The Fold: A Musical Mystery, Solved
A Musical Mystery, Solved.When I was six, my favorite songs were Grandma’s Feather Bed by John Denver and …something else. I didn’t know the title. I knew it was the first song on the second side of a gray cassette tape* that I “borrowed” from my Dad. Dad listened almost exclusively to classical music. This album was older than typical classical music. It was the kind of thing that today we’d call Early Music. I think it was actually performed with period instruments, which for me, was part of the captivating sound. *I am rotary phone, smoking on airplanes, drive-thru liquor store old. I’ve never forgotten the music on this tape.I’ve searched for it for years. I remember the words “court” and “dances” on the tape, as well as a roman numeral. (As in, The Court of Friedrich Wilhelm XXVII or some such.) I looked through my dwindling collection of cassette tapes and I don’t seem to have it any more. Here’s a problem with classical music in the digital age: it’s hard to find specific recordings. If you want to listen to Pearl Jam performing Animal live in Seattle in 1993, Bob’s your uncle. With music that’s really old, it’s not only difficult to find recorded versions, but there’s probably no “authorized” version. Maybe this song was played for decades, even centuries, before anyone wrote it down. #OldWorldProblems
Above: King David image Czechoslovakian artwork: King David and musicians from Olomouc Bible, folio 276R. Source: Wikimedia Commons. I persisted.I got a big clue when I heard Dead Can Dance’s 1990 album Aion, which includes the track Saltarello. When I first heard Saltarello in the late 90s, it triggered a memory. Saltarello was on that tape of medieval music. Saltarello, turns out, is a traditional dance that was played all over Western Europe starting in the 14th century. I shifted my thinking. The music I’m looking for is not a specific album or musician. It’s probably a traditional piece that’s been performed and recorded many times. I started searching for albums with Saltarello on them and listening to what else was on those albums. That’s how I found Tourdion.
Above: Legend of the passage of the viaticum across a wooden bridge, at Utrecht, in 1277. Some dancers having allowed the host to pass without discontinuing their dances, the bridge suddenly gave way and two hundred persons were drowned in the river. Source: Wikimedia Commons. This was what I’d been looking for.The Tourdion is another medieval European court dance, like the Saltarello. You can read about the technical structure and history here. This is what it looks like when you dance to it. As I suspected, I found many different recordings of the Tourdion on Spotify and YouTube. Here's another that I like: If you like reading about music and the odd places it shows up, you might enjoy this back issue of The Fold: Synchronicity, Ancient Greece, and Janet Jackson.
Lately I’m enjoying…Reading: Burnout by Amelia and Emily Nagoski. If you are Alive Right Now you will probably nod in recognition at every single page. Pairs well with Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey and How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis. Watching: Dark Winds on AMC+. The stories are gripping, the cast is top-shelf, the scenery includes a lot of places that I miss. If you’re really dedicated, like me, you can watch all three seasons during a free 7-day trial of AMC+. #goals Listening: to all the rain we’ve been getting in Oklahoma. It just broke a record last set in 1947! The Fold is going on Spring Break.During the rest of May 2025, I’ll be focused on retreats and deadlines and such. |
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