This new edition of the Diagonales d’Été will take us beyond what we could have ever imagined. The common thread will be the Mass of Guillaume de Machaut, composed in the 60s of the 14th century. It is certainly the best-known medieval work, it aroused the admiration of many composers during the 20th century (Stravinsky, Debussy, Messiaen, Adorno, Boulez, Sanchez-Verdu). It was recorded more than fifty times, but the recording that called into question all the a priori that this music had aroused was the one that the Organum ensemble made in 1994 and ranked in 2000 by the New York Times among the 100 recordings that changed the history of music during the 20th century.
This year we propose to study this mass to understand what led Guillaume de Machaut to compose it in this form. We will also explore the variations that this extraordinary work can bring out today, on the shores of linear time. For this we will work on the original notation of the 14th century and we will experience the rich and complex rhythms of this work through a work of body expression, every day, in the early morning.
Now it’s about living again Jetzt gilt es alles nachzuleben
Everything that in time has remained unlived Was ungelebt blieb in der Zeit
and carry all things to come Und alles Künftige zu heben
in the heat of reality In eine warme Wirklichkeit
Rainer Maria Rilke
