Quand j'estoy libre
from Doulce mémoire by Mignarda
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about
Adrian Le Roy (c. 1520 – 1598)
Adrian Le Roy was a well-connected musician at court and had familiar conference with preeminent poets including Ronsard and celebrious composers including Lassus. He successfully used his connections to procure a royal patent to publish music beginning in 1551, in partnership with his cousin Robert Ballard (c.1527 – 1588), producing an enormous output of high quality music editions over the span of nearly fifty years. Le Roy was in a position to have an unusually influential role in promoting music and determining popular taste.
Le Roy’s delightful music for solo lute demonstrates the direct influence of the famous Albert de Rippe (c. 1500 – 1551), displaying much rhythmic vitality and ample use of arpeggiation technique applied in a manner that implies a polyphonic interpretation. This style was later called style brisé, a term concocted by 20th-century musicologists to describe broken chordal technique, but the style was based upon a subtle interpretive technique that highlights and accentuates the strands of polyphony in a way particular to the character and resources of the lute.
Le Roy published his groundbreaking book of Airs de cour miz sur le luth in 1571. The book mostly consists of arrangements for solo voice and lute of airs originally for four voices, found in Chansons de Pierre de Ronsard, Philippe Desportes, et autres, mises en musique par Nicolas de la Grotte, published by Le Roy & Ballard in 1569. "Quand j'estoy libre" is among the most satisfying of Le Roy's arrangements, with its sprightly rhythms and evocative time changes.
Adrian Le Roy was a well-connected musician at court and had familiar conference with preeminent poets including Ronsard and celebrious composers including Lassus. He successfully used his connections to procure a royal patent to publish music beginning in 1551, in partnership with his cousin Robert Ballard (c.1527 – 1588), producing an enormous output of high quality music editions over the span of nearly fifty years. Le Roy was in a position to have an unusually influential role in promoting music and determining popular taste.
Le Roy’s delightful music for solo lute demonstrates the direct influence of the famous Albert de Rippe (c. 1500 – 1551), displaying much rhythmic vitality and ample use of arpeggiation technique applied in a manner that implies a polyphonic interpretation. This style was later called style brisé, a term concocted by 20th-century musicologists to describe broken chordal technique, but the style was based upon a subtle interpretive technique that highlights and accentuates the strands of polyphony in a way particular to the character and resources of the lute.
Le Roy published his groundbreaking book of Airs de cour miz sur le luth in 1571. The book mostly consists of arrangements for solo voice and lute of airs originally for four voices, found in Chansons de Pierre de Ronsard, Philippe Desportes, et autres, mises en musique par Nicolas de la Grotte, published by Le Roy & Ballard in 1569. "Quand j'estoy libre" is among the most satisfying of Le Roy's arrangements, with its sprightly rhythms and evocative time changes.
lyrics
Quand j’estois libre, ains que l'amour cruelle
Ne fut esprise en ma tendre moëlle,
Je vivois bien-heureux,
Comme à l’envy les plus accortes filles
Se travailloyent par leurs flammes gentilles,
De me rendre amoureux.
Mais tout ainsi q’un beau poulain farouche
Qui n’a masché le frein dedans la bouche
Va seulet escarté,
N’ayant soucy, sinon d’un pied superbe
A mille bons fouler le fleurs & l’herbe, Vivant en liberté .
Ainsi j’allois desdaignant les pucelles,
Qu’on estimoit en beauté les plus belles,
Sans respondre à leur vueil :
Lors je vivois amoureux de moy-mesme,
Content et gay, sans porter couleur blesme
Ny les larmes à l’oeil.
Mais aussi tost que par mauvais desastre
Je vey ton sein blanchissant comme albastre,
Et tes yeux, deux soleils,
Tes beaux cheveux espanchez par ondées,
Et les beaux lys de tes lévres bordées
De cent œillets vermeils :
Incontinent j’appris que c’est service.
La liberté de mon ame nourrice,
S’eschappa loin de moy :
Dedans tes rets ma premiere franchise
Pour obeïr à ton bel œil, fut prise
Esclave sous ta loy.
When I was free, and cruel love
had not been caught in my tender marrow.
I lived happily.
Against the will of the most attractive girls,
who worked so hard with their gentle flames
to make me fall in love.
But just as a handsome wild colt
which has not chewed the bit in his mouth
wanders far and wide by himself,
having no care except to trample with a thousand leaps
the flowers and grasses with his proud foot,
living in liberty.
Just so I used to disdain the maids
that everyone thought fairest of the fair,
unresponsive to their wishes.
Then, I was in love with myself;
happy and joyful, not wearing this pale color
nor with tears in my eyes.
But as soon as through terrible misfortune
I saw your breast, white as alabaster
And your eyes, twin suns,
Your fine hair pouring down in waves,
And the fair lilies of your lips bordered
With a hundred pink carnations
Instantly I learned what it is to be in service,
And liberty, the nurse of my soul,
Fled far from me. My previous freedom
was caught within your nets
so that it obeyed your fair eyes,
a slave to your law.
English translation by Donna Stewart.
Ne fut esprise en ma tendre moëlle,
Je vivois bien-heureux,
Comme à l’envy les plus accortes filles
Se travailloyent par leurs flammes gentilles,
De me rendre amoureux.
Mais tout ainsi q’un beau poulain farouche
Qui n’a masché le frein dedans la bouche
Va seulet escarté,
N’ayant soucy, sinon d’un pied superbe
A mille bons fouler le fleurs & l’herbe, Vivant en liberté .
Ainsi j’allois desdaignant les pucelles,
Qu’on estimoit en beauté les plus belles,
Sans respondre à leur vueil :
Lors je vivois amoureux de moy-mesme,
Content et gay, sans porter couleur blesme
Ny les larmes à l’oeil.
Mais aussi tost que par mauvais desastre
Je vey ton sein blanchissant comme albastre,
Et tes yeux, deux soleils,
Tes beaux cheveux espanchez par ondées,
Et les beaux lys de tes lévres bordées
De cent œillets vermeils :
Incontinent j’appris que c’est service.
La liberté de mon ame nourrice,
S’eschappa loin de moy :
Dedans tes rets ma premiere franchise
Pour obeïr à ton bel œil, fut prise
Esclave sous ta loy.
When I was free, and cruel love
had not been caught in my tender marrow.
I lived happily.
Against the will of the most attractive girls,
who worked so hard with their gentle flames
to make me fall in love.
But just as a handsome wild colt
which has not chewed the bit in his mouth
wanders far and wide by himself,
having no care except to trample with a thousand leaps
the flowers and grasses with his proud foot,
living in liberty.
Just so I used to disdain the maids
that everyone thought fairest of the fair,
unresponsive to their wishes.
Then, I was in love with myself;
happy and joyful, not wearing this pale color
nor with tears in my eyes.
But as soon as through terrible misfortune
I saw your breast, white as alabaster
And your eyes, twin suns,
Your fine hair pouring down in waves,
And the fair lilies of your lips bordered
With a hundred pink carnations
Instantly I learned what it is to be in service,
And liberty, the nurse of my soul,
Fled far from me. My previous freedom
was caught within your nets
so that it obeyed your fair eyes,
a slave to your law.
English translation by Donna Stewart.
credits
from Doulce mémoire,
released September 3, 2021
Donna Stewart, voice
Ron Andrico, lute
Recorded at the Lava Room, Beachwood, OH
Engineer, Chris Ebbert
lute by Richard Fletcher, courtesy of Jean Toombs
Donna Stewart, voice
Ron Andrico, lute
Recorded at the Lava Room, Beachwood, OH
Engineer, Chris Ebbert
lute by Richard Fletcher, courtesy of Jean Toombs
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
Mignarda Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Mignarda specializes in thoughtful programming illuminating the vibrant mingling of renaissance music & poetry. Noted for awakening modern audiences to an appreciation for historical music, their work encompasses concertizing, teaching & recording, with 17 critically-acclaimed CDs, a series of 16 music editions, scholarly articles, reviews and the internationally-popular blog, Unquiet Thoughts. ... more
discography
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Jun 2022 -
Sep 2021 -
Apr 2021 -
Nov 2020
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