Special Projects 2024-25

MISSA CAPUT

The anonymous English mass ‘Caput’ was one of the most influential polyphonic compositions of the 15th century. Once thought to be by Guillaume Dufay, the mass now languishes in the category of ‘Anon’ and is more discussed than performed. Over the course of several months, members of CECM have been working on the work from period sources. A video diary of this project can be found HERE and a live recording of the Gloria HERE.

MACHAUT: LE VOIR DIT

‘In praise and honour of Love, whom we honour, obey, serve, and fear, I intend to begin a new work that I will compose for Toute-Belle, the All-Beautiful. It is to be called Le Voir Dit –the True Poem – because in it I shall not lie …’

Machaut’s account of a love-affair, carried out largely by correspondence, contains a number of his finest ballades and rondeaux, and provides a fascinating insight into the aristocratic culture of music-making in the mid-14th century; as well as being a teasingly enigmatic exploration of ‘truth’. In our project, we have set the songs in a sequence of readings from the poem, performing from manuscript sources.

Listen to our live recording of the ballade Plourez dames HERE.

JOSQUIN AND BRUMEL

The larger CEMC group has been working this year on Franco-Flemish polyphony including works by Josquin, Brumel and Gaspar van Weerbeke. In our view, even some of the most celebrated of these works have been poorly understood and realised in performance. Here, for instance, is a live performance of Josquin’s motet Praeter rerum seriem.