Ludwig Senfl (c.1486-1543)
Motets and Songs
Singer Pur
Ensemble Leones
rec. 2022, Pollinger Bibliothekssal, Germany
OEHMS CLASSICS OC1726 [66]
Perhaps, like me, you first met with Ludwig Senfl when in 1974 David Munrow made a record entitled ‘The Triumphs of Maximillian 1st’. My idea at that time was that he was a great composer of tunes, but only later did I realise that some of those were actually traditional German melodies. However, about 250 songs can be attributed to him.
Jumping on now to 2004, Fretwork with tenor Charles Daniels recorded twenty-two Senfl pieces or arrangements on a disc entitled ‘Im Maien’ (Harmonia
Mundi HMU 907334). Now we have a further disc with, again twenty-two tracks. Obviously, there is a certain doubling up of material, as, for example, the beautiful Ich steund an einem Morgen which is here given in seven versions, whereas Fretwork offered only three. Its good also to hear again Was wird es doch in three versions which David Munrow recorded, the bell-ringing song Das Gläut zu Speyer and Mit Lust ich an disen Tanz, also recorded by Munrow. But ‘Singer Pur’ and ‘Ensemble Leones’ also give us some eight sacred works, adding a fascinating variety to this disc.
In fact, there is more variety here than on the Fretwork disc, as pleasing as it is, because the outstanding German vocal group ‘Singer Pur’ which consist of six voices with the three instrumentalists of Ensemble Leones, offer more colour than Fretwork and Daniels. They perform together with a lovely balance, as in the opening track Sancta Maria Virgo, and sometimes the instruments, a viola d’arco, a bass-Gamba and a lute, play alone, as in Das lang.
Before I get too carried away, I must say how disappointing it is that the texts are only in the original and translated into modern German, so, I have had to search around to find translations from other sources – a definite black mark from this reviewer. They manage, though, to find lots of space for the performers’ biographies but - and, this is a positive - we are also offered an entertaining biography of Senfl written in the first person and, apparently, “handed down from Christian Meister”. In this essay, of especial interest is the fact that Senfl was a pupil of Isaac at the court of Maximillian. He later worked for the great Duke William IV and supervised and edited a collection of motets entitled ‘Liber selectarum cantionum’ which obviously contained several of his own pieces. We also learn that Senfl may well have. considered his motets to be both sacred and secular; that may be why the booklet texts are headed a ‘Liedtexte’. The boundaries at that time between sacred and secular could be very indistinct and one feels that especially in a ‘song’ like Non Usitata, as it uses as text a Latin, humanistic strophic hymn.
Senfl enjoyed using cantus firmus technique in his secular and sacred works and remained a Catholic throughout his life, hence the religious works recorded here. In the secular pieces, it’s the traditional tune which is used mostly in the tenor part and a good example can be heard in the second version of Ich stund an einem Morgen. These eight tracks demonstrate Senfl’s mastery of counterpoint with rich, canonic, imitative part-writing up to five parts. In the last version of this song (track 12), he even combines it with the Latin text ‘Amica mea’. These are performed either with voices alone or a voice or two with instruments or instruments alone, but in Ave Rosa sine spinis the tenor uses a melody from the secular song ‘Comme femme desconfortée’.
The voices are always beautifully blended and intonation is wonderfully reliable, and in addition to the autobiographical-type essay mentioned above, there is also a more detailed description of most of the pieces by Stephan Gasch in which many of Senfl’s extraordinary technical accomplishments are discussed.
Gary Higginson
Contents
Sancte Maria Virgo, intercede [4.45]
Media vita in morte sumus [4.14]
Spiritus sanctus in te descendet [2.55]
Ave Rosa sine spinis [7.03]
Mit Lust trit ich an disen Tanz [1.16]
Ich steund an einem Morgen 1
Ich steund an einem Morgen II
Ich steund an einem Morgen III
Ich steund an einem Morgen IV
Ich steund an einem Morgen V
Ich steund an einem Morgen VI
Ich steund an einem Morgen VII
Non usitata [3.54]
Das Gläut zu speyer [1.38]
Das lang [4.01]
Was wird es doch 1 [1.26]
Was wird es doch II [2.54]
Was wird es doch III [1.28]
En quam honesta [4.23]
Sic Deus dilexit mundum [3.25]
O crux ave, spes unica (Fortuna) [2.41]
Verbum caro factum est [9.02]
