- Date: 1316
- Composer:
Anonymous, French - Period: Renaissance (1450-1599)
Review
Le Roman de Fauvel (The Story of Fauvel) is a satirical allegory on the corrupt courts of King Philip IV and King Philip V, as well as the state of affairs at the papal court in Avignon. It achieved great popularity and is preserved in 12 known manuscripts. One of these, in Paris, contains an extended version with 167 musical interpolations. It is one of the most important extant Medieval manuscripts.Le Roman de Fauvel is in two parts and the first of these, consisting of 1226 verses, was completed in 1310. By the end of 1314 the second book, with 2054 verses, was completed. We know the author of the second book was Gervais Du Bus, notary of the French royal chancery in Paris from 1313 - 1338. It seems likely that du Bus wrote the first book as well. Soon after the poem was complete, Chaillou de Pesstain (d. before 1336) added musical items as well some text and numerous extravagant illuminations to the story. One of the added poems mentions the year 1316, and other evidence confirms this as the year of its creation. Although some of the music was composed for the volume, it is entered anonymously.
Fauvel, the title character, is the embodiment of incompetence and evil. When Le Roman de Fauvel was written, "fauve" indicated either a brownish-yellow color or a horse or ass. Also, "fau" + "vel" is "veiled falsehood," or hypocrisy. The letters of "Fauvel" are the first letters of each of six vices, in French: Flatterie, Avarice, Vilainie (the letters V and U were interchangeable at the time), Variété (inconstancy), Envie, and Lâcheté (cowardice). A simple barnyard animal, Fauvel is taken by Fortuna to the royal palace, where everyone flatters and curries (brushes his hair) him, hoping to gain his favor. Thus the expression, "étriller Fauvel" ("curry Fauvel," which in English has been transformed into "curry favor").
Thirty-four of the musical items in Le Roman de Fauvel are polyphonic motets; the rest are monophonic pieces of various forms. Five of the three-part motets in Le Roman de Fauvel have been identified as the works of Philippe de Vitry (1291 - 1361). These motets are among the earliest know examples of isorhythm in which a rhythmic pattern, a talea, is repeated continuously through a piece as a unifying device. This became a salient feature of music in the French Ars Nova style. One of the motets, No. 21 in the modern numeration, is in four voices, but ten are two-voice and the rest are three-voice. Together, the motets form an excellent overview of motet composition up to the early fourteenth century.
The monophonic pieces run the gamut of contemporary forms, including lais, ballades, rondeaux, virelais, as well as liturgical chant and conductus in Latin. One selection, No. 13, is a Notre Dame conductus from ca. 1170.
At first, Le Roman de Fauvel must have been distributed carefully, because of its denunciation of contemporary kings and Avignon popes. Eventually, however, the story spread throughout Europe. ~ All Music Guide
Albums with Complete Performances of the Work
| Title | Date |
| L'Europe musicale au Moyen Age | |
| Le Roman De Fauvel | |
| Le Roman de Fauvel | 1995 |
