PROLOGUE

Spoken introduction by the Narrator

SCENE 1 – Leaving home

Ay! Dieus

The Black Sea

Sri Devi Ashtottara Shata Namavalih

SCENE 2 – Travellingthrough a strange land

Loving the beauty of Layla

Pos anc no-us ualc amors

SCENE 3 – Batu Kahn

Ural

Miserere mei Deus

Vexilla Regis

Salve Regina

SCENE 4 – The storm

Credo in unum Deum

SCENE 5 – Finding theArmenian monk

Heart Beating in the steppes

Ave Regina Caelorum

A Solis ortus cardine

SCENE 6 – A feast

Tang Tang

Drinking Song

Veni Sancte Spiritus

SCENE 7 – The debate at Karakorum

Vision of the Beloved

The Debate at Karakorum

SCENE 8 – Farewell

Veni Veni Emmanuel

With hearts high

K A R A KO R U MA M E D I E VA L M U S I C A L J O U R N E Y

DIRECTOR'S NOTEConstantine Costi

Why was William chosen to go on this journey?

He certainly wasn’t the first choice of Louis IX or Pope Innocent IV to go east on behalf of the Christian world.

Giovanni da Pian del Carpine left Europe for the Mongol Empire in 1245. The Pope presented him with the daunting task to criticise the Mongols for their previous acts of violence against Christians. It’s amazing he made it back alive.

Between 1245 and 1251 André de Longjumeau was sent to Constantinople by Louis IX, and Pope Innocent IV ordered him to Syria to deliver letters to a Mongol envoy.

Other friars, Lawrence of Portugal, Ascelin of Lombardy and (the somewhat casually named) David and Mark, were all sent East before William.

So why William?

His credentials were hardly as impressive as André de Longjumeau who spoke Arabic and Chaldean (a language widely spoken in the Middle East of the time).

In contrast, William was an unremarkable monk from an obscure village in northern France. Louis’ reasoning to send William to Karakorum remains unknown.

This mystery struck me.

I realised that this is not the story of an extraordinary monk. It’s the story of an ordinary man thrust into an extraordinary endeavour.

Working with Paul Dyer and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra alongside La Camera delle Lacrime is a distinct joy. The beating heart of this evening is the music. Much like the vast plains, mountains and oceans William traversed, the music is a journey through a distant world

that shifts and turns to create an awe-inspiring aural landscape.

Michael’s adaptation has fused historical record with emotional empathy. In the process of adapting he asked himself, how would I feel if I had to go on this dangerous journey? Nervous? Overwhelmed? Exhilarated?

Anyone who has travelled to a foreign city knows that feeling of sensory overload. New sights, smells, sounds, and faces that make you wonder, “Am I dreaming?”

I’m sure William felt the same way.

William would have been out of his depth and struggling, and yet, simultaneously enchanted and enlightened. As you, or I, or anyone we know, would be today.

Perhaps this is the power of all great art: the realisation that despite the vast distances of time and place human beings are largely the same.

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A Simple Monk with a Higher Purpose

William of Rubruck was a Flemish Franciscan monk sent on the journey of a lifetime. His idea, to travel and preach to the Mongol Empire, though supported by the King of France, Louis IX, was born from a simple purpose. It was to fulfil an oath. A clear set of instructions handed down by the head of his order, Saint Francis of Assisi, who venerated poverty and saw the natural world as the mirror of God. The Franciscan monks were bound by vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and a will to live in charity for all mankind. They also took the responsibility of announcing God throughout the world. For William, this meant pilgrimaging to distant lands never walked by Christians. In the face of innumerable dangers, he tested his faith, and, in turn, tested the faith of the unconverted. And in keeping his word, he left for the East with little more than official letters and a promise to report what he saw. His pilgrimage would last almost three years. He was also the first European to visit the Mongol capital of Karakorum on the Orhon River. On his return, he endeavoured to write an Itinerarium or journal in which he recounted his voyage. As for William himself, it cannot be said we know a huge amount about the man, other than from English philosopher Roger Bacon who speaks of the monk in the geographical section of his Opus maius (1267).

On a long road to the Eastern World

William’s journey would start from humble beginnings. The monk was most likely from the small village of Rubrouck, near Saint-Omer in today’s northern France. In 1253, King Louis the IX of France (St Louis) was in Palestine, continuing his crusade. On May 7, 1253, William left from the bustling streets of Constantinople with his companion Bartholomew of Cremona, a fellow Franciscan monk. One must wonder if either man knew just how far they had to voyage. After reaching the Crimean town of Sudak they secured wooden carts and oxen, braving the elements to reach the camp of Batu Khan, the fearless Mongol ruler of the Volga River. However, their stay was short-lived. They were instructed to travel a further 5,000 miles to meet the Möngke Khan at the court of Karakorum in central Mongolia. And so, riding on horseback, they set off on September 16, 1253. It was on this journey that they faced tremendous hardship. Freezing cold, starvation, and dangerous roads plagued their steps. They would go north of the Caspian and Aral seas to the Talas River, through the Cailac Valley, and to the great plains of Mongolia, finally reaching Karakorum. They remained there until July 10, 1254, engaging in theological debates and numerous attempts to convert the Khan’s people. On the journey home, they took a more northerly route arriving in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, on August 15, 1255.

A Journal of things seen and unseen

Before departing, King Louis instructed William to keep a record of everything he heard and saw; after all, this was to be a momentous journey. And to his credit, William’s journals can be said to have an almost scientific precision. However, William’s Itinerarium was written in Vulgate Latin and is not organised thematically. The result is a sporadic, yet incredibly detailed series of descriptions of the natural landscape, its peoples and their customs. William even takes time to discuss the strange animals he passed, including the ‘yak’ and horned sheep that would later take its name from Marco Polo. William's fascination with other religions is also apparent as he gives invaluable descriptions of Mongol shamanism, Nestorian Christians in Mongolia, and is also the earliest Western writer to provide a description of Buddhism.

The Religions on the journey

William of Rubruck’s journey would culminate in a great theological debate that occurred in the Court of Karakorum on May 30, 1254. The discussion was held between different faiths, namely Nestorian Christians, Buddhists and Muslims. 1716

The population of the city contained a microcosm of the religious diversity of the Mongol empire. Shamanism, the Mongolian indigenous religion, was practised, as well as Islam brought by Muslim traders in earlier centuries. Buddhism was very popular in the city at this time too, as was Nestorian Christianity. To put the event into perspective, we need to briefly discuss the religions mentioned above.

The Muslim faith centres on the worship of the Prophet Muhammad, viewed by most branches of Islam to be God's final messenger. Muhammad was sent to confirm the monotheistic teachings of those such as Adam and Abraham who came before him. The Buddhists, on the other hand, worship the Buddha, a former Prince who suddenly realised that conditioned experiences could not provide lasting happiness or provide protection from suffering. Further away, the Mongolians practised a folk religion known as Shamanism, an animalistic and shamanic teaching adopted in surrounding regions since the dawn of recorded history. Shamanism was an all-encompassing spiritual belief that traversed medicine, religion, and nature, by using male shamans (boo) and female shamanesses (ugdan) as conduits between the human and spiritual world. And finally, there were the Nestorian Christians, a sect originating in Asia Minor and Syria after their leader, Nestorius, was condemned. They stressed the independence of the divine and human nature of Christ, suggesting the two were loosely united.

It is clear that all of the above religions have a unique interpretation of divinity and the meaning of faith and worship. Each religion would also originate from different corners of the world. Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity which would in turn lead to the creation of the Quran, the basis of all Islamic belief. The Buddha would start his journey of self-enlightenment in the foothills of Nepal and India almost 2600 years ago. These Buddhists teachings on the nature of the mind and enlightenment would later influence the Mongolians and their shamanism. And even today, the Nestorians are represented by the Church of the East, or Persian Church, and have followers predominately based in Syria and Iran.

And in all this was William of Rubruck, a humble Franciscan monk sent to convert followers just as devout in their own faiths as himself. After the debate at Karakorum, William laments the fact that few converted. This could be said to be a product of cultural difference as well as William’s inability to communicate in other languages. William describes his first encounter with Buddhist monks in his journal: “All the priests shave their heads, and are dressed in saffron colour, and they observe chastity from the time they shave their heads, and they live in congregations of one or two hundred. They keep their heads uncovered as long as they are in temple, reading in silence and keeping in silence… I tried every means of inducing them to talk, but was unable to do so.”

The Sounds of Karakorum: some period instruments used in this concert

The KAMANCHE, played by Martin Bauer, is a four-stringed bowed instrument common in Iran (Persian Music) and in other Middle Eastern and Arabic traditions. It can be found all over the near and middle east, and in countries such as Azerbaijan and Russia. It has a resonance box made of hardwood, such as walnut, which is covered with a very thin young goat’s skin. Its wooden bridge is curved to allow bowing separate strings. Some resonance boxes are made of a whole piece, and some, in Iran, are made of several strips bound together. The neck is also made of a very hard wood and is attached to the resonance box, and has pegs at the top end to tune the strings. At the bottom end, there is a spike, which is used to hold the instrument upright as it is played. Traditionally, the most common tuning is a series of fifths, like the western violin.

The ERHU played by Yan Li is a two-stringed bowed instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, often referred to as Southern Fiddle or Chinese violin. It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular of the huqin family of traditional bowed string instruments used by various ethnic groups of China. The Erhu can be traced back to proto-Mongolic instruments introduced to China more than a thousand years ago. It is believed to have evolved from the Xiqin, which originated from the Xi people of Central Asia, and came to China in the tenth century.

The HURDY-GURDY is a stringed instrument that produces sound by a hand crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses tangents—small wedges, typically made of wood—against one or more of the strings to change their pitch.

Like most other acoustic stringed instruments, it has a soundboard and hollow cavity to make the vibration of the strings audible. Most hurdy-gurdies have multiple drone strings, which give a constant pitch accompaniment to the melody, resulting in a sound similar to that of bagpipes. The hurdy-gurdy is generally thought to have originated from fiddles in either Europe or the Middle East sometime before the eleventh century AD.

Kamanche

Hurdy-Gurdy

Erhu

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KARAKORUM – the ancient capital of Mongolia

KARAKORUM was founded by Genghis Khan in 1220 to serve as the capital of the Mongol Empire, with its construction being completed in 1235 during the reign of his successor Ögedei Khan. Karakorum in the thirteenth century was home to more than ten thousand people, including royalty, noblemen, ministers, military leaders, craftsmen, traders, clergy, and foreign guests, in addition to nomads inhabiting compounds of gers (Mongolian tents). The remarkable size and diversity of the city’s population is reflected by the fact that there were, according to the account of William of Rubruck, "twelve idol temples belonging to different people, two mosques where the religion of Mahomet is proclaimed, and one Christian church at the far end of the city". In addition to possessing significant resident populations of Chinese, Alans, Ruthenians, Georgians, Hermenians and other non-Mongol peoples, Karakorum was also host to a stream of foreign emissaries and traders. The city received official delegations from as far away as India, Arabia, Armenia and Rome, as well as merchants from China, Persia, and other countries along the Silk Route. Today, very little remains of the former grand city, except for heaps of gravel indicating the outlines of former buildings and streets, and four granite turtles marking the corners of the ruin.

PROLOGUESCENE 1 – LEAVING HOME

13 April 1253 – Palm Sunday – Constantinople

To Louis, King of the French by the grace of God, brother William of Rubruck, inconsequential in order of the brothers Minor, sends his salutations. It is written in Ecclesiastes about the Wise: “In terram alienigenarum gentium pertransiet, bonaenim et mala in hominibus temptabit” (He will pass through the land of strange peoples, he will be tested by all things of good and evil). This have I done, O Lord my King.

Ay! Dieus/Oh God! – Austorg d’Aurillac (1225-1291) / Peirol d’Auvernha (1160-1225) – Troubadour song

Austorg d'Aorlhac VII of Aurillac was a son of Astorg VI of Aurillac and Marguerite de Malemort. He was knighted by King Louis IX on a Pentecost Day 1267, but he also was an Auvergnat troubadour. The only surviving sirvente (a type of Old Occitan lyric poetry practiced by the troubadours) written by him is “Ay! Dieus!” It was composed after the defeat of the Seventh Crusade under Louis IX of France in 1250. This sirvente is a contrafactum (a substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music) of a canso (song) by Peirol, who also was an Auvergnat troubadour, and mostly wrote songs of courtly love.

The Black Sea – Melody from the Caucasus

7 May 1253, we entered the Black Sea.

Sri devi ashtottara shata namavalih – Extract from the Buddhist hymn of the 108 names of the Goddess Durga

Pal

ais

du

Kha

n, P

hoto

Cre

dit:

Kha

ï-d

ong

Luon

g©

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SCENE 2 – TRAVELLING THROUGH A STRANGE LAND

21 May 1253, we were heading East, with nothing to see other than the sky and the earth.

Loving the beauty of Layla – Sufi chant3. Loving the Beauty of Layla

ةلیفك ھط مالضلا حابصم يلع ةلیمج ةالص مالس ای يلص

ةلیمجلا عم مایھ يف بلقلاو ىلیل نسح نم مارغلا ينقرأ

ةلیلع ترص ماھس ينتباصأ ذُم ةلیسم تلمع ماجسنا يف يعمد

الیلغلا يفشا و مارتحاب ينم ونداو الیلق لھمأ مالغ ای تلاق

ةلیسولا مھ ماركلا عمجلا يلع و ىلیل تلق مالسلا كیلع

15. Vision of the Beloved هللا هللا هللا هللا

ادب نیح بح نع بوجحلا تلاز دقف

اذھ دوھشلا تقو بوبحملا قاشع ای ا

موتكملا انرس نم مھفی دیری اَذ نم

مولعلا ھل ودبت ملعتی و وندی

*

Loving the beauty of Layla, I became a slave. My heart, prey to a mad love, was wandering with the beautiful one. Oh Layla! "That salvation be upon you", I say to her and "On all the nobles who are your successors" accord oh my God a sublime blessing to the beacon of the night, taha the well-doer.

A few days before the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene we arrived at the great river Don, which separates Asia from Europe, as the Nile separates Asia from Africa.

Pos anc no-us ualc amors/Since love has never favoured you – Bertran de Lamanon (1210-1270) & Granet (active 1240-1257) / Bernat de Ventadorn (1130-1190) – Troubadour song

Bertran de Lamanon was a Provençal knight and troubadour. He was also an official, diplomat and ambassador at the court of the Count of Provence. There are only twenty-two works of his that survive, many dealing with Crusading themes. In one manuscript Bertran’s life is described in only twenty-seven words "Bertran d’Alamanon was from Provence, the son of Lord Pons de Brugières. He was a courtly knight and an eloquent speaker. And he composed good tensos and sirventes." In the song "Pos anc no-us ualc amors" Bertran eagerly awaits the arrival of the Antichrist, in order that he may possess a lady who is resisting him. The melody of this song is most likely based on one of the songs composed by a prominent troubadour of the twelfth century, Bernat de Vertadorn.

SCENE 3 – BATU KHAN

1 August, we were led into the great tent of Batu Khan. I then presented to him your letters in Greek, with an Arabic translation. We stayed standing before him for the time which is necessary to say « Miserere mei Deus ».

Ural – Melody of the sacred mountain

Miserere mei Deus – Lenten penitential psalm sung on the ancient psalm tone – Gregorian chant

Batu ordered me to speak. I bent down on one knee as one does before a man, but our guide made a sign that I should bend both, which I did. And since I had knelt on both knees, I began my speech with a prayer.

Hunger, thirst, cold and fatigue were innumerable hardships. We walked in the company of Batu for the first five weeks. The journey to Cailac lasted until the feast of All Saints. On 1 November, we entered this town, carrying high our banner and the cross, passing through the middle of the Saracen quarter.

Vexilla regis – Christian hymn to Holly Cross and Muslim call to prayer

We left the town of Cailac on 30 November. Not far from there, we found an entire Nestorian village. Once within the church, we sang in full voice Salve Regina.

Salve Regina – Marian antiphon – Gregorian chant

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SCENE 4 – THE STORM

The second Saturday of Advent, we were passing through a truly frightening place. Our guide made me pronounce good words to send away demons… By the grace of God, we passed without harm. And so they asked me to write papers that they wore on their heads. I wrote for them “Credo”: “I believe”.

Credo in unum Deum – Gregorian chant

SCENE 5 – FINDING THE ARMENIAN MONK

26 December 1253, we entered a plain, as vast as a sea.

Heart beating in the steppes – Mongolian chant

The wild geese in the sky fly one behind the other.

Alongside the stream, the grasses of the steppes seem made of gold in autumn and whistle a melancholy air.

The wild geese above the reeds fly towards the south. In this limitless grey sky where are they going?

My home is where my heart is.

The next day, we arrived at the camp of Möngke Khan. I saw a house with a cross above it. We entered with confidence. There was a large cross made of silver. An oil lamp was burning before the altar, and an Armenian monk was seated there. We sang in full voice Ave Regina Caelorum.

Ave Regina Caelorum – Marian antiphon – Gregorian chant

At the octave of the Innocents, 4 January 1254, we were led to the court of Möngke Khan. Nestorian priests arrived and, like us, were still celebrating the Nativity. We began to sing A solis ortus cardine.

A solis ortus cardine – Christian hymn – Gregorian chant

It is a Latin hymn, written c.430 by the early Christian poet Sedulius. The text recounts Christ’s life from his birth to his resurrection. The melody dates to the fifth century, beginning in the Dorian mode and ending in the Phrygian mode. The hymn is still in use in the modern Catholic liturgy.

Letter ‘E’ showing Christ blessing four saints, from the Rimini Antiphonal, 1328 / illuminated by Neri da Rimini (Ref. Richardson 273, folio 71r). Courtesy: State Library of New South Wales.

鸿雁，天空上， 对对排成行，

江水长，秋草黄， 草原上琴声忧伤。

鸿雁，向南方， 飞过芦苇荡，

天苍茫，雁何往， 心中是北方家乡。

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SCENE 6 – A FEAST

So I said to Möngke Khan: “Lord, in the Holy Land, we have heard it said that Sartaq, the son of Batu, was Christian. The Christians greatly rejoiced about it and, in particular, the King of the French, who makes a pilgrimage and fights against the Saracens there. So, accord us the permission to stay here to serve God.”

He called for us to be served with a drink based on rice, transparent and delicious like white wine.

Tang Tang – Mongolian melody

Drinking song – Mongolian melody

At the octave of Epiphany, Möngke Khan came in person and entered the church. We sang « Veni Sancte Spiritus ». Come Holy Ghost.

Veni Sancte Spiritus – Pentecostal sequence – Gregorian chant

SCENE 7 – THE DEBATE AT KARAKORUM

Palm Sunday, we arrived with Möngke Khan at his court in Karakorum. About the town of Karakorum: you should know that, except for the palace of the Khan, the place isn’t worth the village of Saint-Denis and the monastery of Saint-Denis is worth ten times that of the palace. There are twelve idol temples, one church and two mosques.

Vision of the Beloved – Sufi chant

3. Loving the Beauty of Layla

ةلیفك ھط مالضلا حابصم يلع ةلیمج ةالص مالس ای يلص

ةلیمجلا عم مایھ يف بلقلاو ىلیل نسح نم مارغلا ينقرأ

ةلیلع ترص ماھس ينتباصأ ذُم ةلیسم تلمع ماجسنا يف يعمد

الیلغلا يفشا و مارتحاب ينم ونداو الیلق لھمأ مالغ ای تلاق

ةلیسولا مھ ماركلا عمجلا يلع و ىلیل تلق مالسلا كیلع

15. Vision of the Beloved هللا هللا هللا هللا

ادب نیح بح نع بوجحلا تلاز دقف

اذھ دوھشلا تقو بوبحملا قاشع ای ا

موتكملا انرس نم مھفی دیری اَذ نم

مولعلا ھل ودبت ملعتی و وندی

*

When my beloved appeared, she was unveiled! Oh! You who are in love with the beloved.It is the time to contemplate, that he who wishes to pierce our secret is approaching and learning.All knowledge will be revealed to him.

The Sunday before Pentecost, the great secretaries of the court came to see me. “You are all here, Christians, Saracens and Tuins, and each one says that his law is the best, and that his writings are the truest. Möngke Khan wishes that you all assemble for a debate…”

We had a meeting therefore on 30 May 1254, the eve of Pentecost.

“Here is the order of Möngke Khan. That no one dare pronounce aggressive or injurious words against anyone else, neither arouse an uproar which impedes this undertaking, under pain of death…”

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All the Tuin priests got together and repeated ceaselessly these words: Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum: Generosity, Ethics, Patience, Diligence, Renunciation, Wisdom.

The Debate at Karakorum

“What do you believe on the subject of God?”

“We believe that there is only one God.”

“Do you believe that he is of the spirit or of corporeal substance?”

“We believe that he is spirit.”

“Do you believe that he was once clothed in human nature?”

“Not at all!”

“Why do you therefore create bodily images?”

“We believe that he is spirit.”

“ We do not depict these images for God, but when among us a man comes to die, we worship the image in his memory.”

“Where is your soul?”

“In our bodies!”

SCENE 8 – FAREWELL

The following day, Möngke Khan called me and said: “We believe that there is only one God. But as God has given to the hand several fingers, in the same way he has given to men several pathways. You have stayed here a long time, and I now would like you to return. You have a long journey to make. Strengthen yourself by eating heartily, so that you can arrive in your country in good health.”

Veni Veni Emmanuel – Advent hymn of Franciscan origin – Gregorian chant

With hearts high – Melody from Kyrgyzstan

*Thanks to Brett Hatfield and Alene Khatcherian for their assistance with Arabic text. 2928