Battle of Marignan between the French King Francis I and the Swiss mercenaries under the Emperor Charles V. How could voices possibly be more descriptive of the actions of a battle than sackbuts? Here's how.

[MUSIC: “La Guerre,” (second part) by Clément Jannequin, sung by the King’s Singers.

It certainly doesn't leave any doubt as to the outcome of the battle. “Victory to the noble King Francis.” That piece engendered a lot of imitations throughout the rest of the 16th century. And among these was the Pavane la Bataille (the Battle Pavan) by Tielman Susato. The piece has become quite a classic and has been recorded probably more than any other dance from the 16th century. We'll hear a performance for a full Renaissance band, again by the Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow.

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The last piece on today's program has to rank as one of the great anomalies in the history of music. It's called Battaglia, and it's by the 17th century German composer Heinrich Biber. It's a multi-movement work, and we're going to listen to three of those: the dissolute reveling of the Musketeers, the March, and the Battle. Biber creates the confusion of battle by both musical and special performance effects from the cacophony of the eight drunken revelers, each singing a song from his homeland to the drum in the March movement, created by paper on the bass strings, to the artillery-like pizzicato of the battle itself. Battaglia by Heinrich Biber, performed by the Concentus Musicus of Vienna, directed by Nicholas Harnoncourt.

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You've been listening to a program of battle music from the 14th to the 17th centuries.