Thomas Ravenscroft (c1582 - c1633): Martin said to his man, partsong a 4 voci (da Deuteromelia, 1609, n. 16). Pro Cantione Antiqua.
Martin said to his man
(fie, man, fie!),
Martin said to his man
(who’s the foole, now?),
Martin said to his man:
Fill thou the cup and I the can.
Thou hast well drunken, man!
Who’s the foole, now?
I see a sheep shearing corn
And a couckold blow his horn.
I see a man in the Moone,
Clowting of Saint Peters shoone.
I see a hare chase a hound,
Twenty mile aboue the ground.
I see a goose ring a hog.
And a snayle that did bite a dog.
I see a mouse catch the cat,
And the cheese to eate the rat.
Quando la musica è puro spasso: un partsong fra i meglio riusciti di Ravenscroft magistralmente interpretato dal complesso vocale diretto da Mark Brown. Alcuni allegri ubriaconi, fra un boccale e l’altro, si divertono a spararle sempre più grosse, fino a quando uno non eccede; da ammirarsi l’arte con cui gli interpreti variano continuamente l’intonazione del testo. L’ultima fanfaronata è totalmente inverosimile: il suo autore lo sa benissimo, perciò è un po’ imbarazzato e parla/canta sottovoce: segue un attimo di silenzio che ben rappresenta lo sconcerto generale, poi l’allegra e rapida conclusione. Bravissimi tutti.
William Byrd (c1540 - 4 luglio 1623): Is Love a boy?, 2ª parte Boy pity me, partsong a 4 voci (pubblicato in Songs of sundrie natures, 1589, n. 15-16). The King’s Singers.
Part 1
Is Love a boy? What means he then to strike?
Or is he blind? Why will he be a guide?
Is he a man? Why doth he hurt his like?
Is he a God? Why doth he men deride?
No one of these, but one compact of all,
A wilful boy, a man still dealing blows,
Of purpose blind, to lead men to their thrall,
A God that rules unruly, God he knows.
Part 2
Boy, pity me that am a child again,
Blind be no more, my guide to make me stray,
Man, use thy might to force away my pain,
God, do me good, and lead me to my way:
And if thou be’st a power to me unknown,
Power of my life, let here thy grace be shown.
Thomas Augustine Arne (1710 - 1778): Sigh no more, ladies, dalle musiche di scena (1748) per Much ado about nothing di W. Shakespeare (atto II, scena 3a).
– Versione per voce solista e orchestra d’archi: Alexander Young, tenore; Martin Isepp, clavicembalo; Wiener Rundfunkorchester, dir. Brian Priestman.
– Versione per 3 voci virili (TTB) a cappella: The Hilliard Ensemble.
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and merry,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey down derry.
Sing no more ditties, sing no more
Of dumps so dull and heavy.
The fraud of men was ever so
Since summer first was leavy.
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and merry,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey down derry.
John Dowland (1563 - 1626): Now, O Now I Needs Must Part, ayre (pubblicato nel First Booke of Songes or Ayres of foure partes with Tableture for the Lute, 1597, n. 6). Les Canards Chantants: Sarah Holland, soprano; Robin Bier, contralto; Edd Ingham, tenore; Graham Bier, basso. Con la collaborazione del liutista Jacob Heringman, che all’inizio e alla fine [5:00] esegue la Frog Galliard di Dowland, composta sul medesimo tema musicale dell’ayre.
Now, o now I needs must part,
Parting though I absent mourn.
Absence can no joy impart:
Joy once fled cannot return.
While I live I needs must love,
Love lives not when Hope is gone.
Now at last Despair doth prove,
Love divided loveth none.
Sad despair doth drive me hence;
This despair unkindness sends.
If that parting be offence,
It is she which then offends.
Once the world moved not so fast,
Yet the journey sweeter seemed.
Now I see you rushing past,
No more time to stay and dream.
Dear when I from thee am gone,
Gone are all my joys at once,
I lov’d thee and thee alone,
In whose love I joyed once.
And although your sight I leave,
Sight wherein my joys do lie,
Till that death doth sense bereave,
Never shall affection die.
Dear, if I do not return,
Love and I shall die together.
For my absence never mourn
Whom you might have joyed ever;
Part we must though now I die,
Die I do to part with you.
Him despair doth cause to lie
Who both liv’d and dieth true.
(La quartina in corsivo non fa parte del testo originale: è un’interpolazione dei Canards Chantants, ideata appositamente per questo videoclip.)
Per ayre si intende un genere musicale fiorito in Inghilterra tra la fine del Cinquecento e la terza decade del secolo successivo. L’ayre è un brano a più voci (solitamente quattro) con accompagnamento di liuto; ciò che lo distingue dalle composizioni congeneri del periodo precedente è il fatto che alla voce più acuta è affidata una parte spiccatamente melodica, sul modello della «monodia accompagnata» italiana e dell’air de cour francese. Gli interpreti hanno dunque la possibilità di eseguire un ayre o secondo tradizione, con tutte le parti vocali e con l’accompagnamento del liuto ad libitum, oppure seguendo la moda dell’epoca, cioè con il canto della sola parte più acuta sostenuto dal liuto. In quest’ultimo caso, al liuto spesso si aggiunge una viola da gamba che ha il compito di irrobustire la linea del basso d’armonia.
Nel video dei Canards Chantants è visibile la riproduzione di una doppia pagina del First Booke di Dowland, stampato secondo le consuetudini dell’epoca, cioè disponendo le parti in modo che possano agevolmente essere lette da quattro cantanti seduti intorno a un tavolo; questo tipo di impaginazione è appunto detto “a libro di coro”.
Thomas Campian (o Campion; 12 febbraio 1567 - 1620): Never weather-beaten saile, ayre (pubblicato nel First Book of Ayres, 1613, n. 11). Ensemble Phoenix Munich e Stile Antico.
Never weather-beaten saile more willing bent to shore.
Never tired pilgrim’s limbs affected slumber more,
Than my wearied sprite now longs to fly out of my troubled breast:
O come quickly, sweetest Lord, and take my soul to rest.
Ever blooming are the joys of Heaven’s high Paradise.
Cold age deafs not there our ears nor vapour dims our eyes:
Glory there the sun outshines whose beams the blessed only see:
O come quickly, glorious Lord, and raise my sprite to thee.
Thomas Ravenscroft (c1582 - c1633): A wooing song of a yeoman of Kent’s son, partsong a 1-4 voci (da Melismata, 1611, n. 22). Pro Cantione Antiqua.
I have house and land in Kent,
And if you’ll love me, love me now;
Twopence-halfpenny is my rent,
I cannot come every day to woo. Twopence-halfpenny is his rent, And he cannot come every day to woo.
Ich am my vather’s eldest zonne,
My mother eke doth love me well,
For ich can bravely clout my shoone,
And ich full well can ring a bell. For he can bravely clout his shoone, And he full well can ring a bell.
My vather he gave me a hog,
My mouther she gave me a zow;
I have a God-vather dwels thereby,
And he on me bestowed a plow. He has a God-vather dwells thereby, And he on him bestowed a plough.
One time I gave thee a paper of pins,
Another time a tawdry-lace;
And if thou wilt not grant me love,
In truth ich die bevore thy face. And if thou wilt not grant his love, In truth he’ll die bevore thy vace.
Ich have been twice our Whitson-lord,
Ich have had ladies many vair,
And eke thou hast my heart in hold
And in my mind zeems passing rare. And eke thou hast his heart in hold And in his mind seems passing rare.
Ich will put on my best white slops
And ich will wear my yellow hose,
And on my head a good grey hat,
And in’t ich stick a lovely rose. And on his head a good grey hat, And in’t he’ll stick a lovely rose.
Wherefore cease off, make no delay,
And if you’ll love me, love me now;
Or else ich zeek zome oderwhere,
For I cannot come every day to woo. Or else he’ll zeek zome oderwhere, For he cannot come every day to woo.
La melodia è, nella parte iniziale, molto simile a quella di The Three Ravens, i versi portano a tutt’altro contesto. Anche in questo caso Ravenscroft dimostra di essere un musicista di vaglia, la sua armonizzazione è elegante e moderna, e la bravura degli interpreti fa il resto.
Thomas Ravenscroft (c1582 - c1633): We be souldiers three, partsong a 3 voci (pubblicato nella raccolta Deuteromelia, 1609, n. 3). Deller Consort, dir. Alfred Deller.
We be souldiers three, Pardona moy ie vous an pree,
Lately come forth of the low country,
With never a penny of mony.
Here, Good fellow, I’ll drinke to thee,
To all good Fellowes where ever they be.
And he that will not pledge me this
Payes for the shot what ever it is.
Charge it againe boy, charge it againe,
As long as there is [you have] any incke in thy [your] pen.
Ecco un’altra armonizzazione a tre voci di Ravenscroft, moderna e elegante quanto rozzo e grossolano, per contrasto, è il testo. Quest’ultimo fa con tutta probabilità riferimento alle disavventure di tre soldati che hanno combattuto nei Paesi bassi allora sotto la dominazione spagnola, in quella che fu poi chiamata guerra degli ottant’anni (1568-1648): riparati in terra britannica senza il becco di un quattrino, i nostri prodi sono costretti a elemosinare da bere. Alcune parole del testo, come charge e shot, sono ambivalenti: in un campo di battaglia hanno un certo significato, un altro assai diverso in una taverna.
Thomas Tomkins (1572 - 9 giugno 1656): Music divine, madrigale a 6 voci (pubblicato in Songs of 3, 4, 5, and 6 parts, 1622, n. 24). I Fagiolini, dir. Robert Hollingworth.
Music divine, proceeding from above,
whose sacred subject oftentimes is Love,
in this appears her heav’nly harmony,
where tuneful concords, sweetly do agree.
And yet in this her slander is unjust,
to call that Love which is indeed but lust.
«By the time I Fagiolini gave its first concert in 1986, the revival in interest and period playing styles of early music was well under way. At New College, Oxford (the group’s home), early music was known as ‘beany’ music because most of the musicians that seemed to be interested in it (both amateur and professional) seemed to have an alternative lifestyle of knitted yoghurt and wholefood pullovers, living on a diet of nothing but pulses and beans. Stuck for a name at short notice, countertenor Richard Wyn Roberts proposed ‘the beans’; Robert Hollingworth suggested translating this into Italian as the first concert involved Monteverdi and it sounded nicer like that. This worked well until I Fagiolini first went to Italy and discovered the various slang connotations it has there. We don’t go to Italy much.»
la regina gioiosa 