I '-/I'd I mm k''i: w0m mMh :;-^^i^:| ' rf. I ' gbliiornia^ rional :-rs;';i:j.': 'fv-iii''i:-$ff''':^-Mff^^^ 1 l-Sli'j-- '■■'■ _ ''''.^i'' ■.'.,:■'■' 1 MMMRB^U^ - . ■; --ff- '.' ' "'■ "■'■'■■"' ■"■.,■''■ ■; ■ " i IP^:;;,/:|r;;; 4! .;"'■ '.''v'-:ok?^-- vS'4-- '':'-''■ '■.■. ''iV,:. ■ ' ■ ':,''''''.': ' '■', r' '' V ^' I -^ THE ENGLISH MADRIGAL-COMPOSERS m a> THE ENGLISH MADRIGAL COMPOSERS (D O BY EDMUND HORACE FELLOWES M.A., MUS.BAC. OXFORD, MUS.DOC. DUBLIN MINOR CANON OF WINDSOR OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1921 o Oxford University Press London Edinburgh Glasgow Copenhagen New Vork Toronto Melbourne Cape Toivn Bombay Calcutta Madras Shanghai Humphrey Milford Publisher to the University Music Library PREFACE There appears to be no published work dealing exclusively with the subject of the English Madrigal. It is hoped, therefore, that this volume may supply a want, and may prove of interest to many among that large body of singers who are constantly engaged in the practice and study of madrigals, either as members of choral societies or in the privacy of their homes. It may also be found to have some value as a book of reference, as it contains a complete index of the first lines of the whole series of English madrigals, and also separate lists of works of this class at the conclusion of the biographical and critical notice of each composer. The vast number of organizations which serve to encourage part-singing of all kinds in this country bear testimony to the inherent love of vocal music which has been characteristic of the British race unintermittently for the past 500 years and more ; and there must be many choral singers who would care to know something further about the famous Tudor School of Music which is one of the proud heritages of our race. Possibly this latter consideration will cause the present volume to make a wider appeal to the interest of that large circle of English people who, although they may not engage in the active pursuit of any particular art, nevertheless value highly all the great national achievements of their race, not confining their interests alone to glorious feats of arms or triumphs of states- manship, but extending them to the realms of Literature and Art in its many branches. For it is utterly deplorable that so few Englishmen should even be aware of the bare fact that at the close of the sixteenth century a school of composers flourished in this country who held the first place in European music. The book has been designed primarily for the amateur and the student rather than for the expert musician, although it deals with certain facts and subjects which may be new to all classes of musicians. For example, the outline of the life of 749050 6 PREFACE John Wilbye has not hitherto been printed elsewhere except in the preface to the present author's edition of Wilbye's works and in his paper in the Proceedings of the Musical Association for 19 14-15 ; and new biographical details are also given concerning Weelkes, Famaby, Tomkins, Cavendish, and other composers of this School. The volume is divided into two parts, the first of which deals with the history and meaning of the Madrigal with special reference to its position in English musical history, and, further, with a general explanation of the technicalities connected with the text of the original editions of the English madrigals, together with some important features bearing on the proper method of singing madrigals. The second part treats briefly of the life and works of the individual composers of the School. The original spelling has been retained when passages are quoted from early authors, but in all other cases modern spelling has been adopted. This course is rendered desirable by the variety and inconsistency of Elizabethan spelling. Nor has any exception been made in the case of the word Air, although most modern writers, in dealing with the compositions of the lutenists, have preferred to retain the spelling Ayre, which was usually, but not invariably, the form in which it was spelt on the original title-pages. But with reference to this particular word it may be stated that the use of the y in place of the modern i was very general, especially when followed by an r, as, for example, in byrd, syr,fayr, yre, wyre, attyre, &c. This peculiarity was as much a convention as the addition of the final e in childe or worke, and no logical case can be made out for the exceptional retention of Tudor spelling in the case of the word A ir. Such names as Cornysshe and Fayrf ax may reasonably be spelt in the modern manner ; but, on the other hand, Byrd, rather than Bird, has reluctantly been retained, as also the final e in Wilbye and Kirbye, for the reason that by familiarity and constant use the names of these composers have now become stereotyped in that form, albeit the usual custom is to spell Famaby without a final e. The terms Tudor, Elizabethan, and sixteenth century in relation to music are here used in accordance with the prece- dent in dealing with the Literature of the same period, as PREFACE 7 applying to the whole of this School of Composers. For although much of the music was published after the close of the century, and in the early years of the reign of James I, it retained the character and style of the sixteenth century. The author desires to express his sincerest thanks to Miss Evel}^ Heaton-Smith for much valuable help and advice given during the compilation of this volume. He also acknowledges with gratitude his indebtedness to Mr. W. Barclay Squire for the loan of manuscript scores made by him of madrigals of Peter Philips and Robert Jones ; ^ the only known complete set of part-books of Jones's madrigals was, before the outbreak of the European War, at Brussels, and is therefore inaccessible at the present time. The author's thanks are also due to Lord EUesmere and to Mr. S. R. Christie-Miller for facilities so kindly extended to him for examining and transcribing extracts from unique books in their possession ; also to Dr. A. H. Mann for information with regard to Carlton and Cobbold, and to Sir Ivor Atkins for some of the fresh details concerning Thomas Tomkins and Nathaniel Pattrick, Acknowledgement must also be made of information ob- tained from various well-known books of reference, notably, among others, the Oxford History of Music, Grove's Dictionary of Music, articles in Mr. Godfrey Arkwright's Old English Edition, and in Mr. Kennedy Scott's Euterpe Series ; and also Rimbault's Bibliotheca Madrigaliana. Dr. Rimbault's little book has long been out of print, and is therefore not available for general use, but, in spite of sundry inaccuracies of detail, it is a reference book of no small value, and has formed the basis of much of the present author's work. E. H. F. The Cloisters, Windsor Castle. May I, 19 16. PS.— The publication of this book has been imavoidably delayed owing to the abnormal conditions brought about by the war. » Mr. Squire also kindly placed at his disposal a transcript of the title-page and contents of Morley's First Book of Airs, 1600. CONTENTS PREFACE PART I I. The English Madrigal in relation to other forms of Choral- Song ........ II. The Prolonged neglect of the Madrigal . III. English preference for vocal music IV. The Origin of the English Madrigal School V. Etymology and use of the term Madrigal VI. Elizabethan Madrigals and kindred contemporary Art forms ........ VII. The Tudor Part-books and the voices employed VIII. Title-pages_, Patrons, and Printers of the original editions IX, Some technical features of the notation . X. The methods and idiom of the Madrigalists XT. Rhythm and Barring in Tudor Music XII. The Madrigal Lyrics ...... PART II II 20 27 33 43 54 65 76 89 lo/y 121 140 XIII. William Byrd 158 XIV. Thomas Morley 177 XV. Thomas Weelkes -191 XVI. John Wilbye 209 XVII. JohnMundy — GeorgeKirbye — Nathaniel Pattrick— William Holbome— Giles Famaby — Michael Cavendish — John Farmer — John Bennet~The Oriana composers . 223 XVIII. Richard Carlton — Michael East — Thomas Bateson — Thomas Greaves — Richard Alison — Robert Jones — Henry YouU — Thomas Ravenscroft — Orlando Gibbons 250 10 CONTENTS XIX. John Ward — Francis Pilkington — Henry Lichfild — Thomas Vautor — Martin Peerson — Thomas Tomkins — John Hilton — Peter Philips 279 XX. The English Lutenist Composers ..... 304 APPENDICES A. Biographical Synopsis of the English Madrigalists and Lutenists ......... 329 B. Index of the first lines of the Madrigals with reference to the composers' names and Sets ...... 332 C. References to the original editions in the principal libraries . 348 INDEX OF MUSICAL QUOTATIONS 355 GENERAL INDEX 357 CHAPTER I THE ENGLISH MADRIGAL IN RELATION TO OTHER FORMS OF CHORAL-SONG In one sense music ranks as the youngest of all the Arts. But this statement is true only so far as we limit the subject to the history of musical development in the Western World, the basis of which is the simultaneous employment of two or more musical sounds, that is to say, the combination of melodies. The contrast to such combination is, of course, the bare utterance of melody imadomed by any accompanying sound whatever, unless it be a pedal or drone, an important feature, for instance, in Indian music, the most highly developed system of exclusively melodic music that has yet been evolved. Music is, in fact, as old as the human race, for Song must be classed with Speech and Dance as one of the natural forms of expression of primitive man. Instrumental music of an elementary nature made its appearance very soon after Song, and as a necessary sequel to it in the process of the evolution of this primeval instinct. But, for countless generations, music throughout the world remained absolutely and solely melodic in character. Two exclusively melodic types of music that have survived to the present day are Folk-song and Plain-song ; and consequently, from the standpoint of pure Art, these should preferably be rendered without musical accompaniment ; but when accompaniment is employed, as it often must be for reasons somewhat similar to those which induce us to mount our pictures in frames, such accompaniment should be so designed that it may work the least possible harm to the melody ; nor should it ever be employed with the smallest idea of adding any material that might distract attention from the melody in all its natural simplicity. Apart from purely melodic music there are two other distinct phases in the history of musical development, namely, the polyphonic and the harmonic. And these are to be found 12 ENGLISH MADRIGAL IN RELATION TO exclusively in the music of the Western World. Polyphony, as Mr. Wooldtridge so well expressed it/ represents the adjust- ment of 'the mutual relations of the separate melodies so as not only to elicit the full effect of their combination, but to preserve a relative dependence for each ; the outcome is a complete union maintained upon the principle of an abso- lute equality between the individual and collective elements of the composition '. The early experiments in polyphonic music were of a very crude nature, and indeed, until about the year 1400, Uttle can be said to have been done towards raising it to the level of a high art, but subsequent to that date rapid progress was made, and in the great creative period of European Art, from 1520 to 1600, polyphonic music reached the very height of perfection. On the other hand the harmonic, or, as they are sometimes termed, the homophonic principles, upon which musical development has pursued its course since about the year 1600 until the present day, are not founded primarily upon the recognition of equality of interest in the collective elements, but upon individual melody which is usually limited to a single part ; the function of the other parts is subordinate to that which sustains the melody, and their main purpose is to reinforce and support it with harmony. But although the harmonic development led eventually to the revelation of the glories of the Opera, the Oratorio and Cantata, the Symphony, and the string Quartet, yet this fact must be emphasized, namely that the simple beauty and pure grandeur of the vocal music which the sixteenth-century composers wrote for the Church has never since been ap- proached, while the Madrigals of the same period, whether Flemish, Italian, or English, represent the most perfect expres- sion in secular polyphonic song that has as yet been achieved. Before attempting any detailed consideration of the subject of the English Madrigal it is necessary to say something about English secular Choral-song as a whole, seeing that the Madrigal occupies but one section of the main subject. In the history of the origin and growth of language, speech was first of all evolved by a series of natural and inevitable processes, while at a later epoch the scientific analyst appeared ' The Oxford History of Music, vol. i, pp. i, 2. OTHER FORMS OF CHORAL-SONG 13 who was able to harness the wild product with the regular laws of syntax and grammar. So also in the history of Choral-song, and, indeed, with that of every class of musical utterance, different forms, typical of the era in which they had their origin, have been evolved by a series of natural processes, and it has been left to musical grammarians at a subsequent period to assign to them distinguishing names, and to define the laws which govern their construction. Thus musicians in comparatively recent times have stereo- typed the use of certain terms in the department of Choral-song, and, in doing so, they have largely obscured the general view of the subject by the employment of the term Part-song for one particular type of composition, instead of reserving it as the generic term to cover this entire class of vocal composition, as distinct from solo, or unison, song. It is difficult to discover the origin of this restricted use of the term Part-song, but it does not seem to have involved such limitations as it now implies before the Victorian era. Nor can such limited use be supported on logical grounds. Song, as a musical term, and as applied to the secular branch of vocal music, must necessarily be subdivided into {a) Solo, or Unison song, and (b) Part-song. Part-song should, in its turn, be subdivided again under the headings of Polyphonic part-song and Harmonic part-song, the polyphonic and harmonic being, as we have already seen, the two main distinguishing phases into which must be separ- ated the musical history that deals with the development of the principle of simultaneous employment of more than one musical sound. In the Polyphonic period we have a variety of terminology in connexion with secular song that will be dis- cussed in detail in a later chapter ; and the definite exclusion of the word Part-song from among such terms cannot be supported in argument, for the madrigalists themselves made use of terms that are in fact identical with it. Thus Byrd, for example, among many others, classified the compositions in his earliest secular volumes in the Table of Contents as * Songs of 3-parts ', ' Songs of 4-parts ', and so on. Again, in the year ^597> by which time the term Madrigal had come into general use among the English composers, Weelkes used the word Madrigal on the title-page of the volume which he published 14 ENGLISH MADRIGAL IN RELATION TO that year, yet he headed the sections in the Table of Contents ' Songs of three parts ' and so on. Similarly Wilbye, who entitled each of his volumes a ' Set of Madrigals ' to so many voices, added at the conclusion of each section in the body of the book the quaint formula so commonly to be found in the works of all the English madrigalists, ' Heere endeth the songs of 3. parts ', and so on. A large number of similar examples might be quoted to show that in actual practice, apart from theory, the Elizabethan composers regarded the word Madrigal, with all its kindred terms, as synonymous with a song of so many parts, or, in other words, a Part-song. The Madrigals constituted indeed the normal part-songs of the sixteenth century, written as they were in the natural musical idiom of their own time whether as regards tonality, verbal treatment, or musical device ; moreover, it must not be forgotten that they extended over a wide field of design, and were by no means confined to the elaborate contrapuntal methods which are so often to be found in them. Yet some distinction must admittedly be drawn between the actual Madrigal and that form of composition evolved by the lutenist composers which they usually described as an Air. This type of composition was treated in two different ways ; sometimes it was left in the simple form of melody with lute accompaniment, and sometimes it was also adapted for an alternative method of performance, that is to say harmonized for four voices. This harmonized arrangement for combined voices not only closely resembled the Harmonic part-song of later days, but may be regarded as its direct ancestor. This subject will be more fully considered in a later chapter,^ but two points may be incidentally mentioned here. In the first place the term Air was also employed in Tudor times as being synonymous with Canzonet ; and secondly, the term Madrigal is almost invariably used in modern times to describe the works of such lutenist-composers as Dowland and Ford, whether in programmes or in the catalogues of the leading music-publishing houses. To such a degree is the terminology of the subject confused. Passing on now to the Harmonic phase of musical develop- * See p. 60. OTHER FORMS OF CHORAL-SONG 15 ment, secular Part-song has had a varied and interesting history. Like its predecessor in the polyphonic style, it has assumed several different forms. Developing rapidly and extensively in one direction, it grew into an elaborate type of Choral-song, with instrumental accompaniment, and thus, in the process of time, took a shape so largely magnified and so widely different in scope and design from its original pattern as eventually to be regarded, when combined with Solo-song and purely instru- mental interludes, as a completely separate species of musical composition, under the classification of Cantata. This aspect of the subject is clearly outside the scope of our present consideration, although it calls for a passing allusion. The two principal types of part-song proper which have been evolved since the year 1600 are the Glee and that form which might more logically have been termed the Harmonic or Homophonic part-song, but which is commonly known among musicians to-day by the term Part-song alone. The Catch and Round, although they date their origin far back into the polyphonic period, managed to retain their popularity when other forms of polyphonic music were forgotten ; and even at the present time both composers and singers have a use for them. They were especially popular at the period of the Restoration, but unfortunately the depraved taste of that time has so entirely coloured this type of song that scarcely any of the catches of that day could now be reprinted. This circumstance is all the more to be regretted because it excludes not a little of Purcell's music as well as that of the remarkable band of his contem- poraries. The Catch Club, which was founded in 1761, was formed with the object of encouraging the Glee as well as the Catch and Round ; and it may be mentioned here as providing further evidence of the popiilarity of this particular musical form in the eighteenth century also, a popularity which it still largely enjoys. The Glee, like the Air of the lutenist-composers, is an exclu- sively English form of vocal composition and has no parallel at all on the Continent in its own line. It followed the Madrigal after an interval of almost two hundred years and was at the height of its popularity in the latter years of the eighteenth century. The word glee is derived from the Saxon gligg, which i6 ENGLISH MADRIGAL IN RELATION TO simply means music without any reference whatever to cheerful- ness or joy ; for in point of fact the Glee, like the Madrigal, was frequently set to a subject of a serious character. Though the Glee is the direct successor of the Madrigal, it cannot in any sense be considered as a development of that form of composi- tion. The Tudor Madrigal had reached the limit of possible development in its own particular line, and the Glee represents an independent growth. The Glee was undoubtedly intended to be performed strictly by one singer only to each vocal part and not by a larger body of voices. It differs from the Madrigal in the first place in the matter of tonality. Written, as it was, in the eighteenth century and early nineteenth, no attempt was made by the glee-composers, and quite rightly, to reproduce either the modal features of the sixteenth century, or any of the other special peculiarities of the Tudor musicians. Moreover, the Glee was constructed, as might have been expected at this later date, on a much more definite design than that of the Madrigal, and in consequence it was capable of much fuller treatment. It was often characterized, too, by a very florid style of vocalization, a feature which shows the direct influence of Handel upon this, no less than upon all other branches of English composition throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. But although the Glee, like the Madrigal, offered considerable scope for contrapuntal ingenuity, yet large masses of harmony are much more common in the Glee. Cadences, conspicuous by their rarity in the Madrigal, occur incessantly in the Glee, with the effect of detracting from the strength and unity of these compositions. In spite of these defects the English Glee, though much inferior to the Madrigal in artistic value, will almost certainly hold the permanent place that it deserves side by side with the produc- tions of the English Madrigal School so long as English music is practised at all. It remains briefly to consider the class of composition which has succeeded in appropriating to itself the generic term of Part-song, but which, as was suggested above, would have more logically been distinguished by the term Harmonic part- song if no better word could have been found for it. It is scarcely necessary to say here anything about that kind of OTHER FORMS OF CHORAL SONG 17 Part-song which has an indispensable pianoforte accompani- ment. This type of composition first became popular in England in the days of Sir Henry Bishop, and it has been successfully exploited by many composers since his time. The Part-song proper should be rendered without accompani- ment of any kind, and in this respect it resembles the Madrigal and the Glee. It should also be performed by a considerable body of voices, yet not by so large a number as to preclude clearness of utterance or delicacy of expression. It is commonly asserted that a Part-song should not be performed by single voices to a part, but it would be difficult to point to a written statement by any composer laying down a rule in this matter. The performance of some Part-songs by single solo-voices can, indeed, lead to very high artistic results, and it is surprising that this delightful kind of music for the home is so little in vogue, although it can be organized with far less trouble or expense than is required for arranging a string-quartet party. Yet it is a fact that there is more string-quartet playing than part-singing in private London houses at the present time, even though there is a far larger number of competent singers for this purpose than of instrumentalists with sufficient skill to join in chamber music. The Part-song, as we have seen, may be considered to be the lineal descendant of the harmonized Air of the Tudor lutenists which was frequently almost entirely devoid of elaborate contrapuntal device ; but as an Art-form it does not really seem to have taken root in England until the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria. It owed its renewed popularity in this country at that period very largely to the influence of Mendelssohn, whose Part-songs until almost the close of the nineteenth century occupied an important share in the pro- grammes of most choral and madrigal societies ; and this, often to the prejudice and exclusion of the genuine English Madrigal, \vhich just at that very same period had begun to show signs of gradually winning back its proper place in the affections of English singers. But in dealing with the early Victorian Part- song one important composer must be mentioned who success- fully resisted the prevailing influence. This was Pearsall, who, as a notable exception, had sufficient genius and strength of 2049 B i8 ENGLISH MADRIGAL IN RELATION TO character to strike out a line of his own without regard either for the convention or the fashion of the moment. It must not, of course, be forgotten that a good deal of Pearsall's work was admittedly not much more than the adaptation of music of an earlier period ; but in this particular line of work he was singularly happy and showed the hand of a true artist. It is a common mistake to ascribe wholly to Pearsall's authorship some of the pieces that were no more than adaptations, however skilfully treated ; a notable example of this is his exquisite arrangement of the old Carol In dulci jubilo. Several of Pearsall's original compositions were styled Madrigals, and this provides yet another example of the loose usage of that term. Not a few of them were, however, planned to some extent upon madrigalian lines, being written in contrapuntal style with points of imitation and other such devices ; but Pearsall did not tie himself down to the idiom of the sixteenth century, and this was perhaps the secret of his success in enriching the literature of English Part-song with such fine music as Lay a garland, Great god of Love, Sir Patrick Spens, and a number of other compositions of this class. Yet it was to Mendelssohn and not to Pearsall that the English Part-song writers of that day, and for many years after, looked for their lead ; and the influence under which they thus came was a source of weakness rather than of strength. For Mendelssohn's Part-songs are little more than harmonized melodies, the rhythm of which is scrupulously followed by the lower voice-parts with scarcely any variation. A good example is the once popular An old Romance. These melodies bear little or no relation to the words to which they are attached, in remarkable contrast to the intimate and subtle connexion between the music and the words of the English madrigalists, both as regards their general and their individual sense. In the case of Mendelssohn's Part-songs almost any other words of the same metre might be substituted for those actually employed without seriously affecting the merits of the composition. Yet, considered solely as melodies, they had an undoubted charm of their own which was found irresistible by English musicians of Mendelssohn's day ; and this resulted in their being sung at every opportunity and heard with undisguised pleasure, while OTHER FORMS OF CHORAL-SONG 19 neither singers nor audience seem to have paused to consider upon what an inadequate foundation their enjoyment was built. English composers in large numbers set themselves to imitate this popular but unsatisfactory model ; and this amply explains the poverty of the bulk of English Part-song literature in the mid- Victorian era.^ It was only when the influence had expended its force that a modern school of English composers arose who lifted Part-song, as well as other branches of composi- tion, to a level so much more worthy of their musical ancestry. Thus in the best work of our contemporary English Part-song writers we now recognize a keen literary appreciation on the part of the composers, as exhibited in the choice of words as well as in the details of their methods, and also in their taste and discretion in clothing those words with sound. We see them aiming at something much more interesting and valuable than a harmonized tune. We find them employing the whole of their art and imagination for the purpose of giving an added beauty to the words instead of using those words as a mere medium for musical expression. These are some of the legiti- mate methods by which the modern Part-song writers seek to charm their hearers, and in employing them successfully many of our leading English composers to-day are following in the steps first marked out by their great Tudor predecessors. They play, it is true, upon a different kind of instrument, because necessarily it is a more modern and elaborate one ; and the technique that they employ is essentially of another character. But the appeal which they make is to the same instinct, which, at all periods alike, seeks for gratification in the experience of beautiful sound uttered with a due sense of proportion and with an accurate estimate of its suitability to its individual setting and surroundings. » Since this chapter was written the author's attention has been drawn to an article written by Pearsall and printed in Farley's Brts^o/ /owrwa/ shortly after his death, in which he specially deprecated the inclusion of Mendelssohn's Part- songs in the programmes of the Bristol Madrigal Society, on the ground that they did not belong to the class of music for the study of which the Society had been constituted. B 2 CHAPTER II THE PROLONGED NEGLECT OF THE MADRIGAL There can be but few so-called educated persons in this country who would not admit that the glory of English Litera- ture is that of the Tudor Period. For although many writers of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century are little more than names to that large majority who have not made English Literature a subject of special study, yet the works of Shake- speare are at least familiar to Englishmen in general, and his greatness is universally recognized ; while the names of Sidney, Spenser, Ben Jonson, Marlowe, Michael Drayton, and a host of others, are not altogether unknown to the average individual, even if a knowledge of their writings is limited, as a rule, to a few popular verses, such, for example, as Marlowe's Come live with me, or Ben Jonson's Drink to me only with thine eyes. The literature of the period has been rendered accessible to modern readers in complete editions, not only of the great writers, but also of the minor poets of the time ; and such ample annotation and commentary has been provided as is needed for securing the appreciation of these works by all classes of students. Now, it is an equally true fact, although known and recog- nized by a very small fraction of English-speaking people, that the high excellence of Tudor Literature has its parallel in the music of the same period ; for the music of the Tudor composers, whether in the department of ecclesiastical, of instrumental, or of secular vocal writing, ranks as Art of the first class. It may even be asserted that this English School of Music surpasses that of its contemporaries on the continent of Europe, although such an assertion does not involve any depreciation of the greatness of the Flemish and Italian schools of the sixteenth century, including, as they do, such names as Willaert, Arcadelt, Verdelot, Lassus, Palestrina, Marenzio, Festa, and many more. Yet, in spite of this fact, it must be stated, in deplorable contrast with the case of the Elizabethan poets and dramatists. NEGLECT OF THE MADRIGAL 21 that the large majority of educated people in this country know nothing whatever of the existence of such a school of musical composition, and still less about its literature and its leaders. Moreover, there are some, even in the ranks of those who have specialized in the study of Tudor Literature, who do not hesitate to express frank astonishment on being informed of the existence of this great school of musicians, men who were living at this same glorious era of English History, and with whom many of the poets must have been on terms of intimate friendship when they were working side by side at their sister Arts. And such expressions of astonishment are frequently accompanied with some further observation, perhaps with something of a sneer, to the effect that it is widely accepted as a fact that no school of English music has ever attained any importance at any period of history. It must here be stated frankly that since the decay of the Tudor School, nothing of first-rate merit has been produced by British composers, as compared with the great continental schools of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries, with the important, but sole, exception of the work of Henry Purcell and some of his contemporaries, notably John Blow and Pelham Humphreys. For it is obviously too early as yet to estimate with a true sense of perspective the relative value of the British music which has been composed within the past forty years or so, even though much of it may seem to provide ground for high hopes. But general statements condemning the inferiority of the English schools of composition are often made owing to utter ignorance of the great achieve- ments of the Tudor musicians ; and such statements have created a formidable barrier of prejudice, both in this country and on the Continent, particularly among those whose learning and education have lain outside the limits of practical musical instruction. Various causes are accountable for the comparative ignorance that prevails on the subject of the great English madrigal- composers, and of Tudor music in general. One of these is the actual lack of printed editions of the music itself ; and to this cause must be added, as a necessary coroUary, the very meagre amount of the music of this school that is ever given a hearing 22 PROLONGED NEGLECT OF either in the concert-room or in the cathedral and collegiate choirs of this country. Any bookseller can, at short notice, supply the complete works of almost every Elizabethan poet, and it is more than a little discreditable to English musicians that it is not possible to comply with a similar request for the complete works of TaUis, Tye, Gibbons, Dowland, or Byrd — to quote those names only — for the reason that definitive modern editions of these Tudor composers are practically non-existent. It could not be regarded as satisfactory if, for instance, but one or two plays of Shakespeare and perhaps half a dozen of Sidney's sonnets, with a correspondingly minute selection from other Elizabethan writers, were alone accessible to the modern reader ; yet such is precisely the state of things with regard to the musical literature of the period. Only a small portion, chosen almost at haphazard, has been published in modern form, while the great bulk is allowed to remain hidden away in very scarce original editions of the separate part-books in such libraries as those of the British Museum and the older universities. The instrumental music of this period, though of rich artistic interest and great historical importance, stands on rather a different footing from the vocal music of the same day. Indeed, owing to the antique character and idiom of the writing, and more especially to the fact that the instruments for which this music was designed are practically obsolete, there would be affectation in suggesting that, except to a specially chosen audience, much of it could be employed for performance to-day just as it stands and without explana- tion in the programme. But with the Church music and the madrigals the case is very different : these compositions still remain for us to-day with all the vigour of life actually glowing in them, and in spite of such antiquity of style, of design, or of phraseology, as they undeniably possess, they can be presented just as the composers left them without the slightest need of apology to a modern audience. Until the works of the Tudor musicians, both sacred and secular, have been printed in complete and accessible form it is idle to talk of their greatness, almost impossible to attempt a satisfactory criticism of their works, and useless to suggest their performance. If, on the other hand, this splendid music THE MADRIGAL 23 were readily accessible there can be no question whatever that it would quickly win for itself a wide appreciation among English choral singers and cathedral choirs. The neglect of Tudor music must also be examined from a historical point of view. Very shortly after its original production this music fell into complete disuse in England, with the result that much of its actual literature suffered destruction and loss, while its traditions were absolutely obliterated. This larrtentable fact was due to the marked decay in public taste which set in rapidly as regards music at the beginning of the seventeenth century, although in other branches of Art this decay was delayed until the later years of the Stuart dynasty. The deterrent influence of the Civil War, coupled with all the distorted ideas which prevailed among certain classes in the middle of the seventeenth century as to the wickedness of any form of singing or dancing, and finally the livelier tastes of the Court of Charles II, due to French education and experience, put an almost complete end to the cultivation of polyphonic music in England. In place of this was substituted in course of time a more florid style of work interspersed with orchestral interludes. The very greatness of Henry Purcell and his contemporaries was in itself further fatal to the general performance of the Tudor music, because their prolific output almost immediately precluded any neces- sity for its continued use. Incidentally it happened that this reaction told with more force against the madrigals than against the Church music of the Elizabethans, for there is evidence that in the majority of the provincial cathedrals, away from Court influence, certain anthems and services held their place, in a limited degree, side by side with the newer types of com- position, until some of them were given a fresh lease of life in the middle of the eighteenth century by the energy of Maurice Greene and the publication of Boyce's ' Cathedral Music '. It is not easy in these days to reahze fully the immense degree of popularity attained by madrigal-singing in this country at the close of the sixteenth century ; nor yet the wonderful standard of musical skill which prevailed among all persons of education at that time. It was regarded as an essential part of the training of a gentleman that he should be able to take 24 PROLONGED NEGLECT OF part, at sight, in the singing of a madrigal or in a ' consort of viols ' — the Elizabethan equivalent to the string-quartet of more modern days.^ Thomas Morley's fascinating description of the discomfiture of a young man whose musical education had been neglected, may be given here in full, as illustrating this state- ment. The passage is from the opening chapter of Morley's ' Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke '. This book is written in the form of a dialogue between two friends, whom the author named Philomalhes and Polymathes, and their master, Gnorimus, who however does not take part in the preliminary passage quoted here. Polymathes. Before you goe I pray you repeate some of the discourses which you had yesternight at master Sophobulus his banket : For commonly he is not without both wise and learned guests. Philomathes. It is true indeede. And yesternight there were a number of excellent schoUers, both gentlemen and others : but all the propose, which then was discoursed upon, was Musicke. Pol. I trust you were contented to suffer others to speake of that matter. Phi. I would that had beene the worst : for I was compelled to discover mine owne ignorance, and confesse that I knew nothing at all in it. Pol. How so ? Phi. Among the rest of the guests, by chaunce, master Aphron came thither also, who falling to discourse of Musicke, was in an argument so quickly taken up and hotly pursued by Eudoxus and Calergus, two kinsmen of Sophobulus, as in his own art he was overthrowen. But he stiU sticking in his opinion, the two gentlemen requested me to examine his reasons, and confute them. But I refusing and pretending ignorance, the whole company condemned me of discurtesie, being fully perswaded, that I had beene as skilfull in that art, as they tooke me to be learned in others. But supper being ended, and Musicke bookes (according to the custome) being brought to the tables, the mistresse of the house presented me with a part, earnestly requesting me to sing. But when, after many excuses, I protested unfainedly that I could not : every one began to wonder. Yea, some whispered to others, demaunding how I was brought up : so that upon shame of • In making this comparison it should be mentioned that a complete ' chest of viols ', such as formed part of the outfit of all musical establishments in Tudor times, consisted of six instruments of the viol family. THE MADRIGAL 25 mine ignorance, I go now to seeke out mine old friend master Gnorimus, to make my selfe his schoUer. In spite of the general proficiency to which this quotation seems to bear testimony, madrigal-singing soon fell into abeyance ; in fact it appears doubtful whether madrigals were much sung after the year 1640. This suggestion is borne out by reference to Pepys's diary, in which the author, a man of undoubted musical taste and accomplishments, made no mention whatever of the great composers of the English madrigal school or of their works. Morley alone was mentioned in the diary, and that in connexion with his ' Introduction to Musique' which Pepys studied for an hour and described as * a very good but unmethodical book '.^ In another interesting entry ^ Pepys recorded his opinion, after having ' sung several good things ' with three of his friends, that he was ' more and more confirmed that singing with many voices is not singing but a sort of instrumental musique, the sense of the words being lost by not being heard, and especially as they set them with Fuges of words, one after another, whereas singing properly, I think, should be but with one or two voices and the counterpoint '. Pepys's opinion is in sharp contrast with that of Byrd, who, in the Address to the Reader in his 1588 volume of compositions, said ' There is not any Musicke of Instruments whatsoever, comparable to that which is made by the voyces of Men, where the voices are good, and the same well sorted and ordered.' Pepys was no doubt reflecting the prevailing opinion of his day, and his statement argues a definite disapproval of the madrigal style of composition, as well as of concerted singing in general. Thus, with the lapse of no more than sixty years after the prosperity and fame of the Enghsh madrigal school had reached its height, madrigal-singing had practically come to an end, and the traditions associated with it were completely severed. In the eighteenth century there was something of the nature of a revival of interest in Tudor music, and madrigals were occasionally sung by a few enthusiasts to whom warm praise is due. Notable among them was that little band of amateurs who in the year 1741 founded the Madrigal Society in London, an institution which has never ceased its activities from that » Pepys's Diary, March lo. 1667. * Ibid., September 15, 1667. 26 NEGLECT OF THE MADRIGAL day to this, though at one time it was perilously near failure through lack of adequate support. But the atmosphere of the eighteenth century was not favourable for the cultivation of madrigal-singing, especially in the latter half of that century when the influence of Handel was supreme in England, and when but little English music had the chance of a fair hearing. This will account for the extraordinary criticism to which Dr. Burney subjected the Tudor madrigalists. Writing in 1789 ^ he says : ' The harmony of these Minor Musicians, or second class of English masters of the sixteenth century is pure and regular ; but however well received and justly admired by their cotem- poraries, they are in general so monotonous in point of modula- tion that it seldom happens that more than two keys are used from the beginning to the end of a movement, which renders the performance of more than one or two at a time insipid and tiresome. " If ", says an enthusiastic admirer of Handel, " some of that great master's oratorio choruses were well performed by voices only in the manner of madrigals, how superior would their effect be to the productions of yourBennets, Kirbys, Weelkes's, and Wilbyes ! " The idea was so just that I wish it put into execution : as there is more nerve, more science and fire in the worst of Handel's choruses than in the greatest efforts of these old madrigalists.' The nineteenth century witnessed a growing taste for madrigal-singing in this country, and it was marked in the early years by such publications as those of Holland and Cooke, who edited in complete form the two- and three-voice sets of Morley's Canzonets and the same coxnposer's Set of four-part Madrigals. This effort was eclipsed by the members of the Musical Antiquarian Society, who in the middle of the century reprinted both the Wilbye Sets, Gibbons's Set, Bennet's Set, Bateson's first Set, and one Set of Weelkes, and the some- what inferior Fa-las of the younger Hilton. The ' Triumphs of Oriana ' had been already printed in 18 14 under the editorship of W. Hawes. But it is only in the past quarter of a century that EngHsh madrigals have shown signs of recovering the wide popularity which they enjoyed three hundred years ago; and even to-day there exists a great deal of ignorance and pre- judice upon the subject, both within and without musical circles. ' Burney's General History of Music, vol. iii, p. 1 31 . CHAPTER III ENGLISH PREFERENCE FOR VOCAL MUSIC Before dealing with the origin and history of the English Madrigal School, it is important to make it clear that the natural bent of English musical taste is in the direction of vocal rather than of instrumental music. This is not only the case in the present day, but a careful examination of the subject will show that it always has been so ; and the fact has a very direct bearing upon the whole subject of the madrigals of thq Elizabethan era, not only from the point of view of a critical consideration of the madrigal music itself, but also from that of its origin and history. It is this fact too that makes the regaining of whole-hearted popularity for the madrigal in this country a matter of absolute certainty. In England choral music has ever been the most marked feature of the national musical genius, and it is this more than anything else that has given the stamp of nationality to British music in all stages of its development. The continuity of the existence of an English school of composition for no less than five hundred years cannot be denied, even if it must be admitted frankly that at several periods our composers did not rise above mediocrity. Now this unbroken continuity, which is without a parallel in the history of any other European nation, is to be traced almost entirely in the fields of vocal music. It is noteworthy that the decay of the taste for polyphonic music in the seventeenth century, which was mentioned in the previous chapter, is also to be observed at the same period on the Continent, if only in a less degree than in England, where special causes did so much to hasten it. In foreign ecclesiastical circles it is the case that a good deal of poly- phonic music continued in use, but the madrigal, by contrast, did not long survive the harmonic innovations which are usually associated with Monteverde and his disciples in the early years of the century, and which led to such rapid develop- ments in new fields of invention that their very novelty swept 28 ENGLISH PREFERENCE away, as in a flood, the devotees of the older types of music, and led also to the sudden rise of the great instrumental com- posers. When once instrumental music attained its great im- portance, the cultivation of secular vocal music, outside the range of Opera, and, to a less extent, of Cantata, no longer continued to hold quite the same position among musicians of any nationality ; and in making these exceptions it must be remembered that instrumental music constitutes an all-im- portant feature in their construction. It is difficult to speculate upon what might have happened in England, musically speaking, if the Civil War had never occurred, or if all the prospect of musical development, both vocal and instrumental, on national lines, as laid down by Henry Purcell upon the true foundation of the earlier English schools, had not been completely wrecked a generation later by the coming of Handel to live and work in England. The name of Purcell naturally overshadows those of his contemporaries, such as Pelham Humphreys and John Blow, the importance of whose instrumental work is not generally recognized at its true value ; for example, the harpsichord works of Blow are almost wholly unknown to modern English- men, yet it is not too much to say that one set of his pieces closely foreshadows the English Suites of J, S. Bach. It is therefore possible to suppose that giants in instrumental com- position might have arisen in this country to compete with the great continental musicians of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ; but, be that as it may, it is worth while to emphasize the fact that the English composers at all times, whether in success or only in mediocrity, have in reality been following consistently the normal trend of the national genius which has hitherto always lain chiefly in the direction of singing and of vocal composition. And not at the close of the Tudor Period alone was English music supreme in Europe. If there are comparatively few English people who appreciate the fact of the supremacy of English music in Elizabethan days, there are far fewer who realize that in the first half of the fifteenth century, also, this country was in the forefront of European music, and that England may be regarded as the cradle of the Art of modern music. And in this connexion it should be recalled that the FOR VOCAL MUSIC 29 famous Reading Abbey manuscript which contains the Round Sumer is y comen in has absolutely nothing to compare with it in the contemporary musical literature of the Continent ; and the date of this composition, so marvellously modern in character, is now usually fixed at about the year 1226. Seeing then that we can trace the lineal descent of the Tudor musicians from the English composers of the early part of the fifteenth century, of whom by far the greatest figure was John Dunstable, it becomes a matter of some importance to mention the remarkable influence which Dunstable and his contemporaries exerted upon the foreign musicians who immediately followed them. For it is agreed that the early Flemish school of com- posers, under the leadership of Okeghem and Josquin des Pres, owed much to EngHsh influence. Johannes Tinctoris, the Flemish theorist (1445-1511), paid a high tribute to EngHsh music in the early fifteenth century. He regarded England as the fons et origo of the Art, a state of things which he ascribed largely to the rise of the choirs of the Royal chapels in this country, and to the honour and emoluments attached to those institutions, which had the effect of encouraging the study of music. Tinctoris also stated that it was directly due to English influence that the science of the Belgian school of music re- ceived so wonderful an enlargement as to make it seem a new Art. The scientific study of music in England at this period is further reflected in the granting of Degrees in Music at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which first took place in the fifteenth century, many generations before similar academic recognition was given to the Art of Music at the leading foreign universities. Tribute to the influence of Dunstable and his English contemporaries is provided in a poem by Martin le Franc, who, about the year 1440, ascribed the superiority of the French school of that time, led by Dufay and Binchois, as compared with that of their predecessors, to the adoption of English methods ; and the following couplet occurs in this poem : Et on pris de la contenance Angloise, et en suivy Dunstable. Thomas Ravenscroft in the opening page of his ' Briefe Dis- course ', published in 1614, mentions Dunstable as ' the man 30 ENGLISH PREFERENCE whom Joan: Nucius in his " Poetical Musicke ", and divers others afiirme to be the first that invented composition '. Such a statement undoubtedly goes too far, for indeed no single individual could rightly be termed the inventor of musical composition, and the statement gains little on the assumption that composition stood for counterpoint. Yet it does serve as evidence of the high esteem in which this early English musician was held on the Continent. Returning now to the Tudor Period, it can truly be said that in the latter part of the sixteenth century and until a short time after the year 1600 English music stood first in Europe ; and this was all the more indisputably the case after the death of Palestrina in 1594. The Ehzabethan musicians added no little lustre to that glorious page of our history which records the deeds of great explorers and the defeat of the Armada ; and the golden age of English Literature was also the golden age of English Music. But quite early in the seventeenth century, as we have already seen, the English school of composers and dingers suddenly crumbled away. Now the year 1600 is commonly re- garded as constituting the dividing Hne which separates ancient from modern music, while it also marks the conclusion of the era in which music was developed almost exclusively upon purely vocal lines. Thus the two hundred years or more which preceded 1600 had witnessed the growth of the Art of Music, as it were, from its infancy to its first manhood ; they had also seen the development of the polyphonic type of music from the very embryo to that perfect form of expression that is to be found in the work of Palestrina and of Byrd, and which in its own line has never since been surpassed. But the remarkable point to notice in connexion with all these facts is this : that when the decay of the polyphonic type of music set in, and when, simultaneously, the rise of the great schools of instrumental composition was heralded, English music suddenly ceased to be in the front rank, nor has it ever regained the proud position which it then lost. In fact, just so long as instrumental com- position occupied a subordinate position in the scheme of musical development, English musicians were found in the foremost place, but so soon as the relative position of vocal and instrumental music became reversed, the music of this country FOR VOCAL MUSIC 31 ceased at that same moment to occupy a position of the first importance. The genius of the race found expression most readily and naturally in vocal music ; when that class of music ceased to monopolize the field, the nation failed to produce composers capable of competing successfully under conditions that were less suited to their traditional instincts. At the same time, though we are forced to acknowledge that England at the close of the Tudor Period ceased to be one of the chief centres of musical composition, we may reflect with pride upon the fact that our own countrymen played the most im- portant part in the nurture of the Art of Music from its infancy up to years of full maturity. And to this day the British nature seems to be adapted to choral singing to a degree which is without comparison on the Continent. No foreign chorus could to-day be found to approach the excellence of some of the famous Yorkshire choirs. The national predilection for, and predisposition to, vocal music is as conspicuous to-day as it has always been. It was this national genius for vocal music that may be said to express itself spontaneously even so early as the thirteenth century in Sumer is y comen in, while it was conspicuously evident in John Dunstable's time. Again, it was the recogni- tion of the same inherent taste for this particular class of music that made for the greatness of the Tudor composers. It was this national tendency, too, which showed itself in Purcell's work ; for, important as Purcell is as an instrumental composer, his most valuable work, by far, is in the realms of vocal music. And it may be noted that this fact was appreciated by his contemporaries ; thus, Henry Playford in the ' Address to the Reader ' at the beginning of Orpheus Britannicus, the famous collection of Purcell's songs, published in 1698, says as follows : ' his extraordinary talent in all sorts of Musick is sufficiently known, but he was especially admired for the vocal, having a peculiar genius to express the Energy of English words, whereby he moved the Passions of all his Auditors.' It was, again, the same national predilection that rendered Handel intensely popular in his adopted land, and that caused England above all other countries to become the home of Oratorio. In more modern times the tendency may be clearly observed. 32 PREFERENCE FOR VOCAL MUSIC for instance, in the work of Pearsall and of the younger Wesley. Again, it appears in the present generation in the best work of Parry, of Stanford, and of Elgar — not to mention the names of several other living composers ; it is, moreover, in the vocal department of composition that these musicians have indubi- tably displayed their most distinctively national characteristics. And, once more, it was this same inherent instinct for vocal music which inspired the founders of the original Madrigal Society in London, and which is chiefly displayed at the present time in the multipHcity of choral and madrigal societies through- out the country, as well as in the competitive-festival movement of recent years, a movement that has led, more than anything else perhaps, to a widespread and growing appreciation of the madrigals of the Elizabethan period. CHAPTER IV THE ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH MADRIGAL SCHOOL The origin of the English Madrigal School is traceable partly to the work of the continental madrigalists, and partly also to that of our own national composers of earlier generations. The practical history of English secular Polyphonic Song may be regarded as dating approximately from 1530, in which year the first known printed set of books of this character was printed by Wynkyn de Worde. The choice of this date as a starting-point must not be taken- to imply that nothing of the nature of secular Song for combined voices was attempted before that date, for we have already seen that Sumer is y comen in was written as much as three hundred years before that date, and many other compositions could be mentioned to show that secular Polyphonic Song was not wholly unknown in England before 1530. Yet it is only subsequent to this date that it may be regarded as having a continuous history. Several of the leading English composers in the middle of the sixteenth century wrote some secular vocal music. Among 'these, Cornish, for example, although most of his important Wrk was written for the Church in the old contrapuntal manner, composed a considerable number of secular pieces, mostly for three voices and in a style much more nearly resembling the Harmonic Part-song than the Madrigal. Very often these com- positions took the form of the plain harmonization of some simple old song-tune, well known and popular in its time. This style of secular composition, which was sometimes set to words of a light and humorous character, found a good deal of favour with many of the most prominent English com- posers until as late a date as 1580 or thereabouts. And even such austere musicians as Tallis and Tye have left some examples of this lighter kind of work ; for instance Fond youth 2049 Q 34 ORIGIN OF THE is a bubble is one of Tallis's compositions surviving in the Mulliner MS.^ In this same collection is In going to my naked bed, the words of which are by Richard Edwards ;" no name is appended to this song in the Mulliner book, but there is no real obstacle to the theory that Edwards wrote both the words and music of this beautiful little work. This song is consider- ably modernized in the only available reprint ; but there is no doubt that the MS. is as early as 1564 and possibly earlier, and the musical text in its original form is quite in conformity with the style of that date. When this class of secular work was undertaken by the Church composers in the middle of the century, they evidently regarded it as something quite apart from their more serious efforts and as of an experimental nature. Much of it when compared with work of the succeed- ing generation, as represented by Morley, Weelkes, and Wilbye, is decidedly crude and immature, but Dr. Burney's censure of Whythorne's music as being ' truly barbarous ' ^ is wholly un- warranted. It is unfortunate that many subsequent historians have, in various forms, reiterated this censure without, appa- rently, troubling to score any of Whythorne's compositions ; or in doing so they may have misread the clefs or fallen into some such error as alone could explain their sneering criticism. Historically speaking, Thomas Whythorne occupies an im- portant position in the development of the English Madrigal ; for his ' Songes of three, fower, and five voyces ', printed in part- books and published in 1571, is the only secular English Set of books of this kind between the twenty songs printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1530 and Byrd's 1588 Set. Whythorne's Set contains as many as seventy-six compositions. These are very far from approaching the interest and value of the great English madrigalists of a quarter of a century later, but they are not by any means to be dismissed with contempt. To take an illustration : It doth me good when Zephyrus reigns (No. 27) shows a great deal of merit and contains several interesting features. The closing bars of the first section may be quoted : ' Brit. Museum. Add MS. 30513. ^ Burney's General History of Music, vol. iii, p. 119. ENGLISH MADRIGAL SCHOOL 35 i .frj. EE ^J. :p:=zp?: ^- -X &g=^ -^ :c^: :p=?3: £ ^i :t -e>- >: ® :£ J. J 32: -e^- :p= W- iL; -lEpi^ q: -IP- -<9- 1 -«i J-J: .c±- -^ #M1- -+y5iH- ^- ■+*SH- I At the conclusion of the whole piece, which is of some length and has a section in triple time expressing a joyful sentiment, there is a very interesting little Codetta. The song might very well have ended without these additional three bars, but they add a good deal in rounding off the form of the composition. ^i w -G>- :c2; -m—^- v^>^ -jft p — r^i ^ Stsfca ■& -G>-. p34o-_zz£^ 1:.=^- -Q- ±Z -- (S>- ^«fsi -I -J- -®- J—, -©»- 't r- ^iS3EgS ^ii r=t :p=i; -p p- ■0 — p- 1 — ^- -HesH- It is improbable that any one has scored many of these songs of Whythorne, and judgement must be reserved until that has been done. The present writer scored half a dozen of them chosen at random ; and the conclusion framed upon this limited experience is, that this composer has undoubted claims to be regarded as an important pioneer in the history of English c 2 36 ORIGIN OF THE Part-song, even though his abiUty cannot be considered as approaching the first class. But the value of pioneer work is not necessarily to be gauged by its intrinsic merit. The EngUsh composers of the middle of the sixteenth century do undoubtedly deserve recognition on the ground that they paved the way for the systematic development of this class of secular music in the form of the Madrigal and the lutenists' Air. Incidentally these composers provide another interesting comparison between Tudor music and Tudor literature, since the position of the earlier madrigalists like Whythorne, when viewed in relation to Wilbye or Dowland, is analogous, in many respects, to that of such pioneers in literature as Wyatt and Surrey when considered in relation to Shakespeare, Spenser, and Sidney. For at this same period, a time of eager intellectual curiosity and endeavour in so many directions, 'when Dawn's left hand was in the sky,' Wyatt and Surrey, spurred on by the ever- widening interest of the day in literature, were attempting new forms of expression in the Sonnet and in various lyric measures. Surrey, too, was making trial of that ' strange metre ' blank verse, which Sackville, another innovator of a few years later, was to adopt as the best vehicle of dramatic poetry. And if none of these three were completely successful, they at least, as was the case with their musical contemporaries, laid a sure foundation on which the poets of the next generation built up their enduring verse. But if the English Madrigal School owes something to its predecessors in our own country, its sudden rise to pre- eminence in the closing decade of the sixteenth century must be ascribed mainly to the influence of the Flemish and Italian schools of madrigalists. It does not seem to be realized, by most of those who indulge in the practice of singing English and Italian madrigals, that the music of the ItaHan school belongs to a generation that was many years older than that to which the work of the English madrigalists belongs ; the earliest Sets of Arcadelt and Verdelot were published before the year 1540 and were followed by a steady output throughout the century, while very little made its appearance later than 1590. The date of the first Set of secular compositions that can be classed as English Madrigals was 1588, quite fifty years later than the ENGLISH MADRIGAL SCHOOL 37 opening of the Flemish-Italian school, and the life of the Eng- lish school may be said to have extended until about the year 1622, the date of the publication of Tomkins's Set, though two or three Sets were indeed published subsequent to that date. It has already been said that the Flemings owed much to the English composers of Dunstable's time ; thus in dealing with the influence of the foreign madrigaUsts of the sixteenth century upon our own school at the close of that century we are really tracing back to an influence which emanated originally from England. The first leader of the great Flemish madrigaUsts was Adrian Willaert, who was born in Flanders about the year 1480. Like his great followers Arcadelt and Verdelot, who may possibly also have been his pupils, Willaert left his native country to settle in Italy, and he is commonly regarded as the founder of the Venetian school of musicians, while Arcadelt made Rome the centre of his influence. As far as can be ascer- tained, the earliest actual composer to publish madrigals of the type which the term now generally denotes to musicians was Verdelot, whose first works appeared in a set bearing the title of Madrigali in 1535. Another great Fleming at this time was Roland de Lattre, or Lassus, who was born at Mons early in the sixteenth century ; he spent his early manhood in Italy, where he came to be known as Orlando di Lasso, but he lived subsequently at Antwerp, and later at Munich, where he held a Court appointment. But by far the greatest figure in the Italian school was Palestrina, who was born about the year 1528 ; but his fame necessarily rests upon his Church music rather than on his madrigals. In a long life he composed an immense quantity of music the greater part of which was for the Church, yet it includes at least four Sets of madrigals, two of which he described on the title-page as Madrigali spirituali. The names of Festa, Marenzio, Anerio, Gastoldi, Converse and others will be familiar to modern madrigal-singers, many of whom will, at some time, have sung English versions of the work of these representative Italian madrigalists. Madrigal-singing must have been in vogue in England for many years before the appearance in 1588 of Byrd's ' Psalmes, Sonets, and songs '. but it was of course mainly 38 lORIGIN OF THE confined to the work of the foreign composers as being prac- tically the only music of the kind available. And this fashion was consistent with the Italian influence which showed itself so conspicuously in all branches of Art and Literature in England at that time. It has been frequently asserted that the popu- larity of the Madrigal in this country was entirely due to the publication of Yonge's collection entitled Musica Transalpina which was published in the same year as, but probably later than, Byrd's ' Psalmes, Sonets, and songs '. Thus Burney wrote as follows : ^ ' Our countrymen were not at first taught to admire the Music of Italy by the sweetness of the language to which it was originally set . . . but by Italian madrigals with a literal translation into English adjusted to the original Music and published by N. Yonge 1588. These being selected from the works of Palestrina, Luca Marenzio, and other celebrated masters on the continent seem to have given birth to that passion for madrigals which became so prevalent among us afterwards.' But we have direct evidence that Italian madrigals were sung in England with their original Italian words at least as early as 1564. An unusually fine set of four part-books in MS. exists in the Fellows' Hbrary at Winchester College bearing the date 1564 on one of the initial letters in the Bassus-part of one of the madrigals. This set of part-books is probably unique. The original red leather binding is in good condition and each part-book bears the royal arms of Queen EHzabeth. The manuscript is beautifully written on vellum, the initial letters of each composition being illuminated in simple design in colour. These books contain about seventy four-part Italian Canzone by Willaert, Verdelot, Lassus, Arcadelt, and others, and seven- teen French Chansons in foiu- parts. They also include, in a later hand — probably about 1600-5 — ten three-part compositions described as ' Mr. Ford's three parts ' ; these latter are dis- appointing from the musical point of view, and it seems unlikely that the composer is to be identified with Thomas Ford the lutenist. But the existence of this book, which cannot have been the only one of its kind, proves conclusively that i Burney's General History of Music, vol. iii, p. 1 19. ENGLISH MADRIGAL SCHOOL 39 Italian madrigals were being sung in England at the very beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign. It is also a fact that many of the compositions in Byrd's 1588 Set are to be found in a very fine set of manuscript part-books in the Christ Church library which bear the date 1581.^ On the other hand the popularity of the Italian madrigals in England was evidently stimulated by such publications as Musica Transalpina. Nicholas Yonge, who edited this collection, appears to be identical with a lay-clerk of the name at St. Paul's Cathedral ; he gathered round him, at his house in St. Michael's, Cornhill, as he tells us in the Dedication of his first collection, ' a great number of Gentlemen and Merchants of good accompt (as well of this realme as of forreine nations) ' ... for the ' exercise of Musicke daily '. Yonge also furnished them with music-books yearly sent him from Italy. The cult of the Italian Madrigal was further stimulated by a second volume of Musica Transalpina compiled by Yonge and pub- lished in 1597, and also by the efforts of Thomas Morley, who issued in 1597 a collection of Italian Canzonets for four voices with Enghsh words, and another of the same kind for five voices in the year 1598. It seems strange that madrigal-writing should not have been attempted by English composers till so late a date. The only explanation ready to hand is that the production of Church music fully occupied the minds of Taverner, Tallis, Tye, and Whyte, except for the occasional work of their lighter moments to which allusion has already been made. The up- heaval of the Reformation movement naturally touched EngUsh music very closely, and the publication of the Prayer-Book, with its greatly changed type of ritual, created a demand for Church music of a new character. The religious reaction which followed the death of Edward VI delayed this demand until the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but it was then met by a liberal output of Church music which must have taxed the time and energies of the composers to their full extent. But, even so, it is remarkable that madrigal-composition remained so long unattempted in England ; and it may be noticed that Byrd, who was born as early as 1543, yet did not publish any secular vocal » Christ Church. Oxford, MSS. 984-8. 40 ORIGIN OF THE compositions, as far as we know, before reaching the age of 45, even though, as we have just seen, many of them had been composed some years earher. The one Set of compositions that stands out as a somewhat curious and isolated landmark in this period is Thomas Whythorne's, which, as has already been said, marks a praiseworthy effort on the part of the com- poser and anticipates the greater successes which were to be achieved a quarter of a century later. The same composer issued a second Set in 1590, but these, oddly enough, resemble the Madrigal less closely in character ; they consist of ' Duos, or Songs for two voices . . . The first (part) for a man and a childe to sing, or otherwise for voices or Instruments of Musicke . . . The second ... for two children . . . otherwise for voices or Musicall Instruments . . . the third part . . . with voices or Instruments.' The first twelve pieces are set to words from the Psalms, and the rest have only the opening phrase of the words printed with the music, a plan which was followed by East in his Fifth Set of Books, and occasionally elsewhere, although a satisfactory explanation of this plan has yet to be discovered. The coming of the English Madrigal was long delayed ; but when once the idea was started, there followed immediately an amazing flow of such compositions. Yet the period of the English madrigal-composers was almost as remarkable for its brevity as for its brilliance, for by far the larger part of the output was issued within the limits of twenty-five years. It is of no little importance in criticizing the works of the madrigalists, and more especially in considering the individual work of any one of these composers in relation to that of his contemporaries, to have a clear view of the order and dates of the various Sets. We are fortunate in knowing with some degree of completeness what Sets were published by the madrigalists ; several of these Sets are now represented by only one known exemplar, yet very few seem to have perished entirely. A sheet catalogue of ' Musick bookes printed in England ' was published by Thomas East (or Este) in 1609. This catalogue was afterwards included, with additions, in Clavell's ' General Catalogue of Books printed in England since the dreadful Fire of London 1666', published in 1675.^ The following is a synopsis showing the ' Kimbault's Bibliotheca Madrigaliana, p. 14. ENGLISH MADRIGAL SCHOOL 41 dates of publication of the strictly madrigalian Sets; Sets as those of Martin Peerson do not figure in this list. such 1588. Psalms, Sonnets and Songs for 5 voices 1589. Songs of sundry natures, for 3, 4, 5, and 6 parts 1593. Canzonets to 3 voices 1594. Songs and Psalms for 3, 4, and 5 parts Madrigals to 4 voices 1595. Ballets of 5 voices . Canzonets to 2 voices 1597. Madrigals to 3, 4, 5, and 6 voices Madrigals to 4, 5, and 6 voices . Canzonets to 5 and 6 voices Canzonets to 3 voices (in Anthony Holbome's Citthern School) .... Songs of sundry natures . 1598. Madrigals to 3, 4, 5 and 6 voices Ballets and Madrigals to 5 voices Canzonets to 4 voices Airs (exact title unknown), including 8 Madrigals for 5 voices . 1599. Madrigals to 4 voices Madrigals to 4 voices 1600. Madrigals of 5 parts Madrigals of 6 parts 1 60 1. Triumphs of Oriana for 5 and 6 voices Madrigals to 5 voices 1604. Madrigals to 3, 4, and 5 parts . Madrigals to 3, 4, 5, and 6 voices Songs of sundry kinds (including 6 Madrigals for 5 voices) 1606. Madrigals to 3, 4, 5, and 6 voices An hour's recreation. 1607. Madrigals of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 parts 1608. Airs or Fantastic spirits for 3 voices . Canzonets to 3 voices 1609. Madrigals to 3, 4, 5, and 6 voices 1610. Pastorals, Anthems, NeapoUtans, Fancies, j to 5 and 6 parts . 1 61 1. Psalms, Songs and Sonnets 1612. Madrigals and Motets of 5 parts 1 61 3. Madrigals to 3, 4, 5, and 6 parts Madtrigals and Pastorals of 3, 4, and 5 parts Madrigals of 5 parts 1 61 8. Madrigals to 3, 4, 5, and 6 parts Anthems, Madrigals, and Songs to 4, 5, and 6 parts 1619. Songs of divers airs and natures of 5 and 6 parts 1622. Songs of 3, 4, 5, and 6 parts .... 1624. Madrigals and Pastorals of 3, 4, 5, and 6 parts . 1627. Airs or Fa-las for 3 voices .... Byrd Byrd Morley Mundy Morley Morley Morley Weelkes Kirhye Morley Wm.Holborne Pattrick Wilbye Weelkes Farnaby Cavendish Farmer Bennet Weelkes Weelkes ed. by Morley Carlttn East Bateson Greaves East Alison Jones Weelkes Yotdl Wilbye and Madrigals, East Byrd Gibbons Ward Pilkington Lichfild Bateson East Vautor Tomkins Pilkington Hilton The opportunity of the English madrigaUsts was a very exceptional one. They enjoyed all the advantage that could 42 THE ENGLISH MADRIGAL SCHOOL be reaped from the experience of the Italians with their perfect model, their beautifully smooth style, and their faultless tech- nique. Their work followed the Italian design in its main features ; but it bore a distinctive national stamp, and it even surpassed the work of the Italians in vitahty and in the fertility and variety of imaginative expression, as well as in the boldness and originality of harmonic treatment. The very fact that the English madrigalists delayed their appearance until this late epoch was in itself a source of liberty which they were not slow to recognize ; for by that time harmonic revolution was in the air, and the fetters which had bound fast the older generation of composers by the rigid rules of the modes were showing the first signs of giving way, albeit modal characteristics are abundantly evident throughout the music of these English composers. They were also singularly fortunate in being able to draw their inspiration from contemporary poetry at a moment when the national literature reached its actual high-water mark. But if their opportunity was a great one, it was certainly grasped to the very full, and they left behind them an imperishable and priceless inheritance for English musicians of all time. CHAPTER V ETYMOLOGY AND USE OF THE TERM MADRIGAL The meaning and origin of the word Madrigal seems to have baffled etymologists of all nationalities for at least three centuries. The term was first employed, as far as can be ascertained, by the rustics of Northern Italy possibly as early as the twelfth century, and it first found its way into Italian literature about the beginning of the fourteenth century. At that period also the term was employed in connexion with musical compositions of a somewhat elaborate style, as examples of which Mr. Wooldridge printed in the ' Oxford History of Music ' ^ three important pieces by Francesco di Landino, Maestro Piero, and Zacharias. The term, as denoting a form of musical composition, subse- quently fell into abeyance for considerably more than a century ; but in the meanwhile the Madrigal, though apparently no longer set to music, seems to have survived in the form of poetry, and hence the explanation of the ultimate use of the word for a particular type of lyric, although it had an exclu- sively musical significance. Variant forms of the word in use in this interim period were madriale and more commonly mandriale. The word was revived as a musical term in Italy by the Flemish composers soon after the year 1530, and the earliest known volume of musical pieces at the period of that revival to bear the definite description of madrigali was published in 1533. This volume consisted mainly of the works of Verdelot. The Flemish and Italian musicians built upon the foundation laid two centuries earlier by Landino and his contemporaries ; they retained something of the character- istics of their design, although their style was necessarily more modern as regards detail and more fully developed ; also their principles in setting words to music were different. But in reviving the old term they preserved the continuity of idea and thus added much to the historical interest of their 1 Oxford History of Music, vol. ii, p. 51 et seq. 44 THE TERM MADRIGAL own work. After the year 1533 the name madrigale was used consistently by the continental composers, and it found its way to England in the form of madrigal in the latter part of the same century. The original meaning of the word had evidently been completely forgotten before it was recalled into use by the Flemish and Italian musicians, and it would seem that the madrigal-writers of the sixteenth century, whether English or foreign, regarded the term primarily as denoting a musical composition set to words of a pastoral character even though their madrigals were by no means Umited to pastoral subjects. The word was first used of an English composition in Nicholas Yonge's first Set of Musica Transalpina in 1588, for by including a composition of William Byrd, Yonge thus classed it definitely as a Madrigal. The term was not employed by Byrd himself in his ' Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of Sadnes and Pietie ', published earlier in the same year, yet this volume may be fairly regarded as containing the earliest specimens of original English madrigals. For Byrd divided the volume into four sections, the second of which he called ' Sonnets and pastorals '. Now in this section is Byrd's original Italian version of La Virginella, the English translation of which was inserted in Yonge's collection, and it was there classed as a Mad- rigal ; and in this same section we also find such characteristic madrigals — though they are not actually so styled — as As I beheld a herdman wild (No. 20), Though Amaryllis dance in green (No. 12), and other thoroughly madrigalian pieces. Presumably Byrd used the term pastoral as being the English equivalent of the Italian madrigale, but madrigal very quickly superseded pastoral and established itself as a recognized word in our language. It was Thomas Morley who first used the term on the title- page of a set of original compositions of this type. His ' First Booke of Madrigalls to Foure Voyces ' was published in 1594. Yet even Morley confessed that he was wholly at a loss to explain the etymology of the word.^ And since Morley's time until latterly no better success was achieved in this direction, although several ingenious theories have been put forward at » Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music, p. 178. THE TERM MADRIGAL 45 different times. The eighteenth-century historian Hawkins confessed himself unable to give any satisfactory derivation to the word.* This writer tells us further that Kircher laboured in vain to find an etymology for it ; and that Huet, Bishop of Avranches, in his treatise De VOrigine des Romans supposed it to be a corruption of the word martegaux, a name given to the ancient inhabitants of a part of Provence, who, so Huet averred, were probably the inventors of, or excelled in this particular species of composition. Hawkins added the caustic comment that had Huet known that there is a small town in Spain named Madrigal, it is likely he would have ascribed the origin of madrigals to the Spaniards. The same historian also cites Doni, a writer on music in the early seventeenth century, as suggesting the derivation from the Italian word mandra, a flock, but adds the objection that ' pastoral manners are not peculiar to this kind of poetical composition '. And, once again, Hawkins states that Crescimbeni, and some years later Mattheson, took up the inquiry but left the matter nearly where they found it. In more modern times neither Rimbault ^ nor Oliphant ^ could throw any new light upon the subject, their researches amounting to little more than a repetition of Hawkins's information. Rimbault, however, quoted from Salvadore Corticelli's work Delia Toscana Eloquenza, in which is given the derivation from mandra on the ground of the pastoral character of the compositions, with the additional information that the songs were also called madriale and mandriale in early days. Comparatively recently the much-disputed subject of the derivation of the word Madrigal has been handled in so complete and convincing a manner by Signer Leandro Biadene,* who, as Professor of neo-Latin Philology in the University of Pisa, is, of course, qualified to deal with the question with the full weight of authority, that it is not too much to say that the problem has at length been solved. » Hawkins's General History of the Science and Practice of Music, vol. ii, p. 463. » Dr. E. F. Rimbault's Bibliotheca Madrigaliana (1847), Preface, p. vi. ' Thomas Oliphant's A short account of Madrigals (1836), pp. 5-6. * Article by L,. Biadene in the Rassegna bibliografica delta letter atura italiana, vol. vi, pp. 329, &c. (Pisa, 1898). 46 THE TERM MADRIGAL Discussing, in the first place, the traditional and stereotyped view that the word was derived from mandra and that its earhest form was mandriale which subsequently became viadriale and finally madrigale, Biadenc mentions that this opinion was accepted by all the earlier Italian writers and that it was incorporated in all the principal dictionaries, includ- ing the della Crusca and that of Tommaseo as well as in the less important works of the kind, not only in Italy but also in other countries. Unfortunately the New English Dictionary, although it has been published since Biadene wrote this essay, followed the same line. Littre, whose French dictionary appeared in 1872, also gave mandra as the derivation, but nevertheless made the noticeable observation that the primitive form in low Latin was matriale, and he quoted a Latin writer of the fourteenth century who described a remarkable boy who could sing ' matriaUa etiam difficillima '. Scheler, in his Dictionary of French etymology, published in 1873, went so far as to state that all the theories as to the derivation of the word madrigal had become suspect since the discovery of a Latin writer of the fourteenth century who employed the word matrialia to denote a species of musical composition. Biadene goes on to prove by carefully reasoned argument not only that the traditional theory of the derivation of the word from mandra through the successive forms mandriale, madriale, and madrigale, was in conflict with all the rules of Italian etymology, but actually that the reverse order of successive development of these different forms of the word was in strict accordance with facts that can be cited. Thus, he argued, if mandriale, derived from mandra, was the original form of the word, the excision of the n to make it madriale has no parallel in the Italian language. The writer says it is remark- able that Covarruvias was the only authority who appears to have noticed this fact and to have appreciated the difficulty constituted by it, while unfortunately the explanation which Covarruvias attempted to offer was founded upon error. Again, the addition of the g, by which madriale has usually been supposed to have turned into madrigale, cannot be explained by any known rule of Italian etymology, although the reverse process is simply accounted for. Moreover, Biadene THE TERM MADRIGAL 47 states that he knows of no other Italian word with the termina- tion igdle. So much for destructive criticism. On the constructive side this writer then develops his own theory. The eadiest recorded examples of the word in any form are, he says, to be found in the writings of Francesco da Barbarino and Antonio da Tempo in the early years of the fourteenth century. Barbarino, in a work entitled De variis inveniendi et rimandi modis which was reprinted in recent years by Signer O. Antognoni,^ says, in defining distinctions between various kinds of composition, ' Voluntarium est rudium inordinatum concinium, ut matricale et similia '. Shortly afterwards, in the year 1332, da Tempo ^ wrote ' mandrialis est rithimus ille qui vulgariter appelatur marigaUs '. After explaining that the term mandrialis was independently employed as being derived from mandra for the reason that this kind of rhyming and singing came originally from the shepherds who sang and played to simple words of an amatory and rustic character, differing from that of the ordinary kinds of rhyme, da Tempo proceeds, ' Sonus vero marigalis secundum modernum cantum debet esse pulcher et in cantu habere aliquas partes rusticales sive mandriales, ut cantus consonet cum verbis.' In writing the word marigalis da Tempo, as a Venetian, would have naturally omitted the d, for it was the custom throughout all northern Italy both to pronounce and hear madre as mare ; thus the word marigalis quoted by da Tempo as the term ordinarily employed to denote this class of song in his day was none other than madrigalis. When we recall Barbarino's use of the word matricale in the passage just quoted and recognize that this word exactly corresponds to the Italian form madrigale, we may reasonably infer that the word madrigale, with its variant form marigale, was in common use among the rustic people of Italy at least as early as the thirteenth century, even though it may not have found its way into literature before the fourteenth. From madrigale, Biadene proceeds, it is but a short step to madriale as used by Sacchetti, Soldamieri, and others in the second half of the fourteenth century, for there are numbers of » Giorncdedifilologiaromanza.vol.iv.^Tp.^i&tseci. ' Op. cit., p. 139. 48 THE TERM MADRIGAL similar instances of the elimination of the g : for example, legale — leale, and regale — reale. We have yet to account for mandriale, the term which was undoubtedly used in the fourteenth century to denote short pastoral poems, as for instance, by da Tempo in 1332 in the passage just quoted. Signor Biadene is of opinion that this word originated in the fusion of the words madriale and mandria and thus had quite an independent origin ; he suggests that this fusion was brought about by the letterati of the time, seeing that pastoral songs of a particular type were called madriali and that the Italian word mandria meant a herd (Latin mandra and Greek ixdvbpa, a fold). The true etymological order of succession of the forms of the word is : (i) matricalis ; (2) madrigale, with the variant marigale ; (3) madriale ; (4) man- driale ; and it is noteworthy that the musicians in 1533 revived the original form madrigale. It only remains to deal with the question as to how the neo-Latin word matricalis came to be applied to this use. Signor Biadene goes fully into the use of this adjective and shows how it acquired a meaning which was virtually synony- mous with materna ; and as lingua materna means the mother tongue, or the vernacular or simplest form of language, so cantus matricalis, which is not far removed from the use of matricalia for songs, may reasonably be taken to stand for the simple and primitive songs of the rustics. In this matter the words of da Tempo are much to the point : ^ ' Primo modum ilium rithmandi et cantandi habuimus ab ovium pastoribus. Nam pastores tamquam rustici et homines grossi primo coeperunt amoris venerei circa compilare verba grossa et ipsa cantare et in suis tibiis sonare modo grosso sed tamen naturaliter.' Before leaving the subject of the origin of the word Madrigal, it is interesting to observe how near the true solution of the problem those etymologists came who suggested that it was derived from madre ; and further, how they lost the scent by pursuing the theory that these songs might originally have been addressed to the Holy Virgin. The obscurity which veiled the etymology of the word * Giornale di filologia romanza, vol. iv, p. 139. THE TERM MADRIGAL 49 Madriga! for so long a period, may perhaps be held accountable for the loose and indefinite manner in which that term has been employed, not only by musicians, but also in English literature. Poets and other writers have frequently treated the term as no more than an euphonious synonym for Song. In this simple sense Marlowe wrote the couplet : By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals. The pastoral character which is a feature of so many madrigals was plainly alluded to in Sir William Alexander's line : Those madrigals we sing amidst our flocks. Neither Marlowe nor Alexander, who wrote in 1614, would have had in their mind the technical meaning with which the term was invested by the musicians who were their contemporaries. Another contemporary writer, Robert Greene, used the expres- sion ' doleful madrigals of sorrow '. Here again the word is no more than a synonym for song, and the quotation must not be pressed in reference to the serious and sad type of madrigal such as is so often overlooked by those who in more modern days use the term. Nor can the word, as used by Jackson in 1640 in the following rather startling passage, be taken for more than an alternative for song, although the imitative character of madrigal-music may have been present in the writer's mind in regard to the repetition of the word crucifige : ' Changing their late joyful hymns of Hosanna to the Son of David into sad madrigals of Crucifige, crucifige.' Milton might appear to have had solo-song in his mind when he wrote the couplet : Who shall silence all the airs and madrigals That whisper softness in chambers. But Milton would have known the exact technical meaning applied to the word by musicians, for his own father was one of the contributors to Morley's famous collection of madrigals known as the ' Triumphs of Oriana ' ; and the association of ' airs and madrigals ' in this passage must carry with it a refer- ence to the special use of both those terms by musicians at the beginning of the seventeenth century. 2049 D 50 THE TERM MADRIGAL And poets of later days undoubtedly used the attractive word as a mere alternative for Song in such passages as Campbell's : And oft amidst the lonely rocks She sings sweet madrigals. Or Henley's description of the May thrush's song as : Gay golden-vowelled madrigals. Charles Dickens may have been thinking of the ' Triumphs of Oriana', made 'in praise of Elizabeth', when he used the phrase in ' Dombey and Son ' : ' And gentle Mr. Toots . . . likewise hears the requiem of little Dombey on the waters, rising and falling in the lulls of their eternal madrigal in praise of Florence.' The history of the Madrigal as an Art-form can be discussed in very few words. Dealing with the earliest type as represented in the work of Francesco di Landino and his contemporaries, Mr. Wooldridge has described in the ' Oxford History of Music ' * a very definite and somewhat elaborate form that governed this species of composition in the fourteenth century, when it first assumed a position among musical compositions of a scientific kind and had been raised far above the rustic type of song of which da Tempo wrote. The following quotation from the madrigal Tu che l' opera d'altrui ^ by Francesco di Landino, the blind organist of San Lorenzo in Florence, who was born in 1325 and was leader of the Florentine school of musicians, will give an idea of the type of madrigal in vogue at that period. This piece, which is printed more fully in the ' Oxford History of Music ', is for two voices, and in spite of the length of the notes it should be performed at a fairly fast tempo of four minims in a bar. There were, of course, no bars in the original version of this music. The imitative passages foreshadow those of the sixteenth-century madrigalists in a remarkable manner ; but it will be noticed that the principles which governed the setting of the words differ even more widely from those of the sixteenth-century musicians than do those of the Tudor madrigahsts from those of our own time. The practice of employing but one syllable over a very lengthy • Oxford History of Music, vol. ii, p. 49. ' Florence, Bibl. Mediceo-Laurenziana, Cod. Ned. Palatino, 87. THE TERM MADRIGAL 51 musical phrase, or even a series of phrases divided by rests, was strongly condemned by Morley,^ who quoted from the music of Dunstable in illustration of his point, and condemned such passages as the work of a dunce ! Morley in this instance was guilty of the error of criticizing the art-work of one generation by the standard of another. i ^^ -^-=-7^ : 22: «^c^ -&■ tt^ da Guar =ffc# <9- Z2: *^ se I -H(S>H- Guar da i se zi: rzsL - — s>- izi: "o- -•n^- CO ra =&£ gion di - fen - der sa 4ii)^ II OII - ^-P!- 'Pt- £: ® CO ra - gion di - fen - der sa i I 3^^ -3=t- fzt II O ii ■ llgJ II : r T i p fa =#^ ^^ @ I mo il It^ =1 .. .. - ^ — l-r- ill 1 1 5^ ^' =^ '— .r^ ^ —J — J — 1 1 — ^ [wri^ 4^ [^-f^-r-n 1 — & 1 © i s5^ 22 -VGMr- -HSH- 1. -HOH- -<^v- g Sl=«; -- :p2=:i^= ?3: ^=X- 1 Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. 178. D 2 52 THE TERM M A D K I G A T. i JC31 -- -Is I -HOH- El vf 1 /k - - -^^9 A— J , . 1_... I bia si - — «S»- mo o - o ver -iS f2__^ \ lo - da che tu &c. bia SI mo o - ver lo - da che tu In discussing the Flemish revival of the Madrigal in the sixteenth century Mr. Wooldridge states * that the composition was studiously simple both in form and style of melody, the music following the metrical structure closely, yet enriching it with graceful points of imitation and the simpler forms of ornamental cadence. The Flemings pursued a cautious way and kept within the outlines of the original models ; but the Italian madrigalist Constanzio Festa opened out a new path which led to the broadly ornate form in which madrigal- writing eventually arrived at perfection. It would not be easy to improve upon Mr. Wooldridge's sketch of the outline of madrigal-structure, for it never was boimd by any such rigid or regularly moulded shape as could be prescribed by a formula or a schedule of rules like those associated with later forms of musical composition. r The English madrigalists followed very much upon the same lines of design and construction, such as they were. They too dealt with the metrical structure of the words line by Une, or phrase by phrase, thus often dividing up the work into well- defined sections ; and each short phrase within the section was itself usually repeated ; a very general, but by no means strict, practice being for each voice to repeat such a phrase three times. And this principle is certainly one of the most distinctive features of the stricter kind of Madrigal as compared 1 Oxford History of Music, vol. ii, pp. 286, 290. THE TERM MADRIGAL 53 with its kindred Art-forms. Yet they rarely allowed all the voice-parts to come to an end simultaneously at any 'One point except to enforce some well-defined close in the poetry, but by a process of skilful dovetaihng they joined section to section. They adhered to the convention of the day in using the major triad at all full closes of importance. They displayed a keen sense of accurate verbal accentuation, together with a fine appreciation of the poetry which they wedded to their music. They employed a great variety of texture and rhythm. They expressed every kind of mood, whether of joy or sorrow, by the employment of suggestive harmony or discord with never-failing resoiurce. By semi-pictorial methods they gave colour to ideas of motion or flight through the use of rapid musical phrases ; and by lengthy and sustained notes and by strongly suspended harmonies they suggested repose or languish- ing despair. This was the type of detail which they studied and cared for, rather than any conventional subserviency to musical rule or formality of design ; and it was this feature which enabled them to achieve such glorious success. 7 CHAPTER VI ELIZABETHAN MADRIGALS AND KINDRED CONTEMPORARY ART-FORMS It is more than a little remarkable that the Elizabethan composers themselves were quite inconsequent in applying the titles to their published works. For this purpose they made use of a large number of terms besides Madrigal ; among these were Canzonet, Ballet, Fa-la, Motet, Air, Song, Pastoral, Neapolitan, and others. Before discussing these terms in detail it may not be out of place to refer to Morley's remarks on some of the different types of composition of this class,^ But Morley was dealing with the subject from the point of view of Italian music rather than English, although he does not actually say so, for he was writing before the great bulk of English madrigals had been produced. Thus, for instance, he concludes with the Villanella and the Vinate, which he describes as representing ' the last two degrees of gravity, if they have any at all ' ; and neither of these forms are to be found among the published works of the English madrigalists. Morley makes a quaint comment in reference to the Vinate : — ' They have framed this to be sung in their drinking : but that vice being so rare among the Italians and Spaniards I rather think that musick to have been devised for the Germains (who in swarmes do flock to the University of Italy) rather than for the Italians them selves.' Morley dealt in the first place with the Motet, which he described as ' properlie a song made for the church either upon some hymne or Antheme or such like '. But he did not limit the term to Church music, as some writers have since done, for he included under this heading ' al grave and sober musicke ' ; and his definition explains the use of the term by Orlando Gibbons, whose one volume in this class of composition bore the title ' Madrigals and Mottets of 5. Parts'. No further indication appears in the body of this book by which to determine how ' Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. 179. KINDRED CONTEMPORARY ART-FORMS 55 these alternative titles were to be applied to the individual pieces ; but it may be assumed that the compositions of a specially serious and introspective character, of which several examples occur in the Set, suggested the employment of the term Motet as being more suitable than the alternative Madrigal. And Martin Peerson gave the title to his volume published in 1630 ' Mottects, or Grave Chamber Musi que '. Passing from Motet to Madrigal, Morley says, ' The light musicke hath beene of late more deepely dived into, so that there is no vanitie which in it hath not been followed to the ful : but the best kind of it is termed Madrigal, a word for the etymologie of which I can give no reason : yet use sheweth that it is a kind of musicke made upon songs and sonnets, such as Petrarcha and manie Poets of our time have excelled in. . . . As for the musicke it is next unto the Motet the most artificial,^ and to men of understanding the most delightfull. If therefore you will compose in this kind you must possess your self with an amorous humor ... so that you must in your musick be wavering like the wind, somtime wanton, somtime drooping, somtime grave and staide, otherwhile effeminat, you may maintaine points and revert them, use triplaes and shew the verie uttermost of your varietie, and the more varietie you shew the better shal you please.' It will be seen that in this delightful sketch of what a madrigal should be Morley did not give any kind of definition as to its structure. There is no doubt that the English composers took a wider view than the Italians of what a madrigal might be. They did not limit its meaning to pastoral subjects or to the lighter type of conceit, but, desiring to express themselves in a more serious vein, they included all subjects, both grave and gay, among their Sets ; yet the term Madrigal was retained without discrimination in this matter, and so it came to have a much more comprehensive meaning. Morley's 1594 volume has already been mentioned as being the first English Set in which the actual title of Madrigal was used ; and this was the only Set so entitled at the time when the Plain and Easy Introduction was written. The only other Sets published with that title before Wilbye's first Set appeared in 1598 were Kirbye's Set and Weelkes's first Set, ' The word is used here in its old sense, meaning full of artifice. 56 ELIZABETHAN MADRIGALS AND both of which were pubhshed in 1597. This Set of Weelkes's included his wonderful three-part madrigal, Cease, sorrows, now (No. 6), which was not only an entirely new departure from a harmonic point of view, as we shall see in a later chapter, but was probably the earliest example of the serious type of English madrigal to bear the name. But from 1598 onward, when Wilbye established the serious madrigal as a recognized form of composition, the term was much more generally used on the title-pages. Thus it came to denote almost any secular compo- sition written at that period in the imitative contrapuntal style, and this enlargement of its meaning accounts partly for the very indiscriminate use that came to be made of it by the EngUsh composers in describing their works. ' The second degree of gravitie in this light musicke', said Morley, ' is given to Canzonets, that is little short songs (wherein little art can be shewed being made in strains, the beginning of which is som point lightly touched, and every strain repeated except the middle) which is in the composition of the Musicke a counterfet of the Madrigal.' Here is all the appearance of a strict definition ; yet an examination of the canzonets of Morley himself, as well as of other Elizabethan composers, shows that the form of the Canzonet was shaped upon no fixed rule. In accordance with his own definition, Morley always added in the title-pages of his Canzonets the words ' or Little Short Airs ', thus implying that they were designed on a smaller scale than Madrigals. Yet his / follow lo the footing, and Stay, heart, run not so fast (Nos. 17 and 18 of his Canzonets to five and six voices) are classed as Canzonets, while April is in my mistress' face (No. i of Morley's Madrigals to four voices) is a Madrigal, although the last named is on a much smaller model. Again, Farmer and Farnaby each published a volume of compositions of very similar calibre within a year of each other ; but whereas Farnaby gave his pieces the title of Canzonet, Farmer's were called Madrigals. The Canzonet was, of course, borrowed from the Italian Canzona and the Chanson of the Flemish School. Chanson, as denoting a com- position for several voice-parts, seems to have been employed even before the revival of the term madrigale by the early sixteenth-century musicians on the Continent. KINDRED CONTEMPORARY ART-FORMS 57 The term Pastoral has already been mentioned as having been used by Byrd in his first secular volume in 1588 as an English equivalent of the Italian madrigale. But the word continued in occasional use long after Madrigal had come to be generally employed. For example, it occurs in Michael East's third Book in 1610 ; and Pilkington used it in both his Sets of ' Madrigals and Pastorals ', though there is nothing in the music of those Sets that marks any distinguishing characteristic between the several compositions. Neopolitan was a term commonly employed by the Italians, but rarely to be met with in the EngHsh madrigal-Hterature. East employed it in his third Book, but the style of the pieces so named is in every respect similar to the Madrigals and Pastorals in the Set. Morley speaks of ' NeapoHtans differing from canzonets in nothing save in name '. The most distinctive term used by the madrigalists was the Ballet, for which Fa-la was sometimes substituted as a more colloquial alternative. The Ballet had its origin as far back as the fourteenth century and was known in all musical countries ; thus the Itahan Ballata of that period corresponded to, and was perhaps derived from, the French Chanson balladee. An essential feature of the Ballet of the EngHsh madrigalists, like that of their Italian predecessors in the same century, was the introduction, at the end of each section, of a florid and rhythmical passage vocalized to the syllables Fa la la. This type of refrain was employed with great effect in this imaccom- panied vocal music for much the same purpose as that for which short instrumental interludes are introduced in contrast to vocal passages in other types of choral composition. With rare exceptions the Fa-la formed no actual part of the poem itself ; but it provided the material for these vocalized sections in the simplest and most suitable shape. Occasionally some other syllable or word was substituted. Weelkes used No, no, no in Say, dainty nymphs, shall we go play? (No. 9 of his Ballets) ; and Morley gave Lirum lirum for the refrain of You that wont to my pipes' sound (Morley's Ballets, No. 13). The Ballet was of a much more regular and simple rhythm in all its sections than the other types of composition of the period. This was due to the fact that in its more primitive form it was a combina- 58 ELIZABETHAN MADRIGALS AND tion of singing and dancing. Morley mentioned this feature of the Ballet : ^ ' There be also another kind of Ballets, com- monly called Fa las ... a shght kind of musick it is, and I take it devised to be danced to voices.' It is evident the Ballets were not danced by Elizabethan singers ; but the dance- rhythms were ever present in the minds both of the composers and singers, and this should be remembered by modern singers in performing these old vocal ballets. Morley stated that Gastoldi, the Italian madrigalist, was the originator of the Fa-la. It is possible that Gastoldi did much to popularize it, but there are earlier examples than his. A large number of English people at the present day regard the Fa-la refrain as the distinguishing feature of the Madrigal. This erroneous idea may be due to the comparatively large number of Elizabethan ballets that have been reprinted, a number out of proportion to the madrigal-compositions of aU other types which have survived from that period. Sulli- van's part-song or so-called ' madrigal ' in The Mikado has done much to perpetuate this error in modern days. Only three complete Sets of Ballets with this actual title were published by the English madrigalists in their own time, one by Morley in 1595, and one by Weelkes in 1598. The Airs or Fa-las of the younger Hilton, published in 1627, have only a small artistic importance. Several other madrigal - Sets included a small proportion of Fa-las. Tomkins ranks with Morley and Weelkes as a writer of Fa-las. He had the advan- tage of writing at a later date than these, but he had sufficient genius to add something new to the Ballet ; his See, see the shepherds' Queen (No. 17 of the Set) has three distinct sections, each with its Fa-la, as compared with the conventional two sections of the earlier English and Italian model. Some very fine specimens of Tomkins's work are entirely madrigalian in character, even though a Fa-la refrain is introduced. For it does not necessarily follow that the presence of a Fa-la makes the composition a Ballet ; in the true Ballet a regularly defined dance-rhythm must be maintained throughout all the sections. A very fine example of the use of the Fa-la refrain in a compo- sition that cannot possibly be described as a Ballet is Weelkes's ' Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. 179. KINDRED CONTEMPORARY ART-FORMS 59 care, thou wilt despatch me (Nos, 4 and 5 of his Madrigals for five voices). There the careworn man appeals to Music to cheer him, and the subtle imagination of Weelkes led him at this point to write a. Fa-la in the usual merry rhythm of crotchets and quavers, but at a slower tempo and clothed with harmonies which vividly depict the unsuccessful effort towards gaiety.^ A good illustration of the indiscriminate use of their termino- logy by the madrigalists is provided in Morley's Book of Ballets; this book contains several pieces which cannot possibly be styled Ballets and have no Fa-la refrain ; yet nothing is said either on the title-page, or elsewhere in the volumes, drawing any distinction between these and the rest. The Catch, or Round, was alluded to in Chapter I of the present work, but it calls for further mention here as having been in vogue in the Tudor period, although it is quite distinct from the Madrigal even in the most comprehensive meaning of that word. The form of the Round was designed for three or more voices singing the same melody, each voice entering at an independent point, and the overlapping effect resulting in musical harmony. The earliest known Round is Sumer is y comen in, but the form itself is so popular that it has continued to enjoy a vigorous existence ever since the thirteenth century. It is not strictly correct to apply the term Canon to this form of vocal music, for that word has in later days acquired an exclusive meaning of its own ; but Canon was in fact used by Ravenscroft, as weU as by other Tudor musicians, as a synonym for Catch or Round. Between the years 1609 and 161 1 Ravens- croft edited three volumes, consisting mainly of Rounds, but including also some folk-songs and tavern-songs ; they were entitled Pammelia, Deuteromelia, and Melismata. The con- temporary versions of such traditional Rounds as Three blind mice and Frog he would a wooing go, besides many other well- known nursery rhymes, are to be found in these books. A manu- script collection of Rounds, made by one David Melvill in the early years of the seventeenth century, has recently been printed for the Roxburgh Club ; it contains a large number of examples that are also to be found in the Ravenscroft volumes. The Air, so often spelt Ayre in the original editions of these ' This madrigal is more fully analysed on p. 198. 6o ELIZABETHAN MADRIGALS AND works, is the only term that remains for consideration. This word was used by the Tudor composers with greater variety of meaning than any other of these terms. Morley ^ regarded it as being appHcable to Ballets ' and all other kinds of light musick saving the madrigal ', and he was quite consistent in using it as an alternative to Canzonet in his title-pages. Weelkes called his last volume ' Ayeres or Phantasticke Spirites '. But since, as we have already seen, many Canzonets are indistinguishable from Madrigals, and that madrigal-form is itself indefinite, it is difficult to follow Morley in his statement, more especially as his own Hark ! Alleluia (No. 21) was classed by him as a ' Canzo- net or little short air to six voices ', for it would be ridiculous to describe this particular composition as a ' kind of light musick '. At the same time a close study of the whole subject shows that this term denoted very much what it does in modem days, namely, a tune. For the Airs of the lutenists involve little if any verbal repetition ; and the same thing may be said in a general way about the Canzonet, and even of the Ballet. Though the terminology was so loosely employed, yet this main distinction between the Madrigal and the Air or Canzonet was evidently understood by these composers, repetition being considered an essential feature of the Madrigal. But the word Air was used by the Tudor musicians in another sense, as denoting a type of composition which is to be very clearly distinguished from the Madrigal. For purposes of difterentiation this may be called the Lutenists' Air, for it was the creation of the lutenist-composers who were the contempo- raries of the Tudor madrigalists ; and the distinguishing feature of this species of Air was the invariable presence of a lute accompaniment in the original printed editions. The history of lute-playing and of lute music in England is some- what outside the scope of the present volume, but it is fully dealt with in an admirable article in Mr. Kennedy Scott's Euterpe Series,^ in which the causes are carefully explained which led to the appearance of this new Art-form in the very last years of the sixteenth century as the product of the creative ' Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. 180. ' Lutenists and Lute-playing in England by J. D., Euterpe Series, vol. vii. KINDRED CONTEMPORARY ART-FORMS 6i genius of John Dowland. The lutenists' Air in its harmonized form for combined voices much more nearly resembles the modem Part-song than the Madrigal. This is to be accounted for by the natural instinct of the lutenist to write a solo-song, usually with several stanzas of words and with an accompani- ment for the lute reinforced by a bass viol or viol da gamba ; and in many instances, though by no means invariably, the solo-song was adapted to use for combined voices by the comparatively simple process of harmonization in four parts. No positive evidence can be cited to prove whether the lutenists intended these Airs, when arranged for combined voices, to be sung with accompaniment as an indispensable part of the whole effect. The harmonies of the lute-part do not quite invariably agree with those of the voices ; and in certain rare instances the simultaneous performance of the two would produce caco- phonous results. There need be no hesitation as to the artistic correctness of singing such pieces as Ford's Since first I saw your face (Music of Sundry Kinds, No. 8) or Dowland's Awake, sweet love (First Book of Airs, No. 20), for four voices without accompaniment . Another type of composition is occasionally to be met with among the lutenists' Airs. For example, Dowland's Come when I call (Book III, No. 21) is a dialogue for two solo-voices, concluding with eight bars for five-part chorus ; each of the solo-voices has its separate lute accompaniment, while the First voice has in addition a string accompaniment of three viols. And another device was to write a solo-song with lute and string accompaniment and to repeat the refrain with a chorus of combined voices. Dowland's wonderful From silent night (A Pilgrim's Solace, No. 10) is for solo-voice, with accompaniment for lute and bass-viol and also what is virtually an obbligato for treble-viol or violin. One other use of the term Air must be mentioned. It was employed by Morley to denote what in modem phraseology is described by the word colour in relation to individuality of key. Thus he speaks of * the ay re of everie key ' being different,^ and in reference to what he calls * going out of the key ', and especially ending in another key, which he condemned as ' one > Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. 147. 62 ELIZABETHAN MADRIGALS AND of the gravest faults which may be committed ', Morley gives one of his delightfully quaint illustrations : ' every key hath a peculiar ayre proper unto it selfe so that if you go into another then that wherein you begun, you change the aire of the song which is as much as to wrest a thing out of his nature, making the asse leap upon his maister, and the Spaniell beare theloade'.* In spite of the loose terminology of the Tudor musicians, the lutenists clearly recognized the difference between the Madrigal and the Air. Robert Jones and Pilkington, each of whom published work in both of these classes of composition, noted the difference in a distinct manner on their title-pages. Jones, after having published two books of ' Songes and Ay res ', entitled his next volume ' First Set of Madrigals '. Similarly Pilkington produced a 'First Booke of Songs or Ayres', and afterwards a First and a Second ' Set of Madrigals and Pastorals '. This is all the more noteworthy in Pilkington's case, because in his work, more than in that of any other of these composers, the two styles overlap. Many of his Songs and Airs are somewhat madrigalian ; yet the presence of the lute-part leaves no room for option in classifying them. Before leaving the subject of the terminology it may be stated that although attempts have been made since Tudor days to assign exact meaning to terms which were vaguely used by these old musicians, it is now customary in concert programmes or in music catalogues to apply the term Madrigal rather than Part-song or Air to such pieces as Awake, sweet love or Since first I saw your face. Meanwhile both Part-song and Air have become vested with a technical meaning which disqualifies them for employment in these particular instances, and in consequence Madrigal offers itself as the only alternative ; so that it may not be unreasonable to suggest, as a matter of general expediency, if not on more logical grounds, that the word Madrigal should now be adopted as the generic term covering the entire field of the unaccompanied secular vocal part-music of the Tudors. The difficulty that has to be con- fronted in any attempt to classify these pieces of music under the several titles is greatly increased by the fact that the forms which these terms denote are also very indefinite, and that there * Morley's Plain andJEasy Introduction, p. 147. KINDRED CONTEMPORARY ART-FORMS 63 is a considerable overlapping of their style. Nor must it be forgotten that the term Madrigal, whether rightly or wrongly, has already acquired this generic significance in the minds of a large section of the community. There is one further point that must be made clear. It has been frequently stated by those who have attempted definitions of madrigal-form that one of its essential features is the modal character of its tonality ; and this statement is made, appar- ently, with the intention of covering compositions that have been written, designedly in the madrigal style, since the Tudor period. As referring to the sixteenth-century Madrigal such a statement is of the nature of a truism, for it means no more than that these madrigals, whether English or Italian, were written in the idiom of their own time. To lay down a rule making it imperative that any composer who since the Tudor period should desire to set a pastoral lyric to contrapuntal music, perhaps introducing a Fa-la refrain, must necessarily confine himself to one of the ancient modes, all for the sake of calling it a Madrigal, is to distort the whole historic sense. Certainly the would-be madrigalist will succeed in attaining to Morley's ideal in one respect, for his work will be extremely ' artificial ' ; but the meaning of that adjective has changed since Morley used it. If such a composition lacks the modal character, the true Elizabethan flavour will, of course, also be wanting ; but this wiU still be the case if the composer fails to reproduce the curious antique methods of underlaying the words, or still more the peculiar principles of rhythmical treatment, not to mention other special characteristics so commonly ignored at all periods by aspiring imitators of the great madrigalists. Moreover, the Tudor composers lived and wrote at an epoch of rapid transition in the history of musical development. Thisfact had a direct influence on their methods of word-setting, for the old principles which governed Plain- song were beginning to give way to the more regular mensurate rhythms, and both these influences are apparent in the English madrigals. And as regards the modes and the tonal principles which they controlled, the differentiating characteristics were at this time in the actual process of disappearing or becoming merged in those two survivors among them which virtually 64 KINDRED CONTEMPORARY ART-FORMS constitute the ordinary major and minor scales of more modern times. There are many madrigals of the Tudor School which cannot be said to have any distinctively modal character. Once again, this was the period at which many traditional conventions associated with part-writing were being defied and overthrown, with the result that in this music we find chords employed and progressions used which would have been sternly condemned by the older theorists. All these details contribute towards making the musical idiom from about 1590 to 1625 in a very special degree peculiar to its own time. Yet the madrigal-composers of that day employed it with absolute spontaneity ; and such irregularities as they frequently introduced, by way of harmonic experiment or otherwise, were written with a natural freedom that cannot conceivably be counterfeited by a modern imitator. All imitative Art is liable to be wrecked upon the rocks of artificiality (in its modern sense), and the copyist's work never fails to betray a lack of the spontaneity and vitality which may be present in the work from which the copy is made ; but imitation under the very peculiar conditions just described is foredoomed to failure. Moreover, it cannot be too strongly stated that if it be just possible at the present time, by slavish care, to make a passable imitation of an Elizabethan madrigal, yet even the best imitative work has practically no inherent value as compared with that of a purely creative kind ; for in Literature and Music alike it is a principle of vital importance that the contemporary idiom should be exclusively used as the vehicle of expression. On the other hand, the sixteenth-century madrigals still stand in the realm of true Art to-day with their vitality unim- paired by the lapse of three centuries. Though they are clothed with a phraseology and idiom which have long since passed out of fashion, and though they have, in a sense, grown antique, yet they are ready for use exactly as they stand, with all the full vigour of life glowing in them,, even in the changed circumstances and conditions of the twentieth century. CHAPTER VII THE TUDOR PART-BOOKS AND THE VOICES EMPLOYED The original editions of the works of the EngHsh madrigal writers are now extremely scarce and command very high prices on the rare occasions on which they appear in the market. Thus, for example, at the Huth sale in 1916 a copy of the ' Triumphs of Oriana ' fetched as much as ;^89, while Morley's Ballets sold for ^^68 and the second edition of his three-part Canzonets for £^2. Even higher prices ruled at the Brit well sale in 1919, when Pilkington's Sets realized ;^ioo and ^£125, and Bennet's ^^98 ; while single voice-parts, practically useless when separated from the rest of the parts, fetched ^10 and more. It is not known what number of copies were printed in each edition, and no more than an approximate conjecture can now be made on the subject, but it would seem that there could' not have been more than 250 copies to an edition, and possibly there were not more than 100. We know that it was customary not to have more than one, or, at the most, two complete sets of the part-books of any one volume of madrigals in the library of even a music-loving household. At Hengrave Hall, for instance, where Wilbye lived, the inventory of the music books,^ made in 1602, shows no example of a duplicate copy of any one work. Moreover, it is unlikely that manuscript extracts were made from these books for the use of further singers, because that would have involved an infringement of the terms of the printing licence successively owned by Tallis, Byrd, Morley, East and others. Incidentally the scarcity of copies, even in Elizabethan days, raises the question as to whether the madrigals were usually performed by single voices or by several singers to each voice-part ; and it seems probable that no strict rule was observed in this matter, the only necessary limitation being that not more than two or three persons could * See the Author's Paper on Wilbye, Musical Association Proceedings, 1914-15. 3049 E 66 TUDOR PART-BOOKS AND have sung with comfort while sharing one part-book. The best musical effect would often have been secured, especially in the more complex types of madrigal, by single voices. But it must be remembered that no such thing as a public performance or anything even remotely resembling a modern concert was given until long after Tudor times. Chamber-music, in its strict meaning, was the only form of playing or singing that was then in vogue. And there were no conductors in the modem sense ; indeed the custom of conducting with a baton did not come into general use until the nineteenth century. The music at this time was never printed in score after the manner of modern part-songs, but each voice-part was printed by itself in a separate book. We may presume that the composers in the first place wrote their music in score, but that they discarded or destroyed the score as soon as the separate part-books had been prepared from it, and the part- books alone passed through the printers' hands. It may readily be imagined that under such conditions singers had to exercise their attention to the utmost in such matters as the counting of rests, and the strict observation of the values of notes and rests alike, seeing that they had no conductor to give them their cue of entry or to correct any error ; while they also lacked the guidance provided by a simultaneous view of all the vocal parts as shown in a score. These early singers had to meet yet another difficulty, the measure of which can scarcely be apprehended by the modern performer whose music is regularly intersected with bar-lines to assist him in keeping his place, for the music in these old part-books is printed without any bar-lines whatever, except in the case of the lutenists' ■ Airs, in which a certain amount of barring, often of an irregular kind, was rendered necessary by the system of lute-tablatiu^e. The accompanying facsimile of a page of the Cantus part-book out of Wilbye's ' First Set of Madrigals ' will illustrate the fore- going remarks. f It was the usual custom of the madrigalists to issue a volume consisting of a good number of pieces together, rather than to publish isolated compositions of this kind in accordance with the method of more modern times. Their volumes most com- monly comprise from 20 to 24 madrigals ; but Byrd's ' Songs THE VOICES EMPLOYED 67 of S ^oc. XXII. C A N T V S. Jj0 Lo-ragaucmcfayrcnflowcri, :|[: noncrofaycr,:|[: liiiiiEiiiiliigiiiil :|1: InFlorii(rearurc,noncfofiiicr:||: :|(: InFlorastreafurctThcrd itsiiliil^aSiiSIsi pIaftonPhilIiiBowerijShewMplcafd,:||: :jf: And fhe my plcafure, Shew3splcard,:||: :{|: And (lie my plea^fure: Smiling raeadoweirceme to faXiCoroeyee wantons, heereto play. Smiling meadoweifecmetoray,6omeyee wanton*,hcef e to play, Come hcerc to play. Comeyee wantona hecre to play, to iiiii=i!piigiii!^i pIay,ComcyccwantonihccrctopIay,:||: :[|: topIay,comcye Kecrc ondcth the fonga of j. parts* E 2 68 TUDOR PART-BOOKS AND of sundrie natures ' includes as many as 47 numbers, and the two Wilbye Sets contain 30 and 34 madrigals respectively. The longer compositions are not infrequently divided into two, and occasionally more, sections, these being numbered as independent pieces in the Set. Wilbye 's Sweet honey-sucking bees is a case in point ; the first section figures as No. 17 (in the second of Wilbye's volumes) and the second section, which begins at the words Yet, sweet, take heed, is printed as a separate composition and numbered 18 in the Set. The connexion between the two sections in such cases is indicated by the heading ' The first part ' and ' The second part ' respectively. Weclkes's My flocks feed not is in three sections, numbered as 2, 3, and 4 of his first Set of madrigals. And Gibbons's / weigh not Fortune's frown, which extends to as many as four sections (Nos. 3 to 6 of his ' Madrigals and Mottets '), forms, as a whole, a composition of considerable length. The consecutive sections are usually, but not invariably, designed for the same combina- tions of voices. Occasionally the time-signature, and sometimes even the key-signature, of the second section differs from that of the first. In And think ye, Nymphs (Nos. 42 and 43 of ' Songs of sundrie natures ') Byrd set the first part for five voices and the second for six. In some instances either section is sufficiently complete to admit of performance by itself, and such separate use is perfectly consistent \vith the clear intention of the com- posers. The composers never specified to what particular class of voice the parts were to be allotted, for the names given by them to the part-books afford no indication as to the actual pitch or class of voice which should most suitably be employed, whether soprano, alto, tenor, or bass. A variety of names was given to the part-books, but the name, when once given, held right through that particular book, regardless of the different classes of voice which were often required to sing the music contained in it. For example, the Altus and Tenor-books contain music by no means exclusively intended for the use of those individual voices. In the case of a Set of four-part compositions the part-books might be named respectively Cantus, Altus, Tenor, and Bassus, but if the Set should happen to include a composition, say, for two sopranos, an alto, and THE VOICES EMPLOYED 69 a tenor, the second soprano-part, regardless of compass, would be printed in the Altus-book, the alto in the Tenor-book, and the tenor in the Bassus-book. A part for soprano compass may even appear in a Tenor-book, as in the case of Weelkes's Three virgin nymphs (No, 10 of his 1597 Set) which is for three sopranos of equal compass and a bass. Similarly the music in a Contra-tenor part-book, as in Byrd's Sets, is by no means limited to the counter-tenor voice. The names most ordinarily given to the part-books by the madrigalists were Cantus {primus and secundus), Altus, Contra- tenor, Medius, Tenor, and Bassus ; while in the case of composi- tions of more than four parts the terms Quintus, Sextus, and Septimus were also used. Byrd employed the term Triplex instead of Cantus in his 1588 Set, but only for the first four compositions in that book. As another alternative to Cantus the term Superius was occasionally employed. With very few exceptions Cantus is used for the top voice-part and Bassus for the lowest; while Altus, Contra-tenor, and Tenor, when those terms are used at all, always appear in that order as far as the pitch of the voice-part is concerned, even though they may not correspond throughout to the compass of voice usually associated with those terms. The position of the Medius, Quintus, Sextus, &c.,in relation to the Altus, Contra-tenor, and Tenor is variable. The choice of voices to which the several parts are to be allotted for performance does not therefore depend upon the original term prefixed to the part-book, but solely upon the compass and general range of the music ; and each case must be judged on its own merits and with reference to individual conditions. The choice is consequently left entirely to the discretion of the conductor, and may vary according to the material at his disposal, an important con- sideration depending upon whether the voices of men, women, or boys are available for the alto-parts. For practical purposes with modern singers a serious diffi- culty is presented by the awkward compass of the inner voice- parts of much of this music, both sacred and secular, though the difficulty is much mitigated when male altos are available. For the alto-parts sometimes extend for a compass of nearly two octaves, ranging for an octave on either side of middle C. 70 TUDOR PART-BOOKS AND And the tenor-parts often lie very high, yet too low for female alto singers. It seems probable that in Elizabethan days male singers made very free use of the falsetto register. In order to meet this very real difficulty some editors have introduced drastic emendations into the text ; such a course of action is inexcusable unless adequate annotation is printed which may enable the student to perceive the exact form of the composer's text, and may also make it possible to perform the music in its original design when circumstances admit of it. In Wilbye's Sweet honey-sucking bees, where two counter-tenor voices of equal compass are employed, the difficulty has been met in most reprints by a wholesale rearrangement of these two voice- parts without annotation, but it might be overcome by trans- posing the music down a tone ; while if counter-tenors are available, the parts, as they stand in the original text, are exactly suitable for that class of voice. In many instances this type of difficulty can be solved by the readjustment of a single phrase and sometimes of no more than one note. Another plan is to include a few alto voices among the tenors, and vice versa. But all such minor matters are best left to the judgement of con- ductors, who must be guided by their own individual require- ments, acting always on a wise discretion and with due rever- ence for the composer's text. The problem of the voices is closely intertwined with the question of musical pitch. Nothing approaching a uniform standard of pitch was in existence in Tudor times, nor is it easy to arrive at any definite conclusion as to how far the pitch in those days differed from that which we now use. It must not be forgotten, too, that a considerable variation, amounting to nearly a semitone, is still tolerated in our own day in spite of all the efforts to secure uniformity. Musical pitch, as is well known, can be formulated with scientific exactness ; for example, the pitch which is now most commonly employed in this country, and is usually known to orchestral players as ' flat pitch ', is signified by the formula i -^=3= =435-4. In other words, that this note is produced by a series of vibrations generated at the rate of 4354 per second at a temperature of 59° Fahrenheit. Unfortunately the old THE VOICES EMPLOYED 71 musicians left few exact records for our information ; but it is known that the pitch of the organ in Halberstadt Cathedral in the year 1495 was A =505-8 ; while that of Hampton Court in 1690 was A =4417. These facts are naturally of little value in determining the musical pitch in use at the close of the six- teenth century, but it will be noticed that whereas the Hamp- ton Court organ corresponded fairly closely with our modern standard of pitch, the Halberstadt organ was nearly a minor third sharper. It is very frequently stated, and this opinion is widely sup- ported, that musical pitch in the Tudor period was about a minor third flatter than that of the present day. This estimate is mainly founded on the supposition that the old keyed-instru- ments, the predecessors of the pianoforte, were tuned to some such pitch, and also on the fact that their frames were not strong enough to stand the increased tension that the higher pitch would involve. It is, indeed, necessary to strengthen the frame of these old instruments when adapting them in modern days to our present standard of pitch. But there are grave difficulties in bringing this theory into line with the compass of the voices employed in the madrigals. In examining this aspect of the question it will be obvious that the inner parts of a vocal composition give little indication of a definite nature ; but very valuable evidence is provided by the soprano and bass parts, for, on the reasonable assumption that the human voice in these two departments has not greatly changed in compass, it would appear that the pitch used by the composers of secular vocal music at this period was very much the same as it is now, even though it was by no means standard- ized and, no doubt, varied considerably in actual performance. Thus, the soprano parts were never written above A, yet that note was very commonly employed ; and the compass of this voice frequently extended down from A to middle C. These facts do not in themselves militate against the theory that the pitch was a minor third lower, although that would give F sharp as the highest note ever assigned to the top voice-part. But at the other end of the vocal range the bass parts offer an insuperable objection to the pitch having been as much as a minor third below our own ; for very commonly the compass ranges, 72 TUDOR PART-BOOKS AND as in modern days, from G up to D ; but occasionally it goes down to low E and even D, which, if transposed down a minor third, would correspond to B natural in our pitch. But we possess one other exact record about pitch in England in the seventeenth century. This consists of an explanatory' note appended to the organ copy of Thomas Tomkins's Musica Deo Sacra} This work was not published till 1668, twelve years after his death, but the note may be taken to refer to the life-experience of Tomkins, which covers the first half of the seventeenth century. The note is as follows : ' ^ -^^ sit tonus fistulae apertae longitudine duorum pedum et semissis : sive 30 digit orum Geometricorum.' In other words, when Tomkins wrote F it represented to him a sound which stands between G and A flat in our modern pitch. Thus Tomkins used a pitch that was more than a tone higher than ours. There is no reason to suppose that this composer was singular in his experience, and it happens to agree rather nearly with the known pitch of the Halberstadt organ in 1495. In the light of all these facts taken together only one theory seems possible : namely that three distinct classes of pitch prevailed simultaneously in this country at the period of the madrigal school, though none of these was defined with exact precision ; while it is more than improbable that uniformity of standard within these three classes was even approximately y^y observed. Thus, the secular vocal pitch would have been much the same as it is now ; the pitch of Church music (involving that of organs) was more than a tone higher than modern pitch ; while virginals and other kindred instruments were tuned about a minor third below the pitch of to-day. And with a musical system which, as we know, involved the use of tliree different standards of scale,- there is nothing inconsistent in the theory that there were as many as three general standards of pitch in simultaneous use. It is noteworthy that virginals do not seem to have been employed for accompanying voices in Elizabethan times, and indeed they were precluded from such » This note is printed in the copy of this work in the library of St. Michael's College, Tenbury, together with a note on /ew^o (see p. 90). No other known copies have these notes. * See pp. 97-8. THE VOICES EMPLOYED 73 employment by the important differences of scale to which they were tmied, quite apart from any question of pitch.^ And there is nothing to show that the lute and instruments of the viol family, which were commonly used with the secular vocal music, might not have been tuned to a higher pitch for pur- poses of accompaniment ; the pitch of the lute was easily raised as much as a minor third by a mechanical contrivance called the capo d' astro. Returning to the theory that different standards of pitch were in use for Church music and secular vocal music, it is interesting to compare the music of each class ; and on this evidence the theory receives strong confirmation. In the madrigal Set of Tomkins are included a few settings of scripture words, and in these the compass of the voices is pitched lower than in the secular songs. In one case the Cantus-part ranges ^ . ^°-t: := and the tenor-part is exactly an octave lower in compass. If this com- position is raised in pitch something over a tone, the compass of these voice-parts becomes normal. On the other hand, those secular numbers in the same Set which take the soprano up to A are not likely to have been conceived at the pitch which Tomkins defined in Musica Deo Sacra. It is moreover a fact well known to all English Church-musicians that the greater part of the sacred polyphonic music of this period, as scored, lies too low for satisfactory effect unless it is transposed up at least a tone ; and this circumstance endorses Tomkins's note. But it is remarkable that this difference of pitch is frequently referred to in a slipshod and careless manner by those who should know better ; a well-known cathedral Service of this school was lately reprinted in transposed form, and the editor explained in his Preface that he had transposed the music up a tone for the reason that pitch at the beginning of the seventeentli century was lower than it is now. He had done the right thing, but the correct explanation was that the pitch for Church music was, as Tomkins records, quite a tone higher than modern pitch. One other matter of importance is closely connected with the consideration of the voice-parts of this music. It is the » Ibid. 74 TUDOR PART-BOOKS AND question as to whether madrigals should be submitted to trans- position for the purpose of bringing the voice-parts into more suitable range or of meeting special needs. Some authorities have declared that transposition should never be allowed; Thomas Morley himself was one of these ; for he says/ ' Those songs which are made for the high key be made for more life ; the other in the low key for more gravitie and staidnesse ; so that if you sing them in contrarie keys they will lose their grace and \vill be wrested as it were out of their nature. ' In more recent times Thomas OHphant endorsed this view, for,^ after quoting Morley to support him, he says that transposition should never be allowed because it involves serious detriment to the music ; and he adds that every part is well adapted to the particular quality of voice for which it was originally written. In expressing this opinion Oliphant ignored the difficulty which does undoubtedly exist for choirs of mixed voices in relation to the compass of the inner voice-parts ; and one remedy for this is certainly transposition. Occasionally also the soprano parts lie in a very high register, and nothing will be lost, from Morley 's point of view, by transposing certain pieces at least a tone down. This is especially the case with some of Morley 's Canzonets for two voices, and such madrigals as the same composer's Ho I who comes here ? or Hark ! jolly shepherds (Nos, 19 and 20 of Madrigals for four voices). Yet it is well to bear in mind Morley 's instruction. For it is evident from the variety of clefs selected by the madrigalists, as well as from the deliberate limitations of compass which they sometimes imposed upon the voice-parts, that they had a strong feeling not only for differentiating the ordinary four classes of voice, but also for appreciating the variety of com- pass controlled by singers within the limits of each class. Con- sequently they provided suitable music for all ranges of voice, including occasionally those of very limited range, and they also wrote for various combinations of voices. In this way they met the needs of almost any casual gathering of singers ; and this feature is not without its advantages in our own day, particu- larly in country districts. In modern four-part vocal music the » Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. i66. * Oliphant. A Short Account of Madrigals, p. 13. THE VOICES EMPLOYED 75 combination of soprano, alto, tenor, and bass is so very general, except, of course, when male or female voices are being employed alone, that too great a tendency has been shown by editors of madrigals to squeeze the original combinations into the S.A.T.B. mould by means of transposition, regarding this as a matter of presumed necessity, in defiance of the composer's deliberate intention. This method of editing often involves further difficulties connected with the compass of the inner parts, and these are surmounted only too frequently by tamper- ing with the original part-writing. Transposition may reasonably be employed in certain cases, at the discretion of a conductor, to meet special requirements and circumstances ; but there can be no doubt that these old composers deliberately obtained a contrast in tone-colour by their varied treatment in the selection of voices to be used together, and it would involve a definite loss if this feature were entirely obliterated. CHAPTER VIII TITLE-PAGES, PATRONS, AND PRINTERS OF THE ORIGINAL EDITIONS It has already been explained that the individual voice- parts of the madrigals were copied from the full score into separate books and printed only in that form. For practical use this was in many respects a convenient method. The lutenists' Airs were printed on a different system, all the voice- parts, together with the lute-tablature, being printed in one book, not in score, but ingeniously arranged on the page so that four persons standing in a semicircle and holding the book in the centre could sing the music from the one copy. The lute-part was always printed in conjunction with the Cantus- part under this arrangement, and for this reason bar-lines, corresponding with those in the tablature, were introduced into the Cantus-part, while the Altus, Tenor, and Bassus voice- parts were printed entirely without bars just as they were in the madrigal part-books. In the case of the madrigal part-books, with which we are here chiefly concerned, the complete Set of each voiccrpart was bound as a volume, and the title-pages, together with the dedications, tables of contents, and other such details, were reproduced identically in each of the corresponding volumes ; the only point of difference was the addition of the name of the voice to which the part-book belonged : viz. Cantus, Altus, and so on. This will explain the apparent inconsistency that occurs when, for instance, the voice-part of a third soprano is to be found in the Tenor part-book. As numbers of four- part madrigals were written with a voice of tenor compass as the lowest part, which therefore appeared in the Bassus part-book, it will be readily understood that the name of the part-book impHes nothing as to the actual class of voice which should be employed for singing the music throughout a par- ticular part-book. In any Set of madrigals which was not TITLE-PAGES, PATRONS, PRINTERS 77 uniformly for the same number of voices, tlie madrigals were grouped together in accordance with the number of voices, the group for three voices being placed at the beginning of the volume ; and at end of each group came the formula ' Here endeth the songs of three parts ' and so on. In such cases the Cantus, Altus, and Bassus books were those in which the three-part compositions were printed ; and in these circumstances the Bassus very commonly contained music for an alto or tenor voice. The Tenor part-book came into use when the four-part group was reached, and the Quintus, or Medius, and Sextus part-books were further added to meet the increase of voice- parts in the later groups of the Set. All the part-books in the Set were numbered in accordance with the Cantus book, thus the Quintus book might begin at No. 13 and the Sextus at No. 19, but the complete table of contents from No. i would appear in these books. The title-pages were frequently ornamented with lace borders of beautiful design. The size of the type on these title-pages varied a good deal, and, unlike our modern custom, the name of the composer was sometimes printed quite small. The musical position and the University degree of the composer were usually added. One curious feature of the title-pages was the use of the term ' First Set ' even in cases when a second Set was not subsequently published or ever contemplated by the composer who employed it. Many of the madrigal Sets are described on the title-pages as ' Apt for the viols and voices '. This formula has given rise to much discussion with reference to its exact meaning. It was Weelkes who first used this formula in his Madrigals for five and six voices, published in 1600, and after this date it appeared on the title-page of almost every madrigal Set. This fact will account for its inclusion in Wilbye's 1609 Set whereas it does not appear in his 1598 Set, a circumstance which had seemed difficult to explain seeing that the music of these two Sets did not appear to differ materially in style. The same fact explains the absence of any such formula from Morley's Sets. Some composers adopted the variant ' apt for viols or voices ', and in Robert Jones's Set, published in 1607, the description is : ' for viols and voices, or for voices alone, or as you please.' The yS TITLE-PAGES, alternative employment of voices and instruments for perform- ing music was no new thing in 1600, because Byrd, in the ' Epistle to the Reader ' of his 1588 volume, speaks of ' express- ing of these songs either by voices or instruments '. But twelve years elapsed after this date before the stamp of general sanction was given to the alternative practice by the composers on their title-pages. There can be little doubt but that Weelkes was influenced in this matter by the greater importance which instrumental accompaniment had assumed since the year 1597, when Dow- land had introduced an entirely new class of vocal music in his 'First Booke of Songes or Ayres'. For although the instrumental accompaniment was not regarded as an indispensable feature in the performance of the lutenists' Air for combined voices, yet its function and utility were more definitely recognized after its appearance. Dowland's 1597 book bore the title ' The First Booke of Songes or A^Tes of fowre partes with Tableture for the Lute : So made that all the partes together, or either of them severally may be song to the Lute, Orpherian or Viol de gambo.' The subject of the lutenists' music will be dealt with in a later chapter. But as regards the music of the madrigalists proper, it is evident that they perceived in the growing demand for instrumental music a further and more general use for the compositions which they had designed primarily for voices alone ; consequently from this date they duly advertised the suitability of their music for instrumental as well as vocal performance. For music composed expressly for viols was at this period precisely similar in style to vocal music. We can scarcely doubt that unaccompanied voices were regarded as the best medium for performing the madrigals, provided always, as Byrd put it,^ ' the voices are good and the same well sorted and ordered '. Yet it seems probable that the support of the viols was occasionally drawn upon when, at casual gatherings, it happened that either the singers were insufficient in number or quality for rendering the whole of the voice-parts, or that any of the singers lacked the necessary skill to sustain his own part correctly without support. It must ' Byrd's Reasons to persuade everyone to learn to sing, Byrd's 1588 Set, Preface. PATRONS, AND PRINTERS 79 not be supposed that the formula ' apt for voices and viols ' can be cited to justify or render desirable in modem times the accompaniment of Tudor music for combined voices, whether sacred or secular, by a pianoforte, or an organ, or any other instrument tuned on the principle of equal temperament. Before leaving this subject it may be mentioned that many of the madrigals can be performed with fine effect upon modern string instruments, especially if due discretion is exercised for securing unanimity in details of bowing and phrasing as well as in the use of expression marks. WTien madrigal music was played upon viols in Tudor times, as we learn from Ford's ' Musicke of sundrie Kindes ', the notes which were reiterated in the voice-parts solely for the purpose of carrying additional syllables of the words were, as a general rule, tied together. Good taste in dealing with all these points will add consider- ably to the effectiveness of the instrumental performance of a madrigal. In occasional compositions in the madrigal Sets it wiU be found that the words are printed in only one, or sometimes two, of the part-books, while the remaining part-books have the music without any words beyond the opening phrase, which was only placed there for purposes of reference. In these conditions the music of these other parts was intended to be played on viols as an accompaniment to a vocal solo, or duet, as the case may be. Sometimes the words of a refrain or chorus appear in all the voice-parts in contrast to the solo with which the composition opens, and in such cases the viols should play right through, the voices joining in only where the words are printed in full. The following are examples of this class of composition : Byrd's Ah, silly soul and How vain the toils (No. 31 and 32 of his 161 1 Set) both of which are for solo with string-quintet accompaniment ; God that guides the cheerful sun (No. 28 of the same Set) is for solo and chorus ; John Mundy's The Shepherd Strephon {' Songs and Psalmes ', Nos. 20 and 21) is for solo with instrumental accompaniment. The whole of Martin Peerson's ' Private Musicke ' consists of compositions of this kind ; the best-known number in this set is to Verstegan's carol Upon my lap my Sovereign sits (No. 12), which should properly be performed as a solo with 8o TITLE-PAGES. a lullaby refrain at the end of each stanza, in which alone the chorus takes part. Peerson's music was not designed on the madrigal model nor intended by him for use as unaccompanied combined song. On the back of the title-pages of the madrigal Sets it was almost the invariable custom to inscribe an elaborate dedication to some influential patron. These dedications were generally couched in terms of liberal flattery in the style of the day ; but in many cases these dedications record facts or provide clues which have led to the discovery of fresh information connected with the biography of the composers. The complete list of patrons is a wide and representative one, and some of the names figure in more than one of the madrigal Sets. Sir Christopher Hatton was the patron of Byrd's first Set, of Gibbons's Set, and of East's last Set. Robert, Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth's favourite, was patron of John Mundy's Set and also of Watson's ' First sett of Madrigalls Englished ' ; while his son, the third Earl, was one of Michael East's patrons. Byrd and Campian each dedicated a volume to Francis, Earl of Cumberland, Sir George Carey, afterwards Lord Hunsdon, was among the many patrons of Morley and of Dowland. Tomkins and Hume both enjoyed the patronage of William, Earl of Pembroke ; and Mary, Countess of Pembroke — ' Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother ' — was patroness of Morley 's Canzonets to three voices. Other notable people to whom the madrigalists dedicated volumes were : Henry, Prince of Wales (Robert Jones) ; Lord Howard of Effingham (Morley) ; Lady Arabella Stuart (Wilbye) ; Edward, seventeenth Earl of Oxford (Farmer) ; William, sixth Earl of Derby (Pilkington) and Robert, first Earl of Salisbury (Morley and Jones). Some of these dedications are clothed in language that has a peculiar charm. Morley, in the dedication of his ' Booke of Balletts ' to Sir Robert Cecil, afterwards Lord Salisbury, professes the conventional spirit of self-depreciation and adds that in offering to his patron * these simple compositions ' he is imitating ' the custome of that olde world who wanting incense to offer up to their Godds, made shifte in steade thereof to honour them with milk. Or as those who beeing not able to present a torch unto the hollie Alters ; in signe of their PATRONS, AND PRINTERS 8i devotion, did light a little candle, and gave up the same. In which notwithstanding did shine more cleerely the affection of the giver then the worth or value of the guift it selfe. May it so therefore please your Honor to accept of this small present with that good intention wherwith I offer it.' The following is Weelkes's dedication of his five-part Madrigals to Lord Windsor in 1600 : ' My Lord, in the Coledge of Winchester, where I live, I have heard learned men say, that some Philosophers have mistaken the soule of man for an Harmonic : Let the president of their error be a priviledge for mine. I see not, if soules doe not partly consist of Musicke, how it should come to passe, that so noble a spirit as yours, so perfectly tuned to so perpetuall a Tenor of excellencies as it is, should discend to the notice of a qualitie lying single in so low a personage as my selfe. But in Musicke the Base part is no disgrace to the best eares attendauncie. I confesse my conscience is untoucht with any other arts, and I hope, my confession is unsuspected, many of us Musitians thinke it is as much praise to bee some what more then Musi- tians, as it is for golde to bee some what more then golde, and, if Jack Cade were alive, yet some of us might live : unlesse we should think, as the Artisans, in the Universities in Poland, and Germany think, that the Latin tongue comes by reflection. I hope your Lordship wiU pardon this presumption of mine, the rather, because I know before Nobilitie I am to deale sincearely ; and this small facultie of mine, because it is alone in mee, and without the assistance of other more confident sciences, is the more to bee favored, and the rather to bee received into your honors protection, so shall I observe with as humble and as true an heart, as hee, whose knowledge is as large as the worlds creation, and as earnestly pray for you, to the worlds Creator.' A good example of the flowers of speech, or, as it seems to our notions, the extravagant flattery, which Elizabethan writers and composers were accustomed to offer to their patrons, appears in John Dowland's ' Address to the Courteous Reader ' in his ' First Booke of Songes or Ayres '. Speaking of favours shown to him on the Continent during his travels, he said : ' I bent my course toward the famous provinces of Germany where I found both excellent masters and most honorable Patrons of Musicke. Namely those two miracles of this age for vertue and magnificence, Henry Julio, Duke of Brunswick, ■2049 F 82 TITLE-PAGES, and learned Maritius Lantzgrave of Hessen, of whose princely vertues and favors towards me I can never speake sufficiently.' Although it is conceived in the same spirit of flattery, there is some poetry in the language which Morley employed in the dedication of his three- voice Canzonets to Lady Pembroke : ' If at any time your Ladiship shall but vouchsafe your heavenly voice ; it cannot be but they will so returne per- fumed with the sweetnesse of that breth, as the Ayr wil be made even delightful! thereby, and for that cause to be in request and sought for ever after.' This extract almost inevitably recalls the lines from Ben Jonson's ' Drink to me only with thine eyes ' : I sent thee late a rosy wreath. But thou thereon didst only breath And sent'st it back to me ; Since when it grows and smells, I swear. Not of itself but thee. Farmer's praise of his patron, Edward, Earl of Oxford, was bestowed upon a man who was really skilled in many of the arts and was a poet of no mean order. Farmer declared of him, with some foundation of truth, in his dedicatory address : ' without flattrie be it spoke, those that know your Lordship know this, that using this science as a recreation, your Lordship have overgone most of them that make it a profession.' Orlando Gibbons, addressing Sir Christopher Hatton, gave a wise hint to critics of madrigals, which might be more generally remembered by those in our own time who readily condemn the finest Tudor music upon an indifferent performance. ' Experience tels us ', said Gibbons, ' that Songs of this Nature are usually esteemed as they are well or ill performed, which excellent grace I am sure your unequalled love unto Musicke will not suffer them to want, that the Author (whom you no lesse love) may be free from disgrace.' Gibbons probably realized that most of his own madrigals are far more difficult to .sing effectively than those of the rest of the school. Byrd breathed a similar sentiment ' that you will be as careful to heare them well expressed, as I have been both in the Com- posing and correcting of them. Otherwise the best Song that PATRONS. AND PRINTERS 83 ever was made will seeme harsh and unpleasant.' This extract is from Byrd's address ' to all true lovers of Musicke ' In his 1611 volume. In a similar address ' To the curteous Reader ' in his ' Songs of sundrie natures ', the same composer says ' I do now publish for thee songs of 3. 4. 5. and 6. parts to serve all companies and voyces : whereof some are easie and plaine to sing, other more hard and difficult, but all, such as any yong practicioner in singing, with a little foresight, may easely performe.' This statement fully bears out 'the suggestion that the madrigalists wrote expressly for every variety of voice-combination and ha,d no idea of restricting themselves to the stereotyped S.A.T.B. group of more modern days. Occasionally short poems in praise of the composer were printed in the preliminary pages. A good example of these is in Morley's ' Madrigalls to Foure Voyces ' : TO THE AVTHOR MORLEY ! would any whether MORe LYeth In our ENGLISH to merit Or in thlTALIAN spirit Who in regard of his each wit defieth ? Lo the cleare proofe then if a man would make it (O would some one but try it) To choose his Song, and Gold enough lay by it And say to thee : heere, better this and take it. I know (how ere thou lik'st them) thou could'st doe it Wert thou but so put to it. For if thou sing'st thus when nought doth invite thee Aware when PRAYSE and GOLD did both invite thee. Incerto One other preliminary page in these books calls for special notice, because it forms a delightful preface to the whole of this wonderful series of musical publications, and is, in fact, found in the very first of them, namely Byrd's ' Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of Sadnes and Pietie ' (1588). In addition to the dedicatory address and an ' Epistle to the Reader ' Byrd gave his ' Reasons briefly set down by th'auctor, to perswade every one to learne to sing ' : ' First it is a knowledge easely taught, and quickly learned where there is a good Master, and an apt Scoller. F 2 84 TITLE-PAGES, 2. The exercise of singing is delightfull to Nature & good to preserve the health of Man. 3. It doth strengthen all the parts of the brest & doth open the pipes. 4. It is a singuler good remedic for a stuffing & stammering in the speech. 5. It is the best meanes to procure a perfect pronunciation & to make a good Orator. 6. It is the onely way to knowe where Nature hath bestowed the benefit of a good voyce : which guift is so rare, as there is not one among a thousand, that hath it : and in many, that excellent guift is lost, because they want Art to expresse Nature. 7. There is not any Musicke of Instruments whatsoever comparable to that which is made of the voyces of men, where the voices are good, and the same well sorted and ordered. 8. The better the voyce is, the meeter it is to honoiir and serve God there-with : and the voyce of man is chiefely to be imploycd to that ende. omnis spiritus laiidet Dominum Since singing is so good a thing I wish all men would learne to sing.' These music-books were produced under an extraordinary series of monopolizing patents. The first licence or patent of this kind was granted by the Crown in the year 1575 ; and it gave to Thomas Tallis and William Byrd the exclusive right in England to print, not only their own compositions but also those of all other composers whether English or foreign. The sole right of ruling and selling music paper was also secured to them. The terms of this licence were as follows : ' Elizabeth by the grace of God, Quene of Englande Fraunce and Ireland. ... To all printers bokesellers and other officers ministers and subjects greeting. Knowe ye, that we for the especiall affection and good wil that we have and beare to the science of Musicke and for the advancement thereof, by our letters patent dated the xxii of January, in the xvii yere of our raigne have graunted ful priveledge and licence unto our wel- beloved servaunts Thomas Tallis and William Birde two of the Gentlemen of our Chappell, and to the overlyver of them, and to the assignees of them and over the siu-viver of them for xxi yeares next ensuing, to imprint any and so many as they will of set songe or songes in partes, either in English, Latine, Frenche, Italian or other tongues that may serve for musicke either in Churche or chamber, or otherwise to be either plaid or soonge. And that they may rule and cause to be ruled by impression any PATRONS, AND PRINTERS 85 paper to serve for printing or pricking of any songe or songes, and may sell and utter any printed bokes or papers of any songe or songes, or any bookes or quieres of such ruled paper imprinted. Also we straightly by the same forbid all printers bookesellers subjects and strangers, other then is aforesaid to doe any the premisses, or to bring or cause to be brought out of any forren Realmes into any our dominions any songe or songes made and printed in any forren countrie, to sell or put to sale, uppon paine of our high displeasure, And the offender in any of the premisses for every time to forfet to us our heires and successors fortie shillinges, and to the said Thomas Tallis and William Birde or to their assignes and to the assignes of the surviver of them, all and evrie the said bokes papers songe or songes, We have also by the same willed and commanded our printers maisters and wardens of the misterie of Stacioners, to assist the said Thomas Tallis and WiUiam Birde and their assignes for the dewe executing of the premisses.' ^ After the death of Tallis, Byrd became the sole proprietor of this monopoly, and he assigned the right of printing the music-books to Thomas East (or Este). The terms of the arrangement between Byrd and East are unknown, but obviously some such compact was necessary between the composer and the skilled artisan. Consequently the earliest English madrigal books were printed ' by Thomas East the assigne of William Byrd, Cum pHvilegio Regiae Maiestatis ' . This was the formula as printed on the title-page of Yonge's Musica Transaipina in 1588, and in Byrd's Set in the same year. In the latter publication it is added that the books are to be sold at the dweUing house of the said T. East, ' by Paules wharf e.' In the succeeding madrigal books, up till and including 1594, the reference to the printer on the title-pages remains the same except that East had changed his address to ' Alders- gate-streete, at the signe of the black horse '. The last madrigal publication in which East was described as ' the assign ' of WiUiam Byrd was Morley's book of two-part Canzonets in 1595. After that year the original patent expired, and Weelkes's first Set and the second volume of Musica Transaipina in 1597 were simply ' printed by Thomas Este '. But in the same year Morley's volume of four-part Canzonets selected from Itahan authors was printed ' by Peter Short dwelling > Rot. Pat. 17 Eliz. pars. 7, m. 2. 86 TITLE-PAGES, on Bredstreet hill at the signe of the Star and are there to be sold '. Other publications in 1597 and the following year were printed both by Short and East. In 1598 Morley succeeded in obtaining a fresh patent from the Crown granting him a monopoly that was, if possible, even more drastic than the original one.^ Under this new licence many of the most important madrigal-volumes were produced ; Short and East were still the printers, while later the name of William Barley began to figure, but all these three acted as assignees of Morley. The earliest Set of madrigals printed by Barley was that of Farmer in 1599 ; this was ' printed at London in Little Saint Helens by WilHam Barley the assigne of Thomas Morley and are to be sold at his shoppe in Gratious- streete'. One Set alone, that of Carlton in 1601, was ' Printed by Thomas Morley dwelling in Little Saint Helens '. Robert Jones's Set, printed by Short in 1607, was ' to be sold at the Inner Temple-gate '. The last mention of Morley 's patent was in connexion with Dowland's ' Third Booke of Songs or Aires ' ; this was printed in 1603 ' by P(eter) S(hort) for Thomas Adams, and are to be sold at the signe of the white Lion in Paules churchyard by the assignement of a Patent granted to T. Morley '. This unusual form of reference to the patent is, no doubt, to be explained by Morley 's recent death. The patent itself passed into the ownership of William Barley, but none of the madrigal publications refer to him as the proprietor until 1606, in which year at least three Sets were printed ' by John Windet, the assigne of WilHam Barley ', Windet made his first appearance as a printer of this class of work two years earlier when he was * dwelling at Powles Wharfe at the Signe of the Crosse Keyes '. Early in 1606 he was 'at the Golden Anchore in Pater Noster Row ' ; and later in the same year his books were ' to bee sold at his shoppe in Saint Dunstones churchyard in Fleet street '. Between 1604 and 1607 Windet printed the large majority of the books of Madrigals and Airs — ten publications as against two by East ; but after that date his name no longer occurs, and presumably he had died. In 1608 Barley himself printed Weelkes's ' Ayeres or Phantasticke ' This lengthy document, dated September 20, 1 598 (Rot. Pat. 40 EUz., p. 10, m. 18) is printed in full in Steele's The Earliest English Music Printing, p. 67. PATRONS. AND PRINTERS 87 Spirites ' and sold them ' at his shoppe in Gracious street '. Thomas East then reappeared as the principal printer, though still as the ' assigne of William Barley '. The fact that in 1609 Wilbye's second Set of madrigals was ' printed by Tho. Este alias Snodham ... at his shop in S. Dunstones Church-yard in Fleet Street ', and that subse- quently the name in connexion with this business invariably appeared as Thomas Snodham, led to the theory that East had changed his name to Snodham. This theory has been disproved by Mr. Percival Vivian,^ who quotes an entry in the Stationers' Registers under the date of January 17, 1609, showing clearly that Snodham took over East's business at the latter's death. ' In 1609 Barley printed Ravenscroft's Pammelia and one of Jones's Sets of Airs at the new address of ' Powles Church yard at the signe of the Crowne '. After this date almost all these music books were printed by Snodham, and bis name appears for the last time as printer of Pilkington's second Set of madrigals in 1624. The few subsequent publications of music books of this class were printed by William Stansby, whose name had first occurred in this connexion as printer of Corkine's ' Ayres ' in 1610. Other names of less importance connected with the printers' notices on the title-pages of the later madrigalian publications were Thomas Adams, John Browne, and Matthew Townes, who acted sometimes as the assignees of William Barley. The following appear to have printed a few music books on their own account : Lawrence Lisle ' dwelling at the signe of the Tigers-head in Paul's Church-yard ' ; Robert Wilson ; Edward Allde ' dwelling neere Christ-Church ' ; George Latham ' at the Bishop's head in Pauls Church-yard ; ' and Humfrey Lownes, the printer of the younger Hilton's Fa-las in 1627. Having regard to the conditions under which they worked, the printers of these music-books deserve much credit for the style and accuracy with which they were produced. Taking the series as a whole the proportion of misprints is exceedingly small. This same opinion was expressed contemporarily by Byrd, who paid a high tribute to the accuracy and care 1 Vivian's Works of Campion, p. 255. 88 TITLE-PAGES. ETC. of his printer, and uttered at the same time a word of caution not always heeded by editors of madrigals, so many of whom have hastily sought for explanation of unexpected and puzzling points by accusing the original Iprinters \oi jfaulty work. In his Epistle to the Reader of his 1588 volume Byrd wrote thus : ' In expressing of these songs either by voyces or Instruments, if ther happen to be any jarre or dissonance, blame not the Printer, who (I doe assure thee) through his great paines and diligence doth heere deliver to thee a perfect and true Coppie.' And it may not be wholly out of place here to quote from the same address Byrd's admirable advice to the critic, advice which will serve for all time and for all subjects : ' If in the composition of these Songs, there be any fault by me committed, I desire the skilfull, either with courtesie to let the same be concealed, or in friendlie sort to be thereof admonished : and at the next Impression he shal finde the error reformed : remembring alwaies that it is more easie to ftnde a fault then^ to amend it.' * The word than was almost invariably spelt then in Elizabethan literature. CHAPTER IX SOME TECHNICAL FEATURES OF THE NOTATION A GLANCE at the part-books will show how necessary it was for the Elizabethan madrigal-singers to acquire a complete familiarity with all the technical details of musical notation as used in these books, from which they were expected to sing at sight. The notation of the English madrigal-books does not approach that of the Church music of the sixteenth century as regards intricacy and complexity of detail. And few of the difficulties which confront the student of Tudor Church music, as regards the meaning and value of the actual notes, are to be met with in these part-books, a fact which is largely explained by the late date at which most of the English madrigals were written and printed. Yet there are several matters which should be explained here, and it must be borne in mind that the scope of this chapter is limited to secular English vocal music. In the first place it was important that singers should understand the exact meaning and value of the rests as well as of the actual notes. The semibreve and minim rests were printed perpendicularly, and not horizontally as in modern notation, and therefore they were less conspicuous, but rests of all kinds were usually printed in such a position on the stave as should most easily catch the eye in any particular passage ; this was especially the case in arranging a group of rests, and there was no uniformity such as now is customary as regards their position on the stave. Rests for breves and longs were also used, and were represented thus : and 3t The subject of the ancient note- values does not call for elaborate treatment in this place, but we have one important record as to the tempo normally adopted in this country ; for there is a printed note at the end of the organ copy ^ of 1 The organ copy of this work, at St. Michael's College, Tenbury, has this printed note, but it does not appear in other known copies. 90 SOME TECHNICAL FEATURES OF Tomkins's Mtisica Deo sacra as follows: ' y ^ — sit mensura duorum humani corporis pulsuum, vel globuli penduli, longi- tiidine duorum pedum a centro motus.' The normal beat of a man's pulse is 72 to the minute, and that of a woman 80, whereas the beat of a two-foot pendulum is 76-6. Thus the tempo indicated by Tomkins can be approximately expressed in terms of the modern metronome as M.M. c)= 76. It cannot be supposed, however, that Tomkins, or any other composer, adhered rigidly to any such standard regardless of the varying character and style of the words as well as of the music. In this matter there was probably a far greater variety of use in secular music than in Church music, and it is to the latter class that Tomkins's note has special reference. The time-signatures to be found in the madrigal part-books are many and various. In the mediaeval period, in which time- signatures had their origin, the principal signs used were the complete circle, C) , and the semi-circle, C » which has in modern days assumed the shape of the letter c, ( t The former, as being the type of figure that best represented the idea of perfection, came to be employed for that reason to indicate what was known as ' perfect ', or triple, time ; while the latter stood for duple, or common, time. These figures were also used with a line drawn through them 3 to denote that the unit of measure was to be a minim instead of a semibreve. The same figures were used, too, with a dot in the centre ; Q (} this dot denoted the ' Greater Prolation ', a term that indicated the relative value of a semibreve to a minim as one to three, as opposed to the ' Lesser Prolation ', in which, as in modern times, the semibreve was equal to two minims. These time-signatures had no such reference to the number of beats in a bar as they have come to assume in more modem music. In the latter years of the sixteenth century numerical figures came to be used, either with, or as a substitute for, the old circle and semicircle, to denote triple time. Thus in the compositions THE NOTATION 91 of the madrigalists we find, among other time-signatures, 3 and I, or 3*1 and 3-2, both with and without the circle and semi- circle in their various forms. Occasionally also we get such unusual time-signatures as 6-i, which, for instance, Byrd used in an instrumental Fantasia (No. 26 of his 161 1 Set) ; while Pilkington in Yond hill-tops Phoebus kissed (Set II, No. 2) used the signature /k • Morley ^ actually gave 5-1 as a possible signature, but no example of this is to be found in the writings of the English madrigalists, although a phrase or group of five units is not altogether uncommon in this music. At this period EngUsh composers employed the old signatures without always attaching much importance to their exact significance, and numbers of examples might be cited from the works of the madrigalists to illustrate their indiscriminate use of them. The Cantus-part of Morley's three-part Canzonets is printed through- out with the barred semicircle, while the Altus and Bassus part-books have it unbarred. Again, in the first edition of Morley's four-part Madrigals the barred semicircle was used, but in the second edition the unbarred semicircle is substituted for it. In passages with triple time-signature the madrigalists' usual practice was to write three minims to a bar rather than three crotchets, as in modem notation. Occasionally the unit of the beat in triple time was a semibreve ; several examples of this occur in Tomkins's Set, and there is one in the concluding bars of Wilbye's Lady, your words do spite me (First Set, No. 18). Sometimes they wrote in white notation and sometimes in black, and sometimes they mixed the two types of notation quite indiscriminately. It is important to distinguish carefully between black minims and crotchets, for both have precisely the same appearance ; and the confusion is complicated by the necessity in this notation of adding tails to the crotchets, with the object of differentiating them from the black minims, and thus giving them the appearance of quavers. In such passages it will be noticed that the black minims and tailed-crotchets always have their counterpart in the minim and crotchet rests * Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. 91. 92 SOME TECHNICAL FEATURES OF of the standard type. For practical purposes, and in the great majority of cases in the English madrigals, when the time- signature in the original text changes from duple to triple, i. e. from C(^) to I, the time value of the 2 may be taken to be that of the preceding 4 ; in other words the value of the minim may be regarded as being equivalent to the crotchet of the preceding section. From a strict point of view the triple time should relatively be slightly slower, in the ratio of three to four, because the iactus, or beat denoting the beginning of a bar, remained constant whether in duple or triple time. The purpose in employing the iactus or the stroke, as Morley calls it,^ was solely to give a unit of duration, and not in any sense to establish a bar or unit of rhythm. Thus in the triple time the three minims would occupy the same length of period as four crotchets in the preceding duple time ; so that, in terms of the metronome, if the tempo of the former passage had been M. M. j = 120, that of the triple time would be c^ = 90. These exact proportions were almost certainly not observed in secular music by the Eliza- bethans, and it will generally be found that the natural interpre- tation of the music will be satisfactorily secured by treating the new minim unit as being of roughly the same value as that of the former crotchet. Moreover, in numbers of instances there is no room for doubt that the unit of time must have remained constant when the measure changed from duple to triple and triple to duple. Such instances occur in Dowland's Lend your ears to my sorrow (Book III, No. 11), where there is an overlap in the Tenor-part. Again, in the concluding passage of Wilbye's Thou art hut young (Set I, No. 29). Exceptional cases, in which a slower tempo may seem to be suitable to the words and also to be in conformity with the composer's inten- tion, must be left to individual taste and discretion. The general principle will be rendered clear by the following quotation from Morley 's Arise, get up, my dear (three- voice Canzonets, No. 20), in which the added pianoforte-part has, for the purposes of explanation, been translated into terms of the crotchet unit in the section that is in triple time : • Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, pp. 9 and 21. THE NOTATION 93 EE^E^ -Gt :ck~ teE3: run a-pace, then and get a bride lace, and a =F-3*^ -±=^ :^- :t: ^i^ ;^; pace and get O get a bride . . lace, and a SeE i=k=t^: It m h: 2: ice: pace and get bride lace, and a I Vistesso tempo- '-^- :p2i -<5>- i^^iEi^ r- If: :f: ^ — r'i-~ :3i :^ ( P irt -G*- -<^- -t -ie*-r :pz: gilt Rose - ma - ry branch the while m -- -IS- -«5» rr2 gilt Rose - ma - ry branch the while ^ -&- -o- -s»- ^ gilt Rose - ma - ry branch the while :|=t 1^ w J = d S: --=#P=:#P ( snatch - ing. las EBE =c^iTzi:^.a_,__6.- snatch - ing. A las £e dzidi 22: 32 snatch - ing. A Vistesso tempo. las q= 1 _-=$^ 3^ — s>- ^ 1 - " j Q . -iS^- -|0- :t:P=F ^ fear :=!= fear fear m of old -&>- I of old 1 — 1 <^ m *^ • J d of old i =e^ 94 SOME TECHNICAL FEATURES OF The key-signatures in the original editions were limited to three alternatives : (i) no sharp or flat, (2) one flat, (3) two flats. This third alternative was comparatively rare in the madrigals, but examples of it are to be found in Wilbye's Flora gave me fairest flowers (Set I, No. 22), and in Gibbons's Nay let me weep (No. 17). A sharp never occurs in the key-signatures of this date. The madrigal- composers were largely influenced by the old Church modes ; yet they were breaking away from the stricter discipline of the rules which governed modal music and were feeling their way towards the modern scales through the channels indicated by a limited kind of modulation in which they indulged. Thus they treated the modes with great freedom, and by the liberal introduction of accidentals they modernized the harmonic effect, sometimes entirely obliterating the modal character of their music. It was their eager search after new methods of expression in this detail, as in so many others, that paved the way for a system of modulation and key-variety, such as constitutes the groundwork of Form in the Classical period. When a composition was written in a mode in its normal position, that is to say not transposed, no sharp or flat appears in the signature, whatever the mode may be. The simplest practical method of ascertaining the mode of a -composition is to look at the bass note of the final chord ; if, for instance, this should be D, the Dorian mode is indicated ; if E, the Phrygian, and so on. Strictly speaking, modal music lies within the range of the octave, but a melody may be either authentic or plagal ; in other words, and in more modern phraseology, a melody in the key of C major may either lie mainly between C and C, as, for example. The blue-bells of Scotland and Barbara Allen, which are authentic melodies, or between G and G, as in Men of Harlech, which is plagal. In the modal system the prefix hypo was added to the name of the mode to distinguish the plagal from the authentic melodies. Thus, if there is no flat in the key-signature of a madrigal, and the final bass note is G, and the melody lies mainly between G and G, the Mixo-lydian is the mode in which it is written ; but if under these same conditions the melody lies mainly between D and D, the mode is the Hypo-mixolydian. The following THE NOTATION 95 table shows the modes in ordinary use in the latter part of the sixteenth century. The Locrian and Hypo-locrian modes, with B as the Final, are omitted here. Number. Final. Range. Mode. I. 2. D D DtoD A .. A Dorian Hypo-dorian 3- 4- E E E „ E B ,. B Phrygian Hypo-phrygian 5- 6. F F F .. F c .. C Lydian Hypo-lydian 7- 8. G G G .. G D .. D Mixo-lydian Hypo-mixolydi an 9- lO. A A A ., A E „ E Aeolian Hypo-aeolian II, 12 C C c .. C G .. G Ionian Hypo-ionian When a B flat occurs in the signature it shows that the mode is used in a transposed position. Such transposition was to an interval of a fifth below (or fourth above) the normal position of the mode ; hence the true mode in such a case is the fourth below or fifth above. For instance, G with a B flat is the same as D without one. Consequently, to take one such example with a flat in the signature, if the Final is G and the melody is authentic, the music is written in the transposed Dorian mode. In the rare cases in which two flats appear in the key-signature the mode has been twice transposed, namely a fifth lower than the fifth below the normal position, or, in other words, a tone down. Consequently the Dorian mode twice transposed has C for its Final, the range of the melody lies between C and C, and it bears a signature of two flats. The modes were never trans- posed to other intervals. The key-signatures employed in the madrigal-period, and indeed until well on in the eighteenth century, frequently present to modern eyes the appearance of having a flat or sharp too few for the key in which the music may, rather loosely, be said to be written. The explanation is not far to seek when the very gradual transition from the modal system to the modern major and minor keys is borne in mind. The Dorian mode, with the minor third and major sixth, contained no flat : i ^ 96 SOME TECHNICAL FEATURES OF and the transposed Dorian (from G to G) only one ; and so, by habit, after the modes as such were forgotten, the ikey of C minor, for example, continued for some time to bear the key-signature of two flats only. The transposed Aeolian mode, with the minor third and minor sixth, contains, it is true, two flats : i \fW— i ^ L I 1 IT r.g.b but on the other hand the Lydian mode, from F to.F with Bil, has no flat, and therefore, when transposed, has the appearance of having a flat too few in the signature : f r^^ This provides ample explanation of the apparent irregularity of the key-signatures. And this explanation applies similarly to the presence of a sharp too few. This is to be accounted for by the great prevalence of the use of the Mixo-lydian mode with the 'major third : i It is obvious also that the transposed forms of this required a sharp too few in the signature. It is not therefore surprising that this practice, as already mentioned, survived long after the old modes had passed out of general use ; thus, for example, Handel's Harmonious Blacksmith variations, which are in E major, have only three sharps in the key-signature of the old editions ; and Bach's so-called ' Dorian ' Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which is in no sense composed in the Dorian mode, owes its name to the omission of the flat in the key-signature. It may seem almost superfluous to mention that the key- signatures of the sixteenth-century music have a totally different significance from that which they bear in modern music ; yet it is all too common an experience to hear choral singers and others speaking of a madrigal being in such and such a key because the signature denotes that key in modern music. It is a fundamental error to say that a madrigal in the Mixo-lydian mode is in C major for the sole reason that no THE NOTATION 97 sharp or flat appears in the key-signature ; but in Vincent Novello's manuscript score of Tomkins's ' Songs ', made by him in 1844, and now in the Hbrary of the Royal College of Music, Novello himself appended a note making that actual error. On the same principle, the music of the Harmonious Blacksmith is not turned into A major by the omission of the fourth sharp in the key-signature. The madrigal- composers made brave experiments in the direction of modulation, but it was considered by Morley ^ a ' wonder of nature ' to begin, for instance, in the key of G, to close in C or D and thence to return to G ; for modulation of an extended kind was not possible for them. For one thing, the old ' untempered ' scale, for which they wrote, precluded it, and it was modulation that eventually created the necessity for equal temperament. There were at least three different scale systems in simul- taneous use in the days of the madrigalists, and they will be best explained and compared with the modern scale of equal temperament by means of a table based upon some figures given by Professor Wooldridge in a very lucid article upon the subject. 2 Of these three systems one was that of the natural vocal scale, another was the old modal scale, and the third was that employed for the keyed-instruments, such as the virginal. And each of these was different from the modem scale framed on the principle of equal temperament. The octave is made up of twelve semitones, and for the purposes of comparison each of these semitones is divided into hundredths, or cents, thus making 1,200 cents in the complete octave. The modern diatonic scale then consists of five tones, each of 200 cents and each containing two semitones of 100 each. It is important, however, to mention that the term cent is used here in a highly technical sense which cannot be discussed in this brief notice ; it will be sufficient to say that the above statement must not be taken to imply that all the semitones in the scale of equal temperament are of uniform measure. In the old keyed-instrument and in the modal scales the interval of a whole tone was practically constant ; but in the natural • Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. 147. ' Arkwright's Old English Edition, Part III, Preface. 2049 G 98 SOME TECHNICAL FEATURES OF vocal scale there were two kinds of whole-tone, apart from the semitones, three of them being slightly larger than the whole- tone of equal temperament and two being markedly smaller ; they were styled major tones and minor tones by the old musicians. With the object of adding clearness to its meaning the notes and intervals of the scale of C major are given in this table : c-cl d-e c f f-g R-a a-b be c-c 1. Modern dia- 200 200 100 200 200 200 100 1,200 tonic scale 2. Natural vocal 204 182 112 204 182 204 112 1,200 scale 3 . Modal scale 204 204 90 204 204 204 90 i ,200 4. Old keyed-in- 193 193 117 194 193 193 117 1,200 strument scale This table deals primarily with the differences in tones and semitones, but further interesting deductions can be made from it as regards other intervals, and especially with reference to the major and minor third and the major and minor sixth. In the natural vocal scale the major third and sixth are smaller than the same intervals in a scale of equal temperament, whereas the minor third and sixth work out larger. It is interesting, too, to observe the values of such intervals as the diminished and the augmented fourth and of the diminished fifth in these old scales, whereas these intervals are, of course, uni- form in the modern diatonic scale. The diminished fourth must especially be noticed, because the madrigal-writers were fond of using that interval in such a phrase as : ^ZJ]^ t>J J J and in the chord ^ ^bg - . A study of these figures will also make it clear why the Tudor composers could not modulate into extreme keys, and that, when they did make elaborate experiments in modulation, as for instance in one of Bull's virginal pieces, they must have been experimenting also in systems of tuning based upon the principles of equal tempera- ment — an effort truly characteristic of the Elizabethan spirit. But, reverting to the subject of unaccompanied vocal music, these differences of tonality have an important bearing upon the performance of such music by modern singers. Among • THE NOTATION 99 other things, one of the causes of the universal difficulty of securing a sufficiently sharp major third and leading note, when dealing with modern conditions, is made obvious ; for Professor Wooldridge stated ^ that singers, when unhampered by accom- paniment, will instinctively revert to the natural vocal scale ; and this fact has been proved by experience. But this does not in itself provide the true explanation of the so-called false relations and clashes between the major and minor thirds, even at the same octave, which are so characteristic of Tudor music. It is impossible to suppose for an instant that these clashes produced anything approaching the cacophonous effect that they do on a modern pianoforte, and the true explanation is to be found in the practice which prevailed in early times of sharpening the major third in the rising scale and flattening the minor third in the faUing scale. In such conditions these modifications of the correct tonality were known as the terminus acutus and the terminus gravis. It is not too much to say that if this principle is recognized, and the major third is deliberately sharpened while the minor third is flattened, modern musicians can find in these clashes a new sensation of beauty in sound, or rather, will rediscover an old one which their Tudor ancestors evidently enjoyed. As regards the use of accidentals it must be remembered that the laws of musica ficta, which so strictly controlled the music of a generation earlier, were being partially abandoned in the transitional period at which the madrigalists wrote, and things were no longer taken for granted to the same extent as formerly ; so it became imperative to insert accidentals even with notes which had been too obvious in their meaning to need them. This is noticeably the case with major triad, which by the laws of musica ficta was invariably to be used not only in the final cadence but at every cadence of importance through- out a composition (unless the bare fifth or octave were used without any third) . In the older music the sharp was seldom indicated in such a place, and indeed it was known as the ' sign of the ass ' in such a connexion, for the reason that no one but an ass required such a reminder ; but in the time of the English Madrigal School it was being very generally inserted. » Arkwright's Old English Edition, Part III, Introduction, p. 9. G 2 100 SOME TECHNICAL FEATURES OF The principle of using accidentals differed from modern practice. In the first place, the only two signs employed were the flat and the sharp ; the natural was scarcely ever used in the madrigal part-books, although primitive forms of it are occa- sionally to be met with in the Church music of the same period. In No, 22 of Pilkington's second Set there are two instances of a capital F to signify a natural following an F sharp, and two more in No. 24. These are the only examples known to the present writer in any of the madrigal part-books. Thus, if the piece was written with a key-signature of one flat, the sign of the sharp had to be employed to denote when, by exception, B natural was required in the music. The sharp was, in fact, the only sign available for raising a note a semitone ; and similarly the flat was the only sign to denote the converse. Thus a flat printed before C immediately following a C sharp would denote C natural. But, secondly, such a contradictory accidental was very seldom used at all, because, owing to the absence of any bar lines in the music, it was the practice to print accidentals against each note that required it, even when such a note was repeated consecutively ; for the normal presumption was that any note that had no such accidental indicated was to be taken at its face value. The completeness with which the accidentals were printed varies very much in these books, and no definite rule seems to have been followed. There are instances, as in the example quoted below, in which the acci- dental is repeated for each of several reiterated notes, and an example of the converse will be found in Morley's On a fair morning (No. 22 of his four-part Set of Madrigals), in which one flat only is printed before twelve repeated E's but is intended to control them all. The following passage from the tenor part-book of Ward's Sweet Philomel (No. 13) provides a good example of the liberal use of accidentals : i^^^iSi my mournful style which will of mirth your su - gar'd notes be • reave. As an illustration of the more sparing use of accidentals the following phrase may be quoted from Weelkes's Phyllis hath sworn (No. 20 of his ' Bailetts and Madrigals '). The accidentals THE NOTATION loi here printed above the stave are those that have to be added as being in accordance with the composer's intention, although not actually indicated. For the purpose of illustration the text of the Cantus and Quintus- parts in this passage have been combined : -^r-. m # *F-^ 1^ 1 h -O- i ^ ±1 t— needs a - gree, Phi - le - mon then must needs a - gree In the above passage there is no room for doubt as to the correctness of the added accidentals, but there are numbers of cases in the text as printed in the madrigal part-books, which involve difficult decisions on the part of a modern editor, and these must be left to individual judgement. Occasionally the accidental was given several notes ahead. This plan may have been deliberately adopted as a kind of warning : # 3— r-"- fe^^^=^= -- Something must be said here to explain the great variety of clefs which were used in these part-books. The system of modern notation, as is well known, is founded upon a stave of eleven lines, called the Great Stave. Staves of thirteen and even fifteen lines were occasionally employed. But the human eye has been found able to grasp the position of notes most quickly when but five of these eleven lines are used ; and, moreover, five lines are practically enough to take all the notes any voice could use without leger lines ; a stave includes an octave plus a fourth, that is to say room for a mode and its plagal variety. So the matter resolved itself into the question as to which five lines were to be selected as being most suited for any single piece of music. Taking the note that is commonly called middle C as the central point of the combined compass of human voices, that note was placed upon the middle line of the eleven, and the sign "l^ , or j^j- , which is a corruption of the letter C, -^ , was prefixed to the stave at that point to serve as the ' key ' (or its French equivalent clef), thus determining the actual position 102 SOME TECHNICAL FEATURES OF in the musical scale which the lines of the stave were to denote. Two other signs were employed upon the Great Stave as additional landmarks to assist the eye in recognizing the position of the notes. One was placed five notes, or two lines, abo\'e, ana the other five notes, or two lines, below middle C. The signs employed for this purpose were also corruptions of the alphabetical letters of the notes which they signified : viz. ^ for g, and ^ for /. It is not necessary to speak here of two other signs or clefs which signified, respectively, the D a fifth above the treble G, and the G a seventh below the F of the bass clef, except to mention that this latter obsolete clef- signature was the Greek letter gamma, which, since it repre- sented the lowest note of the Great Stave, is the origin of the term gamut, a word which is a combination of the two words gamma and ut, for which latter term do has been substituted in more modern times : - o q: -«s»- jCZL -G- 22; r {^gammd) A B C D E ut re mi fa sol la The three key signs, or clefs, mentioned above, figured thus on the Great Stave : 3 ^m For the purposes of the organ or pianoforte and its predecessors the simple plan adopted was to obliterate the middle line and only to employ a fraction of it temporarily when the note C was required for use. Convenience soon dictated the use of further leger lines between the two groups of five lines in pianoforte score, and this had the effect of obscuring the origin of the system and straining the link that connects the ' treble ' and ' bass ' clefs. i w 14. .^ _3. .« -^::r-^-Q: ■ s * s^^Ei THE NOTATION 103 For the purposes of voices or of those instruments which require the use of no more than five Hnes of the stave at one time, these two signs for the G and F clefs have come into use exactly as they stand in the pianoforte stave, and in modern music they are almost exclusively employed. But they do not adequately satisfy the requirements of the Alto and Tenor voice, or of such an instrument as the viola, because the com- pass of the music ranges about the middle of the Great Stave in varying degrees. Thus for the viola the middle five fines have been selected from the Great Stave of eleven. Acting upon this principle of pure expediency the musicians of the madrigalian era selected whichever five lines most nearly included within their limits the notes written for the particular voice-part in hand. In this way they almost entirely avoided the use of leger lines. It is very important to emphasize the fact that the C clef signature, or any other, remains absolutely constant in its position on the stave, and that it is simply a matter of which six lines of the eleven are eliminated and which five remain in use. Students and pupils are far too frequently misled, and needlessly confused, as to the actual principle which governs the use of clefs. • The following scheme should make this principle clear : n^ fl— 4r.— 4fe==^^:^==fe^ 10 i I and 10. The Great Stave of eleven lines. 2. Treble clef ; sometimes known as violin clef. 3. Soprano clef. 4. Mezzo-soprano clef. 5. Alto clef ; sometimes known as viola clef. 6. Tenor clef ; much used also for violoncello music. 7. Baritone clef with C signature ; very rarely used . 8. Baritone clef with F signature ; the more normal form, but denoting the same selection from the stave as No, 7. 9. Bass clef. It is unfortunate that modern musical terminology in England has confused the meaning of the words clef and stave, and has led to their being misappfied. It would have been more correct, having regard to their original meaning, to speak of the 104 SOME TECHNICAL FEATURES Treble or Alto stave rather than clef, and for the word clef to have been reserved exclusively to denote the sign, or figure of the signature. Every one of the eight possible varieties of selection of stave or clef is to be found in the English madrigal part-books, but the baritone clef with C signature was very rarely used, and there are no examples in the madrigal books of the F clef on the top line or of the G clef on the middle or the fifth lines, though these are to be found in sixteenth-century music. For the rest the choice was mainly governed by the compass of the voice- part, yet in this matter, as in so many others of the same nature, very curious inconsistencies are to be met with ; whethei these were due to the handiwork of the printers or of the composer^ cannot now be determined. No expression marks were printed in these books, nor are there any indications to be gathered from the text to show whether any individual phrase was to be sung loud or soft. Yet it must not for a moment be inferred from this fact that the madrigals were sung, or are to be sung now, without a consider- able amount of light and shade as well as freedom of tempo ; on the contrary, every available resource must be drawn upon so that the music may be rendered with suitable expression. There is a danger in printing expression marks in modern editions of Tudor music because, as Mr. Arkwright was one of the first to point out,^ they have the deceptive appearance of authority, and because, moreover, conductors ought to be left entirely free in this matter. It is astonishing how commonly, even among trained musicians, printed expression marks in modern editions convey the false impression that they were the work of the composer himself. They also force upon the performers the interpretation of one single individual, namely, that of the editor, whose taste and opinion alone they represent upon this important matter of discretion, as to which, in many instances, scarcely two persons would think alike ; and so they may stereo- type the expression and rob the performance of that interest which an unfettered individuality of treatment cannot fail to impart. » Note upon Accent and Expression by G. E. P. Arkwright, Old English Edition, Part XXI. CHAPTER X THE METHODS AND IDIOM OF THE MADRIGALISTS The only legitimate purpose in setting words to music is to increase their beauty and add to the clearness of their meaning. This fundamental truth was appreciated to its fullest extent by the English madrigalists, and it was because they built upon so secure a foundation that their work still lives with such enduring vigour. But the methods and idiom which they used had their own individuality and were characteristic of the brief period in which they flourished, differing from those of earlier days as well as from those of the seventeenth century and later. Some of these points of difference have been over- looked by succeeding generations of musicians, and certain characteristic features of their method seem to have been misunderstood ever since the first traditions of madrigal- singing in England were broken in the middle of the seven- teenth century. The composers' methods of handling the poetry must be considered in some detail. These Elizabethan musicians seem to have shared with the great poets of their own age that fine instinct of imagination which is essential to the conception of productions of the first rank in all the branches of creative art. When they chose a poem for their purpose, they studied its meaning until the vision of the poet had come to their own eyes. Then they set themselves to interpret that vision through the medium of music. In contrast to the lutenists' Airs, for which there were often several stanzas of poetry and rarely fewer than two, the madrigalists seldom had use for more than one stanza. A notice- able exception to this rule is to be found in the Ballet, because the more regular measure of that particular form made possible the repetition of the music to further verses of identical metre. In such cases the first stanza was set out with the musical notation, while the rest of the poem was printed in metrical io6 METHODS AND IDIOM form at the foot of the page. Byrd's three Sets, which differ in so many ways from the rest of the madrigal scries, differ from them also in the frequent inclusion of several stanzas of poetry in addition to those actually set out with the musical notation. It is more than doubtful whether it was customary to sing all the verses of these longer poems ; in such bright numbers as Though Amaryllis dance in green (1588 Set, No. 12) it seems likely that one or two further verses were sung, but in more elaborate compositions there would have been many difficulties to surmount, and occasionally the metrical con- ditions precluded the possibility. you that hear this voice (Byrd's 1588 Set, No. 16) is a poem by Sidney in nine stanzas, two of which are used in the musical setting, the remaining seven being printed at the foot of the page ; in this case four repetitions would not only be tedious, but there would still remain an odd stanza with only half the number of lines required to fit to the music. ■^ The outUne of madrigal-construction has been sketched in a former chapter,^ but a few details of a more technical nature may here be added. The musicians' plan was to deal with the poem line by line, or phrase by phrase, each phrase being introduced with new musical material woven into imitative counterpoint. But the madrigalists were striving eagerly to devise some kind of cohesion and symmetry of design in their compositions, and they adopted various methods for the pur- pose ; thus, for instance, some of the more elaborate madrigals are divided into two, or perhaps three, main sections by the introduction of a bar or two of homophonic, as contrasted with polyphonic, texture, the sub-sections being treated in the ordinary way, phrase by phrase, without any such inter- ruption of style. This method of homophonic punctuation was a favourite device of Weelkes, and a good example is provided by that composer's When Thoralis delights to walk (No. 2 of his Madrigals for six voices) ; the poem is eight lines long and is divided by Weelkes into sections of two, four, and two Hues, each section punctuated at its opening by a homo- phonic phrase. Wilbye's Oriana madrigal (No. 15 of the ' Triumphs ') shows a somewhat similar use of homophony to » See page 52. METHODS AND IDIOM 107 mark the opening of fresh sections : for instance, at the words Then with an olive branch ; and homophonic phrases are used in this same madrigal for the words : And thus sang they, and again Then sang the shepherds. It is noticeable that both the Cantus and Bassus-parts of these last two passages is almost identical in repetition, and this illustrates another device of the madrigalists, namely the repetition of a musical phrase with the object of Hnking together two similar ideas. Refer- ences of this kind are often made with a subtle touch such as might escape notice without careful scrutiny ; and they were sometimes disguised by such devices as augmentation, diminu- tion, or inversion. Good examples of this method may be seen in Weelkes's ' Elegy on Lord Borough ' (1598 Set, No. 24) or Morley's Hark ! A lleluia (five and six- voice Canzonets, No. 21) . It must not be supposed, however, that the introduction of homophonic passages was strictly confined to this purpose ; some composers, as, for instance, Kirbye, introduced a large proportion of homophonic writing into their madrigals, and large sections of Bennet's Oriana madrigal All creatures now are treated homophonically. The earnest endeavour of these musicians to secure homo- geneity and symmetry of design for their madrigals is shown in another direction. There are a few examples which forecast clearly, if in a very elementary fashion, some of those principles of form in composition which saw their full development in the great classical period of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Some of these early beginnings of the classical forms will be considered in more detail in later chapters deahng with the individual style and work of the several composers, but passing mention may be made of some typical examples : thus, Morley's Miraculous love's wounding (two- part Canzonets, No. 5) shows some of the principles of ternary form : and Weelkes's Ay me, my wonted joys (No. 9 of his 1597 Set) has in it the elements of Rondo-form. That Wilbye clearly understood the value of recapitulation as the basis of form is shown in his Of joys and pleasing pains (Set I, Nos. 26 and 27). Farmer's Take time while time doth last (No. 16) is built up on an older principle, with a tenor serving as a Canto fermo in a simple scale passage ; but Farnaby's Susanna fair (No. 12) io8 METHODS AND IDIOM is a particularly interesting early example of a type of design which was brought to perfection by J, S. Bach in dealing with the Chorale. It was a common device to repeat the final section of a madrigal, and in such a repeat it was a frequent practice to interchange the parts of the voices of equal compass and range. It was for this reason that the repeated passage was so generally printed out in extenso. The constructive methods of the madrigalists are illustrated from another point of view by the analysis of such examples as Morley's Ho ! who comes here ? (Madrigalls to Foure Voyces, No. i8), or Weelkes's Take here my heart (Madrigals of five parts, No. 3), both of which are built up with material designed to illustrate the meaning of the words ; the former vividly reproduces the scene of the Morris dancers making sport in the village to the merry peal of the bells ; Weelkes's madrigal, in a more serious vein, tells of the plighting of a lover's troth with the subtle suggestion of the wedding bells passing through his mind. This latter example is just one of those cases in which the composer was able to add poetry even to the poet's work. \X The special method of handling single words or ideas was another characteristic feature of the madrigals. It was the custom of these composers to emphasize their meaning either by the use of some unusual or unexpected chord, or by some suitable musical figure. Countless examples could be cited to illustrate this point. Such words as joy, or sing, 01 fly were almost invariably set to a phrase of rapid notes ; and not only so, the curve of the notes would in itself illustrate such a thing as the flight of a bird, with the slight fall and rise that is charac- teristic of many small birds. Similarly in Weelkes's Thule (six-part Madrigals, Nos. 7 and 8) it requires but a small effort of imagination in glancing at the vocal score to see Aetna's flames shooting up higher and higher ; and even more evident, in the same madrigal, are the flying fishes. Dancing was almost always treated in triple rhythm, either with or without the introduction of a fresh time-signature. The word sigh was very generally preceded by a rest in order to enhance its realistic effect, but whereas such treatment occasionally led very near METHODS AND IDIOM 109 to paths of triviality, there can be no such feeling associated with the chord used by Gibbons at the word death in The silver swan (No. i of his Madrigals), or the still more remarkable chord which Weelkes wrote at the word dead in his Noel Elegy (No. 10 of the six-part Madrigals). The chord used by Gibbons is that with the major third and minor sixth ; it is not by any means uncommon throughout the works of the English madrigalists and was used by them without prepara- tion. It is more than lamentable that in a very widely circu- lated version of The silver swan this chord has been destroyed by the substitution of D for the E flat of the original text. A very early example of the use of this chord occurs in Edwards's the silly man, one of the secular pieces in the Mulliner MS.,^ the date of which is not later than 1564. i ^m s i- -&- '-^~ ^ -]- -^ iH-v 122: z^zMz ¥^ 14 A : L. P [^ ^Ji. A. It was also used by Byrd in the first number of his 1588 Set. These realistic methods of the madrigalists remained in vogue for a very extended period of musical history ; what- ever may be thought of them, it will be readily acknowledged that many composers in this country a hundred years later brought these methods into contempt owing to their lack of the artistic subtlety which almost always saved the madrigalists from triviality. Familiar examples of realism were of course superbly handled by Bach, Handel, and Haydn ; and in this connexion it may be mentioned that the famous passages in the St. Matthew and St. John Passion of Peter * weeping bitterly ' were anticipated by both B5n:d and Dowland in their settings of If that a sinner's sighs (Byrd's 1588 Set, No. 30, and Dowland's ' A Pilgrimes Solace', No. 13). Quite apart from the expressive meaning which the madri- galists strove to impart to the words by the use of harmonic and other devices, they attached great value to correctness of » British Museum Add. MSS. 30513, fol. 77 b. no METHODS AND IDIOM accentuation. This detail is closely associated with the subject of rhythm, which will be fully considered in the following chapter. Meanwhile Morley's comment upon the importance of true syllabic accentuation may be quoted : ^ ' We must also have a care to applie the notes to the words, as in singing there be no barbarisme committed, that is that we cause no syllable which is by nature short, be expressed by manie notes or one long note, nor no long syllable bee expressed with a short note : but in this fault doe the practicioners erre more grossely, then in any other, for you shal find few songs wherein the penult syllables of these words Dominus, Angelus, filius, miraculum, gloria, and such like are not expressed with a long note, yea manie times with a whole dossen of notes, & though one should speak of fortie he shuld not say much amisse : which is a grosse barbarisme, & yet might be easily amended.' Morley was referring chiefly to the music of an age consi- derably before his own, and he goes on to quote Dunstable as an example of what ' som dunces have not slackt to do ' by way of absurdity ' in the dittying of musick '. Reference to the quotation from Landino's music on p. 51 of the present volume will show the kind of thing which Morley had in his mind. In the matter of word-bonding, or underlaying the text, as it is technically called, the Elizabethans had a distinctive idiom of their own. A careful study of the part-books cannot fail to reveal the main principles upon which their system was based, but until very recently this feature of Tudor vocal music has been wholly ignored both by editors and by execu- tant musicians. For one thing, a group of four quavers, or crotchets, was scarcely ever divided equally into two pairs of notes as is customary in more modern practice. Such a group was phrased thus : ^m not H^^^r-'-*- ^^ scorn - ful - ly. scorn - ful - ly. Slur-marks were scarcely ever printed in the English madri- gal part-books, and the evidence to be gleaned from Tomkins's * Plain and Easy Introduction, p. 178. METHODS AND IDIOM III Set on this matter is of some importance, for in his Set there are some rare and valuable examples of printed slur-marks. A single example will suffice for purposes of illustration : our life a - way doth post, a way. There are also some instances of this kind of phrasing in Youll's canzonet Slow, slow, fresh fount (No. ii of the Set). It happens that some phrase-marks have been added by a con- temporary hand in manuscript to the Bassus-part of the British Museum copy of this Set ; and these remove any doubt that might have remained in the absence of further direct evidence as to the Elizabethan practice in secular music. This evidence is all the more valuable because the slurs are inserted in at least two instances at points where the position of the printed syllables leaves room for ambiguity. The third among the following examples is the most noticeable and seems to suggest the use of a kind of portamento. Countless examples of this particular convention of underlaying the words are to be found in the old Durham Cathedral part-books. The bar- lines given here do not, of course, appear in the original text : w ^ iS- -^-m a -1—1 L Slow, slow, fresh fount m 1S>- £=^^i^ the hea -Pi^ vy part mi -Q- -S>- the hea - vy part Droop, herbs and flowers. It was a very general rule that when no more than two syllables were available for a group of three notes, the second syllable was tied to the last two notes of the group. This point is well illustrated by the opening bars of Weelkes's Jockie, thine hornpipe's dull (' Ayeresor Phantasticke Spirites', No. 2) : ^i^= £ -G>- Jock - ie thine horu - pipe's dull, give wind man at full 112 METHODS AND IDIOM These conclusions are fully endorsed by the first-hand evidence of Orlando Gibbons. In an autograph score of some of his anthems in the Christ Church library ^ Gibbons frequently inserted phrase marks, showing beyond the possibility of doubt that his principles of underlaying the text agree exactly with those enunciated here. The following are examples : Mi fc -- t|jB=p: =1: -o- -«s» eS la For He is the ve ry Pas - chal Lamb. ft 1i~W~ :t:=t G- hath re - stor - ed to us. :p: £ a: of His ho - li ness. m^ 3E5 :c2 It* '. i<5» id: Re-jiiice ill Him, m Him. m^ -iS» G>- S -&- ^^ZE^ and by His ris mg to life a - gam. and these principles are also amply exemplified in the con- temporary manuscript part-books of the Church music of the period. The absence of slur-marks to indicate the exact underlaying of the words in the madrigal part-books, and the unexpected position of the words in certain instances, must on no account be taken to imply carelessness either on the part of the printers or the composers. As the special features of this Tudor con- vention in setting words to music becomes familiar, singers will find a special charm and value revealed in them ; for it will be seen that the true emphasis of the words is greatly enhanced by these methods, and that the bonding of several notes to unimportant syllables or words in certain cases has the direct effect of throwing the accent on to the important words. As regards harmonic principles, it is very commonly supposed » Cb. Cb. Oxford, MS. 21. METHODS AND IDIOM 113 that the madrigal-writers were limited by the custom of their time to the use of the common chord and its first inversion and to the most straightforward kinds of suspended discords. This is far from being the case. The special pecuUarities of Byrd's harmonic innovations will be more fully discussed in the chapter that is devoted exclusively to that composer ; the two most noticeable of these were the simultaneous use of the major and minor third, and the introduction of the minor third while the fourth was held in suspension to be resolved on to the major third. Byrd made far more use of these particular devices than any of the other madrigalists who succeeded him, but several instances of the conflict of the major and minor third are to be found in the works of Wilbye and Weelkes, and more particularly in Kirbye's Set of madrigals. Morley occasionally wrote the major and minor third simul- taneously, but almost always when a fresh phrase opened with a minor third following a full close with the major triad ; in these circumstances the major third was probably not meant to be sustained for its full written value. Similar examples occur throughout the madrigal literature. The sudden con- tradiction of the major and minor triads, which in later times has also come to be regarded as an elementary form of error and stigmatized as a ' false relation ', was a device which all the madrigalists handled frequently and in most cases with really beautiful effect. Byrd's other device, mentioned above, though not much used by the rest of the school in their secular work, was employed for several generations of English com- posers, notably by Purcell. Morley throughout his work conformed to the more rigid rules of harmony in which he was trained, and this is the more remarkable because his madrigals, taken as a whole, are quite the gayest of all the series. But Morley 's work did not extend beyond the close of the century, and he was not influenced by the harmonic experiments of Weelkes, Dowland, and Kirbye in 1597. Byrd's anticipation of the free use of the dominant seventh, and especially of the cadence in which the seventh appears as a free passing note, is also dealt with in the chapter on his work. None of his successors made more use of this beautiful cadence than Gibbons, but it was frequently used also by 3049 H 114 METHODS AND IDIOM Weelkes, and never more effectively than in the exquisite close of his Motley elegy : i^=^«^ o- &fe# ^-. W:^J_ A ^ *= - rv-x e J. g i^ The use of the seventh in this manner is best explained by supposing the sixth to have been eliminated from the chain of consecutive passing-notes. The converse of this idea is to be found in at least two instances in Wilbye's madrigals. Thus in the following phrase he omitted the seventh and retained the sixth as a free passing-note. The passage is from There where I saw her (Set II, No. 24) : ^P iz Little room was left for further harmonic innovation after the appearance of Weelkes's Cease, sorrows, now, and care, thou wilt despatch me, and of Wilbye's 0/t have I vowed, Farnaby's Construe my meaning, and several others ; and the salient features of these is the development of chromatic material of three kinds, namely chromatic scale-passages, unprepared chromatic discords, and chromatic modulation. Among the chromatic discords mention has already been made of the chord of J 3 as being frequently introduced ; but there are rare examples of other chromatic chords, such as the so-called Italian sixth which occurs in Wilbye's My throat is sore (Set I, No. 27) : r^f ^dr r^ jxc -- METHODS AND IDIOM 115 Tomkins has a remarkable bar in Was ever wretch tormented ? (No. 12) : P -e>- r- and Dowland used a diminished seventh in Fie on this feigning (No. 16 of his Third Book) : on hath power -4 .r). J all that ev - er lev ed ^^#^^ m .nj^uJ- p -a \km A -^ — » :fp=r- J^ -s>- -I©- :t; while in this same passage attention is directed to the inversion of the dominant eleventh on the subdominant in the cadence. This is a remarkably early instance of such harmony. Innovations of this character were reflected in most of the Sets of madrigals that appeared after the year 1600 ; but the only composer in the school who may be said to have introduced further original features after that date was Tomkins. He shared the experience of all artists who attempt to break new ground, in that some of his experiments were not wholly successful. The following bars from a fa-la in his fine madrigal let me live for true love (Nos. 7 and 8) are rather curious but by no means ineffective : i ^^^^^^^ I r -UJTZJ J3 g=#:g i H 1 H 2 ii6 METHODS ?AND IDIOM -!&- -&- g^?;£e=^ I — t I ^ — t 1| On the other hand, there can be no two opinions about the great beauty of the sequences in the closing passages of Weep no more, thou sorry boy (Nos. lo and ii) and of the free use of the I chord in Was ever wretch tormented ? (No. 12). These and other features of Tomkins's work were quite original and are not to be found before his time in the English madrigals. One other important technical point to notice is the use by the English madrigalists of various progressions which are usually forbidden in the text-books. The most debatable detail under this heading is the use of consecutive fifths. Morley, deploring the growing tendency to ignore the rule in his time, and referring more particularly to the madrigals of Croce, in which fifths and octaves frequently occur, states ^ that such progressions are scarcely ever to be found in the works of ' Master Alphonso (except in that place which I cited to you before), Orlando, Striggio, Clemens non Papa, or any of them, nor shal you redily find it in the workes of anie of those famous Englishmen who have beene nothing inferior in art to any of the afore named, as Farefax, Taverner, Shepherde, Mundy, White, Persons, M. Birde, and divers others, who never thought it greater sacrilidge to spurne against the Image of a Saint, then to take two perfect cordes of one kinde together.' Throughout the whole history of modern music, as dating from 1600, the use of such a progres- sion has been regarded in academic circles as an error of the first class, standing on the same level as a false quantity in Latin verses. There is no doubt as to the educational value for students of a training which enforces the strictest observance of definite and reasonable rules of grammar, nor is there any doubt that all the greatest music of the Classical Period was composed with a universal recognition of the rule that consecutive 1 Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. 151. METHODS AND IDIOM 117 fifths and octaves were to be absolutely excluded ; and it is a fact that scarcely any instances of such progressions can be quoted from the whole of the works of such composers as Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Beethoven, and Brahms. Not only so, but kindred rules, dealing with ' hidden fifths ' and other such matters, grew to be respected with almost equal strictness. But in modern days composers are throwing such rules to the winds, and it cannot be denied that objection to these forbidden progressions is often based on no more than academic affectation, and not on purely aesthetic grounds. But it is sometimes forgotten that the rule about fifths was being deliberately disregarded by several prominent musicians in Italy as well as in England at the close of the sixteenth century; and the fact that the world's greatest musicians in the period roughly lying between 1560 and 1900 observed it strictly, does not necessarily establish it for all time. It is sometimes forgotten also that the eariiest kind of harmonized music took the form of singing a piece of music right through in consecutive fifths. In connexion with this subject the practice of the English madrigalists is full of interest. Direct pairs of fifths seldom occur in the writings of the majority of these composers, and practically never in those of Byrd, Morley, Wilbye, and Weelkes ; but such a composer as Farnaby seems to have felt no great objection to them, and the large number of such pro- gressions in his canzonets cannot possibly be explained on the grounds either of negligence or incompetence. It is clear that he deliberately disregarded the rule. But as regards ' hidden fifths ', and pairs of consecutive fifths or octaves on strong beats, the madrigalists appear to have felt no sort of restriction ; for throughout the madrigal- literature there are numberless instances of such progressions as: I -J- W^' ^- ^rn dlj l j ^ . or even of ^ -- . did es - py . . it. Hence, false com - fort, in EE^ S i iza: P py it. Hence, itoe -o- ^^ ip: false com - fort, in i vain thou dost ease me, com - fort in vain then =r=P ^- 331 i^ ^ ^ a: -«s>- i i vain thou dost ease me, com - fort in vain thou I =r=3^ ^ z M—^- vam then dost ease me, I com - fort in vani . --imi ^F=^ -- me. IN TUDOR MUSIC 129 It is important to add that this principle of irregular barring exactly corresponds with that which the Tudor composers themselves recognized and employed. But since, secondly, it has not been found practicable, as Dr. Reinach also stated, to employ irregular barring to the extent of indicating such cross-rhythms as would involve putting bars at places not coincident in all the parts, a system of accents has been employed in the ' English Madrigal School Series ' for such cases. It must be clearly understood that, generally speaking, these accents imply nothing in the nature of sforzando, and must be taken only to indicate the beginning of a rhythmic unit, just as a modern bar-line does ; for they may sometimes occur on a rest, or during a sustained note (as, for instance, on the third beat of a dotted minim or a semibreve), or even on a weak syllable. In the case of duple rhythm it has been found more helpful as a rule to put an accent mark of this kind on both the strong rhythmical points. The following extract from Morley's In dew of roses (four-part Madrigals, No. 7) will serve as an illustration ; this madrigal incidentally furnishes also some striking examples of the necessity for indicating the rhythmic outline in some definite manner in a modern edition : ± £: n?: ± vaunt thee, Yet . . my ghost still shall ^^P' —f—r itr: I r m vaunt thee, Yet . . my ghost still shall haunt thee, yet . . j^=Ml ±z S vaunt thee, Yet my ghost 22 2=^- £: vaunt thee, f Yet my ghost still shall haunt 2049 130 RHYTHM AND BARRING i ^ss ^ £ £fc =£ 5c I* i :^ haunt, yet my ghost still shall haunt, yet . . my ghost still shall hannt t"^' ray ghost still shall haunt, yet my ghost still shall haunt, yet . . my i I 4- -* # :=t 1^ still shall haunt, yet . . my ghost still shall haunt, yet my ghost still m t- 33: lea: 32: zan thee, shall haunt If non-simultaneous irregular barring had been employed instead of this system of accents, the above passage would have read thus, but such a method would obviously be too confusing to the eye for practical purposes : s r~p~F f — t" 'Z~ I S .^r vaunt thee. i ajE it £ ^ ?: Yet my ghost still shal ?P i vaunt thee. Yet my ghost still shall haunt thee, yet i &^ vaunt thee. Yet my ghost j^ g :q^ ic^: ^ ^^ Yet my ghost still shall haunt vaunt thee, e ^g = B ^ *=«? i i haunt, yet my ghost still shall haunt, yet my ghost still shall haunt --#•= i^ i=C fc t: my ghost siill shall haunt, yet my ghost still shall haunt, yet my I — 4- P Sttat P Still shall haunt, yet my ghost still shall haunt, yet my ghost still s zica: thee, jCT- shall iio: haunt IN TUDOR MUSIC 131 The two alternative methods, which are rendered necessary in deaUng with both the simultaneous and non-simultaneous examples of rhythmic variety in this class of music, must not be regarded as conflicting in any way with each other. The bar-lines are to be taken as generally indicating the rhythmic outline except when they are over-ridden by accent-marks, which are then designed to replace them as the means of marking the beginning of the rhythmic unit exactly as a bar- line would have done if printed at that point. If the system of sparse and irregular barring employed by Gibbons in his manuscript score at Christ Church were adopted in a modern edition of Tudor music, it would be possible further to indicate the irregular and non-simultaneous rhythms by also employing in the individual voice-parts non-simul- taneous bars of a less conspicuous character, as contrasted with the main bar-lines as drawn by Gibbons in an unbroken line right through the score. No confusion to the eye need result from this. But it is necessary first to discover the key of the system. And its discovery should carry us much nearer a satisfactory solution of the difficult problem of editing Tudor music, even if it added something further to the difficulty of conducting from such a score.^ But in any case more than ordinary attention must be demanded from singers who set themselves the task of per- forming madrigals, because the constant changes of time and rhythm with which they abound must provide plentiful pitfalls for the inattentive. And certainly the task of conduct- ing such music is no simple one ; it often calls for special, and even novel, methods. Many of these difficulties can be over- come by rehearsing the voice-parts singly, so that the singers may be made familiar with the melodic and rhythmic features of their own individual part, undisturbed by those of the other voice-parts that may appear to conflict with them. As a good example of simultaneous and non-simultaneous rhythms occurring in a single passage, the following quotation may be cited from Byrd's / joy not in no earthly bliss (1588 Set, No. 11) : The general plan of barring at irregular intervals of six or eight minims has been adopted by the editorial committee of the Tudor Church Music edition, shortly to be issued under the auspices of the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust I 2 132 RHYTHM AND BARRING I joy not in no earth - ly bliss, ^- i^o: -s»- g* r: < .- p: r *i ICt r i^z=$i*zrz I joy not in no earth - ly bliss, force not Croe - sus' wealtli ... a straw. 4- P^l^^i^^^ ^¥^ ^8= i 4s>- £?3=E -^- -&- I force not Croe -sus' wcallli a straw, a straw. If this passage were to be barred right through in common time, it may be frankly said that it makes nonsense, and that the true rhythms are unrecognizable. In that form, too, it would justify all that Dr. Burney said about ' false accents ' : -m ^E^ ZC2Z joy not in zc^ — #— d- no carlli - ly ^j I 1 bliss, ;F=F= :oi «^- r rp -fS>- Se ^- J. -J -(^'- force not Croe sus' wealth straw. -G>^ q^^- '^, /S^ ^- ^H.- -o- :?3: Some editors in the past, having observed the ' false accent ' that seems to result from the insertion of bar-lines at regular intervals, and having failed to perceive the true explanation IN TUDOR MUSIC 133 of their difficulty, have proceeded to commit the unpardon- able error of tampering with the text, rearranging words and syllables, and sometimes altering the note-values, and acting under the conviction that they were improving the work of these great Elizabethans. The unexpected position of a word in the original text can almost always be explained by the recognition of some deviation from the normal flow of the rhythm ; there are, indeed, passages in which the position of the words has been carelessly printed in the original editions, and in some few cases a rigid adherence to the text on the part of an editor might result in the misinterpretation of the composer's intention ; but such passages are exceptional and must be treated on their own merits in a conservative spirit. The extent to which a triple rhythm may be disguised by the insertion of regular bar-lines four beats apart, is apparent from the examples quoted above. But rhythms of longer measure are still more difficult to recognize under such a disguise ; and many madrigal-singers have probably failed to observe the rhythmic patterns that are sometimes made up of semibreves and minims ; interesting designs are often to be discovered in those sections in which the composers were expressing their graver thoughts in notes of slow measure. The following is a phrase taken from the Cantus-part of Byrd's beautiful Come, woeful Orpheus (161 1 Set, No. 19) : voice un - to ihy skil wire. The rhythm in this passage runs counter to a similar rhythm in the other voice-parts, and the passage is one in which accent marks have been employed in the ' English Madrigal School Series ' to indicate the rhythm ; and the need of some editorial method of indication will be quickly recognized here, for it cannot be suggested that the true rhythm easily strikes the eye in the above form. But the meaning of the passage 134 RHYTHM AND BARRING is at once simply explained if it is barred in triple measure in spite of the time-signature. i EBS -«S>- 33: 2i: -e>- -f^-. =F=* ^^ -«s>- And tune ray voice, and tune ray voice un-to thy skil - ful wire. And in numbers of such passages, when looked at, as it were, through glasses properly focussed, each detail of the landscape becomes clear where all was blurred before by the bar-lines. One or two further rhythmic features of the English madrigals must be briefly noticed here. A good example has just been quoted ^ to show how a triple rhythm was often introduced in three voice-parts each of which entered one beat later than its predecessor. Another pretty instance of this occurs in Wilbye's Fly aloft to heaven (Set I, No. i) at the words to Carimel see you commend me. To sing such a passage with complete independence and simplicity is not altogether easy, because any feeling of rivalry between the parts must be scrupulously avoided ; but the effect is dehghtful if it is skilfully rendered. Sometimes an imitative phrase in duple rhythm was made to follow at the distance of only one beat. Here again it is imperative that the singers should retain absolute independence and yet avoid any feeling of syncopation ; the idea of strong syncopation, which forms such an important feature in the music of Handel and Bach, was almost unknown to the musicians of the period under consideration in these chapters, and the vigorous accent so rightly employed in the inter- pretation of syncopated passages in eighteenth-century music must never be introduced in the performance of a Madrigal. Singers must interpret the several voice-parts with absolute equality of importance and with exact similarity of rhythmic phrasing and expression ; and it has to be realized that in the separate part-books the music of these imitative passages was precisely identical in appearance, although it looks so different in the modern vocal score with bars inserted. The following is a simple example of a passage of this character from Morley's two-part canzonet / go before, my darling (No 4.) : See p. 129. IN TUDOR MUSIC 135 i ::s=j^ 3 :^ 3s=:f5: ±z i There we will to - geth fcE Sl=P er sweet-ly kiss each ey - ther, And g There we will to-geth - er sweet - ly kiss each ey - ther, And The second soprano-part must here be sung exactly as if the bar-lines occurred one beat later, and as they do in the first soprano. It is a mistake to suppose that these overlapping rhythms cannot be sung independently without producing a confused effect even when such imitations are written in five or six vocal parts. And madrigal-singers need to recognize at the outset that whereas in modern music the first beat of a bar in common time bears the chief accent while that on the third beat is subservient to it, the reverse of this rule is very commonly to be observed in singing Tudor music. This is particularly the case when a voice-part enters with a point of imitation two beats after another part ; the phrasing of each part in such cases should be identical, regardless of the position in the bar. Music in triple measure gave these composers special oppor- tunities for varied rhythmical treatment. Thus, if the main rhythm was founded on bars of three minims' length, it was a simple matter to vary this with a measure twice as long or twice as short. It is of great importance that singers should acquire a facility for recognizing and conforming to sudden alternations of rhythm ; and the key to the phrasing is always to be sought in the natural accent of the words. The following table shows some of the ordinary rhythmic varieties in triple measure : W w r — r — r T r r r -pirr-T (c) \—& fS- r — T—r- id) -^ -^ -&- w Y^-'- T 136 RHYTHM AND BARRING A good example of the combination of (a) and {b) in this table is to be found in Byrd's Though Amaryllis (see p. 164). The alternation of (a) and (c) should constantly be looked for. It always lends great charm to the main outline of the melody. As an illustration we may take a passage in Morley's Though Philomela lost her love (three-part Canzonets, No. 23) : i 3E az F^^f^^f^ lf^PJEpEg^ He is a fool that lov - ers prove and leaves to sing to live in pain. And in the concluding passage of Dowland's familiar Awake, sweet love (Book I, No. 19) the accent falls on alternate minims for four consecutive bars. This point, it must be repeated, is no idle or ingenious fancy of a modern editor ; the device was part of the technique of the Tudor composers and was well understood in their time. As evidence of this fact, reference may be made to Adrian Batten's contemporary manuscript organ-book,^ in which he has boldly changed the signature in the organ accompaniment of a passage in Gibbons's ' Jubilate in D minor ', and barred it in groups of four minims, although there is no sort of indica- tion in any of the voice-parts of any change from the triple rhythm except the rhythm of the words. The clear inference is that the singers conformed to such changes of rhythm as a matter of ordinary routine. One favourite device of these composers was to break the rhythm by inserting two bars in I time followed by one in I, thus leading back to the main rhythm. In such cases a new time-signature was seldom introduced, and the variation of rhythm was usually simultaneous in all the voice-parts. The opening passage in Byrd's / joy not in no earthly bliss already quoted ^ is an illustration of this. Similarly, in Wilbye's Long have I made these hills (Set II, No. 34) the following phrase occurs : us: J&z: ^ -e>- jr:t era - el, if thus my death may please thee, then » Tenbury MS. 791. " Seep. 132. IN TUDOR MUSIC 137 Another rhythmic formula was in common use, especially in the final cadences of the madrigals. It is made up of three groups consisting of three, two, and three units before the final note of the cadence is reached. The point will be illus- trated by the concluding phrase of Weelkes's now weep, now sing (' Ayeres or Phantasticke Spirites ', No. 21) : , •« 0- ^f -&- If -<5>- m to die, to die, and nev - er to have end ing. Sometimes such a passage can be phrased, if the ictus of the words suggests it, in groups of two, three, and three. Thus, the wording of the second stanza of this same composition of Weelkes's necessitates the alternative grouping of the same notes : i ^ *F ± 0l'' fe i to prove, to prove some plea - sure min - gled with pain. Byrd made frequent use of this same formula, but more usually in terms of longer notes ; as, for instance, in As I beheld I saw a herdman (1588 Set, No. 20) : :b j~z^- -- t« v^hat print - ed IS in he.irt on tree to blot. It is important to remember that the emphasis required for interpreting these rhythms is much lighter and more subtle in character than what is ordinarily employed with good effect in phrasing music of the eighteenth century and later, when the strong four-square rhythms became such an important feature. In conclusion it must be repeated that the task of performing madrigals with due observance of the complex rhythms together with the other features peculiar to Tudor music is, without doubt, a difficult one. It is sometimes even stated that madrigals can no longer be performed with complete success because the old traditions have been so long forgotten and 138 RHYTHM AND BARRING , ignored, and because modern singers are so entirely dominated by regular rhythms designed on the framework of bars of a constant measure. Madrigal-singing postulates, among other things, a faculty for changing from one rhythm to another with perfect independence and precision, unhampered either by the influence of any counter-rhythm in another voice-part or by any feehng based upon the modem convention of regular bar-periods. But these difficulties are not really in- superable. It is true that the conductor in dealing with complex rhythms will find it difficult to employ his customary methods of beating time, but conductors are made for the music and not the music for the conductors, and they must consequently devise new methods, if necessary, so as to adapt their principles to the performance of music which in its own time was interpreted ordinarily without the aid of any conductor. But a madrigal- conductor must make it his first aim to see that, at least, he does not increase the difficulties of the singers by adhering rigidly to the conventional use of the baton with its accepted code of indications which grew up in connexion with music of a later date and style ; remembering always that the tech- nique of the modem conductor's art dates from no earlier than the nineteenth century, whereas the polyphonic music under discussion belongs mainly to the sixteenth. Good madrigal-singing is, without doubt, a very difficult accomplish- ment for conductors and singers alike ; and, as Mr. Arkwright has pointed out,^ how few conductors seem to notice that Madrigal-singing is a totally different thing from Part-song- singing. In the Part-song all the voices, as a rule, follow the same rhythmic design, while the expression marks with all their nuances are uniform and coincident in all the parts as repre- senting one whole. But in Madrigals separate accents and effects of expression should be generally aimed at without regard to the accentuation or dynamic force of other parts, so that each group of singers may phrase its own part with absolute inde- pendence. It is the conductor's first business to go through the separate parts thoughtfully and carefully, bringing some into prominence, suppressing others, and contriving suitable » Accent and Expression, by G. E. P. Arkwright. Old English Edition, Part XXI. IN TUDOR MUSIC 139 phrasing and emphasis, and that not exclusively in points of imitation. In this lies the secret of successful Madrigal- singing. If, on the other hand, it is ignored, or set aside as being too difficult for attainment, the only reasonable alter- native is to leave the Madrigal severely alone. There is no place for a sors tertia. CHAPTER XII THE MADRIGAL LYRICS In the selection of words to set to their music the Tudor madrigaUsts were exceptionally fortunate, since they were able to draw upon an unlimited flow of the purest and best literature that was ever poured forth in the English language. In this matter they had yet another advantage over the continental madrigal- writers. We have already seen that, owing to the late date at which the Enghsh Madrigal School arose, and also to the rapid progress of their harmonic development as well as the daring and original methods which they employed, the English madrigalists achieved in this particular Art-form even greater perfection than the composers of the Flemish and Italian Schools, when their work is judged solely as music. But when we look at any of these English compositions from the wider point of view that takes into account the music and the words together as a single entity for criticism, they are raised to a still higher plane, and their supremacy in their own special branch of creative Art stands impregnable. It has often been suggested that the madrigal-composers wrote many, if not the greater number, of the lyrics themselves. No positive evidence can be cited either to support or to oppose this conjecture, yet the theory cannot be put thought- lessly aside. The authorship of the words cannot, however, be identified with certainty except in comparatively few instances. It is known that Thomas Campian wrote most of the words for his books of Airs, if not all of them, and in his ' Address to the Reader ' at the beginning of the third and fourth books, he definitely claimed the authorship of the lyrics as well as of the music. Campian also wrote both the poetry and the music of the first part of the volume of Airs which he published in conjunction with Rosseter. But Campian's claim to author- ship has no exact parallel among the other Tudor composers. Another musician, however, who may have written some of THE MADRIGAL LYRICS 141 the lyrics for his compositions was John Dowland, and it is not unhkely that the double accomplishment was more general among the lutenist-composers than among the actual madri- galists. Some authorities have conjectured that Dowland was the author of the lyric which both he and Gibbons set to music, beginning Ah, dear heart, why do you rise — lines which have often been assigned to the authorship of Dr. John Donne. There is no direct evidence to support Dowland's authorship. On the other hand, Weelkes intimated pretty plainly that he himself wrote none of the words which he set to music, for he confessed in the dedication to his five-part Madrigals in 1600 that he was unskilled in any art other than music. In this same statement, however, he implied that some musicians were rather proud of their attempts to achieve success also in other fields than music, no doubt meaning by this that they wrote at least some of the lyrics themselves. And it is certainly reasonable, on other grounds also, to suppose that the madrigal-composers frequently did write verses for their own setting, although it is probable that in the great majority of instances the words were either written or selected by their friends, among whom they could count ' poets who have left a name behind them ', as well as many more who ' have left no memorial '. A large number of people among the educated classes of that day would have been able to write a lyric or two in the manner of the great poets of the time, even if they could lay no particular claim to individual poetical talent. Thus we frequently encounter among the madrigals a lyric closely reminiscent of Sidney, or Spenser, or of some other poet, although not to be found in their collected works. To illustrate this point Wilbye's What needeth all this travail (Set I, Nos. 7 and 8) may be quoted : What needeth all this travail and turmoiling. Shortening the life's sweet pleasure To seek this far-fetched treasure In those hot climates under Phoebus broiling ? O fools, can you not see a traffic nearer. In my sweet lady's face, where Nature showeth Whatever treasure eye sees or heart knoweth ? Rubies and diamonds dainty. And orient pearls such plenty, 142 THE MADRIGAL LYRICS Coral and ambergris sweeter and dearer Than which the South Seas or Moluccas send us. Or either Indies, East or West, do lend us. This may be compared with Spenser's fifteenth Sonnet, beginning : Ye tradeful merchants that with weary toil Do seek most precious things to make your gain. And both the India's of their treasure spoil ; What needeth you to seek so far in vain ? For lo, my Love doth in herself contain All this world's riches that may far be found. Again, the first couplet of Weelkes's eighteenth Ballet compares very closely with two lines of Sidney's. Weelkes's version is : I love and have my love regarded, And sport with sport as well rewarded. And in Sidney's ' Arcadia ' (Book I. 5) we read : We love and have our loves rewarded. We love and are no wit regarded. It was not in accordance with the custom of the time to print in the music-books the name of the author of the lyrics. This was not done even in the case of those poems of which we can actually identify the author ; and the presumption is, there- fore, that many more of these charming verses were written by the great Elizabethan poets, some of them perhaps by Shakespeare himself. This probability is not inconsistent with the fact that the poems do not happen to have survived apart from the song-books. And the madrigalists would have been on terms of intimacy with most of the leading poets of the time ; indeed Weelkes set to music a quaint skit (No. 6 of his ' Ayeres or Phantasticke Spirites '), which undoubtedly refers to the famous Mermaid Tavern, the favourite resort of Shake- speare, Ben Jonson, Fletcher, Chapman, and many another : The Ape, the Monkey and Baboon did meet. And breaking of their fast in Friday Street, Two of them sware together solemnly In their three natures was a sympathy. Nothing could be more probable than that the poets were constantly giving, and being asked for, a few lines of verse suitable for a madrigal, without any thought of perpetuating THE MADRIGAL LYRICS 143 a claim to authorship. For example : what, in another sphere of life, could have been more natural than that some guest at Rushbrooke Hall, with an amateur's knack of versifying in the prevailing literary style, should have expressed a desire that Kirbye, as the resident musician of the household, should set his lyric to music ? The new madrigal would then perhaps have been sung at sight the same evening, when * supper being ended, and Musicke bookes (according to the custome) being brought to the tables, the mistresse of the house presented all (the guests) with a part, earnestly requesting them to sing '} Or, again, it requires little imagination to suppose that, although Sidney died some years before Wilbye came to live at Hengrave Hall, Lady Kytson may have requested Wilbye to set words written by Sidney on one of his visits, words of which the poet may have kept no copy, and which perhaps had subsequently passed out of his memory.^ Be all this as it may, authorship is, after all, a secondary consideration in relation to Art. The really important truth remains that in the madrigal-books we possess a wonderful store of lyric poetry, the bulk of which has not otherwise survived for our enjojnnent in print ; and almost all of it is worthy of that golden age of English hter^ure to which it belongs. ^k The English madrigalists by no means darned themselves to the treatment of pastoral subjects, nor yet to words of a light and cheerful nature, although on this latter point madrigal students of all generations have been liable to error. In this matter even so fine a musician as Pearsall went astray, in spite of his admirable enthusiasm for Elizabethan music ; for Pearsall counted cheerfulness among the essential features of a true Madrigal.^ This erroneous opinion may be easily accounted for by the limited amount of madrigal-literature available for criticism, especially in Pearsall's time. The madrigalists knew how to be grave as well as gay, they treated 1 Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. i. ' Some manuscript letters of Sidney's are still preserved at Hengrave Hall, and it is not unlikely that verses of his were kept at Hengrave in manuscript. » Two chapters on Madrigals, by R. L. Pearsall, printed in Felix Farley's Bristol J ournalin 1856. 144 THE MADRIGAL LYRICS ethical and religious subjects — quite apart from the setting of scriptural words — besides singing of the morris-dance and the May-day revels ; they could express the feelings of passionate emotion, and also the light-hearted conceits of the nymphs and shepherds, or of cruel Amaryllis and her rejected suitor. And in all subjects and moods they succeeded in expressing themselves with amazing perfection. A good example of religious words may be quoted from Byrd's ' Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of Sadnes and Pietie ' (No. 31) : Care for thy soul as thing of greatest price. Made to the end to taste of power divine. Devoid of guilt, abhorring sin and vice. Apt by God's grace to virtue to incline. Care for it so as by thy retchless train It be not brought to taste eternal pain. Byrd was not singular in writing such ' songs of piety ', for similar examples are to be found in the works of several other madrigalists ; but he certainly wrote more in this vein than did any of his contemporaries. The finest examples of the ethical madrigal are to be found in the works of Gibbons and Wilbye. It is unnecessary to quote in full Raleigh's splendid lines, set to music by Gibbons (No. 14), and beginning : What is our life ? A play of passion. but somewhat similar is the following lyric, set by Wilbye (No. 14 of his second volume) ; and both these poems must at once bring into the reader's mind the famous lines of Shakespeare, ' All the world 's a stage . . .' Happy, O happy he, who not affecting The endless toils attending worldly cares, With mind reposed, all discontents rejecting. In silent peace his way to heaven prepares, Deeming his life a Scene, the world a Stage Whereon man acts his weary Pilgrimage. Another type of serious madrigal took the form of an elegy on some departed friend. Weelkes composed as many as three of these, and included them in his madrigal publications, one being entitled ' A remembrance of my friend Mr. Thomas Morley '. Morley's Hark! Alleluia was a ' reverend memoriall of that honourable true gentleman, Henry Noel, Esquier '. THE MADRIGAL LYRICS 145 But the finest poem of this sort in the madrigal-literature is an anonymous elegy in Gibbons's Set (Nos. 17, 18, 19) which may be quoted here in full : Nay, let me weep, though others' tears be spent, Though all eyes dried be, let mine be wet. Unto thy grave I'll pay this yearly rent ; Thy lifeless corse demands of me this debt. I owe more tears than ever corse did crave. I'll pay more tears than e'er was paid to grave. Ne'er let the Sun with his deceiving light Seek to make glad these watery eyes of mine ; My sorrow suits with melancholy night, I joy in dole, in languishment I pine. My dearest friend is set, he was my Sun, With whom my mirth, my joy and all is done. Yet if that age had frosted o'er his head. Or if his face had furrowed been with years, I would not so bemoan that he is dead, I might have been more niggard with my tears. But O the Sun, new-rose, is gone to bed. And Hlies in their Springtime hang their head. No. 31 of Wilbye's second Set is a characteristic example of the emotional type of madrigal : Draw on, sweet Night ! best friend unto those cares That do arise from painful melancholy ; My life so ill through want of comfort fares. That unto thee I consecrate it wholly. Draw on, sweet Night ! My griefs, when they be told To shades of darkness, find some ease from paining ; And while thou aU in silence dost enfold, I then shall have best time for my complaining. Enough has already been said to show that a vast number of madrigals are far removed from being cheerful in character ; yet it must be admitted that the greater part of the madrigal literature is bright and gay, representing every phase of hghtsome mood. Numberless examples of delightful words of this kind could be quoted ; the following serenade, selected almost at random, is from Weelkes's five-part Madrigals in his publication of 1600. 2049 K 146 THE MADRIGAL LYRICS Lady, the birds right fairly Are singing ever early. The lark, the thrush, the nightingale. The make-sport cuckoo, and the quail : These sing of love, then why sleep ye ? To love your sleep it may not be. Or again, take No. ii of Weelkes's Ballets, which may be compared with Herrick's ' Corinna ' : In pride of May The fields are gay. The birds do sweetly sing ; So Nature would That all things should With joy begin the Spring. Then, Lady dear. Do you appear In beauty like the Spring ; I well dare say The birds that day More cheerfully will sing. In connexion with the Ballet-form of composition it should be stated that the fa-la refrain constituted no actual part of the lyric as such, but was added by the composer of the music, who employed it for purposes closely corresponding to an instru- mental interlude introduced between clearly defined sections of the words. This theory, which the present writer believes has never hitherto been enunciated, is amply corroborated by a reference to Youll's Early before the day doth spring (No. 22 of his Can- zonets). Youll introduced the fa-la refrain after the third and fifth lines of this stanza which forms part of Sir John Davies's set of acrostical ' Hymns to Astraea '. The poet's text as pubhshed in his own day has no fa-la, for of course such a refrain would break up the metre of the verse. Early before the day doth spring Let us awake, my Muse, and sing, It is no time to slumber So many joys this time doth bring As time will fail to number. Youll's canzonet is especially interesting, in that it affords the THE MADRIGAL LYRICS 147 only example known to the present writer in which the text of any poem treated by a madrigal-composer with a fa-la refrain was printed in any contemporary volume independent of the song-books or their influence. As an example of a curious kind of humour, Robert Jones in his ' First Set of Madrigals ', No. 12, expanded the usual formula ' Here endeth the songs of four voices ', and solemnly set to music the following words : Here is an end of all the songs, Which are in number but four parts. And he loves music well we say That sings all five before he starts. The finest individual collection of words to be found in any one madrigal-Set is perhaps that of the Gibbons volume. The words were apparently selected for Gibbons by Sir Christopher Hatton, and it is possible that Hatton himself was the author of one or more of the lyrics. The four stanzas (Nos. 3 to 6 of the Set), beginning with / weigh not Fortune's frown nor smile, are from Joshua Sylvester's ' Epigrams and Epitaphs '. Fair Ladies that to love captived are (Nos. 10 and 11) are from Spenser's ' Fairy Queen '. Lais now old is an imitation of an epigram of Plato's, though Gibbons's version may have been made from the translation by Ausonius, which is in many ways finer than the Greek original. Gibbons's Set includes Sir Walter Raleigh's fine What is our life ? (No. 14), and a charming lyric prefixed to John Donne's poem ' Break of day ', already men- tioned as possibly being the work of John Dowland, who also set it to music. In few other Sets of madrigals can the author- ship of so many of the poems be identified as that of Gibbons, but Ward's Set is also interesting from this point of view. It would not be possible here to discuss in detail all the sets of lyrics which these madrigal-books contain; they provide sufficient material for a volume dealing exclusively with that subj ect. It is enough to say that in addition to the few instances in which the authorship of the lyrics is known, just a small proportion are translations. For example, several of Morley's words were translated from Italian writers ; while classical authors, such as Horace and Ovid, were occasionally drawn upon. As an instance of this, Byrd set a hexameter translation K 2 148 THE MADRIGAL LYRICS of the opening lines of Ovid's ' First Epistle ' : Hanc tua Penelope lento tihi miitit Ulysse. The translation which Byrd used (1588 Set, No. 23) was not one of any great merit ; the first couplet runs thus : Constant Penelope sends to thee careless Ulysses ; Write not again, but come, sweet mate, thyself to revive me. Wilbye's famous madrigal, Sweet honey-sucking bees (Set II, Nos. 17 and 18) is an imitation of one of the Basia of Johannes Secundus, the Dutch statesman and poet of the early sixteenth century. Just as the form of the Tudor Madrigal cannot be defined with any exactness when examined from an exclusively musical point of view, so also the lyric to which the music was wedded was of no fixed design. The favourite type of lyric among the madrigal-composers was certainly that of a stanza of six lines, and a large majority of the madrigal words are in this form. It does not appear, however, that this preference was due to any other reason than that this was a measure extremely popular with all the poets of that period. The poet Surrey was the first to make frequent use of this metre, if he were not actually the originator of it. But the most striking feature of the words of the madrigals is the wonderful variety of metre in which they are written. In this connexion it is an alluring conjecture that the metrical variety which is one of the charms of Herrick's poetry may have been partly owing to that poet's acquaintance with the madrigal-literature of twenty years earlier. Certainly it is easy in reading the ' Hesperides ' to imagine that one is listening to the echo of a madrigalist without the music. And here it may be remarked that the excellence of the words, quite apart from the music, has often proved an important factor in securing popularity for particular madrigals, though the true source of such popularity may not have been actually recognized, and the attractive power of the words has exercised its influence unawares. To some extent this statement is true of all kinds of vocal music at all periods, but certainly more than one Tudor madrigal could be mentioned as having become a general favourite, the music of which is not of outstanding merit while the words arc first-rate. THE MADRIGAL LYRICS 149 It is not a difficult matter, as a rule, to reconstruct the metrical form of the lyrics from the madrigal part-books, in spite of the minor irregularities which are almost inseparable from musical settings of this character. But cases do occur in the writings of some of the madrigalists in which it is evident that small variants, whether intentionally or otherwise, have crept into some of the voice-parts ; and sometimes small extra words are expressly interpolated to suit the needs of the music, these extra words being occasionally printed in brackets in the original part-books. It has been the usual practice of those who have reprinted the words of these songs indepen- dently from the music, to include all such extra words, regardless of the rhythm and metre. This does not apply only to recent editions, it was also the course adopted in ' England's Helicon ', a collection of poems printed in 1600. And the practice has undeniably something to be said for it, as representing a sincere intention to give a faithful reproduction of the original text. On the other hand, from the point of view of literature, quite apart from that of music, it is more interesting, if possible, to print lyrics in a form that will scan, and in their original metre, if that can be reconstructed with any degree of probability, as it undoubtedly can be in most instances. An essential feature of madrigal-composition is the use of short musical phrases treated in imitative style by the various voice-parts. More often than not the composer found that a complete line of verse was too lengthy for such a phrase, and it consequently became necessary to divide the line into two or more short sentences. It will be obvious that the task of making such a division would, in many instances, be facilitated by a slight readjustment of the original words, with the object, in the first place, of making sense, and also for purposes of verbal rhythm and balance. This point is borne out in an interesting manner in some of the poems set by the lutenists. The lutenists, it wiU be remembered, very frequently set out one stanza of a poem with their music and printed the remainder of the poem in metrical form at the foot of the page and apart from the music. This feature is one which especially differentiates the lutenists' Air from the Madrigal. Whether it was the custom to sing the subsequent stanzas by repeating the music 150 THE MADRIGAL LYRICS set to the first stanza must remain uncertain in the absence of direct evidence ; but if they were so sung, metrical difficulties are at once encountered, some of which seem to suggest with a large degree of probability that the composers were in the liabit of rearranging the words to suit the requirements of their music. Take, for instance, Dowland's beautiful Come, heavy sleep, the image of true Death (Set I, No. 20). The first line of the second stanza, as printed in metrical form in the song-book, runs Come, shadow of my end, and shape of rest ; but this line must necessarily be altered to Come, shape of rest, and shadow of my end, if it is to be sung to the music, and there can be little doubt that if Dowland had set it out with the notes it would have appeared in this form. Similarly, in Dowland's Toss not, my soul the first line of the second stanza must inevitably be altered by transposing the word Assurance to the beginning of the line if it is to be sung. A curious textual variation occurs between the two stanzas in the refrain : as set to music the first stanza reads. When once of ill the utter- most is known and this is changed in the second stanza (set out in metrical form apart from the music) to : When once the uttermost of ill is known. It seems unlikely that this variant is due to a printer's error, but as the second version cannot possibly be sung to the music, it would seem that the composer transposed the words as being more suitable for his purpose in that shape, and that, either by an oversight or by deliberate design, the alteration was not made in the second verse when printed in its original metrical form. Instances of such freedom in the treatment of words might be multiplied indefinitely. These readjustments, which were often of the nature of musical 'poetical licences', occasionally even involved the interchange from line to line of the less essential small words ; the principle was sometimes extended to the addition or elimination of epithets ; and in rare instances to still more drastic treatment of the original poem. Most of the madrigalists treated their words at times with some degree of freedom ; and this is true even of those who as a general rule adhered fairly closely to the text of the lyric. Weelkes, Byrd, and Gibbons seldom indulged in any such freedom. On the other hand, Morley carried this freedom of verbal treatment THE MADRIGAL LYRICS 151 to a greater length than any of his contemporaries ; for whereas a very large proportion of the lyrics set by the other madrigal-composers can be transcribed with little hesitation straight into metrical form, such an experience is the exception rather than the rule in dealing, for instance, with Morley's 1593 Set of Canzonets or his Book of four-part Madrigals. His Ballets, however, owing to the more regular rhythmical features of this form of composition, did not admit of, or indeed render necessary, such freedom of treatment. But there can be no doubt whatever as to the actual fact of his altering and varying the words in his other Sets from the form in which they first came into his hands, and of his making inter- polations with surprising freedom. Small interjections, such as ' Alas ' or ' Ay me ', were interpolated very generally throughout the whole of the madrigal-literature ; but in no other work do they occur to such an extent as in that of Morley. This composer was also in the habit of constantly adding epithets when he needed some further material for a phrase of music ; and such additions, it is important to state, do not by any means agree in all the voice-parts. To illustrate the point we may here examine in detail the first two lines of Morley's three-part canzonet What ails my darling ? (No. 18). It will be necessary, in the first place, to set out all the words in extenso, just as they appear individually in each of the three voice-parts : Cantus. What ails my darling, say what ails my darling, Jwhat ails my sweet pretty darling, what ails my sweet, Iwhat ails mine own sweet darling ? What ails my darling ■dear thus sitting all alone, sitting all alone, aU alone so iweary ? Say, why is my dear now not merry ? Alius. What ails my darling, say what ails my darling, [what ails my darling dear, what ails mine only sweet, [mine only sweet darling ? What ails my darhng, (what ails my darUng dear, sitting all alone, sitting all alone so weary ? Say what grieves my dear that she is not [merry ? Bassus, What ails my darling, say what aUs my darling, what ails my darling, say what ails my dainty, dainty darling, what ails mine own sweet dainty darling ? What ails my dainty darling, my dainty darling so to sit alone, so to sit jalone so weary, and is not merry. 152 THE MADRIGAL LYRICS In their original form the lines may have run thus : Say what ails my darling dear to sit alone so weary ? Say what grieves my dainty sweet that she is now not merry ? Such a reconstruction must necessarily be of a speculative nature, and in many cases it is only possible to offer suggestions in such work. On the other hand, in a good number of madri- gals, besides those of Morley, the result does rest upon grounds of strong probability. One of the most remarkable examples of Morley's peculiar usage in this matter is to be found in his morris-dance madrigal Ho! who comes here? (No. i8 of his four-part Set of Madri- gals). As the boisterous merriment of the subject works up to a climax, his freedom in the treatment of the original words becomes unbounded. The lines apparently ran in some such form as this : Soft awhile, then ! not away so fast ! they melt them ! Piper, see'st thou not the dancers how they swelt them ? Morley treats this as a sort of dialogue between an excited spectator and the Piper, who was one of the troupe of morris- dancers, playing on the bagpipes. The words ' Soft awhile, not away so fast, they melt them ' occur alike in all the four voice-parts, after which the text is as follows : Cantus. Piper, piper, piper, be hanged awhile knave, look the dancers swelt them. Alius. Piper, piper, be hanged awhile then, look, be hanged awhile knave, seest not the dancers how they swelt them ? Bassus. What piper, ho, be hanged awhile knave then, seest thou not, seest thou not the dancers how they swelt them ? the dancers swelt them ? The tenor-part represents the retort of the Piper : Tenor. Who calls, who calls ? be hanged awhile knaves all, what care I the dancers though they swelt them ? It may be objected, however, that Morley wrote the words himself, and that they were not founded on any original lyric. But against this it has to be said that Morley's original words must almost certainly have stood in some kind of metrical form before a note of the music had been written, and that his freedom THE MADRIGAL LYRICS 153 of treatment developed while he composed the music. There is the evidence of the rhyming words ; and so much of the metre is retained as to give a conclusive answer to such an objection. The 1593 Canzonets and the four-part Madrigals of Morley, and also the work of other madrigalists, provide most inter- esting material for study from this point of view. It is an aspect of the subject that has not hitherto been discussed by any writer upon English madrigals or madrigal - literature, and is put forward in these pages for the first time. Yet it may deserve consideration, not only from a purely literary aspect, but also because the recognition of the principle at issue might obviate the deplorable and shapeless form in which these words are so frequently served up in concert programmes. A good example of the compression of the words by a com- poser is to be found in Ellis Gibbons's Oriana madrigal in which the couplet : I never saw a fairer I never heard a rarer appears in some of the voice-parts as one line : I never heard nor saw a fairer In this case the full text is only revealed after careful examination of all the part-books. This same poem was also set by Thomas Hunt as another contribution to The Triumphs of Oriana, but there is no ambiguity about reconstructing the metrical form of the lines from Hunt's setting. Gibbons's version begins with the words Long live fair Oriana, and the words do not occur at all in Hunt's setting ; from this it seems evident that it was Gibbons who conceived the idea of prefacing the poem with the words of the refrain which forms the last line of this entire collection of madrigals ; his device was an artistic one, but the words, of course, should have no place there in the poem ; and this fact is borne out by comparison with Hunt's setting ; yet it illustrates admirably the methods of the madrigalists in handling original words. Another interesting kind of comparison is to be made between Wilbye's Lady, when I behold the roses sprouting and Farnaby's My lady's coloured cheeks, which have a common origin as translations of an Italian madrigal. 154 THE MADRIGAL LYRICS Suggestions, such as have just been made for attempting to reconstruct the original form of the lyrics as they first reached the hand of the composer, are perfectly justifiable when dealing with the words apart from the music ; but they must not in any sort of way be regarded as marking approval of the practice of altering the words in the musical text itself. No condemnation for such alteration as that can be too strong, and yet this flagrant fault has been widely committed in many of the modem reprints of the English madrigals. Very occasionally, it must be admitted, some slight alteration of the words is necessary, in order to conform to the taste of modem days ; but even in such a case no emendation ought to be made without the addition of a foot-note calling attention to it as being a variant on the original text. Extraordinarily few madrigals call for any such alterations. To suppose that the English madrigals have not been reprinted in modem editions on the ground that the character of the words would not permit it, is a grave error bom of lamentable ignorance. Editors have, in fact, been guilty of unpardonable tampering with the words in two directions. One of these has already been dealt with in connexion with the misinterpretation of the irregular rhythms of the music. The other takes the form of attempting to improve upon the words in combination with the musical text, splely from the point of view of literature. The astounding presumption of such an attempt need not further be commented on. The prime offender in this matter was Thomas Oliphant, who imfortunately did not shrink from attempting to ' improve ' almost every one of the many mad- rigals which he edited and reprinted in the middle of the nine- teenth century. It is difficult to imagine the attitude of mind in which he set to work to produce such alterations, either as a matter of necessity or of expediency. The following are some examples of Oliphant's printed editions, chosen at random. Cold 'winter's ice is fled and gone. And Summer brags on every tree ; The Redbreast peeps amidst the throng Of wood-bom birds that wanton be. Each one forgets what they have been. And so doth Phyllis, Summer's Queen, (Weelkes's ' Madrigals of five parts ', No. i.) THE MADRIGAL LYRICS 155 Oliphant's version, as printed with the music, is : Cold Winter's ice is fled and gone. And Summer blooms on every tree. The Redbreast peeps amid the throng Of warbling birds that merry be. Come let us dance upon the green, And crown fair Daphne Summer's Queen. Moreover, in his edition of this madrigal Oliphant entirely ruined the opening passage of the music by substituting major thirds for minor in the first two chords, though these were expressly designed by the composer to suggest the wintry conditions. It is noteworthy that Oliphant had previously printed the text of this lyric quite correctly in La Musa Madrigalesca ; but it is significant that in a note he limited his praise of the poetry to the first four lines, a fact which inevitably suggests that his version of the two final lines, subsequently produced with the music, was, in his opinion, an improvement on the original. Campian's well-known lyric, which Alison set as a madrigal, was altered in the following manner by Oliphant in his edition of Alison's music : There is a garden in her face Where roses and white lilies grow. in Oliphant's version became : A garden is my lady's face Where roses and white lilies blow. Again, Farmer's madrigal, beginning : A little pretty bonny lass was walking In midst of May before the sun 'gan rise. I took her by the hand and feU to talking Of this and that, as best I could devise. Oliphant re-edited as follows : To take the air a bonny lass was walking One mom in May as Phoebus 'gan arise. Full soon I greeted her and fell a-talking Of this and that, as best I could devise. Farnaby's ' My lady's coloured cheeks ' became in Ohphant's hands ' A nosegay of spring flowers ' ; while Bennet's ' Weep, O mine eyes ' was transformed into ' Flow, O my tears '. 156 THE MADRTGAT. LYRICS Oliphant's lamentable efforts in this direction might have been passed by with a mere allusion if it were not for the important fact that so much of his work, printed in separate part-books as well as in vocal score, still forms the basis of the music-libraries belonging to the older madrigal- Societies in this country ; and his text with all its many glaring faults — both as regards words and music — is regularly used and held in great veneration by the members of these Societies. Oliphant, whose great enthusiasm it is impossible not to admire, must not be blamed as an individual so much as a representative of the indifferent taste in such matters that prevailed in the first half of the nineteenth century. And in point of fact we need step back but two generations more to arrive at Dr. Burney, whose history was published in 1789. Burney failed altogether to appreciate either the words or the music of the madrigals, actually saying.. ' We should suppose from the words of these madrigals that our Lyric Poetry, which has never been much cultivated by real judges and lovers of music, was in a state of utter barbarism when they were written ; if the sonnets of Spenser and Shakespeare did not bear testimony to the contrary '.^ And of the madrigals of the ' Triumphs of Oriana ' he says, ' They are inferior in poetry to the present Christmas carols of London bellmen '. OHphant in 1838 edited a selection of lyrics from the madrigal-books in the volume just mentioned called La Musa Madrigalesca. He added some useful notes upon the author- ship of some of these poems ; but the text is not entirely trustworthy, and the notes are often spoilt by a flippant style utterly out of keeping with the subject. It is a somewhat curious fact that in La Musa Madrigalesca Oliphant frequently gave a correct version of the text, and yet saw fit to alter the words ten years later, when he printed them with the music. A reversal of this course of procedure would have protected him from such severe criticism, inasmuch as the reconstruction of the lyrics from the part-books must occasionally be a matter of some uncertainty, and any one is at liberty to print the version which in his opinion most nearly approaches the original text of the poetry. ' Burney's History, vol. iii, p. 131. THE MADRIGAL LYRICS 157 No complete edition of the madrigal poems has yet been published ; ^ but a certain number have been printed from time to time in various anthologies. Among the earlier publi- cations to include selections from the madrigals were Beloe's ' Anecdotes of Literature ', Brydges's Censura Liter aria, and the 'British Biographer'. In the middle of the nineteenth century came Oliphant's La Musa Madrigalesca and J. P. Collier's ' Lyrical Poems selected from musical pubUcations, 1589-1600 '. Professor Arber did much more comprehensive work and included in his 'English Gamer' the complete Sets of Byrd and Alison among the madrigalists and those of Campian and Dowland among the lutenists, besides Wilbye's first Set, the ' Triumphs of Oriana', Yonge's first Set of Musica Transalpina. In later times Mr. A. H. Bullen pubUshed his valuable ' L3nics from Elizabethan Song-books ' which include specimens from the works of most of the madrigal-writers. A German volume by Wilhelm Bolle deals very completely with the English song-books up to 1600. A collection by F. A. Cox is marred by his carelessness in verifying the text of several of the poems which he erroneously attributes to well-known authors. Mr. Barclay Squire has edited the lyrics from Robert Jones's 'The Muses Gardin for Delights', and complete editions of Campian's poetical works have been published by Mr. Bullen and Mr. Percival Vivian. 1 The present writer's ' English Madrigal Verse ', a complete collection of the poems from the music-books of the English madrigal and lutenist schools, has recently been issued by the Clarendon Press. CHAPTER XIII WILLIAM BYRD. Born 1543 ; died 1623 William Byrd, who, as we have already seen, is to be regarded as the founder of the English Madrigal School, was born in the year 1543, for at the end of 1622 he stated in his Will that he was then in his eightieth year. Neithei the place of his birth nor his parentage are known with any certainty. The earliest authenticated fact of his life is his appointment as organist of Lincoln Cathedral in 1563 at the early age of 20 ; and from this it seems likely that he was a native of Lincoln- shire. The name of Byrd was not uncommon in the neighbour- hood of Lincoln in the sixteenth century, and an examination of the Wills give some probability to the suggestion that he belonged to a family settled at Epworth ; for the Christian names of that family of Byrds, especially that of Christopher, correspond closely with the names of the composer's children. Unfortunately the Epworth baptismal registers of that date, have been tampered with in early times and are partly illegible ; the year 1543 is missing altogether. William Byrd was married at St. Margaret 's-in-the-Close, Lincoln, on Sept. 14, 1568. The statement that he was a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral and a pupil of Tallis cannot be supported by any actual evidence. After very few years at Lincoln Cathedral Byrd resigned his appointment, having been elected a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1569 ; and soon afterwards he went to live at Harling- ton, about midway between London and Windsor. It has been thought that he chose this secluded village as his place of residence in order. to escape difficulties in connexion with his duties created by the fact that he adhered staunchly to the unreformed Doctrines. The retention by a ' recusant ' of a Chapel Royal appointment was by no means unprecedented in Bird's case. A generation earlier Sebastian Westcote, organist of St. Paul's, enjoyed the same experience on the ground that ' ita charus Elizabethae fuit '.* Yet regular » Paperby G. E.P, Arkwright, Musical Association Proceedings, April 19 14. \ WILLIAM BYRD 159 attendance at the Chapel Royal must in these circumstances have taxed Bjnrd's energies, more particularly because the journey lay across the dangerous Hounslow Heath. At the close of the century Byrd left Harlington, and he seems to have had an ambition very similar to that which led Shakespeare to acquire a coat-of-Arms and to settle down as a country gentleman. As early as 1595 he had obtained a lease of the property of Stondon Place, near Ongar in Essex, which had been sequestrated from the Shelley family ; he duly figures in the Heralds' Visitation of Essex of 1634,^ with his pedigree among the county families, as being legally entitled to armorial bearings. The composer died eleven years before the Visitation was made, and Stondon Place was then owned by his grandson Thomas, son of his eldest son, Christopher. Meanwhile, Byrd had a good deal of trouble to maintain his title to Stondon Place, which was keenly disputed by the Shelleys ; but he had influential support, including that of James I, and successfully resisted all efforts to dislodge him. The feud was kept up until Mrs. Shelley's death in 1609, when Bjrrd purchased the property. His death took place on July 4, 1623. In his Will ^ he expressed a wish if he should die at Stondon to be buried in Stondon churchyard, where his wife already lay. The parish registers of the date do not survive, but there is every reason to believe that the bones of this great musician, whom many regard as the greatest English composer of all time, lie buried in that churchyard. Our knowledge of most of the details of Byrd's personal history is due to the researches of Mr. Barclay Squire. Byrd must have been a man of commanding personality in his own time, and he enjoyed to a remarkable degree the esteem and veneration of his contemporaries. Morley said of him that he was ' never without reverence to be named of the musiciaps '.^ John Baldwin, of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, who in 1591 transcribed the celebrated virginal book for ' the Lady Nevell ' added at the close of one of the pieces ' Mr. W. Birde. Homo mirabilis '. The entry which records his death in the cheque- book of the Chapel Royal calls him ' a Father of Musicke '. ' Visitation of Essex, 1634, Harl. Soc. xiii. 365. * P.C.C., 106 Swann. ^ Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. 115. i6o WILLIAM BYRD Henry Peacham in 1622 wrote of him as follows : ^ ' For Motetts and Musicke of pietie and devotion as well for the honour of our Nation, as the merit of the man, I prefer above all our Phoenix M. William Byrd, whom in that kind I know not whether any may equall . . . and being of him selfe naturally disposed to Gravitie and Pietie, his veine is not so much for light Madrigals or Canzonets, yet his Virginella and some others of his first Set cannot be mended by the best Italian of them all.' With Byrd's Church music we are not here primarily con- cerned ; it represents his finest work, and, for example, nothing could be found to approach nearer to perfection in the poly- phonic style than his three Masses, especially that for five voices. In instrumental composition Byrd also reached a very high level. He occupies a special place of importance in musical history in connexion with the development of Variation- form, a musical design which has afforded scope for the imagina- tive skill of all the great composers since his time. With regard to madrigals, Byrd has been much misunder- stood ; it is frequently stated that his work in this department of composition is much inferior to that which he wrote for the Church. One historian has gone so far as to assert that Byrd's contemporaries recognized his inferiority, and that in conse- quence ' he was not asked ' to contribute to the ' Triumphs of Oriana'. Such an assertion is not worthy of the critical faculties of its author, for not a shred of evidence exists to show whether Byrd was, or was not, invited to write a madrigal for the 'Triumphs'. It so happens that the year 1601 comes in the middle of that period in Byrd's life in which he seems to have produced no music ; for it is a strange phenomenon that an interval of more than twenty years intervened between the two important periods of his musical activity. In this con- nexion the ingenious theory has lately been put forward that, being a ' recusant ', he was forced during this period to live in seclusion, and that he is to be identified with the ' Byrd alias Borne ' who was associated with Henslowe, both as an actor and a dramatist, and who is frequently mentioned by Henslowe and Alleyn. The coincidence of dates is certainly suggestive, ' Pcacham's The Compleat Gentleman, p. 100. WILLIAM BYRD i6i though further evidence is needed to support the theory. But if, apart from such a theory, we are to speculate as to the reason why Byrd was not a contributor to the ' Triumphs ', it may be suggested that it was due to the fact that he was much preoccupied from 1595 to 1609 by disputes with the Shelleys. The actual reason for Byrd's non-inclusion, whatever it may have been, need not trouble us, but it is important to make his position as a madrigalist perfectly clear. In the first place, some of his contemporaries did recognize the excellence of his work in the field of secular vocal music. Nicholas Yonge in the preface to his first Set of Musica Trans- alpina in 1588 was undoubtedly referring to Byrd's * Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of Sadnes and Pietie ', pubHshed a few months earlier, when he used the words ' there be some Englishe songs lately set forth by a great Maister of Musicke which for skill and sweetnes may content the most curious '. Also Thomas Watson described as ' excellent ' the two madrigals of ' Master William Byrds ', composed at his request for his ' First sett of Italian Madrigalls Englished ' in 1590. The origin of the misapprehension as to Bjo-d's merits as a madrigalist may be ascribed mainly to three causes. Firstly, Peacham's comment in the ' Compleat Gentleman ' lends itself to misunderstanding, and it has been much quoted by historians from the time of Hawkins and Burney to the present day. Yet Peacham's opinion should not be valued at more than its actual worth, for it does not necessarily represent the view of the best musicians of his day. And Peacham does in fact award very high praise to Byrd as a madrigalist, for he mentions ' La Virginella and some others ' as comparing favourably with the best Italian work. Also this writer was speaking of the lighter kind of madrigal, and in this sense he was right in sa5dng that Byrd's ' vein ' was not for that type of music, for he did not publish any Ballets or Fa-las, and the great majority of his madrigals are of the serious kind. Secondly, Byrd's title to his first published Set has misled many of those who have not examined the volume, both as to its character and its contents. The Set was divided by Byrd himself into four sections : the first was headed ' Psalmes ' and consisted of ten pieces ; the next sixteen compositions were classified as 3049 L i62 WILLIAM BYRD * Sonets and Pastorales ' ; then followed seven ' Songes of Sadnes and Pietie ' ; and the book ended with two ' Funerall Songs of Syr Phillip Sidney ', In making a general title for the Set the mention of Pastorals was no doubt omitted because the word would have disturbed its alliterative character ; but the effect of the omission has been to convey the erroneous impres- sion that all the pieces in the Set are either psalms or songs of sadness. Hawkins wrote entirely under this misapprehension ; ^ having quoted the title of the Set he added that the compo- sitions contained in it were ' in general as he terms them '. And Hawkins enlarged on this by saying that ' twice in his life ' Byrd ' made an essay of his talent for light music ' in composing La Virginella and This sweet and merry month of May. He could not have known such gay examples as Awake, mine eyes, Come, jolly swains, Though Amaryllis dance in green, and many others. Byrd never styled Though A maryllis a song of sadness or piety. The third cause of misapprehension about Byrd's merits as a secular composer are due to the fact that these Sets have not been rendered accessible in modern editions, although Mr. Arkwright reprinted the 1589 Set some years ago in his Old English Edition. It is quite impossible to judge of these * compositions from the part-books alone, and very little more value is to be attached to criticism founded even upon the score if nothing more than a small selection is rendered available for the purpose.2 And yet one thing further : the general failure to recognize the freedom and variety of rhythm in all the Tudor music must necessarily be misleading in any endeavour to estimate its true value, inasmuch as such failure results in completely obscuring the spirit in which the music is conceived. This subject has been fully dealt with in a former chapter, so that it is sufficient to add that if such a madrigal as / joy not in no earthly bliss (1588 Set, No. 11) is treated ruthlessly with a regular rhythm of four crotchets in a bar, on the ground that it is indicated in the original time-signature, not only will the composer's intention never be realized, but also this false impression that B3rrd could not shake himself free from the Church style will unfortunately gain strength. ' Hawkins's History, vol. iii, p. 290. ' The three complete Sets are now published in the author's English Madrigal School Series, vols, xiv-xvi, Stainer and Bell. WILLIAM BYRD 163 The first publication of this composer with secular work included in it appeared in 1588, the year in which the Armada was defeated. It has already been stated that this was the first published volume to contain English madrigals, and it was the firstfniits of the glorious harvest so shortly afterwards to be garnered. The full title of this Set was ' Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of Sadnes and pietie, made into Musicke of five parts ', and the circumstances in which it was issued are worthy of some notice. It is clear that some of the compositions had already found their way into the hands of singers, for Byrd mentioned on the title-page, with evident annoyance, that ' some of them going abroade among divers in untrue coppies are heere truely corrected ' ; and he repeated this assertion both in his dedication to Sir Christopher Hatton and in the ' Epistle to the Reader '. In the dedication he recorded that he issued the Set in deference to the wishes of his friends and in ' consideration of many untrue incorrected coppies of divers my songes spread abroade '. From the Epistle to the Reader we gather that some of the pieces were originally designed for solo-voice with instrumental accompaniment, but that they were rearranged ' in all parts for voices to sing the same '. This may also explain the phrase ' The first singing-part ', printed against one of the vocal-parts in several numbers in this Set. Another special feature which characterizes all three of Byrd's Sets is the inclusion of a certain proportion of sacred compositions, almost all of which are set to words of the Psalms. In the 1588 Set the first ten pieces are settings of English metrical versions of psalms, and the section closes with the quaint sentence : ' Heere endeth the Psalmes, and beginneth the Sonets and Pastorales.' The second section of the Set includes Though A maryllis dance in green (No. 12) ; this is one of the best specimens of Bj^d's lighter vein, and a feature of it is the alternative use of the | and % rhythms, a special characteristic of the Courante at a rather later date. In this instance the two rh5rthms sometimes appear independently, as in the first two bars, the first of which is in | and the second in I, and sometimes simultaneously, as in the sixth bar ; while the fifth bar of the Bassus-part is open to either rhythmical interpretation. In the second section of this madrigal the L 2 164 WILLIAM BYRD I rhythm is employed less and less, until towards the conclu- sion the I measure becomes finally established ; no doubt the composer was aiming at expressing the idea suggested by the words Heigh ho ! 'chill ^ love no more, and the gradual disappear- ance of the gayer measure represents the repudiation of love. The following are the opening bars : Though Am - a - ryl - lis r^, " 1 " 1 rrl J J ■' ri ^-F 1 — 1 — \ — I — "-I 1 1 ' — ZJ Though Am - a - ryl - lis dance in green, dance in dance in green like Fai - ry Queen, ^^y^^dE^ ^-y :j==^ -o- f^- -&- ~f^ l-e>-^-J— — ^ <^- r ,^A I^t ^J^M t I ^ A. 1K=T 'jPiT- ?3 -!©-=- green, in green like Fai and sing full clear ry Queen, Co i\\\ na i ^ j^ A—\- -- i^n ^±E^ -€^ -fS liT -.g> - -fp?- =F P -cJ. 32: J^ «»- kS •- 10=^^=5 n:; and sing full can with smil I=pr -- i- -t- clear, and sing full clear ing cheer Co » -(S>- P' '^^- I a -C<- s 22: J_J, Z3I - rm - - na can ' 'chill is an Early English form of / will by contraction from (i)ch {w)ill. WILLIAM BYRD 165 Several of the ' Sonnets and Pastorals ' are written in a strong triple measure, and the vigour of this rhythm in the latter part of Who likes to love (No. 13) almost irresistibly recalls to the mind of the modern musician the trio in the Brahms B fiat string-sextet. The most notable example of Bjn-d's treatment of triple rhythms in this Set is The match that's made for just and true respects (No. 26) ; the refrain which comes at the end of each stanza is embroidered with rapid notes in a strong rhythm of %. Among the songs of sadness and piety are three pieces (Nos. 27, 30, and 31) of a semi-religious character, although not actually set to Scripture words ; and Nos. 28 and 32 belong to the same serious type that Gibbons treated so nobly a few years later. Susanna fair (No. 29) cannot conveniently be sung to the original verses, but the great beauty of this madrigal will justify the substitution of an amended version of the words. One phrase especiallj'' may be quoted from this beautiful composi- tion ; the words given here are from an adaptation of the original by the present writer. and to his leii - der «»- ^tp^fetEfcf^ love I let liis troth did pligfit. :£ LS»- :p: -j^z =j- ^^\ I I -&- 113: X2_ and ? IS-- -s»- -(=21 to his ten der love I his troth No. 32 of this Set is the exquisite Lullaby, the first section of which is sometimes sung by itself with the result that its character as a Carol of the Holy Child is overlooked. The simplicity and charm of this Lullaby almost defy description, and the tenderness of touch here exhibited amply illustrates B5a-d's capacity for writing in the lighter vein. Of the two funeral songs, Come to me, grief, for ever (No. 34) is the' most attractive. It is quite short, and, unlike many similar compositions of the madrigalists, it does not name the subject of the elegy in the text, so that nothing precludes its general use. It would scarcely be possible to imagine any composition of tliis nature inspired \\ith deeper pathos or richer beauty. The i66 WILLIAM BYRD first section is divided into four phrases of five bars each, following few bars, beginning at bar 6, may be quoted : come U) me, grief, The Come to me, grief, for cv er, i Bi ± ^EE^SSEEPEEL^ -Gf- r -- p3 ^S i^ s Come to me, tears, day and night, come to me, plaint, iS»- ^^E ^ =P=P i- 1- i Come to me, plaint, ah help - less, 4 i -J- J «=§= -p- -*9- w iM -iS &»- In the dedication of the 1588 Set Byrd had hinted at a further publication when he mentioned ' some other things of more depth and skill to folow these, which being not yet finished, are of divers expected and desired '. His second Set followed in the next year under the title of ' Songs of sundrie natures, some of gravitie, and others of myrth, fit for all companies and voyces '. It consists of no fewer than forty-seven numbers, so that within two years Byrd had published over eighty compositions of the kind. Of the forty-seven pieces in the 1589 Set, fourteen are for three voices, eleven for foiu:, twelve for five, and ten for six. The first seven are to metrical versions of the Psalms, and this section concludes with the formula, ' Heere endeth the seaven Psalmes '. No. 8 is another setting of Susanna /air, the words being the same as those of No. 29 in the 1588 Set. The nightin- gale, so pleasant and so gay (No. 9) affords a good example of Byrd's melodious phrasing and perfect accentuation ; the WILLIAM BYRD 167 opening bars of the Superius-part will amply illustrate these features : i r^i -&- :s=fE: - ^ I ^E^t^^t^ The night - in - gale so plea - sant and so gay, so i F=^ m ' W ti=t? IZP5 2i fe £: plea - sant and so gay, in green-wood groves de-lights to make his i -J±L ~ r X -- w dwell - ing, his dwell -ing, de - lights to make his dwell - ing. The concluding bars of the above quotation are suggestive of a phrase in Schubert's Who is Sylvia ? No. 17, Wounded I am, and No. 21, // Love he just, both conclude with passages of remarkable beauty. Whilst that the sun with his beams hot (No. 23) is a delightful example of the typical madrigal-style dealing with a pastoral subject ; it is pervaded throughout with a fresh open-air spirit, much enhanced by the freedom of rhythm. Thus it breaks into a triple rhythm simultaneously in all the parts at the words Philon the shepherd late forgot, and the rhythm is broken again with charming effect in the following passage : played . he. A - dieu love, a • dien love, un - true love, un *B= ? 221 r -<&*- «»- znii J- A^u. ¥S=s: ^ -«s>- £: £: song played he, A -dieu love, a- dieu love, true love, un - true love, a- dieu love, a - dieu ' r PHP -G^—m- '-m^ izz: love, ^3?= F r r I ._ — ■ — ^ ^ r I r ^ ^'it €2- ¥ ?^ -&- un - true love, a - dieu love, a - dieu love, i68 WILLIAM BYRD This quotation provides a most convincing illustration of the need for irregular barring in printing modern editions of Tudor music ; the whole sense of the phrase would be obscured by adhering strictly to the barring indicated by the original time- signature. This madrigal ends with a pretty touch of pathos. At this point in the Set there occurs a curious feature in the arrangement of the original edition. Nos. 24 and 25 are the full- choir parts of Christmas carols, of which Nos. 35 and 40, respectively, are the solo-parts. The explanation is that the chorus, being for four voices only, was placed among the four- part compositions, whereas the solo sections, with their full instrumental accompaniment, were included among the five- and six-part pieces. These two carols are in Byrd's finest style and are brimful of Christmas joy ; the two brilliant choruses may quite suitably be sung apart from the sections for solo- voice. It is difficult to conjecture why the two sections of See, see those sweet eyes should have been separated in the arrangement of this volume ; for, instead of running consecu- tively, the first section is No. 29, while the second does not come till No. 34, and a note is printed at the end of No. 29 as follows : ' The second part of this song (Love would discharge) is placed the xxxiiii song.' Penelope that longed for the sight (No. 27) deals with a favourite subject both among poets and musicians in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Byrd has treated it with great charm and with exactly the right sentiment ; this madrigal is perhaps the finest secular piece in this particular Set. Very few others stand out conspicuously, and the opinion that this Set as a whole does not reach the level of Byrd's best work seems justified. It is possible that he had used up his best available material in the 1588 Set, and that owing to its popularity he was led to publish a second Set sooner than he had anticipated, and for this reason included early work that lay ready to hand, some of which might not otherwise have seen the light. Twenty-two years elapsed before Byrd issued his remaining volume of this type. It was entitled ' Psalmes, Songs, and Sonnets: some solemne, others joyfull', and was published in 1611. He was then sixty-eight years old ; and whereas in 1589 he had been alone in the field ,of the English Madrigal School, WILLIAM BYRD 169 in 161 1 by far the greater part of the Enghsh madrigals had akeady been produced. Such important harmonic develop- ments as are exhibited in the music of Weelkes, Wilbye, and Dowland do not seem to have exercised any influence upon Byrd during his long period of silence, but it is possible to trace something of Morley's influence when we compare Byrd's work in the 1611 Set with that of 1588 and 1589. As an instance of this. Awake, mine eyes and Come, jolly swains (Nos. 12 and 13 of the 1611 Set) may be cited. The first of these is delightfully gay and has something of the light-hearted spirit that was almost inseparable from Morley's work. And in Come, jolly swains it is noteworthy that the latter section is treated in the manner of Morley rather than that of Wilbye. The inclusion in this volume of the four-part setting of This sweet and merry month of May (No. 9) suggests the idea that by no means all of these pieces had been newly composed at the date of pub- lication ; this particular madrigal had already been printed with Watson's ' First sett of Italian Madrigalls Englished ' as early as 1590. Retire, my soul (No. 17) is a very notable example of the serious kind of madrigal ; it is written in Byrd's best manner and with great dignity ; but the finest madrigal in the Set is Come, woeful Orpheus (No. 19). The words of this poem are more passionate than is usual in Byrd's secular work, and, as a further exception to his ordinary style, it possibly does show traces of the influence of Weelkes and Wilbye. Thus the allusion to strange chromatic notes and sourest sharps and uncouth flats is treated with methods that are reminiscent of those employed by Wilbye in Of joys and pleasing pains (Set I, Nos. 26 and 27), and by Weelkes in Sweet love, I will no more (Ballets and Madrigals, No. 3). This madrigal also provides some of the few examples in Bjnrd's work of the use of an augmented discord taken without preparation. It is brought to a final conclusion by means of a dominant pedal-point with a considerable display of emotion and a finai cadence of great beauty : lyo WILLIAM BYRD ^^ com - pas sioD-ate S^3?^i^ ^ m-n^ P=^ J- my voice, my :ct ?2: ^ f^r— r =P3: ^ f 33 -O- =?=C^ fe S^-^ ^ 321 And I'll there - to com - pas - sion-ate my voice, And i -G^ he>- I 33: nzj 33: ^^ \v« I fw — — G>- p-r s^^j^ ^ -^- J- J. J -o- -i^»- -s>- ■^t—^ -tS*- izpc iS>- ^P^f+ffy 1?=: ^ voice, I'll there hJ 1— And I'll there - to com - pas - sion-ate to com I pas to'=^ sion-ate my -4- ^^ W^^. w^ 'Jl=21 ^ f^ -<9- m. &^ i?*: my voice, voice, com - pas com - pas - - sion-ate sion-ate . my voice, my -I — V -- voice. ^m -o — o- -s>- Pl. P d K&>- 321 :?3= ?^ ^ jsL ^ -^ J- _0- ^ai-> -<&»- -- -<5.»- »^-*^ my voice. Of the remaining madrigals in the Set the most interesting are Crowned with flowers (No. 22) and Wedded to Will is Witless (No, 23), both of which are good specimens of Byrd's vocal writing and thoroughly madrigalian in style. The Set also includes several magnificent pieces of Church music, mostly to words from the Psalms ; among these is a superb setting of Psalm li (No. 25), for solo and chorus, and an exceedingly fine Hodie Christus natus est to English words (No. 27). WILLIAM BYRD 171 Before concluding this brief review of Byrd's work as a madrigal-writer, some allusion must be made to certain peculiarities of his technique, especially as it is generally stated, and probably with truth, that some of these peculiarities originated with him. In his Epistle to the Reader in the 1588 Set he warned his critics to expect certain effects involving ' Jarre or dissonance ', and begged them not to explain away such discords as misprints. The most remarkable of these ' dissonances ' was the simultaneous employment of the major and minor third, a use that has been already discussed in an earlier chapter. Byrd seldom introduced this discord with such severe conflict as that which is sometimes to be found in Weelkes's work, but there are a few instances of direct conflict, as in the following phrase (from No. 32 of the 1588 Set) : m -i .- —GJ- -G>- Such dissonances are undoubtedly harsh and even intolerable to most modern ears, accustomed to instruments tuned on prin- ciples of equal temperament ; but it must be remembered that the effect would have been far less harsh to Tudor musicians to whom the equal temperament was quite unknown. The explanation of these discords is usually to be found by viewing the individual voice-parts horizontally rather than by analysing the chords perpendicularly, and the effect is much softened by 172 WILLIAM BYRD a recognition of the principle of the terminus acutus and the terminus gravis as explained in a former chapter.^ Occasionally the simultaneous occurrence of the major and minor third give an effect that is by no means cacophonous even to modern ears. Thus, in Arise, Lord (No. i8 of the 1611 Set) : ^■?— ^=] — !— kJ^-*rJ — *r5 _ 1 m^ -= -^-^^ -4 Lr _- : UT-^^P-^ Byrd was also probably the first composer to employ the minor third simultaneously with the suspended fourth when resolved on to the major third. This effect, far from being harsh, was often beautiful. A typical example comes from Care for thy soul (1588 Set, No. 31) : J ^ P=^P zd. i li&>2 fe m p k^i^d^ i 331 This idiom remained in common use for more than a hundred years and is frequently to be found in Purcell's music ; a good instance occurs in the cadence of the following phrase in Purcell's Rejoice in the Lord : ;> J. -j s^ ^^f^^^^ ^3 ^^^ i^^s^m s Byrd combined in one passage both these kinds of dissonance in the final cadence of his Lullaby (1588 Set, No. 32), and the effect is beautiful. ' See p. 99. WILLIAM BYRD 173 i J- -G>- -jr:i-- T r ^ \-i^- -p=^. -&- P=^iB m -t^- -<5> 4= J_j.te_it_j_ -G>- -0-5- _^_i- I The effect of Byrd's influence in this connexion is to be seen in the writings of several of the madrigalists, more particularly in those of Kirbye and Weelkes, and to less extent of Wilbye, Gibbons, and Tomkins. Another harmonic device characteristic of Byrd was the use of the dominant seventh as a species of free passing-note in a cadence. In this detail he was followed by several of the later English madrigahsts. These examples are quoted from Byrd : -G^- ■Gf- r 122: Gt S»- -f5^- mi jr2i 1=^ -^ r \r:i' ?^- ^ "O" ^^^ 1=21 i- From 1611^ et, No. 22. r ~G)^ -O- 231 -«5>- From 161 1 Set, No. 25. l-:d^ ^^^^^ r -JzL -&- P i^ t- ~JP21 J2. ZC2; J- 32: =« -- "O" -^■^ 4^ia -s>- -!S>- From 1588 Set, No. 35. From 1611 Set, No. 19. An expanded form of the second of the above cadences was used by Byrd as early as 1589 in Penelope, that longed (No. 27). The chord here employed is a very unusual one for the period at which it was written, and the beauty of the cadence is much in- creased by following so soon upon the harmonies of B flat major : ^ jC21 :ci: -Gh- -iS— 2i: I -<5»- i =1 m. G. E. P. Arkwright's account of Thomas Morley in Grove's Diet, of Music (New Ed.). THOMAS MORLEY 179 English madrigalists in this particular vein. His splendid freshness is well illustrated in such pieces as Good morrow, fair ladies of the May (No. 6) and Whither away so fast ? (No. 7) ; in this latter there is one of those racing passages by means of which Morley was so fond of depicting pursuit. Arise, get up, my dear (No. 20) deals with the kind of subject which always appealed to Morley's merry imagination. It represents a scene of wedding festivities ; allusion is made to the feasting ; and the confusion of sound caused by the merry maidens hawking their wares of spice-cake and sops in wine is reproduced by an overlapping rhythm in triple measure. Then follow various details of ritual connected with the bride-lace and gilt rosemary branches, and the piece ends with the boisterous merriment of Kate and Will, Tom and Jill, dancing on the village green in honour of fair Daphne's wedding day. But Morley could also write in a more serious vein, and there is great charm in Do you not know how Love first lost his seeing P (No. 16) , the ending of which is especially beautiful and full of passion. The dominant pedal is to be noticed as one of the early examples of this device. The four numbers that were added to this Set of canzonets in the reprint of 1606 belong to the Ballet, or Fa-la type of composition ; there is a rare delicacy and finish in the little ballet Though Philomela lost her love (No. 23). Morley's next publication followed in 1594 under the title of the ' First Booke of Madrigalls to Foure Voyces '. This is the very earliest instance of the use of the term Madrigal on the title- page of a volume of English compositions. Here again Morley confined himself almost exclusively to the brighter subjects so well suited to his genius. The Set opens with the well-known April is in my mistress' face, a perfect example of the light kind of madrigal. A fine number in this Set is In dew of roses (No. 7), which ends with another dominant pedal-point and a mysterious passage in complex rh3rthm, intended to suggest the fearful prospect of the ghost of the lover perpetually haunting the lady who had cruelly rejected* him. Besides a fountain (No. 14) is rather similar to this madrigal ; it also ends with a pedal and a complex triple rhythm in the upper parts. Come, lovers, follow me (No. 11) is an exceedingly attractive and picturesque bit of work. The treatment of the words and if he come is typical of M 2 i8o THOMAS MORLEY Morley's methods, and when the Bassus-part enters with an augmentation of the musical figure just employed all the most realistic experiences of hide-and-seek, with its sudden surprises, are vividly depicted. Two madrigals in the Set, Hark ! jolly shepherds (No. 17) and Ho ! who comes here ? (No. 18) deal with the subject of morris-dancing and show Morley at his best. Ho ! who comes here ? has been mentioned in a former chapter as illustrating Morley's extraordinarily free manner of handling the words of a poem. This madrigal is treated with such gaiety and vivid realism that it will be worth while to examine it in some detail, for the music succeeds in conjuring up the whole scene of the arrival and performance of the morris-dancers. The opening bars depict the first announcement of their approach ; after this passage has been repeated, the townsfolk can be seen hurrying out to find the dancers already arrived, and to ' see how trim they dance and trickly '. Then the rollicking musical figure at the words hey there again ! seems to suggest the horse-play which was an important feature in the proceedings. The cry of Now for our town ! appears to have been a kind of formula taken up by the crowd, and it was shouted partly in welcome, and partly in rivalry to encourage this or that member of the troupe who might belong to their own town or to some neighbouring place. The bells refer to the bells usually hung round the wrists and ankles of the dancers or jingled in their hands ; but it is possible also that, the church- bells were set ringing, for in this madrigal Morley introduced a musical figure more suggestive of a peal of five church-bells : J \_ i -f~?- -Gh- This figure is used in syncopation in a manner that adds much to the general jangling effect in the gay noisy scene : Now for our town, hey ho! now for . J. jVi ^_J _] J ^ i=t - ^ I. I Now for our . . town, once there I now for our town THOMAS MORLEY our town, there and take it ! i 3^P=*: ^ ± fei -G>- now and take It. i8i -^'-^—^ Then follows the dialogue between the Piper and the excited spectators, which is evidently a considerable elaboration of the original theme at the hands of the composer. The madrigal ends with the froUcs of the hobby-horse, the buffoon of the troupe. In sharp contrast to this madrigal is Say, gentle nymphs, that tread these mountains (No. 20), which is full of quiet charm and is written in a beautiful smooth style. The volume originally consisted of twenty madrigals, but two more were added in the second edition published in the year 1600. These two additional numbers are below the level of Morley's other work. In No. 21 there occurs a very curious bar %vhich may be regarded as a typical experiment in uncon- ventional harmony. Such experiments were uncommon in this composer, who usually adhered strictly to the older conven- tionalities : i r ^- ^sfi: ^O" -• — - -4 g &- -n ^ss I rO-^ ZjC2Z The chord on the last beat of this bar is virtually that of the dominant thirteenth, of which there are but few examples in the madrigals, though it was used more than once in a similar way by Thomas Tomkins in his 1622 Set. It was also used by Giles Farnaby in his fascinating Rosa solis variations in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. With his next volume, published in 1595, Morley struck out a new line, for it consisted of a Set of Ballets. This form of i82 TPIOMAS MORLEY composition was borrowed from the Italians, and Morley admitted that he took Gastoldi for his model, some of the words being translations of Ballets by Gastoldi and other Italian composers. Morley excelled as a Ballet-writer just as he did in all the other light kinds of Madrigal, and he succeeded in infusing a good deal of variety in spite of the much more limited scope offered by the Ballet-form. The general popularity of this form among singers is due to its well-defined and strong rhythm as well as to its bright character, and Morley's Set has, in consequence, gained wider appreciation than any other of the English madrigal -books. Some of the pieces are especially popular, notably Now is the month of niaying (No. 3), My bonny lass she smileth (No. 7), Fire! fire! (No. 14), and several more. One of the finest, but less-known, numbers is About the maypole new (No. 11). It is framed upon a more extended design ; each section includes a phrase in triple measure which contrasts effectively with the square rhythm of the opening, and the second fa-la has an especially fine and distinctive outline. In spite of the descrip- tion on the title-page of the book, only the first fifteen numbers are ballets ; the subsequent foiu have no fa-la refrain and are purely madrigalian in style. Leave, alas, this tormenting (No. 19) is an excellent example of this composer's sadder mood. The Set closes with a splendid composition for seven voices written in the form of a dialogue. The three upper voice-parts represent ' Phillis Quier ' and should be sung by female voices ; the four lower voices represent Am5aitas and should be sung by male voices headed by a counter-tenor. The seven voices are not employed together until the final section, when they combine with a rich and massive effect. A second edition of the Ballets appeared in 1600. In 1595 Morley also published his ' First booke of Canzonets to Two Voices ', which included nine instrumental fantasies in two parts besides the twelve Canzonets. These canzonets are very remarkable little compositions and unique among the works of the English madrigalists. From many points of view they may be said to display the genius of their composer almost more conspicuously than any of his other works. They are written with consummate skill and with extraordinarily full THOMAS MORLEY . 183 harmonic effect, while their phrasing and melodic beauty go near perfection. If any two are to be singled out from a Set, all of which are of such excellence, perhaps Sweet nymph, come to thy lover (No. 3), and / go before, my darling (No. 4) are the most attractive. Miraculous Love's wounding (No. 5) is a remarkable composition, not only on account of its inherent beauty, but because it is designed upon lines which forecast what came to be known at a later date as Ternary form. It is the earliest example in English madrigals of an experiment of this nature, although further experiments of a like kind were made very shortly afterwards by Weelkes, Wilbye, and others. The ' Canzonets or Little Short Aers to five and sixe Voices ' which were published in 1597 contain some of Morley's maturest and best work. The first fifteen of the Set are comparatively short, and thus conform to the description on the title-page ; but the last six are on a much bigger scale. Here again Morley showed his preference for the gayer subjects, but two exceptions stand out in sharp relief. One of these is Hark! Alleluia cheerly with angels now he singeth (No. 21), an elegy on the death of Henry Noel, one of Queen Elizabeth's courtiers, who was evidently also a patron of music «ind a madrigal-lover. This noble piece of music is constructed on a figure which runs through all the voice-parts in the opening sections : -9- ^ -o- -r- J rj -G>i- Hark ! Al - le - lu - ia cheer - ly Occasionally this figure is introduced in a rather freely inverted form, and it appears for the last time with splendid strength in the Quintus, or first bass-part, to the words whose echo heaven ringeth. This manner of reference to the opening phrase here is, of course, typical of the methods of the madri- galists. At this same point an important full-close occurs and the composition ends with music of massive dignity ; in the last few bars the descending scale passages are in a subtle way reminiscent of the main figure, which welds together the whole structure. The other serious madrigal in this book is grief, even on the bud (No. 7). It is constructed on much simpler lines, but it is also of entrancing beauty and expresses a passionate emotion. i84 THOMAS MORLEY In the bar's rest which occurs in all the voices together, follow- ing the words the sun hath loivered, there is a real touch of tragedy which is accentuated with an admirable sense of proportion by the introduction of the major third three bars earlier. The following. are the opening bars : p^s^ 32: -G- f- ^ ^T *2: ! Lj __^ that fair - ly flow - J -i i -i J i o ^B^ grief ! even on the bud 33: J. A .^ 32: ^ - ,Q -e^- =f= 1 I i ^ T" ered, S :rgp" tie r r sun hath low - ered. ^: :P "C?- The second half of the song is practically a solo for the tenor accompanied by the other voices. The Set also includes the popular / follow, lo, the footing (No. 17), and Stay, heart, run not so fast (No, 18). These two are somewhat alike in character, and are examples of Morley's aptitude to express feelings of enthusiastic gaiety. The com- poser has shown his imaginative power in a subtle little touch of realism in the first of these two madrigals ; the breathless race up and down rapid scale passages in all the voice-parts, sometimes in overlapping rhythms, sometimes in contrary motion, reaches its climax in the penultimate bar, on each beat of which one or other of the voices arrives at the word caught and holds it on through the remainder of the bar ; each beat being thus punctuated with the word, the elusive features of the game of ' catch ' are wonderfully suggested. An instance in this same madrigal of the clashing of the major and minor third affords a good example of that kind of convention which is not uncommon in the English madrigals, and THOMAS MORLEY 185 has been mentioned in the previous chapter in connexion with Byrd. Another example in Morley's work occurs in Phyllis, I fain would die now (Book of Ballets, No. 21) : i JT^Z m J- f^^^^Wf- The explanation in a case of this kind, which occurs at a full close in the music, is this : in accordance with the laws of musicaficta the major third was invariably introduced at every full-close of importance, but when the following phrase was introduced with the minor triad of the same chord, the com- poser did not trouble to shorten the note and so to avoid overlapping. This was largely for the sake of appearances, for undoubtedly the minim in the above passage gives a better proportion to the appearance of the cadence ; yet the note was probably not held on after the other voices had entered ; or it is possible that a little pause was made in such cases in all the voice-parts before the new phrase began. These overlapping chords in a cadence were no new thing at the end of the sixteenth century. In Fond youth is a bubble, a little part-song by Tallis in the MuUiner MS.,i which is not later than 1565 and is possibly fifteen or twenty years older, the following passage occurs : i -<5»- -C21 "P r^ -- '-=]- :a^z -€>- -(S^- Tp^rsr -- ^ 32: '^.=^ -&- ^r 4 fe In this case it may be regarded as quite certain that the F sharp was not sustained after the bass had attacked the B flat. Yet the semibreve has a better ornamental value than a minim at this point. Morley's ' First book of Aires with little Short Songes to sing ' British Museum Add. MS., No. 30513, fol. 29b.. i86 THOMAS MORLEY and play to the Lute with Base-Viol' will be mentioned in a subsequent chapter in connexion with the music of the lutenists. But apart from these volumes of original compo- sitions, which include in the aggregate over a hundred pieces, Morley also edited three collections of madrigals. The most important of these was entitled ' The Triumphs of Oriana ', which was published in 1601. This collection was modelled upon a similar Italian Set entitled // Trionfo di Dori. Almost every one of the leading English musicians of the day contri- buted a madrigal to the Set in honour of Queen Elizabeth. The madrigals numbered twenty-five in all and each of them ends with the same refrain. Michael East's contribution arrived too late for inclusion in the corpus of the book, but it was inserted at the back of the title-page ; this arrangement did not affect the numbering of the pieces, which had, no doubt, already been set up by the printer ; thus Norcome's madrigal remained as No. I, and the Set concluded with Johnson's as No. 24, East's remaining unnumbered. Bateson's contribution arrived later still and could not be included at all, but it eventually appeared with his own first Set. Other posthumous Oriana madrigals are to be found in the Sets of Pilkington and Vautor. Morley himself wrote too fine madrigals for the ' Triumphs'. The whole collection, as befitting the subject, is of course conceived in a joyful strain. Each contributor naturally made a special effort on this occasion, and as a consequence the Set is an extremely fine one. But it may be questioned whether musical historians have not tended to exaggerate the value of the ' Triumphs ' at the expense of much other work produced by these same musicians : and whether, also, the widespread attention which has at all times been directed to this particular Set has not led to some degree of misconception as to the scope and meaning of madrigal-composition as it was understood, for example, by Wilbye, Weelkes, and Orlando Gibbons, among others. Nothing could be more splendid of their kind than these ' Oriana ' madrigals, but it should be clearly recognized that there were also many other types of madrigal written by the Tudor composers, some of which afforded them even greater scope for beauty of expression, for depth of pathos, and for wealth of imagination. THOMAS MORLEY 187 Besides this famous volume, Morley made two collections of the works of Italian composers adapted to English words. The first of these was a Set of Canzonets for four voices and was published in 1597. The other consisted of Madrigals for five voices and came out the next year ; Morley himself contri- buted two original compositions to the Set of Canzonets. These same two four-part canzonets appear among the examples at the end of Morley 's 'Plaine and Easie Introduction', where the music is set to Italian words. The examples also include a three-part canzonet to the words sleep, fond Fancy. He was thus responsible altogether for no less than nine volumes of secular Song, containing nearly two hundred pieces in all, while six of these volumes consisted entirely of his own compositions. The nine volumes were published within a period of seven years. During this same short period Morley also edited a volume called ' The First Booke of Consort Lessons, made by divers exquisite Authors for sixe Instruments to play together ' ; this came out in 1599, two years after he had published his important ' Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke'. When it is remembered that he wrote a considerable amount of Church music, and that he had his duties to perform at the Chapel Royal, it will be readily recognized that he spent a busy life in the pursuit of his Art. Morley was evidently a man of a very genial and lovable nature, and it is impossible to read his famous treatise without coming under the spell of his personal charm, even at this distance of time. The ' Plaine and Easie Introduction ' was in itself a book containing a wonderful amount of sound instruc- tion, and for many generations it had no rival ; it can, more- over, still be studied with no small profit. It is by no means written in the dry style of an ordinary text-book, but is in the form of a dialogue, containing many picturesque little digressions and touches of humour which must fascinate a reader even if he is not especially interested in the theory of music. The opening passage of the book with the description of ' Master Sophobulus his banket ', has already been quoted in a former chapter ; but a further extract ^ may be permitted as showing something of the methods ' Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction, p. 120. i88 THOMAS MORLEY of an Elizabethan musician instructing a pupil during a country walk : Master. But I pray you how did you becom so ready in this kind of singing ? Polymathes. It would require a long discourse to shew you all. Master. I pray you trusse up that long discourse in so fewe wordes as you may, and let us heare it. Polymathes. Be then attentive. When I learned descant of my maister Bould, hee seeing mee so toward and willing to learne, ever had me in his company, and because hee continuallie carried a plaine-song-booke in his pocket, he caused mee to doe the like : and so walking in the fields hee would sing the plaine song, and cause mee sing the descant, and when I sung not to his contentment hee would shew me wherein I had erred. . . . After describing their meeting with a friend of Bould, another discanter, and how they ' fell to contention striving who should bring the point in soonest ', he tells how they ' all parted friendes.' . . . Yet did none think better of him then hee did of himselfe : for if one had named and asked his opinion of the best composers living at this time, he would say in a vaine glory of his owne sufficiencie ; tush, tush (for these were his usual wordes) hee is a proper man, but hee is no descanter, hee is no descanter, there is no stuffe in him, I will not give two pinnes for him except hee hath descant. Philomathes. What ? can a composer be without descant ? Master. No : but it should seeme by his speech that except a man bee so drownd in descant that hee can doe nothing else in musicke but wrest and wring in hard points upon a plaine song, they would not esteem him a descanter. Among the many original musical examples which Morley included in his ' Plaine and Easie Introduction', only one with English words can properly be classed as madrigalian. Though Morley died in middle age he lived long enough to see the success of the great School of composers which he had done so much to foster, and of which he was the leading spirit. His genial light-hearted character, unaffected by the strenuous life which he must have led, is clearly reflected in his music. His profound learning scarcely ever obtruded itself in his composi- tions, yet, whenever necessary, he showed rare skill in the employment of every contrapuntal device. His part-writing was wonderfully direct and vocal, and he shared with all the THOMAS MORLEY 189 great musicians of his School that faculty for giving exact tone- colour and true emphatic value to words which adds such special distinction to their work. 1593- The Madrigalian Publications of Thomas Morley. CANZONETS OR LITTLE SHORT SONGS TO THREE VOICES I. 2. 10. II. See, mine own sweet jeweL Joy, joy doth so arise and so content me. Cruel, you pull away too soon your lips. Lady, those eyes of yours that shine. Hold out, my heart, with joy's delights accloyed. Good morrow, fair ladies of the May. Whither away so fast ? Blow, shepherds, blow your pipes. Deep lamenting, grief bewray- ing. Farewell, disdainful, since no love avails me. O fly not ! O take some pity. 12. Thyrsis, let pity move thee. 13. Now must I die recureless. 14. I^dy, if I through grief and your disdaining. 15. Cease, mine eyes, cease your lamenting. 16. Do you not know how Love first lost his seeing ? 17. Where art thou, wanton ? 18. What ails my darling ? 19. Say, dear, will you not have me ? 20. Arise, get up, my dear. 21. Love learns by laughing first to speak. 22. This love is but a wanton fit. 23. Though Philomela lost her love. 24. Spring-time mantleth every bough. 1594. FIRST BOOK OF MADRIGALS TO FOUR VOICES 1 . April is in my mistress' face. 2. Clorinda false, adieu. 3. Why sit I here complaining ? 4. Since my tears and lamenting. 5. Help ! I fall! Lady. 6. Lady, why grieve you still me ? 7. In dew of roses steeping. 8. In every place fierce love. ( 9. Now is the gentle season freshly J flowering {the first part). 1 10. The fields abroad with spangled \ flowers {the second part). 11. Come, lovers, follow me. 12. O no, thou dost but flout me. 13. I will no more come to thee. 14. 17- 18. 19- 20. 21. 22. Besides a fountain of sweet briar and roses. . Sport we, my lovely treasure {the first part). . O sweet, alas, what say you ? (the second part) . Hark ! jolly shepherds, hark ! Ho ! wlio comes here ? Die now, my heart. Say, gentle nymphs, that tread these mountains. Round, around, as about a wood I walked . On a fair morning. 1595. FIRST BOOK OF BALLETS TO FIVE VOICES Dainty fine sweet nymph de- lightful. Shoot, false love, I care not. Now is the month of maying. 4. Sing we and chant it. 5. Singing alone sat my Amaryllis. 6. No, no, Nigella ! sweet 1 90 THOMAS MORLEY 7- 8. 9- lO. 1 1. 12. 13- 14. 15- My bonny lass she smileth. I saw my lovely Phyllis. What saith my dainty darling ? Thus saith my Galatea. About the maypole new. My lovely wanton jewel. You that wont to my pipe's sound. Fire ! fire ! my heart. Those dainty dafifadillies. 16. Lady, those cherries plenty. 17. I love, alas, I love thee, dainty darling. 18. Lo, she flies when I woo her. 19. Leave, alas, this tormenting. 20. Why weeps, alas, my lady love ? Dialogue of seven voices 21. Phyllis, I fain would die now. 1595. FIRST BOOK OF CANZONETS TO TWO VOICES 1. Go ye, my canzonets, to my dear darling. 2. When, lo, by break of morning. 3. Sweet nymph, come to thy lover. 4. I go before, my darling. 5. Miraculous Love's wounding ! 6. Lo ! here another love from heaven descended. 7. Leave now, mine eyes, lamenting. 8. Fire and lightning from heaven fall! 9. Flora, wilt thou torment me ? ID. In nets of golden wires. 1 1. O thou that art so cruel. 12. I should for grief and anguish die. 1597. CANZONETS OR LITTLE SHORT AIRS TO FIVE AND SIX VOICES For five voices Fly, Love, that art so sprightly. False love did me inveigle. Adieu, you kind and cruel. Love's folk in green arraying. Love took his bow and arrow. 6. Lo I where with flowery head. 7. O grief, even on the bud. Sovereign of my delight. Our Bonny-boots could toot it. Ay me 1 the fatal arrow. My nymph, the dear, and her my dear. 8 9 10 1 1 12. Cruel, wilt thou persever ? 13. Said I that Amaryllis ? 14. Damon and Phyllis squared. 15. Lady, you think you spite me. 16. You black bright stars that shine. 17. I follow, lo, the footing. For six voices 18. Stay, heart, run not so fast. 19. Good love, then fly thou to her 20. Ladies, you see time flieth. 21. Hark! Alleluia cheerly. 1597. TWO CANZONETS TO FOUR VOICES included as Nos. 8 and 9 in Morley's collection of Italian canzonets. My heart, why hast thou taken ? (Perchc tormi il cor mio ?) Still it fryeth. (Ard' ogn' hora il cor lasso.) These same two canzonets, set to Italian words, are among the examples at the end of Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction. 1597. A CANZONET FOR THREE VOICES included as an example in Morley's Plain and Easy Introduction. O sleep, fond Fancy. 1601. TWO MADRIGALS ncluded as Nos. 13 and 23 in the 'Triumphs of Oriana'. Arise, awake, awake. (For five voices) Hard by a crystal fountain. {For six voices) CHAPTER XV . THOMAS WEELKES. Born circa 1575 ; died 1623 In 1596 no important madrigalian work was published ; but 1597 and the four years that followed it represent the richest period in the history of the English School. In 1597 Thomas Weelkes produced his first volume. Byrd, Morley, and John Mundy were the only Englishmen who up to that date had published work of this kind, and they were each of them men of mature years and tried capacity. This being so, it is not surprising that Weelkes should have shown some diffidence in venturing into the lists. The date and place of Weelkes 's birth are not known, though the date may be fixed with a good deal of probability at 1575 or 1576. The surname with that particular spelling is exceedingly uncommon, but a family of the name, so spelt, was living at Sawley, near Ripon, in the sixteenth century. There is, however, no evidence to connect the composer with that locality. Certain indications seem to point to some connexion with the county of Cheshire ; but the name cannot be found in any of the archives of Chester Cathedral. It has also been suggested that Weelkes was a native of Hampshire, and the first known fact about his life is that he was organist of Winchester College in the closing years of the sixteenth century. It is not unreasonable to conjecture that he may have been formerly a chorister either at the cathedral or college. He took the degree of B.Mus. at Oxford on leaving Winchester College for Chichester Cathedral in the year 1602 ; and he held the position of cathedral organist until his death. This took place in London on November 30, 1623, at the house of his Chester friend Henry Drinkwater in the parish of St. Bride's. Weelkes was on a visit to Drinkwater at the time. He was buried on the following day at St. Bride's, Fleet Street, and the record of his burial may still be seen in the parish registers of that church. It is very remarkable 192 THOMAS WEELKES that although this interesting fact was quite unkhown ^ to John Immyns when he founded the London Madrigal Society in 1741, the first meetings of that Society were held at the ' Twelve Bells ' in Bride Lane, almost over the very bones of Thomas Weelkes. He had married before leaving Winchester and left descendants ; his wife died a year before him and was buried at Chichester Cathedral. His will was proved in the Dean's Peculiar Court at Chichester (vol. iii, fol. 174) and has been reprinted in full by Mr. Arkwright.^ Weelkes was perhaps twenty-one or twenty-two years of age when he published his First Set of ' Madrigals to 3. 4. 5. and 6. voyces ' ; and, as just stated, he was full of apology for putting forth such a work while still of ' unripened years ', for so he described himself in the dedication of this volume. This was only the second Set of English works to which the title of Madrigal was actually given. Yet Weelkes's precocity, if such it was, was more than amply justified by the result, for almost all of the twenty-four madrigals which the Set includes are mature work of the highest class. The most notable number in the Set is Cease, sorrows, now (No. 6) which is probably the finest English madrigal for three voices in existence. The surprisingly keen sense of imagination and the inventive power of the composer are illustrated in this work by the dramatic effect produced in the knolling of the bell, as well as by the wonderful chromatic passage which follows at the words I'll sing my faint farewell ; this phrase is taken up in imitation by each of the voices and brings the piece to its conclu- sion. And all this is the more noteworthy when we realize that nothing whatever of the kind had been written before this youthful genius produced this remarkable piece of music in all its novelty. We can hardly imagine the effect of Weelkes's daring harmonic experiments upon the older musicians of his day, nor the astonishment of the singers who experienced for the first time these new musical sensations. In the final cadence of this madrigal there is an instance of the major and minor third being used simultaneously in the manner already ' His burial-place remained unknown until the present Author had the good fortune to discover it. See the Author's paper in the Musical Association Proceedings, 1915-16 ; and The English Madrigal School Series, vol. ix, p. 2. ' Old English Edition, Part XIII, preface. THOMAS WEELKES 193 described as peculiar to the English composers. Another such a clash is to be found in Weelkes's Those sweet delightful lilies (No. 18 of this Set) and it is not unfrequently to be met with throughout his madrigals. In the madrigal under con- sideration, if this discord is handled carefully it can be made to sound very beautiful. The whole of the concluding section may be quoted here : I'll sing my faint fare - well, I'll sing my i ■ ^ ■ I - I -«5>- :=ti|^ -G>- m :z3i £ 22: -& &■ ~^ i?o' -o- 3 l tfP- -f-lp- "O" :fe -0- :P2: faint fare - well, my faint fare - well, my faint fare - well, A—,--\ r-1^ 1 r^H— ,-r-l 1-^ -J J- --^zc^zil^^i =^_-=ijt g -«- P-i^ ^P^^ O- ^^^ -& ©"- pzE^p I -10-; -t- -- - r ? fcl P It: ^=^^ I'll sing my faint fare - well, I'll sing my faint P^^ ^=m Cz:$QZ 1^~ .a. -.Z2Z r -e>- -f^- "P~ 4p- s: jTSI T^ — .e>- ^- r j rrr^ -f^ -f^ -i^ I fare - well, my ■iEiE* r-if :zfr. W^ faint -4 ' fare - well ^E^SEESEE^: 55=: -1—1 *==J^^ S -&' r -«S»- Another interesting madrigal in this Set is Ay me I my wonted joys (No. 9). This composition represents one of the early experiments in constructive form as founded upon the princi- ples of repetition ; and it illustrates further the inventive genius of Weelkes as displayed in his very first publication. In the matter of design this madrigal may be regarded as 3049 N 194 THOMAS WEELKES a primitive forerunner of Rondo-form. The first section is repeated in its entirety in the ordinary way, but the music of the latter part of it, which is set to the words and deep despair doth overtake me, reappears a third time at the conclusion of the madrigal to the words /or love hath wrought my misery. In Three virgin nymphs (No. lo) we have a good example of the realistic effects at which the madrigalists so often aimed. The madrigal is written for three equal soprano voices, with a bass voice, as the fourth, to represent Silvanus. He makes his entry first of all from the distance in a manner that may be truly described as terrifying ; the demure walk of the nymphs, as expressed in steady crotchets, becomes more and more disturbed, and the climax is reached in the grotesque musical figures in which Silvanus snatches at them. Our country swains and Lo ! country sports (Nos. ii and 12) are two delightful numbers dealing with morris-dancing ; the compass of the voices makes them available for female voices. Those spots upon my lady's face (No. 21) has a very beautiful ending and belongs to that class of serious madrigal in which Wilbye so greatly excelled. Being in six parts it is written for a some- what unusual combination of voices ; the five top parts all lie easily within the range of female voices, while the lowest part ranges with the octave D to D and is suitable either to bass or tenor voices. In the Quintus-part of this madrigal there occurs an early example of the progression of an augmented second, from B flat to C sharp. This interval must have been startling to the more conservative musicians of that day. i Et The o - ther liritjht car - na - tion It may be noted that Kirbye used a similar progression in / love alas, No. 20 of his Set, which was also published in 1597. Encouraged by his early success, but still apologizing for his immaturity, Weelkes published a second volume in 1598 entitled ' Balletts and Madrigals to five voyces ', Of the twenty- four compositions in this book seventeen are Ballets, six are Madrigals, and the last is an Elegy for six voices upon the death of Lord Borough. A few of these Ballets are very similar THOMAS WEELKES 195 in style and rhythmic design to those which Morley published three years earlier ; notably All at once well met (No. i), the opening rhythm of which is exactly similar to Dainty fine sweet nymph, the first Ballet in Morley's book. But to many of them Weelkes gave a decided stamp of individuality : for instance. On the plains, fairy trains (No. 5) with its unusual rhythm in the opening bars, and the triple measure introduced at the words Now they dance, now they prance : or again. Hark ! all ye lovely saints above (No. 9), or Now is my Cloris fresh as May (No. 22) in which the Fa-las are set in strong triple rhythms running counter to each other in the different voice- parts. It has not been generally realized how few Ballets, com- paratively speaking, were written by the English madrigalists outside the Sets of Morley, Weelkes, and Hilton. Several composers included a small number of Ballets in their Madrigal Sets without distinctive mention on their title-pages, and by far the most important of these was Tomkins, whose Fa-las are of first-j^ate merit ; but none of them wrote anything like so many as Morley and Weelkes, while in the published Sets of such composers as Byrd, Wilbye, Gibbons, Bateson, Ward, Kirbye, and Bennet, among others, no Ballets were included. The younger Hilton's set of Fa-las did not appear imtil so late a date as 1627, by which time scope for originality in this special class had become much narrowed, and his work is very inferior when placed beside that of Morley, Weelkes, and Tomkins. There is no necessity for the coimparisons that have been made between the Ballets of Morley and Weelkes, each of whose work may be said to reach the highest possible excellence in this branch of their Art. In this Set of Ballets there are few characteristic examples of Weelkes's chromatic harmonization, but a remarkable sus- pension occurs in Phyllis, go take thy pleasure (No. 10) which is a Madrigal and not a Ballet. This suspension comes at the words my heart now thou hast broken, and in some respects it resembles one of the famous discords used by Sebastian Wesley more than two and a half centuries later in his beautiful anthem, Cast me not away. N 2 196 THOMAS WEELKES Weelkes. hast . })ro ken my heart now, S: g=f^ d!<^ ■J— - -<9- -o- m^^^ -Q- S^ ^ O- -o- :Z2; fe In this connexion it may be incidentally stated, as illustrating further how marvellously Weelkes anticipated the future, that another of Wesley's beautiful discords in this same anthem is foreshadowed in a striking manner in the opening of the second part of Weelkes 's Care, ihou wilt despatch me, quoted more fully on p. 200. Weelkes, "1=^— z$^=l 3«9- -G&- =r 1: -s>- r '^-f—i^ r5>- *Q- i Wesley. which thou h:ist bro ken mav re joice. -Gt -Q' -fSr -r^- m -q^p^l w- T I w ,_| N_^ iat -<&»- -o- 3-£fd=^i=3EE=^. m= -e»- P2: J — «- g==z|=p= Returning to Weelkcs's 1598 Set, an example of the simul- taneous use of the major and minor third may be noted in the THOMAS WEELKES 197 elegy on Lord Borough at the words give Sorrow leave to speak, G sharp and G natural at that point come together at the same pitch, producing a very harsh effect upon modern ears accustomed to equal temperament. In this elegy is also to be noticed a further illustration of Weelkes's tendency to seek in repetition the basis of structural form in music ; for the final passage is constructed upon material already used in the earlier sections. Thus the music set to the words live still on earth recalls the phrase used for Borough is dead ; and the last twelve bars are almost identical with a passage near the beginning, where the words whose timeless death a stony heart would break occur. Repetition of a somewhat different type, but also illustrating this composer's feeling after form, is to be observed in the charming passage Phyllis my choice of choice shall be, which occurs at the end of both parts of the madrigal Come clap thy hands (Nos. 19 and 20 of this Set) ; the same device was employed by Weelkes in a later Set in Thule, the period of cosmography (Madrigals of six parts, Nos. 7 and 8) ; and once again in What, have the gods their comfort sent ? (Nos. 3 and 4 of the six-part Set). Weelkes's finest work is to be seen in his magnificent ' Madrigals of 5. and 6. parts ' which were published in 1600, having almost certainly been composed in Winchester College, where, as organist of the College, he is known to have been living at the time. It was apparently his original intention to bring out these twenty madrigals in one volume, but he divided them into two Sets, with independent dedications, title-pages, and numeration ; thus each Set contains ten madrigals, the five-part and six-part compositions being kept separate. One small point of interest attaches to these two Sets in that they were the first to bear on the title-page the description ' Apt for the Viols and voices ', a formula that became so common in the pubhcations of all the later English madrigaHsts, and the exact meaning of which has led to much discussion. It would be difficult to praise these two Sets of madrigals too highly, especially those in the five-part volume. In character they are somewhat more massive than similar compositions of Wilbye, and, partly for this very reason, they 198 THOMAS WEELKES seem to lack something of the graceful dehcacy of finish which Wilbye achieved with such perfection in his best work. Yet from the point of view of dramatic treatment and force of emotional expression Weelkes's work in these two Sets stands alone in English madrigal-literature. There is also a remarkable variety of style to be observed in these twenty compositions viewed as a whole. It will be necessary here to examine some of these madrigals in considerable detail. The composer's imagination shows itself in the very first phrase of the opening number, Cold winter's ice is fled and gone, for the ice may be said to melt before our eyes, and yet not too suddenly, for the minor triad reappears in the repetition of the phrase by the lower voices before we feel the gaiety of summer which ' brags on every tree ' to the bright music of the chirping birds. In Take here my heart (No. 3) there is a simple and tender beauty that can scarcely be matched in the entire realm of Part-song. The words / give it thee for ever are set to a charming phrase suggesting the wedding-bells in anticipation ; there is splendid conviction, yet tender feeling, in the music to the words For Hope and Love command my heart to stay, and it is followed again by the wedding-bells. The madrigal closes with extraordinarily suitable music to the words Love but my heart, my heart will never change. The whole song is handled with a perfect sense of proportion and with a subtlety of emotional expression absolutely suited to the subject, yet entirely free from any taint of sentimentalism. The next in the Set, Care, thou wilt despatch me, is one of the finest madrigals in existence and is very characteristic of Weelkes's work. The story is that of a person distracted with care and seeking relief in music, yet failing to find more than partial comfort. The opening passage is treated with chromatic harmonies that must have amazed contemporary musicians, and f)erhaps they will equally amaze those modern musicians who suppose that Tudor madrigals are built up entirely upon academic counterpoint : THOMAS WEELKES 199 patch me, The next section, if music do not match thee, is followed by a half-hearted Fa-la set to the simple harmonies of G major ; after this comes another chromatic passage, typical of this composer, and dealing with Care's ' deadly sting ', which is finally expressed in a realistic way by a clash between F sharp and F natural. The first half of the madrigal closes with an effort to replace Care with Mirth by means of a gay musical figure, which is clothed in harmonies that occasionally suggest the triumph of Mirth, but which finally confess failure in the F natural of the penultimate bar in the Cantus and Tenor- parts. The second half opens to the words Hence Care ! thou art too cruel with a chromatic passage even more remarkable than the first. In the course of this passage the modulations carry the composer so far afield as to involve the employment of the note A sharp. This is one of the very rare instances of the occurrence of this note in the Tudor madrigals ; perhaps the only other example in an English madrigal is to be found 200 THOMAS WEELKES in Bateson's Come, sorrow, help me to lament (Set II, No. 24), which, however, was pubHshed eighteen years later than this madrigal of Weelkes. Dowland, too, used an A sharp in From silent night (' A Pilgrimes Solace ', No. 10), and Dowland appears to go one degree further in Sweet, stay awhile (No. 2 of the same Set) , where he uses E sharp ; but that note is used as a passing chromatic rather than as belonging to the harmonic structure of the passage. Returning to Weelkes's madrigal, it will be noticed with what telling effect he repeatedly dis- appoints expectations of a full-close in these wonderful bars : i ITer.ce i^B==^ -&- Care! :l2s2zz g thou art ZCT too 4 «ZZl ^P^ -«s>- ■& -iS>- ^^p -o- jQl m^ ^^-^ 'J^Z. cm el, thou art 5«S>- tO- 1 ■&- -.0- tp- '■^&- m -«9- 5S^ f^ -o- el. ^=&'- -f5h- T -JOEL A -^ ■=^ — iS»- k -o- THOMAS WEELKES 201 The words Come, music, sick man's jewel are made to antici- pate the Fa-la by the device of augmentation, yet the phrase is so subtly treated that the point might easily escape notice. _Q_ -4- -Gt- 7^~ ^- -?s>- hS*- -- Corae, Mu - sic, sick man's jew - el, sick man's jew el. Fa la la la la la la la la la la -i&- la la. Here again a gay musical figure is employed for the Fa-la, but the harmonies are wonderfully designed to suggest a sad and almost tragic sense of colour. The following bar will suffice to illustrate this point : Among many other interesting features, attention may be drawn to the pedal-point on the words but thou dost now sustain me by means of which the idea of sustaining was no doubt intended to be suggested ; and an additional touch of realism is added by the descending musical phrase, bearing, as it were, heavily upon the support of the pedal in the Bass-part. The harmonies upon this pedal-point are certainly remarkable when it is recalled that the madrigal was composed in the year 1600 : 4^ i^ g^ -s^- r ^ -e^- & ' - Q I I ~ F *St -<& ^ J- The composition ends with a sad-toned Fa-la that represents final failure. 202 THOMAS WEELKES This madrigal has been dealt with here in considerable detail, partly with the object of illustrating the principles of analysis to which such imaginative work as that of Weelkes especially lends itself, and at the same time to serve as a sugges- tion that the writings of all the great madrigalists contain much material of interest, as well as constructive features, that do not meet the eye except after something more than a cursory examination. But, further, this madrigal takes a place among the most remarkable of all the compositions of the Tudor period, whether it be valued on account of its pure beauty, or for its constructive ingenuity, or for the wealth of imagination displayed in it by a composer whose power of invention and careless disregard of convention enabled him to peer so far into the distant future of musical development. The rest of the madrigals in these two Sets of 1600 must be passed over with brief comment, but mention should be made of the delightful Lady, the birds right fairly (No. 9 of the five- part Set) with its charming cuckoo phrase ; and of the fine massive writing in Like two proud armies (No. i of the six- part Set) with its great quaver run for the two bass voice- parts in the ' thundering fight '. This madrigal is similar in style to Mars in a fury (No. 6). When Thoralis delights to walk (No. 2) is teeming with fresh and simple beauty. In Methinks I hear Amphion's warbling strings (No. 4) the composer again shows his originality in the use of a pedal-point extending over six bars for the words Whilst that old Phemius softly playsjhe ground : Whilst that old Phe-mius, whilst that old Phe. - mius soft - ly ^: ^^M g -& -»-F-*#- H ly plays plays the ground, soft THOMAS WEELKES 203 Thide, the period of cosmography (No. 7 and 8 of the six-part Set) is another splendid madrigal, the quaint words of which gave Weelkes ample scope for his brilliant power of invention. Space will not allow of an analysis of this madrigal here in such detail as Care, thou wilt despatch me, but it provides almost as much interesting material for examination. It is full of realistic effects : thus among things we see the ' sul- phureous ' fire of Hecla and the flames of Etna ascending higher and higher, while such a little touch as the introduction of triple measure to give point to the meaning of Trinacria must not be overlooked. In the second half of the madrigal a mere glance at the score in itself provides a perfect picture of the fij^ng fishes ; and in the marvellous chromatic passage in which the composer depicts ' how strangely Fogo burns ', the mysterious scene of the distant volcano in remote Terra del Fuego, as viewed from the sea, is brought before our eyes with a dramatic effect that could scarcely be surpassed by any modem musician, in spite of the largely increased resources which the intervening 300 years have placed at his disposal. The volume closes with a fine Elegy on the death of Henry Noel, already mentioned as a favourite at the Court of Queen Ehzabeth and an amateur of music, to whose memory Morley wrote his Hark ! Alleluia (Canzonets to five and sixe Voices, No. 21). Queen Ehzabeth is said to have made the following rebus on his name : The word of negation, and letter of fifty Make that gentleman's name who will never be thrifty. In this elegy Weelkes three times within nine bars used the major and minor third of the chord simultaneously ; this effect thus repeated is necessarily cacophonous to modern ears ; but a very beautiful chord is introduced on the last word of the phrase now thou art dead : i -G>- ^- -jpnzn W .^ A - g? - o - ^t g ac 22: s- 204 THOMAS WEELKES Weelkes was still a young man, probably not more than twenty-five years old, in 1600 ; yet his publications in that year were his last of any importance in the field of madrigal- composition. His remaining volume, published in 1608, was quaintly entitled, ' Ayeres or Phantasticke Spirites for three voices '. This consists almost entirely of small pieces of a Hght type, and several are of the nature of political or personal skits, as, for example, The Ape, the Monkey, and Baboon (No. 10), which apparently was intended to satirize certain habitues of the famous Mermaid Tavern. But there are several delightful little pieces in this Set ; among these is the well-known and ingeniously written The Nightingale (No. 25) ; but the only one in which may be recognized the touch of the great composer who had revealed his splendid genius in the 1600 madrigal- Sets is the massive dirge (No. 26) written in remembrance of his friend Thomas Morley, whose death had taken place in 1603. In this dirge one very curious piece of realism is intro- duced ; after a long-sustained chord of D major in a very low register, representing the silent sleep in the grave, a few dis- jointed bars follow, and then comes a moment of complete silence in all the voice-parts. This silence is broken in an astonishing fashion by all the six voices entering suddenly and in rapid succession with a short phrase to the chords until the world shall end, and no doubt the composer intended thus to represent the crack of doom. Although Weelkes employed these reaHstic methods with perhaps greater frequency than the other English madri- galists, and certainly with more fertile imagination and invention, it must not be forgotten that all the composers of that date used these methods to a considerable extent. If it be urged that such methods were grotesque and even trivial, it must be admitted that occasionally they were both ; but we have also to remember that they were part of the conven- tion of the time, and it speaks volumes in praise of the general sense of fitness shown by these composers, that they so rarely allowed their attempts at realistic expression to savour of the grotesque, or to interfere with the beauty or the broad outline of their music. These methods of realistic expression were not confined to the Tudor musicians, for they are abun- THOMAS WEELKES 205 dantly evident in the music of the Restoration period, notably in that of Henry Purcell. Two examples from Purcell's work will illustrate this statement : hb anthem They that go down to the sea in ships opens with a descending scale of two whole octaves for the solo bass voice : and in a vocal trio in his setting of the fifty-sixth Psalm, at the words they hold altogether and keep themselves close, the three voices have to sing simultaneously three consecutive notes of the scale ; keep them- selves close ^m m r -?-•' 1 ^ w ^ — ^- ^- Well-known examples of a similar kind of realism are also to be found in Handel's Israel in Egypt, Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Haydn's Creation, and elsewhere. It remains to mention Weelkes's contribution to the ' Triumphs of Oriana ', As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending (No. 17). This is probably his best-known and most popular work ; it is full of spirit and splendidly fresh and pure, but it is modelled upon much more conventional lines than most of the great madrigals of his 1600 Sets, and for this reason, fine as it certainly is, it lacks something of the characteristic distinction of this composer's best work. To sum up, Weelkes must be regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the Tudor madrigalists with the sole possible exception of Wilbye. Wilbye, no doubt, wrote with a more highly polished style and a greater delicacy of expression, and also with a deeper sense of beauty than Weelkes. In the latter 's work there is nothing quite so beautiful as Wilbye 's Oft have I vowed (Set II, No. 20), or, on a smaller scale, so graceful as Adieu, sweet Amaryllis (Set I, No. 12) ; and Wilbye was unrivalled in the kind of madrigal of which Happy, oh happy he! (Set II, No. 16) is an example. On the other hand, Weelkes certainly surpassed all his contemporaries in wealth of imagination, and he earns special recognition on account of his originality ; for he was something much more than an 2o6 THOMAS WEELKES innovator, in that he achieved remarkable success in the fields which he explored as a pioneer. And as a musical prophet we can only contemplate him with amazement, although he shares this distinction with another very great innovator, the lutenist-composer John Dowland, whose ' First Booke of Songes or Ayres of fowre partes ' was also published in 1597 ; for some of the harmonies which these two composers were the first to use were not again commonly employed until many generations had intervened in the history of musical development. Weelkes's work seems to have had but little influence over those older madrigalists who had already published volumes before his first Set apf)eared; for instance, scarcely any trace of his chromatic innovations is to be seen in the subsequent work of Byrd or Morley. The ' jarre and dissonance ' for which B5n-d prepared his critics in the ' Epistle to the Reader ' of his 1588 Set, and which is occasionally to be met with in his work, is of a totally different nature from the novel harmonies which Weelkes wrote. But his influence upon those who succeeded him, even though their style differed in many respects from his, was considerable, and it is particularly to be observed in the work of Wilbye, Gibbons, and Tomkins, the three greatest madrigalists to make their first appearance subsequent to the year 1597. Weelkes wrote a fair quantity of Church music, all of which is allowed to remain in oblivion at the present time. Not a note of his manuscript survives in the library of Chichester Cathedral. The Madrigalian Publications of Thomas Weelkes 1597. MADRIGALS TO 3. 4. 5. AND 6. VOICES Songs of three parts Songs of four parts 1. Sit down and sing. 7. Now every tree renews his sum- 2. My flocks feed not (the first mer green. ( part). 8. Young Cupid hath proclaimed. 3. In black mourn I (the second g. Ay me ! my wonted joys forsake part). me. j 4. Clear wells spring not (the third lo. Three virgin nymphs were walk- part) . ' ing . 5. A country pair were walking all ii. Our country swains in the morris- alone, dance. 6. Cease, sorrows, now. 12. Lo ! country sports that seldom fades. THOMAS WEELKES 207 Songs of five parts 13. Your beauty it allureth. 14. If thy deceitful looks have chained my heart. 15. Those sweet delightful lilies. 16. Lady, your spotless feature. 17. Make haste, ye lovers, plaining. 18. What haste, fair lady ? leave me not. Songs of six parts 19. Retire, my thoughts, unto your rest. 20. Say, dear, when will your frown- ing leave ? 21. Those spots upon my lady's face. 22. If beauty be a treasure. 23. My tears do not avail me. 24. My Phyllis bids me pack away. 1598. BALLETS AND MADRIGALS TO FIVE VOICES I. 2. 3- 4- 5- 6. 7- 8. 10. II. 12. 13- All at once well met, fair ladies . To shorten Winter's sadness. Sweet love, I will no more abuse thee. Whilst youthful sports are lasting . On the plains, fairy trains. Sweet heart, arise, why do you sleep ? Give me my heart and I will go. Hark ! all ye lovely saints above. Say, dainty dames, shall we go play ? Phyllis, go take thy pleasure ! In pride of May the fields are gay. Sing we at pleasure. Now is the bridals of fair Choralis. 14. Sing, shepherds, after me. 15. Welcome, sweet pleasure. 16. Lady, your eye my love enforced. 17. We shepherds sing, we pipe, we play. 18. I love and have my love regarded . 19. Come clap thy hands, thou shepherd swain (the first part). 20. Phyllis hath sworn $he loves the man (the second part). 21. Farewell my joy. 22. Now is my Cloris fresh as May. 23. Unto our flocks, sweet Corolug. To six voices 24. Cease now. Delight. 1600. MADRIGALS OF FIVE PARTS 1. Cold winter's ice is fled and gone. 2. Now let us make a merry greeting. 3. Take here my heart. [4. O Care, thou wilt despatch me (the first part) . , Hence Care ! thou art too cruel (the second part) . See where the maids are singing. Why are you ladies staying ? (the first part). Hark ! I hear some dancing (the second part). Lady, the birds right fairly. As wanton birds, when day begins . 1600. MADRIGALS OF SIX PARTS Like two proud armies. When Thoralis delights to walk. What, have the gods their com- fort sent (the first part). Methinks I hear Amphion's warbling strings (the second part). Three times a day my prayer is. 6. (7 8, 9- 10. Mars in a fury. Thule, the period of Cosmo- graphy (the first part) . The Andalusian merchant (the second part). A Sparrow-hawk proud. Noel, adieu, thou Court's delight. 208 THOMAS WEELKES 1608. AIRS OR FANTASTIC SPIRITS FOR THREE VOICES 1. Come, lets begin to revel't out. 2. Jockie, thine horn-pipe's dull. 3. Some men desire spouses. 4. To-morrow is the marriage day. 5. Upon a hill the bonny boy. 6. Come, sirrah Jack, ho ! 7. Tan ta ra, cries Mars on bloody rapier. 8. The gods have heard my vows. 9. Though my carriage be but care- less. 10. The Ape, the Monkey, and Baboon did meet. 11. No, no, though I shrink still. 12. Ay me ! alas I heigh ho. 13. Late is my rash accounting. 14. Four arms, two necks, one wreathing. 15. Lord ! wiien I think what a paltry thing. 16. Say, wanton, will you love me ? 17. I bei ligustri e rose. 18. Strike it up. Tabor. 19. Ha ha ! this world doth pass. 20. Since Robin Hood, Maid Marian. 21. O now weep, now sing ! 22. Alas, tarry but one half hour. 23. As deadly serpents lurking. 24. Donna il vostro bcl viso. 25. The nightingale, the organ of delight. For six voices 26. Death hath deprived me of my dearest friend. 1601. A MADRIGAL TO SIX VOICES included as No. 17 in the ' Triumphs of Oriana '. As Vesta was from Lalmos hill descending. CHAPTER XVI JOHN WILBYE. Born 1574 ; died 1638 Until recently the personal history of John Wilbye, who by common consent is regarded as the greatest of the English madrigal-composers, remained buried in oblivion. The dis- covery of his Will ^ made it possible to reconstruct the story of his life, for it provided clues which led to information that surpassed all expectation.^ Wilbye was born at Diss in Norfolk early in the year 1574, and his baptism is recorded in the registers of the parish church on March 7 of that year. He was the third son of Matthew Wilbye, a tanner living in prosperous circumstances at Diss and owning landed property in the neighbourhood. Matthew was evidently an amateur of music, for we learn from his Will ^ that he bequeathed his lute to his son John, who may have owed something to his father's musical influence in his child- hood. Within a few miles of Diss was Brome Hall, the seat of Sir Thomas Cornwallis ; and it would appear that John Wilbye's musical abilities attracted the notice of the Corn- wallis family while he was still a child. Cornwallis's daughter Elizabeth was married to Sir Thomas Kytson of Hengrave Hall, a few miles distant across the Suffolk border, and the circum- stance led to the appointment of Wilbye about the year 1593 to the office of household musician to the Kytsons, and for over thirty years he lived in the service of that family. Hengrave Hall is a magnificent Tudor house situated not far from Bury St. Edmunds. The house has undergone very little alteration since it was built by the father of Wilbye's patron, and it has even been possible to determine with great proba- bility the actual room which was set apart for the composer's use. The original inventories, still preserved at Hengrave as » P.C.C, 145 Lee. * See the author's paper on John Wilbye, Musical Association Proceedings, 1914-15. ' Proved at Norwich, July 6, 1605, 3049 O 210 JOHN WILBYE part of a collection of records of remarkable value, also give in detail the items of furniture, and even the colour and texture of the curtains and other hangings in ' Wilbee's Chamber ', so that it is possible to picture, with an unusual degree of exact- ness, the siuTOundings of this composer, as well as the room at Hengrave Hall in which many of his famous madrigals were \vritten. The Hengrave inventories furnish a complete list * of all the musical instruments and music-books belonging to the establishment, and these would in consequence have been under Wilbye's control. Sir Thomas Kytson also tenanted a London house in Austin Friars during the last decade of the sixteenth century, and Wilbye would have frequently accom- panied the family to London. Thus his first Set of Madrigals, published in 1598, was dated from the Austin Friars. The publication was dedicated to Sir Charles Cavendish of Welbeck, who had married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Kytson. Wilbye's second Set of Madrigals, published in 1609, was dedicated to the unfortunate Lady Arabella Stuart, whose mother, Lady Lennox, was sister of Sir Charles Cavendish. Lady Arabella was an occasional visitor at Hengrave, and this explains how Wilbye became acquainted with her. Sir Thomas died in 1602, but Lady Kytson continued to live at Llengrave Hall and to maintain the establishment in the same degree of state as formerly until her death in 1626. Meanwhile in 1613 Lady Kytson granted Wilbye a lease of Sexten's Farm,^ which was reputed the best sheep-farm in the entire district. The lease was drawn upon specially favourable terms in recognition of his faithful services. But Wilbye still continued to live at the Hall and to superintend the music there, and it must be supposed that he employed a bailiff to manage his farm. But incidentally this new interest seems, strangely enough, to have dried up his fount of composition, for in the following year, 1614, were published the two motets which he contributed to Leighton's ' Teares or Lamentacions ', and these are positively the last compositions of his that we know ; yet he lived for another twenty-five years. The lease of this prosperous farm undoubtedly formed the foundation of ' See Musical Association Proceedings, 1914-15. ' Hengrave MSS. at Hengrave Hall. JOHN WILBYE 211 the considerable fortune which he owned at the time of his death. After Lady Kytson's death in 1626 the splendid establish- ment was broken up. The letters and other documents pre- served among the Hengrave MSS. tell many amusing details of domestic squabbles and jealousies connected with that crisis, and Wilbye seems to have had his share of troubles in the household. An autograph letter written by the composer at this date is still to be seen at Hengrave.^ On leaving the Hall Wilbye went to live at the house of Lady Rivers at Colchester. Lady Rivers was the younger daughter of Sir Thomas K5d:son, and she seems to have been Wilbye 's special patroness through- out his life, being a few years his senior. Her marriage to Lord Rivers was not a happy one ; his family seat was at St. Osyth, and it was when she left him that she went to live at Colchester, some nine miles distant. The house is still standing and was described by Morant 2 as the ' great brick- house opposite the west end of Holy Trinity Church. Here, too, Wilbye lived for the last twelve years of his life, and it is interesting that the two houses in which he spent the greater part of his life are still in existence. He died in the late summer of 1638 and was buried at Holy Trinity, Colchester. The Will of John Wilbye was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in the following November.^ He died possessed of a comparatively important estate, and as he died unmarried his principal legatees were his nephews and nieces. He owned a good deal of land in and around the town of Bury St. Edmunds and also in the neighbourhood of Diss. A deed dated 1622 shows that in that year he had bought some land near his native place and jointly owned by his brother Matthew and his nephew John Wilbye. The money legacies mentioned in his Will, apart from the residue, amounted to more than j^400, a large sum judged by the standard,^ of that time. He left a small legacy to his life-long friend Lady Rivers, who survived » This letter is reproduced in facsimile as a frontispiece to the author's edition of Wilbye's works. The English Madrigal School, vol. vi. Stainer and Bell. ' Morant's History of Colchester, part iii, p. 9. » The Will is printed in full in the Author's paper on Wilbye. Musical Association Proceedings, 1914-15. O 2 212 JOHN WI LB YE him a few years, and his best viol to Charles, Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles 11. Wilbye published two Sets of Madrigals, in 1598 and 1609 respectively. They contain together sixty-four madrigals, and to these must be added his contribution to the ' Triumphs of Oriana '. Viewed as a whole they reach a uniformly high standard, while certain individual compositions stand out to defy comparison with anything in the whole range of madrigal- literature. Wilbye showed a predilection for sad and sombre words, though he wrote in all styles and excelled in them all. It was, however, in the serious and emotional type of madrigal that he reached heights that were not quite attained even by Weelkes at his best. He may not have written anything quite so original and unconventional as Weelkes's Hence Care ! thou wilt despatch me ; but the consummate style and finish of his work, together with the restraint with which he handled the more emotional subjects, impart a dignity to his greatest madrigals which sets them apart as the finest of their kind. It is in his gayer mood that Wilbye is best known to the majority of modern madrigal-singers ; and, in fact, Sweet honey- sucking bees (Set II, Nos. 17 and 18) and Flora gave me fairest flowers (Set I, No. 22) are perhaps two of the most widely - known of all the English madrigals ; but The Lady Oriana, from the ' Triumphs ', the six-voice setting of Lady, when I behold (Set I, No. 24), Stay, Corydon (Set II, No. 32), and Adieu, sweet Amaryllis (Set I, No. 12) are also very general favourites. Other less-known examples of Wilbye's brighter style are As fair as morn (Set II, No. 5), What needeth all this travail ? (Set I, Nos. 7 and 8), Thus saith my Cloris bright (Set I, No. 11), and Ye that do live in pleasures plenty (Set II, No. 25). On the other hand, the serious class of madrigal, in which Wilbye more especially excelled, has for some reason been almost entirely ignored. It was this type of subject which afforded him scope, not only for the various ingenious devices by which he gave dramatic colour to his words, but also for more freedom and sometimes even complexity of rhj^hm, and further for the varied emotional sentiment which he expressed with great depth of feeling, although with such true artistic reserve that his work was never tainted with anything approach- JOHN WILBYE 213 ing sentimentalism. He showed his pre-eminence by the power of his imagination, and by the subtle deUcacy of touch which enabled him to colour with exact truth each varying shade of emotion expressed in the words that he so happily wedded to his music. A careful study of Wilbye's madrigals cannot fail to open a new door for those who may be disposed to regard a Madrigal as no more than an academic essay in counterpoint. Perhaps the madrigal of this composer that makes the most direct impression in this kind of treatment is Unkind, stay Jhy flying (Set I, No. 20) ; the opening bars, with the suspended F natural, giving point to the word unkind, have their obvious meaning ; and the handling of the phrase Stay for me, reiterated as it is with increasing insistence, could not fail deeply to move a listener by its pathetic appeal. The following are some other fine examples of Wilbye's work, to mention but a few, which seem, each in their different way, to reach the highest possible level of emotional treatment : / always beg (Set I, Nos. 16 and 17), All pleasure is of this condition (Set II, No. 19), Of joys and pleasing pains (Set I, Nos. 26 and 27), Ah ! cannot sighs ? (Set II, No. 30), Oft have I vowed (Set II, No. 20), Happy, happy he ! (Set II, No. 16). and Alas ! what a wretched life (Set I, No. 19). It will not be possible within the short limits of this chapter to consider more than three or four of these madrigals in detail. Oft have I vowed (Set II, No. 20) is certainly one of the most beautiful of all Wilbye's madrigals. It opens with a straight-forward rhythmical figure which at first sight suggests gaiety of treatment ; but the composer's intention was to awaken memories of happy hopes which had since proved baseless during the bitter days in which the despairing lover wasted away in grief. It is important that the opening bars should be sung with a proper appreciation of the spirit of the latter part of the madrigal and of its meaning as a whole. The rhythm of the opening bars is again introduced at the words still hoping to remove thee, thus connecting the idea of the two passages. The line Millions of tears I tendered to thy beauty, is treated in a striking manner : the whole section in which these words occur is constructed on a dominant -pedal of unusual length for music of this period. The passage is rendered all the 214 JOHN WILBYE more noticeable by the fact that the harmonies built upon the pedal-point are of a chromatic nature, and the whole effect is surprisingly modern when the date of the composition is borne in mind : :he i Mil - lions of tears, of tears I ten - dered to thy F^^ — J_^ p -&- beau - ty, mil - lions of tears, mil - lions of tears I r-9 ' -i — F= l^^^^^^^y^^^l — ' ^ i^T^ r> — H T ^ -^.i J. ww^ ^-j- A.aj:i ■&- dered to thy beau "-S ^^^ -O- -&-. FSFfrf^^^^ w — rit^r-; M * F*-t- l<=- J ttJdi m -«s> A sustained crescendo will add much to the effect in this place. Then follows the device used by all the madrigalists in setting the word sighs, which consisted of delaying the word by a crochet rest ; but more subtle is the little forced laugh a bar or so later on the words silly tears. After a full close in B flat there follows another wonderful passage on a descending chromatic scale to the words suff'rest my feeble heart to pine with anguish. This passage inevitably recalls the concluding section of Weelkes's Cease, sorrows, now (1597 Set, No. 6), but it is of even finer quality. The Bassus-part passes right down the scale from B fiat to G, a tenth below, and ends in a dominant- pedal upon which chromatic scales appear in the upper voice- JOHN WILBYE 215 parts. This effect, too, is extraordinarily modern and exceed- ingly beautiful : :^^== ^m ^^ -tS>- =F t ^^^ suf f rest my fee - ble heart, my fee - ble i ^j=j=^ -«5»- 22: in: heart to pine with ^ an 4—1- ^ B^=^ ta d V <5>- ^^ a^-1^ ^ -o- ^ r -=^- ■^'~~'-^J-J- \^A \,A -&- iS r -.«s>- -<5- -e»- -<&- guisb to pine .... A few bars later, with another characteristic little touch, the feeling of bitterness is intensified by the avoidance of the leading note, and the phrase is repeated a little further on : my bit - ter days P % m M *=: i do waste and I do Ian -d- J- ^-.-^ !--J^ guish. -Gh- ■2±. -G Gh- jd. .d. ■d- ^ -s>- jd a iS»- ::piv: :Sf^ -s>- 2i6 JOHN WILBYE The madrigal closes with a passage full of emotion and constructed upon the same material that was used for the words suff'rest my feeble heart to pine ; yet Wilbye achieved his purpose of recalUng the former phrase to mind by more subtle means than the mere repetition of the music, and the allusion would remain unnoticed except to a careful observer. It provides an excellent illustration of the maxim Summa ars est celare artein. ^ €^ -- ^¥^ -Q. erf w A jcL .cL g^ -<^r ff -f^ '-r i K=^ «>- -*3- m T t^ -s>- -«^ -O" ^^ ^&- -^ -«s>- 32: Another very fine madrigal, full of imaginative interest, is Of joys and pleasing pains (Set I, Nos. 26 and 27). This madrigal provides some typical examples of Wilbye's method of treating his words with the object of giving them special colour and emphasis. The tendency which he showed, in common with Morley and Weelkes, to anticipate one of the leading principles upon which Form in musical structure was founded in later times, is also strikingly exemplified in this madrigal. This is one of those longer compositions which is divided into two separate sections ; and the opening passage of the music, the words of which are Of joys and pleasing pains I late went sing- ing, is recapitulated in its entirety right at the end, thus most appropriately linking up the ideas, the concluding couplet of the words being : Yet still and still I sing, yet ne'er am linning ^ For still the close points to my first beginning. ' An obsolete word meaning ending or ceasing. JOHN WILBYE 217 As if to press the point home, this recapitulation is made twice over. The device has an excellent effect in rounding ofi the whole composition. A noticeable feature in the first section is a great outburst of emotion at the words the baleful notes . . . are ruth and moan, frights, sobs, and loud lamenting. The value of the octave interval in the Bassus, although a small detail in itself, will not be passed unnoticed : is -Gh- w -4- ^ ^=» 2=t ici: ^^ ^ :t?^ ite :^ M .J: -&- is — to- -s»- -fS»- I ^ Z3: tes: "r^ >^ ¥^P I :*:i. -s»- -CL r=g^ }&- -Sb 'F -^- o- -^-i J«- J -cL ^ A km:' :^ A g 32: 22: :?2: In the second section is an instance of the simultaneous use of the major and minor third, and the effect in this case is peculiarly harsh as the notes are brought into conflict at the same pitch. But it cannot be doubted that Wilbye wrote this discord deliberately to enforce the meaning of the words my voice is hoarse with shrieking, and it stands as an example, whether we approve of it or not, of those experiments which the madrigalists at least had the courage to make, although not all of them can be regarded as completely successful. The intro- duction of the so-called Italian sixth in this madrigal has been mentioned in a former chapter. It occurs in the line my song runs all on sharps, and here the composer has contrived to write for each voice on the word sharps a note that necessitated the employment of the sharp sign in the notation of the period. A similar example of this form of realism may be seen in Byrd's Come, woeful Orpheus (1611 Set, No. 19). Another noticeable piece of realistic writing in this madrigal occurs at the words 2l8 JOHN WILBYE Striking time on my breast ; each voice strikes in upon inde- pendent beats with the word time, and finally the Bassus booms out the whole phrase in single slow notes#^ Of the brighter type of madrigal there are no finer specimens in Wilbye than the popular Flora gave me fairest flowers (Set I, No. 22) and Sweet honey-sucking bees (Set II,Nos. 17 and 18), and these owe their popularity very rightly to the splendid strength of their rhythm. Nothing could possibly be finer in its way than the passage in Flora, first given in C minor and then repeated in B flat major, to the words Come, ye wantons, here to play. Nevertheless it should be noticed that although so much of the rhythm of these two madrigals is cast in a regular and simple mould, the composer, with the hand of a genuine artist, has occasionally varied it with an irregular rhythm in triple measure. In Sweet honey-sucking bees the monotony of rhythmic texture is broken at the words Keeping their spring- tide graces by the introduction of a triple rhythm which imparts an extraordinary flexibility to the composition as a whole : i 3 s^ 3 r Z3Z Keep - ing their spring - tide, keep - ing their spring - tide gra - ces, i w ^ te3 ± SI :z2i Keep - ing their spring - tide gra - ces all the year. As a result of this interruption, too, the vigour of the passage For if one flaming dart seems to have been increased twofold. This composition is exceedingly effective when played upon strings, the volume in which it is printed being one of those described on the title-page as containing music apt both for voices and viols. It is especially well designed for strings for the further reason that the Altus and Tenor-parts are written for equal compass and are admirably suited to the viola. One other feature of Wilbye's methods is exemplified in Sweet honey-sucking bees ; and it illustrates his originality of design in yet another direction as well as his evident desire to " throw off the yoke of convention. It was customary at all the principal cadences of a composition to use the major, and not the minor, triad, this being one of the old laws of musica flcta ; JOHN WILBYE 219 it was also an invariable rule that the final chord of all should never be the minor triad, although it was permissible to end without a third of either sort, as in the case just quoted from Oft have I vowed. In other words, to use the terms somewhat loosely, a composition written in a minor key would conclude with the chord of the tonic major. In Sweet honey-sucking bees Wilbye developed this principle by modulating to the key of the tonic major several bars before the end, instead of waiting for the final chord. He passes into G major at the first appear- ance of the words Ah then you die, and the effect of the first B natural at that point is very striking, almost more so on strings than on voices. The same device was introduced in the charming little Adieu, sweet Amaryllis (Set I, No. 12). Wilbye hardly ever employed the seventh as a free passing- note in his cadences after the manner of Byrd, Gibbons, and Weelkes : on the other hand, he made occasional use of passing notes that formed no actual part of the harmony, but which were either approached or quitted by a skip instead of diatoni- cally. A good instance of this occurs in Flora gave me fairest flowers. The G in the Altus-part on the second syllable of the word Phyllis has been mistaken by most editors of this madrigal for a misprint and altered to F. It is certainly not a misprint, but, rather, a remarkably original experiment on the part of Wilbye. It will be noticed that when the G is retained, as it undoubtedly should be, the phrase forms an exact imitation of what has just been sung in the Quintus-part ; and it contains also a reminiscence of the three crotchets sung by the Tenor and Bassus-parts to the words / placed on in each of these two phrases. The resulting discord is one which was frequently used by the eighteenth-century composers and was figured by them |. V i ^ -^3- -- I JOHN WILBYE 221 It has been said of Wilbye, with truth, that he is one of the greatest figures in EngHsh music. It is the directness and purity of his style, his strong sense of beauty, and the admirably vocal nature of his part-writing — in a word, the perfection of his workmanship — that impress themselves irresistibly on the mind of any one who studies his music. It may even be said that Wilbye has had few equals in the whole range of secular Part-song, whether in his own country or on the Continent. The Madrigalian Publications of John Wilbye. 1598. THE FIRST SET OF MADRIGALS TO 3. 4. 5. AND 6. VOICES Songs of three voices 1. Fly, Love, aloft to heaven and look out Fortune. 2. Away ! thou shalt not love me. ^. Ay me ! can every rumour ? 4. Weep, O mine eyes, and cease not. 5. Dear Pity, how ? oh how ? 6. Ye restless thoughts that harbour discontent. (7 9- 10. II. 12. Songs of four voices « What needeth all this travail ? (the first part). O fools, can you not see a traffic nearer ? {the second part) . Alas, what hope of speeding ? Lady, when I behold the roses sprouting. Thus saith my Cloris bright. Adieu, sweet Amaryllis. 222 JOHN WILBYE Songs of five voices . Die, hapless man, since she denies. [4. I fall, I fall, O stay me ! (the first part) . 15. And though my love abounding [the second part). 16. I always beg, yet never am relieved {the first part). 17. Thus Love commands (the second part). 1. Lady, your words do spite me. I. Alas, what a wretched life is this ! ». Unkind, O stay thy flying. . I sung sometimes my thoughts. !. Flora gave me fairest flowers. Songs of six voices 23. Sweet Love, if thou wilt gain a monarch's glory. 24. Lady, when I behold the roses sprouting. . 25. When shall my wretched life give place ? '26. Of joys and pleasing pains {the first part). 27. My throat is sore, my voice is hoarse {the second part). 28. Cruel, behold my heavy ending. 29. Thou art but young, thou sayest. 30. Why dost thou shoot ? 1609. THE SECOND SET OF MADRIGALS TO 3. 4. 5. AND 6. PARTS Songs to three voices 1 . Come, shepherd swains, that wont to hear me sing. 2. Flourish, ye hillocks, set with fragrant flowers 3. Ah, cruel Amaryllis, since thou tak'st delight. So light is Love in matchless beauty shining. As fair as morn, as fresh as May, what shall I do ? 1 live, and yet methinks I do not breathe. There is a jewel which no Indian mines. 4- 5- 6. 7- 8. Songs to four voices When Cloris heard of her Amyntas dying. 10. Happy streams, whose trembling fall. Change me, O heavens, into the ruby stone. Love me not for comely grace. Fly not so swift, my dear, behold me dying. I love, alas, yet am not loved. As matchless beauty thee a Phoenix proves. 16. Happy, O happy he, who not affecting. Songs to five voices 17. Sweet honey-sucking bees {the first part). 18. Yet, sweet, take heed {the second part) . J. All pleasure is of this condition. D. Oft have I vowed how dearly I did love thee. 21. Down in a valley as Alexis trips {the first part). 22. Hard destinies are Love and Beauty parted {the second part) . 23. Weep, weep, mine eyes, my heart can take no rest. 24. There, where I saw her lovely beauty. 25. Ye that dolivein pleasures plenty. 26. A silly sylvan, kissing heaven- born fire. 9- II. 12. 13. 14. 15- 27. ^28 29 Songs to six voices O wretched man ! why lov'st thou earthly life ? Where most my thoughts there least my eye {the first part). Despiteful thus unto myself I languish {the second part). 30. Ah, cannot sighs, nor tears. 31. Draw on, sweet night. 32. Stay, Corydon, thou swain. 33. Softly, O softly drop, my eyes. 34. Long have I made these hills and valleys weary. 1601. A MADRIGAL FOR SIX VOICES included as No. 15 in the 'Triumphs of Oriana'. The Lady Oriana. CHAPTER XVII JOHN MUNDY— GEORGE KIRBYE— NATHANIEL PATTRICK— WIL- LIAM HOLBORNE— GILES FARNABY— MICHAEL CAVENDISH- JOHN FARMER— JOHN BENNET— THE ORIANA COMPOSERS. The four preceding chapters have dealt in considerable detail with the life and works of Byrd, Morley, Weelkes, and Wilbye, as having claim to special notice on the ground that they were, for different reasons, the four most important and influential personalities in the history of the English Madrigal School. For it must be borne in mind that Orlando Gibbons, by comparison with these four, wrote but a small number of madrigals, and that, although these were exceptionally fine, his great reputation as a composer is founded mainly upon his noble Church music. These four leading madrigalists were discussed in the chronological order of their first entry into the field with published Sets of this class of music. It is now proposed to consider in much briefer detail the rest of the Tudor madri- galists, and the same plan will be followed as regards chrono- logical order. With reference to this, two points may be observed. Firstly, by far the greater portion of the work of these four composers belongs to the closing years of the six- teenth century ; only three of their Sets were later than 1600, namely Weelkes's 'Ayeres or Phantasticke Spirites' (1608), a publication of comparatively small importance, Wilbye's second Set (1609), and Byrd's last volume (161 1). Secondly, the selec- tion of these four composers for separate and fuller considera- tion but slightly interferes with this principle of chronological arrangement ; thus, Mundy should have come next after Morley and before Weelkes, while Kirbye and William Holborne should be placed between Weelkes and Wilbye. The relative position of all the madrigalists to each other, especially from a chronological point of view, is a matter of great importance in estimating, with a true sense of perspective, the actual artistic value of the English Madrigal School as a whole, as well as the individual merits of the composers. 224 JOHN MUNDY JOHN MUNDY. Born circa 1560 ; died 1630 John Mundy was a son of William Mundy, a vicar-choral of St. Paul's Cathedral and a gentleman of the Chapel Royal. The elder Mundy was also a composer of note. The son was appointed organist of Eton College in 1585, and it may be inferred that he was not more than twenty-five years old at the time. He took the degree of B.Mus. at Oxford in the following year and proceeded to that of D.Mus. in 1624. Meanwhile he had succeeded the famous John Merbecke, after a brief interval, as organist of St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. He died at Windsor on June 29, 1630, and was buried in the Cloisters. John Mundy's volume was published in 1594 with the title ' Songs and Psalmes composed into 3. 4. and 5. parts for the use and delight of all such as either love or learne Musicke '. He evidently modelled his style to some extent upon that of Byrd, and the title, as well as the design of this volume, is reminiscent of his publications. This was perhaps to be expected, for apart from Byrd's two Sets, Morley's three-part Canzonets were, up to that date, the only English works of the kind that had been previously published. Out of the thirty compositions in Mundy's Set sixteen were psalms, and several more were written to serious words of the ethical type. But there are five or six characteristic Madrigals among them, even though they are of a somewhat conventional type. The most attractive of these is Heigh ho ! 'chill go to plough no more (No. 22) ; it contains one especially madrigalian passage at the words : But I love, I love ; and who, thinks you ? The finest lass that e'er you knew. Without altering the time-signature the composer introduced a triple rhythm which amply expressed the whole-hearted joy of the declaration : f\ -^-j 2 (O i/ m 1 r^ f^ J ^ ^ ^ /\ I* 1 \ 1 r n -■ im "*"' 1- 1 Vl/ ' ' and who, thinks you ? The fin - est lass that i -ts- ti e'er you knew, that e'er yon knew. JOHN MUNDY 225 Another good madrigal in the Set is Of all the birds that I have heard (No. 10). The Shepherd Strephon (Nos. 20 and 21) is for solo- voice and string accompaniment. Mundy was also a contributor to the ' Triumphs of Oriana '. He also wrote some Church music besides that contained in this Set and several instrumental pieces by him were included in the ' Fitzwilliam Virginal Book '. The Madrigalian Publications of John Mundy 1594. SONGS AND PSALMS COMPOSED INTO 3. 4. AND 5. PARTS Songs of three parts 1. Praise the Lord, O my soul. 2. Save me, O God, and that with speed. 3. O all ye nations of the Lord. 4. Blessed art thou that fearest God {the first part) . 5. Thus art thou blest (the second part). 6. Hear my prayer, O Lord. 7. Ye people all with one accord. 8. O Lord, turn not away thy face. 9. O come, let us lift up our voice. 10. Of all the birds that I have heard. 11. As I went a walking. 12. Turn about and see me. Songs of four parts 13. Lord, to thee I make my moan. 14. O Lord, of whom I do depend. 15. Sing ye unto the Lord our God. 16. I lift my heart to thee. 17. My prime of youth is but a frost of cares. 18. 19- /20 In deep distress to live without delight. 21 22. The longer that I live. . The shepherd Strephon loved fair Dorida (the first part) . . Witness, ye heavens, the palace of the gods (the second part). Heigh ho ! 'chill go to plough no more. Songs of five parts 23. Lord, arise and help thy servant. 24. Have mercy on me, O Lord. 25. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes. 26. Were I a king I might command content. /27. In midst of woods or pleasant grove (the first part). ■I 28. The blackbird made the sweetest sound (the second \ part). 29. Penelope, that longed for the sight. 30. Who loves a life devoid of quiet rest ? 1601. A MADRIGAL FOR FIVE VOICES included as No. 2 in the 'Triumphs of 0;iana'. Lightly she whipped o'er the dales. GEORGE KIRBYE. Born circa 1565 ; died 1634 Of the early life of Kirbye nothing is known, but it may be conjectured that he was born about the year 1565, for he was a contributor to East's ' The Whole Booke of Psalmes', printed in 1592, and he could not have been wholly unknown before that date. Later he occupied a position in the household of 2049 p 226 GEORGE KIRBYE Sir Robert Jermyn at Rushbrooke Hall in Suffolk similar to that held by Wilbye at Hengrave. As the two houses are situated within a few miles of each other, it is to be supposed that Kirbye and Wilbye were constantly in touch, and it is to be noted that the lyric Alas, what hope of speeding was set to music by them both. The words of Kirbye's / love, alas, yet am I not beloved are not identical with Wilbye's I love, alas, yet am not loved though they are sometimes said to be. Kirbye was a few years older than Wilbye. The latter part of his life was spent at Bury St. Edmunds, where he had a house in Whiting Street ; and for some years he held office as church- warden in the parish of St. Mary's. He died in 1634 ^^^ was buried at St. Mary's Church ; his wife predeceased him in 1626. His Will was proved at Bury.^ Our knowledge of these biographical details is the outcome of Mr. Arkwright's researches. Kirbye's only publication was issued in 1597. It was entitled ' The first set of English Madrigalls to 4. 5. and 6, voyces ', and was dedicated to Jermyn's daughters. Although at one time he seems to have enjoyed a considerable reputation as a madrigal-writer, and was praised by Burney as one of the best of the Elizabethan composers,^ yet his name is probably less known among English madrigal-singers of the present day than that of almost any of his contemporaries. Not one of Kirbye's madrigals had been reprinted until Mr. Ark- wright published the entire Set.^ But some of them may be ranked among the best English work of this class, and they are marked by a certain individuality both as regards style and technique. Kirbye stands very much on the same level as Bateson as a madrigalist ; he does not seem to have had the imaginative power of Wilbye or Weelkes in handling such a passage as the fearful dreams effects that trouble me in Sorrow consumes me (No. 12) or the grisly ghosts in Spenser's Up then, Melpomene ! (Nos. 22 and 23) though this latter is a very fine madrigal, full of poetic suggestion. On the other hand, the tender treatment of such subjects as Ah, sweet, alas, when first I saw (No. 7) or Sleep now, my Muse (No. 24) reveals a poetic feeling of a very > Arkwright's Old English Edition, Part V, preface. ^ Burney's History, vol. iii, p. 123. ' Arkwright's Old English Edition, Parts III-V. GEORGE KIRBYE 227 high order. This last is for six voices, but the madrigal was also arranged, with much of the same thematic material, for four voices and included as No. 6 of the Set. The six-part version has a very beautiful ending : ^^ It's bet - ter sleep, it's bet - ter sleep r -rs'- w f f f 'I ' r i ^r^ Si3=c rs than wake -(^- J. ^W $ and do no -(S»- teE S*- rp: r Jj J -d t^T r r m -JPL. -&- r= * good, than wake --^ f-— J-r-J- -Gh- and do no r good. -'P= ^ ^ J^ r -(Si*- =* . ^ J."C2: :a *iiS: i=^^ — o— I fields, E - :s2z ^J '-C2Z -O- I M ■>-' U. I x-—-^ SI an fields so free. •^ »> *^ -d: iL^-J-l 4 ""-)-• t- :p2: "/?; 1^- S-A^ .d -f^- -<5>- Kirbye usually had some point to illustrate when he intro- duced these dissonances. Thus, at the words crossed are my joys in Mourn now, my soul (No. 8) the voices not only cross with a group of four quavers but bring the major and minor third into conflict ; the effect is repeated to the same words a few bars later. In heavens, what shall I do ? (No. 13) the major third appears simultaneously with the suspended fourth with a harsh effect to match the words he murderer of myself. Similarly the words hard are my torments in Mourn now, my soul (No. 8) are set with the major and minor third simul- taneously. • On the other hand, the effect produced in Sound out, my voice (No. 9) at the words that love to me inspireth is of a different character ; the introduction of the G sharp in the Altus-part gives the sustained G natural in the Cantus primus the effect of suspended discord requiring resolution and being duly resolved. The phrase may be quoted : that luve to mc . . in - spir eth ^^^^^m d: di- ik -O- m ZSSL iq: I rjT GEORGE KIRBYE 229 In Ah, cruel hateful fortune! a form of cadence occurs which seems to be pecuHar to this composer ; it involves the simul- taneous presence of the major and minor third and the temporary crossing of the tenor part below the dominant. It will be noticed that this cadence occurs here in connexion with the word death : death im - i i S2Z a -»-a^- -G- T 17 -4— por tune :=i: :c^: ■■&- S J- :ci: -o- 221 221 A precisely similar example of this cadence is to be found in Up then, Melpomene! at the words such cause of mourning never hadst afore. Another somewhat distinctive feature of Kirbye's writing is his use of discordant harmonies either in the form of passing notes or in scale-passages in contrary motion. Three very good examples of this may be seen in Woe am I ! my heart dies (No. 4) at the words pleased and contented. No harshness is produced in such passages ; on the contrary a peculiar beauty and strength of effect is often to be found in them. The following beautiful phrase from Ah sweet, alas, when first I saw (No. 7) is characteristic of Kirbye : eyes, when first i ZS21 rtk iS -^f- -«s»- J^ mzt IS ^ -?2: f^^ J- -&- r^^ ^ -&- -- r j^; ICC Ft?P=i^ J=z^^ £^ ^ i r- H rp ?3-- X2: J=i X2: so - late of joy, E3^ F K r r ' " f=^ plete with sad ness. -«s»- ^ "F -G>- ZC2I :22: and the final cadence is treated with some harmonic originality and much beauty : non est do - lor si - cut do - lor me • * m -p — pp ' S — bg- ^ \^ — 4- -«5»- -kJ I J J 0^ -O- h^ ^ :?=: ^^^^P^ J=i^ -<9- T 1^- e*- -«r^ -Or iz: ^ v^ ----- us. m ^=^=^ :z2i -s*- MICHAEL CAVENDISH 239 The discovery of Cavendish's song-book has thrown some light upon his personal history. The book is dated ' from Cavendish ' and on the page giving the Table of Contents there is a woodcut of the coat-of-Arms of the Cavendishes. These facts prove with certainty that the composer was a member of the family now represented by the Duke of Devonshire. In all the printed pedigrees and family histories the de- scendants of this elder branch of the Cavendish family have been ignored, but a more complete record is to be found in Davy's ' Suffolk Collections '.^ In this manuscript Michael's place in the pedigree is clearly stated as one of the grandsons of George Cavendish of the Manor of Cavendish Overhall in Suffolk, the faithful adherent of Cardinal Wolsey. George had but one son William, who inherited the Manor, and who, by Ann his wife, daughter of John Cocks of Beamonds, had three sons : William, Ralph, and Michael, the composer. Of the three brothers Ralph alone seems to have had children, and the baptism of his son WiUiam is recorded in the Cavendish parish register in 1612. The parish registers begin in the year 1594, but earlier transcripts, dating from 1564, are preserved in the Archdeaconry Registry at Bury St. Edmunds ; they do not, however, record the baptism of Michael, the date of whose birth may be conjectured at circa 1565. Michael Cavendish was a second cousin of Lady Arabella Stuart, to whom he dedicated his volume ; and Sir Charles Cavendish, Lady Lennox, and Lady Pierpoint, the wife of Greaves's patron, were his father's first cousins. These details provide an interesting link too between Michael Cavendish and that other great East-Anglian musician, John Wilbye. The nuncupative Will of Michael Cavendish was proved July II, 1628,2 and there need be no hesitation in identifying the testator with the composer, for the surname was very uncommon and the combination of names removes all reason- able doubt ; moreover the date fits the circumstances. This Will gives no information of consequence beyond the fact that the written statement was made on July 5 ; and this was presumably the date of death. The death took place in the 1 Davy's Suff. Coll.. xlvi, fol. 348, Z77 (Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 19122). » P.C.C., 72 Barrington. 240 MICHAEL CAVENDISH parish of St. Mary Aldermanbury, London, but the place of burial remains unknown. The Madrif^alian Publications of Michael Cavendish 1598. MADRIGALS FOR FIVE VOICES included in a volume the title of which is unknown. 21. In flower of April springing. 22. Zephyrus brings the time. 23. Much it delighted to see Phyllis smiling. 34. Come, gentle swains and shepherds' dainty daughters 25. To former joy now turns the grove. 26. Faustina hath the fairer face. 27. Every bush new springing. 28. Wandering in this place. 1601. A MADRIGAL FOR FIVE VOICES included as No. 11 in the 'Triumphs of Oriana'. Come, gentle swains. JOHN FARMER. Born circa 1565 ; died circa 1605 John Farmer's ' Set of English Madrigals : To Foure Voices ' made its appearance in 1599. This collection contains seven- teen pieces, the last of which, as in Farnaby's Set, is for eight voices. This eight-part madrigal is the least satisfactory thing in the Set, and the part-writing shows a decided weakness in certain sections. On the other hand, most of the remaining madrigals, if modest in their aims, are nevertheless delightfully melodious and attractive. Especially charming are You pretty flowers (No. i) and Cease now thy mourning (No. 13) ; while, in another style, A little pretty bonny lass (No. 14) and Fair Phyllis I saw (No. 15) are each full of buoyant gaiety that cannot fail to fascinate. No. 14 has come into general use in the old Madrigal Societies with OHphant's lamentable altera- tions To take the air. The concluding passage of You pretty flowers may be quoted here as being typical of Farmer's writing ; the tempo should be rather slow, and the effect of the C major chord three bars from the end adds a beautiful touch of pathos to the Altus-part : JOHN FARMER which don - bles tear for tear, 241 which don - bles s?= -f=- -J a-. ^ -J 1 -*- 1 — r^- -p— J- -j^ — e-, — •— — *- r J- ,^- — ^- -J- r r kj:^ =t=:^ [— — ins-j ^ -p- 1^ ^-^ l- — /- -! h- -r tear for tear, which don bles tear for tear. i -A ^= -r^ ^ V. ^ 3 P3^?^ ^ -^ :?2: '-^=22 IZSZ Take time while Time doth last (No. 16) is constructed on a canto fermo in the Tenor-part, consisting of six notes of the scale up and down, and repeated four times ; but there is not much spontaneity about the music. Farmer wrote a fine six-part madrigal for the ' Triumphs of Oriana ' ; and he was also a contributor to East's ' Whole Booke of Psalmes ' in 1592. In 1591 he published a short musical treatise entitled ' Divers and sundry waies of two parts in one '. The date of this composer's birth can only be approximately conjectured. He must have been at least twenty-five years of age in 1591, and his appointment as organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, dates from 1595. It seems probable, therefore, that he was born about the year 1565. In 1597 the cathedral records show that he had deserted his post and that a Chapter order was issued in July that year calling upon him to return before August i on pain of forfeiting his appointment. This order was obeyed and Farmer remained in Dublin until the spring of 1599, when he left for London. In the mean- time he had been presented to the Vicarage of Kilsheelan in November 1598; but not being in Holy Orders he seems to have appointed a deputy to minister in that parish. On leaving Dublin in 1599 ^'^ was permitted to appoint a deputy to perform his cathedral duties, but at the end of that year his vicar- choralship was declared vacant and his successor appointed. Farmer is believed to have died in London about the year 1605. 2049 Q 242 JOHN FARMER The Madrigalian PiiUications of John Farmer 1599. FIRST SET OF ENGLISH MADRIGALS TO FOUR VOICES 1. 2. 3- f4- You pretty flowers that smile. Now each creature joys the other. You'll never leave still tossing to and fro. Lady, my flame still burning (the first part). Sweet Lord, your flame still burning (the second part). Soon as the hungry lion seeks his prey. stay, sweet love, see here the place (the first part) . 1 thought, my love, that I should overtake you (the second part) . Compare me to the child that plays with fire. 10. Who would have thought that face of thine ? 1 1 . Sweet friend, thy absence grieves. \2. The flattering words, sharp glosses. 13. Cease now thy mourning. 14. A little pretty bonny lass was walking. 15. Fair Phyllis 1 saw sitting all alone. 16. Take time while Time doth last. Song of eight voices 17. You blessed bowers, whose green leaves. 1601. A MADRIGAL FOR SIX VOICES included as No. 14 in the 'Triumphs of Oriana*. Fair nymph, I heard one telUng. JOHN BENNET. Dates of birth and death unknown John Bennet's only volume of madrigals, containing seventeen pieces for four voices, was published in 1599. He also composed six songs for Ravenscroft's ' Brief e Discourse ', which appeared in 1614, but, among these, the delightful httle Elves' Dance alone can be classed as madrigalian, although Lure, falconers ! is also for four unaccompanied voices ; the rest are solo-songs or duets with chorus. In the preface to the ' Briefe Discourse ' Ravenscroft praised Bennet warmly, speaking of his ' natural instinct or better inspiration by which in all his works the very life of that passion which the ditty sounded is so truly expressed as if he had measured it alone by his own soul '. At all times musicians have agreed in assigning to Bennet a high place among the English madrigalists ; but he owes his popularity among modern madrigal-singers almost ex- clusively to his sparkling All creatures now are merry minded (No. 4 of the ' Triumphs of Oriana ') and Weep, mine eyes (No. 13 of his Set). Both of these are quite first-class in their own line, but the Oriana madrigal is much more homophonic in construction than was usual in this kind of work. JOHN BENNET 243 In estimating Bennet's relative position among iiis con- temporaries it must be borne in mind that, with the exception of the Oriana madrigal, his work was quite unpretentious in design, while his output of composition was comparatively small. Several of these little madrigals are of first-rate value, notably Weep, O mine eyes (No. 13), Let go ! why do you stay me ? (No. 4), Come, shepherds , follow me (No. 5), Sing out, ye nymphs (No. 7) and Thyrsis, sleepest thou? (No, 8). But Bennet's work exposes itself to criticism on the ground of lack of variety. This will be very apparent if the first twelve madrigals in the Set are read through consecutively ; and Bennet's case is rather singular in this particular. Every one of these twelve ends with the chord of G major. From the point of view of tech- nique Bennet's work was distinctly conservative in character ; he makes use of the madrigalists' favourite augmented chord once only, namely towards the end of sweet grief (No. 16) ; this is the most chromatic of his madrigals, but it cannot be regarded as a great success, especially when placed beside subjects of similar character as treated by Wilbye and Weelkes. There are some interesting constructive features in Let go I why do you stay me ? the recapitulation of the opening phrase was clearly indicated by the form of the poem, the first couplet of which is repeated at the conclusion of the stanza with the order of the lines reversed. An allusion to the cuckoo in Thyrsis, sleepest thou ? is treated after the manner which so many of these composers affected, but which they never made cheap or vulgar. Bennet's phrase here is very fascinating and the melody of the Cantus- part is turned to perfection : i cuc-koo sing - eth, Hark how the cuc-koo sing-eth cue - koo I m . J — iz=n:_|_4_::pzfc-- ^ ^- :^±:t I I one - koo #J J -J- I I i -J- #J ^ t w :p: I -CL. — p— r -B A 331 ± A few bars later the sigh is represented by the device so commonly used by the madrigalists, and it is emphasized here Q 2 244 JOHN BENNET by the homophonic entry of the voices on the principle discussed in a former chapter.^ Bennet was essentially a refined and tuneful musician, with a sound technique as far as it went ; but it would seem that, fine composer as he was, his importance in the great English school of madrigalists has usually been somewhat over- estimated. He was certainly at his best in the gayer moods, and his quaver passages are admirably vocal and brilliant ; but for the graver subjects, in spite of the excellence of Weep, mine eyes, he appears to have lacked the requisite amount of imagination for first-rate success. This statement is borne out by the evidence of the three last madrigals in the Set : the greater composers would not have been content with so quiet a setting of the couplet : Our concords have some discords mixed among ; Discording concords makes the sweetest song. Nothing whatever is known of Bennet 's personal history. The Madrigalian Publications of John Bennet 1599. MADRIGALS TO FOUR VOICES 1 . I wander up and down. 2. Weep, silly soul disdained. 3. So gracious is thy sweet self. 4. Letgo.letgo! whydoyoustaymc? 5. Come, shepherds, follow me. 6. I languish to complain me. 7. Sing out, ye nymphs and shep- herds. 8. Thyrsis, sleepest thou ? Holla ! 9 . Ye restless thoughts that harboii r discontent. 10. Whenas I glance upon my lovely Phyllis. 11. Cruel, unkind, my heart thou hast bereft me. 12. O sleep, fond Fancy, sleep. 13. Weep, O mine eyes, and cease not. 14. Since neither tunes of joy nor notes of sadness. / 1 5 . O grief I where shall poor grief find patient hearing ? {the first part). 16. O sweet grief! O sweet sighs! {the second part). 17. Rest now, Amphion, rest •thy charming lyre. 1601. A MADRIGAL TO FIVE VOICES included as No. 4 in the ' Triumphs of Oriana '. All creatures now are merry -minded. 1614. TWO SONGS TO FOUR VOICES included in Thomas Ravenscroft's ' A Brief Discourse '. No. 5. Lure, falconers ! {for the heron and duck). No. 9. Round about in a fair ring. {The Elves' dance). ' See p. 106. THE ORIANA COMPOSERS 245 THE LESS-KNOWN CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ' TRIUMPHS OF ORIANA ' Those composers must here be briefly noticed who contributed madrigals to the ' Triumphs of Oriana ' but who did not pubhsh separate Sets. It is rather remarkable that out of the twenty-three contributors as many as eleven come under this heading. Ellis Gibbons is the only contributor who shared with Morley the honour of having two madrigals included in this famous Set. Daniel Norcome, or Nurcombe, was a Minor Canon of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. He appears to have been the son of John Nurcombe, a lay-clerk of the same chapel, and was born in 1576. He died before 1626, in which year the chapel registers record the burial of his widow. Ellis Gibbons was an elder brother of the more famous Orlando, and son of William Gibbons, one of the Waits of the town of Cambridge. He was born about 1575 and became organist of Salisbury Cathedral, a post which he ceased to hold after the year 1602, but whether the vacancy was due to his death or resignation is not known. John Hilton has until lately been confused with his son of the same name. He is probably to be identified with a lay-clerk of Lincoln Cathedral who in 1594 was appointed organist of Trinity College, Cambridge. He appears to have died before the year 1612, when his successor was appointed. The proof of the existence of two John Hiltons disposes of the only real obstacle in assigning to the elder Hilton, organist of Trinity, the authorship of the anthem Lord, for thy ie?ider mercies' sake, now commonly ascribed to Farrant but in seven- teenth-century part-books describedas the composition of Hilton. Oliphant printed two four-part madrigals by Hilton ' from a manuscript ' the source of which he unfortunately did not record. They seem to be the work of the elder Hilton, but as the words have been garbled by the editor, the text as printed has not much critical value. Of George Marson nothing is known, but it is quite possible that he may be identified with George Mason, who with John Earsden composed some Airs for a performance at Brougham Castle in 1618. Some Church music by Marson is in existence, John Holmes succeeded Ellis Gibbons as 246 THE ORIANA COMPOSERS organist of Salisbury Cathedral in 1602, having for some years previously held a similar office at Winchester Cathedral. Among his pupils was Adrian Batten as a chorister at Winches- ter. He died at Salisbury on March 25, 1638. A good deal of his Church music is included in Batten's autograph MS., now at St. Michael's College, Tenbury.^ Richard Nicolson became organist of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1595 and held the post until his death in 1639. He was the first to hold a lectureship at Oxford on Musical Praxis, which was founded in 1626 by Dr. Heather. A set of nine canzonets of a Hght kind by this composer, dealing consecutively with the court- ship of John and Joan, are to be found in an incomplete set of manuscript part-books dating circa 1630 and recently belonging to the library of Carlisle Cathedral. One of these canzonets is also to be found in the British Museum Add. MSS. 17786-91. Nothing is known of the personal history of Thomas Hunt. William Cobbold became organist of Norwich Cathedral in 1599. He was born in the parish of St. Andrew's, Norwich, on January 5, 1560. He resigned the organistship in 1608, when he was succeeded by William Inglott. From 1608 till 1639 he held office in the cathedral as a lay-clerk. In his Will, dated August 4, 1637, he expressed a desire to be buried in Norwich Cathedral, where his wife Alice, who died in 1630, and his son Francis already lay ; but he was in fact buried at Beccles, where he died on November 7, 1639. A monumental inscription to his memory still remains in Beccles Parish Church. Cobbold was another of the con- tributors to East's ' Whole Booke of Psalmes ' ; some ' London cries ' and other light forms of composition by him survive in manuscript at the British Museum, and an incomplete manuscript of a madrigal by Cobbold is in the library of the Royal College of Music. John Milton was father of the poet and had a romantic career. He belonged to an old Roman Catholic family, but was disinherited by his father for joining the Protestant branch of the Church. Consequently, although he had been educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he was at one time working as a scrivener in Bread Street, Cheapside, adopting for his shop-sign a spread-eagle, that being the charge on his family coat -of -Arms. He contributed four ^ » Tenbury MSS. 791. THE ORIANA COMPOSERS 247 motets to Leighton's ' Teares or Lamentacions ' and his skill as a musician was celebrated by his more famous son in a Latin poem Ad patrem. He died in March 164! and was buried at St. Giles's, Cripplegate. Of John Lisley nothing is known. Edward Johnson took the degree of B.Mus. at Cambridge in 1594. He was at one time in the service of Sir Thomas Kytson at Hengrave Hall, where Wilbye subsequently spent so many years. Recent research in the Hengrave manuscripts shows that it was Edward, and not Robert, Johnson who was in the service of the Kytsons. Edward Johnson and Milton were contributors to East's ' Whole Booke of Psalmes '. 1601. THE 'TRIUMPHS OF ORIANA' For five voices Hence stars ! too dim of light. Michael East. 1. With angel's face and brightness. Daniel Nor come. 2. Lightly she whipped o'er the dales. John Mundy. 3. Long live fair Oriana ! Ellis Gibbons. (Hark ! did you ever hear ?) 4. All creatures now are merry -minded. John Bennet. 5. Fair Oriana, Beauty's Queen. John Hilton (senior). 6. The nymphs and shepherds danced. George M arson. 7. Calm was the air and clear the sky. Richard Carlton. 8. Thus Bonny-boots the birthday celebrated. John Holmes. 9. Sing, shepherds all, and in your roundelays. Richard Nicolson. 10. The fauns and satjrrs tripping. Thomas Tomkins. 1 1 . Come, gentle swains, and shepherds' dainty daughters. Michael Cavendish. 12. With wreaths of rose and laurel. William Cobbold. 13. Arise, awake, awake ! Thomas Morley. For six voices 14. Fair nymph, I heard one telling. John Farmer. 15. The lady Oriana. John Wilbye. 16. Hark ! did ye ever hear ? Thomas Hunt. 17. As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending. Thomas Weelkes, 18. Fair Orian in the mom. John Milton. 19. Round about her chariot. Ellis Gibbons. , i Bright Phoebus greets most clearly. , ^ ( With angel's face and brightness. / ^^'^^^^ Ji^troye. 21. Fair Oriana, seeming to wink at folly. Robert Jones. 22. Fair Cytherea presents her doves. John Lisley. 23. Hard by a crystal fountain. Thomas Morley. 24. Come, blessed bird, and with thy sugared relish. Edward Johnson. Attention was first directed in a general way by Mr. Ark Wright 2 to the fact that alternative words to Kirbye's madrigal 1 The two editions of 160 1 vary in giving alternate words to the music of this number. ^ Old English Edition, Part III, p. 4. 248 THE ORIANA COMPOSERS (No. 20) are to be found in the various known copies of the ' Triumphs ', all of which bear the date 1601, but the point was not followed up at the time, A close comparison of the copies shows that the contents of the book as a whole are identical, with the sole exception of the words of No. 20, the music of this composition being the same in both cases. Yet every page in the volume is differently set up, and this fact points without any doubt to two distinct editions. The further question then arises as to which is the earlier edition ; and three reasons may be given to support the opinion that the first edition is that which has the words Bright Phoebus for the Kirbye madrigal. 1. On the signature C^ oi the Cantus, Altus, Tenor, Ouintus, and Bassus part-books there is in the Angel's face copies the formula ' Heere endeth the songs of five parts '. In the Bright Phoebus copies this formula occurs only in the Altus and Bassus part-books. It is obvious, from their almost identical typographical appearance, that the one edition must have been reprinted from the other, and it would seem unlikely that this formula should have been omitted in the Cantus, Tenor, and Quintus books after having been printed in an earlier edition. 2. The word her in ' her Maiesties honorable Chappell ' is so spelt on the title-pages of all the parts in the Angel's face copies, whereas it is spelt hir in the Bright Phoebus copies. In spite of the vagaries of Elizabethan spelling the presumption is that her was substituted for hir rather than the reverse. 3. In one of the voice-parts of the Bright Phoebus copies the signature of sheet B is misprinted D ; but in the Angel's face copies it is correct. On the other hand, there can be no doubt whatever, on internal evidence, that Kirbye composed the music to the words of With angel's face in the first instance. The setting of such passages as With nimble feet she tripped, at last in dale she rested, and especially the fauns and satyrs, dancing did show their nimble lightness, prove this point conclusively. It would seem then that Kirbye sent his contribution in this form, but that either Morley, or East, the printer, substituted the words of Bright Phoebus, which follow the detail and metre of the THE ORIANA COMPOSERS 249 other lyric with praiseworthy exactness, the object, presuma- bly, being to distinguish the madrigal from that of Daniel Norcome (No. i). We may suppose that Kirbye protested, and that in the second edition, which appeared immediately, the original words were restored. The British Museum copy and that in the Christ Church library are examples of the Bright Phoebus edition, whereas the Angel's face edition is represented by the three copies in the Bodleian Library, also by that in the Royal College of Music, by the copy formerly in the Huth Library and sold in July 1916, and by the copies owned by Mr. Christie-Miller and Miss Willmott. CHAPTER XVIII RICHARD CARLTON — MICHAEL EAST — THOMAS BATESON — THOMAS GREAVES — RICHARD ALISON — ROBERT JONES — HENRY YOULL — THOMAS RAVENSCROFT — ORLANDO GIBBONS. RICHARD CARLTON. Bom circa 1558 ; date of death unknown Richard Carlton, who published a Set of madrigals to five voices in 1601, was also a contributor to the ' Triumphs of Oriana '. He took his B.A. degree at Clare College, Cambridge, in 1577 and was subsequently ordained. He became Vicar of St, Stephen's, Norwich, in 1597 and at the same time held the position of Minor Canon and Master of the choristers in Norwich Cathedral. In 1612 he was presented to the living of Bawsey and Glosthorp in Norfolk, but the date of his death is unknown. There is no evidence to show that he was the son of Nicholas Carlton, as has been stated. Carlton's volume contains no madrigal of outstanding interest, nor is his work marked by any especially distinctive individuality. The theme of the second madrigal in the Set was clearly beyond the range of his imaginative skill. It begins with the couplet : Content thyself with thy estate Seek not to climb above the skies. Nevertheless several of the madrigals reach a very good average level ; the best is, perhaps, The witless boy, that blind ts to behold (No. 16). The volume also includes a somewhat ponderous elegy to Sir John Shelton, a member of an old Norfolk family, who was ' slain with the fatal sword '. The Madrigalian Publications of Richard Carlton 1 60 1. MADRIGALS TO FIVE VOICES 1. The love of change hath changed the world. 2. Content thyself with thy estate. 3. The self-same things that gives me cause. RICHARD CARLTON 251 4. When Flora fair the pleasant tidings bringeth {the first part). 5. All creatures then with summer are delighted {the second part). 6. From stately tower King David {the first part). 7 . With her sweet looks {the second part) . 8. Like as the gentle heart itself bewrays. 9. Nought under heaven so strongly doth allure {the first part). 10. So whilom learned that mighty Jewish swain {the second pari). 1 1 . Sound, saddest notes, with rueful moaning {the first part). 12. Let every sharp in sharp tune figure {the second part). 13. If women can be courteous when they list. 14. Nought is on earth more sacred. 1 5 . Ye gentle ladies, in whose sovereign power. 16. The witless boy, that blind is to behold. 17. Who seeks to captivate the freest minds. 18. Who vows devotion to fair Beauty's shrine. 19. The heathen gods for love forsook their state. 20. O vain desire, wherewith the world bewitches. 2 r . Even as the flowers do wither. 1601. A MADRIGAL TO FIVE VOICES included as No. 7 in the ' Triumphs of Oriana '. Calm was the air and clear the sky. MICHAEL EAST. Born circa 1580 ; died circa 1640 Michael East, or Este, or Est, as his name is variously spelt, is believed to have been the son of Thomas East, who as the printer of the bulk of their works played such an important part in connexion with the English madrigalists. Little is known of the personal history of Michael East beyond the fact that he was at one time organist of Lichfield Cathedral and that he held the degree of B.Mus. He was a voluminous composer. His first Set appeared in .1604 and was entitled, ' Madrigales to 3. 4. and 5. parts '. His second Set, also written for 3. 4. and 5. parts, was published two years later. His third volume, published in 1610, was of a somewhat different character and was described on the title-page as ' The Third Set of Bookes : Wherein are Pastorals, Anthemes, Neopolitanes, Fancies, and Madrigales to 5. and 6. parts : Apt both for Viols and Voyces '. There are twenty-two pieces in this book, eight of which are Fancies for instruments only, four are Anthems, and the remaining ten are Madrigals, Neapolitans, and Pastorals. The Neapolitans and Pastorals are indistinguishable from the Madrigals both as regards the style and design of the music ; but the words of Dainty white pearl (No. 18) described as 252 MICHAEL EAST a Neapolitan, are in a very unusual metre. East's ' Fourth Set of Bookes ' consisted of anthems for versus and chorus, madrigals, and songs of other kinds to 4. 5. and 6. parts. This fourth book appeared in 1619, but, curiously enough, 1618 is the date given on the title-page of his ' Fift Set of Bookes, Wherein are Songs full of Spirit and delight, so Composed in 3. Parts, that they are as apt for Vyols as Voyces '. In spite of the statement on the title-page it is difficult to conjecture how this fifth book was intended to be used for singers, because it is one of those Sets in which no more than the opening words are given in any of the part-books, and the lyrics have com- pletely perished with the exception of these few which were used elsewhere by East or other madrigalists. The same thing occurs again in East's ' Seventh Set of Bookes ', the final section of which is described as ' ayerie fancies of 4. parts that may be as well sung as plaid '. The sixth and seventh books were published in 1624 and 1638 respectively, but contain no fur- ther contributions to the madrigal-literature ; the 1624 book consists solely of anthems with one secular song printed on the fly-leaf ; and the 1638 book is devoted to instrumental music, although, as just stated, the composer's original intention was that the last fourteen numbers might be either sung or played. The title-page of the 1638 book shows that East stiU held the position of organist of Lichfield Cathedral at that date. The madrigal Hence stars! East's contribution to the ' Triumphs of Oriana ', was his first madrigal publication. The late arrival of this madrigal and its consequent insertion before No. i in the volume have already been mentioned. As Thomas East, the assignee of Morley, was the printer of this Set, we may conjecture that the invitation to Michael was an afterthought, extended as a compliment by Morley to the elder East while his son was still quite a youth. Apart from this Oriana madrigal the only madrigal of East's reprinted since his time is How merrily we live (Set II, No. 4). This is all the more extraordinary because, without reaching the greatest heights. East succeeded in producing work that was for the most part well up to the average, and much of it is bright and attractive. How merrily we live may be taken MICHAEL EAST 253 as a typical example of his work. He wrote throughout with an easy style, and not without some appreciation of the words which he set, but on the other hand without showing any great depth of feeling. He was wise enough to know his own limitations, for he never attempted anything in the way of the ethical madrigal, or chose words that called for deep emotional expression. From East's large store of madrigals the following few examples may be quoted, besides those already mentioned, as representing his best style of work : In the merry month of May (Set I, No. 2) ; Joy of my life (Set I, No. 16) ; and All ye that joy in wailing (Set I, No. 17). This five-part madrigal, without expressing that degree of emotion which is found in the work of his great contemporaries, is very pretty, especially in the concluding section set to the words : And after my death do this in my behove Tell Cressid Troilus is dead for love. Very similar comment applies to Now must I part, my darling (Set IH, No. 22). East knew the value of contrast, and, although a little conventional, the following quotation provides a typical example of his method of dealing with his words. The passage is from the six-part madrigal Lo! here I leave my heart (Set HI, No. 20) : heart in keep - ing, with her that lan gbs. . . that laughs, with her that langhs 254 see, MICHAEL EAST see me weep i to ing. 11 -JUL 32: ~^m^-^ -3=i^Z f- V?2= i * -S>- -o- Young Cupid hath proclaimed (Set I, No. 4) is a three-part setting of words used by Weelkes (1597 Set, No. 8). East's treatment of the phrase a thousand Cupids may not Cloris touch in this madrigal is strongly reminiscent of Weelkes's setting. The Madrigalian Publications of Michael East 1604. MADRIGALS TO 3. 4." AND 5. PARTS Songs to three voices O come again, my lovely jewel. . In the merry month of May {the first part). . Corydon would kiss her then (the second part). 4. Young Cupid hath proclaimed. 5. To bed, to bed ! she calls. 6. O do not run away from me, my jewel. 7. In an evening late as I was walking. 8. Alas ! must I run away from her that loves me ? Songs to four voices 9. O stay, fair cruel, do not still torment me. 10. My Hope a counsel with my Love. 1 1 . Pity, dear love, my pity-moving words. 12. Mopsie, leave off to love. 13. Sweet love, I err, and do my error know. 14. In vain, my tongue, thou begg'st. 15. When on my dear I do demand the due. 16. Joy of my life, that hath my love in hold. 17. Songs to five voices All ye that joy in wailing. '^18. My prime of youth is but a frost of cares (the first part) . 19. The Spring is past and yet it hath not sprung (the second part) . 20. Fair is my love, my dear and only jewel. Sly thief, if so you will believe (the first part). What thing more cruel can you do? (the second part) . 23. Ye restless cares, companions of the night. 24. You mournful gods and goddesses descend. 21. 22. 1606. THE SECOND SET OF MADRIGALS TO 3. 4. AND 5. PARTS 5. Follow me, sweet love and soul's Songs to three voices 1. I do not love my Phyllis for her beauty. 2. See Amaryllis shamed. 3. Why smilest thou, sweet jewel ? 4. How merrily we live that shep- herds be. delight, 6. Round about I follow thee. Songs of four voices ■7. In dolorous complaining (the first part). 8. Since tears could not obtain (the second part). MICHAEL EAST 255 f9 10 TI. 12. 14 Why runs away my love from me {the first part) . . Why do you seek by flight ? (the second part). Farewell, false love, for so I find. So much to give, and be so small regarded. Sound out, my roice, with pleasant tunes (the first part). She that my plaints with rigour (the second part) . Songs of five voices 15. Why smilest thou, sweet jewel ? 16. Dear, why do you joy and take such pleasure ? 17. Now Cloris laughs and swears (the first part). 18. Forsaken Thyrsis sighing sings (the second part). 19. I fall and then I rise again aloft. 20. What doth my pretty darling ? 21. Hence stars ! too dim of light. 22. O metaphysical tobacco. 1610. THE THIRD SET OF BOOKS wherein are Pastorals, Anthems, Fancies, Songs of five parts Pastorals fi. Sweet muses, nymphs and shep- ^5- herds sporting (the first part) . . Ay me! wherefore sighs fair /ig Sylvia ? (the second part). . My peace and my pleasure (the i ly third part) . ( Anthem '4. When Israel came out of Egypt (the first part). . What aileth thee, O thou sea ? (the second part). Neapolitan 6. Come life, come death, I care not. Nos. 7-14 are Fancies for instru- ments. and Madrigals to 5. and 6. parts. Songs of six parts Neapolitan Poor is the life that misses. 18. 19- 20. 21. 22. Anthem Turn thy face from my wicked- ness (the first part) . . O give me the comfort of thy help again (the second part). Neapolitan Dainty white pearl, and you fresh-smiling roses. Madrigals Say, dear, when will your frown- ing leave ? Lo ! here I leave my heart in keeping. Life, tell me what is the cause. Now must I part, my darling. 1619. THE FOURTH SET OF BOOKS wherein are Anthems for Versus and Chorus, Madrigals and Songs of other kinds to 4. 5. and 6. parts. N.B. This Book bears the date 1619 although the Fifth Book is dated 1618. Songs of four voices 1. Thyrsis, sleepest thou ? Holla ! 2. I did woo her with my looks. 3. Why are our summer sports so brittle ? 4. Dear love, be not unkind to thy beloved. 5. Whenas I glance on my sweet lovely Phyllis. 6. Your shining eyes and golden hair. 7. When I lament my light o' love. 8. Farewell, sweet woods and mountains. 256 MICHAEL EAST Songs of five voices g. To hear men sing I care not. no. O clap your hands together ! (the first part). God is gone up with a merry noise (the second part). I heard three virgins sweetly singing {the first part). What heart such doubled force resisteth (the second part). Fair Daphne, gentle shepherdess, sat weeping. 15.0 Lord, of whom I do depend. 16. Come, shepherd swains, and on this cypress tree. I/- II. 12. 13- 14 Songs of six voices Be nimble ! quick ! dispatch ! away 1 (the first part). 18. No haste but good, yet stay ! I (the second part). 19. Fly away. Care, for Venus goes a maying. 20. When David heard that Absalom was slain. Haste thee, O God, to deliver me (the first part). But let all those that seek thee (the second part) . 23. Weep not, dear love, but joy. 24. Yourshiningeyesand golden hair. 21. 22. 1618. THE FIFTH SET OF BOOKS wherein are songs full of spirit and delight composed in 3 parts. Trip it lightly. 11. White as lilies was her face. 2. Turn round about. 3. Fly not away. 4. Softly for falling. 5. My lovely Phyllis. 6. And I as well as thou . 7. Love is a toy. 8. Sweet Lady, stay, g. What art thou ? ID. No haste but good. N.B. Only the opening words are printed in these part-books, the music is therefore not available for voices. II. 12. Do what you can. 13. Mourning I die. 14. Stay yet awhile. 15. Come let 's be gone. 16. I cannot stay. 17. Fear not the end. 18. Lively my heart. 19. My time is spent. 20. Smooth and soft. 1 60 1. A MADRIGAL TO FIVE VOICES included, unnumbered, at the beginning of the ' Triumphs of Oriana '. Hence stars ! too dim of light. THOMAS BATESON. Born circa 1570 ; died 1630 Bateson is certainly to be reckoned one of the more important madrigalists of the English School. His two Sets, published in 1604 and 1618, contain, respectively, twenty-eight and thirty numbers. In addition to these his madrigal When Oriana walked to take the air was printed on the back of the dedication page in the 1604 Set as an extra number, and a note was added by Thomas East, the printer, explaining that it had arrived too late for inclusion in the ' Triumphs of Oriana '. This gives a total of fifty-nine madrigals from Bateson's pen. It is curious that the insertion of the Oriana madrigal was made by the printer and not by the composer. Bateson wrote one other Oriana THOMAS BATESON 257 madrigal which he called ' Orianaes farewell ' (Set I, No. 22) ; it seems likely that he wrote this because of the non-inclusion of his original contribution to the famous Set, and regarding that as being out of date after the death of Queen Elizabeth. Bateson wrote many fine madrigals ; but his work, when viewed as a whole, falls just a little short of that of Wilbye, Weelkes, or Morley. This becomes apparent if we compare his setting of such lines as, Life is a death where sorrow cannot die in No. 16 of Set II, or. My grieved ghost with shrieks and dreadful crying in No. 18 of Set I, or, break asunder, heart, to satisfy her in No. 14 of Set I, with similar work of Wilbye : or again, when the chromatic opening of his Come, Sorrow, help me to lament (Set II, No. 24), remarkable though it be, is placed beside Weelkes's Care, thou wilt despatch me. Nor are such technical flaws to be found in Morley's writing as the consecutive fifths and octaves which Bateson not infrequently wrote, and very bald examples of which are to be found, for instance, in The nightingale in silent night (Set II, No. 8) which is otherwise a charming madrigal, and in Pleasure is a wanton thing (Set II, No. 5), to quote no others. Moreover an occasional poverty in his part-writing betrays itself in the inner voice-parts : for example, in Why do I, dying, live ? (Set II, No. 20) and / heard a noise (Set II, No. 18) ; also there is a good deal of conventionality in his style, more particularly in his first Set. Yet these criticisms must not be pressed too far ; they serve to emphasize the greatness of the above-mentioned composers rather than to detract from the undoubtedly high merit of Bateson himself. Bateson laid a splendid foundation for success as a madrigal- composer in the selection of his lyrics. The poetry throughout is of a uniformly high standard. Sister, awake (Set I, No. 21) is a good example ; this madrigal is deservedly among the most popular, and it could hardly be surpassed in genuine gaiety of spirit both as regards words and music. But only in one instance has the authorship of any of Bateson's charming lyrics been identified, namely : The Nightingale, so soon as April bringeth (Set I, No. 3) which is by Sir Philip Sidney ; Bateson's music is admirably wedded to it, 2049 K 258 THOMAS BATESON Among so large a number of madrigals by this composer only a few can be noticed here in detail. In the first Set Come follow me, fair nymphs (No. 5) is an attractive example of bright imaginative writing for three voices, introducing plenty of telling contrast. Adieu, sweet love! (No. 10) belongs to the best type of the madrigalian style and has a very pretty ending. In Those sweet delightful lilies (No. 13) Bateson followed the free rhythmic outline employed by Weelkes in his setting of the same words. Sweet Gemma (Nos. 15 and 16) is a fine madrigal, designed in two separate sections ; the first section ends effectively, and there are some noticeable contrapuntal features in the opening of the second section. Strange were the life (No. 17) contains much that is interesting ; it is one of the few madrigals of a serious character in the Set. Another fine five-part number is Alas, where is my love ? (No. 18). Bateson's treatment of the words till heartless, I die is not to be compared with that of Wilbye in expressing similar emotions, but it is very effective and pathetic. Sister, awake (No. 21) has already been mentioned. Hark ! hear you not ? (No. 22) is widely known and is a great favourite ; the double suspen- sion in this madrigal has been noticed and commented upon by various musicians, but it is by no means a unique example of such a chord in the Enghsh madrigals even if it cannot be matched in this exact position : a heaven - ly har - mo - ny, a heaven I jyra: r=g: ^ ^ T f A r jd. 33: r J. g W *: ^ mo - ny, THOMAS BATESON 259 Bateson himself used an equally remarkable chord in the closing bars of With bitter sighs (Set IT, No. 19) : and sor ^T^* F -f5>- row — 4— nev er dies. -<5»— ■• — -«5'- -O- -G- 23: W- :J J J. P- -is>- -- • ^ 1 ^ ' 1 1 Bateson made a few experiments in harmony which are worth noticing as being characteristic of the spirit of this group of composers. Naturally they are not all equally successful, but the following selected examples may be cited and judged on their own merits : P i J-j-^ ?cip: -1 1- --%^ i ^ i)«=^ ^ t fcLN-UL S^ ra^ From Set I, No. 7. i s itp* J: J5F *? Si; V I ^=f=r^ :?2_ i- -^-= — — ^ ^-a>- From Set I, No. 22. i :^: =?3I S J Jj:^^^ r^ -G>- A ^ 1^ -&- From Set II, No. 17. 262 THOMAS BATESON ntezzM ^ T^^T Pi From Set II, No. 18. ^^ 4^-. -&>- n From Set II, No. if -, , i^^ 1- e T^=f :M — ^ W^H- Z: 3 g: S2Zt 1 s :Z3: Z2: From Set II, No. 20. As far as can be judged from such evidence as exists, Bateson was born about the year 1570. He became organist of Chester Cathedral in 1599 '^'^^ ^^^ that office for nine years, after which he left to take a similar appointment at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. In 1615 he took the degree of B.Mus., and he is believed to have been the first musical graduate of Trinity College, Dubhn. His death took place in Dublin early in the year 1630. THOMAS BATESON 263 The Madrigalian Publications of Thomas Bateson 1604. THE FIRST SET OF ENGLISH MADRIGALS TO 3. 4. 5. AND 6. VOICES When Oriana walked to take the air {for six voices). Songs to three voices 1 . Beauty is a lovely sweet. 2. Love would discharge the duty. 3. The Nightingale, so soon as April bringeth. 4. Ay me ! my mistress scorns my love. 5. Come, follow me, fair nymphs. 6. Your shining eyes and golden hair. Songs to four voices 7. Whither so fast ? See how the kindly flowers. 8. Dame Venus, hence to Paphos go. 9. Down from above falls Jove in rain. 10. Adieu, sweet love! O thus to part. 11. If Love be blind, how hath he then the sight ? 12. Phyllis, farewell, I may no longer live. Songs to five voices 13. Those sweet delightful lilies. 14. And must I needs depart then ? 15. Sweet Gemma, when I first beheld {the first part). 16. Yet stay, alway be chained to ^ my heart {the second part) . 17. Strange were the life that every man would like. 18. Alas, where is my love ? 19. O fly not, love, O fly not me. 20. Who prostrate lies at women's feet. 21. Sister, awake, close not your eyes. 22. Hark ! hear you not a heavenly harmony {Orianaes farewell). Songs to six voices 23. Dear, if you wish my dying. 24. Fair Hebe when dame Flora meets. 25. Phyllis, farewell, I may no longer live. 26. Thyrsis on his fair Phyllis' breast reposing. 27. Merrily my love and I. 28. Music some thinks no music is. 1618. THE SECOND SET OF MADRIGALS TO 3. 4. 5. AND 6. PARTS Songs of three voices 1 . Love is the fire that bums me. 2. My mistress after service due. 3. One woman scarce of twenty. 4. If I seek to enjoy the fruits of my pain. 5. Pleasure is a wanton thing. 6. Sweet, those trammels of your hair. II, 12, When to the gloomy woods. If floods of tears could cleanse my follies past. Songs of four voices 7. Live not, poor bloom, but perish. i. The nightingale in silent night. 9. O what is she, whose looks like lightnings pierce {the first part). 10. See, forth her eyes her startled spirit peeps {the second part] . Songs of five voices 13. Have I found her ? O rich find- ing. 14. Down the hills Corinna trips. 15. Camilla fair tripped o'er the plain. 16. Sadness, sit down, on my soul feed. 17 . Life of my life, how should I live ? 18. I heard a noise and wished for a sight. 264 THOMAS BATESON 19. With bittersighs I heard Amyntas plaining. 20. WTiy do I, dying, live ? 21. In depth of grief and sorrow great. 22. All the day I waste in weeping (the first part) . 23. Why dost thou fly in such disdain ? {the second part). 24. Come, Sorrow, help me to lament. Songs of six voices 25. Cupid in a bed of roses (the first part). 26. Cytherea, smiling, said (the second part) . Her hair the net of golden wire. . Fond love is blind, blind there- fore lovers be (the first part). . Ah, Cupid, grant that I may never see (the second part). She with a cruel frown. 27. f28 29 30- THOMAS GREAVES. Date of birth and death unknown. In 1604 Thomas Greaves, lutenist to Sir Henry Pierpoint of Holm in Nottinghamshire, published a volume which he described as ' Songes of sundrie kindes '. It contained twenty- one compositions, of which the first nine were Airs to be sung to the lute and bass viol ; the next six were ' Songes of sadnesse ' for the viols and voice, and the last six were Madrigals for five voices. Come away, sweet love, and play thee (No. 21) is a Ballet or Fa-la, though not actually so described. It is admirably written, and the treatment of the words and running in and out conjures up irresistibly a picture of the rapid pursuit through the two opposing lines of country dancers on the village green. The varied form in which the quaver figure appears has a very happy effect. The passage offers unusually good material for the study of independent part-singing in contradictory rhythm : ^ *ESEl^E^ 1 — r ^ ^J3 aTH- THOMAS GREAVES 265 ^^ s r ■O" ^t*= :g= r w ■3±. ■-^^ -^ 3i: I T The first of these five-part madrigals (No. 16) deals with a patriotic theme, a welcome to James I. The words are mere doggerel and the music is not very inspiring. Though the piece is described as a Madrigal it has hardly any imitative or contrapuntal device. Nothing further is known about Greaves, but it is worth noting that Lady Pierpoint, his patron's wife, was Frances Cavendish, sister of Sir Charles, and cousin of Michael Cavendish. The similarity of the song-books of Greaves and Cavendish has already been referred to, and it is not unlikely that these two composers were personal friends. The Madrigalian Publications of Thomas Greaves 1604. MADRIGALS FOR FIVE VOICES included in his volume entitled ' Songs of sundry kinds ' 16. England, receive the rightful king. (17. Sweet nymphs, that trip along the EngUsh lands (the first part). 1 18. Long have the shepherds sung this song {the second part). { 19. Lady, the melting crystal of your eye (the first part). 1 20. O that a drop from such a sweet fount (the second part). 21. Come away, sweet love, and play thee. RICHARD ALISON. Date of birth and death unknown. In 1606 a volume was published by Richard Alison with the curious title, ' An Howres Recreation in Musicke, apt for In- strumentes and Voyces '. This book was prefaced with some complimentary verses by John Dowland ; but the music has no particular merit. Two of the five-part pieces of this Set were reprinted by Thomas Oliphant ; they are constructed more or less on madrigalian design, but do not approach the standard of the great composers of the School. Alison's personal history is unknown, except for the fact stated on the title-page of his ' Psalmes of David ', pubHshed in 1599, that he was then Uving in a ' house in the Duke's place neere Aide-gate '. 266 RICHARD ALISON The Madrigalian Publications of Richard Alison 1606. AN HOUR'S RECREATION IN MUSIC Songs of four voices j I. The man of upright life (the first verse). [2. He only can behold with unaffrighted eyes {the second verse). heavy heart, whose harms are hid (the first verse). In hope a king doth go to war (the second verse). Though Wit bids Will to blow retreat (the third verse). But yet it seems a foolish drift (the fourth verse). 1 can no more but hope good heart (the fifth verse). 8. Who loves this life, from love his love doth err. 9. My prime of youth is but a frost of cares (the first verse). 10. The Spring is past, and yet it hath not sprung (the second verse). Songs of five voices 11. Rest with yourselves, you vain and idle brains (the first verse). 12. For lust is frail where love is ever sound (the second verse). j 13. Shall I abide this jesting ? (the first verse). { 14. Can I abide this prancing ? (the second verse). 15. The sturdy rock for all his strength (the first verse). 16. The stately stag that seems so stout (the second verse). (17. What if a day, or a month, or a year ? (the first verse). [ 18. Earth's but a point to the world (the second verse). 19. There is a garden in her face (the first verse). 20. Those cherries fairly do enclose (the second verse). 21. Her eyes like angels watch them still (the third verse). 22. Behold, now praise the Lord. 23. O Lord, bow down thine ear. 24. The sacred choir of angels sings. ROBERT JONES. Date of birth and death unknown. Robert Jones was primarily a lutenist-composer, and indeed one of the finest lutenists of his time. He is one of the few musicians of the period who pubhshed compositions in both styles. His only volume of Madrigals appeared in 1607 ; but he produced as many as five books of Airs, which will be noticed in a later chapter with the works of the other lutenists. His volume of Madrigals is now one of the rarest of its kind ; the only complete exemplar known is at Brussels. Some of the madrigals in this Set, which is dedicated to Robert, Earl of Salisbury, are brightly written. The Set is also unique in including compositions for every number of voices ranging from three to eight. Sing, merry birds (No. 7) is very fresh in character. A curious chromatic passage occurs in this ROBERT JONES 267 madrigal, which suggests the influence of Weelkes and Dowland ; but in contrast to their handling of such passages it must be admitted that Jones gives the impression here of experimenting with material the nature of which he but imperfectly under- stood : O tune, O tune, O tune your i s l F^= =^ g '-^ :?2= I W rz :?2:2: m u- ^ i throats, O tune, - :£ O tune, t O tune, , I 5^ o ^ ^ :iy -fS»-— ^^^ :p2= TfS>- i tune your throats, O tune, o =p: ^ ^ -- £: ^ tune, ^^ I*: ^ :^ i J J.- ^^ -A :e=ff Another bright and well-written madrigal in this Set is / come, sweet birds (No. 8). The subject of birds seems to have made a special appeal to this composer. Cock a doodle doo (No. 9) is treated in a humorous vein. Jones was a contributor to the ' Triumphs of Oriana ' ; but he is another of these musicians of whose personal history little is known to us. In conjunction with Philip Rosseter he was granted a patent in 1610 to train a school of children to be designated * the children of the revels to the Queen '. 268 ROBERT JONES 1607. The Madrigalian Publications of Robert Jones THE FIRST SET OF MADRIGALS OF 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. PARTS for viols and voices or for voices alone, or as you please Songs for three voices 1 . Thine eyes so bright. 2. She only is the pride of Nature's skill. 3. When I behold her eyes (the first part). 4. But let her look in mine (the second part). ;. Love, if a god thou art. j. O I do love, then kiss me. Songs for four voices 7. Sing, merry birds, your cheerful notes. 8. I come, sweet birds, with swiftest flight. 9. Cock a doodle doo, thus I begin. 10. Shrill-sounding bird, call up the drowsy mom (the first part). 1 1 . And when day 's fled with slow pace (the second part). 12. Here is an end of all the songs. Songs for five voices 13. Come, doleful owl, the messenger of woe. 1 14. Sweet, when thou singest (the I first part). 115. Thou tell'st thy sorrows {the { second part). 16. When to her lute Corinna sings (the first part). 17. And as her lute doth live or die (the seconJ part). 18. If I behold your eyes. Sofi^s for six voices 19. Since your sweet cherry lips I kissed (the first part) . -^ 20. Then grant me, dear, those cherries still (tlie second part). 21. Stay, wandering thoughts, O whither do you haste ? /22. Your presence breeds my anguish (/Ae^jj-s/^a;/). ) 23. If those dear eyes that burn me "1 (the second part). 24 If you speak kindly to me (the third part). A song for seven voices '25. Are lovers full of fire ? (the first part). i A song for eight voices 26. The more I bum, the more I do desire (the second part). 1 601. A MADRIGAL FOR SIX VOICES included as No. 21 in the 'Triumphs of Oriana '. Fair Oriana, seeming to wink at folly. HENRY YOULL. Date of birth and death unknown. This composer's work has for some reason been almost completely overlooked and forgotten. Yet his Set of Canzonets to three voices contains several attractive pieces. The three- part writing of the madrigalists was, as a rule, laid out upon a smaller design than their other work ; these canzonets are consequently unpretentious, and they do not provide any HENRY YOULL 269 particular example of profound expression or feeling. But many of them are written in a graceful and easy style and with a good deal of rhjrthmic strength. The last five numbers in the book are in reality Ballets, although the term Canzonet is employed to describe the entire Set. Come, merry lads (No. 20) has a fa-la refrain at the end of the first section and lirum lirum in the second ; this latter idea was evidently borrowed from Morley. Among the best of Youll's canzonets are Pipe, shepherds, pipe (No. 5) and Of sweet and dainty flowers (No. 7) which has a pretty phrase to the words daffa daffa dillie. Youll seems to have had a special affection for the daffadilly. The opening passage of Awake, sweet love (No. Ii) is melo- dious and picturesque ; and The shepherds' daughters all are gone (No. 15) is quite attractive. The most effective compo- sition in the Set is, perhaps. Slow, slow, fresh fount (No. 8), the words of which are by Ben Jonson. Nothing is known about Youll's biography, but it appears from the dedication of his Canzonets that he was household musician to one Edward Bacon. The Madrigalian Publications of Henry Youll 1608. CANZONETS TO THREE VOICES [. Each day of thine, sweet month of May. 2. Come, love, let's walk into the Spring {the first part) . 3. In yonder dale there are fine flowers (the second part). 4. See where this nymph with all her train {the third part). 5 . Pipe, shepherds, pipe full merrily. 6. Only joy, now here you are. 7. Of sweet and dainty flowers. 8. Slow, slow, fresh fount. 9. In pleasant summer's morning. 10. Once I thought to die for love. 11. Awake, sweet love, 'tis time to nse. 12. 13- Pity, O pity me, mine own sweet jewel. Cease, restless thoughts, to vex my careful mind . H 15- 16. 17- 18. Sweet Phyllis, stay, O let some pity move thee. The shepherds' daughters all are gone {the first part). But behold where they return along {the second part). Say, shepherd, say where is fair Phyllis gone ? {the first part) . But though poor sheep fair Phyllis thus do mourn {the second part) . In the merry month of May the fields are decked. 2C. Come, merry lads, let us away. 21. Whiles joyful Springtime lasteth. 22. Early, before the day doth spring. 23. Where are now those jolly swains ? (the first part). 24. Now the country lasses hie them' (thejsecond part). 19 270 THOMAS RAVENSCROFT THOMAS RAVENSCROFT. Bom circa 1585 ; died circa 1633. Three volumes of Thomas Ravenscroft have already been mentioned in connexion with the subject of Rounds and Catches. Although Ravenscroft may have composed some of the pieces contained in these volumes there is no evidence that he was more than the editor of the collections. The first Set was published in 1609 and was entitled ' Pammelia. Musicks Miscellanie. Or, Mixed Varietie of Pleasant Roundelayes, and delightfull Catches, of 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 10. Parts in one. None so ordinarie as musicall, none so musical, as not to all, very pleasing and acceptable '. This is the earliest English printed collection of this kind of music. It contains exactly a hundred pieces, sacred and secular, and was reprinted in 1618. Ravenscroft's second volume appeared in the same year as ' Pammelia ' and was called ' Deuteromelia : Or The Second part of Musicks melodic, or melodius Musicke. Of Pleasant Roundelaies ; K. H. mirth, or Freemens Songs. And such delightfull Catches. Qui canere potest canat. Catch, that catch can. Ut Mel Os, sic Cor melos afficit et reficit ' . This Set contained thirty-one numbers, of which Three blind mice was No. 13, A good deal of speculation has been indulged in as to the meaning of ' K. H. mirth ' on the title-page. It has been thought by some to stand for ' King Henry's mirth ' ; but it is more likely that ' K. H. ' stands for ' King's Head ' and refers to a house at Greenwich known at a later period to Pepys as ' the great musicke house ', or to a famous tavern of the name in Cheapside. The third volume was published in 161 1 and bore the title ' Melismata. Musicall Phansies. Fitting the Court, Citie, and Countrey Humours. To 3, 4, and 5. Voyces'. It contained twenty-three songs under the following headings : ' Court Varieties,' ' Citie Rounds,' ' Citie Conceits,' ' Country Rounds,' and ' Country Pastimes '. Ravenscroft published one other volume which contains some pieces of semi-madrigalian character. It was issued in 1614 and entitled 'A Brief Discourse of the true (but neglected) use of Charact'ring the Degrees, by their Perfection, Imperfec- tion, and Diminution in Measurable Musicke, against the THOMAS RAVENSCROFT 271 Common Practise and Custome of these Times. Examples whereof are exprest in the Harmony of 4. Voyces, Concerning the Pleasure of 5. usuall Recreations, i Hunting. 2 Hawking. 3Dauncing. 4 Drinking. 5 Enamouring.' This volume included six pieces by John Bennet and two by Edward Peirs, or Pierce, Ravenscroft's former master. Properly speaking, the only numbers which resemble the Madrigal in character are the four in the Dancing section, which are charming fairy-like little pieces, and, to a less extent, Bennet's Hawking song. The rest are laid out on the lines of songs with chorus, and some are no more than tavern-songs. Ravenscroft was probably born about the year 1585. He received his earliest musical training under Pierce as a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral. He took the degree of B.Mus. at Cam- bridge in 1607. From 1618-22 he held an appointment at Christ's Hospital. In one of the prefatory addresses in his ' Brief Discourse ' his age is given as twenty-two and reference is made to his youth. It is difficult to believe that he can have been so young in 1614, for he would in that case have been no more than fifteen when he took his B.Mus. degree, and seventeen when he published Pammelia and Deuteromelia. The Latin epigram which refers to his age probably belongs to an earlier date although it was printed in the 1614 volume. Ravenscroft died, as far as can be ascertained, between the years 1630 and 1635. He is best remembered to-day by the sadly garbled versions now in use of his hymn-tunes included in his ' Whole Booke of Psalmes ' published in 1621. The Madrigalian Publications of Thomas Ravenscroft 1609. PAMMELIA. Music's Miscellany. 1609. DEUTEROMELIA. The Second Part of Music's Melody. 161 1. MELISMATA. Musical Fancies. 1614. A BRIEF DISCOURSE Hunting Dancing 1. The hunt is up. Bennet. ^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ hallowed 2. Hey trola. trola. Peirs. ^^^^^ , Ravenscroft. Hawking 7. Round around, and keep your 3. Awake, awake, the day doth ring. Ravenscroft. break. Ravenscroft. 8. By the moon we sport and play. 4. Sith sickles and the shearing Ravenscroft. scythe. Ravenscroft. 9. Round about in a fair ring. 5- Lure, falconers, lure. Bennei. Bennet. 272 THOMAS RAVENSCROFT Drinkin: 15. Love for such a cherry lip. ID. Trudge away quickly and fill the Peirs. black bowl. Ravenscroft. "5. Leave ofE. Hymen, and let us 11. Toss the pot, let us be merry. borrow. Ravenscroft. Ravenscroft. Z'/- Coame, Malkyn, hurle thine 12. Tobacco fumes away all nasty | oyz. Ravenscroft. rheums. Ravenscroft. 1 18. Yo tell ma zo.but, Roger, I cha r- . * vound. Ravenscroft. Enamouring I » , , ,,r, . ,. , ,. ^ , -. ^ M9- Ich con but zweare. 1 3. What seek'st thou, fool ? Bennet. \ Ravenscroft. 14. My mistress is as fair as fine. ^^ ^ borgen's a borgen. Bennet. Bennet. ORLANDO GIBBONS. Born 1583 ; died 1625. Orlando Gibbons, who published his only Set of madrigals in 1612, is one of the most important figures among the Tudor school of English musicians. Indeed, it is not too much to say that Byrd, Gibbons, and Purcell are the three greatest composers in the whole range of English musical history. Orlando was a younger son of WiUiam Gibbons, a member of the City Waits at Cambridge. It should be stated that in Tudor times the Waits were a body of musicians of considerable skill attached to the corporation of all the leading Boroughs in the country, their principal duty being to attend upon the mayor and to perform music before him on state occasions. Will Kempe, the famous Elizabethan dancer and comedian, in his ' Nine days wonder ' praised the Norwich waits in the following terms : ^ * Such Waytes fewe Citties in our Realme have the like, none better ; who besides their excellency in wind instruments, their rare cunning on the Vyoll and Violin, theyr voices be admirable, everie one of them able to serve in any Cathedrall Church in Christendoome for Quiristers.' Orlando's eldest brother EUis has been already noticed as a contributor to Morley's ' Triumphs of Oriana '. His brother Edward, who was also several years older than Orlando, was in Holy Orders and a B.Mus. He was at one time master of the choristers at King's College, Cambridge, and subsequently, according to Boyce and all subsequent historians, he became Minor Canon and Precentor of Bristol Cathedral, but left Bristol for Exeter Cathedral, where he became organist and • Kempe's Nine days wonder reprinted in Collectanea Adamantae, No. 29. ORLANDO GIBBONS 273 Custos of the College of Priest- Vicars. The Bristol Cathedral records covering this period with complete detail have recently been discovered, but no trace of the name of Gibbons can be found there and it would seem that he held no official position whatever at that Cathedral. Orlando was born at Cambridge in 1583, and became a chorister at King's College in the year 1596 under his brother Edward. In 1604 he was appointed organist of the Chapel Royal, and two years later took the degree of B.Mus. at Cambridge. He also took the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Music at Oxford at a later date. In 1623 he was chosen organist of Westminster Abbey. In 1625 he went to Canterbury to attend the marriage of Charles I, and died there rather suddenly on June 5 of that year, and was buried in the Cathedral. Among his sons, Christopher alone had any importance as a musician ; he was a chorister at Exeter Cathedral under his uncle, and became organist of Winchester Cathedral, a post which he gave up to join the Royalist army. After the Restoration he held appointments as organist of the Chapel Royal, private organist to Charles II, and organist of Westminster Abbey. Orlando Gibbons's reputation must be based chiefly upon his Church music, which, for solemn grandeur and perfection of style, stands with the Church music of Byrd on a level to which no other English composer has ever quite attained. Being among the youngest of the great English composers of the polyphonic school. Gibbons was able to profit by the experience of his immediate predecessors, which, at such a period in the development of music, was an unusual advantage. But Gibbons was no mere copyist ; as a genius of the first rank he assimilated all that was best in the style of the older men among his contemporaries, and at the same time was able to superimpose upon that style the stamp of his own originality. Consequently, when compared with that of Tallis and Byrd, the music of Gibbons is obviously of a later date, and yet equally with theirs it belongs to the purely polyphonic type, without the slightest idea of compromise or any suggestion of the rapid transition from that style which was so shortly to be brought about. In the field of secular vocal music Gibbons did a com- 2049 s 274 ORLANDO GIBBONS paratively small amount of work. His only volume of the kind was, as has been already mentioned, his ' First Set of Madrigals and Mottets of 5. Parts ' which was published in 1612. The title of this volume, in the first place, is unique, for none of the other madrigalists gave the term Motet as an alternative, and it prepares the reader for iinding that the contents of the volume are of a serious rather than of a light character. The whole of this Set stands apart from the rest of the work of the madrigalists, either English or Continental, both as regards the stern severity of the music and the ethical nature of so many of the lyrics. The volume consists of twenty numbers, which, if reckoned as complete compositions, are no more than thirteen in all ; for Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6 are parts of one whole, and similarly Nos. 17, 18, and 19 belong to each other, while two more of the compositions in the Set are divided into separate sections. The first composition in the book is the well-known The silver swan, which, though quite short and simply written, must be classified as a madrigal of decidedly serious character ; the beautiful effect of the augmented fifth at the words death, come close mine eyes has been entirely eliminated by the editors of all the popular editions of this madrigal, who have substituted D for the first E flat in the Altus-part. i joys. i death, come close mine eves. — \ 4 1^. -G- rn ^ z ■p r r r ^ 1*22: ^1 ^ death, come close mine eyes. It is impossible to imagine what led to this inexcusable editorial blunder, and it is noteworthy that the edition of the Musical Antiquarian Society was correct in this particular detail. Perhaps the finest thing in this book is the setting of Raleigh's splendid poem What is our life ? which Gibbons has wedded to music that matches the words to perfection. ORLANDO GIBBONS 275 Higher praise could not be bestowed. A line contrast is produced in this madrigal by the employment of sustained notes at the words : Our graves that hide us from the scorching sun Are like drawn curtains when the play is done. And a wonderful climax is reached with the words : Thus march we playing to our latest rest. Gibbons showed a marked partiality for complex rhythms, especially those of triple measure. This feature may be observed particularly in Fair is the rose (No. 16), or in How art thou thralled (No. 7), where the overlapping triple rhythm at the words Nature made thee free seems to be designed for the purpose of emphasizing the idea of freedom or indepen- dence. Another exceedingly fine madrigal in this Set is Now each flowery bank of May (No. 12), which is treated by Gibbons in a solemn spirit, and which, when closely examined, reveals a wonderful amount of picturesque detail. The gentle sweep of the wind in a scale passage of quavers, running up through all the parts and right across the score, at the words winds the loved leaves do kiss, seems almost to forecast the methods of Brahms : winds the kiss. S 2 276 ORLANDO GIBBONS The concluding passage of this madrigal is intensely im- passioned, particularly the final six bars or so ; the two G naturals on the words love and life in the last entry of the Quint us (second soprano) -part, which conflict severely with the G sharps both before and after them, and also the last four bars of the Tenor-part, in the high register of the voice, combine in producing an emotional effect which reaches the highest possible pitch. Gibbons makes constant use of the chord with the augmented fifth so frequently mentioned in these pages, but one example of a very unusual treatment of this chord, especially as regards its resolution, may be quoted from Now each flowery bank : stream that glides woos the stream ^ J N I woos the stream that i ^ r 3i: w=m that glides a ^^^rj- - way. i 122; The whole of this passage has a delightfully elusive effect resulting from the repeated postponement of any finality of cadence ; the composer clearly intended to convey the idea of the everflowing stream ; the little ripple in the Tenor-part is a remarkably delicate touch of the illustrator's brush, characteristic of the subtlety of feeling which Gibbons so often displayed. Space will not permit of a detailed study here of the whole of this Set of madrigals, each of which is a masterpiece in its own style; but, besides those already touched upon. Dainty ORLANDO GIBBONS 277 fine bird (No. 9) and Ah, dear heart (No. 15) must be specially mentioned as being among the finest compositions of their kind. To compare Gibbons, as a madrigal-writer, with the other leaders of the English School is not easy, because his conception of what a Madrigal might be and the terms in which he expressed himself in this class of composition are entirely different from those of any other of the Tudor composers. His severity is different in kind from that of Byrd and he is at the same time far more emotional ; indeed he may perhaps be considered to be among the most emotional of all the madrigalists. On the other hand, he lacks something of the suppleness of Wilbye, and he attempts nothing in the direction of the gayer fields of beauty, the nearest approach being Trust not too much, fair youth (No. 20). In actual performance no madrigals are so difficult to interpret satisfactorily as those of Gibbons. Most of them demand exceptional care in the treatment of the individual voice-parts, and the rhythms are often extremely complex, while some of the details of the workmanship call for very close examination on the part of the conductor. It may be here suggested that more copious marks of expression are called for in these than in almost any other madrigals, while it is also probable that each individual conductor would desire to work with special expression-marks of his own for the purpose of giving his personal reading of this music. In the madrigals of Gibbons there is unlimited scope for variety and for individuality of interpretation. It will probably be found that a slow tempo will be demanded by the character of the music almost throughout this Set. The Madrigalian Publications of Orlando Gibbons 1612. THE FIRST SET OF MADRIGALS AND MOTETS OF 5 PARTS. 1 . The silver swan. 2. O that the learned poets of this time. 3. I weigh not Fortune's frown nor smile {the first part). 1 4. I tremble not at noise of war {the second part). 5. I see Ambition never pleased (the third part). [6. I feign not friendship where I hate (the fourth part). J 7. How art thou thralled, O poor despised creature (the first part). 1 8. Farewell, all joys ! (the second part). 278 ORLANDO GIBBONS 9. Dainty fine bird, that art engaged there. I 10. Fair ladies, that to love captived are {the first part). (II. 'Mongst thousands good one wanton dame (the second part). 12. Now each flowery bank of May. 13. Lais, now old, that erst attempting lass. 14. What is our life ? a Play of passion. 15. Ah, dear heart, why do you rise ? 16. Fair is the rose, yet fades with heat and cold. /17. Nay, let me weep though others' tears be spent (the first part). J 18. Ne'er let the sun with his deceiving light (the second part). [ 19. Yet if that age had frosted o'er his head (the third part). 20. Trust not too much, fair youth. CHAPTER XIX JOHN WARD — FRANCIS PILKINGTON — HENRY LICHFILD — THOMAS VAUTOR— MARTIN PEERSON— THOMAS TOMKINS —JOHN HILTON— PETER PHILIPS JOHN WARD. Date of birth unknown ; died circa 1640. John Ward published his ' First Set of EngHsh Madrigals to 3. 4. 5. and 6. parts ' in 1613. This volume contains twenty-eight compositions — six numbers for three, four, and five voices re- spectively, and ten for six voices. This Set deserves a high place among the works of the English madrigalists. It is in his six-part work that Ward was at his best, and he appears to have been conscious of this, if we may judge from the proportionately large number of such songs in the Set. The lyrics which this composer chose for his purpose are of especial excellence, and the authorship of a large proportion of them can be identified. The first two numbers are a setting of Sidney's My true love hath my heart, and the sonnet is here set in its entirety ; it has been printed in many well-known anthologies in incomplete form. The music in this case has no outstanding features, but is nevertheless melodious and attractive, and is neatly rounded off at the conclusion by the recapitulation of the opening phrase of the music in accordance with that of the words of the poem. Ward seems to have had a special preference for the poems of Sidney and Dra5rton ; he also used words by each of the two Davisons. Another attractive three-part number is Go, wailing accents (No. 5), set to Francis Davison's words. All the three- part madrigals in the Set are within the range of female voices. The four-part section is the least interesting part of the book. my thoughts (No. 8) opens melodiously, but has rather a weak ending ; and How long shall I P (No. 12) is marred by a too prolonged passage of a conventional character at the words where first mine eyes. Among the five-part numbers Sweet Philomel (No. 13) is a thoroughly characteristic bit of madrigal- writing ; Flora, fair Nymph (No. 15) and Hope of my heart 28o JOHN WARD (No. 17) should also be noticed : in the first of these a very strong effect is produced at the words A7id die I shall by the employment of the chord of C minor on the second strong position of the bar as a group of passing notes, while D is sustained in the upper voice until the concord is reached again in the follow- ing bar. In Hope of my heart a chromatic passage is introduced at the words But cruel without measure. Perhaps the most attractive of the five-part numbers in this Set is Upon a hank with roses set (No. 18) ; the words are by Drayton and lend themselves to well-contrasted effects. In the closing bars of this madrigal there is an interesting double-suspension some- what similar to the much-quoted example in Bateson's Hark ! hear you not ? (Set I, No. 22).^ gnev ous to be spok en. Ward's use of suspensions is a special characteristic of his work. A noteworthy example may be cited from the very fine six-part madrigal Out from the vale of deep despair (No. 21) ; it occurs at the words Daphne's cruelty hath lost, and involves the simultaneous employment of six different notes in the scale : hath lost. Attention may be directed incidentally to the augmented second in the Altus-part in this phrase ; this is not an isolated example of such a progression in Ward's work. Other remark- able discords are to be found in this same madrigal as well as in See p. 258. JOHN WARD 281 several others of the six-part numbers. One further example may be quoted showing the simultaneous use of six different notes in the scale ; this example is from If the deep sighs (No. 23), another of Drayton's poems : with ries op - prest. Occasionally Ward duplicated his suspensions in a manner that was in direct violation of academic rule. This peculiar feature in his work is somewhat similar to Farnaby's use of consecutive fifths, and it was evidently introduced because the composer aimed at that particular effect and liked it, and not because he lacked the ability to avoid a grammatical error. As an example of this peculiarity the following bars may be quoted from // the deep sighs : i l=z ^— -^ ^dt -- rf-k-' ^- 'g r -A^ J- i T ?2 :qi ^:S=- 1 :fe=i "O" ^ ici; -<&>- -± t ^1^ i I I J A. j^. -d. -G>- 11 :t=:±=t t ^ -<&- =fe= The whole of these twelve six-part madrigals are fine works. The best known of these is Die not, fond man (No. 25), but, although it is deservedly popular, it is by no means the finest ; it displays traces of conventionality here and there. Ward showed a preference for the serious type of subject, and perhaps the best of these madrigals is If the deep sighs (Nos. 23 and 24). 282 JOHN WARD It is of great length, and is in fact one of the very longest of the Enghsh madrigals ; but it is treated with great dignity, and the severity of the subject is occasionally relieved by the intro- duction of lighter material. The opening of the second half is especially beautiful, notably the setting of the words. Nor not a river weeps not at my tale. I have entreated and I have com- plained (No. 26) is set to words by Walter Davison and is a fine example of madrigal-writing ; it ends with a beautiful passage : tears can-not pierce her lieart, not pierce her ^^ :i-j3. M^ s3 -^ ^fe ^^^^V^^^fep.:4=j^ heart, nor sighs, nor sighs EEl ---■=« 1 f £— P— ^ if g&t :z2: £=E=| ^ r - -&- her i P^^ ^^ ■^ 231 ears. -- ^ ?: 22: jCX -o- Ward was apparently a member of the household of Sir Henry Fanshawe. He died before 1641. Nothing is known of his personal history. In Adrian Batten's organ-book, in which several little notes are inserted giving the appointments held by the various composers. Ward is described by contrast as a ' gentillman '. This seems to imply that he was an amateur musician.^ ' Batten's organ-book at St. Michael's College, Tenbury. fol. 64b. JOHN WARD 283 The Madrigalian Publications of John Ward 1613. THE FIRST SET OF ENGLISH MADRIGALS Songs of three voices . My true love hath my heart {the first part). . His heart his wound received (the second part). 3. O say, dear life, when shall these twin-bom berries ? 4. In health and ease am I. 5. Go, wailing accents, go. 6. Fly not so fast, my only joy and jewel. Songs of four voices 7. A satyr once did run away for dread. 8. O my thoughts, my thoughts, surcease. 9. Sweet pity, wake, and tell thy cruel sweet. 10. Love is a dainty mild and sweet. 11. Free from Love's bonds I lived long. 12. How long shall I with mournful music stain ? Songs of five voices 13. Sweet Philomel, cease thou thy songs awhile {the first part). 14. Ye sylvan nymphs, that in these woods {the second part). 15. Flora, fair nymph, whilst silly lambs are feeding. 16. Phyllis the bright, when frankly she desired. 17. Hope of my heart. 18. Upon a bank with roses set about. Songs of six voices 19. 20 21 22 23- Retire, my troubled soul, rest and behold. Oft have I tendered tributary tears. Out from the vale of deep despair. divine love, which so aloft can raise. If the deep sighs of an afflicted I breast {the first part). - 24. There's not a grove that wonders not my woe {the second part). Die not, fond man, before thy day. 1 have entreated and I have complained. Come, sable night, put on thy mourning stole. Weep forth your tears and do . lament. 25- 26. 27. 28. FRANCIS PILKINGTON. Born circa 1562 ; died 1638. Francis Pilkington was one of those few lutenist-composers who pubUshed works in the two distinct styles that were in vogue in his time. His first pubHcation belongs to the lutenists' class and will be noticed in the following chapter. Pilkington subsequently forsook the * Air ' for the Madrigal and pubHshed two Sets of ' Madrigals and Pastorals ', issued respectively in the years 1613 and 1624. I^ these two Sets is some music of considerable interest, and softly -singing lute (Set H, No. 24) is quite first-class. As a madrigal-writer Pilkington may best be compared with Michael East, although differing from him in technical details of style ; for, like East, he proved himself able to write in the true madrigalian manner with a full 284 FRANCIS PILKINGTON mastery of its idiom and technique, while his music, also, is generally of a bright nature without showing very marked individuality or any profound depth of feeling and imagination. Pilkington set to music several lyrics which had already been used by other madrigalists ; for example, I follow, lo, the footing (Set I, No. 2) ; Sovereign of my delight (Set II, No. i) and Stay heart, run not so fast (Set II, No. 4). Each of these was set by Morley at an earlier date, but the inevitable comparison is vastly in favour of Morley. Thus, in I follow, lo, the footing, Pilkington exhibited little of Morley's subtle imagination and humour. His treatment of the words proud of herself in this madrigal will serve to illustrate the statement. At that point Morley introduced in the Tenor-part a triple rhythm of more stately measure than that of the other voices, and he thus imparted a suggestion of haughty superiority which cannot be mistaken. Again, in this same composition Pilkington employed a rapid quaver figure for the words will run me out of breath till I have caught her, yet he failed to convey that vivid impression which is inseparable from Morley's handling of the same words, both as regards the breathless race and its termination. But to compare Pilkington with so great a giant is perhaps unfair, for he is undoubtedly to be accounted, at least, a worthy member of this great School of musicians. On the other hand, unlike most of the English madrigalists whose technique in vocal writing approached near to perfection, there are among Pilkington's madrigals some instances of rather awkward and unvocal passages. For example, the following phrase occurs in the Cantus-part of Crowned with flowers (Set II, No. 15) : P ±: a^ Hard by a fount of crys - tal. No. 16 of the second Set is an ' Elegy on the death of his worshipful friend Master Thomas Purcell of Dinthill, Esq., in Salop '. It is stated that the coat -of- Arms on the monument of Henry Purcell, the composer, identifies him with the Shrop- shire Purcells ; too much value must not be placed on this class of evidence, but if it be so Pilkington's elegy is probably the earliest musical reference to this great name, and it is note- FRANCIS PILKINGTON 285 worthy that this Thomas Purcell of Dinthill should figure as the friend of so important a contemporary musician. Francis Pilkington was probably in some way connected with the Lancashire Pilkingtons, but no proof of this is forth- coming. In an exhaustive genealogical study Colonel John Pilkington proves that the composer cannot be identical with a Francis Pilkington who was his contemporary and certainly a member of the Lancashire family. The composer's father was at one time in the service of the Stanleys, and this may account for Francis coming to Chester. He was for' many years connected with Chester Cathedral, first of all as a lay- clerk and subsequently as a Minor Canon, having been ordained by the Bishop of Chester in 1614. He was appointed Precentor of Chester in 1623 and at that time also held the living of Holy Trinity in that town. His first Set of madrigals was dated rather quaintly ' from my mansion in the monastery of Chester the 25 day of September 1612 '. He took the B.Mus. degree in 1595, having at that date studied music for sixteen years. In the dedication of his final volume in 1624 he mentions his ' now aged Muse '. The known facts taken together make it probable that the date of his birth was between the years 1560 and 1565. His death took place in 1638. The Madrigalian Publications of Francis Pilkington 1613. THE FIRST SET OF MADRIGALS AND PASTORALS OF 3. 4. AND 5. PARTS Of three voices 1 1 . Have I found her ? O rich finding ! 1. See where my love a-maying goes. ^2. Whatthoughher frowns and hard 2. I follow, lo. the footing. entreaties kill ? 3. Pour forth, mine eyes, the 1 3- Love is a secret feeding fire. fountains of your tears. H- Why do I fret and grieve ? 4. Stay, O nymph, the ground seeks ^S- AH in a cave a shepherd's lad. but to kiss. 5. Dorus. a silly shepherd swain. qj ^^^ ^^^^^^ 6. Is this thy doom ? i6. Sing we. dance we on the green. Of four voices 17. Under the tops of Helicon. 7. Amyntas with his Phyllis fair. 18. Sweet Phillida.myflocksas white. 8. Here rest, my thoughts. 19. My heart is dead within me. 9. Why should I grieve that she 20. No, no, no, it will not be. disdains ? 21. When Oriana walked to take the 10. The messenger of the delightful air. Spring. 22. Now I see thou floutest me. 286 FRANCIS PILKINGTON 1624. THE SECOND SET PASTORALS OF 3. 4. Of three voices 1. Sovereign of my delight. 2. Yond hill-tops Phoebus kissed. 3. Wake, sleepy Thyrsis, wake. 4. Stay, heart, run not so fast. 5. Ye bubbling springs, that gentle music makes. 6. Your fond preferments. 7- ,8. Of four voices Menalcas in an evening walking was. Coy Daphne fled from Phoebus (the first part). ^9. Chaste Daphne fled from Phoebus (the second part). 10. If she neglect me. 11. Palaemon and his Sylvia forth must walk. 12. You gentle nymphs, that on these meadows play. Of five voices 13. Chaste Syrinx fled, fear hasting on her pace. OF MADRIGALS AND o. AND 6. PARTS 14. Come, shepherds' weeds, attend my woeful cries. 15. Crowned with flowers, I saw fair Amaryllis. 16. Weep, sad Urania, weep. 17. O gracious God, pardon my great offence. 18. Go, you skipping kids and fawns. 19. Care for thy soul. 20. Drown not with tears, my dearest love. Of six voices 1. Dear shepherdess, thou art more lovely fair (the first part). 2. Cruel Pabrilla, with thine angry look (the second part). A fancy (for the viols). O softly-singing lute. O praise the Lord, all ye heathen. Surcease, you youthful shepherd- esses all. . A pavane (for instruments) . HENRY LICHFILD. Date of birth and death unknown. Henry Lichfild's only Set of madrigals was published in 1613 and consisted of twenty numbers, all of which are for five voices. This volume is not to be reckoned among the most important of the madrigal Sets, but the music throughout is interesting and of a good average level of merit. Lichfild wrote for the most part in a cheerful mood, though rarely showing that unrestrained feeling of gaiety which is expressed in other madrigals by frequent runs of quavers. He did not attempt the more serious kind of subject and was, perhaps, aware of his own limitations. Yet his writing was poUshed and vocal, and his work has a well-deserved place among the madrigal -writings of the great Elizabethans. Perhaps the best piece in the Set is I always loved to call my lady Rose (No. 7). It opens with a simple rhythm treated homophonically and has a great charm ; it breathes the true madrigalian spirit in every bar. Another bright piece of work HENRY LICHFILD 287 with a straightforward rhythm is come, shepherds, all together (No. 8), inclining a httle to convention towards the conclusion. Ay me, when to the air (No. 11) opens with a beautifully melodious phrase in the Cantus-part interwoven with the Quintus. The closing line But with their Echo call me fool is treated in the manner which all the madrigalists loved ; the word fool, on the final common chord, follows the last echo after a general silence of a minim's duration. Lichfild seems to have been specially fond of the name of Daphne, which comes in as many as seven of his madrigals ; it is introduced in a remarkable manner with a persistent triple rhythm in the last line of Alas, my Daphne, stay (No. 10). Other interesting madrigals in the Set are Injurious hours (No. 18), with its curious creeping effect in the latter section. Ay me I that life should yet remain (No. 5), and Whilst that my lovely Daphne (No. 19). This last named is somewhat in the style of the madrigals in the ' Triumphs of Oriana,' but ending with the words Long live my lovely Daphne. The personal history of this composer is buried in obscurity except for the fact that he was in the service of Lady Cheyney, or Cheney, of Toddington House, a few miles from Luton in Bedfordshire. This fine house was left by Lord Cheney to his widow in 1587 ; she lived there till her death in 1614. She left Lichfild a legacy of j^20. The Madrigalian Publications of Henry Lichfild 161 3. THE FIRST SET OF MADRIGALS OF 5. PARTS 1. All ye that sleep in pleasure. 12. Arise, sweetheart, and come 2. Shall I seek to ease my grief ? away to play. The shepherd Claius, seeing M 3 . When first I saw those cruel {the first part). \ eyes (the first part). First with looks he lived and 1 14. If this be love to scorn my died {the second part). \ crying {the second part), 5. Ay me! that life should yet 15. Cruel, let my heart be blessed, remain. n6. A silly sylvan kissing heaven- 6. O my grief ! were it disclosed. J bom fire {the first part). 7. I always loved to call my lady | 17. The sylvan justly suffered {the Rose. i second part). 8. O come, shepherds, all together. 18. Injurious hours, whilst any joy 9. Sweet Daphne, stay thy flying. doth bless me. 10. Alas, my Daphne, stay but hear. 19. Whilst that my lovely Daphne, 11. Ay me ! when to the air I breathe 20. My heart, oppressed by your dis- my plaining. daining. 288 THOMAS VAUTOR THOMAS VAUTOR. Born circa 1590 ; date of death unknowTi. Thomas Vautor, who in 1619 pubHshed his ' First Set : Beeing Songs of divers Ayres and Natures, of Five and Sixe parts : Apt for Vyols and Voyces ', is another madrigal -composer who has been allowed to slip into general neglect. This volume contains a good many madrigals of interest, although they cannot be compared with those of the great leaders of the School. It seems that Vautor was connected with Leicester- shire ; he was domestic musician in the household of Sir George Villiers, father of the famous Duke of Buckingham. Lady Villiers was a Beaumont of Glanfield Hall and connected with the Beaumonts of Stoughton Grange. It was in memory of one of the Stoughton Beaumonts that Vautor wrote his Elegy Weep, weep, mine eyes (No. 16). The surname of Vautor is very uncommon and has not the appearance of EngUsh origin. It is not unlikely that it is a corruption of some Huguenot name, possibly of Vautier or even of Vautrollier ; and that leads to the further possibility that Thomas Vautor was a near relative of Thomas Vautrollier, the EHzabethan printer. But this is no more than conjecture. Vautor graduated B.Mus. at Oxford in 1616, and it may be supposed that he was born about the year 1590. The date of his death is not known. The first three numbers in Vautor's Set are Ballets. In the first of these. Come forth, sweet nymph, the regular rhythm is broken by a delightful triple at the words Dalida makes me sing. The unusual time-signature, 6-i, that is here employed, was used alsoby Bjrd ; it signifies six crotchets to the semibreve. The time-signature 3-S- ^ IZSI ^Jk- t^n-T J -1^ rJ'Cy SI pS 22: ^ -s»- 32: Yet Vautor did also write with an individuality of style, and in some respects his idiom was more modern than that of the other English madrigalists. These characteristics are exempli- fied in Sweet Suffolk owl (No. 12), which is designed on quite important lines. One phrase which especially arrests the attention, as being quite unlike an5^hing in the work of such composers as Wilbye or Weelkes, is that which Vautor used at the words with feathers like a lady bright ; the whole phrase is recited on one full chord reiterated homophonically in quavers in all the voices simultaneously, and the same effect is repeated a few bars later. Another feature of this madrigal is the recapitulation of the telling section Te whit te whoo, which brings the composition to a close. The final madrigal in this Set, Shepherds and nymphs (No. 22) is framed on the lines of the ' Triumphs of Oriana ', and it holds its own in comparison with many of those in that famous collection. The composer used a very good ' bell ' phrase at the words both bon-fires and hell-ringers. In spite of the passages 2P49 T 290 THOMAS VAUTOR quoted from Dainty sweet bird, it must be admitted that Vautor aimed at originality of style, and that he usually achieved liis purpose in that direction. The Madrigalian Publications of Thomas Vautor 1619. SONGS OF DIVERS AIRS AND NATURES OF FIVE AND SIX PARTS Songs of five voices 1. Come forth, sweet nymph, and play thee. 2. Sing on, sister, and well met. 3. Ah sweet, whose beauty passeth all my telling. 4. Mother, I will have a husband. 5. Fairest are the words that cover deep'st conceit. 6. Cruel Madam, my heart you have bereft me. 7. Never did any more dehght to see. 8. Lock up, fair lids, the treasures of my heart (the first part). 9. And yet, O dream, if thou wilt not depart (the second part). ID. O merry world, when every lover with his mate. 1 1 . Sweet thief, when me of heart you reft. 12. Sweet Suffolkowl, so trimly dight. 13. Thou art not faiir for all thy red and white (the first part). 14. Yet love me not, nor seek not to allure (the second part). 15. Mira cano, sol occubuit. 16. Weep, weep, mine eyes ; salt tears due honour give. 17- 18. 19- f 20 21 22. Songs of six voices Blush, my rude present, blushing yet this say. Dainty sweet bird, who art encaged there. Unkind, is this the meed of lover's pain ? . Melpomene, bewail thy sisters' loss (the first part). . Whilst fatal sisters held the bloody knife (the second part). Shepherds and nymphs, that trooping. MARTIN PEERSON. Bom circa 1580 ; died 1650 Martin Peerson is a composer who ought not to be entirely passed over in connexion with the English Madrigal School, although he is not, strictly speaking, to be classed as a pure madrigal-writer. Hardly any of the compositions in his two published Sets can really be styled Madrigals ; the large majority of them are of the nature of duets or songs, with a chorus or refrain in which additional voices take part. How- ever, the influence of the madrigalists does show itself in a marked degree upon Peerson's music, so that he occupies an interesting position on transitional ground between the madri- galian era and the Restoration period. Peerson was born about the year 1580, and in early manhood MARTIN PEERSON 291 he became ' Master of the children ' in St. Paul's Cathedral. He died in 1650 and was buried in the Chapel of St. Faith in the Cathedral. He left a substantial legacy to the poor of the parish of Dunnington in the Isle of Ely, and this circumstance seems to suggest that it was his birthplace, for he does not appear to have had any subsequent connexion with Dunnington after taking up his appointment at St. Paul's. His first published volume appeared in 1620 and was entitled ' Private Musicke, Or the First Booke of Ayres and Dialogues, Contayning Songs of 4. 5. and 6. parts, of severall sorts, and being verse and Chorus is fit for Voyces and Viols.' The title itself indicates the transitional character of the music. Some of the pieces are more or less madrigalian in style, but most of them are of the verse and chorus type mentioned in the title, and many of them contain short instrumental interludes. Upon my lap my Sovereign sits (No. 12) is, for instance, for two voices and accompaniment. Sing, Love is blind (No. 18) is much more modern in design than the Madrigal ; it ends with a pretty hey nonny no treated in the style of harmonized melody rather than in imitative counterpoint. The last piece in the volume was composed as early as 1604, although it was not published until 1620 ; it was written ' for the King and Queenes entertaynment at High-gate on May day ' in that year to words by Ben Jonson. This illustrates the practice of the composers of those days in waiting to publish their music until they had compiled a sufficient number of pieces to fill a volume ; it can never be assumed with certainty that the date of the publication of a particular madrigal coincides even approximately with the date of its composition. Peerson's second Set was published in 1630 and contained twenty-five compositions of various kinds. It bore the following curious title, ' Mottects or Grave Chamber Musique, Containing Songs of five parts of severall sorts, some ful, and some Verse and Chorus. But all fit for Voyces and Vials, with an Organ Part ; which for want of Organs, may be performed on Virginals, Bass- Lute, Bandora, or Irish Harpe.' The organ accompaniment was an innovation in this kind of music ; and indeed the Virginal had not been named as an alternative to the lute or other in- struments for the purposes of accompaniment before Peerson's T2 292 MARTIN PEERSON earlier volume in 1620. The term Motet was employed by Peerson in the same sense as that in which Gibbons used it ; but, in spite of the title, some of the pieces in this volume are set to words of a light and amorous nature ; for example, Cupid, my pretty hoy (No. 10). The whole of the poems in Peerson's 1630 volume, with the exception of the Elegy at the conclusion which was set twice to independent music, are drawn from the Caelica Sonnets of Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke. This poet died in 1628, two years before Peerson's Set was published, and it was in his memory that the two settings of the Elegy were composed. The Madrigalian Publications of Martin Peerson 1620. PRIVATE MUSIC, OR THE FIRST BOOK OF AIRS AND DIALOGUES 3- 4- 5- 6. 7- 8. 10. II. 12. 13- 14. Of four voices Open the door ! who 's there within ? Resolved to love, unworthy to obtain. Ah, were she pitiful as she is fair. Disdain, that so doth fill me. O precious Time, created by the might. Can a maid that is well bred ? O I do love, then kiss me. Since just disdain began to rise. At her fair hands how have I grace entreated ! Now Robin, laugh and sing. Hey the horn, the hom-a. Upon my lap my Sovereign sits. Lock up, fair lids, the treasure of my heart. Love her no more, herself she doth not love. 15. Come, pretty wag, and {the first part). sing Of five voices 16. Then with reports most sprightly (the second part). 17. Pretty wantons, sweetly sing. 18. Sing, Love is blind. 19. What need the morning rise ? 20. Gaze not on Youth ; let Age contain {the first part) . 21. Tnie pleasure is in chastity {the second part) . 22. The spring of joy is dry. Of six voices 23. Is not that my fancy's Queen ? 24. See, O see, maying ? who comes here a 1630. MOTETS, OR GRAVE CHAMBER MUSIC containing songs of 5 parts of several sorts 1. Love, the delight of all well-thinking minds {the first part). 2. Beauty, her cover, is the eye's true pleasure {the second part). 3. Time fain would stay that she might never leave her {the third part). 4. More than most fair {the first part). 5. Thou window of the sky {the second part). 6. You little stars that live in skies {the first part). 7. And thou, O Love, which in those eyes {the second part). MARTIN PEERSON 293 8. O Love, thou mortal sphere of powers divine (the first part). 9. If I by nature, wonder, and delight (the second part). 10. Cupid, my pretty boy, leave off thy crying. 11. Love is the peace whereto all thoughts do strive. 12. Self-pity's tears, wherein ray hope lies drowned. 13. Was ever man so matched with a boy ? 14. O false and treacherous Probability. 15. Man, dream no more of curious mysteries (the first part). 16. The flood that did, and dreadful fire that shall (the second part). 17. Who trusts for trust, or hopes of love for love (the first part). 18. Who thinks that sorrow felt (the second part). 19. Man, dream no more of curious mysteries. 20. Farewell, sweet boy, complain not of my tnith. 2 1 . Under a throne I saw a virgin sit. 22. Where shall a sorrow great enough be sought ? (the first part). 23. Dead, noble Brooke shall be to us a name (the second part). for six voices 24. Where shall a sorrow great enough be sought ? (the first part). 25. Dead, noble Brooke shall be to us a name (the second part). THOMAS TOMKINS. Bom circa 1573 ; died 1656 Thomas Tomkins published in 1622 what was, in the stricter use of the term, the last volume of first-rate importance in the great series of English madrigals which began with Byrd's ' Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs ' in 1588. In spite of its late date this volume must be reckoned among the most valuable contributions to the series. It is consequently very remarkable that Tomkins's music should have experienced such complete neglect, as has been the case, ever since the popularity of madrigal-singing declined in his own lifetime. Except for one or two recent reprints, none of the work of this very notable English musician is known to his own countrymen, and it is not improbable that a large number of musicians of the present day have never even heard of his name. According to his own statement in the dedication of his * Songs ' in 1622, Tomkins was born in Pembrokeshire. The surname was entirely foreign to West Wales in the sixteenth century, and the only known record of it is to be found in the archives of St. David's Cathedral. There can, in consequence, be no room for doubt in connecting Thomas the composer with the family, two members of which held musical positions at St. David's. These were Thomas Tomkins who was organist 294 THOMAS TOMKINS of the cathedral in 1571, and his son Thomas, who, though still a chorister boy, and possibly no more than seven or eight years of age, was appointed a lay-clerk in 1577 with the purpose of increasing his father's stipend.^ Further information as to the Tomkins family is supplied by the pedigree in the Worcester- shire Visitation of 1634,^ which bears the autograph signature of the composer, and also that in the Visitation of Hereford- shire in 1683.^ From these and other sources of evidence the following facts may be evolved : Thomas Tomkins, the elder, was the son of Ralph Tomkins, of Lostwithiel in Cornwall, where the family had owned property for some generations ; he disposed of this property in early life and became organist of St. David's Cathedral, where he had two sons by his first marriage, to both of whom he gave the name of Thomas, as is shown in the official visitation pedigrees. The elder of these boys was the chorister who became a lay-clerk in 1577 ; he was summarily dismissed in 1586, went to sea and lost his life with Sir Richard Grenville in the Revenge in 1596. His brother Thomas, who must have been bom in the early seventies, was the composer. He was married about 1598 to Alice, daughter of Hassard, who is, doubtless, to be identified with the widow of his predecessor, Nathaniel Pattrick ; and his son Nathaniel, ultimately a Canon of Worcester, was born in 1598 or 1599. He became organist of Worcester Cathedral about this date and took the B.Mus. degree at Oxford in 1607. In 162 1 he was appointed one of the organists of the Chapel Royal, and in 1628 he succeeded Ferrabosco as Composer-in-ordinary to Charles I. While in this position he wrote the large number of Church Services and Anthems which were published after his death under the title of Musica Deo sacra. He died in 1656 and was buried at Martin Hassing- tree in Worcestershire. Meanwhile his father married a second time and had several other sons, several of whom were distinguished musicians. The eldest of this second family was John, who was born in 1586 and became organist of St. Paul's Cathedral. Later in Hfe the father took Holy Orders and became Minor Canon — subse- ' Chapter Records of St. David's Cathedral. ' MSS. in the College of Arms. ' Ibid. THOMAS TOMKINS 295 quently Precentor — of Gloucester Cathedral about the year 1595 ; in 1596 he was Vicar of St. Mary-de-Lode, Gloucester, holding this living together with the minor-canonry. He died in 1626, having resigned the Precentorship about a year earlier.^ These facts have been set out here at some length, partly because they provide a good deal of new information, and partly because the authorship of The fauns and satyrs, the Oriana madrigal which bears the name of Thomas Tomkins, depends upon them. The question of the authorship of this madrigal cannot be settled with, complete certainty, but it is clear that the younger Tomkins was at least 25 years old in 1601, when the * Triumphs ' were published, and was already organist of Worcester Cathedral ; there is also no evidence that his father was a composer. It therefore seems reasonable to assign the authorship of the Oriana madrigal to the Worcester Tomkins, the composer of the 1622 Set of Songs. These ' Songs of 3. 4. 5. and 6. parts ' — the term ' Madrigal ' is not actually employed — consist of twenty-eight compositions. Four of them are set to scripture words, and these, with the exception of David's Lament for A bsalom (No. 19) , do not quite reach the same standard as the rest of the volume. Nine of the secular numbers have a fa-la, or equivalent refrain, but of these only a small minority can be regarded as Ballets in the strictest sense. It says much for the inventive genius of Tomkins that he was able to add something new to the fa-la form when it might have been thought that the last word in its development had been said by Morley and Weelkes. The most conventional of these fa-las is To the shady woods (No. 13) ; but in most of the others there is some distinctive rhythmic figure of a novel kind, and See, see the shepherds' Queen (No. 17) is constructed in three sections as compared with the two sections of the older Ballet. Tomkins also showed a tendency to abandon the dance rhythm, which, quite apart from the fa-la, was an essential feature in this form in Morley's time ; a noticeable example of this is to be seen in Too much I once lamented (No. 14), which was dedicated to his ' ancient and much reverenced Master, William Byrd ', and which, apart from the fa-la, is quite severe > The author is indebted to Sir Ivor Atkins, organist of Worcester Cathedral, for some of the fresh details concerning this composer. 296 THOMAS TOMKINS in character and very far removed from dance-measure. Similar in style is the remarkable let me live for true love (Nos. 7 and 8), which is elaborately laid out as regards design, and shows some very original harmonization, notably in the/a-/as that follow the opening phrase of the second half of the piece. Among the most beautiful of the madrigals in this fine Set is Weep no more, thou sorry boy (Nos. 10 and 11), the beauty of which increases towards the end. The following phrase from this number could hardly be surpassed : turn thy tears, turn thy tears to EEi 3 5eEp=Ees^^i^^f tg: -&- ^ ^- i^ -Gh- 1 — /"T pa*' ^m weep mg joy. fe^^j^ T .feU-i &c. A little further is this beautiful passage me, . . i i Av izat =i=^ die, Ay me 53== ^k i it {'■ r ' [' ^ ^T^ P— L-«- ^ -G- J JTJ ^ zt -- ;S2: die -1 Ti ^-^if i^ro: ^=T ^ 32: ■^?- ^^ -Q- p=^ j^n;^ ^ ^ -e^ THOMAS TOMKINS 297 and the madrigal concludes with series of sequences the harmonies of which must have been regarded as very original at the time of the publication of this volume. The passage should be sung rather slowly and with pathos : liy cry and ti by cry, &c. ^m SSX3£ ffST S w T * « * * iri -te I r . F' F \ -r F r F , — F-#- r * m. v ^ — I br- \ r ^-i— R- r f ¥ Se^ g Se The originality of Tomkins's harmonies may be further illustrated by a brief excerpt from another very fine madrigal, Was ever wretch tormented ? (No. 12). The sequence of % chords employed here is especially interesting, while the low position of all the voices is, of course, designed with particular reference to the words at this point of the poem : of hell ish fir ingi of heU - ^^ t W^TW^ r 5:. -^ m -o- ^ -3ZtL jQZ r T — T ish, hell - ish fir - - "Cr TfTfT mg. 22j &c. ^ ^T f ^- J^ l ^ J-J^ r 298 THOMAS TOMKINS f One more quotation from this Set may perhaps be allowed : the closing passage of When I observe those beauty's wonderments (No. 23) is intensely beautiful and may be compared even with the best work of Wilbye : P o -G- — \ 122: pen her deaf ears. or close mine GO ^ IF — e i ^ fe -<5>- |.C?- _C2-C2- eyes, deaf ears, or close, or close mine eyes. ^ jOL -Q- ^■ «*-=- ^^m -O- CJ - ^^ jC2l HS^ ^ tSE^: -<&- w-f}Tr H^Tfc = ^- 1 T*. ^ r-^ O- -e>- I rj rJ 22: 122: There appear to have been two editions of this Set of Tomkins's, for among the surviving copies of this work there are two noteworthy variants on the title-page ; in one case the date 1622 is printed at the foot of the page, but in the other case this is replaced by a line and the formula Cum priuilegio. This fact seems to have remained uhnoticed. In consequence the writer of the article on Tomkins in the ' Dictionary of National Biography ' states that the Set is undated, whereas Rimbault and other writers give the date 1622. Assuming the undated edition to be the earher of the two, it is still necessary to assign this date to it, because Heather is described as Doctor Heather in the dedication of No. 24 of the Set, and he did not take the D.Mus. degree until May 1622. It seems likely that this Set of Madrigals gained immediate popularity and that a second edition had to be issued in the same year, the date then being added in the place of Cum priuilegio on the title-page. THOMAS TOMKINS 299 The Madrigalian Publications of Thomas Tomkins 1622. SONGS OF 3. 4. 6. AND 6. PARTS Songs of three parts 1. Our hasty life away doth post. 2. No more I will thy love impor- tune. 3. Sure, there is no god of Love. 4. Fond men, that do so highly prize. 5. How great delight from those sweet lips. 6. Love, cease tormenting. Songs of four parts 7. O let me live for true love (the first part). 8. O let me die for true love (the second part). 9. Oyez ! has any found a lad ? 10. Weep no more, thou sorry boy (the first part). 1 1 . Yet again, as soon revived (the second part) . 1 2 . Was ever wretch tormented ? Songs of five parts 13. To the shady woods now wend we. 14. Too much 1 once lamented. 15. Come, shepherds, sing with me. 16. Cloris, whenas I woo. 17. See, see the shepherds' Queen. 18. Phyllis, now cease to move me. 19. When David heard that Absalom was slain. 20. PhylUs, yet see him dying. 21. Fusca, in thy starry eyes. 22. Adieu, ye city-prisoning towers. Songs of six parts When I observe those beauty's wonderments. Music divine, proceeding from above. Oft did I marie how in thine eyes. Woe is me, that I am constrained . 27. It is my well-beloved's voice. 28. Turn unto the Lord our God. 23 24 25 26 1601. A MADRIGAL FOR FIVE VOICES included as No. 10 in the ' Triumphs of Oriana '. The fauns and satyrs tripping. Tomkins's Set is unique in one particular, for, besides following the practice observed by all the other madrigaUsts of dedicating his volume to some personal friend or patron (in this case to Lord Pembroke), he also made a separate dedication of each of the twenty-eight pieces in the Set. The names are of sufficient interest to be quoted in detail : 2. 3- 4- S- 6. To my deare Father Mr. Thomas 7. Tomkins. 8, To Mr. Wilham Walker. 9- To Mr. Humfrey Witby. 10. To my Brother Mr. Nicholas Tomkins. 11 To Master William Crosse. 12, To Master Thomas Day. 13. To Doctor Douland. To Master John Daniell. To Master John Coprario. To my Brother Peregrine Tom- kins. To my Brother Robert Tomkins. To my Brother Giles Tomkins. To Mr. Robert Chetwode. 300 THOMAS TOMKINS 14. To my ancient and much rever- 21. To Mr. Phinees Fletcher, enced Master, William Byrd. 22. To Mr. William White. 15. To Mr. Nathaniel Giles. 16. To Mr. Orlando Gibbons. 17. To Mr. John Steevens. 18. To Mr. Henry MoUe. 19. To Mr. Thomas Myriell. 20. To Mr. Nicholas Carlton. 23. To Mr. Thomas Warwicke. 24. To Mr. Doctor Heather. 25. To Master John Ward. 26. To my Brother John Tomkins. 27. To Mr. Doctor Ailmer. 28. To my Sonne Nathanael Tomkins. JOHN HILTON. Born 1599 ; died 1657 As late as 1627 John Hilton, the younger, published his Set of 'Ayres, or. Fa las for Three Voyces '. The merest glance at the dates given in the preface of the Musical Antiquarian Society's reprint of this volume in 1844 makes it quite obvious that this John Hilton was not to be identified with the contributor to the ' Triumphs of Oriana ' who bore the same name.^ It is strange that neither Rimbault nor Oliphant appears to have noticed this, nor yet the writer of the notice of Hilton in the ' Dictionary of National Biography ', though he nevertheless observed some discrepancies. The younger Hilton was born in 1599 ^^^ was almost certainly the son of the organist of Trinity College, Cambridge. He took his B.Mus. degree at Cambridge in 1626, but he appears to have been a pupil of Dr. William Heather, the founder of the Chair of Music in Oxford University. He died in 1657 and was buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster, of which church he was for many years Organist and Parish Clerk. Although the alternative term Air is employed in the title- page of this Set there is only one piece in it which is not actually a Ballet, namely When Flora frowns (No, 17). The volume as a whole is disappointing ; the ballets are very conventional and cannot be compared with those of Morley, Weelkes, or Tomkins ; and this is all the more noticeable seeing that Tomkins published Fa-las of such remarkable distinction only five years earlier than Hilton. The best composition in the Set is, perhaps. Leave off, sad Philomel, to sing (No. 11). » See p, 245. JOHN HILTON 301 4- S- 6. 7- 8. 9- 10. II. 12. 13- The Madrigalian Publications of John Hilton 1627. AIRS OR FA-LAS FOR THREE VOICES To sport, our merry meeting. My mistress frowns when she should play (the first part). You lovers that have loves astray {the second part) . Phoebe tells me when I woo. Celia's wound and mine were one. Dear, may some other, since not I ? Though me you did disdain to view. Love wounded me but did not touch. The woodbine. Flora, doth decay. I heard a withered maid com- plain. Leave ofif, sad Philomel, to sing. O had not Venus been beguiled. Tell me, dear, fain would I know. 14. Faint not, lovers, for denials. 15. Gifts of feature and of mind. 16. As Flora slept and I lay waking. 17. When Flora frowns I hope for peace. Love laid his yoke upon me. Now is the Summer springing. Come, sprightly mirth, like birds in the Spring. Come, love, let 's crown this famous night. Hero, kiss me or I die (the first part). Quickly send them unto me (the second part). 24. If it be love to sit and mourn. 35. Fly, Philomel, to deserts fly. 26. Who master is in Music's art. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23- PETER PHILIPS, date of birth unknown ; died 1625 The subject of the Tudor madrigalists could not be said to have been fully discussed without any mention of Peter Philips. This composer was an Englishman by birth, but spent all his life abroad ; consequently, although he must certainly be accounted one of the best English composers of the period, yet his style was in every detail moulded upon the Italian design and showed no trace of English influence. For this reason it would not be correct to reckon him as belonging to the English Madrigal School. For the same reason, too, the work of William Costeley lies outside the scope of the present volume ; he was a Scotsman by birth, but spent his life almost entirely in France. Nevertheless Philips was a very eminent as well as a very voluminous composer, excelling chiefly in ecclesiastical music. But he was also an important contributor to madrigal-literatiu-e, and he published at least four Sets of madrigals, some of which went through several editions within a few years. The first of these was entitled Melodia Olym-pica di diversi Eccellentissimi Miisici a iv, v, vi, et viii voci, and was published at Antwerp in 1591. This was followed in 1596 by 302 PETER PHILIPS II Primo Libro di Madrigali a set voci. His Madrigali a otto voci was published in 1598, and // secondo Libro di madrigali a sei voci in 1603. Philips wrote in a highly polished style, showing an absolute mastery of technique. Such dissonances as we find in the work of B5nrd, Weelkes, Kirbye, and Wilbye are never to be found in the smooth writing of Philips. There is no trace of the experimental tendency, which led the English School to employ augmented chords and progressions or other harmonic innovations ; neither do we find anything of the severe character which, for example, Orlando Gibbons displayed in his madrigals ; nor again that complexity of rhythm for which many of the English School showed a partiality. Yet if the specially English features are absent from the music of this Englishman, we must still praise the excellence of his attain- ments in a foreign style, for, without doubt, as an all-round musician he takes very high rank among European composers, both in England and on the Continent, at the close of the sixteenth century. Philips's madrigals were written almost entirely to Italian words. The following are characteristic examples of Philips's smooth and massive style : Questa che co begV occh' allum' il mondo cieco (No. I of his eight-part Set) ; Echo, Figlia dei bosch'e de le valli, in two sections (Nos. 20 and 21 of the same Set) ; and nothing could be more delightful than Dispiegate guancie amate which Mr. Barclay Squire has reprinted. One English madrigal by Peter Philips was included by Morley in his ' Madrigals to five voyces Celected out of the best approved Itahan Authors ' pub- lished in 1598. The words begin The nightingale that sweetly doth complain (Nos. 19 and 20) ; it is of considerable length and is beautifully written. It is noteworthy that for the words to learn by proof in this case that I run are set with a run of crotchets where Morley himself and other English madrigalists would undoubtedly have used quavers ; and the example serves to emphasize the divergent influence of the training that was characteristic of the different Schools to which these composers belonged. this PETER PHILIPS that I 303 case S^ ^4 J iJ- ^ i 2: ijf ^- J. I iS: -- ¥- -&- m this case that run, i - ^ * i ^ s =i lt23=* S -£?^ ^, J J ^1 I run. I that I that I . run. ^^ &- ^ r=r -G>' I-- k ^ AJ. -^1 J- I -o- -I — ' run, The date of Philips 's birth is not known. He left England in early life, and having been ordained in the Church of Rome, he was appointed to a canonry at Bethiine in Flanders towards the end of the sixteenth century. In 1610 he became a Canon of St, Vincent in Soignies, and he died there in 1625. CHAPTER XX THE ENGLISH LUTENIST-COMPOSERS Since the term Madrigal is so commonly employed to describe compositions of Dowland, Ford, and other famous lutenists of the period, it will be evident that a book which purports to deal with the subject of the English madrigalists and their works could not be regarded as complete if the lutenists should be entirely ignored. Moreover, a few of the lutenists' Airs in their harmonized form for four voices approach so closely to the madrigal-style as sometimes to be almost indistinguishable from the simpler compositions which have an indisputable claim to the title. This is particularly the case with some of the Airs of Pilkington, and very occasionally with those of Dowland. But it is not here proposed to examine all the lutenists' work in such detail as that of the madrigalists, and some of these composers will receive no more than a passing notice. The form and construction of the lutenists' Airs has been already considered in a former chapter ; ^ but it may be repeated that they were much more regular in rhythmic outline than the Madrigals ; that they were harmonized for the most part on homophonic rather than polyphonic principles ; and that a lute-part was invariably printed with the music. This lute-part was intended primarily to be used for the purpose of accompanying the highest voice-part when rendered as solo-song ; but sometimes the composers extended this principle and made any single one of the voice-parts available for use as solo-song with the lute accompaniment. The lute might also be used for accompanying the combined voices, but it was rarely regarded as an indispensable feature in the performance when sufficient voices were available for the rendering of all the parts. Very occasionally it was excluded ' Sec p. 60. ENGLISH LUTENIST-COMPOSERS 305 from such employment by reason of the introduction of variant harmonies, which, although suitable and effective in accom- panj^ng the solo- voice, might conflict sharply with the com- bined harmony of all the voices. The system of tablature commonly employed by the English lutenists was as follows : A stave of six lines was used ; this stave had no connexion whatever with the stave of ordinary musical notation, but represented the six strings of the lute in a semi-pictorial fashion. On the finger-board of the instrument a series of ivory frets were fixed, and the pressure on the string by the player's finger behind any of these frets shortened its length by a measured proportion and so raised the pitch of the string. Each fret was designed to raise the pitch by a semitone. The particular fret to be * stopped ' in this manner, with the object of producing any required note of music, was indicated by a letter of the alphabet printed in the tablature immediately above the string to which it applied. These letters have no reference at all to the names of the notes. Thus the letter a denoted the ' open ' string, and each succeeding letter represented an added semitone in the rising chromatic scale. The distinctive style of the EHzabethan e enables the eye quickly to differentiate it from c where italics of modem type might lead to confusion. The six strings of the lute were known as the treble, small mean, great mean, counter-tenor, tenor, and bass, and all but the treble were strung double. The normal tuning in England was to the notes : -&- m ZSSl The sixth or bass string was frequently tuned to F instead of G. A seventh string, ordinarily tuned to D, was often added below the bass string ; but to avoid confusion to the eye it occupied no permanent place on the stave, but was introduced when occasion required on exactly the same principle as that by which notes are introduced with leger lines in ordinary notation. The following diagram will serve as a key for translating lute-tablature into ordinary notation: 2049 u 3o6 ENGLISH LUTENIST-COMPOSERS Treble (G) Small mean (D) Great mean (A) Counter-tenor (F) Tenor (C) Bas6 (G) a b c d e f S k a b c d e f g h a b c d t f g h a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h («) (b) G) id) (.) (/) ig) [K) $ -^ tfe izz: :^— : *fe "73^ ^g— pi ]2Q — *tfci - 22: f Gh- -G>- zr2Z The sustaining value of the notes or chords was shown by a system of signs placed above the stave. These signs, 1 1 1 ^ ^ , represented severally the semibreve, minim, crotchet, quaver, and semiquaver ; dots of augmentation, bearing their ordinary signification, were added when required. The signs were used as sparsely as possible ; thus if no sign appears over a note its length is governed by the sign last used. For example, a group of four successive crotchets would have the ^ over the first of the group only. It will be obvious that this system necessitated the introduction of some kind of barring, and allusion to this matter has already been made in a former chapter. The regularity of the barring varied considerably ; sometimes it adhered fairly closely to the time-signatures, but at others it followed the less regular rhythms of the music or of the verbal phrases, and occasionally bar-lines were entirely absent for a prolonged period. For the purpose of indicating the particular moment at which the notes were to be struck this system of tablature was an exact one ; but as regards the harmonic structure of the music it left room for some uncertainty and ambiguity, much being left to the imagination of the listener, such imagination being itself based upon a conventional experience as regards the resolution of certain discords and other harmonic details. One illustration will serve to explain this point. (The passage is from Dowland, Bk. I, No. 20). ENGLISH LUTENIST-COMPOSERS 307 a a a a a a e a e c e f e a c c f d c d c c c b e c e e c a e c a Literally translated this reads -^ i: ^^^ ^ S^ "G isfe^ W^ ■■^Hit ■&■ With the full harmonic outline developed and displayed this becomes : ^ i s w i T Tir ^-' % jfe 1^ EEIE 32 -&- The pairs of consecutive fifths in the above passage are characteristic of the disregard for scientific harmonic pro- gression which is frequently involved owing to the limitations of the lute. Such progressions can, of course, be easily and quite legitimately avoided by a somewhat freer adaptation of the literal text of the tablature ; but it will be readily recognized that transcription and arrangement of the lute- part for modern use on a pianoforte must always call for a large measure of discretion and taste. JOHN DOWLAND. Born 1562 ; died 1626 By far the most important of the lutenist-composers was John Dowland, who indeed holds a very high place among the most distinguished English musicians of all periods. He was a man of remarkable personality, and it is probably not too mucn to say that in his own time no other musician in Europe u 2 3o8 ENGLISH LUTE NIST-COMPOSE RS was so uidel}^ known, not only for the genial nature which brought him friends in the many countries in which he travelled, but also on account of his rare genius both as a performer on the lute and as a composer. Among his many friends was the famous Italian madrigalist Luca Marenzio. Dowland appears to have studied under Marenzio in Italy,* and in the ' Address to the Courteous Reader ' of his ' First Booke of Songes or Ayres ', published in 1597, he alludes to a letter from this famous Italian composer. Dr. Grattan Flood, in an important article upon Dowland which adds a finishing touch to Mr. Barclay Squire's valuable researches into this composer's history,- has finally disposed of the tradition that he was born in Westminster. He was in fact born in Ireland at Christmastide 1562, possibly at Dalkey, Co. Dublin, where his father John Dowlan is known to have lived at a later date. Richard Dowland, sexton of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, may have been his brother. The surname is commonly found in Ireland in the form of Dolan. The father died in 1577, and about a year later the boy came to England. In 1580 he went to Paris as a page in the train of Sir Henry Cobham ^ and during this period he became a convert to the Roman Catholic faith. His stay in Paris lasted three years. On his return he was married, and his son Robert was born in 1586. He took the degree of B.Mus, at Oxford in 1588, and in 1592 was one of the contri- butors to East's 'Whole Booke of Psalmes'. In 1594, after failing, perhaps for religious reasons, to obtain appointment as one of the Queen's musicians, Dowland went to Italy, as already stated, to study under Marenzio, and remained on the Continent for at least two years ; but on his return, after spending a short time in England, he seems to have resided as a graduate in Trinity College, Dublin,* having once more become a Protestant. Dowland produced his ' First Booke of Songes or Ayres of fowre partes with Tableture for the Lute ' in 1597. This book immediately became immensely popular, and went through more ' Salisbury Papers, vol. v, p. 269. Hist. MSS. Commi.ssion. ' Gentleman's Magazine, 1906, pp. 287-91. ' Salisbury Papers, vol. V, p. 447. Hist. MSS. Commission. * Mahaffy's Particular Book of Trinity College, p. 236. JOHNDOWLAND 309 editions in quick succession than any other pubHcation of Tudor music, the fifth edition appearing in 1613. Dowland had by this time laid the foundation of that great reputation which won the applause of so many of the poets of the early seventeenth century. In 1598 he was appointed lutenist to Christian IV, King of Denmark, and resided at Elsinore, with one short interval in 1601, until the year 1609, when he finally retm-ned to his native country. He had in the meantime published his second and third ' Books of Airs ', in the years 1600 and 1603 respectively. On his final return to England Dowland lived the Hfe of a disappointed man. Having enjoyed an unusual degree of popularity on the Continent, he found that he had been super- seded and partially forgotten among his fellow countrymen. Moreover, he appears to have spent his income freely and with a light-hearted gaiety, so that his loss of popularity coincided with straitened means. Further circumstances helped to sadden and embitter his life : he professed dislike of many modern tendencies of musical development, although what this expression exactly could have meant is difficult to con- jectiure, coming as it did from the pen of the composer of such a song as From silent night (' A Pilgrimes Solace ', No. 10) with its amazingly modern harmonic developments. And he also nourished a keen resentment against the lutenists of a younger generation on the ground that they imitated his style and arrogated to themselves the credit for it. In the preface to his final publication, ' A Pilgrimes Solace ', which appeared in 1612, he indulged in a general complaint against the older generation who 'say what I do after the old manner ', and also against ' the young men, professors of the Lute, who vaunt themselves to the disparagement of such as have been before their time (wherein 1 myself am a party) that there never was the like of them '. At this time Dowland held the appointment of lutenist to Lord Walden at Audley End, and later he was one of the six lutenists to Charles I. Dowland died in London, and the actual date of his death is given as January 21, 1626, in the papers of the DubHn family of Forster to whom Dowland seems to have been related. The date is consistent with an entry in the Audit Office Declared Accounts in the 310 ENGLISH LUTE NIST-CO MPOSE RS Record Office ; * this entry records the payment of his salary as the king's lutenist for the quarter ending at Christmas 1625 and for twenty-six days of the following quarter. Dowland dedicated one of the songs in ' A Pilgrimes Solace ' to John Forster of Dublin. The place of his burial remains unknown. His son Robert succeeded him as one of the royal lutenists. Matthew Dowland, buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster, in 1628, may have been a son or brother of John. Dowland's greatness showed itself in several directions. In the first place he was a melodist of the very first order, standing among the greatest of the world's song-writers. His ' First Book of Airs ' represented an entirely new departure. This publication formed the foundation of the English school of lutenist-composers, a school which had no parallel on the Continent ; while in his later books of airs, notably ' A Pilgrimes Solace ', Dowland evinced that same spirit which characterized so many of the great poets and musicians of that period, in that he was searching for new forms, and for fresh combinations of instruments and voices for the purpose of expressing his ideas. And he was an innovator in yet another direction ; for in the chromatic treatment of his harmonies he was, at the very outset of his career, no less original than Weelkes, while the song From silent night, published in 1612, must be placed with Weelkes's Care, thou wilt despatch me (Set III, Nos. 4 and 5) as one of the musical marvels of the Elizabethan age. The chromatic scale passage in this song, which is for solo- voice accompanied with the lute and with treble and bass viols, is closely reminiscent of the phrase employed by Weelkes towards the close of his Cease, sorrows, now (Set I, No. 6) and also of Dowland's own All ye whom Love or Fortune (Book I, No. 14) ; but in this later song Dowland indulged in still more elaborate chromatic development and rivalled Weelkes in introducing an A sharp as a definite part of the harmonic structure. There are also some other surprisingly modern features in this song, from which the following few bars may be quoted : ' Audit Office Decld. Accts., Bundle 392. No. 65. JOHN DOWLAND 311 Voice. Treble Viol Pianoforte (literally transcribed from the lute tablatnre with ! Bass Viol). £: ^ And i^ to the world brings s ^^^^^^^^^ & r- t p I r ^m i -e>- =P tunes of sad de - spair, sonnd I ^ r^^ 321 i ^m ±1 ,j Ji*' J ' | j -o- ■"^ -> ^ J r :?=: 32t ^ =p: ing nought else but sor - row. jo: ^^ £: ±z ^^^ £- t.J J- 1=^ t:^- hQ: fe :P2= 3=t 5 312 ENGLISH LUTENIST-COMPOSERS m 32 izi sor m row, i ^=P= 22: :?2: i > jjj -c^ -se ^ JJ.J. ^ ^ T r y= !«= In order to convey a more complete idea of the nature of the originaHty of Dowland's writing, this further illustration will be found interesting : it forms the concluding passage of When the poor cripple (No. 16 of ' A Pilgrimes Solace ') : crip - pie in more grief, in more grief; m ^ T=x ^ ^M^f^^ 2i ^ 1^- J. ■h-i^ ^ J J J.J rr; i m -Gh- :Z2Z Zizr. 32: Christ grant me pa tience, i ^A^^=Pr^ pa iieuce, ^ r j i flc ^ -3±. 5^^^fpjf^^^^ ri^ irt -e»- ;^ -1 rt oJ q o 2 cfl 6 (fl w rt C ^ M O 5 rt c3 C9 Ui IH 0) >-. -^ O tn o O ID "rt £ O li 3 ■♦J O o o -t-> t/3 ^ i-i O o S >. ""5 l-H O •2 ^"13 O 4J .3 o o -t-t o o 8 S o .-a ; G o CO » 4) 3 01 -t-> U5 3 C/3 oTO u V PQ 11 d ^ o 3 o u S "> O CO C o Xi c o rtS 05 S B O o C/3 w u « a 3 4) Oh H o o 3 J2 ° 03 " > ^ \o Q « « O C/3 O 10 10 O i-> 11 O VO XT, o Q o a o o 00 a. \o N 00 \o o ■>*■ O M N O p^ m fO m ^ T) {:. Vi rt s X c « JS ^ « 1—1 C < < c o PQ 03 t« s o C o 03 V M f^i j=,«^ os 1— 1.« ^•5^ c . ots 3 ^ S >^ mpq 01 O "Eh a ,£3 u o 1-4 01 c a n5 O (3 3 Oh Hi an hn ohn 3 ^'^■- - -"O Cooper John Corkine Danyel Dowlan o 03 W 330 APPENDIX A o u 0) 6 o C d oO ■V a a •= a r-i. TO ft) 1—1 ■ u u-j i: •S -S +^ C I- o) a. rto >.o >, c o « X'B '" O '^ rt ■>-' inWi rt rt «1 4/ c ™ «J >,'^ O ;c/5 4< 'C P. 4J -ti CT3 ^ 1-4 .4_> Jo .2 > •" _• S O V3^ tO+J W-lJ X^ "^ cAi--^ rl"^ r*'" f/i S 4i c O -! •S c -„ . - C C QJ O c^ rt rt »j. o o 0) tfl 5u :i: : oc/) c '•o i> c — en J2 G cS J) CTj iH r- •r? O . .ij O O en M O o 5 ., "^ o S en • 3 ■B •o' ii Hpq 22 o S 03 s: tn 0) ■»-> CD U) V c3 w « In 13 .S en 3 pq en 1^ C/3 <3 c o a o ►-1 a o o •" h-l li c o 3 en 3 u a O •c a efl U c o c o ►J 3 XI en 4> CO 3 O C ^ o Ih O o ■'-' T) 4; W li C/J en •43 3 3 2« a QC5 s O n li '■O J3 •^ M en o O .XI : o ■^6 « to O O O vrt '^ ^ \O00 00 t^ 00 U^ VO lO U% W-l ^'^ W1 «> ^ O N CO IH •^ CO N cs ?< N CO ro c< ■* t^ VO 04 04 01 m 0^ VO t^ ^O "^ VO tX»Al CO "i*- n ■<»•■«^ VO 04 e» •<1-'* CO 04 04 CO 04 N 04 04 04 04 04 I li (X4 c o . Oo§| V V) bo e4 O -a c3 o CO a en a o XI H XI XI et^'H C4 V U4P^ o 9 9^-^ XI 41 ^-^"^ o en -:- Sf « c„- 5 ^ G S a « S s 2 rt o22o^a KB W en a o "2 „ „ O b O S ffi en o H eu a 3 sw XI - ^§ 1) o « - . 4> en >> 3,2 li a CO XJ -a (U en --1 Ih j2 APPENDIX A 331 ^ S.^'-.- rl O 4J « a o -'-' S -*^ 03 ™ CO i< rt . o o (O en &0 en O T3 3 ..S -t-> ci O (J V -t-> en (U ej en O >. a 0) C .ffi eU en u V Ul bC o o ■a I; en en D , , Cl "^ en ™ v-i o o ffi o _ ■+^ to 5 .(J -^ +j w o 6w 00 "J u -3 . 2 ;2ffi2(2 o § ^, o « o S ■" ^< "J3 [^ S' rt gH tuog ^ en "« be- ll o X! » -t-> ." u a — • 4) o rt en en "J ca en cn 2P" d 4-> 3 « d 4; 5^ S E mi! d CO •n « d o -o d o o en d O en o ^ eo a> d o -o d o to ■g bo o V -t-> en 6 d o d o d o d o "-I d "!> o (X4 d o en d o i4 -M en o VO >,vOVO 2 ^ o VO o pr, m . ^ >vO Iz; 00 -*-> VO CO d o . X ;o d o d o I-) u O en •a d i-i a> -4-> eo 4) O IH P s ^ d o • ■<-» to •is d rt «8 8 U3 O iz; eo o en >M »o 00 vn "% c« VO vn fO VO Tf VO to VO tN fx VO (X> , VO • 00 ^s tx Ov . «X t^ • «« nn "1 vri vn vn vn • vn • vn vn vn vn • lO VO • »^ HH 1^ *-» »-< i-t *-) »-t M 1-4 »-* »-i »H M VJ • ■-> a 1 CO a Xi >^ d 1— > ?^ d* en [3 'S Q i i 3 0) 'S iz; •c d Ul ;^ d* Wi bo d Ul ■U" u 4> en o3 s H 2 en d Oh u en 1 H en" C en 1 H u 3 nS > d Xi 1— > tn S ,G H en lU d 0" XI >> Ul a X 1 d 3 S ^ ,£ -i-> 1 u 3 -u> u< Ph > en en i APPENDIX B The following index may be found convenient for pui-poses of reference. It constitutes a complete list of all the English madrigals printed in the Elizabethan part-books. The compositions of the lutenist-composers, for example Dowland and Ford, are not included here, nor are those of Martin Peerson, since these are not in a strict sense madrigals. Settings of words from the Psalms or other passages from the Bible, whether metrical or not, are also omitted from this Index. Those madrigals are marked with an asterisk which were printed in the original editions in separate sections or parts ; and those printed here in italics are the seconil or subsequent parts of such compositions. It should here be repeated that the composers apparently desired to leave it optional to perform separately the single sections of those madrigals which they deliberately divided into two or more parts and numbered independently in their volumes or ' Sets '. A country pair were walking all alone A feigned friend by proof I find . A little pretty bonny lass was walking . A satyr once did run away for dread *A silly sylvan kissing heaven-bom fire A silly sylvan kissing heaven-bom lire A Sparrow-hawk proud About the maypole new Adieu, sweet Amaryllis Adieu, sweet love ! O thus to part Adieu, ye city-prisoning towers . Adieu, you kind and cruel . Ah, cannot sighs, nor tears Ah, cruel Amaryllis, since thou tak'st delight Ah, cruel hateful fortune ! . Ah, Cupid, grant that I may never see Ah, dear heart, why do you rise ? Ah, sweet, alas, when first I saw those eyes Ah, sweet, whose beauty passeth all my telling Alas, must I run away from her that loves me ? Alas, my Daphne, stay but hear . Alas, tarry but one half hour Alas, what a wretched life is this ! Alas, what hope of speeding ? Alas, what hope of speeding ? Alas, where is my love ? . All as a sea the world no other is All at once well met, fair ladies . All creatures now are merry-minded All creatures then with summer are delighted All in a cave a shepherd's lad All pleasure is of this condition *A11 the day I waste in weeping All ye that joy in wailing . All ye that sleep in pleasure Although the heathen poets Ambitious love hath forced me to aspire Weelkes i. 5 Byrd iii. 11 Farmer 14 Ward 7 Lichfild 16-17 Wilbye ii. 26 Weelkes iv. 9 Morley iii. 11 Wilbye i. 12 Bateson i. 10 Tom kins 22 Morley v. 3 Wilbye ii. 30 Wilbye ii. 3 Kirbye 19 Bateson ii. 29 Gibbons 15 Kirbye 7 Vautor 3 East i. 8 Lichfild 10 Weelkes v. 22 Wilbye i. 19 Kirbye 2 Wilbye i. 9 Bateson i. 18 Byrd i. 28 Weelkes ii. i Bennet Tri. 6 Carlton 5 Pilkington i. 15 Wilbye ii. 19 Bateson ii. 22-23 East i. 17 Lichfild I Byrd i. 21 Byrd i. 18 APPENDIX B 333 Among the daffadillies Amyntas with his Phyllis fair An earthly tree a heavenly fruit it bare A nd as her lute doth live or die And must I needs depart then ? . *And think ye, nymphs, to scorn at love ? A nd though my love abounding And when day 's fled with slow pace And yet, O dream, if thou wilt not depart April is in my mistress' face *Are lovers full of fire ? . . . Arise, awake, awake .... Arise, get up, my dear Arise, sweet heart, and come away to play As deadly serpents lurking . As fair as mom, as fresh as May . As Flora slept and I lay waking . As I beheld I saw a herdman wild As I went a walking .... As matchless beauty thee a Phoenix proves As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending As wanton birds when day begins Awake, mine eyes, see Phoebus bright Awake, sweet love, 'tis time to rise Away Ay me Ay me Ay me Ay me Ay me Ay me Ay me Ay me A y me ! thou shalt not love me alas ! heigh ho ! . can every rumour ? my mistress scorns my love my wonted joys forsake me poor heart . that life should yet remain the fatal arrow . . when to the air I breathe my plaining wherefore sighs fair Sylvia ? Beauty is a lovely sweet *Be nimble ! quick ! despatch ! away ! Besides a fountain of sweet briar and roses Blind Love was shooting Blow, shepherds, blow your pipes Blush, my rude present, blushing yet this say Boy, pity me ..... Bright Phoebus greets most clearly But behold where they return along But let her look in mine But not so soon . . . . But though poor sheep fair Phyllis thus do mourn But when by proof they find But yet it seems a foolish drift By the moon we sport and play . Calm was the air and clear the sky Camilla fair tripped o'er the plain Can I abide this prancing ? . Care for thy soul .... Care for thy soul .... Carters, now cast down your whips Cast off all doubtful care Cease, mine eyes, cease your lamenting Cease now, delight .... Cer,se now thy mourning Cease, restless thoughts, to vex my careful mind Farnaby 17 Pilkington i. 7 Byrd ii. 40 Jones 17 Bate son i. 14 Byrd ii. 42-43 Wilbye i. 15 Jones II Vautor 9 Morley ii. i Jones 25-26 Morley Tri. 13 Morley i. 20 Lichfild 12 Weelkes v. 23 Wilbye ii. 5 Hilton 16 Byrd i. 20 Mundy 11 Wilbye ii. 15 Weelkes Tri. 17 Weelkes iii. ic Byrd iii. 12 You 11 II Wilbye i . 2 Weelkes v. 12 Wilbye i. 3 Bateson i. 4 Weelkes i. 9 Famaby 15 Lichfild 5 Morley v. 10 Lichfild II East iii. 2 Bateson i. i East iv. 17-18 Morley ii. 14 Famaby 5 Morley i. 8 Vautor 17 Byrd ii. 16 Kirbye Tri. 20 You 11 16 Jones 4 Byrd Mus. Trans, i. 4=; YouU 18 Byrd ii. 11 Alison 6 Ravenscroft Br. Dis. 8 Carlton Tri. 7 Bateson ii . 15 Alison 14 Byrd i. 31 Pilkington ii. 19 Famaby 2 Byrd ii. 25 Morley i. 15 Weelkes ii. 24 Farmer 13 YouU 13 334 APPENDIX B Cease, sorrows, now .... Celia's wound and mine were one Change me, O heavens, into the ruby stone Change then, for lo she changeth Chaste Daphne fled from Phoebus . Chaste Syrinx fled, fear hasting on her pace Clear wells spring not .... Clorinda false, adieu .... Cloris, whenas I woo .... Cock a doodle doo ! thus I begin Cold Winter's ice is fled and gone Come away, sweet love, and play thee Come, blessed bird, and with thy sugared relish *Come, clap thy hands, thou shepherd swain Come, doleful owl, the messenger of woe Come follow me, fair nymphs Come forth, sweet nymph, and play thee Come, gentle swains, and shepherd's dainty daughters ..... Come, jolly swains, come, let us sit around Come, let 's begin to revel't out . Come life, come death, I care not Come, love, let's crown this famous night *Come, love, let 's walk into the Spring . Come, lovers, follow me Come, merry lads, let us away Come, sable night, put on thy mourning stole Come, shepherd swains, and on thy cypress tree . Come, shepherd swains, that wont to hear me sing Come, shepherds, follow me .... Come, shepherds, sing with me .... Come, shepherds' weeds, attend my woeful cries . Come, sirrah Jack, ho ! . Come, sorrow, help me to lament Come, sprightly mirth, like birds in the Spring Come to me, grief, for ever .... Come, woeful Orpheus ..... Compare me to the child that plays with fire Compel the hawk to sit that is unmanned Constant Penelope ...... Construe my meaning, wrest not my method Content thyself with thy estate .... Corydon would kiss her then ..... *Coy Daphne fled from Phoebus .... Crowned with flowers I saw fair Amaryllis . Crowned with flowers I saw fair Amaryllis . Cniel, behold my heavy ending .... Cruel, let nxy heart be blessed .... Cruel madam, my heart you have bereft me Cruel Pabrilla, with thine angry look Cruel, unkind, my heart thou hast bereft me Cruel, you pull away too soon your lips Cruel, wilt thou persever ? . *Cupid in a bed of roses ..... Cytherea smiling said ...... Dainty fine bird, that art encaged there Dainty fine sweet nymph delightful Dainty sweet bird, who art encaged there Dainty white pearl, and you fresh-smiling roses Dame Venus, hence to Paphos go . . . Damon and Phyllis squared .... Weelkes i. 6 Hilton 5 Wilbye ii. 1 1 Holbome i Pilkington ii. 9 Pilkington ii. 13 Weelkes i. 4 Morley ii . 2 Tomkins 16 Jones 9 Weelkes iii. i Greaves 21 Johnson Tri. 24 Weelkes ii. 19-20 Jones 13 Bateson i. 5 Vautor I Cavendish 24 & Tri . Byrd iii. 13 Weelkes v. i East iii. 6 Hilton 21 You 11 2-4 Morley ii. 1 1 You 11 20 Ward 27 East iv. 16 Wilbye ii. i Bennet 5 Tomkins 15 Pilkington ii. 14 Weelkes v. 6 Bateson ii. 24 Hilton 20 Byrd i. 34 Byrd iii. 19 Farmer 9 Byrd ii. 28 B3n:d i. 23 Famaby 20 Carlton 2 East i. 3 Pilkington ii. 8-9 Byrd iii. 22 Pilkington ii. 15 Wilbye i. 28 Lichfild 15 Vautor 6 Pilkington ii. 22 Bennet i i Morley i . 3 Morley v. 12 Bateson ii. 25-26 Bateson ii. 26 Gibbons 9 Morley iii. i Vautor 18 East iii. 18 Bateson i. 8 Morley v. 14 II APPENDIX B 335 Daphne, on the rainbow riding . Dare you haunt our hallowed green ? . Dear, if you wish my dying Dear love, be not unkind to thy beloved Dear, may some other, since not I ? Dear pity, how ? ah how ? ♦Dear shepherdess, thou art more lovely fair Dear, why do you joy and take such pleasure ? Death hath deprived me of my dearest friend Deep lamenting, grief bewraying . Despiteful thus unto myself I languish . Die, hapless man, since she denies Die not, fond man, before thy day Die now, my heart ..... Do you not know how Love first lost his seeing ? Donna il vostro bel viso .... Dorus, a silly shepherd swain Down from above falls Jove in rain ♦Down in a valley as Alexis trips . Down the hills Corinna trips Draw on, sweet night. .... Drown not with tears, my dearest love t Farnaby 4 Ravenscroft Br. Dis. 6 Bateson i. 23 East iv. 4 Hilton 6 Wilbye i. 5 Pilkington ii. 21-22 East ii. 16 Weelkes v. 26 Morley i. 9 Wilbye ii. 29 Wilbye i. 13 Ward 25 Morley ii. 19 Morley i. 16 Weelkes v. 24 Pilkington i. 5 Bateson i. 9 Wilbye ii. 21-22 Bateson ii. 14 Wilbye ii. 31 Pilkington ii. 20 Each day of thine, sweet month of May Early, before the day doth spring Earth's but a point to the world . England receive the rightful king Even as the flowers do wither Every bush new springing YouU 1 YouU 22 Alison 18-19 Greaves 16 Carlton 21 Cavendish 27 Faint not, lovers, for denials Fair Cytherea presents her doves Fair Daphne, gentle shepherdess, sat weeping Fair Hebe when dame Flora meets Fair is my love, my dear and only jewel Fair is the rose, yet fades with heat and cold •Fair ladies, that to love captived are . Fair nymph, I heard one telling . Fair Orian in the mom .... Fair Oriana, Beauty's Queen Fair Oriana, seeming to wink at folly . Fair Phyllis I saw sitting all alone Fairest are the words that cover deep'st conceit False love did me inveigle .... Farewell, all joys /...., Farewell, disdainful, since no love avails me Farewell, false love, for so I find Farewell, false love, the oracle of lies . Farewell, my joy ..... Farewell, my love, I part contented Farewell, sweet woods and mountains . Faustina hath a fairer face Fire and lightning from heaven fall ! . Fire ! fire ! my heart .... First with looks he lived and died . Flora, fair nymph, whilst silly lambs are feeding Flora gave me fairest flowers Flora, wilt thou torment me ? . Flourish, ye hillocks, set with fragrant flowers Fly away. Care, for Venus goes a-maying Fly, Love, aloft to heaven and look out Fortune Hilton 14 Lisley Tri. 22 East iv. 14 Bateson i. 24 East i. 20 Gibbons 16 Gibbons 10- 11 Farmer Tri. 14 Milton Tri. 18 Hilton sen. Tri. Jones Tri. 21 Farmer 15 Vautor 5 Morley v. 2 Gibbons 8 Morley i. 10 East ii. II Byrd i. 25 Weelkes ii. 21 Kirbye 5 East iv. 8 Cavendish 26 Morley iv. 8 Morley iii. 14 Lichfild 4 Ward 15 Wilbye i. 22 Morley iv. 9 Wilbye ii. 2 East iv. 19 Wilbye i. i 336 APPENDIX B Fly, Love, tliat art so sprightly . Fly not so fast, my only joy and jewel. Fly not so swift, my dear, behold me dying Fly, Philomel, to deserts fly Follow me, sweet love and soul's delight *Fond Love is blind, blind therefore lovers be Fond men, that do so highly prize For lust is frail, where love is ever sound Forsaken Thyrsis, sighing, sings alas Four arms, two necks, one wreathing . Free from Love's bonds I lived long ♦From Citheron the warlike boy . ♦From stately tower King David . From Virgin's womb this day did spring Fusca, in thy starry eyes . Gifts of feature and of mind Give me my heart and I will go . Go, wailing accents, go . . . Go ye, my canzonets, to my dear darling Go, you skipping kids and fawns Good love, then fly thou to her Good morrow, fair ladies of the May Gush forth, my tears, and stay the burning Ha ha ! this world doth pass Happy, O happy he, who not affecting . Happy streams, whose trembling fall . Hard by a crystal fo\intain Hard destinies are Love and Beauty parted Hark ! all ye lovely saints above Hark ' Alleluia cheerly Hark ! did you ever hear ? (Long live fair Oriana) Hark ! did you ever hear ? . Hark ! hear you not a heavenly harmony ? Hark / I hear some dancing Hark ! jolly shepherds, hark ! Have I found her ? O rich finding Have I found her ? O rich finding He only can behold with unaffrighted eyes Heigh ho ! 'chill go to plough no more Help ! I fall ! Lady . Hence, Care f thou art too cruel Hence stars ! too dim of light Hence stars ! too dim of light Her breath is more sweet Her eyes like angels watch them still Her hair the net of golden wire . Here is an end of all the songs Here rest, my thoughts Here rest, my thoughts ♦Hero, kiss me or I die His heart his wound received Ho ! who comes here ? Hold out, my heart, with joy's delights accloyed Hope of my heart ..... ♦How art thou thralled, O poor despised creature How great delight from those sweet lips I find How long shall I with mournful music stain ? How merrily we live that shepherds be ♦I always beg, yet never am relieved I iitways loved to call my lady Rose I bei ligustri c rose ..... i8 Morley v. i Ward 6 Wilbye ii. 13 Hilton 25 East ii. 5 Bateson ii. 28-29 Tomkins 4 Alison 12 East ii. 18 Weelkes v. 14 Ward 1 1 Byrd ii. 19-20 Carlton 6-7 Byrd ii. 35 Tomkins 21 Hilton 15 Weelkes ii, 7 Ward 5 Morley iv. i Pilkington ii. Morley v. 19 Morley i. 6 Holbome 5 Weelkes v. 19 Wilbye ii. 16 Wilbyp ii. 10 Morley Tri. 23. Wilbye ii. 22 Weelkes ii. 8 Morley v. 21 E. Gibbons Tri. Hunt Tri. 16 Bateson i. 22 Weelkes iii. 8 Morley ii. 17 Bateson ii. 13 Pilkington i. 1 1 Alison 2 Mundy 22 Morley ii. 5 Weelkes iii. 5 East Tri. o East ii. 21 Byrd ii. 37 Alison 21 Bateson ii. 27 Jones 12 Pilkington i. 8 Holbome 3 Hilton 22-23 Ward 2 Morley ii. 18 Morley i. 5 Ward 17 Gibbons 7-8 Tomkins 5 Ward 12 East ii. 4 Wilbye i. 16-17 Lichfild r, Weelkes v. 17 APPENDIX B 337 can no more but hope, good heart come, sweet birds, with swiftest flight did woo her with my looks do not love my Phyllis for her beauty fall and then I rise again aloft . fall, I fall, O stay me ! / I I I I *I I feign not friendship where I hate I I I I I I follow, lo, the footing follow, lo, the footing go before, my darling have entreated and I have complained heard a noise and wished for a sight . heard a withered maid complain *I heard three virgins sweetly singing . I joy not in no earthly bUss I languish to complain me I live, and yet methinks I do not breathe I love, alas, I love thee, dainty darling I love, alas, yet am I not beloved I love, alas, yet am not loved I love, and have my love regarded I saw my lovely Phyllis I see A mhition never pleased I should for grief and anguish die I sung sometimes my thoughts . I thought, my love, that I should overtake you I thought that Love had been a boy . I tremble not at noise of war I wander up and down *I weigh not Fortune's frown nor smile I will no more come to thee If beauty be a treasure If floods of tears could cleanse my folhes past If I behold your eyes If I seek to enjoy the fruits of my pain If in thine heart thou nourish will If it be love to sit and mourn If Love be blind how hath he then the sight // Love be just ..... If Pity reign with Beauty . If she neglect me .... If that a sinner's sighs be angel's food *If the deep sighs of an afiEiicted breast . If this be love, to scorn my crying . If those dear eyes that burn me If thy deceitful looks have chained my heart If women can be courteous when they list If women could be fair and never fond // you speak kindly to me . In an evening late, as I was walking In black mourn I . . . In crystal towers and turrets In deep distress to live without delight In depth of grief and sorrow great In dew of roses steeping *In dolorous complaining In every place fierce love . In fields abroad, where trumpets shrill In flower of April springing In health and ease am I In hope a king doth go to war *In midst of woods or pleasant grove 2049 Y Alison 7 Jones 8 East iv. 2 East ii. I East ii. 19 Wilbye i. 14-15 Gibbons 6 Morley v. 17 Pilkdngton i. 2 Morley iv. 4 Ward 26 Bateson ii. 18 Hilton 10 East iv. 12-13 Byrd i. 11 Bennet 6 Wilbye ii. 7 Morley iii. 17 Kirbye 20 Wilbye ii. 14 Weelkes ii. 18 Morley iii. 8 Gibbons 5 Morley iv. 12 Wilbye i. 21 Farmer 8 Byrd ii. 32 Gibbons 4 Bennet i Gibbons 3-6 Morley ii. 13 Weelkes i. 22 Bateson ii. 12 Jones 18 Bateson ii. 4 Byrd ii. 44 Hilton 24 Bateson i. 1 1 Byrd ii. 21 Kirbye 18 Pilkington ii. 10 Byrd i. 30 Ward 23-24 Lichfild 14 Jones 23 Weelkes i. 14 Carlton 13 Byrd i. 17 Jones 24 East i. 7 Weelkes i. 3 Byrd iii. 8 Mundy 18 Bateson ii. 21 Morley ii. 7 East ii. 7-8 Morley ii. 8 Byrd i. 22 Cavendish 21 Ward 4 AUson 4 Mundy 27-28 338 APPENDIX B In nets of golden wires In pleasant summer's morning In pride of May the fields are gay *In the merrj' month of May, in a morn In the merry month of May the fields are decked In vain, my tongue, thou beggest ♦In Winter cold .... In yonder dale there are fine flowers Injurious hours, whilst any joy doth bless me *Is Love a boy ? .... Is this thy doom ? . . . . Jockie, thine horn-pipe's dull Joy, joy doth so arise and so content me Joy of my life, that hath my love in hold La Virginella ..... Ladies, you see Time flieth Lady, if I through grief and your disdaining, *Lady, my flame still burning Lady, the birds right fairly. *Lady, the melting crystal of your eye Lady, the silly flea of all disdained Lady, those cherries plenty Lady, those eyes of yours that shine Lady, when I behold the roses sprouting (4 voices) Lady, when I behold the roses sprouting (6 voices) Lady, when I behold your passions Lady, why grieve you still me ? . Lady, you think you spite me Lady, your eye my love enforced Lady, your spotless feature Lady, your words do spite me Lais, now old, that erst attempting lass Late is my rash accounting Leave, alas, this tormenting Leave now, mine eyes, lamenting Leave off, sad Philomel, to sing . Let every sharp in sharp tune figure Let go, let go ! why do you stay me ? Let not the sluggish sleep . Life of my life, how should I live ? Life, tell me what is the cause Lightly she whipped o'er the dales Like as the gentle heart itself bewrays Like two proud armies Live not, poor bloom, but perish Lo ! country sports that seldom fades Lo ! here another love from heaven descended Lo ! here I leave my heart in keeping Lo ! here my heart I leave with her Lo ! she flies when I woo her Lo ! where with flowery head *Lock up, fair lids, the treasures of my heart Long have I made these liills and valleys wearj' Long have the shepherds sung this song . Long live fair Oriana (Hark ! did you ever hear ?) Lord I when I think what a paltry thing Love, cease tormenting Love, if a god thou art Love is a dainty mild and sweet . Love is a fit of pleasure Morley iv. 10 You 11 9 Weelkes ii. 11 East i. 2-3 You 11 19 East i. 14 Byrd iii. 3-4 You 11 3 Lichfild 18 Byrd ii. 15-16 Pilkington i. 6 Weelkes v. 2 Morley i. 2 East i. 16 Byrd i. 24 Morley v. 20 Morley i. 14 Farmer 4-5 Weelkes iii. 9 Greaves 19-20 Farnaby 9 Morley iii. 16 Morley i. 4 Wilbye i. 10 Wilbye i. 24 Farnaby 19 Morley ii. 6 Morley v. 1 5 Weelkes ii. 16 Weelkes i. 16 Wilbye i. 18 Gibbons 13 Weelkes v. 1 3 Morley iii. 19 Morley iv. 7 Hilton II Carlton 12 Bennet 4 Byrd iii. 10 Bateson ii. 17 East iii. 21 Mundy Tri. 2 Carlton 8 Weelkes iv. i Bateson ii. 7 Weelkes i. 12 Morley iv. 6 East iii. 20 Kirbye i Morley iii. 18 Morley v. 6 Vautor 8-9 Wilbye ii. 34 Greaves 18 E. Gibbons Tri. 3 Weelkes v. 1 5 Tomkins 6 Jones 5 Ward 10 Byrd ii. 43 APPENDIX B Love is a secret feeding fire Love is the fire that bums me Love laid his yoke upon me Love learns by laughing first to speak Love me not for comely grace *Love, shooting among many Love shooting at another Love took his bow and arrow Love would discharge the duty . Love would discharge the duty Love wounded me but did not touch Love's folk in green arraying Lullaby, my sweet little Baby Lure, falconers ! give warning to the field Make haste, ye lovers, plaining . Mars in a fury .... *Melpomene, bewail thy sister's loss Menalcas in an evening walking was Merrily, my love and I . . , Methinks I hear Amphion's warbling strings Mira cano, sol occubuit Miraculous Love's wounding ! 'Mongst thousands good one wanton dame Mopsie, leave ofif to love Mother, I will have a husband Mourn now, my soul, with anguish Much it delighted to see Phyllis smiling Music divine, proceeding from above . Music some tmnks no music is Must I part, O my jewel ? My bonny lass she smileth . ""My flocks feed not My heart is dead within me My heart oppressed by your disdaining My heart, why hast thou taken ? My Hope a counsel with my Love My lady's coloured cheeks were like the roses My lovely wanton jewel My mind to me a kingdom is My mistress after service due *My mistress frowns when she should play My nymph, the dear, and her my dear. My peace and my pleasure . My Phyllis bids me pack away . *My prime of youth is but a frost of cares *My prime of youth is but a frost of cares My prime of youth is but a frost of cares My tears do not avail me . My throat is sore, my voice is hoarse *My true love hath my heart *Nay let me weep, though others' tears be spent Ne'er let the sun with his deceiving light Never did any more delight to see . No haste but good, yet stay / . No more I will thy love importune No, no, Nigella ! . . . No, no, no, it will not be No no, she doth but flout me No, no, though I shrink still Noel, adieu, thou Court's delight y 2 339 Pilkington i. ij Bateson ii. i Hilton 1 8 Morley i . 2 1 Wilbye ii. 12 Famaby 13-14 Famaby 14 Morley v. 5 Bateson i. 2 Byrd ii. 34 Hilton 8 Morley v. 4 Byrd i. 32 Bennet Br. Dis. 5 Weelkes i. 17 Weelkes iv. 6 Vautor 20-21 Pilkington ii. 7 Bateson i. 27 Weelkes iv. 4 Vautor 15 Morley iv. 5 Gibbons 11 East i. 12 Vautor 4 Kirbye 8 Cavendish 23 Tomkins 24 Bateson i. 28 Kirbye 21 Morley iii. 7 Weelkes i. 2-4 Pilkington i. 19 Lichfild 20 Morley Ital. canz. 8 East i. 10 Famaby i Morley iii. 12 Byrd i. 14 Bateson ii. 2 EUlton 2-3 Morley v. 1 1 East iii. 3 Weelkes i. 24 Alison 9-10 East i. 18-19 Mundy 17 Weelkes i. 23 Wilbye i. 27 Ward 1-2 Gibbons 17-19 Gibbons 18 Vautor 7 East iv. 18 Tomkins 2 Morley iii. 6 Pilkington 20 Morley ii. 12 Weelkes v. 1 1 Weelkes iv. 10 340 APPENDIX B Nought is on earth more sacred . . . . ♦Nought under heaven so strongly doth allure ♦Now Cloris laughs and swears . . . . Now each creature joys the other Now each flowery bank of May Now every tree renews his summer green Now I see thou floutest me . . . , . Now is my Cloris fresh as May . . . . Now is the bridals of fair Choralis ♦Now is the gentle season freshly flowering Now is the month of maying . . . . Now is the Summer springing . . . . Now let us make a merry greeting Now must I die recureless . . . . . Now must I part, my darling . . . . Now the country lasses hie them . . . . ♦O Care, thou wilt despatch me .... O come again, my lovely jewel . . . . O come, shepherds, all together . . . . O dear life, when may it be ? . O divine love, which so aloft can raise O do not run away from me, my jewel. O fly not, love, O fly not me .... O fly not ! O take some pity . . . . O fools ! can you not see a traffic nearer ? O God, that guides the cheerful sun O gracious God, pardon my great offence O grief ! even on the bud ..... ♦O grief ! where shall poor grief find patient hear- ing ? O had not Venus been beguiled . . . . O heavens, what shall I do ? ♦O heavy heart, whose harms are liid O I do love, then kiss me ..... let me die for true love ..... ♦O let me live for true love . . . . . O merry world, when every lover with his mate O metaphysical tobacco ..... O must I part, my jewel ? . O my grief were it disclosed .... O my thoughts, my thoughts, surcease O no, thou dost but flout me .... O now weep, now sing ! . , . O say, dear life, when shall these twin-bom berries ? O sleep, fond Fancy, sleep ..... O softly-singing lute ...... O stay, fair cniel, do not still torment me ♦O stay, sweet love, see here the place . O sweet, alas, what say you ? . . . . O sweet grief, O sweet sighs ..... O that a drop from such a sweet fount O that most rare breast ..... O that the learned poets of this time . O thou that art so cruel ..... O vain desire, wherewith the world bewitches *0 what is she, whose looks like lightnings pierce ? O what shall I do ? O wretched man ! why lov'st thou earthly life ? . O yoti that hear this voice ..... Of all the birds that I have heard Of flattering speech with sugared words Carlton 14 Carlton 9-10 East ii. 17-18 Fanner 2 Gibbons 12 Weelkes i. 7 Pilkington i. 22 Weelkes ii. 22 Weelkes ii. 13 Morley ii. 9-10 Morley iii. 3 Hilton 19 Weelkes iii. 2 Morley i. 13 East iii. 22 YouU 24 Weelkes iii. 4-5 East i. I Lichfild 8 Byrd ii. 33 Ward 22 East i. 6 Bateson i. 19 Morley i. 11 Wilbye i. 8 Byrd iii. 28 Pilkington ii. 17 Morley v. 7 Bennet 15-16 Hilton 12 Kirbye 13 Alison 3-7 Jones 6 Tomkins 8 Tomkins 7-8 Vautor II East ii. 22 Kirbye 21 Lichfild 7 Ward 8 Morley ii. 12 Weelkes v. 21 Ward 3 Bennet 12 Pilkington ii. 24 East i. 9 Farmer 7-8 Morley ii. 16 Bennet 16 Greaves 20 Byrd i. 35 Gibbons 2 Morley iv. 1 1 Carlton 20 Bateson ii. 9-10 Wilbye ii. 6 Wilbye ii. 27 Byrd i. 16 Mundy 10 Byrd iii. 2 APPENDIX B *Of gold all burnished *Of ]oys and pleasing pains . Of sweet and dainty flowers Oft did I marie how in thine eyes Oft have I tendered tributary tears Oft have I vowed how dearly I did love thee On a fair morning .... On the plains, fairy trains . Once I thought to die for love One woman scarce of twenty Only joy, now here you are Our Bonny -boots could toot it Our country swains in the Morris-dance Our hasty life away doth post Out from the vale of deep despair Oyez ! Has any found a lad ? Palaemon and his Sylvia forth must walk Pearce did dance with Petronella Pearce did love fair Petronel Penelope, that longed for the sight Penelope, that longed for the sight Phillida bewailed the want of Corydon Phoebe tells me when I woo Phyllis, farewell, I may no longer live (4 voices) Phyllis, farewell, I may no longer live (6 voices) Phyllis, go take thy pleasure ! . . , Phyllis hath sworn she loves the man Phyllis, I fain would die now PhylUs, now cease to move me . Phyllis, the bright, when frankly she desired Phyllis, yet see him dying .... Pipe, shepherds, pipe full merrily Pity, dear love, my pity-moving words Pity, O pity me, my own sweet jewel . Pleasure is a wanton thing .... Poor is the life that misses .... Pour forth, mine eyes, the fountains of your tears Prostrate, O Lord, I lie . Quickly send it then unto me . . . Rejoice, rejoice ...... Rest now, Amphion, rest thy charming lyre ♦Rest with yourselves, you vain and idle brains Retire, my soul, consider thine estate . Retire, my thoughts, unto your rest Retire, my troubled soul, rest and behold Round about her chariot . Round about I follow thee . Round about in a fairy ring Round around about a wood as I walked Round around and keep your ring Sadness, sit down, on my soul feed Said I that Amaryllis ? . . . Say, dainty dames, shall we go play ? . Say, dear, when will your frowning leave ? Say, dear, when will your frowning leave ? Say, dear, will you not have me ? Say, gentle njmaphs, that tread these mountains ♦Say, shepherd, say, where is fair Phyllis gone ? Byrd ii. 36-37 Wilbye i. 26-27 YouU 7 Tomkins 25 Ward 20 Wilbye ii. 20 Morley ii. 22 Weelkes ii. 5 You 11 10 Bateson ii. 3 YouU 6 Morley v. 9 Weelkes i. 1 1 Tomkins i Ward 21 Tomkins 9 Pilkington ii. 11 Famaby 7 Famaby 6 B5rrd ii. 27 Mundy 29 Famaby 3 Hilton 4 Bateson i. 12 Bateson i. 25 Weelkes ii. 10 Weelkes ii. 20 Morley iii. 21 Tomkins 18 Ward 16 Tomkins 20 YouU s East i. II YouU 12 Bateson ii. 5 East iii. 15 Pilkington i. 3 Byrd i. 27 Hilton 23 Byrd ii. 24 Bennet 17 AUson 11-12 Byrd iii. 17 Weelkes i. 19 Ward 19 E. Gibbons Tri. 19 East ii. 6 Bennet Br. Dis. 9 Morley ii. 21 Ravenscroft Br. Dis. 7 Bateson ii. 16 Morley v. 13 Weelkes ii. 9 East iii. 19 Weelkes i. 20 Morley i. 19 Morley ii. 20 YouU 17-18 342 APPENDIX B Say, wanton, will you love me ? . See Amaryllig shamed See forth her eyes her startled spirit peeps See, see, mine own sweet jewel See, see the shepherds' Queen *See, see, those sweet eyes . See what a maze of error See where my love a-maying goes See where the maids are singing . See where this nymph with all her train . ♦Shall I abide this jesting ? Shall I seek to ease my grief ? She only is the pride of Nature's skill . She thut my plaints with rigour She that my plaints with rigour She with a cruel frown Shepherds and nymphs, that trooping . Shoot, false love, I care not •Slirill-sounding bird, call up the drowsy morn Simkin said that Sis was fair Since Bonny-boots was dead Since my tears and lamenting Since neither tunes of joy nor notes of sadness Since Robin Hood, maid Marian . Since tears could not obtain . *Since your sweet cherry lips I kissed Sing, merry birds, your cheerful notes . Sing on, sister, and well met Sing out, ye nymphs and shepherds Sing, shepherds, after me . Sing, shepherds all, and in your roundelays Sing we, dance we on the green . Sing we and chant it . Sing we at pleasure .... Singing alone sat my sweet Amaryllis . Sister, awake, close not your eyes Sit down and sing .... Sit still and stir not, lady . Sleep now, my Muse {4 voices) Sleep now, my Muse (6 voices) Slow slow, fresh fount *Sly thief, if so you will believe So gracious is thy sweet self So light is Love in matchless beauty shining So much to give and be so small regarded So whilom learned that mighty Jewish swain Softly, O softly drop, my eyes Some men desire spouses Some time she would and some time not Soon as the hungry lion seeks his prey ♦Sorrow consumed me, and instead of rest ♦Sound out, my voice, with pleasant tunes ♦Sound out, my voice, with pleasant tunes ♦Sound, saddest notes, with rueful moaning Sovereign of my delight Sovereign of my delight ♦Spc-rt we, my lovely treasure Spring-time mantleth every bough Stay, Corydon, thou swain . Stay, heart, run not so fast Stay, heart, run not so fast Stay, O nymph, the ground seeks but to kiss Weelkes v. 16 East ii. 2 Bateson ii. 10 Morley i. i Tomkins 17 Byrd ii. 29, 34 Kirbye 17 Pilkington i. i Weelkes iii. 6 You 11 4 Alison 13-14 Lichfild 2 Jones 2 East ii. 14 Kirbye 10 Bateson ii. 30 Vautor 22 Morley iii. 2 Jones lo-ii Famaby 18 Holbome 2 Morley ii. 4 Bennet 14 Weelkes v. 20 East ii. 8 Jones 19-20 Jones 7 Vautor 2 Bennet 7 Weelkes ii. 14 Nicolson Tri. 9 Pilkington i. 16 Morley iii . 4 Weelkes ii. 12 Morley iii. 5 Bateson i . 2 1 Weelkes i. i Holbome 6 Kirbye 6 Kirbye 24 YouU 8 East i. 21-22 Bennet 3 Wilbye ii. 4 East ii. 12 Carlton 10 Wilbye ii. 33 Weelkes v. 3 Famaby 16 Farmer 6 Kirbye 12-13 East ii. 13-14 Kirbye 9-10 Carlton 11- 12 Morley v. 8 Pilkington ii. i Morley ii. 15-16 Morley i. 24 Wilbye ii. 32 Morley v. 18 Pilkington ii. 4 Pilkington i. 4 APPENDIX B 343 stay, wandering thoughts, O whither do you haste Still it fryeth ....... Strange were the life that every man would like . Strike it up, Tabor ...... Surcease, you youthful shepherdesses all Sure there is no god of love .... Susanna fair, sometime (3 voices) .... Susanna fair, sometime (5 voices) .... Susanna fair, sometime . . . . . Sweet Daphne, stay thy flying .... Sweet friend, thy absence grieves ♦Sweet Gemma, when I first beheld Sweet heart, arise, why do you sleep ? ♦Sweet honey-sucking bees ..... Sweet, I grant that I am as black Sweet lord, your flame still burning Sweet love, I err, and do my error know Sweet love, I will no more abuse thee Sweet love, if thou wilt gain a monarch's glory Sweet love, O cease thy flying .... ♦Sweet Muses, nymphs, and shepherds, sporting Sweet nymph, come to thy lover ♦Sweet nymphs, that trip along the English lands . Sweet Phillida, my flocks as white ♦Sweet Philomel, cease thou thy songs awhile Sweet Phyllis, stay, O let some pity move thee Sweet pity, wake, and tell my cruel sweet Sweet Suffolk owl, so trimly dight Sweet thief, when me of heart you reft Sweet, those trammels of your hair ♦Sweet, when thou singest . Take here my heart . Take time while Time doth last . Tan ta ra, cries Mars on bloody rapier • Tell me, dear, fain would I know That Muse, which sung the beauty The Andalusian merchant . The Ape, the Monkey, and Baboon did meet The black-bird made the sweetest sound The curtain drawn, I saw my love The eagle's force subdues each bird The fawns and satyrs tripping ♦The fair young virgin . The fields abroad with spangled flowers The flattering words, sharp glosses The gods have heard my vows The greedy hawk with sudden sight of lure The heathen gods for love forsook their state The lady Oriana The longer that I live The love of change hath changed the world ♦The man of upright life The match that's made The messenger of the delightful Spring The more I burn, the more I do desire The nightingale in silent night The nightingale, so pleasant and so gay The nightingale, so soon as April bringeth The nightingale, the organ of deUght . The nymphs and shepherds danced ? Jones 21 Morley Ital. Canz. 18 Bateson i. 17 Weelkes v. 18 Pilkington ii. 26 Tomkins 3 Byrd ii. 8 Byrd i. 29 Famaby 12 Lichfild 9 Farmer 1 1 Bateson i. 15-16 Weelkes ii. 6 Wilbye ii. 17-18 Holborne 4 Farmer 5 East i. 13 Weelkes ii. 3 Wilbye i. 23 Kirbye 15 East iii. 1-3 Morley iv. 3 Greaves 17-18 Pilkington i. 18 Ward 13-14 You 11 14 Ward 9 Vautor 12 Vautor II Bateson ii. 6 Jones 14-15 Weelkes iii. 3 Farmer 16 Weelkes v. 7 Hilton 13 Kirbye 16 Weelkes iv. 8 Weelkes v. 10 Mundy 28 Famaby 1 1 Byrd iii. i Tomkins Tri. Byrd Mus. Morley ii. 10 Farmer 12 Weelkes v. 8 Byrd ii. 14 Carlton 19 Wilbye Tri. 15 Mundy 19 Carlton i Alison 1-2 Byrd i. 26 Pilkington i. 10 Jones 26 Bateson ii. 8 Byrd ii. 9 Bateson i. 3 Weelkes v. 25 Marson Tri. 6 10 Trans, i. 44-45 344 APPENDIX B The sacred choir of angels sings . The self-same things that gives me cause •The shepherd Claius, seeing ♦The shepherd Strephon loved fair Dorida ♦The shepherds' daughters all are gone . The silver swan .... The Spring is past and yet it hath not sprung The Spring is past and yet it hath not sprung The stately stag that seems so stout ♦The sturdy rock, for all his strength The sylvan justly suffered The wavering planet most unstable The witless boy, that blind is to behold The woodbine. Flora, doth decay Then for a boat his quiver stood Then grant me, dear, those cherries still There careless thoughts are freed ♦There is a garden in her face There is a jewel which no Indian mines There, where I saw her lovely beauty There's not a grove that wonders not my woe Thine eyes so bright . This day Christ was bom . This love is but a wanton fit This sweet and merry month of May (4 voices) This sweet and merry month of May (6 voices) Those cherries fairly do enclose Those dainty daffadillies Those spots upon my lady's face Those sweet delightful lilies Those sweet delightful lilies Thou art but young, thou sayest ♦Thou art not fair for all thy red and white Thou tellest thy sorrows Though Amarylhs dance in green Though me you did disdain to view Though my carriage be but careless Though Philomela lost her love . Though Wit bids Will to blow retreat Three times a day my prayer is . Three virgin nymphs were walking Thrice blessed be the giver ♦Thule, the period of Cosmography Thus Bonny-boots the birthday celebrated Thus Love commands .... Thus saith my Cloris bright Thus saith my Galatea Thyrsis, let pity move thee Thyrsis, on his fair Phyllis' breast reposing Thyrsis sleepest thou ? Holla 1 . Thyrsis sleepest thou ? Holla ! . To bed, to bed, she calls To former joy now turns the grove To hear men sing I care not To-morrow is the marriage-day . To shorten Winter's sadness To sport, our merry meeting To the shady woods now wend we Too much I once lamented Trust not too much, fair youth . Turn about and see me Alison 24 Carlton 3 Lichfild 3-4 Mundy 20-21 YouU 15-16 Gibbons 1 Alison 10 East i. 19 Alison 16 Alison 15-16 Lichfild 17 Famaby 8 Carlton 16 Hilton 9 Byrd ii. 13 Jones 20 Byrd ii. 20 Alison 19-21 Wilbye ii. 8 Wilbye ii. 24 Ward 24 Jones 1 Byrd iii. 27 Morley i. 22 Byrd iii. 9. Byrd. It. Mad Alison 20 Morley iii Weelkes i Bateson i Weelkes i Wilbye i. It. Mad. Eng. i. 8 Eng.i.28 • 15 . 21 ■ IS 29 Vautor 13-14 Jones 15 Byrd i. 12 Hilton 7 Weelkes v. 9 Morley i. 23 Alison 5 Weelkes iv. 5 Weelkes i. 10 Famaby 10 Weelkes iv. 7-8 Holmes Tri. 8 Wilbye i. 17 Wilbye i. 11 Morley iii. 10 Morley i. 12 Bateson i. 26 Bennet 8 East iv. 1 East i. 5 Cavendish 25 East iv. 9 Weelkes v. 4 Weelkes ii. 2 Hilton I Tomkins 13 Tomkins 14 Gibbons 20 Mundy 12 APPENDIX B 345 Under the tops of Helicon . Unkind, is this the meed of lovers' pain ? Unkind, O stay thy flying • Unto our flocks, sweet Corolus *Up then, Melpomene . Upon a bank with roses set about Upon a hill the bonny boy *Upon a Summer's day Wake, sleepy Thyrsis, wake Wandering in this place Was ever wretch tormented ? We shepherds sing, we pipe, we play Wedded to Will is Witless . Weep forth your tears and do lament ♦Weep no more, thou sorry boy . Weep not, dear love, but joy Weep, O mine eyes, and cease not Weep, O mine eyes, and cease not Weep, sad Urania, weep Weep, silly soul disdained . Weep, weep, mine eyes, my heart can take no rest Weep, weep mine eyes, salt tears due honour give Weeping full sore, with face as fair Welcome, sweet pleasure Were I a king I might command content What ails my darhng ? . . . What can I do, my dearest ? What doth my pretty darling ? . What haste, fair lady ? leave me not . ♦What, have the gods their comfort sent ? What heart such doubled force resisteth ? *What if a day, or a month, or a year ? What is life, or worldly pleasure ? What is our life ? a play of passion ♦What needeth all this travail ? What pleasure have great princes ? What saith my dainty darling ? . What ? shall I part thus unregarded ? . What thing more cruel can you do ? What, though her frowns and hard entreaties kill ? Whenas I glance on my sweet lovely Phyllis Whenas I glance upon my lovely Phyllis When Cloris heard of her Amjmtas dying When first by force of fatal destiny *When first I saw those cruel eyes *When Flora fair the pleasant tidings bringeth When Flora frowns I hope for peace *When I behold her eyes When I lament my light o' love . When I observe those beauty's wonderments When I was otherwise than now I am . When, lo, by break of morning . When on my dear I do demand the due When Oriana walked to take the air . When Oriana walked to take the air . When shall my wretched life give place ? When Thoralis delights to walk . *When to her lute Corinna sings . When to the gloomy woods *When younglings first on Cupid fix . * *Where are now those jolly swains ? PiUrington i. 17 Vautor 12 Wilbye i. 20 Weelkes ii. 23 Kirbye 22-23 Ward 18 Weelkes v. 5 Byxd ii. 12-13 PiUdngton ii. 3 Cavendish 28 Tomkins 12 Weelkes ii. 17 Byrd iii. 23 Ward 28 Tomkins 10- 11 East iv. 23 Bennet 13 Wilbye i. 4 Pilkington ii. 16 Bennet 2 Wilbye ii. 23 Vautor 16 Byrd ii. 26 Weelkes ii . i S Mundy 26 Morley i. 18 Kirbye 3 East ii. 20 Weelkes i. 18 Weelkes iv. 3-4 East iv. 13 Alison 17-18 Byrd iii. 14 Gibbons 14 Wilbye i. 7-8 Byrd i. 19 Morley iii. 9 Karbye 11 East i. 22 Pilkington i. 12 East iv. 5 Bennet 10 Wilbye ii. 9 Byrd ii. 31 Lichfild 13-14 Carlton 4-5 Hilton 17 Jones 3-4 East iv. 7 Tomkins 23 Byrd ii. 30 Morley iv. 2 East i. 15 Bateson i. o Pilkington i. 21 Wilbye i. 25 Weelkes iv. 2 Jones 16-17 Bateson ii. 1 1 Byrd ii. lo-ii YouU 23-24 346 APPENDIX B Where art thou, wanton ? . Where Fancy fond for Pleasure pleads ♦Where most my thoughts, there least my eye Whereat an ant .... While that the sun with liis beams hot Whiles joyful Spring-time lasteth Whilst fatal sisters held the bloody knife Whilst that my lovely Daphne . Whilst youthful sports are lasting Whither away so fast ? . . . \Vhither so fast ? See how the kindly flowers Who master is in Music's art Who likes to love, let him take heed . Who looks may leap .... Who loves a life devoid of quiet rest Who loves this life, from love his love doth err Who made thee. Hob, forsake the plough ? Who prostrate lies at women's feet Who seeks to captivate the freest minds Who vows devotion to fair beauty's shrine Who would have thought that face of thine Why are our Summer sports so brittle ? *Why are you ladies staying ? Why do I, dying, live ? . . . Why do I fret and grieve ? Why do I use my paper, ink, and pen ? Why do you seek by flight ? . Why dost thou fly in such disdain ? Why dost thou shoot ? . . . *Why runs away my love from me ? Why should I grieve that she disdains ? Why should I love since she doth prove ? Why sit I here complaining ? Why smilest thou, sweet jewel ? {3 voices) Why smilest thou, sweet jewel ? (5 voices) Why wail we thus ? . Why weeps, alas, my lady love ? With angel's face and brightness With angel's face and brightness With bitter sighs I heard Amyntas plaining With her sweet locks .... With wreaths of rose and laurel . Witness, ye heavens, I vow to love the fairest Witness, ye heavens, the palace of the gods Woe am I, when my heart dies . ■^Wounded I am ..... Ye bubbling springs, that gentle music makes Ye gentle ladies, in whose sovereign power . Ye restless cares, companions of the night Ye restless thoughts, that harbour discontent Ye restless thoughts, that harbour discontent Ye sylvan nymphs, that in these woods Ye that do live in pleasures plenty Yet again, as soon revived . Yet if that age had frosted o'er his head Yet love me not, nor s$ek not to allure Yet of us twain .... Yet stay, alway, be chained to my heart Yet sweet, take heed Yond hill-tops Phoebus kissed You black bright stars, that shine Morley i. 17 Byrd i. 15 Wilbye ii. 28-29 Weelkes iii. 4 Byrd ii. 23 YouU 21 Vautor 2 1 Lichfild 19 Weelkes ii. 4 Morley i. 7 Bateson i. 7 Hilton 26 Byrd i. 13 Byrd iii. 5 Mundy 30 Ahson 8 Byrd ii. 41 Bateson i. 20 Carlton 17 Carlton 18 Farmer 10 East iv. 3 Weelkes iii. 7-8 Bateson ii. 20 Pilkington i. 14 Byrd i. 33 East ii. ID Bateson ii. 23 Wilbye i. 30 East ii. 9-10 Pilkington i. 9 Kirbye 14 Morley ii. 3 East ii. 3 East ii. 15 Kirbye 23 Morley iii. 20 PCirbye Tri. 20 Norcome Tri. i Bateson ii. 19 Carlton 7 Cobbold Tri. 12 Famaby 21 Mundy 21 Kirbye 4 Byrd ii. 17-18 Pilkington ii. 5 Carlton 15 East i. 23 Bennet 9 Wilbye i. 6 Ward 14 Wilbye ii. 25 Tomkins 1 1 Gibbons 19 Vautor 14 Byrd ii. 18 Bateson i. 16 Wilbye ii. 18 Pilkington ii. 2 Morley v. 16 APPENDIX B 347 You blessed bowers, whose green leaves You gentle nymphs, that on these meadows play You lovers that have loves astray . You meaner beauties of the night You mournful gods and goddesses descend You pretty flowers, that smile You that wont to my pipe's sound You'll never leave still tossing to and fro Young Cupid hath proclaimed Young Cupid hath proclaimed Your beauty it allureth Your fond preferments *Your presence breeds my anguish Your shining eyes and golden hair Your shining eyes and golden hair (4 voices) Your shining eyes and golden hair (d voices) Zephyrus brings the time . . Fanner 17 play . Pilkington ii. . Hilton 3 East vi . East i. 24 . Farmer i . Morley iii. 13 . Farmer 3 East i. 4 , Weelkes i. 8 . Weelkes i. 13 Pilkington ii. . Jones 22-24 . Bateson i. 6 . East iv. 6 . East iv. 24 . Cavendish 22 12 o X! Q iz; W PL, en 0) X3 03 a. 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Douce MM CO 1 1 CO n II 1— 1 (A r— 1 T a> 'i" (4 CO CO «o >^ 1 »n « "* u^ PQ w w ■(-> :ja : : to Co , s -^ CO CO S 3 ^3 H^ § S 4> "cS r— 1 a >^ rn C/3 ^ ^ .4 «CO N N CO fJNNcJcOpjNcic* crjod CO CO CO >i m'^' ^' «' ^ ^'m t^'titi t^' « «' &ii«^«W « t4!4 M X • ^ ' en ^ 4 S-a- • • • . • -J^ • -^^ .c^c)$ a ^. •'^;- .cJ^ .-.« . . . .5.1. « • -1 M -5 .^ . 8;s;28,; .?-. .|- pqpq pqowWWW WW WWWO S K— > W 350 APPENDIX C f^s ^ h.C xfor : ; ; ; : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : "-1 : : : OO : 5 =i.s o\ 5 "n" O 5 tl ON - — - ^. a . rn • • - 'Tf^ • • . . Tj- . : "^ < . > . . . ■<}■ , . • • • • Royai OfM Q l-H HH 1— 1 Q 1-4 Q Q 1 z> N 5) 5^ . . . . .... . :^ : : . . . . . . . . . , , 6\ , , ! r 'o 13 ■^d ■ ■ ■ vri ' 'O e O d ^ en w Cfi 00 "S 1 o iri ^^ ^ o W • • • ^ . • • • • . • h.) ■ • m^ ►1 • • • • ■ . , H^ • *Ci \ \ * \ \ '. • ^ ' ^o : * V0*0 I ; •.•G ^ : *«• f» m ro en o m -J K iri rr> . N o C/) "*S • t^ . 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H CO «> : a pq* H 1 * • • X 'in d •m* X •CD • d .pq- . :: § • .00 ■ §§ -"5 :?• s fe •" .in m C»>oaJH • so X 4J Os vri 4) so ' 4> 00 HH guH^Sm Sool i ^ J- '- 13 - a> X od'B s ss ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 352 APPENDIX C (JO 00 . I ' i-i 0\ 5 mmO 00 00 N CS op iri 1^ M >000000!II:ZIIIi:nIIC*r<-)i:*ro CO 00 00 f»> 0\ 0\ _^_^ ~~ =^.ii tv •I M C: ■<*• « ts O^ ■* • . . . . . . . . . ,- CS I-I ►- " r^"* ^ ^ ■* : : Tt e» . PO w^ tJ- "■ 1^ • . vn ►- : . • • . . • • ■ . . ^^ I : cs : I * * * rn ; ro ro CO f 6q qWWWW W d Q Q Q Q U- o , . (-4 l-H 1— ( t— ( >—\ . . . • . • hH hH l-H l-H M hH HH 1-4 HH ■^ (^ » 1 -. -il- R ►H ro c< J^.n : • ■ • • • .... • • ... • • • • : ■s^ * ' ■ ■ ' * . . . . . • ... • • • • • S vO 00 lo O 1 00 t 00 CO -« ^ iv CO CO >. vn XAi 10 o CO •J o en en • • ■ • I-I MM. 361 MM. 361 : :^ : • • • 1 .00^ i-i "^ 1-1 iH 42 >. « .1-1 q# I-I .0 00 vo I-I son 1620 perfect . son 1630. |«|sr ■ >» Peer im Peer 0\ • • • -a OiOAi o O 4j CO "^ t, i^ O vo vo (U .«-> -M IH T3 s s c3 1/3 P > Pip:^ 1.4 0) ll ■ p o o en .l/lH as O O 4j O O " . O O SH O On K w, O iH "PpO 4J (U »H (y HH g t/] o o g o d H • '< 0\ (-' to •^-^-tSg^:^" odffl (i , I-I «.^ a a a;: o 42 >. v^ . . O < 'i-i ■PQ- O loQ § O O" W § d 0) ■< APPENDIX C 353 00 00 'M rt u ••H u (/I >^ o >. ^^ p. -c < , •5 ^ o u o fit >^ b a ~.» 3 u o M 1 i^ n1 K V a> a^ ^ ■*-> o fl •*-4 ■s >, u c -. 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