Music, Always New :-)
Dear mandolinist friends around the world,
what a year this has been! Looking back at the time that has elapsed since last spring, it may at first seem interminable. To put this ordeal in some temporal context, I had the pleasure of writing yet another set of variations for unaccompanied mandolin, this time on the immortal Douce dame jolie by French medieval master Guillaume de Machaut. The original melody is what one may safely call a top-ten hit of the Middle Ages, sung and played countless times and in countless guises. So why not on our lovely mandolin? My variations stick very closely to the original and make no high claims to invention or originality; they simply adorn an already beautiful artifact from a bygone era. Nor of course do I care to go down the rabbit-hole of authenticity; this is a modern work, a set of variations written only days ago by a modern composer, happy to be alive and kicking as we speak. I sure hope I’ve done Machaut justice but I have not been able to reach him for his approval.
Should anyone wish to have a copy of this score— entirely gratis, available as a handy PDF attachment— please just drop me a note through the Café messenger and we can connect by email. I hope that you enjoy musing on this charming, haunting, unforgettable melody just as I have. I wish you and yours all the best— health, above all!— and hope to see you all someday on the Other Side.
Cheers,
Victor
It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)
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