Byrd Laetentur coeli or YouTube SATTB
Laetentur caeli and its seconda pars Orietur in diebus tuis come from the Cantiones Sacrae of 1589. A setting of the Processional Respond for Advent Sunday, they are characterised by a virtuosic command of florid, imitative counterpoint.
Pilkington Amyntas with his Phyllis fair or YouTube SATB
Pilkington was a composer, lutenist and singer. He joined Chester Cathedral as a 'singing man' in 1602 and became a minor canon there in 1612. Two years later he took holy orders and in 1615 became the cathedral's precentor. Amyntas with his Phyllis fair is a lightheartedly extrovert and decidedly secular piece.
Gibbons The Silver swan or YouTube SATBarB
This gem of a piece is a perennial favourite although (I think) we haven't looked at it in detail at a meeting for a few years. The last line - 'More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise' - is sometimes considered to be a lament for the death of the English tradition. The idea that swans only sing when they are dying, the so-called 'swan song', is a myth and was refuted by Pliny the Elder; nevertheless, poetic imagery proved to be more attractive than scientific method and many poets and playwrights made use of the fable.
Morley Hard by a crystal fountain or YouTube SSATTB
Thomas Morley's own contribution to his anthology, The Triumphs of Oriana, is generally contrapuntal, with imitative blocking of voices and homophonic textures at cadence points and for declamation. There are a number of 4-3 suspensions and great word-painting, for example at 'sleeping' and 'stilled', and in the long note values and a dominant pedal at the refrain 'Long (live fair Oriana)'.
It is an imaginative re-write of Croce's
Ove tra l’herb e fiori (or YouTube)
from Il Trionfo di Dori, a series of 29 madrigals by various composers and poets which inspired the Triumphs of Oriana. The madrigals were composed in honour of the wife of a Venetian nobleman and extol her virtues through the alter ego of the sea-nymph, Dori, the daughter of Oceanus, the divine personification of the sea from mythology. The texts paint an idyllic Arcadian scene, inhabited by nymphs, shepherds and satyrs, who all join together at the end of each madrigal to sing the praises of Dori, with the refrain Viva la bella Dori.
Weelkes Strike it up, Tabor or YouTube SST
A 3-part madrigal we wouldn’t therefore normally sing but can take this opportunity to explore a little. As a poem, it might be read as a kind of ekphrasis (vivid description of a scene). The pipes and tabor (a small drum) refer to the instruments accompanying a rustic dance, with voices imitating the instrumental pitches and rhythms. The text has a strong beat and swing and catches a tone of voice, the mood and manner of an individual speaker. The poem's narrator is a cheery participant as well as commentator, perhaps a master or mistress of ceremonies, who gets things going with a command to the musicians, joining in the dance 'until weary bones can scarce frisk'.
Weelkes On the plains fairy trains or YouTube SSATB
A lovely, lively depiction of Arcadian revelry to finish the evening.
Byrd Laetentur coeli or YouTube SATTB
Laetentur caeli and its seconda pars Orietur in diebus tuis come from the Cantiones Sacrae of 1589. A setting of the Processional Respond for Advent Sunday, they are characterised by a virtuosic command of florid, imitative counterpoint.
Pilkington Amyntas with his Phyllis fair or YouTube SATB
Pilkington was a composer, lutenist and singer. He joined Chester Cathedral as a 'singing man' in 1602 and became a minor canon there in 1612. Two years later he took holy orders and in 1615 became the cathedral's precentor. Amyntas with his Phyllis fair is a lightheartedly extrovert and decidedly secular piece.
Gibbons The Silver swan or YouTube SATBarB
This gem of a piece is a perennial favourite although (I think) we haven't looked at it in detail at a meeting for a few years. The last line - 'More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise' - is sometimes considered to be a lament for the death of the English tradition. The idea that swans only sing when they are dying, the so-called 'swan song', is a myth and was refuted by Pliny the Elder; nevertheless, poetic imagery proved to be more attractive than scientific method and many poets and playwrights made use of the fable.
Morley Hard by a crystal fountain or YouTube SSATTB
Thomas Morley's own contribution to his anthology, The Triumphs of Oriana, is generally contrapuntal, with imitative blocking of voices and homophonic textures at cadence points and for declamation. There are a number of 4-3 suspensions and great word-painting, for example at 'sleeping' and 'stilled', and in the long note values and a dominant pedal at the refrain 'Long (live fair Oriana)'.
It is an imaginative re-write of Croce's
Ove tra l’herb e fiori (or YouTube)
from Il Trionfo di Dori, a series of 29 madrigals by various composers and poets which inspired the Triumphs of Oriana. The madrigals were composed in honour of the wife of a Venetian nobleman and extol her virtues through the alter ego of the sea-nymph, Dori, the daughter of Oceanus, the divine personification of the sea from mythology. The texts paint an idyllic Arcadian scene, inhabited by nymphs, shepherds and satyrs, who all join together at the end of each madrigal to sing the praises of Dori, with the refrain Viva la bella Dori.
Weelkes Strike it up, Tabor or YouTube SST
A 3-part madrigal we wouldn’t therefore normally sing but can take this opportunity to explore a little. As a poem, it might be read as a kind of ekphrasis (vivid description of a scene). The pipes and tabor (a small drum) refer to the instruments accompanying a rustic dance, with voices imitating the instrumental pitches and rhythms. The text has a strong beat and swing and catches a tone of voice, the mood and manner of an individual speaker. The poem's narrator is a cheery participant as well as commentator, perhaps a master or mistress of ceremonies, who gets things going with a command to the musicians, joining in the dance 'until weary bones can scarce frisk'.
Weelkes On the plains fairy trains or YouTube SSATB
A lovely, lively depiction of Arcadian revelry to finish the evening.
Byrd Laetentur coeli or YouTube SATTB
Laetentur caeli and its seconda pars Orietur in diebus tuis come from the Cantiones Sacrae of 1589. A setting of the Processional Respond for Advent Sunday, they are characterised by a virtuosic command of florid, imitative counterpoint.
Pilkington Amyntas with his Phyllis fair or YouTube SATB
Pilkington was a composer, lutenist and singer. He joined Chester Cathedral as a 'singing man' in 1602 and became a minor canon there in 1612. Two years later he took holy orders and in 1615 became the cathedral's precentor. Amyntas with his Phyllis fair is a lightheartedly extrovert and decidedly secular piece.
Gibbons The Silver swan or YouTube SATBarB
This gem of a piece is a perennial favourite although (I think) we haven't looked at it in detail at a meeting for a few years. The last line - 'More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise' - is sometimes considered to be a lament for the death of the English tradition. The idea that swans only sing when they are dying, the so-called 'swan song', is a myth and was refuted by Pliny the Elder; nevertheless, poetic imagery proved to be more attractive than scientific method and many poets and playwrights made use of the fable.
Morley Hard by a crystal fountain or YouTube SSATTB
Thomas Morley's own contribution to his anthology, The Triumphs of Oriana, is generally contrapuntal, with imitative blocking of voices and homophonic textures at cadence points and for declamation. There are a number of 4-3 suspensions and great word-painting, for example at 'sleeping' and 'stilled', and in the long note values and a dominant pedal at the refrain 'Long (live fair Oriana)'.
It is an imaginative re-write of Croce's
Ove tra l’herb e fiori (or YouTube)
from Il Trionfo di Dori, a series of 29 madrigals by various composers and poets which inspired the Triumphs of Oriana. The madrigals were composed in honour of the wife of a Venetian nobleman and extol her virtues through the alter ego of the sea-nymph, Dori, the daughter of Oceanus, the divine personification of the sea from mythology. The texts paint an idyllic Arcadian scene, inhabited by nymphs, shepherds and satyrs, who all join together at the end of each madrigal to sing the praises of Dori, with the refrain Viva la bella Dori.
Weelkes Strike it up, Tabor or YouTube SST
A 3-part madrigal we wouldn’t therefore normally sing but can take this opportunity to explore a little. As a poem, it might be read as a kind of ekphrasis (vivid description of a scene). The pipes and tabor (a small drum) refer to the instruments accompanying a rustic dance, with voices imitating the instrumental pitches and rhythms. The text has a strong beat and swing and catches a tone of voice, the mood and manner of an individual speaker. The poem's narrator is a cheery participant as well as commentator, perhaps a master or mistress of ceremonies, who gets things going with a command to the musicians, joining in the dance 'until weary bones can scarce frisk'.
Weelkes On the plains fairy trains or YouTube SSATB
A lovely, lively depiction of Arcadian revelry to finish the evening.
