MUSLIVE Performance Workshop One 'Foundations' (February-April, 2024): 1. Audio recordings

Early in discussions about the Performance Workshop and subsequent collaboration, Emma Dillon and Patrick Allies determined that performing for an informal gathering and recording the songs would be a desirable and important part of the process. The aim was emphatically NOT to see these performances as an end-point in the process, not to steer Paul, Hannah and Rebekah to lock down their performances. Instead, it was framed as ‘work-in-progress’. It was valuable for the performers to have the chance to share their songs with an audience, to tap into the embodied experience of the songs as things to be performed for others. At the same time, framing performances and recordings as provisional steps in a longer process in Workshop One was vital, to ensure the approach remained open-ended and to minimize pressure on the singers, offering instead time to dig deep into the repertory, knowing they would have opportunities to return multiple times to the songs in question. For research purposes, it was extremely useful to be able to track the singers’ musical journey over time. The goal was thus to take parts of the songs to the point of sharing, with a view to returning to them again in later stages of the MUSLIVE project, to see how they develop over time.

The eight songs that were focus of the workshop and recordings were selected from among the first generation of trouvères, whose songs survive in the two earliest extant manuscripts (chansonniers U and M). Together, the represented a cross-section of styles (from highly florid, melismatic melodies to more static, declamatory style) and themes (from courtly love to crusade-themed texts). Song teams were each asked to develop performances of four songs in total, two of which were shared between them, and to respond to a series of research questions throughout the process.

Each performance was the product of intensive collaborative conversation during the workshop between members of three song teams -- an innovative feature of the research design of the workshop. In early December 2023, Patrick and Emma determined the make-up of three song teams, matching one singer with two scholars (one expert in medieval music, the other in medieval French). They were supported in addition by a postdoctoral fellow from the MUSLIVE team. The three song teams were supported before and throughout the workshop by Emma Dillon (PI MUSLIVE) and ensemble director for Siglo de Oro, Patrick Allies, who moved across the groups in a ‘roving’ capacity.

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(Hannah sang part of stanza 1 and all of stanza 2)

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(Rebekah sang part of stanza 1 and all of stanza 8)

Recordings took place on Thursday, 22nd February, at St. Augustine’s Church, Kilburn. The singers and production team were joined by Patrick Allies, who offered input to the performances and production, Emma Dillon, who offered occasional input on musical and pronunciation matters, and Fiona Barsoum, who contributed to the organisational running of the day, including liaising with Fr. Amos and Lawrence Harrault.