Summa Leticia is a production stemming from many influences. At its heart is a repertoire of ‘new songs’ compiled in manuscripts of Aquitaine in the South of France between the 11th and 13th centuries, within the wider framework of song repertoires and related manuscripts of Norman Sicily and Northern France.
This project is an heir of the ground-breaking work of musicologist Wulf Arlt. His research provided a sourced-based foundation for the singular recording of Dominique Vellard and Emmanuel Bonnardot released over three decades ago, aptly titled Nova cantica.
More recently, the current production is also the direct result of the SNF-supported research project, “Reconstruction of Performing Conventions in Aquitanian Repertories of the 11th-13th Centuries” (2011-2013), under the direction of Jeremy Llewellyn. Among the output of the project are Llewellyn’s article “nova cantica” (Cambridge History of Medieval Music) presenting the latest research on the topic and the recording of Ensemble Peregrina, Nova Gaudia, the first of two recordings of Summa Leticia. This recording focuses entirely on just one manuscript, Paris 1139, the oldest of the Aquitanian versariae. Ensemble Peregrina presents the pieces in a homogenous soundscape of women’s voices and symphonia, placing the transmission of the source at the center of the musical interpretation.
The second Summa Leticia recording, Res iocosa: Nova cantica in Context, is the work of Ensemble Gilles Binchois directed by Dominique Vellard. It touches back on Vellard’s first Nova cantica recording of 1990, revisiting and expanding upon previously presented interpretations, while also offering new solutions with a larger ensemble formation. This recording widens the scope of the musical territory beyond Aquitaine, creating connections between works of the North and South of France and beyond.
Accompanying these two recordings are essays on central aspects of the repertoire. Agnieszka Budzinska-Bennett and Wulf Arlt discuss the music and texts of the two recordings; David Catalunya delves into questions concerning the collation and notation of the early foundational source, Paris 1139; and Konstantin Voigt offers insight into the musical and textual forms of the repertoire as well as the interplay between these two variables. Translations of the essays and the song texts are given in English and French. Additionally, the original German texts of Arlt and Voigt, as well as the song texts of Nova Gaudia, translated into German and annotated by Felix Heinzer, are available in a separate document.