The Medieval Piper Silke Gwendolyn Schulze

• Alfonso el Sabio (1223-1284):
• 1 Virgen madre groriosa 02:55
• Anonymous:
• 2 La seconde estampie royal 03:26
• Pons d'Ortafas (1170-1246):
• 3 Si ay perdut mon saber 01:46
• Jehan de Lescurel (?-1304):
• 4 Comment que, pour l'eloignance 01:53
• Marcabru (1100-1150):
• 5 Bel m'es quan sunt li fruit madur 02:10
• Anonymous:
• 6 Saltarello 00:56
• 7 Che ti zova nascondere 01:58
• Gherardello da Firenze (1320-1360):
• 8 I' vo' bene 01:54
• Alfonso el Sabio:
• 9 Santa Maria amar 01:59
• 10 Muito demostra a virgen 01:33
• 11 Como poden per sas culpas 00:54
• Comtessa de Dia (1140-1212):
• 12 A chantar m'es al cor 02:24
• Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377):
• 13 Sans cuer, dolent de vous departiray 04:02
• 14 Dou mal qui m'a longuement 02:19
• Hildegard Von Bingen (1098-1179):
• 15 Ave generosa 03:58
• Jehan Erart (1200-1259):
• 16 Par un tres bel jour de mai 01:41
• Alfonso el Sabio:
• 17 Non sofre Santa Maria 01:14
• 18 Aquela que a seu Fillo 00:56
• Berenguier de Palazol (ca.1160-1209):
• 19 Tant m'abelis ioys e amors e chans 01:44
• Anonymous:
• 20 Trotto 01:15
• 21 Benedicamus sane per omnia 02:23
• Alfonso el Sabio:
• 22 Quen a omagen da virgin 03:45
• Jehan Erart:
• 23 Dehors loncpre el boschel 01:28
• Guiraut Riquier (1230-1292):
• 24 Tant m'es plazens le mal d'amor 01:38
• Alfonso el Sabio:
• 25 Como somos per conssello do demo perdudos 01:32
• Total Runtime 51:43

Info for The Medieval Piper

A specialist in wind instruments from the Medieval and Renaissance eras, Silke Gwendolyn Schulze takes listeners on a journey into the musical past of the courts and country fairs of Western Europe in the Middle Ages. Though little direct evidence has come down to us about individual composers and the instruments they played, she combines painstaking research and a vivid musical imagination to recreate the world of the aristocratic singer–poets and itinerant musicians – the troubadours and minstrels – who were an important part of every facet of cultural life at the time.

Knowledge of these musicians’ social patterns, illustrations of instruments and manuscripts of vocal music and wordless dances have informed Schulze’s reconstruction of the theoretical repertoire of one imaginary Medieval piper – the songs he would have learned, memorised and performed for the entertainment of others.

She performs a varied programme of pieces, some by great names of Medieval music such as Hildegard von Bingen and Guillaume de Machaut, some by documented courtly troubadours like Jehan Erart and Guiraut Riquier, some even posited to be by the King of Castile and Leon himself, Alfonso el Sabio, using a wide array of period wind instruments including pipe & tabor, two tabor pipes, pipe & triangle, six-hole flute, recorder, double recorder, shawm and douçaine.

A fascinating program conjuring up the life of a medieval piper, travelling the country to entertain at Royal weddings, tournaments, religious councils, court sittings and annual fairs, carrying a plethora of melodies and instruments.

The pieces on this new recordings are based on vocal source material, which is mainly taken from the “Manuscrit du Roi”, the “Chansonnier de Vallière” and the “Cantigas de Santa Maria” collection. Taking the text and vocal forms that underpin them as starting point the artist instrumented some of the pieces based on the individual features and playability of the instruments in question. As many of the musical parameters are not notated down in the manuscripts much is left to free imagination and improvisation, no doubt fully in style with the original performances.

Silke Gwendolyn Schulze is specialized in the research and performance of Medieval music. She uses the following instruments: pipe, triangle, tabor, shawm, double recorder, douçaine.

Silke Gwendolyn Schulze, medieval winds & percussion

Silke Gwendolyn Schulze
Silke grew up in a little german town in the swiss-french-german region. She studied recorder, shawm, dulcian and pipe & tabor at the universities of Bremen, Brussels, Basle and Lyon. She has given concerts in Germany, Sweden, Austria, France, Poland, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Columbia, Chile, The Netherlands and Cyprus with ensembles such as Weserrenaissance Bremen, la Compagnie Renaidanse, the European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO), Cantar Lontano, La Grande Chapelle, La Morra and her own groups Quidni, Vuenv and Mandragora. Apart from her passion for the double reed instruments of the Renaissance Alta Capella Silke is very interested in the more „exotic“ medieval wind instruments like the double recorder or the pipe and tabor and in reconstructing a possible repertoire for these instruments. When she is not playing one of her many instruments she enjoys looking for more depictions for her pipe and tabor iconography collection, teaching recorder and Alta Capella to enthusiastic players between 5 and 75 or practicing the japanese martial art Aikido.

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