Please note that music files that are linked to are not necessarily the same edition we will be using on the night and therefore there may be some slight differences.
Tallis O Lord, give thy holy spirit or YouTube link SATB
Thomas Tallis’s musical life mirrors the effects of the English Reformation. Throughout his service to four successive monarchs he managed to avoid religious controversy, quietly remaining Catholic yet also composing to meet different royal demands. Tallis was among the first to set English words to music for the rites of the Church of England. Edward VI mandated that choral music be brief and succinct: "to each syllable a plain and distinct note". The exquisite O Lord give thy Holy Spirit is a classic example: mainly homophonic, but with brief moments of imitation. Like many early Anglican anthems, it is cast in ABB form, the second section repeated twice.
Gibbons Ah, dear heart or YouTube link Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SATTB
Another look at this fine, contemplative piece, continuing from last time. Orlando Gibbons was one of the most versatile English composers of his time, producing many popular verse anthems as well as a number of madrigals. He was appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal by James I and in 1625 became the Chapel Royal’s senior organist, with Thomas Tomkins as his junior. He also held positions as keyboard player in the court of Prince Charles (later Charles I), and as organist at Westminster Abbey.
Milton Fair Orian
or YouTube link SSATBB
From The Triumphs of Oriana, this is Milton’s only surviving madrigal. The father of the poet, he made his living as a scrivener and was wealthy enough to be able to ensure that John Milton the Younger need never work and so could focus his time on writing. Another son, Christopher, became a judge.
Wilbye Change me, O heavens SATB
Wilbye sole oeuvre consists of 64 madrigals in two volumes, and the perfection of his music has never failed to evoke response. Born at Diss in Norfolk in 1574, his father, a well-to-do tanner, left the boy his lute; when the Cornwallis daughter of neighbouring Brome Hall married Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave, she took young Wilbye with her to provide music and he spent the rest of his life doing so. Joseph Kerman, the authority on Elizabethan madrigals, pays tribute to 'the seriousness of his approach, the sensitivity of his grasp of poetry and language, the polish of his style and the subtlety of his musical ideas and their treatment', and compares him to Marenzio.
Change me, O heavens, from the composer’s Second Set of Madrigals of 1598, is mature in style and full of characteristic tonal ambiguities. Despite the key signature it starts very much in C/G major, and there are some luscious chromatics around the words ‘to make my moan’.
Byrd I thought that love had been a boy or YouTube link SAATB
From Songs of sundrie natures and one of Byrd’s relatively few madrigals. It is short and delightful, with a jaunty rhythm and an intriguing text, and was possibly written as a consort piece (for voice and viols).
Waelrant Hard by a fountain or YouTube link SATB
Hubert Waelrant was a Flemish composer, teacher, and music editor of the Renaissance, whose works were progressive in the use of chromaticism and dissonance. He was born around 1517 and may have been one of a family of musicians and lawyers from Antwerp; his madrigals show evidence of influence from some of the more progressive Italian composers at mid-century. In 1585 he edited a book of Italian madrigals, entitled Symphonia Angelica, some of which he wrote himself, which became extraordinarily successful. Hard by a fountain is a version of his own ‘Vorrei, morire’, though the English words (by Thomas Oliphant) make no attempt to convey the meaning of the original Italian.
Please note that music files that are linked to are not necessarily the same edition we will be using on the night and therefore there may be some slight differences.
Tallis O Lord, give thy holy spirit or YouTube link SATB
Thomas Tallis’s musical life mirrors the effects of the English Reformation. Throughout his service to four successive monarchs he managed to avoid religious controversy, quietly remaining Catholic yet also composing to meet different royal demands. Tallis was among the first to set English words to music for the rites of the Church of England. Edward VI mandated that choral music be brief and succinct: "to each syllable a plain and distinct note". The exquisite O Lord give thy Holy Spirit is a classic example: mainly homophonic, but with brief moments of imitation. Like many early Anglican anthems, it is cast in ABB form, the second section repeated twice.
Gibbons Ah, dear heart or YouTube link Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SATTB
Another look at this fine, contemplative piece, continuing from last time. Orlando Gibbons was one of the most versatile English composers of his time, producing many popular verse anthems as well as a number of madrigals. He was appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal by James I and in 1625 became the Chapel Royal’s senior organist, with Thomas Tomkins as his junior. He also held positions as keyboard player in the court of Prince Charles (later Charles I), and as organist at Westminster Abbey.
Milton Fair Orian
or YouTube link SSATBB
From The Triumphs of Oriana, this is Milton’s only surviving madrigal. The father of the poet, he made his living as a scrivener and was wealthy enough to be able to ensure that John Milton the Younger need never work and so could focus his time on writing. Another son, Christopher, became a judge.
Wilbye Change me, O heavens SATB
Wilbye sole oeuvre consists of 64 madrigals in two volumes, and the perfection of his music has never failed to evoke response. Born at Diss in Norfolk in 1574, his father, a well-to-do tanner, left the boy his lute; when the Cornwallis daughter of neighbouring Brome Hall married Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave, she took young Wilbye with her to provide music and he spent the rest of his life doing so. Joseph Kerman, the authority on Elizabethan madrigals, pays tribute to 'the seriousness of his approach, the sensitivity of his grasp of poetry and language, the polish of his style and the subtlety of his musical ideas and their treatment', and compares him to Marenzio.
Change me, O heavens, from the composer’s Second Set of Madrigals of 1598, is mature in style and full of characteristic tonal ambiguities. Despite the key signature it starts very much in C/G major, and there are some luscious chromatics around the words ‘to make my moan’.
Byrd I thought that love had been a boy or YouTube link SAATB
From Songs of sundrie natures and one of Byrd’s relatively few madrigals. It is short and delightful, with a jaunty rhythm and an intriguing text, and was possibly written as a consort piece (for voice and viols).
Waelrant Hard by a fountain or YouTube link SATB
Hubert Waelrant was a Flemish composer, teacher, and music editor of the Renaissance, whose works were progressive in the use of chromaticism and dissonance. He was born around 1517 and may have been one of a family of musicians and lawyers from Antwerp; his madrigals show evidence of influence from some of the more progressive Italian composers at mid-century. In 1585 he edited a book of Italian madrigals, entitled Symphonia Angelica, some of which he wrote himself, which became extraordinarily successful. Hard by a fountain is a version of his own ‘Vorrei, morire’, though the English words (by Thomas Oliphant) make no attempt to convey the meaning of the original Italian.
Please note that music files that are linked to are not necessarily the same edition we will be using on the night and therefore there may be some slight differences.
Tallis O Lord, give thy holy spirit or YouTube link SATB
Thomas Tallis’s musical life mirrors the effects of the English Reformation. Throughout his service to four successive monarchs he managed to avoid religious controversy, quietly remaining Catholic yet also composing to meet different royal demands. Tallis was among the first to set English words to music for the rites of the Church of England. Edward VI mandated that choral music be brief and succinct: "to each syllable a plain and distinct note". The exquisite O Lord give thy Holy Spirit is a classic example: mainly homophonic, but with brief moments of imitation. Like many early Anglican anthems, it is cast in ABB form, the second section repeated twice.
Gibbons Ah, dear heart or YouTube link Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SATTB
Another look at this fine, contemplative piece, continuing from last time. Orlando Gibbons was one of the most versatile English composers of his time, producing many popular verse anthems as well as a number of madrigals. He was appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal by James I and in 1625 became the Chapel Royal’s senior organist, with Thomas Tomkins as his junior. He also held positions as keyboard player in the court of Prince Charles (later Charles I), and as organist at Westminster Abbey.
Milton Fair Orian
or YouTube link SSATBB
From The Triumphs of Oriana, this is Milton’s only surviving madrigal. The father of the poet, he made his living as a scrivener and was wealthy enough to be able to ensure that John Milton the Younger need never work and so could focus his time on writing. Another son, Christopher, became a judge.
Wilbye Change me, O heavens SATB
Wilbye sole oeuvre consists of 64 madrigals in two volumes, and the perfection of his music has never failed to evoke response. Born at Diss in Norfolk in 1574, his father, a well-to-do tanner, left the boy his lute; when the Cornwallis daughter of neighbouring Brome Hall married Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave, she took young Wilbye with her to provide music and he spent the rest of his life doing so. Joseph Kerman, the authority on Elizabethan madrigals, pays tribute to 'the seriousness of his approach, the sensitivity of his grasp of poetry and language, the polish of his style and the subtlety of his musical ideas and their treatment', and compares him to Marenzio.
Change me, O heavens, from the composer’s Second Set of Madrigals of 1598, is mature in style and full of characteristic tonal ambiguities. Despite the key signature it starts very much in C/G major, and there are some luscious chromatics around the words ‘to make my moan’.
Byrd I thought that love had been a boy or YouTube link SAATB
From Songs of sundrie natures and one of Byrd’s relatively few madrigals. It is short and delightful, with a jaunty rhythm and an intriguing text, and was possibly written as a consort piece (for voice and viols).
Waelrant Hard by a fountain or YouTube link SATB
Hubert Waelrant was a Flemish composer, teacher, and music editor of the Renaissance, whose works were progressive in the use of chromaticism and dissonance. He was born around 1517 and may have been one of a family of musicians and lawyers from Antwerp; his madrigals show evidence of influence from some of the more progressive Italian composers at mid-century. In 1585 he edited a book of Italian madrigals, entitled Symphonia Angelica, some of which he wrote himself, which became extraordinarily successful. Hard by a fountain is a version of his own ‘Vorrei, morire’, though the English words (by Thomas Oliphant) make no attempt to convey the meaning of the original Italian.
