William Byrd and His Age: Divers Songs for Voice and Viols

00:00 My little sweet darling (William Byrd, ; arr. Edmund Fellowes, 1870-1951) 03:01 Buy new broom (Thomas Whythorne, 1528-1596; arr. Peter Warlock, 1894-1930) 04:24 Guichardo (Anon.; arr. Warlock) 09:00 What booteth love? (William Corkine, ; arr. Thurston Dart, 1921-1971) 12:15 Fantasia in G minor for viols (Byrd) 15:26 Ah, silly poor Joas (Anon., arr. Warlock) 17:13 Ye sacred muses (elegy on the death of Thomas Tallis, 1585; Byrd, arr. Fellowes) 21:00 Lullaby, my sweet little baby (Byrd; arr. Fellowes) 27:54 In a merry May morn (Richard Nicholson, 1563-1639; arr. Warlock) 29:18 Pandolpho (Robert Parsons, ; arr. Warlock) 33:22 Fantasia in G major for viols (Alphonso Ferrabosco II, ) 35:52 Come, pretty babe (Byrd; arr. Peter le Huray (1930-1992) and Thurston Dart) 37:22 O Death, rock me asleep (Anon.; arr. Warlock) 40:27 Fantasia in F major for viols (Ferrabosco II) Alfred Deller, counter-tenor Wenzinger Consort of Viols of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis August Wenzinger, director Art: detail of Parable of the lily of the field (), by Marten van Valckenborch (1535-1612) The secret of the glorious flowering of music and literature in Elizabethan England is at least in part the rich popular earth in which the seeds (in music, certainly Italian seeds) were planted. Just as the splendors of Elizabethan drama had their roots in folk plays, so the rich production of English solo song and madrigal drew sustenance from the popular songs and ballads “sung by tinkers, milkmaids and carters”. The audience for both plays and music was the expanse of the London population itself, high born and low. In this spirit William Byrd (), a great composer of religious music, turned also to secular song, offering it as an art for the home, to gentry and commoners alike. His first such publication, ¨Psalms, Sonnets and Songs of Sadness and Piety, made into Music of Five Parts¨, which was also the first madrigal book by any composer to be published in England, appeared in 1588, a notable date in history. And in fact the defeat of the Spanish Armada that year, marking the rise of the English nation, was not unconnected to the turn of English composers from a music almost exclusively religious to the service of secular life. The “Epistle to the Reader” with which Byrd prefaced his volume is a perfect example of the “music for daily use” approach that has at certain times in history produced such wonderful art. ¨Benigne Reader, heere is offered unto thy courteous acceptation, Musicke of sundrie sorts, and to content divers humors. If thow be disposed to praye, heere are Psalmes. If to be merrie, heere are Sonets. If to lament for thy sinnes, heere are divers songs. which being originally made for instruments to expresse the harmonie, and one voyce to pronounce the dittie, are now framed in all parts for voyces to sing the same. If thou desire songs of smalle compass fit for the reach of most voyces heere are most in number of that sort¨. Although the best documented secular music, like the drama, occurs after 1588, there is a special fascination to the works of the 1570’s and early 1580’s, which represented a transition from “folk” or “popular” to “art”. Much of this work, as in the case of the drama, has disappeared, and the character of the period has to be painstakingly reconstructed from the existing clues. Part of the charm of the anthology on this record is that it explores this earlier period, with not only the anonymous solo songs, but also such works as Thomas Whythorne’s “Buy New Broom”, printed in 1571, and with an obvious to street cries. A considerable role in Elizabethan music was played by the Ferrabosco family. Alphonso Ferrabosco was born in Italy and came to England at about 1562. Alphonso Ferrabosco IInd. his son, was born in England, and remained there in 1578 when the father, to the displeasure of Queen Elizabeth, returned to Italy. The son was described by the 17th century music historian, Anthony Wood, as “The most famous man in all the world for Fantazias of 5 or 6 parts”. He also composed music for Ben Jonson’s Masques. He died in 1627-8.