About
The Leuven Songbook brings music and images from a recently-discovered 15 th-century manuscript to vivid life in a multimedia program. Produced in collaboration with Chicago’s renowned Newberry Consort, The Leuven Songbook brings together solo voices with medieval fiddles, harp, lute, organetto (a special tabletop organ), and recorders to perform songs by Ockeghem, Busnois, and others – all accompanied by gorgeous projected images and supertitles. “Our audiences are also totally fascinated when given the opportunity to see what this late-Medieval music actually looks like on the page,” explained Nagy.
Discovered in 2016, The Leuven Songbook’s origins can be traced to France’s Loire Valley c. 1475. Containing 49 songs (of which 12 were completely unknown previously), the Leuven Songbook was hand-produced by a team of artisans. Like Books of Hours, songbooks belong to a rich tradition of small, beautiful, personal books. Containing both popular and little-known or unique songs, Nagy compares these books to personal playlists or mix tapes, “Some of these songs were hugely popular – traveling the continent and clearly remaining in the repertory for decades. The unique songs, however, seem to have had but a brief moment in the sun – we can delight in these little-known works like a rare record’s B-side.”
Program
Anon: J’ay pris amours
Hayne van Ghizeghem: De tous biens plaine
arr. Nagy: Triste plaisir basse danse & Danse de Cleves
Anon: Escu d’ennuy*
Anon: J’ay des semblans*
Anon: Oublie, oublie*
Personnel
Debra Nagy: Recorder, voice
Charles Weaver: Lute, voice
Allison Monroe: Vielle, voice
Jason McStoots: tenor
Daniel Fridley: bass