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Friday 3 February saw the beginning of the long procession which was to take the body from
Blois to Saint-Denis. This sumptuous yet dismal cortège took eight days to reach Paris. At
each stopping place on the journey (Saint-Die, Notre-Dame de Cléry, Orléans, Artenay,
Janville, Angerville, Étampes, Montlhéry), the body was lodged in a church and watched over
by religious.
Only on 12 February did the body arrive at the gates of Paris. The coffin was to remain there
two whole days until preparations were complete for the Mass at Notre-Dame.
On 14 February, a cortège left Notre-Dame des Champs for Notre-Dame de Paris; Pierre
Choque takes ten pages to describe it in his manuscript. The queen’s coffin was placed on a
catafalque surmounted by an effigy in her image. It was carried by her principal officers, preceded
and followed by all the representatives of the Church, the Paris municipal authorities, the royal
institutions, and the university. In Notre-Dame, hung with black cloths, a chapelle ardente lit by
1,200 candles had been set up. And on the altars shone 3,800 more. A Mass was celebrated that
evening, another the next day. After four Masses, the procession set out for Saint-Denis where
Guillaume Pavy, the king’s confessor, pronounced a sermon on the theme Cecidit corona capitis
nostro (The crown is fallen from our head). Then came the interment and the ceremony of the
regalia, during which copies of the hand of justice and the sceptre were laid on the coffin and the
mourning staffs were broken and thrown into the grave by Anne’s stewards. The queen’s heart,
at her request, was taken to Nantes in a heart-shaped golden reliquary and placed between the
bodies of her father and mother.
The exceptional pomp which surrounded the funeral of Anne of Brittany may be explained by
King Louis XII’s genuine fondness for his consort, but also by the monarchy’s wish to celebrate the
image of the queen as a bringer of peace and union through the attachment of Brittany to France.
Déplorations in music
In the Renaissance era there was a tradition of musical laments (déplorations) written as tributes
to musicians or official personages, such as Nicolas Gombert’s on the death of Josquin Desprez,
Musae Jovis, or Benedictus Appenzeller’s Plangite pierides composed to commemorate Erasmus.
We are fortunate that the pieces written for the death of the queen have survived: Quis dabit
oculis nostris by Costanzo Festa and Fiere attropos by Pierre Moulu.
Costanzo Festa was employed at the court of France in 1513-14. Indeed, his motet Quis dabit
oculis nostris is strikingly similar to the setting of the same words by his chapel colleague Jean
Mouton. Its text paraphrases a verse from the ninth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah: 17
Quis dabit capiti meo aquam, et oculis meis fontem lacrimarum, et plorabo die ac nocte interfectos filiæ
populi mei? (Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? and I will weep
day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.)
But it also takes up all the themes of the sermons pronounced during the funeral ceremonies for
Anne of Brittany: Defecit gaudium cordis nostri (The joy of our heart is ceased) at Blois, Conversus
est in luctum chorus noster (Our dancing is turned into mourning) at Notre-Dame, and Cecidit
corona capitis nostris (The crown is fallen from our head) at Saint-Denis. It is also worthy of note
that this text had already been paraphrased by Poliziano on the occasion of the death of Lorenzo
the Magnificent and set to music by Heinrich Isaac: Quis dabit capiti meo aquam? Quis oculis meis
fontem lachrimarum dabit, ut necte fleam?
Festa’s setting betrays the Italian origins of its composer, who does not hesitate to resort to
a declamatory, homophonic idiom to convey the grievous nature of the bereavement, using
rhetorical devices like the rest that follows the words ‘musica sileat’ (Let music fall silent) or the
expressive exclamations at the twice-repeated apostrophes ‘Anna’.
The motet-chanson Fiere attropos by Pierre Moulu calls for five male voices in an extremely low
range. The tenor line sings the antiphon Anxiatus est in me throughout the piece, while the other
voices are assigned a text in French about the third Fate, Atropos, who has cut the thread of the
queen’s life. This device of superimposing a melody of liturgical origin and a French chanson
had already been used in another déploration, Josquin Desprez’s Nymphes nappés, in which the
two tenors sing the text circumdederunt me gemitus mortis in canon. The same procedure recurs
in a piece which we have recorded in an instrumental version, but allotting to a singer the part
in Latin which quotes a liturgical melody: Cœurs désoléz / Dies illa, dies irae by Pierre de La Rue.
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plural of gwerz (Breton for ballad, lament)
1. Fiere attropos mauldicte Pierre Moulu
Fiere attropos mauldicte et inhumaine, Fiere attropos mauldicte et inhumaine, Cruel Atropos, accursed and savage,
Grant ennemye de toute vie humaine, Grant ennemye de toute vie humaine, mighty enemy of all human life,
Tu nous as mis en grant perplecité Tu nous as mis en grant perplecité you have caused us great distress
Quant per enuye as en tes pletz cité Quant per enuye as en tes pletz cité by spitefully summoning before your court
Nostre maistresse et dame souveraine. Nostre maistresse et dame souveraine. our mistress and sovereign lady.
Que te nuysoit en ce siecle et demaine, Que te nuysoit en ce siecle et demaine, What harm did she cause you, in this world and domain,
La noble dame dont France grant deul maine La noble dame dont France grant deul maine that noble lady whom France so sadly mourns
Comme privé de sa félicité ? Comme privé de sa félicité ? as if deprived of all its happiness?
(Tenor) : Anxiatus est in me spiritus meus; (Tenor) : Mon esprit est anxieux en moi-même (Tenor): My spirit is anxious within me;
in me turbatum est cor meum. En moi, mon cœur est troublé. my heart within me is troubled.
6. Introitum
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: Accorde, Seigneur, le repos éternel à nos Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord,
et lux perpetua luceat eis. défunts et que brille à leurs yeux la lumière and let perpetual light shine upon them.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, sans déclin. A toi la louange, ô Dieu, dans A hymn, O God, becomes thee in Zion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. Sion, pour toi l’on acquitte ses vœux à and a vow shall be paid to thee in Jerusalem.
Exaudi, Deus, orationem meam, Jérusalem. Exauce ma prière, ô Dieu et tout Hear my prayer, O God;
ad te omnes caro veniet. être de chair viendra à toi. all flesh shall come before thee.
7. Kyrie
Kyrie eleison. Seigneur, prends pitié. Lord, have mercy.
Christe eleison. Ô Christ, prends pitié. hrist, have mercy.
Kyrie eleison. Seigneur, prends pitié. Lord, have mercy.
8. Graduale
Antiphona: Si ambulem in medio umbrae Antienne : Si je marche entouré de l’ombre Antiphon: For though I walk in the midst of
mortis non timebo mala: quoniam tu mecum de la mort, je ne crains point le mal car toi, the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for
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es Domine Seigneur, tu es avec moi. thou art with me, O Lord.
9. Versus
Virga tua et baculus tuus ipsa me consolata sunt. Ta houlette et ton bâton, voilà mon réconfort. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.
10. Tractus
Sitivit anima mea ad Deum vivum: Mon âme a soif de Dieu la source vive. My soul hath thirsted after the living God;
quando veniam et apparebo ante faciem Dei mei? Quand irai-je me présenter devant Dieu ? when shall I come and appear before the face of my God?
11. Tractus
Fuerunt mihi lacrimae meae panes die ac nocte: Mes larmes sont devenues ma nourriture, jour et nuit, My tears have been my bread day and night,
dum dicitur mihi per singulos dies: Ubi est Deus tuus? Tandis qu’on me demande chaque jour : «Où est ton Dieu ?» whilst it is said to me daily: Where is thy God?
17. Benedictus
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Béni soit celui qui vient au nom du Seigneur, Blessed is he that comes in the Name of the Lord.
Hosanna in excelsis. Hosanna au plus haut des cieux. Hosanna in the highest!
21. In paradisum
In paradisum deducant te angeli: Jusqu’en paradis, que les anges te conduisent, May the angels lead you into paradise,
in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, à ton arrivée, que les martyrs te reçoivent, may the martyrs receive you in your coming,
et perducant te et qu’ils te conduisent and may they guide you
in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem. dans la Sainte cité de Jérusalem. into the holy city, Jerusalem.
Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, que le chœur des anges t’accueillent, May the chorus of angels receive you
et cum Lazaro quondam paupere et qu’avec Lazare, le pauvre d’autrefois, and with Lazarus, once a poor man,
aeternam habeas requiem. tu jouisses du repos éternel. may you have eternal rest.
Dès ses premiers enregistrements discographiques, il interprète des gwerzioù (chants épiques,
historiques ou tragiques en langue bretonne) auxquels il donne, par sa voix, un véritable souffle
de modernisme et une extraordinaire profondeur. Son audience, dès lors, dépasse largement
celle des amateurs de musiques bretonnes. Il devient rapidement un symbole du renouveau de la
Bretagne traditionnelle, et l'un des maillons les plus importants de la transmission de l'héritage
musical breton.
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A ce jour, Yann-Fañch Kemener a enregistré plus d’une vingtaine de disques qui ont reçu les
éloges de la critique (Diapason d'or, Télérama ffff, etc).
La gwerz
La gwerz est une complainte narrative, longue et épique, souvent dramatique interprétée par
tradition a capella. C'est le récit très souvent précis, c'est l'histoire du peuple, celle qui se raconte
aux veillées.
Yann-Fañch Kemener est l'un des derniers chanteurs bretonnants de naissance à transmettre
les gwerzioù (pluriel de gwerz) apprises dès l'enfance ou recueillies lors de collectes de textes et
mélodies auprès de chanteurs bretons détenteurs de ce patrimoine oral.
Yann-Fañch Kemener
Yann-Fañch Kemener possesses one of the best-known voices in Brittany, and ‘one of the
finest in France’ (Hélène Hazera, Libération). This specialist in Kan ha diskan (monophonic,
modal call-and-response music sung in the Breton language), on which he has done genuine
ethnomusicological research, took part from an early age in the revival, conservation and
transmission of the traditional musical patrimony of Brittany. His extraordinary voice and his
depth of musical knowledge have aroused the admiration of his Breton peers and aided the
propagation of Breton traditional song outside France.
Right from his earliest recordings, he performed gwerzioù (epic, historical or tragic songs in
Breton), bringing to them, through his voice, a true breath of modernity and an extraordinary
profundity. His audience was soon much wider than the circle of lovers of Breton music. He
rapidly became a symbol of the renaissance of traditional Brittany, and one of the key figures in
the transmission of the Breton musical heritage.
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Yann-Fañch Kemener has recorded more than twenty discs to date, which have been
enthusiastically received by the press (Diapason d’Or, ffff Télérama, etc).
The gwerz
The gwerz is a long, epic narrative lament, frequently dramatic in character, and traditionally
sung unaccompanied. It is often a very precise account of the Breton people’s history as it is
retold in evening gatherings.
Yann-Fañch Kemener is one of the last native speakers of Breton by birth to pass on the
gwerzioù (plural of gwerz) which he learned in childhood or whose texts and melodies he has
collected from other singers invested with this oral patrimony.
Distribution
Denis Raisin Dadre direction artistique
Yann-Fañch Kemener chant breton
Paulin Bündgen alto
Hugues Primard ténor
Vincent Bouchot baryton
Marc Busnel, Philippe Roche basses
Eva Godard cornet muet par Serge Delmas (2003)
Franck Poitrineau sacqueboute ténor par Heribert Glassl (1989) d’après Sébastien Hainlain /
sacqueboute basse par Ewald Meinl (2000) d’après Oller (XVIIème siècle)
Johanne Maître, Elsa Frank, Jérémie Papasergio, Denis Raisin Dadre consort de grandes flûtes à bec
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par Francesco Li Virghi & Adrian Brown / consort basson renaissance (dulzian) par Olivier Cottet & Laurent Verjat
Commande du Printemps des Arts de Nantes, créée en la cathédrale de Nantes, le 28 mai 2009
Enregistré à l’abbaye de Fontevraud du 20 au 24 septembre 2010
Enregistrement réalisé grâce au soutien de la Région Centre et du FCM
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Prise de son, direction artistique, montage : Franck Jaffrès et Denis Raisin Dadre
Traductions français – anglais : Charles Johnston
Traductions breton – français : Yann-Fañch Kemener
ArtWork : GMG/9
© Photo : DR
Production
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