L’ensalada (litt.
salade en espagnol) est un genre musical polyphonique. Cette
musique mélange dans un même morceau différents styles musicaux,
langues ou onomatopées.
Les
styles utilisés sont par exemple le madrigal, la chanson
populaire, le villancico, la romance, la danse ou les genres
liturgiques. Les langues les plus fréquentes sont le
castellano, le valencien, le gascon, le biscayen, le
portugais, l'italien et le latin. Sont également utilisés
l'homophonie, le contrepoint, le nombre de chanteurs, les
thèmes religieux ou profanes, les éléments comiques, épiques
ou ironiques.
Ce genre a été très populaire
dans la péninsule Ibérique durant la Renaissance, en
particulier au XVIe siècle.
The ensalada
(Spanish for salad) is a genre of polyphonic secular music
mixing languages and dialects and nonsensical quodlibets.
The term is known mainly through a publication, Las
Ensaladas de Flecha, Prague (1581) by Mateo Flecha the
younger, that contains six long four-part vocal compositions
by his uncle Mateo Flecha (1481–1553). Each of these
ensaladas is divided into several sections, ranging from
seven to twelve. The music is for four voices.
"Les Ensaladas de Flecha l’Ancien se situent à mi-chemin entre la
musique savante et la musique populaire. C’est là peut-être qu’il
faut chercher la raison de leur succès. Avec une grande habileté,
le compositeur réunit plusieurs chants différents, personnels ou
empruntés, qui s’opposent entre eux sans jamais cesser de former
une oeuvre cohérente et originale. Cà et là surgissent des
éléments de surprise, de contraste entre un fragment musical et le
suivant, qui devaient intéresser et divertir — du moins
pouvons-nous le supposer — l’auditeur du XVIe siècle susceptible
de reconnaître les différentes mélodies — parfois plus d’une
demi-douzaine — du répertoire hispanique traditionnel qui se
succèdent tout au long d’une Ensalada. Son texte, mi allégorique
mi peinture de moeurs, est généralement fondé sur l’histoire de la
Nativité. Castillan et latin sont utilisés en alternance mais le
catalan s’y ajoute parfois. Les onomatopées sont fréquentes et
presque toujours employées pour rechercher des effets comiques."
Carmen Gomez
"The Ensaladas of the elder
Flecha occupy a midway position between art and folk music. This
was perhaps the reason for their success. With great skill, the
composer combined several different tunes, personal or borrowed,
which were set alongside one another without ever failing to form
a coherent and original work. Here and there arise elements of
surpnise, contrast between one musical fragment and the next,
which — we would imagine — must have interested and entertained
the sixteenth century listener capable of recognizing the
different tunes — sometimes amounting to a half dozen or more —
from the traditional Hispanic repertoire which occurred in
succession in the course of an Ensalada. The text, partly
allegorical, partly descriptive, was generally based upon the
story of the Nativity. Castilian and Latin alternate but Catalan
was sometimes added to. Onamatopoeia was frequently used, nearly
always in the quest for comic effects."
Extraordinaire Jordi Savall ! Rares sont ceux qui surent aussi bien
que lui rendre la musique ancienne à ce point vivante et actuelle,
et concilier ainsi une démarche musicologiquc avec la passion
exacerbée d’interprètes méditerranéens. Admirable ensemble Hespèrion
XX! Coloré, chaleureux, foisonnant… ce n’est pas exagéré de dire
qu’il pare ces pièces de l’âge d’or espagnol d’un véritable habit de
lumière. Superbe Montserrat Figueras, dont on ne louera jamais assez
la beauté de la voix tout comme le tempérament et l’intelligence
musicale!
L’âme espagnole est tout entière dans ces oeuvres étonnantes,
véritables patchworks poétiques et musicaux où le subtil style
madrigalesque se voit soudain interrompu par l’intrusion de chansons
hispaniques traditionnelles sans que leur unité profonde en soit
pour autant altérée. Elles nous sont offertes avec jubilation. Il y
règne une prodigieuse vie rythmique qui touche même au sublime dans
l’extraordinaire Bomba de Matheo Flecha.
Enthousiasmant!
Classica # 33 (06/200)
Disque de mélange, varié et hybride,
ce programme se cherche et se disperse. Évoluant entre XVème et
XVème siècle, Savall nous faisait découvrir ici un monde fantasque,
fait d'appels à la guerre, de madrigaux "sérieux" et autres
incantations religieuses. Bien qu'il ne s'agisse pas là de carnaval
ni d'aucun rituel savamment reconstitué, les Fuego, Bomba ou
Batalla du Castillan Matheo Flecha nous entraînent sur des
sentiers grivois, voire même "vulgaires" (pour les différencier des
songes mélancoliques créés par les harpes et les guitares). Il faut
être assez initié aux mystères ibériques pour goûter pleinement ce
programme. Toutefois, si la "magie Savall" opère une fois de plus,
les voix volontairement imparfaites du Studium Musicae Valencia ne
nous ont pas pleinement satisfaites (sic). Un disque relativement
anecdotique.
Goldberg # 45
April 2007
Appréciation
Evaluation
Goldberg a cessé de publier
avec le # 54
~~~~~~
Goldberg is no longer available.
# 54 was the last issue.
Reviewer: Maricarmen Gomez
Strictly speaking, the
discography of the ensaladas should be the subject of an unfinished
article, bearing in mind that the new critical edition, comprising
almost twice the number of pieces of the genre that are currently
available is likely to prompt some interesting new recordings.
Without a shadow of a doubt, it
is Jordi Savall who must take the credit for having created an
international awareness of what an ensalada sounds like.
Since (indeed, even before) the release of this album, Savall’s
public performances as director of Hespèrion XX/XXI featured the
three ensaladas by Mateo Flecha the Elder included on this
CD: La Justa, El Fuego and La Bomba, together with
Arauxo’s adaptation of the battaglia attributed to Morales
and another by Aguilera de Heredia.
Before Savall’s recording, there was only one other including
ensaladas by Flecha the Elder — that of Jordi Casas directing
Coral Carmina and Ars Musicae, an LP dating from 1977: the recording
includes El Jubilate, La Guerra, La Justa and La Negrina. Savall, as
a young musician was a member of Ars Musicae, relies very heavily in
this interpretation on the earlier Casas recording, although
Savall’s dramatic component, as well as the elements that he
superimposes onto the original music, make his version more
attractive The version by Casas might be said to be more authentic,
but Savall’s, which is the product of his own highly personal and
rich interpretation of Flecha, is much more interesting.
With its brilliantly
accomplished sound, particularly on the instrumental side, this
album constitutes one of Savall’s seminal recordings. Yet it also
bas one flaw in that the soloists in the vocal quartet are uneven.
Further reading:
"Mateo Flecha the Elder", Maricarmen Gomez,
Goldberg Magazine, no. 45, April 2007, pp. 23-32.
Gramophone
(07/1992)
"Still on the subject of vocal music, in this case profane, the
Ensaladas by Flecha and Carceres (his successor) reveal the freer,
more popular and colourful aspects of Spanish music of the time.
With their alternation of homophony with more madrigalian passages,
texts generally concerned with Christmas, and the use of dance
rhythms and effects such as onomatopoeia, these ensaladas are
captivating and delightful entertainments, truly of the Renaissance.
Jordi Savall has recorded the most satisfying versions of works by
Flecha and Carceres (Auvidis Astree CD E7742 and CD E8723)."
The ... disc tells us all we want to know about the ensalada (literally,
“salad“ or mixture), invented by Matteo Flecha the Elder, so called
because eight of his nine ensaladas were published years after his
death by his nephew of the same name (also a composer). The polyglot
poetry mixed all kinds of metres, requiring the music to follow
suit, but the stanzas are always four lines long.
The first
two Flecha pieces are the major items here, with shorter
instrumental pieces by other composers in between (and the brief La
Bomba to conclude). The influence of Janequin on a battle piece like
the first (a battle between Adam and Lucifer) is obvious, but there
is an originality about these pieces, although their popularity has
long been limited to the homeland. La Justa was previously recorded,
though at half the length, in the CBS Most Beautiful Madrigals album
(Fanfare 4:4, p. 322), but a version comparable to this one, more
restrained in style, was made by the Huelgas Ensemble on the Belgian
label Alpha, coupled with another full-length piece, La Negrina.
Savall's familiar ensemble is as skillful as ever, but I'm
left to assume that his four singers, including the well-known
Montserrat Figueras, take the solo roles, while the nine voices of
Studium Musicae, not an ensemble I've seen on a record label before,
give strong support. The notes are fairly informative (not much is
known about Flecha, least of all his early-16th-century dates), but
no texts are printed and there is no hint of the story line of any
of these pieces. The sound, recorded at Berlin Radio, is excellent,
and the five pieces are tracked. Flecha has had little
representation at this length, so such a fine presentation can
hardly escape recommendation.
Autres références disponibles via la base de
données de Todd McComb/ Other available references via
Todd McComb's database:
(Site: http://www.medieval.org)
Re:
L’ensalada (litt.
salade en espagnol) est un genre musical polyphonique. Cette
musique mélange dans un même morceau différents styles musicaux,
langues ou onomatopées.
