Missa Mi-Mi, Chanson & Missa Fors Seulement by Johannes Ockeghem; Berkeley Chamber Singers Lyrichord (LL 108) Publication date 1966

 Berkeley Chamber Singers

Tikey Zes, Conductor

Soprano: Eva Abramowitsch, Anna Carol Dudley, Joanne

Kellis, Jill Stavenhagen

Alto: Naomi Christensen, Norma J. Levister, Suzanne

Ludwig, Ida Tobias

Tenor: Tom Kelis, George Kreshka, Ron Mortimore,

Eric Spelman

Bass: Robert Armstead, Frank Brogan, Donald Drury,

Robert W hitenack

For the chanson

Anna Carol Dudley, soprano

Kenneth Wollitz and William Barnhart, recorders

Johannes Ockeghem was born in Flanders c. 1425. He

held positions at Antwerp and with the Duke of Orleans

early in his career, and about 1452 he entered the service

of the King of France. After some forty years with the

royal household (under three kings) Ockeghem died at

Tours c. 1495— amply rewarded by his sovereigns, and

revered by his contemporaries as the greatest musician of

Ristdae a Osi a eek re cena inet lleetriceapent sls

The Missa Mi-Mi

In Ockeghem’s music the structural elements on which

our ears depend to make a musical fabric coherent are ab-

sent. This can be observed in all his sacred music, and is

most striking in the Missa Mi-Mi. Each movement of the

Mi-Mi mass begins with a brief motive in the bass (e-A,

both of which may be termed mi in the flexible “scale”

system of the time [e=mi in the natural hexachord,

A=mi in the soft hexachord], thus the name Missa

Mi-Mi). Following this there is no apparent structural

organization, and all typical contrapuntal artifices (i.e. im-

itation, sequence, canon and cantus firmus) are shunned.

Lack of apparent structure, of course, does not mean that

Ockeghem possessed no unified compositional technique.

Indeed, his music has one dominant impression for us, that

of immense breadth. As Manfred Bukofzer pointed out, a

key to the “system” in Ockeghem’s music lies in his con-

stant striving to achieve this effect. In the Missa Mi-Mi all

possible elements contribute to it. The melodic lines are

spun out over great distances, with incredible rhythmic

variety and energy. Melodic phrases are not symmetrical,

and in the polyphonic framework the lack of symmetry is

compounded. Cadences, which could bind the lines together,

are weak and infrequent. Each section begins slowly and

the motion gradually quickens. The quickening is spread

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over entire sections, culminating only in final cadences,

which are dizzying in their rhythmic complexity. The mass

is for four voices, and as is typical of Ockeghem, the

ranges are quite low. The resulting texture, too, contributes

to the overall impact of the mass. Veiled and indistinct in

detail, it is immensely powerful as it runs its course.

The Missa Fors Seulement

The Missa Fors Seulement is shorter than the Mz:-Mz

mass. It has only three movements: Kyrie, Gloria and

Credo and is for five voices. It is a later work, as can be

seen in such features as imitation. Ockeghem was more

concerned with smaller musical units in this mass; and

occasionally, especially in the Gloria and Credo, shorter

phrase structure becomes audible. This may result from

imitations, more frequent cadences, or even from melodic

sequences. Dissonance treatment is more elegant, with less

bite from the unusual clashes which abound in the Missa

Mi-Mi.

‘The Fors Seulement mass is further set apart in its use

of cantus firmus material, which is drawn from the three-

part chanson Fors seulement l’actente. The cantus firmus

treatment is unusual, especially for the period, in that both

the tenor and superius of the chanson are used. The Kyrie

follows the chanson superius closely, with only one short

interpolation. The cantus is treated more freely in the

Credo, and freer still in the Gloria, where short fragments

of the cantus are often separated by extended passages of

freely composed material. Chanson tenor and _superius

appear simultaneously only twice, once at the beginning

of the Gloria, and again, fittingly enough, in the last phrase

of the Credo.

Despite any differences, however, the masses have in

common the impression of expansiveness characteristic of

Ockeghem. Profound and expressive, they are both great

works of musical art.

Chanson Fors Seulement Il’ Actente

Although not among his greatest musical efforts, Ocke-

ghem did write a few lovely chansons. Our example, Fors

seulement V'actente, is given here to show the inter-rela-

tionships with the mass drawn from it. The chanson is

for three voices, with the transparent phrase structure and

occasional bits of imitation typical of late Burgundian

chanson style.

u. ¥.

Fors seulement l’actente que je meure

En mon las coeur nul espoir ne demeure

Car mon malheur si tres fort me tourmente

Qu’il n'est douleur que pour vous je ne sente

Pour ce que suis de vous perdre bien seure

Vostre regueur tellement m'y queurt seure

Qu’en ce parti il faut que je m’asseure

Dont je n’ay bien qui en riens me contente

But for the anticipation of my death

There dwells in my heart no hope

For my misfortune torments me so intensely

That there is no pain I do not feel for you

Because I am so certain of your loss

Your severity does so surely seek me out

That in this course I must see that

All I have can in no way bring me contentment

Because we found the result musically more satisfactory

with voices alone, we have chosen to perform the Ockeghem

masses without instrumental supports. We do not deny, of

course, the possibility of instrumental participation, but we

might point out that some evidence from Ockeghem’s time

indicates that in sacred music @ capella performance was

customary. The following lines from Crétin’s Deploration

on Ockeghem’s death are especially apropos:

"++. That said, all instruments ceased,

and at this point the singers began.

There Du Fay, that good man, stepped forward,

Bunoys, too, and more than twenty others...

then were sung the Masses my my,

Au travail suis, and cujus vis toni...”

‘The Berkeley Chamber Singers have traditionally sought

out seldom-heard and unusual choral music with particular

attention to music of the Renaissance and contemporary

periods. The group was formed in Berkeley in 1946 by

Iva Dee Hiatt, now Director of Choral Music at Smith

College. Subsequently, Donald Aird was conductor; he is

now the Choral Director at the University of Minnesota.

The present group, comprising sixteen singers, is directed

by Tikey Zes, a graduate from the University of Southern

California with a Master of Music degree.

KEITH POLK

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