Medievalish by BIG PONY

These songs blend my study of medieval music and culture with modern music. "Haec dies," "Rose, liz, printemps, verdure," and "A ciascun'alma presa" include melodies and lyrics that were actually composed in the middle ages. The other two songs are 21st century creations that have something medievalish about them: "Masterpiece" is a Big Thief cover and "Burned, Unburdened" is an original about Joan of Arc. None of my instruments are period instruments quite like medieval people would have used. But, they do convey a sense of the medieval. Enjoy :) Read on for more details about the many sources of this music.


Notes for nerds <3:

Haec dies: "Haec Dies Quam Fecit Dominus" is the full Latin title, which in English means This is the day that the Lord has made. The lyrics (replaced by guitars in my version) are from Psalm 118:24 and they were set to music a very long time ago, very likely before that music was first written down in the 800s in plainchant form. My excerpt is from a later version composed around 1150CE, probably by Léonin, who lived at Notre Dame in France. His version is in the "organum" style, a form of sacred music sung without instruments, in which a lead singer would improvise a melody based on a well-known chant.

Masterpiece: My bardcore cover of the song by Big Thief. It's like if Adrianne Lenker's voice was harps and Buck Meek's guitar was a bouzouki and alto recorders, and if James Krivchenia was a tambour-playing tavern entertainer and Max Oleartchik went back in time with an acoustic bass. None of my instruments are medieval replicas but they do the job!

Rose, liz, printemps, verdure: The four interlocking melodies in this song were written in the mid 1300s by Guillaume de Machaut. The medieval French translates "rose, lily, spring, greenery," and the original lyrics compare these to a beloved someone who's even hotter and better (click the song for a translation of the lyrics). For this cover I replaced the medieval French words with 4 electric guitars and added a bass and programmed drums (the only software instrument on the album!). The song has been reproduced many times by modern musicians, including versions with lyrics- check some out on Spotify/wherever.

A ciascun’alma presa: This is the most remixed of any of the songs on the record. The medieval Italian lyrics are from a poem by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321, author of "The Divine Comedy"). The lyrics recount a sexy nightmare Dante had once. In it, Dante meets Love, who joyfully feeds Dante’s flaming heart to his sleeping crush. Then, suddenly sad, Love turns away crying and Dante wakes terrified. The poem has been set to music many times before now. My version is unique in setting the poem to another, much older piece of medieval music: I picked "Versus Paulini de Herico Duce" for its spooky, sad, peculiar melody. It was written near the end of the 700s by Paulinus II, as an elegy to commemorate the death of his friend, Duke Eric of Friuli. A really impressive recreation of the original "Versus," (which features repeated interludes of bell-accompanied moaning-!) was recorded in 1993 by La Reverdie. It appears on their record "Knights, Maids, and Miracles: The Spring of the Middle Ages" (on Spotify). So, for this piece I set Dante's 14th century lyrics to my redux of Paulinus's 8th century elegy, recomposed for guitar and voice.

Burned, Unburdened: This is original music and lyrics about Joan of Arc’s (c.1412-1431) last days, partly from her parents’ pov.

BIG PONY is the solo project of Anthony Saracino (me!). I'm a PhD student researching the mystical writing of medieval and early modern women. On the side I play guitar for community musical theater pits and write songs that blend fingerstyle guitar, rock, and medieval music.