Composed 2026
This piece begins with an incipit which recalls the style of the Cantiones Duum Vocum by Orlando de Lassus, and then morphs into something more reminiscent of Trebor, specifically his ballade “Helas pitié envers moy dort si fort”. The baritone melody is an exact copy of the soprano, but slower by three-fifths, hence ‘polytempic’. Like other compositions from the Renaissance and Medieval periods, this piece is also polytextual; the soprano’s text is from Lassus, and the baritone’s is from Trebor. I tried to capture the languid freedom and strikingly hollow cadences of Trebor, while retaining some of the structural features of a typical Lassus duo. The contrapuntal style sticks close to late medieval practice, with some extensions, or jokes, depending on your ear.
Thanks go to my colleague Lucy Shirley(soundcloud.com/lucygraceshirley) for joining me on the recording.
Lassus text:
Sicut rosa inter spinas illas adit speciem, sic renustat suam Virgo Maria progeniem, germinavit enim florem, qui vitalem dat odorem.
Translation:
As the rose among thorns adds beauty to them, so the Virgin Mary reveals her offspring, for she has sprouted the flower that gives the fragrance of life.
Trebor text:
Helas! pitié envers moy dort si fort
que je ne stay se je sui mort ou vis.
Dangier, Refus, Desdaing sont d’un acort.
encontre moy pour me grever tourdis.
Translation:
Alas! Pity for me sleeps so strongly
that I know not whether I am dead or alive.
Resistance, Refusal, Disdain are of one accord
against me in order to torment me.