Airs à Deux Parties

Airs à Deux Parties (2000) is an album of Stephan Van Dyck, a Belgian tenor, performing the airs de cour composed by Jospeh Chabanceau de la Barre (1633 – 1678) published in Airs à deux parties: avec les seconds couplets en diminution (1669).

Jospeh Chabanceau de la Barre is a French composer in the 17^th century, and his talent in music, composition and organ playing was recognized by many at his time. His publication entitled Airs à deux parties: avec les seconds couplets en diminution consists of sixteen traditional airs de cour with a double, a récit without double and an Italian air without double.  The air de cour was a very well-liked genre during that period. As discussed in part two of this research, this simple and transparent style of solo vocal music was composed of two verses, of which the first verse is performed with the plain melody with simple ornaments, and the second verse, double, is performed with elaborative ornaments, also called diminution.

The airs de cour composed by de la Barre are special in that the melodic line of the first verse is mostly monosyllabic, with no mark for tremblement indicated, and the diminutions for the double are completely written out, including the accent, plainte, chûte, tour de gosier, etc., except for tremblement which is marked with a cross, as pointed out by Stephen Van Dyck.1

Van Dyck in general adds embellishments mainly in the repeats of the first verse, including simple ornaments such as ports de voix and tremblements. In the double, he makes less variation because of the written-out diminutions. He expresses in his CD booklet that it is a delicate matter to decide on the ornamentation for the recordings of the airs de cour, since it goes against the nature of the composition that expects the performer to improvise at the point and to have a different embellishment each time.2

Van Dyck chooses to perform with period pronunciation, because Bacilly stated that the correct pronunciation and the expression of the words helps the singer to enter into the thought of the poet who wrote them. Van Dyck believes that the 17^th-century French pronunciation sets off the text much more through its articulation of the consonants.3

Conclusion

To conclude, Van Dyck uses 17^th-century French pronunciation as well as his own choice of the ornamentation to express the passion of the music. The 17^th-century French pronunciation is not so much in line with the research findings from Bacilly and Stewart, but the ornamentation used for expressing sadness and tenderness is matching with the findings. Nonetheless, Van Dyck has no doubt done some great recordings on the airs de cour by de la Barre with his sweet expression and graceful voice.

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French Pronunciation

This section aims at observing and comparing the similarities and differences in the French pronunciation between the findings of this research and the actual performance of the performer, Stephan Van Dyck. Van Dyck’s pronunciation was advised by the specialist in old French, Nicole Rouillé. This review does not aim at pointing out errors of the performer, but rather to serve as an objective comparison to understand the choice and interpretation of the performer.

Vowels

The pronunciation of the vowels by Van Dyck is generally very clear and precise. Nevertheless, the vowel pronunciation of Van Dyck is not so much in accordance with the suggestion of Bacilly and Stewart.

Bacilly reminded singers to open the mouth gradually while singing an /a/ on a long note and in port de voix, but the /a/ vowel sung by Van Dyck sounds consistently in the same quality. For example, in Tristes enfans de mes desirs, flame, malheureux and ame were sung on a long note with a consistent /a/ with the same degree of openness of the mouth from hearing.

Stewart states that the tongue position of 17^th-century French was generally higher than it is today, therefore, some vowels were shifted. In Van Dyck’s performance, the /ɑ/ vowel was not raised to an /a/ and the /o/ was not raised to an /u/. Nevertheless, the /wa/ was raised to a /wɛ/. In the Récit sur la convalescence du Roy, soyez, gloire, Rois and fois were sung with /wɛ/.

/œ/ and /ø/ were sung as two different vowels by Van Dyck, although Bacilly did not distinguish the two as different vowels. In Tristes enfans de mes desirs, Van Dyck performed /œ/ in coeur, rigueur and pleurs, and /ø/ in malheureux. The vowels were sung quite closed, especially for the /ø/, which is in accordance with Bacilly’s suggestion, to hold the lips close together until the very end of the note.

The muted /ə/ vowel was sung as an articulated vowel similar to an /ø/, and we can find a lot of examples in Depuis quinze, jusqu’à trente: quinze, trente, nature, faisante, inspire, que, le, naissante, cinquante, comme, vie, plaisante, Amaranthe, dire, martyre and pire.

As discussed before, nasal vowels /ɑ̃/, /ɛ̃/ and /ɔ̃/ did not exist in 17^th-century French pronunciation, and the vowels were pronounced without nasality, where the /n/ be pronounced at the very end of the note. Bacilly also mentioned a rule, ‘never sing through your nose’, and that is only an exception when singing an /n/.

Van Dyck sang nasal vowels /ɑ̃/ and /ɔ̃/ in grand, ayant, celebrons, chants and Demon in the Récit sur la convalescence du Roy, temps quand, on in J’avois juré de n’aymer plus, demandez, mon, quand, entendez and en in Vous demandez pour qui mon coeur soûpire, etc. For words that are pronounced with /ɛ̃/ in modern French, Van Dyck raised the vowel from /ɛ̃/ to /ẽ/ with still an /n/ sounded at the end, for example, quinze /kẽnzə/ and bien /bjẽn/ in Depuis quinze, jusqu’à trente.

There was not a small /ʊ/ inserted after /ɔ/ when followed by an /n/ or /m/ in donne and comme, as suggested by Bacilly. However, interestingly, we find this in some nasalized vowels. In some of the words ending with a /ɑ̃/ in modern French, a small /ʊ/ inserted by Van Dyck. Examples are trente /trɑʊntə/, faisante /fəzɑʊntə/, naisante /nɛzɑʊntə/, cinquante /sɛkɑʊntə/, plaisante /plɛzɑʊntə/ Amaranthe /amarɑʊntə/, tendrement /tɑʊndrəmɑʊnt/ and tourment /turmɑʊnt/ in Depuis quinze, jusqu’à trente.

Some vowels followed by /n/ were not sung with nasality nor with an /ʊ/ inserted, but a pure vowel or diphthong with an /n/ sounding at the end, which goes in line with Bacilly’s description. Examples are puissant, charmant in the Récit, and plaintes and peine in Tristes enfans de mes desirs. However, there are not many examples of this.

Consonants

The consonants pronounced by Van Dyck are in general very clear and it is easy to hear every syllables noticeably.

Peter Van Heyghen stated that French language in the Baroque period has a strong lip action but with rather soft consonants. Van Dyck sang these French airs with rather strong lip action, especially in the Récit sur la convalescence du Roy. The consonants were overall pronounced really softly but clearly.

Bacilly taught singers to pronounce a vigorous /r/ and a solid /l/4. Van Dyck chose to perform in a very light way. In J’avois juré de n’aymer plus, the /r/ and /l/ following or followed by another consonant in plus, sermens, superflus, Silvie and fort were pronounced lightly, as well as faudroit, le and les in Vous demandez pour qui mon coeur soûpire. Yet, in Tristes enfans de mes desirs, the vigorous /r/ and /l/ could be heard in quelle rigueur (what strictness), perhaps because of the expression of the text:

Helas! Quelle rigueur, Vous force à sortir de mon coeur.5

(Translation: Alas, what strictness forces you to come forth from my heart?)

Van Dyck treated the consonant /n/ with gentility, and only pronounced it at the end of the note. In addition, the aspirated /h/ should be pronounced more than in modern French. In fact, the aspirated /h/ is only found with the word Helas in the whole album, therefore, is always pronounced by Van Dyck with energy and urge, though, in my opinion, still very gentle.

Final consonants were pronounced clearly. Examples are /s/ and /t/ in François, réjouis, Louis, effort, mort, Rois and fois in the Récit sur la convalescence du Roy, and the /s/ in desirs, soûpirs, vous and doux in Vous demandez pour qui mon coeur soûpire.

In the last time singing seconde fois in the Récit sur la convalescence du Roy, and feu and vient in Un feu naissant vient d’enflamer mon cœur, Van Dyck used gronder that allows a suspension in the consonants. However, other than that, it is not noticeable that the technique is applied since his expression in the whole album is very gentle and sweet.

Lastly, the dynamic change is minimal in the whole album, which goes in accordance with the description of the French language in the Baroque period by Van Heyghen. Inégalité is used in a lot of places in the music. Van Dyck did not use his falsetto voice in the recordings, but rather a mixed voice in the higher registers. Nevertheless, the sound quality is very consistent and beautiful.

This air has both passion of sadness and tenderness. Below is a list of agréments used by Van Dyck to embellish the repeats of the first verse and on important words:

In the second verse, the diminutions were already written out by de la Barre, and a little ‘+’ were indicated on spots where tremblement can be added. Thus, there are not many possibilities for the performer to further embellish the double. Below is a list of ornaments used by Van Dyck on top of the written-out ornamentation, including his interpretation on the little ‘+’ indicated by de la Barre:

The ornamentations used in this air are mainly tremblement étouffé, as well as tremblement, tremblement subit, tremblement double, gronder, accent and port de voix. The tremblement étouffé, gronder, accent and the very slow tremblement are, from the findings of the research, the possible ornaments that can be used in sad and tender songs. Therefore, the ornamentation used by Van Dyck matches with the expression according to the findings of this research.

Chabanceau de la Barre Airs à Deux Parties (2000) - CD booklet7