The Canterbury Tales A pageant in words and music Read by Margaret Howard, Bernard Palmer, David Bellan and Martin Souter The characterful and colourful world of Chaucer's pilgrims is captured in extracts from the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, intermingled with atmospheric music of the period: songs, dances and instrumental pieces which matc... more »h the fascinating musical language of the great master poet. 1 Music: Summer is icumen in 2 Prologue 3 Music: La Manfredina 4 The Knight 5 The Squire 6 The Yeoman7 Music: Bourgogne Brawle 8 The Prioress9 The Friar10 The Merchant 11 The Clerk 12 Music: Sanctus - Henry V 13 A haberdasher and a carpenter 14 The Cook 15 The Sailor 16 Music: Ductia 17 The Physician 18 The Wife of Bath 19 Music: Saltarello 20 The Parson 21 The Plowman 22 The Miller 23 Music: Ductia 24 The Summoner 25 The Pardoner 26 Music: Danse royale 27 Prologue Music performed by Magdala (track 12) The Oxford Girls' Choir (track1) Sara Stowe Matthew Spring Sharon Lindo John Banks. This programme is an unusual combination of the words of Chaucer with music from his period, including, where possible, music for his specific musical references in the text. The music is mainly anonymous. 'Summer is icumen in' is a famous Middle English text, with a very fine medieval tune. The other pieces are dance music from Europe and the British Isles of the period, except for the 'Sanctus', which was composed by the English King Henry V, probably in the early fifteenth century. It comes from the Old Hall manuscript, a large collection of music for choir. The manuscript was gathered together in the early years of the fifteenth century for use in the chapel of Henry V's brother, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, who died in 1421. Chaucer's text has been rendered into modern English for this recording. The original was written in a version of 'Middle English', but as far as possible the rhyme schemes of that mellifluous poetry have been retained. We were anxious to match the sonorous atmosphere of the original in our choice of text and in our method of recording. Each character in the tales is brilliantly described in Chaucer's Prologue, from the 'perfect, gentle' knight to the more unusual summoner and pardoner. Many typical occupations - and preoccupations - of Chaucer's period are described, and a whole society of people takes shape in our minds as we listen. Although some of their occupations are not common now, it is still clear that the people of Chaucer's world were not that different in many respects from ourselves, and our lives six centuries later! Chaucer's words bring each character to life, and we hope that you will enjoy hearing about them and that our musical additions will further increase your enjoyment of this magnificent poetry. Bernard Palmer, programme devisor Martin Souter, executive producer.

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ISBN-13: 9781904883012
ISBN-10: 190488301X
Publication Date: 2/1/2006
Pages: 4
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Publisher: The Gift of Music
Book Type: Audio CD
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