Missa Faulx perverse
Composer: Jacobus Barbireau (1455 - 1491)
Performers: Beauty Farm
Score editor: I thank Jorge Martín of Ars Subtilior Editions who allowed me to use this great edition of Barbireau's music. The score is available here: www.arsubtilioreditions.com/p/franco-flemish-french-music-catalogue.html
0:00 Kyrie
4:43 Gloria
14:07 Credo
27:37 Sanctus
36:10 Agnus Dei
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"Throughout history, the representation of power has always played an essential role - whether positive or mostly negative. Here, in the case of a composer on the brink of modern times, it was high lords whose self-image included representing their splendour during their lifetime, but also for posterity, through soulful engagement in matters of music. We have this natural desire to thank for a codex of sacred music, a magnificent manuscript in the possession of the Austrian National Library in Vienna (Codex 1783). The provenance of this extensive manuscript from the beginning of the 16th century is to be found in the Habsburg spheres. The commissioner was Philip I the Fair, King of Castile and León, as Philip IV Duke of Burgundy - a son of Emperor Maximilian I. The coat of arms of the Portuguese kings in the initials of the Kyrie of the Missa Faulx perverse suggests to whom homage was hereby to be paid at the wedding, in 1500: King Manuel I, called "the Fortunate" (O Venturoso) and Mary of Spain. From his earliest childhood, Duke Philip IV was subject to an institution whose fame in the Renaissance extended to the borders of the West: the Burgundian court chapel.
Their repertoire, in turn, was documented among other things in the Scriptorium of Petrus Alamire and its surroundings in mostly ornate, representative manuscripts, which also include our Codex 1783 in Vienna. This collection includes such illustrious names as Josquin Desprez, Alexander Agricola and Pierre de la Rue. The two masses at the beginning were written by Jacobus Barbireau, a composer who was apparently sponsored by Emperor Maximilian. In general, the humanistically educated emperor, called "the last knight", promoted the singers and composers of the Burgundian court chapel, which was of substantial importance for the development of polyphony in the late 15th century.
The Burgundian court chapel was once famous for its low voices. This is evidenced by compositions by Pierre de la Rue, who, like Alexander Agricola, was one of the court chapel's singer-composers. The four-part Missa Faulx perverse also impresses with its low register, reminiscent of many a work by Johannes Ockeghem. Set in the extremely rare hypodoric mode, the dense mesh of voices spreads an atmosphere that is a strange mixture of gloomy static and more agitated, lighter elements. Imitation, such as we find in Jacob Obrecht, for example, is hardly the criterion here. Rather - perhaps in keeping with the text of the unknown but apparently polyphonic chanson - any atmosphere of the predictable, the familiar is avoided. The impression of a mysterious sound world, admittedly based on a subtle mastery of counterpoint, is reinforced by the absence of a continuous cantus firmus. Apparently, motifs quoted again and again were taken from various voices of the chanson, which makes the work seem almost unique in contrast to the parody masses of the time. Anyone looking for textual interpretations in this mass will also be disappointed here. Admittedly, one could find two passages in the Gloria. The words "Jesu Christe" are emphasised by fermatas. New sections begin. To what extent are these "special features" used deliberately? To judge this, we lack the necessary distance to the currently prevailing topoi of music and cultural history, or simply put: we know too little!"
~Bernhard Trebuch
Source: CD booklet
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