Make love, not crusades: Medieval songs for lovers departing to the Holy Land - MURMUR MORI

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Ensemble: Murmur Mori
Album: Make love, not crusades: Songs for lovers departing to the Holy Land
Video: Le Livre de Thezeo, G. Boccaccio - XIV secolo

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"Amas e chantas soven", love and sing often, this is the advice given by Love to Peirol in the tenso he wrote and in which Love tries to convince him not to go on crusade; adding that “many lovers will depart, weeping, from their ladies”. Crusades is a modern term used to indicate the wars promoted by the Christian Latin Church, starting from the 11th century, with the intent of conquering Jerusalem which was governed by the Muslims. At that time the terms used for such military campaigns were iter, peregrinatio, passagium, having a meaning of pilgrimage "overseas", namely towards the Holy Land where the Christians conquered dominions.
These journeys were many and although they always had short-lived success the desire to see the mysterious and fascinating Orient, the faith and the promise of salvation of the soul, the opportunity of visiting the mystical places mentioned in the Bible, the stories of the pilgrims who returned and the letters of those who remained there because they had made their fortune, made this call to arms and pilgrimage irresistible. A call loudly promoted by prominent figures such as Bernard of Clairvaux, extolled in excited and convincing sermons. The spoils hidden behind these holy wars were decidedly tempting and rich, the political-economic interests that arose from them were decisive in the course of European history. The Italian Maritime Republics, for example, became incredibly wealthy thanks to these expeditions and many European nobles saw and found opportunities for conquest that were unthinkable anywhere besides in the lands of the Muslims. In the world of art then, many were the troubadours of every social class who composed songs to encourage kings and princes to take the cross.
Beautiful lyrics and melodies were composed and handed down to posterity, and they are well known nowadays, as wonderful interpretations of all sorts have been made and recorded of such songs.
However, there were also critical voices against these overseas expeditions, such as a woman's lament in old Venetian: heartbreaking in describing how she sees her house empty after her husband's departure. Marcabru, in a poem that recalls both the "chanson de toile" and the "pastorela", rhymes of when he met a woman in tears near a fountain, cursed King Louis VII of France, promoter of the Second Crusade, who had taken her lover away. Separation was sometimes hard for men too, as Chardon de Croisilles sang: "I am forced to leave the one I loved most to serve the Lord God my creator, and yet I belong completely to Love". Murmur Mori's work focuses on these texts and musical sources in which the pain caused by armed conflict is expressed, a feeling that unfortunately is still very current. The title "Make love, not crusades" is a reference to the famous peace motto of the 1960s, sadly still relevant today in this perpetually war-torn society, and this slogan is very close to the words "amas e chantas soven" that Peirol wrote in his composition "Qant Amors trobet partit" in which he exchanges rhymes with Love and he is given the advice to love and sing often
instead of going to war. (From the booklet of the album)

I wish you happy listening!
Mirko Virginio Volpe
MUSICA MEDIEVALE
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1 Walther von der Vogelweide - Nu alrest leb ich mir werde
2 Anonymous - Lamento della sposa padovana I - Music: Nomen a solemnibus
3 Marcabru - A la fontana del vergier
4 Thibaut de Champagne - Seigneur sachiez qui or ne sen ira (Instr.)
5 Rinaldo d'Aquino - Già mai non mi conforto
6 Anonymous - Lamento della sposa padovana II - Music: Nomen a solemnibus
7 Anonymous - Suspirava una pulcela
8 Richard the Lionheart (Attributed) - Ja nuns hons pris
9 Peirol d'Auvergne - Qant Amors trobet partit
10 Chardon de Croisilles - Li departirs de la douce contree
11 Guiot de Dijon - Chanterai por mon corage
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Mirko Virginio Volpe: chant, gittern, frame drum, tambourine, bells
Silvia Kuro: chant, readings, nakers, tambourine, sleigh bells, church bells, bells
Alessandra Lazzarini: transverse flutes
Matteo Brusa: citole, darbouka, frame drum, riqq, cymbals
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