Gaita Whatsoever ye wyll - Dance in the 15th Century __________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Duchesco Ballo Chris Elmes for choreography by Ebreo 2. Legiadra Ballo Ebreo (PnG), arranged CE 3. Chirintana Balleto Chris Elmes for choreography by Ebreo 4. Colonese Ballo Ebreo (PnG), arranged CE 5. Voltati in ça rosina Ballo Ebreo (PnA), arranged CE, CW & AC 6. Giloxia Ballo Ebreo (PnA) 7. Pizochara Ballo Ebreo (PnG), arranged CE 8. Belreguardo Ballo Domenico (PnD), arranged CE 9. Piva Anon. ‘Saltarello’ (no. 1) from London BL 10. Phoebus Bassadanza Anon. ‘Bel fiori dança’ from Faenza 11. Saltarello Cornazano (Rvat) tenor ‘Cançon de pifari’, arranged CE 12. Damnes Bassadanza Cornazano (Rvat) tenor ‘Collinetto’, arranged CE 13. Filles a marier Basse danse Brussels, arranged CE 14. Bugill Gresley melody ‘Attendans’, arranged CE 15. Tamrett Gresley melody ‘Bayonne’, arranged CE 16. Whatsoever ye wyll Gresley melody ‘La Duches’, arranged CE 17. Aras Gresley melody (illegible title), arranged CE 18. Egle Gresley melody sub-titled ‘This enderis day’, arranged CW & AC 19. Pavane La Venissiene Gervaise Quart Livre, re-arranged CE 20. Galliard Gervaise Sixieme Livre __________________________________________________________________________________ Gaita is Old Occitan for 'watchman' - such as a guard of town walls who was usually equipped with a horn or a shawm for raising the alarm. The Gaita is a stock character in the genre of Medieval French song called the 'Alba' (dawn song). He guards a tower where two lovers spend the night and alerts them of any intruders (usually the jealous husband). The same word in English became the 'Waite' - a member of a town band. The association with loud instruments also led to the current use of Gaïta as the name of a North African shawm and for some Spanish and Balkan bagpipes. GMMCD02 © 2008 Gaïta Made in UK __________________________________________________________________________________ Gaïta Chris Elmes Bagpipes in D (Julian Goodacre), bagpipes in G (Jon Swayne), medieval fiddles (Chris Elmes), citole (Chris Elmes), medieval lute, percussion Cait Webb Gothic harp (Winfried Goerge), soprano and alto shawms (John Hanchet, Robert Cronin), percussion Andrew Casson Medieval lute, citole, recorder, percussion __________________________________________________________________________________ Sources London Lo. London BL Add. 29987 Faenza Fa Codex Faenza, Biblioteca Comunale, 117 Domenico de Piacenza PnD Paris BN, Ital. 972 Antonio Cornazano Rvat Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Capponiano 203 Guglielmo Ebreo PnG Paris BN, Ital. 973 Ebreo (Giovanni Ambrosio) PnA Paris BN, Ital. 476 Brussels B Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, ms. 9085 Gresley manuscript Gres Derbyshire Record Office, D77 box 38, pp. 51-79 Claude Gervaise Gerv Quart livre de danceries, 1550 Sixieme livre de danceries, 1555 __________________________________________________________________________________ Dance in the 15th Century was a central part of courtly life. Large events - such as weddings, royal visits, and tournaments - would always include dancing among the festivities; all courtiers were expected to know how to dance; employing the finest musicians was a symbol of prestige. It is the earliest time for which we have surviving treatises by famous dance masters. In Italy, the most important sources for dance were written by Domenico de Piacenza, Antonio Cornazano and Guglielmo Ebreo (later to change his name to Giovanni Ambrosio). These include music and choreographies for more than 50 dances, as well as discussion of theory and technique. The music provided in the treatises gives a single line. According to circumstances this might have been played (and elaborated) on solo instrument such as harp, or be the basis for two-, three-, or four-part improvisations or compositions for multiple instruments, in particular for loud wind instruments such as shawms and bagpipes. Ebreo (PnG) suggests as an ‘experiment to find a good dancer’ one should have the tune played alternately on shawm, organ, lute, harp and pipe and tabor, and the dancer adapt their style to the timbre of the instruments. The dances fall into two styles. The first style, ‘balli’ (tracks 1-8) , are distinguished by a formal structure in distinct sections (often of differing tempo) with step patterns closely aligned to the music, which has been composed specifically to fit. The second style is typified by ‘bassadanza’ (tracks 10 and 12), where a step sequence is provided requiring music of a continuous tempo and specific duration, but not otherwise closely matched in pattern. In a similar vein are the ‘piva’ (track 9) and ‘salterello’ (track 11) - free dances also performed to a single (more lively) tempo. In fact, only Cornazano (Rvat) provides actual music for these styles, giving examples of the ‘best and most used’ tenors for bassedanza and salterelli, whose names do not correspond to any particular dance. However other contemporary sources provide further examples of these styles (Lo, Fa). In particular the Burgundian manuscript (B) provides a large number of ‘basse danse’ tenors and their corresponding choreographies (track 13). Dances in the ‘balli’ style are also described in an English manuscript of the late 15th century (Gres). We have previously recorded the eight tunes from this source for which explicit dance instructions are given (CD - Eschewynge of Ydlenesse). Here, we present the remaining five melodies (tracks 14-18), and in the accompanying dance booklet have suggested how they could be matched to some of the remaining dance descriptions which otherwise lack music. Moving into the 16th century, the combination of bassadanza and salterelli - a stately dance followed by a lively one - seems to have been gradually replaced by the pavane and galliard (tracks 19 and 20). __________________________________________________________________________________ Thanks to Rachel Lorenz for encouraging us to undertake this project in the first place, and the members of the dance group in Edinburgh for testing the choreographies and arrangements. Thanks also to Tara and Cathy Smith for the use of their house for recording, and Ruth Pollitt for the use of her alto shawm. __________________________________________________________________________________ Recorded and Mastered by Chris Elmes - Spring 2008 Cover Artwork by Cait Webb Layout by Chris Elmes Back photo: Andrew Casson