Estampie: Party like it's 1300!

Paris c. 1300 was a vibrant place, resounding with people singing and dancing, from clerics in their cloisters to courtiers in royal chambers and merchants down by the meadows. Thanks to an unknown scribe, a precious selection of these dances has been preserved in a manuscript of troubadour and trouvère songs, the Chansonnier du Roi. Referred to as 'Estampies Real' (Royal Estampies), these pieces give us a rare insight into instrumental music from the Middle Ages. Mediva combines them with other dance-inspired vocal music from the Montpellier Codex, also written in Paris around this time.

Estampie is Ann Allen's latest project for Mediva, a groundbreaking medieval group featured a number of times at SVF over the years. This new programme has been specially supported by SVF, with the aim of bringing insights from Medieval and folk music to experiment with how these pieces were performed, composed and enjoyed.

Mediva:
Ann Allen shawm, douçaine, recorder, voice
Patrick Rimes bagpipes, vielle, voice
Grace Newcombe harp, voice