Anonimo (XVII secolo): Woodycock, tratto dalla raccolta The English Dancing Master (1651, n. 15) di John Playford. Folger Consort.
Anonimo (XVII secolo): Divisions (variazioni) on Woodycock. Latitude 37 (Julia Fredersdorff, violino barocco; Laura Vaughan, viol; Donald Nicolson, clavicembalo) e Genevieve Lacey, flauto dolce.
Giles Farnaby (c1563 - 1640): Wooddy-Cock (variazioni), dal Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (n. [CXLI]). Zsuzsa Pertis, clavicembalo.
John Bull (c1562 - 15 marzo 1628): The King’s Hunt, dal Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (n. [CXXXV]). Gustav Leonhardt, clavicembalo.
Lo stesso brano nell’adattamento per broken consort eseguito dall’ensemble Charivari Agréable.
Anonimo (sec. XVI): All Hail to the Days, carol natalizio inglese, noto anche come Drive the Cold Winter Away e In Praise of Christmas. The Baltimore Consort (strumentale); The Sixteen, dir. Harry Christophers.
All hail to the days
that merit more praise
Than all the rest of the year,
And welcome the nights
that double delights,
As well for the poor as the peer!
Good fortune attend
each merry man’s friend,
That doth but the best that he may;
Forgetting old wrongs,
with carols and songs,
To drive the cold winter away.
This time of the year
is spent in good cheer,
And neighbours together do meet,
To sit by the fire,
with friendly desire,
Each other in love do greet;
Old grudges forgot,
are put in the pot,
All sorrows aside they lay,
The old and the young
doth carol his song,
To drive the cold winter away.
To mask and to mum
kind neighbours will come
With wassails of nut-brown ale,
To drink and carouse
to all in the house,
As merry as bucks in the dale;
Where cake, bread and cheese
is brought for your fees,
To make you the longer stay;
At the fire to warm
will do you no harm,
To drive the cold winter away.
Felice inverno a tutti 🙂
William Byrd (c1540 - 1623): Fantazia (no. 2) for six-part consort (published in Psalmes, songs, and sonnets, 1611). Rose Consort of Viols.
A splendid example of Byrd’s mastery of the art of counterpoint; Greensleeves quote begins at 3:08.
Myriam Reid, harp.
The King’s Singers a cappella.
The Baltimore Consort.
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.
Nicholas Strogers (attivo nella 2a metà del XVI secolo): In nomine a 6. Hespèrion XX, dir. Jordi Savall.
Anonimo (XVII secolo): Scotch Cap (da John Playford, The English Dancing Master, Londra 16511, n. 99). The Baltimore Consort.
La melodia è nota anche con il titolo Edinburgh Castle.
William Byrd (c1540 - 1623): In nomine a 4 (n. 1). The Voice of the Viol.
Thomas Tallis (c1505 - 1585): In nomine I a 4 e II a 5 parti strumentali. Ensemble Charivari Agréable.
William Byrd (c1540 - 1623): Come to me, grief, for ever a 5 voci (pubblicato in Psalms, sonnets, and songs of sadness and piety to five parts, 1588, n. 34). Versione per canto e consort di viole: Emily van Evera, soprano; The Musicians of Swanne Alley.
Come to me, grief, for ever,
Come to me tears day and night,
Come to me plaint, ah helpless,
Just grief, heart tears, plaint worthy.
Go from me dread to die now
Go from me care to live more,
Go from me joys all on earth,
Sidney, O Sidney is dead.
He whom the Court adorned,
He whom the country courtesied,
He who made happy his friends,
He that did good to all men.
Sidney, the hope of lands strange,
Sidney, the flower of England,
Sidney, the spirit heroic,
Sidney id dead, O dead.
Dead? no, no, but renowed
With the anointed one,
Honour on earth at his feet,
Bliss everlasting his seat.
Come to grief for ever
Come to me tears day and night,
Come to me plaint, ah helpless,
Just grief, heart tears, plaint worthy.
Avevamo già incontrato sir Philip Sidney (1554 - 17 ottobre 1586), una delle menti più brillanti dell’Inghilterra elisabettiana, ricordando la sua storia d’amore con Penelope Devereux e ascoltando le tre composizioni su altrettante sue poesie (tratte da Astrophel and Stella) pubblicate nell’antologia A Musicall Banquet (1610) curata da Robert Dowland. Per altre informazioni su Sidney vi rimando all’interessantissimo blog di Luisa Zambrotta.
George Knapton (1698 - 1778): ritratto di sir Philip Sidney, da Isaac Oliver
Anonimo (XVI-XVII secolo): O dear life, when shall it be, ayre su testo di Philip Sidney (1554 - 1586) tratto da Astrophel and Stella (Tenth Song). Emma Kirkby, soprano; David Thomas, basso; The Consort of Musicke, dir. Anthony Rooley.
O dear life, when shall it be
That mine eyes thine eyes may see;
And in them thy mind discover,
Whether absence hath had force,
Thy remembrance to divorce
From the image of thy lover?
Or if I myself find not,
After [Though my] parting aught forgot:
Nor debarr’d from Beauty’s treasure,
Let no tongue aspire to tell
In what high joys I shall dwell,
Only Thought aims at the pleasure.
Thought, therefore, I will send thee
To take up the place for me:
Long I will not after tarry:
There, unseen, thou may’st be bold,
Those fair wonders to behold,
Which in them my hopes do carry.
Thought, see thou no place forbear,
Enter bravely everywhere;
Seize on all to her belonging:
But, if thou wouldst guarded be,
Fearing her beams, take with thee
Strength of liking, rage of longing.
O my thought! my thoughts surcease,
Thy delights my woes increase;
My life fleets with too much thinking:
Think no more, but die in me,
Till thou shalt revived be,
At her lips my nectar drinking.
È di autore ignoto anche il secondo brano su testo di Philip Sydney inserito da Robert Dowland nella raccolta A Musicall Banquet (Londra 1610, n. V).
la 10ª canzone di Astrophel and Stella ispirò anche William Byrd (c1540 - 1623), che sui versi di Sidney compose un partsong a 5 voci (pubblicato in Songs of sundrie natures, 1589, n. 33). L’ascoltiamo qui nella interpretazione a voce sola con accompagnamento strumentale dei Musicians of Swanne Alley, solista il soprano Emily van Evera:
Anonimo (sec. XVII): As at noon Dulcina rested, ballad su testo attribuito erroneamente a sir Walter Raleigh (1554? - 1618). Ellen Hargis, soprano; Paul O’Dette, cittern; The King’s Noyse, dir. David Douglass.
As att noone Dulcina rested
In her sweete & shadie bower;
Came a sheppard, & requested
In her lap to sleepe an houre.
But from her looke
A wound hee tooke
Soe deepe, that for a farther boone
The Nimphe hee pray’d,
Whereto she say’d,
Forgoe mee nowe, come to mee soone.
But in vaine shee did conjure him
For to leave her presence soe,
Havinge a Thousand meanes t’alure him,
& but one to lett him goe.
Where lipps delighte,
& eyes invite,
& cheeks as fresh as rose in June,
Persuade to staie,
What boots to saye
Forgoe mee nowe, come to mee soone.
Hee demaunds what time or leisure
Can there be more fitt then nowe:
She saies, night gives love that pleasure,
Which the day cannot alowe.
The sunns clere light
Shyneth more bright
Quoth hee more fairer then the moone
For her to praise
Hee love, shee saies,
Forgoe mee nowe, come to mee soone.
With greife of heart this shepheard hasted
Up the mountaine to his flocks,
Then hee tooke a reed and piped
Th’echo sounded through the rocks,
Thus did hee plaie
& wishe the day
Were spent, & night were come ere noone,
For silent night
Is loves delight
Ile goe to faire Dulcina soone.
Beauties Darling faire Dulcina
Like to Venus for her love
Spent the day away in passion
Mourninge like the Turtle Dove,
Melodiouslie,
Notes lowe & highe
Shee farbled forth this dolefull tune,
O come againe,
Sweete sheppard swaine,
Thou canst not be with mee to soone.
When as Thetis in her pallace
Had receiv’d the prince of light
Came in Coridon the shepheard,
To his love and hearts delight.
The Pan did plaie
The wood Nimphes they
Did skip & daunce to heare the tune,
Hymen did saie
T’was holidaie,
Forgoe mee nowe, come to mee soone.
Sweete, hee say’d, as I did promise
I am nowe return’d againe,
Longe delaie you knowe breeds daunger
& to lov’rs breedeth paine.
The Nimph say’d then
Above all men
Still welcome shepheard morne & noone,
The shepheard praies,
Dulcina saies,
Shepheard, I doubt y’are come to soone.
Come you nowe to overthrowe mee,
Out alas I am betray’d,
Deare, is this the love you shewe mee
To betraie a silly maide.
Helpe, helpe, ay mee,
I dare not speake
I dare not crie, my heart will breake.
What, all alone?
Nay, then I finde
Men are to stronge for woemen kinde.
O sillie foole, whie doubt I tellinge
When I doubted not to truste.
If my bellie fall a swellinge
There’s noe helpe but out it must.
Ay mee, the greife,
Ay mee, the shame,
When I shall beare the common name.
Yet att the worst
Of my disgrace
I am not first, nor shal be laste.
La prima menzione di As at noon Dulcina rested risale al 1690, mentre la prima pubblicazione nota è del 1707 e si deve a Thomas D’Urfey, che l’inserì nella sua monumentale silloge intitolata Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy (1698-1720). La musica è caratterizzata da un brusco cambio di ritmo e andamento al 5° verso della strofe: a una prima parte fluente, in ritmo binario, fa seguito una seconda parte saltellante, in ritmo ternario. Questo particolare induce a pensare che la musica fosse in origine destinata alla danza e che il brano con molta probabilità facesse parte di un masque, un genere di rappresentazione teatrale che andava molto in voga in Inghilterra ai tempi di Giacomo I.
Ebbe vita propria come composizione soltanto strumentale, mantenendo perlopiù il titolo di Dulcina derivatole dal testo dello pseudo-Raleigh. Purtuttavia, in precedenza William Brade (un inglese attivo a Amburgo: l’abbiamo già incontrato, per esempio qui) l’aveva rielaborato a cinque parti strumentali e pubblicato con il titolo di Turkische Intrada; qui è interpretato dai Musicians of the Globe diretti da Philip Pickett:
Thomas Ravenscroft (c1582 - c1635): The three ravens. Versione per 1 voce e liuto: Alfred Deller e Desmond Dupré; versione per 4 voci e viol consort: Theatre of Voices diretto da Paul Hillier (voce solista Else Torp) e Fretwork.
Nell’interpretazione di Deller, le strofe sono accorpate a due a due.
There were three ravens sat on a tree,
down a down, hay down, hay down,
There were three ravens sat on a tree,
with a down,
There were three ravens sat on a tree,
They were as black as black could be,
with a down, derry, derry, derry, down, down.
And one of them said to his mate:
Where shall we our breakfast take?
Down, [down] in yonder green field,
There lies a knight slain with his shield.
His hounds they lie down at his feet,
So well they their master keep.
His hawks they fly so eagerly,
There’s no fowl dare him come nie.
Down there comes a fallow doe,
As great with young as she might go.
She lift up his bloody head,
And kissed his wounds that were so red.
She got him up upon her back,
And carried him to earthen lake.
She buried him before the prime.
She was dead herself ere even-song time.
God send every gentleman
Such hawks, such hounds, and such a leman.
Non si hanno molte notizie su Ravenscroft, che però fu molto ammirato e stimato dai musicisti suoi contemporanei. Più che per le sue composizioni originali, è noto per un cospicuo numero di raffinati arrangiamenti di melodie tradizionali — qual è appunto The three ravens — che Ravenscroft pubblicò in tre diverse raccolte: Pammelia (1609), Deuteromelia: or The Second part of Musicks melodie (1609) e Melismata (1611).
Il nome di Ravenscroft comparirà spesso in questo blog 😉
Edward Frederick Brewtnall (1846-1902): The Three Ravens, acquerello su carta, c1883
la regina gioiosa