FLOUR de Beaulté

'Flour de beaulté' focuses on secular song repertoire from a magnificent early fifteenth-century parchment manuscript housed in the University Library in Torino (identified as J.II.9), considered 'by far the largest repository of French music – or at least of music in the French tradition – between the Ars Nova compilations of the fourteenth and the Franco-Burgundian manuscripts of the late fifteenth century' as well as 'the most neglected major source of late medieval polyphony that has come down to us' (Karl Kügle).

Although traditionally associated with the members of the French dynasty of Lusignan, rulers of Cyprus between 1192 and 1489 (according to one of the hypotheses, it could have been a marriage offering for princess Anne de Lusignan), the exact origin of 'Torino J.II.9' is still unclear. Its music - ranging from plainchant through polyphonic Mass Ordinary settings and motets to secular songs - is entirely anonymous and, except for a certain part of plainchant, is not known from other sources. For a 'major source of late medieval polyphony', 'Torino J.II.9' remains quite a mistery.

Pieces selected for this programme are among the finest of the 166 secular songs preserved in this manuscript. Seldom performed, many of these did not previously appear on disc.

This release became Recording of the Year at www.medieval.org in 2006.