Arizona Early Music presents Trobár Medieval
Trobár is a small band of voices and instruments based in Cleveland, Ohio and dedicated to bringing medieval music to modern audiences. The word trobár comes from Occitan, the language spoken in the middle ages in what is now southern France, and encompasses numerous meanings: to find, to meet, to create, to compose, to invent. This word encapsulates the spirit of discovery and invention that the ensemble brings to musical texts of the middle ages.
Program: Songbook for a King
Songbook for a King tells the story of a lavish thirteenth-century anthology of French music, known today as the “Manuscrit du Roi.” The diversity of its content makes it unique for its time, containing sacred and secular songs, vocal and instrumental pieces, works in three languages, and sixty-two miniature artworks. While much of its history remains murky, the manuscript itself gives clues as to why it was created and what it was originally intended to be. The gilded illuminations demonstrate the wealth of the patron who commissioned it and the multiple layers show it changing hands from owner to owner, some even adding music to empty corners and blank pages.
