Rondeau, a medieval poem by François Villon, harmonised for mixed choir by Thomas Moreau :
In this Rondeau, a poetic form codified in the Middle Age, François Villon (ca. 1431- died after 1463), Master of Arts, rogue and poet at his time, begs Death to take him to his Kingdom, which has already stolen his mistress, and without which life has no meaning.
Bad boy author of several important offences: theft of the treasure of the College of Navarre in 1456 with his accomplice Colin de Cayeux, murder of Philippe Chermoye following a love affair, Villon was imprisoned and questioned by water in the jails of Bishop Thibaud d'Aussigny.
He composed in unclarified circumstances the famous "Epitaph Villon", also known as the Ballade des Pendus, then after appealing the death sentence against him, was banned by the Parliament of Paris.
His lost trace has fed all the legends, even under the pen of Rabelais, making Villon in his Quarter Book the very example of the poetic thug.
This piece, slow and mournful, sung by four male voices in long and mortuary values, before the women's choir joins in the lament, is dedicated to Marc Jauréguiberry, a Bayonnais composer, professor of writing and analysis at the Bordeaux Conservatory Jacques Thibaud, who died in 2006 and in whose class Thomas had the chance to study.
Medieval Poem, harmonized for mixed voice choir (SATTBB), a cappella.
