HESPERUS
Les Très Riches Heures ABOUT THE PROGRAM
This manifestationofHESPERUS’scontinuing celebration ofitsreincarnation asanEarly MusicImprov Collective features director, TinaChancey and collectivemember Mark Rimple,withslides and other whimsy by Shawn Keener, ably brought to life by Oliver Weston. Our twelve, (well, thirteen, one reprise) medieval improvisationsareinspiredbythesedozenmanuscriptilluminationsfromtheLimbourgBrothers’Bookof Hours, Les Très Riches Heures du DucdeBerry. HESPERUS tries toreflect variety, narrative nature and immediacy through their choice of genres. Four pieces aredances: one Italian Istampitta, Belicha, an English Estampie that’s surprisingly full of major thirds, animprovised Estampie in thestyle of the 13th c. French Danses Royales,and Bel Fiore (LovelyFlower),fromtheCodexFaenza.Theprogramhasavarietyofstrophic songs; Bache Bene Venies from the Carmina Burana (a collection of student songs), Eisamen com la Pantera from the trouvère repertoire, and Divinum Stillant from the Aquitanian tradition. Only one piece is attributed to a composer – the haunting virelai Dame, vostre doulz viaire by Guillaume de Machaut. The Cantiga, Como Poden per sas culpas,is a Spanishformofvirelai,orvillancico. La Spagna isabassadanzatune;anotherdance,but, improvised over the “Tenore del rey di Spagna,” that first appeared in 1455 but continued to inspire composersoverthenexttwo centuries.ThefinaltwopiecesfromtheCodex Faenza, Rosetta andan anonymous piece #42, areexpressiveand virtuosic; through-composed pieces thatcryout for rhetorical gestures, which HESPERUS is only too happy to provide.
ABOUT THE ENSEMBLE AND ARTISTS
Since1979,audiencesfromMainetoHawaiiandBorneotoBoliviahavecelebratedHESPERUSformaking connectionsbetweentherichmusicalpastandcurious21stcenturylistenersthroughcollaborationswithfilm, theaterandworldmusic.Founded byrecordervirtuoso ScottReiss,theensemblehasperformed throughout the U.S., Europe,theFarEast and South America; been featured at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, theCloisters,Ryman Auditorium and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival; andhas two dozen CDs and DVDs and a score of prizes and honors to its credit. In 2024, the group said “Why not?” and reconstituted itself as an Early Music Improv Collective. www.hesperusplayszorro.com .
DirectorofHESPERUS(currentlyknownforitsearlymusicsoundtracksforclassicsilentfilms),Tina Chancey has been describedas “Practicallyalegendintheearlymusicworld”(Fanfare). Sheplays medieval andtraditional fiddles and viol onrootsmusicfrom Sephardicand Irishto Joni Mitchell and jazz,with a focus onmulti-style improvisation. Herspecialtyis thepardessus deviole,with debut concerts at Carnegie Recital Hall and Kennedy Centerand fivepardessus recordings.Recentconcerttours andartist residencies havetaken herto Turkey, Australia, France, Germany,Switzerland, NewZealand andHong Kong. In DC, shewasrecentlyafeaturedartist atthe FreerGallery’s FriendsDaycelebrations andtheHirschhorn Museum’sSoundScenefestival,aswellasmusicdirectorforExpatTheatre’s Scorched andtheInSeries’ Misticas. A memberofTrioSefardi andPassio, andfrequent guest artist with Magdalena, sheis aformer member of the Folger Consort, the Ensemble for Early Music and Blackmore’s Night. www.tinachancey.com
MarkRimplehasappearedwithTheNewberryConsort,Piffaro,TheFolgerConsort,SeverallFriends,Blue Heron/LesDelices,SevenTimesSalt,TempestadiMare,CygnusEnsemble,NetworkforNewMusic,andTrefoil,with whomhehasrecordedarssubtiliorrepertory.Hissololuterecording Tre Liuti (availableonline)earnedpraisefor his “expressive” and “extraordinarilysensitive playing”, and he recently released an online recording, Convergence, featuring musicforluteandguitar.Asacomposer,heoftenblendsthecontemporarywiththeantique.Asamplingof hisartsongs andchamber workscan be heard onhis recording January. Lastyear his Phantasmagoria was
premieredbycounter(inductionandthisfall,NetworkforNewMusicwillpremierehistrio Nonstandard Deviations. Mark is a Professor in the Department of Music Theory, History and Composition at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.HecurrentlyservesasPresidentoftheLuteSocietyofAmerica.www.markrimple.com
Trained as amusichistorian,SHAWNKEENERis agraphicdesigner,translator, andbookindexerbasedin Chicago. Herdissertation examining theintersectionofvernacularsong andcultural memory in 16th-century Venicewas supportedby a Fulbright grant (Italy, 2007–08) and a Harper Dissertation-Year Fellowship at the UniversityofChicago.Since2012shehascuratedanddesignedprojections forliveperformancethat are visual extensionsofhistoricallyinformedperformance.ShehascollaboratedwiththeNewberryConsort (Chicago), Severall Friends(SantaFe),Trobár(Cleveland),LesDélices(Cleveland),andBlueHeron(Boston). Before launching Keener Editorial in late 2019, Shawn worked for several years at theNewberry Library in Chicagoand wasforthreeyearsastaffeditorintheRecentResearchesseriesatA-REditions(Middleton, WI), the leading North American publisher of scholarly editions of music. www.keenereditorial.com
AwordfromShawn:Likeallbooksofhours Christianprayerbooksforprivate,laydevotionsmodeledonthe monastic recitation of canonical hours at fixed times of day the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (created ca.1415 and heldattheMuséeCondé)beginswithacalendaroffeastdaysfollowedbytheHoursoftheVirgin,Gospelexcerpts, PenitentialPsalms,theOfficeoftheDead,andalitanyofsaints.Italsocontainsvotiveofficesandmasses.Theprecise programofprayersandritualswerehighlyindividualized,reflectingthetaste(andmeans)ofthepatronaswellaslocal devotionalpractices(thinklocalpatronsaints,onomasticsaints,etc.).Asoneofthemostlavishlyilluminatedexemplars ofthegenre,itsdepictionsofmonthlylaborsarejustlyfamousfortheirvivid,endearing,andilluminatingdetailsofboth courtlyandpeasantlife.Framedbythesecalendarpages,today’sconcertunfoldsasaplayfulmusicalexplorationofthe labors,devotionsandpreoccupationsofthemonth,manifestedasmedievalimprovisations,withsupportingimages drawnfromawiderangeofmedievalsources.Theseincludetwoadditionalbooksofhours(Jeanned'Evreux,ca.1324-28, TheMet;CharlestheNoble,KingofNavarre,ca.1404,ClevelandMuseumofArt);twoofthefourextantcollectionsof theCantigasdeSantaMaria(CódiceRico,ca.1280-1284,andCódicedelosMúsicos,ca.1280-1300,bothatEscorial); theQueenMaryPsalter(ca.1310,BritishLibrary); theRomandeFauvel(ca.1315,BibliothèqueNationaledeFrance); andthreebestiaries(Aberdeen,ca.1200,[AberdeenUniv.Library],Worksop,ca.1185[MorganLibrary];andHughof Fouilloy,ca.1270 [GettyMuseum]),amongothers.
This project was funded by a 2025 SAMA Grant, "The Concentus Project" which was originally devoted 100% to improvisation; the program has evolved from its conception into a mixture of improvisational approaches, above tenors, as accompaniments, and ex temporare composition, as well as an exploration of music that has its feet in the improvisational tradition, i.e., istanpitte which were almost never notated but composed and learned by musicians in minstrel schools, as well as ornate and complex instrumental works in Codex Faenza that are early evidence of a continuous and unbroken tradition of ornamentation that reached its fullest flowering in the late Renaissance and high Baroque.
WCU Faculty development funds were also used to support Shawn Keener's slideshow, full of artwork from the eras visited by our program.
Bacche,beneveniesgratusetoptatus,Per quem noster animusfitletificatus.