I had the great fortune to meet Fabrice Fitch during a Sunday Ockeghem concert back in April, which featured his textual reconstruction of Ockeghem's Se vostre cuer. This reconstruction sparked a conversation- initially, it was about the process of reconstructing the poem's text. But it eventually led to musical reconstructions, and that was when he mentioned this recording, which was to come out today. Since I've been looking forward to it for nearly the entire summer, and me being interested in compositional approaches to musicology, I've been reading up on what he has to say about the process in the days leading up to the release.
Published in 2023, this article gives a thorough rundown of both the general reconstruction process and how specific sections were worked out. The introduction and first part of the paper, titled The task of the restorer, outlines what it takes to complete a project of this scale and for such a well-known composer, both objectively and on a personal level. One thing that jumped out to me was how informed every element of the process has to be in order to be called a proper restoration. The section reminds me of something I heard when it came to composing operas: "You don't learn how to write (overall) opera, you only learn how to write this opera." Similarly, Fitch prefaces his discussion of the project with a disclaimer that it is "not intended as a methodology for restoration in general but is geared to the requirements of a specific genre and composer", which is well worth keeping in mind when reading through the article. As someone with only a passing knowledge of the style, the amount of specialized information required to make each choice is bewildering to wrap my head around- the amount of academic sources and score-study needed makes me realize that the timescale of approximately 14 years is, all things considered, a very reasonable amount of time to take on such a project.
Meanwhile, in the sections concerning specific movements- the 'Qui tollis' in the Gloria, and the Sanctus- it is clear how different the challenges that each section presents are. Where the Gloria gives relatively clear indicators of what should be written, the Sanctus presents uncertainty and speculation. Fitch characterizes the latter as "the only one for which the proposed solution is (shall we say) wholly speculative", and it becomes clear why when he explains the problem of the retrograde and cantus firmus. I found the discussion of the various problems, hypotheticals and solutions to be very interesting, not least due to the clues implied in the surviving voices (and silences). It is also interesting to think that others might come up with different, and equally Obrechtian, solutions to these same problems. In footnote 30, Fitch mentions a singer, Marc Busnel, who also took on the challenge of reconstructing this mass, and I wonder how his solution to these sections might have been like, or how different interpretations of the clues could lead to something else entirely. Maybe in the future a number of these restoration projects will be collated and studied, with implications for how to discuss and factor in variability within different composers' styles.
All in all, a very informative article- which also made me consider what exactly I want to achieve with compositional approaches to musicology! (More about that on Sunday.)
In my process of reading the article and searching up the figures Fitch mentions, I came across this project which the late Philip Weller had initiated- and it made me start thinking about how anonymous works can be restored. This also made me realize that I have a quibble with an earlier statement of Fitch's: that knowledge of "(genre and range) would be sufficient to begin" restoring an anonymous composer's work. Likely that would be due to time constraints and research budgets, but it might be worth the extra time and analysis. While anonymous styles may not be as clearly defined like Obrecht and others, I feel like they should still be an important element to take into account, since it can inform the reconstruction process for these works. Plus, it could potentially support a more comprehensive view of the overall musical scene in the 15th century if done thoroughly- things like interchanging of musical ideas, the impact of other composers, and more.
Granted, that task is no small difficulty, and there are definitely easier ways to go about it than figuring out an unnamed composer's style. It would also be significantly harder to tell what the 'localized' practices (as Fitch defines it in his conclusions) of each anonymous composer would be versus what is simply following the instructions of a treatise, especially without a supporting body of work. But I would like to think that examining anonymous styles, be they experts at the craft or not (and especially for the more 'amateurish' ones), have their own value somewhere in scholarship.
Though, I hope the project initiated by Weller came to fruition and these above thoughts can be proven outdated.
As someone fairly new to reconstruction and exploring the potential of compositional skills in musicology, I highly appreciate efforts like this- it kind of feels like experimental archaeology, but for music. And while I often see practical approaches being taken in the performing direction, compositional approaches are perhaps less visible or less known- and either way, this was an excellent starting point to dive in.
I found out about this lecture on the 27th, but sadly cannot attend it. That being said, if anyone viewing this happens to be in Antwerp on the 31st, it should be well worth the ticket cost.