Hildegard of Bingen at Highgate School Chapel

Voice present Songs from Medieval Europe

Emily Burn, Victoria Couper, and Clemmie Franks, the unique female vocal trio known as Voice, present “A life of love and joy” - a programme of songs that illustrate both joyful, celebratory settings of poetry often using the theme of birds as heraldic symbols, and the recurring topic of unattainable love so often expounded in Medieval Europe.

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
Caritas habundat (‘Love abounds’) - Psalm antiphon for the Holy Spirit as Divine Love
O Clarissima Mater - Responsory for the Virgin
Many of Hildegard’s musical works, including the three sung tonight, were inspired by her intense visions. Hildegard’s musical style is distinguished by her use of melisma (a single syllable sung to many notes) and soaring vocal lines.

Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377)
Je sui aussi - a ballade
Puis qu’en oubli and Doulz viaire gracieus - two songs in rondeau form.
Machaut was a master of the musical style known as Ars Nova. The subject matter of his lyric poetry was primarily the theme of “courtly love” and the exploration of the poet's feelings of pain and pleasure in this heightened state of unattainable desire.

Francesco Landini - L’alma mia piange - an Italian ballata and another expression of courtly love, where emotions remain unrequited.
Jacopo de Bologna (c.1340-1386)
Aquila Altera - this madrigal is thought to have been written for a wedding or coronation ceremony.
Anon - Onques ne fut - France (14^th C)
Johannes Valliant - Par maintes foy - one of the most popular works of the time.
Anon - S'on me regarde/Prennés i garde/HÉ MI ENFANT - France (13^th C)
Anon., France (13^th C) arr. Emily Burn for Voice - Bien m'ont Amours entrepris

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
O Virtus Sapientiae  (‘O energy of wisdom’)
Favus distillans, literally ‘dripping honeycomb’
Nunc Gaudeant arr. Voice - Votive Antiphon for the Dedication of a Church

Voice

Emily Burn, Victoria Couper, Clemmie Franks

Voice is an exciting, female vocal trio. In their fourteen years together they have built a dedicated fan-base across the world; a rich, varied repertoire of their own arrangements, new commissions, and rarely performed Early Music; and they have honed a truly unique sound. Victoria, Clemmie, and Emily first began singing together in Oxford as members of the Oxford Girls’ Choir, before going on to form the trio in 2006 as well as forging their own successful, diverse careers.

Voice’s interest in Early Music can be traced back to their performances and recordings of the medieval chant of St Hildegard of Bingen, which they learned as members of Stevie Wishart’s group, Sinfonye. The singers still perform with Sinfonye today and as a trio, Voice continues to perform Hildegard’s music and have commissioned new works inspired by her words and chant.

The trio has released two albums, Musical Harmony (2013) "...a stunning body of work destined to prick up the hairs on the back of one’s neck" Tim Hughes (Oxford Times & Mail) and Patterns of Love (2015), which features four commissions by British female composers, made possible with Arts Council England funding.

In 2021 Voice launched a new exciting collaborative programme, ‘Hildegard Transfigured: a medieval trance for the 21st Century’, with psychedelic visual artist Innerstrings and composer Laura Moody, supported by Help Musicians Fusion Fund. Voice will release an album of this programme on SOMM Recordings in 2022.