Marv Pontkalleg


"Marv Pontkalleg" is a traditional gwerz, included as no. XLVI in Barzaz Breiz, a book of traditional Breton songs collected in Cornouaille, Brittany, in the 19th century by Théodore Hersart de la Villemarqué. The death of the following a conspiracy against the kingdom of France, is an authentic historical incident recounted by Hersart De La Villemarqué in the Barzaz Breiz; this version praises the militant and valiant nobility of his country in opposition to the bourgeoisie. "Marv Pontkalleg" is one of the classics of Breton music, and has been recorded many times by, among others, Gilles Servat, Tri Yann, Alan Stivell, Andrea Ar Gouilh and Jacques Pellen.

Content

This gwerz tells the story of the Marquis de Pontcallec, beheaded on the in Nantes in 1720 as the leader of a Breton conspiracy against France. It is divided into four parts:
  • the first part introduces the story and recounts the attachment of the people to their young marquis.
  • the second recounts the denunciation of Pontcallec.
  • the following part narrates the arrest of the marquis, his journey to Nantes, and his judgment.
  • the last part describes the sadness of the population at the announcement of the death of the hero, through the reaction of the rector of Berné, in which parish the château of Pontcallec lies.

La Villemarqué's edition

"Marv Pontkalleg" was first published in the second edition of Barzaz Breiz in 1845. La Villemarqué did not name his source for this song, and he long lay under the suspicion of having written it himself. However, its similarities with other Breton ballads on the same subject together with the publication of La Villemarqué's notebooks have made it clear that large parts of the gwerz, at any rate, are authentic. The notes with which his edition is furnished interpret the Pontcallec conspiracy as a nationalist rising by the heroic nobility and peasantry intended to achieve Breton independence. This ahistorical interpretation was repeated by Arthur de la Borderie and later by Jeanne Coroller-Danio and other commentators in the Breton nationalist movement.

Discography

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