Merlin
L’histoire de Merlin est arrivée jusqu’à nous à partir des légendes celtiques. Le personnage et quelques événements se sont diffusés et transformés à travers différents récits. Druide d’abord nommé Myrddin, Merlin apparaît dans les textes des IXe et Xe siècles qui décrivent certains événements de l’histoire de l’Angleterre. En 1130, Geoffroy de Monmouth rédige les Prophéties de Merlin et plus tard sa Vita. C’est à partir de là et de ce personnage de Merlin que se développe et se diversifie la narration. Merlin apparaît aussi au même moment dans la Vita de saint Kentigern. L’histoire de Merlin prend la forme plus populaire que l’on connaît aujourd’hui dans le courant du XIIe siècle : Robert de Moron la rédige en langue d’Oïl, en vers et en prose, et Myrddin devient Merlin. C’est ensuite à travers l’épopée de Perceval, Lancelot et Arthur que l’histoire de Merlin se diffuse.
Notre spectacle présente le personnage de Merlin à partir d’une sélection d’événements les plus singuliers et représentatifs du caractère de Merlin collectés dans diverses sources : le magicien, le druide, l’homme de la nature, le fou, le sage, le devin.
La singularité et le caractère novateur de notre travail est la forme avec laquelle nous présentons Merlin. Comme l’indiquent les manuscrits, certains textes ont été pensés pour être chantés et accompagnés par des instruments. Toutefois, aucune musique n’a été conservée – ou notée. La chanson de geste, puisque Merlin relève de ce genre, était en effet portée par la voix chantée et l’instrument. Rarement offerte aujourd’hui sous la forme d’un concert, celle-ci sera représentée et mise en musique à partir des éléments utilisés au temps du Merlin médiéval.
Nous travaillons actuellement à la restitution des textes et des musiques à partir de l’étude musicologique des sources et des traces musicales liées à la chanson de geste. La reconstruction s’appuie sur la rhétorique, le caractère déclamatif du texte, la structure, les langues française et latine. Pour la musique, nous nous centrons sur les styles contemporains des textes : XIe-XIIIe siècle. Les instruments choisis étaient très populaires à l’époque de Robert de Moron : vièle à archet, harpe, orgue portatif. Chacun est lié d’une manière ou d’une autre aux manuscrits conservant l’histoire de Merlin.
Dans une deuxième phase de travail, une comédienne rejoindra l’ensemble pour convertir le concert en un spectacle scénique.
L’ensemble
- Isabella Shaw – Chant, harpe
- Jakub Michl – Vièle
- Cristina Alís Raurich – Orgue portatif, percussions, harpe
En partenariat avec l’abbaye de Fontfroide
1 SESSION DE RESIDENCE ET CREATION / 15-21 MARS 2021
Biographies
Isabella Shaw
Mezzo-soprano Isabella Shaw specializes in opera and early music performance. Originally from the USA, she studied literature and languages (with emphasis on the medieval and early modern periods) at the University of Cambridge, UK, before continuing on to a master’s in opera at Sibelius Academy, Finland. In 2013 she was awarded EMA’s Barbara Thornton Award for Medieval Music, which funded study in medieval performance with Benjamin Bagby and members of Sequentia ensemble, with Mauricio Molina, Jose Pizarro, and Claire Piganiol (medieval harp), and others. Shaw is a core member and dramaturg for Prague-based experimental early music ensemble Motus Harmonicus, and has performed with ensembles such as Magister Petrus, Ensemble Damian, Ensemble Inegal, and Musica Florea. Previous medieval projects include Mirail de Prez, an exploration of songs of the trobairitz, and Carolus et Wenceslaus, focused on 14th century monody and the court of Holy Roman Emperor and Czech king, Charles IV. Recent opera roles include Bradamante (Handel, Alcina), Sesto (Mozart, La Clemenza di Tito), and Lucretia (Britten, The Rape of Lucretia). Isabella Shaw is also an ardent interpreter lied and has worked in masterclass with artists such as Anne Sofie von Otter and Bengt Forsberg. She selected to compete in the 2020 Sibelius Singing Competition and the Toivo Kuula Competition (both rescheduled due to Covid-19). Outside of music, Shaw writes poetry and fiction; her newest book, Wilderness, was published in April 2020.
Jakub Michl
Jakub Michl is an early music instrumentalist, specialised in early baroque repertoire on viola da gamba, and medieval music on vielle. Based in Prague, Czech Republic, he co-directs the ensemble Motus Harmonicus.
He has worked with early music ensembles such as Musica Florea, Czech Ensemble Baroque, Solamente Naturali, In Cordis Ensemble, Les Traversées Baroques, Collegium 419, Hypochondria Ensemble, Trinity College Consort of Viols, Greenwich Baroque, and others.
Jakub studied violoncello at Prague Conservatory with Tomáš Strašil, musicology at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in Prague, viola da gamba at Trinity College in London with Alison Crum and recently at Mozarteum Salzburg with Vittorio Ghielmi.
Jakub is a laureate of the Znojmo Music Festival competition in 2013, playing Telemann Concerto for viola da gamba with orchestra.
He has undertaken number of private lessons, courses and masterclasses with viol players as Wieland Kuijken, Jordi Savall, Hille Perl, Richard Boothby, Michael Brüssing, Marianne Muller, Petr Wagner, Reiko Ichise, and with baroque cello players as Marek Štryncl, Bruno Cocset, Irmtraud Hubatschek and Susan Sheppard.
Jakub also attended courses of medieval music in Besalú, studying viélle with Alejandro Hernández and medieval music performance with Mauricio Molina, and Medieval Course in Vancouver attending classes with Sequentia Ensemble, including Benjamin Bagby, Norbert Rodenkirchen and Wolodymyr Smishkewych.
Cristina Alís Raurich
Initially Cristina Alís Raurich pursued a career as a pianist in her native Catalonia, where she obtained a Masters diploma from the Liceu Conservatory and Luthier School in Barcelona and was active both as pianist (solo, chamber and orchestral) and piano teacher. Later, while pursuing her professional piano career in The Hague, she became interested in medieval music, which led her to obtain a masters degree in medieval and Renaissance keyboards in Basel (clavicimbalum, clavicytherium, portative organ).
On stage she subsequently replaced the piano with a variety of medieval keyboards. As a performer she is a member of the ensembles La Douce Semblance, Sonus Hyspaniae, Magister Petrus, and plays in a duo with Maria de Mingo (citole). Both with these ensembles and other musicians she performs across Europe and appears on TV and radio. She also collaborates with numerous medieval, Renaissance and fusion ensembles.
After extensive musicological and organological research and in collaboration with the organ maker Walter Chinaglia, Cristina became the first person in the world to have reconstructed a 13th century model of a portative organ. This instrument – which possess a colourful and sharp sound – opens a new door into the understanding of the sound aesthetics of the 13th century.
Making the most of her multilingual skills, Cristina is passionately committed to pedagogy in the fields of medieval keyboards, medieval music and musicology. She is teacher and assistant director at the International Course on Medieval Music Performance in Besalú (Spain), faculty member at the Centre International de Musiques Médiévales de Montpellier (France) and assistant director of the International Course on Late Medieval & Renaissance Music in San Marino (Italy). She regularly gives talks and masterclasses across Europe and North America.
At the moment she is enrolled in a Doctoral Program at the University of Würzburg (Germany) and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Switzerland). Her research and publication topics include the reconstruction of medieval organs and their musical repertory, the study of the oldest keyboard intabulations and a newly discovered Aquitanian Gradual-Tropary-Sequentiary.
Recently she created a website to promote knowledge of medieval organs : www.medievalorgan.com