AGAINST THE WAR, words ANGILBERT [841] - music: Paris, B.N., lat. 1154 & J. BARRY - voice G LE VOT
AURORA CUM PRIMO MANE. Paris, B.N., lat. 1154, fol. 136v,
Recorded in GLV, ‘Ultima Lacrima, Sacred Chants of the Middle Ages 9th-13th centuries’, Studio S.M., 1997, Paris, D 2602.
This Carolingian historic song tells the battle of Fontenoy in Puisaye, near Auxerre, on June 25th 841 : after the death of Louis ‘the Pious’, his sons tear each other to pieces. Charles ‘the Bald’ and Louis the ‘Germain’ allied, beat Lothaire. Angilbert fighting under the banner of the last, regrets and tells the brotherly fight. The manuscript of the alphabetical poem (until N) comes from Saint Martial of Limoges. The verses are trochaic septenaria without quantitative meter. Neumes of Aquitaine in campo aperto give no precise idea for the melody. The pentatonic transcription, sung here, remains a suggestion.
The historians will forgive, maybe ,the mixing of musical styles. Between the "raw" of the singing in latin and the sweetness of the orchestral accompaniment, composed by John Barry († 2011) for the film ‘Dance with Wolves’ (1990) and performed here by The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (from the album the 'Spirit of the Glen', 2007), it is possible to recognize a modern homogeneity that the images - which have little in common with the 9th century -, can also provide. Michał Żebrowski, a polish actor, appears as Angilbert, the poet. Żebrowski plays in the film of Jerzy Hoffman ‘Ogniem i miezcem' - With Fire and Sword - (1999).
Aurora cum primo mane tetram noctem dividit / Sabbati non illud fuit, sed Saturni dolium / De fraterna rupta pace gaudet daemon impius.
Bella clamant Hinc et inde, pugna gravis oritur / Frater fratri mortem parat, nepoti avunculus / Filius nec patri suo exhibet, quod meruit.
Cedes nulla pejor fuit, campo nec in Marcio / Fracta est lex Christianorum sanguinis proflui / Unda manans Infernorum gaudet gula Cerberi.
Dextera praepotens Dei protexit Hlotharium / Victor ille, manu sua pugnavit fortiter / Ceteri, si sic pugnassent mox foret victoria/concordia.
Fontaneto fontem dicunt, villam quoque rustice / Ubi strages et ruina Francorum de sanguine / Orrent campi, orrent silvae, orrent ipsae paludes.
Gramen illud ros et imber, nec humectet pluvia / In quo fortes ceciderunt praelio doctissimi, / Pater, mater, soror, frater, quos amici fleverant.
Hoc autem scelus peractum, quod descripsi ritmice / Angelbertus ego vidi, pugnansque cum aliis /Solus de multis remansi prima frontis acie.
Laude pugna non est digna, nec cantatur melode ! / Oriens, meridianus, occidens vel aquilo / Plangant illos, qui fuerunt tali pena mortui!
When dawn dispelled the horrendous night at the break of day, it was not a Sabbath but the Cauldron of Saturn. The Godless demon rejoiced at the end of peace between the brothers.
The war roars: here and there, a bleeding fight begins. The brother kills his brother, the uncle his nephew and the son has no mercy for his father.
Never was a so a greater slaughter on battlefield. The laws of Christians is broken, blood flows and in hell, the mouth of Cerberus is pleased.
The mighty right hand of God protects Lothair who in the fight was strong and courageous; if the others had fought like him, the victory would have been gained.
To speak as farmers, Fontenoy is a fountain and a village where Franks were destroyed and cut to pieces; the fields, the woods, even the swamps are stricken with horror.
Let neither dew nor shower, let no rain dampen the grass in the meadows where brave and skill warriors have fallen, mourned by their father, their mother, their sister, their brother and their friends.
I, Angilbert, saw with my own eyes the misfortune that occurred, and which I described in rhythmic verse; I fought with my companions in front lines and I am alone to survive among many.
This battle does not deserve to be celebrated by a melodious song: to the Orient, to the South, the Occident and the North, let us mourn the death of those that fell.