Piae Cantiones
Latin Song in
Mediaeval Finland
One early but ill fated attempt to create a Greater Northern Union of
states in Scandinavia was made in 1397, when all Nordic countries were to be
brought under Danish rule. The Union of Kalmar finally fell apart in 1523 after
repeated Swedish rebellions. This ultimate dissolution was preceded by the
famous Stockholm massacre in which 82 noblemen and clergy who suppol1ed Swedish
independence were executed by the Danes.
The leader of the successful Swedish uprising was Gustavus Vasa who then
became king of Sweden and its eastern duchy, Finland. It was not, however,
solely bravery and national patriotism that secured victory. Mercenaries were
expensive and warfare in the sixteenth century typically included a provider of
capital with commercial interests, in this case the Hanseatic merchants of
Lübeck. In consequence the war left Gustavus Vasa seriously in debt. This has
often been considered one reason why Sweden and Finland so quickly adopted the
new Protestant religious doctrines. According to these, the head of the state
was also head of the national church. This, in torn, translated into the right
of the crown to confiscate church property.
In Sweden the whole Reformation was accomplished without much conflict
or bloodshed and this was even more the case in Finland, which with its own
diocese in Turko (Latin Aboa) had enjoyed a large measure of religious
independence since the fourteenth century. The first Finnish hymnal, published
in 1583 by Jaakko Finno, headmaster of Turku Cathedral School, notably lacks
the militant combat songs so typical of many other contemporary hymnals.
Together with Theodoricus Petri, a Finnish student at the University of
Rostock, Jaakko Finno was also the principal editor of a curious collection of
Latin devotional songs for the schola Aboensi in Finlandia, published in
Greifswald in 1582. This book, under the title Piae Cantiones ecclesiasticae
et scholasticae veterum episcoporum, contains music of extensive
chronological and geographical scope. Stylistically the content is clearly
older than the publishing date might suggest and some compositions can be
traced back to the turn of the millennium. The main body of compositions,
however, can be placed within the fifteenth-century Germanic-Bohemian Cantio
tradition.
The question arises as to why a book such as Piae Cantiones should
have been produced in Protestant Finland by a clergyman who on another occasion
had called the use of Latin in the liturgy a Devil's invention and why
it should have been published in continental Europe and not, for instance in
Stockholm, the capital. It seems that the impulse for this book came directly
from King Johan III of Sweden, who had strong Catholic sympathies and, as a
former governor and Duke of Finland, was well acquainted with its cultural
heritage. As the title of the book suggests, it seems that Piae Cantiones, rather
than being a coherent musical entity, is an attempt to salvage a centuries old
local musical tradition doomed to obsolescence. This character of the
collection is apparent from the lack of any contemporary musical material and
the manner of presentation of the compositions, suggesting a strong oral
element in their transmission. The place of publication can probably be
explained by the continuing presence of Finnish students at the Catholic
universities of Central Europe and the stronger anti-Catholic sentiments of
Sweden itself.
Piae Cantiones did not completely escape theological controversy.
Some of its texts were 'corrected' by Jaakko Finno, a task carried out rather
superficially, generally simply by replacing words such as Maria and Virgo
by words such as Christus and Puer, and so on. Naturally,
this often resulted in a violation of the poetic structure and, in a couple of
cases, in complete nonsense, as, for instance, when Christus was assigned the
virginal attribute porta clausa nec pervia.
The second edition of Piae Cantiones was published in 1625 in
Rostock and is connected in many ways with the other main mediaeval centre of
Finland, Viborg. This time a well known German church musician Daniel Friderici
served as an artistic director of the enterprise. Sensing the historical and
cultural value of the collection, he preserved all the monophonic songs of the
first edition. Many of the three-part polyphonic compositions, however, he
replaced by music reflecting contemporary taste. In this respect, the second
edition has more the character of a practical song-book. Few sixteenth-century
musical collections anywhere in Europe enjoy such an established position in
today's musical life as Piae Cantiones in Finland. In the wake of early
twentieth-century national romanticism a whole mixed choir tradition has
evolved around these melodies, some of which are also represented in the church
hymnal. As a result, one concept hardly ever applied to this repertory in
Finland is that of so-called historical performance practice. Similarly, the
emphasis on elements of national origin, of which there are many, has largely
hindered the public from seeing this collection in its proper context as a
large and coherent body of strophic Latin non-liturgical song, ranging in
provenance from the Mediterranean to the Baltic.
In the present recording our intention has been to explore these links
that connect Finland with the common musical heritage of Europe. Some
compositions, therefore, are taken from sources other than the Piae
Cantiones collection itself. A remarkable number of the Piae Cantiones songs,
however, are not found in other sources and their origins are subject to
speculation. Many of them are likely to be Finnish, such as Ramus virens
olivarum, a hymn to St Henry, an English bishop who was axed down by an
uncooperative native on the ice of Lake Köyliö in 1155, a fate for which, as
compensation, he later became the patron saint of Finland. Another curious
composition is Aetas carmen melodiae, which in the 1625 edition is
replaced by a song of Daniel Friderici himself. In spite of its archaic beauty,
the counterpoint of the original three-voice version is downright bizarre and
could well be the local product of a less than pedantic composer. Of the
compositions which have known Central European connections, most are of German
or Bohemian origin, or at least transmitted through that area. A good example
of this is Dies est laetitiae, which appears in fifteenth and sixteenth
century sources in countless variations and later as a Lutheran chorale with
the text Der Tag der ist so freudenreich. The melody of Parvulus
nobis nascitur is of German popular origin and preserved, for instance, in
the Glogauer Liederbuch with a vernacular text. The present polyphonic
version is thought to be by the Flemish master Jacob Obrecht and is taken from
the first printed volume of polyphonic music, Ottaviano Petrucci's Odhecaton
(Venice 1501). Many of the older Piae Cantiones songs have their
origins further south. For instance, the earliest known provenance for Verbum
caro factum est is in a French manuscript dating from before the year 1100.
This song, which might have travelled to Finland with Finnish students from
Paris University, can also be found in some Italian and Spanish sources. In the
same twelfth-century Spanish manuscript there is also a version of Omnis
mundus jucundetur. In this recording this composition will appear twice,
first in the monophonic Piae Cantiones version and then as a double-text
motet from the Czech Speciálník manuscript. Puer natus in Bethlehem, well
known in the Germanic part of Europe, has its earliest known source from the
monastery of Bobbio in Italy.
Our knowledge of musical performance practice in mediaeval Finland is
virtually non-existent. Since the main cultural exchange between Finland and
other countries took place through active trade with other Baltic states and
the Hanseatic League, we have looked to German instrumental practice of the
fifteenth century for inspiration. The use of the kantele, the
traditional Finnish psaltery, in some compositions allows us to explore
hypothetical links between the scholarly musical world and folk-tradition.
Markus Tapio
Retrover Ensemble
The Retrover Ensemble was established in 1986 as an ensemble
specialising in late mediaeval and renaissance repertoire. From the beginning,
its primary aspiration has been performance combining living musical expression
and high artistic ambitions with thorough musicological research. Most of the
members of the ensemble have studied at the internationally renowned institute
for early music, the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Retrover has given concerts in
Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Italy and Germany, and has recorded
for several European broadcasting companies.
Markus Tapio, viola da gamba/vielle
Markus Tapio was born in Helsinki and originally trained as a cellist.
In 1986 he moved to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in order to specialise in
early music. There he attended the viola da gamba master-class of Jordi Savall
and studied fifteenth-century repertoire. In 1991 Markus Tapio completed his
studies with a soloist diploma. In addition to his work as the director of
Retrover, Markus Tapio has performed and recorded in most European countries
with other leading early music ensembles such as Hesperion XX, Sequentia and
Daedalus. He teaches Renaissance and Late Mediaeval repertoire at the Sibelius
Academy in Helsinki.
María Cristina Kiehr, soprano
María Cristina Kiehr studied voice and violin in her native Argentina
and in 1983 moved to Europe to study Renaissance and Baroque repertoire with
René Jacobs at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Her career as a soloist has
taken her to countries throughout Europe, Japan and Australia with leading
ensembles and conductors, including Hesperion XX, Cantus Köln, Jordi Savall,
Philippe Herreweghe, Franz Brüggen and Gustav Leonhard. She is a founder member
of the vocal quartet La Colombina and the ensemble Concerto Soave.
Eric Mentzel, tenor
Eric Mentzel was born in Philadelphia and studied voice and organ at
Temple University before taking a master's degree in early music at Sarah
Lawrence College in New York. Besides his work as an oratorio soloist and as a
member of such ensembles as Sequentia, the Huelgas Ensemble, Ferrara Ensemble
and Retrover, Eric Mentzel has in recent years been increasingly involved with
new music. He has been featured at the Wuppertal Opera and at Hamburg's Opera
Stabile.
Eitan Sorek, tenor
Eitan Sorek, born in Tel-Aviv, studied at the Rubin Academy of Tel-Aviv
University and at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. With repertoire ranging
from mediaeval to contemporary music, he regularly performs as a soloist with
various orchestras and ensembles, including La Chapelle Royale, the Amsterdam
Baroque Choir, Netherlands Chamber Choir and New Israeli Opera. Eitan Sorek has
participated in numerous compact disc and radio recordings.
Stephen Grant, bass
Stephen Grant was born in Montreal and studied the organ and voice
there, before moving to Germany in 1987. His expertise in the field of early
music has led to many invitations to perform as an oratorio soloist as well as
engagements with several well-known ensembles throughout Europe. These include
recordings with Sequentia, L'Ensemble Organum de Paris, Ensemble Gilles
Binchois and the Clemencic Consort. In the field of contemporary music, he has
had a number of works written for him.
Jankees Braaksma, organetto/recorder
Jankees Braaksma studied recorder in Groningen and Amsterdam as well as
mediaeval music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. After intensive research in
repertoire and playing technique, he has reintroduced the organetto as one of
the main musical instruments of the late Middle Ages. With his ensemble Super
Librum and as a soloist Jankees Braaksma has appeared at most major early music
festivals in Europe and is also regularly invited to teach techniques of polyphonic
improvisation in music of the fifteenth century.
Agileu Motta, lute
Born in Brazil, Agileu Motta studied guitar at the Music Academy of São
Paolo, moving in 1985 to Holland in order to specialise in early plucked
instruments with Toyohiko Satoh at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. After
completing these studies with a diploma, he attended the master-class of
Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Besides his engagements as
a soloist, Agileu Motta performs regularly with different European early music
ensembles and orchestras.
Leena Joutsenlahti, kantele/recorder
Leena Joutsenlahti studied in the folk-music department of the Sibelius
Academy in Helsinki, where she also received her master's degree. She is a
founding member of the ensemble Niekku that specialises in new Finnish
folk-music. Leena Joutsenlahti has performed in several European countries and
the United States and has taken part in numerous compact disc and radio
recordings. She also is a member of the teaching staff of the Sibelius Academy.