
A Maze of Melodies
Virtuosity in Medieval Instrumental Music
Peppe Frana, medieval lute, gittern
Silke Gwendolyn Schulze, double recorder, douçaine, pipe & tabor, shawm
A Maze of Melodies
Virtuosity in Medieval Instrumental Music

The two manuscripts Paris fr. 844 (Manuscrit du Roi) and London 29987 are very well known among medieval musicians because they contain the famous estampies and istanpitte. These single-voice pieces are considered the earliest surviving instrumental music and they all follow the same form: various puncti always lead to the same open and closed endings. While the French estampies from the Manuscrit du Roi stick to this simple, clear structure, the istanpitte with Italian origins, from the London 29987 manuscript, have a more complex form: the puncti are longer and more irregular, sometimes interlocking or jumping from one punctus back to the previous one. In addition, there are also different and longer endings. The melodies of these instrumental pieces consist of small melodic formulas or patterns that are often repeated and varied. Around 1300, the Parisian music scholar Johannes de Grocheio wrote that, due to its difficulty, the estampie entirely engulfed the minds of the audience as well as the players, thus dissuading the rich from evil thoughts.

Because of its complex form, the musical genre of the estampie/istanpitta can be compared to a musical labyrinth. The difficulty for the musicians lies in not losing their bearings within the Estampie labyrinth and always taking the right turn at the various intersections. You should not allow yourself to be misled by the melodic formulas if they progress differently in some places than they did before.
Just as a hero needs different virtues such as courage, bravery and perseverance to penetrate a labyrinth, a musician needs a particular virtue to perform an estampie: virtuosity. Virtuosity (from Latin virtus, "virtue") is not only masterful control of the instrument, but also a mental artistry, which is particularly evident when performing from memory. Much concentration is required to remember the way through the labyrinth and to be able to correctly follow the different continuations of the formulas. This process exposes the true virtuosity that is necessary in order to play with form and formula.

Peppe Frana and Silke Gwendolyn Schulze have arranged a selection of these musical labyrinths for medieval lute instruments and various medieval woodwind instruments. To do this, they apply their profound knowledge of medieval music, which they acquired at renowned European universities; however, they simultaneously allow themselves to be guided by a good dose of playful intuition and joy. Both master their instruments with virtuosity, and coordinate with each other precisely in the single-voice melodic lines and the unison rhythms. Together they explore the different sound and combination possibilities of their instruments and engender sophisticated and diverse sound worlds, so that this more than 600-year-old music sounds new and lively in its virtuosity, as if it had been written only yesterday.

