Events

Past Event

The Lady Fortune: Machaut & De Vitry

November 16, 2023
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
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East Gallery, Maison Française, Buell Hall

A musical conversation with Susan Boynton, Anya Wilkening, Jolle Greenleaf and TENET Vocal Artists
In partnership with Music Before 1800

Jolle Greenleaf, Director of NYC’s TENET Vocal Artists, joins Professor Susan Boynton and musicology candidate Anya Wilkening for a musical conversation about compositions by Machaut (1300-1377) and De Vitry (1291-1361) in honor of the Lady Fortune. The conversation will be punctuated with musical examples from TENET’s upcoming program at Music Before 1800.

Greenleaf, Dongmyung Ahn and soloist Shira Kammen will discuss the roots of the concert’s repertoire, beginning with music by the trouvéres, and touch on the complexities of early French pronunciation. 

On November 19 at 4 PM in Corpus Christi Church, TENET Vocal Artists will be performing in The French Touch series at Music Before 1800. This concert features vibrant songs and laments in tribute to Fortune: Machaut’s Ha Fortune; Tribum que non abhorruit by Philippe de Vitry; O Fallaze e ria fortuna by Robertus de Anglia; Dufay’s Par droit je puis; and Fortune Plango Vulnera and O Varium Fortune from Carmina Burana. Click here for more information.

Fortune and her wheel brought a wealth of music and art centered around the constant life changes that occur at the hands of the mighty goddess. Countless ballads were dedicated to life’s twists and turns by medieval composers, and stories of Fortune’s whimsical power extend well beyond the middle ages.

Susan Boynton is Professor of Music and Area Chair in Historical Musicology in the Music Department and Director of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Columbia University

Jolle Greenleaf has been hailed by The New York Times as a “golden soprano” and “a major force in the New York early music-scene.” Ms. Greenleaf was named the artistic director of TENET Vocal Artists in 2009, where she sings and directs the ensemble in repertoire spanning the Middle Ages to the present day. 

Anya Wilkening is a PhD Candidate in Historical Musicology at Columbia University. Her research focuses on new analytic approaches to musical borrowing in the Medieval era.

Early string specialist Dongmyung Ahn is a performer, educator, and scholar whose interests span from the twelfth to eighteenth centuries. Dongmyung is co-founder of Duo Custos, a medieval duo that specializes in music of the fourteenth century. A dedicated educator, Dongmyung has taught music history at Columbia University, New York University, Queens College, Rutgers University, and Vassar College.

This event is co-sponsored by the Maison Francaise, Music Before 1800, the Department of Music, and the Medieval and Renaissance Studies program.