Elisabeth Ellison

THE GENERAL PROLOGUE

    Track 1) Scene: The Tabard Inn
29 newly-met pilgrims gather at the Tabard Inn in Southwark (an actual establishment built in 1307) to embark on the route to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, 55 miles distant. Out of the melee, we hear the opening of the Prologue, setting the scene. (photo: Elisabeth Ellison)

  For this track, all the musicians and our engineer collaborated to create unique crowd noise entirely in Middle English. The narrator, Barry Sills, came in to the studio to add to the crowd noise; his reading of the Prologue was so dynamic, heartfelt, and real that we decided to feature it.
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    Track 2: Edi Beo Thu (Þhu), Heuene Queene - a song of praise to the Virgin Mary, in Middle English; Oxford, GB-Occc, MS 59, f. 113v-114.  The inn's host, Harry Bailey, proposes a storytelling contest to the group to pass the time on the road. 

The Cook's Tale
Perkyn Revelour, a dissolute apprentice and thief, is fond of dancing
Track 3): English Dance (English Estampie) - Anonymous, 13th century English; Oxford, GB-Ob, MS Douce 139

  "English Dance" is still popular and often-recorded. What I miss about modern renditions is the Dance part. Based on a Quebecois friend's demonstration of podorhythmie (almost as old as "English Dance") some years ago, we recorded the foot stomps with medieval-style historical shoes on a wood floor. Our engineer used pitch shifting to vary the doubled tracks into the sound of different feet!

The Franklin's Tale 
A young wife is fearful that her absent husband's ship may crash on the treacherous coast near their village of Penmarc'h ("Penmark") in Brittany. A suitor promises to make the rocks vanish in return for her attentions.
    Track 4): Gwerz Penmarc'h (traditional) - a 15th-century Breton ballad, still sung today, describing a shipwreck at Penmarc'h

The Martyrdom of St. Cecilia in Rome (The Second Nun's Tale)
    "Thre strokes in the nekke he smoot hire tho, The tormentour (executioner), but for no maner chaunce He myghte noght smyte al hir nekke atwo." In 3rd century Rome, the Christian Cecila's husband and his brother convert to (forbidden) Christianity and are shortly executed. Cecilia refuses to worship Roman gods before the magistrate and is sentenced to death by burning; she survives the attempt, then continues to live for several days after an attempted beheading. 
        Track 5): La Quarte Estampie - Chansonnier du Roi (ca. 1255 - 1260); F-Pnm Français 844

The Miller's Tale
    A miller's lodger, the scholar Nicholas, sings and plays in his chamber:
"And al above ther lay a gay sautrie, On which he made a-nyghtes melodie; So swetely that all the chambre rong; And Angelus ad virginem he song" Nicholas is wooing his landlord's young wife.
        Track 6): Angelus ad Virginem - from the Dublin Troper, ca. 1360; Cambridge, GB-Cu Add. 710

The Canon's Yeoman's Tale 
The Canon retreats from the group of pilgrims on being questioned about his appearance relative to his status, whereupon Yeoman tells of his master's (the Canon's) illicit fascination with alchemy and his experiments at making gold. The Yeoman reveals he has also lost his livelihood and health by participating in these unwholesome pursuits. 
    Track 7): Estampie 'Retrové' - said to be the earliest notated keyboard work. Anon., The Robertsbridge Codex (1360) London, GB-Lbl, Add MS 28550 (photo by Elisabeth Ellison: the Retrove in the Robertsbridge Codex, British Library)

 The Parson's Tale
    A discourse on the Seven Deadly Sins
        Track 8): Fauvel, Cogita - Roman de Fauvel No. 51; Paris, F-Pnm Français 146, f. 29 (1/1)The name 'Fauvel' is an acronym for the Seven Deadly Sins

Chaucer's Retraction - the last text in the Canterbury Tales
    "Here the maker of this book takes his leave" - Chaucer prays for forgiveness from both God and the reader for elaborating on such "worldly vanities" as are contained in the Tales.
        Track 9): Stella Celi - John Cooke (c. 1385 - 1442?) Old Hall Manuscript - late 14th century; London, GB-Lbl, Add MS 57950  - I chose this pious plea to represent Chaucer's contrition.

The Man of Law's Tale
The Sultan of Syria agrees to become Christian in order to marry the daughter of the Roman Emperor. 
    Track 10): Qolo d-Dawso "The Sound of Joy" - Syriac hymn on the occasion of the Nativity of John the Baptist. Syriac hymnography dates from the 4th century AD. Syriac/Aramaic from the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch

  The Canterbury Tales is set scarcely a century after the Crusades and while the English were still actively crusading on the Continent. While the pilgrims in the story had no direct knowledge of the Middle East, they had some context to identify its music in relation to this tale about distant Syria.

The Tale of Sir Thopas (recited by Chaucer)
    An English romance so sweet and virtuous that the pilgrims don't want to hear it, and interrupt Chaucer's telling.
Tracks 11,12,13): Nota (Ductia) I, II, III - London, GB-Lbl, Harley 978 - some of very few English notated instrumental pieces from the 13th century. Nota 1: Sir Thopas (Topaz) decides to pursue the Elf Queen in hopes of romance. Nota II: Sir Oliphant, a giant, confronts Thopas. Nota III: Sir Thopas calls for minstrels and a picnic.
        
Character of the Pardoner, and The Pardoner's Tale
    The corrupt Pardoner admits to coercing payments for false indulgences from sinners. He then tells his tale: Three men of bad character drunkenly set out to waylay and kill "Death." They find a hoard of gold; one man goes for supplies while the other two plot to kill him and take his share. He brings poisoned wine, which kills the other two men after they stab him to death.
        Track 14): Fumeux Fume par Fumée - "Jean" Solage (1350-1403), Chantilly Codex, F-Ch, MS 564, f59r
The smoker smokes through smoke,
A smoky speculation.
While others smoke in thought,
The smoker smokes through smoke,
Because smoke pleases him greatly
As he meditates.
The smoker smokes through smoke,
A smoky speculation.

The Knight's Tale
 Two young nobles fight for the hand of the sister-in-law of King Theseus. Each wins the favor of a warlord (Athenean statesman Lycurgus and Emetreus (possibly Demetrius) "King of India") who each march 100 knights to the lists (possibly Panathenaic Stadium) in Athens. It should be noted that, like many of  the Tales, this one is an amalgam of older stories, and all these names are from different centuries BC. 

  Though modern research as brought some ancient Greek music to light, our 14th-century pilgrims were unfamiliar with it, so I decided to write something that reflected the exotic setting and the inaccurate assumptions in the tale. It's a basse rhythm truncated to 5/8 to demonstrate something is "off." The two armies can be heard passing the listener. 

Track 15): Battle March - Elisabeth Ellison (b.1964)

The Friar's Tale 
A "yeoman" and partner-in-crime of a corrupt summoner is actually a demon in disguise. The summoner menaces a widow under false pretenses. The widow curses him, and the demon carries the summoner off. 
    Track 16): Non é Gran Cousa - Cantigas de Santa Maria No. 26 (1280-1284), San Lorenzo de El Escorial, EE, MS B.I.2 and T.I.1. Non é Gran Cousa describes a pilgrim (on the road to Santiago de Compostela) deceived by the devil, disguised as St. James (Santiago), who accuses him of unforgivable sin. "St. James" then appears, and refutes the devil's claim to the man's soul. St. Mary intervenes and restores the man to life. Chaucer made one trip to Spain in his lifetime.

Corruption (theme)
    A prevalent theme, and Chaucer's most persistent statement throughout the Canterbury Tales, this is one of the few pieces not linked to one specific Tale. From the Prologue on, the characters display insincerity, impiousness, and misuse, and their tales lambaste corrupt characters from a position of false sanctity. Nonetheless, both culturally and individually, the pilgrims convey a degree of naïveté about their paradigms.
    Track 17): Procurans Odium - lit. " The effects of hate turn back on the haters" - a conductus in the Magnus Liber Organi (Florence Manuscript, AD 1250), Fiorenza, I-Fl Pluteo 29.1, f. 226-226v)

The Prioress' Tale
A 7-year old boy sings the chant Alma Redemptoris Mater on his way to school, through the Jewish Quarter.
Track 18): Alma Redemptoris Mater (simple tone) - attr. Hermann of Reichenau, aka Hermann Contractus (1013 - 1054). 

  The album performance is by Maxwell Magallon, boy soprano.

The Jews believe he is committing sacrilege by singing to the Virgin Mary, cut his throat, and hide him in a pit. Miraculously, the boy continues to sing, leading rescuers to him.
Track 19): Psalm 19 - setting by Suzanne Haïk Vantoura (1912 - 2000) - this French musicologist interpreted the cantilation marks in Masoritic texts as musical pitches, and transcribed all of the Psalms accordingly.   

Though perhaps Haïk's theory can't be proved, I have chosen to utilize her setting as a composition to depict an "old Psalm melody" that could be plausible to a 14th-century English storyteller.

The Merchant's Tale
    An aged, blind lord's young wife and her lover hide their activities in a pear tree. 
         Track 20): Miri It Is While Sumer Ilast; GB-Ob, MS Rawl. G.22, f.1v.

The Clerk's Tale 
A young lord marries a peasant girl, then tests her loyalty by having their children kidnapped and hidden away. Griselda, the wife, endures the heartbreak and is overcome with joy when the children are returned to her.
    Track 21): Bryd One Brere - c.1290 - 1320, Cambridge, Ckc, MS. Muniment Roll 2 W. 32r.

The Nun's Priest's Tale
    A fable about Chanticleer the Rooster, in which Chanticleer and his pursuer, the fox, deceive and outwit each other, incorporating themes from numerous other ancient tales and allegories.
        Track 22): I Haue a Gentil Cok - Anonymous, 15th c. poem; London, GB-Lbl, MS Sloane 2593, f. 10b. Setting by Al Cofrin, 2004; additional music by Elisabeth Ellison and Tina Chancey, 2025.

I Have a Gentle Cock
I haue a gentil cook,
Crowyt me day.
He doth me rysyn erly,
My matyins for to say.
I haue a gentil cook,
Comyn he is of gret.
His comb is of reed corel,
His tayil is of get.
I haue a gentyl cook,
Comyn he is of kynde.
His comb is of red scorel,
His tayl is of Inde.
His legges ben of asor,
So geintil and so smale.
His spores arn of syluer qwyt,
In to the worte wale.
His eynyn arn of cristal,
Lokyn al in aumbyr,
And euery nyght he perchit hym
In myn ladyis chaumbyr.

Geoffrey Chaucer
     An homage to the character of Geoffrey Chaucer
Track 23): 'O Rosa Bella' - John Dunstable (c. 1390 - 1453), Trento, I-TRbc MS 1377 [90], ff. 362v-363r