La Voix Romaine is a series of concerts in France,  the Alsace region, which lies between Strassbourg and Mulhouse. It is an area with a very troubled history, being battlefield between Germany and France for such a long time. The local people, also the younger generations still speak German, after all that happened. But this history goes back to the Romans, and the forts from the middle ages in the mountains are still visible

 

All the sites are in French, sorry for that

http://kastel.elsass.free.fr/index.htm

The main castle from the area is Haut Koenigsbourg

http://www.haut-koenigsbourg.fr/en/

Why am I telling all this? Because it is the introduction to my great Quest of the Polyphonie. Thus is from about 1300 till 1600, the age where music was slowly evolving from “songs” (like Troubadour) and Gregorian Chants towards what was going to what was to be one of the most experimental periuods in all of the music history. But all these castles in the hills are what remain, visible, The people are gone, nearly all written records are gone. Only some buildings are left, and miraculously a lot of music.

 

The concert I was referring to

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Festival-Voix-et-Route-Romane/360742539629

 

and the concert was from a Group La Flor Novele, the concert was called Diabolus in Musica:

http://www.voix-romane.com/fr-diabolus_in_musica2

was a very interesting concert, mainly early music, vocal with flute, roman harp and percussion (some tambourine) .

 

There is a youtube film of the group:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr4bxYgVvZo&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DRr4bxYgVvZo&app=desktop

 

Funny, this was the last piece of the concert, and also the most “new”, moving into the new territories! But it was a nice concert, interesting how they do reconstructions of these ancient “songs”. And a great entourage, lovely holiday in this area. Lots of sun, grapes nearly ready for picking and being turned into wine!

But lets move on: I want to start telling what I am planning to do on this subjet of Polyphony. I am interested n this music for quite some time. The reason for this being my ineterst in Requiems. I was collecting them in the past and then I found the rich history of this period. But I was so surprised, this is highly cpmplex music. In fact, it is very hard to follow the melody since it is going from voice to voice, and it is not clear at all where it is leading. So, this coming Quest is about discovering the true nature of this music. And don’t worry. I will not talk about Cantus Firmus, or any other specialized term. Mostly because I don’t understand it either. But as usual, it is not necessary to understand the technique in order to enjoy the music. And it is my task to bring this music closer to you, as well tell you more about it. And I hope somehow to gap the bridge between the professional that performs and the listener that enjoys.