Throughout history women have seemed to exist in the shadow of men, their personal and economic survival dependent on them. Although women’s marginality was to some extent a fact, it is not the whole picture. In Southern France during the 11th and 12th centuries, an auspicious moment for women arose. The Crusades and other wars at that time decimated the male population in the homeland leaving women effectively in charge of their properties. Southern France, unlike England or Northern France, followed the Justinian Code, which allowed women to own their inherited property outright. This, paired with the popularity of the Cathar religion, which believed in the equality of men and women, gave women unprecedented power and freedom, thus enabling the women troubadours (trobairitz) to flourish.
"Une Vie de Femme" seeks to portray the lives and feelings of these medieval women as is reflected through the music and poetry of the time. While many texts and melodies remain anonymous, we have some clear authorships of women and men in this program. It is for the listener to decide if a different viewpoint or mode of expression between the genders can be discerned. Though this program in no way claims to show a representative comparison of male troubadour and female trobairitz texts, perhaps this small taste will tantalize us into looking more closely for insights into the lives and thoughts of medieval women.
Performing:
Debra Gomez-Tapio, voice and harp
Mikael Heikkilä, percussion
A Pilgrim’s Path
The music is a pan-European collection of 14th and 15th century
songs that the pilgrims hear and sing in their travels beginning
in Renko’s church of St.James in the south of Finland to Santiago
de Compostela in Spain
During the 14th century Europe was in a state of upheaval with the
Crusades, the Plague, the Hundred Years war and the Great Schism of
the Catholic Church. St Birgitta of Sweden, a woman of noble birth, a
visionary, the mother of eight children, a pilgrim, a writer and a
saint stood in the middle of these events. In her three pilgrimages
to Santiago de Compostela, to Rome and to Jerusalem, Birgitta of Sweden
spoke to popes, kings, servants and peasants and influenced all of them.
The music in this program underscores the places, events and thoughts
in Birgitta’s life. As colorful as her life is so is the music of 14th century Europe.
We hope this program will weave together for you the sounds and thoughts of St. Birgitta’s time.
Instrumental music and songs from two major Baltic song collections,
Piae Cantiones of Turku Cathedral school and the Rostocker Liederbuch
from the University of Rostock, Germany. The songs describe student life
in the 1500s: harsh discipline and hard study, a life of piety mixed
with love, spring and youthful merrymaking.
Performing:
Debra Gomez-Tapio, voice and harp
Mikael Heikkilä, percussion
Janek Öller, recorders and bagpipes
O Scholares voce pares:
More samples from this program on the Artists page.
