Tallis O nata lux or
O nata lux or YouTube SATTB
This exquisite motet is for the Feast of the Transfiguration (celebrated some time between mid-February and mid-August depending on the particular church). Although it is very short, there will be plenty to say about it...!
Farnaby Construe my meaning or YouTube Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SATB
Farnaby was a carpenter by profession, although he came to be considered one of the greatest English virginalists. In this notable piece, the striking chromatic lines leads to many adventurous and fascinating harmonic progressions.
Weelkes Since Robin Hood or YouTube Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SAT
This three voice madrigal by Thomas Weelkes is full of fun and whimsy, with changes in meter, interweaving vocal lines and a dance-like feel. It is about the actor William Kemp, who danced from London to Norwich in 9 days! Maid Marian and the hobby horse are morris dancing characters.
Byrd This sweet and merry month of May or YouTube (The Sixteen) or YouTube (King's Singers) Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SSATTB
William Byrd was the greatest English composer of his era. The six-part This sweet and merry month of May is one of very few of his compositions that might rightly be called a madrigal. Byrd was reluctant to allow the Italian style to influence his own musical language, and did so only to satisfy his publisher.
Like the four-voice setting of the same text, William Byrd's six-voice This sweet and merry month of May is one of very few pieces he ever penned that might rightly be called a madrigal. However common it has become to refer to almost all his English-text vocal works as "Elizabethan madrigals", the fact remains that Byrd was very reluctant to allow the Italian madrigal style to influence his own musical language, and it was only to satisfy publisher Thomas Watson's desire to include the work of a native British composer in his Italian madrigalls Englished collection of 1590 that Byrd ever really invested much of his energy in such music.
This sweet and merry month of May, While nature wantons in her prime, And birds do sing, and beasts do play For pleasure of the joyful time, I choose the first for holiday, And greet Eliza with a rhyme: O beauteous Queen of second Troy, Take well in worth a simple toy.
Pearsall Lay a garland or YouTube (Voces 8 - exquisite) SSAATTBB
Pearsall was a founding member of the Bristol Madrigal Society in 1837, a natural outlet for his madrigals and partsongs. Lay a garland, with its fine harmonic and melodic craftsmanship, exquisite suspensions and rich and expressive sonorities, well exemplifies the composer's enduring interest in early music and the Renaissance style. The text is from the play 'The Maid's Tragedy', by Beaumont and Fletcher.
Morley Fyer, fyer! or YouTube Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals
This piece is a clever adaptation of Marenzio's A la strada. It is full of rhythmic intensity and mock-tragic suspensions, juxtaposing groups of voices at high speed and following their cries with robust fa las. "O help!" is set in a similarly frenzied style, limited to the upper voices for stridency and contrasting with the weight of the "ay me" section.
Tallis O nata lux or
O nata lux or YouTube SATTB
This exquisite motet is for the Feast of the Transfiguration (celebrated some time between mid-February and mid-August depending on the particular church). Although it is very short, there will be plenty to say about it...!
Farnaby Construe my meaning or YouTube Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SATB
Farnaby was a carpenter by profession, although he came to be considered one of the greatest English virginalists. In this notable piece, the striking chromatic lines leads to many adventurous and fascinating harmonic progressions.
Weelkes Since Robin Hood or YouTube Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SAT
This three voice madrigal by Thomas Weelkes is full of fun and whimsy, with changes in meter, interweaving vocal lines and a dance-like feel. It is about the actor William Kemp, who danced from London to Norwich in 9 days! Maid Marian and the hobby horse are morris dancing characters.
Byrd This sweet and merry month of May or YouTube (The Sixteen) or YouTube (King's Singers) Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SSATTB
William Byrd was the greatest English composer of his era. The six-part This sweet and merry month of May is one of very few of his compositions that might rightly be called a madrigal. Byrd was reluctant to allow the Italian style to influence his own musical language, and did so only to satisfy his publisher.
Like the four-voice setting of the same text, William Byrd's six-voice This sweet and merry month of May is one of very few pieces he ever penned that might rightly be called a madrigal. However common it has become to refer to almost all his English-text vocal works as "Elizabethan madrigals", the fact remains that Byrd was very reluctant to allow the Italian madrigal style to influence his own musical language, and it was only to satisfy publisher Thomas Watson's desire to include the work of a native British composer in his Italian madrigalls Englished collection of 1590 that Byrd ever really invested much of his energy in such music.
This sweet and merry month of May, While nature wantons in her prime, And birds do sing, and beasts do play For pleasure of the joyful time, I choose the first for holiday, And greet Eliza with a rhyme: O beauteous Queen of second Troy, Take well in worth a simple toy.
Pearsall Lay a garland or YouTube (Voces 8 - exquisite) SSAATTBB
Pearsall was a founding member of the Bristol Madrigal Society in 1837, a natural outlet for his madrigals and partsongs. Lay a garland, with its fine harmonic and melodic craftsmanship, exquisite suspensions and rich and expressive sonorities, well exemplifies the composer's enduring interest in early music and the Renaissance style. The text is from the play 'The Maid's Tragedy', by Beaumont and Fletcher.
Morley Fyer, fyer! or YouTube Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals
This piece is a clever adaptation of Marenzio's A la strada. It is full of rhythmic intensity and mock-tragic suspensions, juxtaposing groups of voices at high speed and following their cries with robust fa las. "O help!" is set in a similarly frenzied style, limited to the upper voices for stridency and contrasting with the weight of the "ay me" section.
Tallis O nata lux or
O nata lux or YouTube SATTB
This exquisite motet is for the Feast of the Transfiguration (celebrated some time between mid-February and mid-August depending on the particular church). Although it is very short, there will be plenty to say about it...!
Farnaby Construe my meaning or YouTube Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SATB
Farnaby was a carpenter by profession, although he came to be considered one of the greatest English virginalists. In this notable piece, the striking chromatic lines leads to many adventurous and fascinating harmonic progressions.
Weelkes Since Robin Hood or YouTube Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SAT
This three voice madrigal by Thomas Weelkes is full of fun and whimsy, with changes in meter, interweaving vocal lines and a dance-like feel. It is about the actor William Kemp, who danced from London to Norwich in 9 days! Maid Marian and the hobby horse are morris dancing characters.
Byrd This sweet and merry month of May or YouTube (The Sixteen) or YouTube (King's Singers) Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals SSATTB
William Byrd was the greatest English composer of his era. The six-part This sweet and merry month of May is one of very few of his compositions that might rightly be called a madrigal. Byrd was reluctant to allow the Italian style to influence his own musical language, and did so only to satisfy his publisher.
Like the four-voice setting of the same text, William Byrd's six-voice This sweet and merry month of May is one of very few pieces he ever penned that might rightly be called a madrigal. However common it has become to refer to almost all his English-text vocal works as "Elizabethan madrigals", the fact remains that Byrd was very reluctant to allow the Italian madrigal style to influence his own musical language, and it was only to satisfy publisher Thomas Watson's desire to include the work of a native British composer in his Italian madrigalls Englished collection of 1590 that Byrd ever really invested much of his energy in such music.
This sweet and merry month of May, While nature wantons in her prime, And birds do sing, and beasts do play For pleasure of the joyful time, I choose the first for holiday, And greet Eliza with a rhyme: O beauteous Queen of second Troy, Take well in worth a simple toy.
Pearsall Lay a garland or YouTube (Voces 8 - exquisite) SSAATTBB
Pearsall was a founding member of the Bristol Madrigal Society in 1837, a natural outlet for his madrigals and partsongs. Lay a garland, with its fine harmonic and melodic craftsmanship, exquisite suspensions and rich and expressive sonorities, well exemplifies the composer's enduring interest in early music and the Renaissance style. The text is from the play 'The Maid's Tragedy', by Beaumont and Fletcher.
Morley Fyer, fyer! or YouTube Also in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals
This piece is a clever adaptation of Marenzio's A la strada. It is full of rhythmic intensity and mock-tragic suspensions, juxtaposing groups of voices at high speed and following their cries with robust fa las. "O help!" is set in a similarly frenzied style, limited to the upper voices for stridency and contrasting with the weight of the "ay me" section.
