The concert "La lyre de Fauvel" by the Ensemble Diabolus in Musica is a selection of music chosen from the lyrical pieces included in the manuscript Le Roman de Fauvel.

This novel is a satirical allegory denouncing the excesses of the powerful and of society at the end of the reign of Philip IV the Fair (1314) and his sons.
The six letters of the first name FAUVEL are the acronym of six vices: Flattery, Avarice, Vileness, Variety (inconstancy), Envy, Cowardice. In this monstrous character, we might recognise certain historical figures such as Pope Boniface VIII, the Knights Templar, but above all a certain Enguerrand de Marigny, a powerful minister of Philip the Fair, who fell into disgrace and was hanged on the royal gallows at Montfaucon in Paris in 1315.

In this concert, scholarly musical achievements rub shoulders with verses, conduits, antiphons and saucy songs. This great variety constitutes a musical anthology spanning the 13th century, and provides a veritable sounding board for the French and Latin texts of the novel.

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