Excerpt
20/03/1991 - Festival Ars Musica, Bruxelles (Belgium) - Ensemble Contrechamps - Giorgio Bernasconi (conductor)
In the earliest French poetry there is no rhyme, only assonance. There is assonance between two lines when the last stressed vowel is the same. It is immaterial whether the phenomenes or sounds immediately preceding or following the vowel are similar or completely different. Spelling has nothing to do with the matter, but the vowels must be pronounced in the same way, and have the same timbre.
This piece is dedicated to Peter Oswald.
Michael Jarrell
