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Musica Vitae

Maladies, Remedies & Curious Cures
Chantal Schütz et David C. Kendall

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1

Maladies, Remedies & Curious Cures (highlights) by Musica Vitae (Chantal Schutz & David C. Kendall)

2In 2020, Chantal Schütz and David C. Kendall formed the duo Musica Vitae, dedicated to live performances that illustrate various themes addressed in academic conferences, such as pastoral literature, Shakespeare's world or healing in early modern Britain. These programs combine traditional and modern folk repertoire, including broadside ballads and Renaissance material, with theatrics and creative anachronisms in the spirit of the Commedia dell’Arte.

3With the theme of the conference being “Healing in Early Modern Britain”, we wanted to present a program that explored the topics of sickness and health. What causes illness, physically or mentally? What sours a temperament? What heals a tortured soul? What cures ailing bodies? This program explores these questions with humor, melody, and poignancy.

4In order of the video highlights:

  1. The Italian madrigal “Fa una Canzone” by Orazio Vecchi (1550-1605) celebrates the power of music to comfort the heart and heal melancholy.

  2. The French Court Air “Quel Espoir de Guérir” by Pierre Guédron (1575-ca 1620) describes the pangs of love seen as a sickness that only death can heal, above all because the lover dares not voice her torment.

  3. The Broadside Ballad “The Maid’s Lamentation” gives voice to a young woman who describes the symptoms of the green sickness – the condition that was believed in early modern days to be brought on by the lack of a husband.

  4. Captain Tobias Hume (1569-1645) wrote this humorous song about “Tobacco” to compare its beneficial (and nefarious) virtues with those of love.

  5. The concluding song, “Thyme”, derived from a traditional Scottish ballad, cautions young maids to protect their “bonny bunch of thyme” and declares that time (pun intended) heals all maladies in the end.

  6. Beyond the early modern repertoire, the concert included a humorous folk song about “Marrowbones” being used as a poison to cure a loveless marriage, and how in the end the wife’s accidental death becomes the crafty husband’s cure.

  7. The concert also included a setting by Alan Taylor of Robert Herrick’s “The Kiss”, a poem that underlines the soothing power of the lips.

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Référence électronique

Chantal Schütz et David C. Kendall, « Musica Vitae »Études Épistémè [En ligne], 46 | 2024, mis en ligne le 15 mars 2025, consulté le 13 mai 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/20672 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/13juz

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Auteurs

Chantal Schütz

Chantal Schütz’s musical journey began with 10 years of classical piano and vocal training, then a stage debut at a university Paris 7 production of John Gay's “The Beggar's Opera” (as Lucy Lockit). She went on to perform the title role in Lully’s “Armide”, and recorded the part of Hercules in “La Lotta di Ercole con Acheloo” by Agostino Steffani (1564-1728). She has taken part in many baroque opera and oratorio productions and given recitals of German, French, English and Russian art songs in France, Britain, Italy and Germany. From 2001 to 2020, she focused mainly on Renaissance repertoire with the Sorbonne Scholars, and has been a regular soloist in the ensemble’s concerts.

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David C. Kendall

David C. Kendall chose a career in music and street theatre in his late teens in San Diego, California, when he was exposed to traditional folk music from the British Isles at a rock concert featuring Steeleye Span. He formed the group Jackstraws in 1978 to perform British folk music at Renaissance Faires, and maritime music as well. He continues with the band to this day in France. He has performed solo at University of Reims Champagne Ardenne, at Société Française Shakespeare Paris, and with Jackstraws at international events such as the “Festival du Chant de Marin de Paimpol”, as well as maritime events in Saint-Malo and Lorient. David includes original songs and traditional ballad adaptations in his repertoire.

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