Fretwork

agricologies (pour violes)

agricologies (pour violes) is part of a double cycle of pieces commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of Alexander Agricola (ca. 1456-1506), one of the leading composers of the turn of the sixteenth century. It has been commissioned by Fretwork with funds from the PRS. (The other cycle, agricologies (pour quatuor), has been commissioned by the Kreutzer String Quartet.)

The four viol pieces written to date are Agricola I: Comme femme a 2/4, Agricola III/Obrecht canon I: De tous biens plaine a 4, Agricola IV: Fortuna desperata a 6, and Agricola V: Si edero a 3. A fifth piece, Agricola VII: Tout a part moy/ostinato, for string quartet and viols, forms part of the quartet cycle. Each piece is based either on a specific piece by Agricola (Agricola III, IV, V) or on a work that Agricola himself used as the basis for one or more of his compositions (Agricola I, VII). The cycle is intended both as an extended hommage to Agricola and as a reflection on the use of borrowed materials in its many different guises, ranging from the Renaissance (isomelism) to the contemporary (sampling). There is also an underlying concern with the peculiar sound-quality of Renaissance viols, whose tone is markedly different from that of their baroque analogues. The cycle was also inspired by a series of works by the Abstract Expressionist sculptor David Smith, entitled Agricola, and incorporating borrowed materials in the shape of discarded farming tools.

Agricola I and III are included on Fretwork’s new recording, Alexander Agricola: Chansons, with the countertenor Michael Chance. The programme was devised, and the music newly edited for Fretwork, by Fabrice Fitch.

For more information on the agricologies cycle, see Fabrice Fitch’s article ‘Agricolesque, ou presque: for the Agricola Quincentenary’ in the August 2006 issue of Early Music, which includes the complete score of Agricola III/Obrecht canon I: De tous biens plaine a 4. Excerpts from the new recording will be accessible on the Early Music website for a six-month period from August 2006.

Premieres:

Agricola IV: Fortuna desperata a 6 was premiered by Fretwork at the Wigmore Hall, London, on 25 June 2006.

Agricola I, III and V will be premiered by Fretwork at the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, London on 17 September 2006.