This string quartet is a re-imagination of Angelorum Psalat, a strikingly original two-voice ballade from the Chantilly Codex, a collection of music in the style known as Ars Subtilior (“subtler art”). It is the only surviving work of Rodericus, known in the codex as Suciredor. Many works of the Ars Subtilior experiment with rhythmic and notational complexity, and Angelorum Psalat is one of the most extreme examples, using no fewer than twenty different varicolored note shapes. For my composition I have relied on the transcription of Nors S. Josephson, in whose interpretation the note shapes signify a radical expansion of rhythmic possibility, specifying a much richer variety of speeds and durations than most Western music before the twentieth century. The composition fractures and re-assembles these rhythms and melodies into multiple streams of kaleidoscopic patterns that diverge and merge.
(A)ngelorum psalat tripudium
musicorum pandens armoniam
orpheycam plectens sinphoniam
procul pellens vanum fastidium
qui operum fuit inicium
delictorum frangens constantiam
duplicatum ostendens animam
pomum prebens cunctis letiferum
Ista gerit vices luciferi
que principi suppremo voluit
coequari set tandem corruit
in profundum abissi inferi(ri)
Pestifera in qua superbia
ingrata es deo et homini
in retro mordens ut fera pessima
ante blandis ut faus innocui.
(T)enor Retro mordens ut fera pessima
The rejoicing of the angels sounds to the cithara,
diffusing the consonance of the musicians,
plucking the harmony of Orpheus,
chasing far away empty haughtiness,
which effected the beginning
of crimes shattering faithfulness,
revealing doubled arrogance,
offering all a death-bringing apple.
This acts in place of Lucifer,
who wished to be to his first leader
equal, but finally plunged
into the deep abyss of Hell
through this plague-bringing pride,
unwelcome to God and men,
behind, biting like an evil wild beast,
in front, flattering with innocent mouth.
Tenor: Behind, biting like an evil wild beast
-translation: Crawford Young