music of the 16th century

what does the music of the 16th century sounds like?

That is exactly what I wanted to find out for myself when I attended the performance by a vocal chamber ensemble. You wonder how that term comes about, but indeed, the nature of the performance includes a chamber setting and purely vocals... the soprano, alto, tenor and bass.

They introduced 8 numbers which were revived by the printing technique (carving on wood), the oldest dated back to 1440, the earlier times before the copper engraving technique.

So what does 16th century chansons sounds like? For an instant, I thought I was in a church listening to the church choir but pay attention to the lyrics, and you know they are not. They are close to what people called the secular music. Words of love and life filled the lyrics and probably that's how joie de vivre comes about for the French.

Pierre Certon's (c.1515-1572) "La, la, la, je ne l'ose dire" is a light and rhythmic number on the gossiping of a man's unfaithful wife. Antoine de Bertrand's (fl. 1561-1582) "Holà, Caron" is an interesting one, a dialogue between Charon (in Greek mythology, the ferryman of the dead) and a soul who claimed to have died of love. And what did Charon told the poor soul? "Seek another boatman, for neither I nor the Fates would ever enroach on the grand master of heaven."

"Le Chant des Oiseaux" (Clément Janquin - c.1485-15558) last is a piece which imitates sounds of birds... triggering laughter from the audience.

For more on French Chansons in the 16th Century-> http://www.hoasm.org/IVI/IVIFrenchChanson.html


History itself does not interest me, but the feeling of revelation from it has cast a spell on me.