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Concert

Music for the funeral of Anne of Brittany

Doulce Mémoire evokes the splendid ceremonies that were to inspire French royal funerals for several centuries to come.

On 9 January 1514 Anne of Brittany died at the château of Blois. Her funeral, celebrated for an exceptional forty days, was a tribute to a woman whose life’s work had been to safeguard Breton autonomy and to preserve the Duchy outside the French crown.
Doulce Mémoire evokes the splendid ceremonies that were to inspire French royal funerals for several centuries to come. Music, which played an essential part as a vector of emotion in the liturgy, takes three different forms in this programme: Gregorian chant (Matins for the Dead), polyphony (Mass for the Dead, motets) and monody (the traditional Breton gwerz, a type of lament, performed by Yann-Fañch Kemener).
Doulce Mémoire thus presents not only the tribute paid to Anne of Brittany, Queen of France, by the singers of her Chapel, but also that of the Breton people, represented by Yann-Fañch Kemener.

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Cast

Philippe Vallepin, narrator

Paulin Bündgen, alto
Hugues Primard, tenor
Vincent Bouchot, tenor
Marc Busnel, baritone
Philippe Roche, bass

Eva Godard, cornett, recorders
Elsa Frank, dulcinas, recorders
Jérémie Papasergio, dulcinas, recorders
Franck Poitrineau, sackbut
Denis Raisin Dadre, recorders and artistic direction

With the Breton singer Yann-Fañch Kemener, gwerzioù (breton songs)

Creation of the Abbaye de Fontevraud – Centre Culturel de l’Ouest

In the Press

«  Once again the magic happens : harmonious sonorities, magnificent male voice quintet for a ceremonial masterpiece filled with poetic fervor and formality. The funeral painting is completed by lamentations ( Pierre Moulu, Costanzo Festa ) and several Breton singings reminding that the one who was queen of France twice would always remain a symbol of independence despite the final pegging of Bretagne to the crown of France. »
Le Monde de la musique, M.-A.Roux