CD 1
Queen Maries Dumpe (R.S.) I-1 [6:27]
A paven (Joseph Sherlie) III-11 [3:54]
Untitled (Stephen Goodall) I-22 [3:17]
Fortune (R.S.) I-3 [5:42]
Roben is to the greens-woode gon (R.S.) I-4 [3:54]
Preludiu (R.S.) I-13 [1:54]
Whoope doe me no harm (R.S.) I-5 [3:31]
Daphne (R.S.) I-6 [3:40]
Monusiers Allman (R. Sumarte) I-7 [3:30]
Lachryme (R.S.) I-9 [3:56]
Solus cum Sola (R.S.) I-11 [3:31]
Coranto (Alfonso Ferrabosco) III-10 [2:10]
Coranto (Alfonso Ferrabosco) III-8 [1:49]
Salte pitts (R.S.) I-8 [1:58]
Untitled (Mr. Elliot, Oxon.) I-21 [3:05]
A thump (Thomas Martine) III-12 [2:51]
Untitled (Stephen Goodall) I-19 [5:15]
A Coranto (G. Gerrarde) II-2 [1:07]
A Coranto (R. Sumarte) II-3 [2:22]
Saraband (Thomas Woodson) I-27 [2:41]
Untitled (Willm Younge) I-26 [3:41]
Untitled (Mr. Elliot, Oxon.) I-17 [3:41]
Untitled (Stephen Goodall) I-16 [5:10] CD 2
What if a daye (?) I-2 [4:20]
Malte Man (R. Sumarte) II-1 [2:43]
Untitled (Gervise Gerrarde) III-6 [2:17]
The Buildings (R.S.) I-10 [5:39]
Preludiu (R.S.) I-15 [2:16]
The Nightengale (R.S.) I-12 [4:35]
Untitled (R.S.) I-18 [4:14]
The Kings Maske (R. Sumarte) II-4 [3:21]
Preludiu (Rich. Sumarte) I-25 [1:12]
An Almaine (Joseph Sherlie) III-7 [2:40]
Coranto (G. Willis) III-14 [1:57]
A Saraband (Wilm Kingslake) III-13 [3:27]
Untitled (John Jenkins) XIII-4 [2:54]
Almaine (John Jenkins) XI-1 [3:04]
Paven (Gervise Gerrarde) III-15 [4:53]
Preludium (R.S.) I-14 [1:01]
Coranto (Alfonso Ferrabosco) III-5 [1:25]
Coranto (Alfonso Ferrabosco) III-3 [1:32]
Saraband (John Jenkins) X-9 [6:50]
Untitled (R.S.) I-23 [4:12]
Untitled (Stephen Goodall) I-20 [6:37]
Untitled (Anonymous) XVI-1 [3:08]
A Saraband (Wilm Younge) I-24 [5:52]
The lyra viol is mostly associated with England. Although
music for the lyra viol was written and played across Europe,
it was more popular in England than anywhere else. This instrument
is basically the same as the bass viol, and most music written
for the lyra viol was also played on that instrument. There
are some small differences between the lyra viol and the bass
viol, though. In The Division-Violist of 1659 Christopher
Simpson writes that the lyra viol has lighter strings and that
the bridge is less rounded. The strings of the lyra viol are
fitted more closely to the fingerboard than those of the consort
bass.
However, the main difference lies in the various tunings which
were used in its music. Nearly 60 different tunings have been
identified; only nine of these seem not to have been used in
England. Such tunings are indicated as, for instance, harpe
way flat, octavo way or bagge-pipe way. As the
main feature of the lyra viol is its tuning scholars generally
speak not so much about music for lyra viol as music for bass
viol played lyra way. There are some other noteworthy
features of music for this instrument. One of them is its tablature
notation; one can see this in the pieces on this disc which
can be downloaded here.
Moreover, music for lyra viol includes chords and harmonic ornaments.
The popularity of lyra viol music is reflected in the fact that
no fewer than 18 English collections of such music have been
preserved. The Manchester Gamba Book is one of them,
comprising 258 pieces in 22 different tunings. Some of the most
famous composers of the 17th century wrote music for it. These
include John Jenkins and William Lawes; the former also appears
in the selection on this disc. Another important composer of
such music was Tobias Hume; his First Part of Ayres
(1605) is the largest collection of music for lyra viol by a
single composer.
The Manchester Gamba Book includes mostly pieces by
composers who are only known from this source. They are also
not included in New Grove; among these are Stephen
Goodall, Joseph Sherlie and Richard Sumarte. The latter is almost
surely behind the initials R.S. which appear frequently in this
collection.
Ornaments are an important feature of music for the lyra viol.
The interesting thing about this manuscript is that it includes
a table of ornaments, called Table of Graces. It reveals
that the ornaments used in this kind of music were French in
origin. In his liner-notes, Paul Furnas, who also wrote a dissertation
on this manuscript, writes: "The lute and viol ornament
charts in seventeenth-century English manuscripts generally
gave the name of an ornament and a graphic symbol for notating
it, but neglected to indicate the actual notes of the ornament.
(...) The Table of Graces in the Manchester Gamba
Book is uniquely valuable in that it includes not just
the names and signs for each ornament, but also tablature notation
indicating specifically how to play it". He suggests Gervise
Gerrarde could have been the author of the table of ornaments,
and his Paven (III-15) could be considered a musical
illustration of this table.
The German gambist Dietmar Berger has recorded the complete
pieces from this manuscript which make use of the first and
second tunings, and 11 of the 15 pieces for the third tuning.
Moreover he plays four pieces in other tunings, one each in
the 10th, 11th, 13th and 16th. We find a number of then common
dances, such as coranto, saraband and almain, some pieces without
a title, as well as variations on tunes which were very popular
at the time and also used in music for keyboard and lute. Examples
in the present programme are Daphne (I-6), Lachryme
(I-9) and The Nightengale (I-12). A feature of playing
lyra way was the plucking of the strings. This can
be heard here only in a couple of pieces, for instance A
thump (III-12).
The recording has a bit of an awkward start: I found Queen
Maries Dumpe a little stiff and hesitant. That impression
soon disappeared, though, and what follows is an impressive
display of technical prowess and stylistic understanding of
the musical material. Two discs of about 80 minutes each of
music for solo gamba may seem too much of a good thing. I wouldn't
recommend the average lover of early music to listen to these
discs at a stretch, although I didn't find it to much
of a hardship. If you choose a number of pieces you will be
richly rewarded and soon return for more. If you are especially
interested in the viola da gamba, you should definitely not
miss this production. I very much hope that more pieces from
this rich source will be recorded in the near future.
There is no lack of recordings with music for lyra viol. A search
at the internet will result in various discs with mostly English
repertoire. I would like to single out a disc with music from
another important source, A Booke of Lessons for the Lyro=Viole,
recorded by Johanna Valencia (review).
The complete Manchester Gamba Book can be downloaded
here:
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
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Dietmar Berger (viola da gamba)