Modern viol consorts mostly play English music from the decades around
1600. That was the time this genre reigned supreme in England. It was not
confined to England but was common across Europe. However, there were not
that many compositions specifically intended for a
consort of
viols. Firstly, consort music could be played on various types of
instruments, such as violins, recorders or transverse flutes. Secondly,
especially before 1600, the amount of music intended for instrumental
performance was limited. Ensembles of instruments mostly played dances and
transcriptions of vocal music. The latter were often not printed but simply
made by players themselves.
The present disc is interesting for two reasons. The first is that the
Rose Consort of Viols play instruments by the same builder, Richard Jones.
He copied a viol by the Italian viol maker Francesco Linarol (c1520-1577).
Only one instrument of his has survived, a tenor viol from about 1540 which
is preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It is the earliest
extant Venetian viol. On the basis of this instrument Jones built a consort
of viols in different sizes. Their use in repertoire from various parts of
Europe can be justified by the fact that many pieces were disseminated
across the Continent pretty quickly, and some became real hits. Moreover, it
was the Italian Bassano family who introduced the viol to England at the
time of Henry VIII. They were from Venice, and it is quite possible that
they brought with them viols that may have been comparable to the Linarol
viols played here.
The second reason for this disc's importance is the playing of
music from various countries. The programme shows what kind of music
instrumentalists of the sixteenth century played. It opens with three pieces
by Costanzo Festa, and these are specifically intended for instruments. They
are from a collection of 125
contrapunti in two to eleven parts
based on
La Spagna, a then famous
basse danse. Next follow
three specimens of vocal music, alternating with three anonymous dances. All
these pieces are dominated by counterpoint. As far as the vocal items are
concerned, such pieces are obviously better suited to instrumental
performances if there is not too strict a connection between text and music.
It would be far more difficult to play madrigals by the likes of Gesualdo or
Monteverdi where that connection is very close.
The next section includes music from Germany, by some of the most
prominent composers of their time.
Ich stund an einem Morgen was
another hit of the time, often heard in arrangements of various kinds.
Ludwig Senfl is probably not that well-known today, but in his time he was
especially famous for his German songs. The pieces performed here are also
written for voices but can be played on instruments without any problem. The
melody is placed in various parts in the settings played here.
Fortuna
ad voces musicales is based on another popular tune,
Fortuna
desperata, used by several composers for parody masses. In
Senfl's piece it is combined with the
voces musicales,
referring to the hexachord:
ut,
re,
mi,
fa,
sol,
la.
In the sixteenth century several publishers printed editions with pieces
which could be played on various instruments or by instrumental ensembles of
various kinds. One of them was Tylman Susato who was especially orientated
towards the French market. The chanson
Doulce mimoire by Pierre
Sandrin found wide dissemination. Susato published an arrangement in three
parts: the original tune by Sandrin was combined with two new parts. This
section includes two other kinds of 'arrangement'. Diego Ortiz
used the tune to demonstrate the art of diminution, a technique which was
going to become very popular towards the end of the century. The
Flemish-born composer Cipriano de Rore, who spent most of his career in
Ferrara, took Sandrin's tune as the material for a parody mass. Le
Jeune's
Premihre Fantasie is one of just three from his pen.
It is a beautiful specimen of imitative contrapuntal writing, one of the
hallmarks of the
stile antico.
The last section begins with a piece by a member of the above-mentioned
Bassano family, one of the very few extant pieces from this dynasty. The
pairing of pavan and galliard was to become one of the most common in
England in the late sixteenth and the early seventeenth centuries. Anthony
Holborne included many of them in his collection of instrumental music
published in 1599. It marked the evolution of instrumental music to being
taken seriously as a genre of its own. Another popular genre was the
In
nomine, based on the Sarum antiphon
Gloria tibi Trinitas. The
versions recorded here are markedly different: Parsley wrote a slow
forward-moving contrapuntal work whereas Tye's
In Nomine Howld
fast is a lively piece which includes a section in which every part has
its own rhythm. The
fantasia was another genre which was held in
high esteem. Many pieces of this kind were written until the time of the
Restoration in the seveneteenth century, when King Charles II expressed his
detestation of the 'fancy'.
A Song of Mr Robert
Parsons is not really a song but such a 'fancy', with
remarkable false relations.
In regard to repertoire and instruments this is a most interesting disc.
Those are reasons enough to urge any lover of consort music to add this
recording to his collection. Another good reason is the playing of the Rose
Consort of Viols. They produce a beautiful sound; in the more dense pieces
the instruments blend wonderfully well. Elsewhere there is quite a lot of
transparency which allows the listener to follow the various parts. This is
especially important in pieces with a tune as a
cantus firmus in
one of the lower parts. The players shape the lines beautifully, and in the
more vivid pieces they play with great rhythmic precision.
This is a very valuable collection of Renaissance instrumental music.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
Track Listing
Costanzo FESTA (c1485-1545)
Contrapuncti on La Spagna
Contrapunto 103 [1:40]
Contrapunto 77 [1:14]
Contrapunto 93 [1:51]
Heinrich ISAAC (c1450-1517)
Palle, palle [2:03]
Philippe VERDELOT (c1480-c1532)
Altro non h'l mio amore [2:51]
anon (c1530)
La morte de la ragione [2:11]
La manfrolina [0:40]
La traditora [1:55]
Heinrich ISAAC
La my la sol [2:55]
Orlandus LASSUS (1532-1594)
Im Mayen [1:06]
Heinrich ISAAC
Ich stund an einem Morgen [1:36]
Ludwig SENFL (c1486-1543)
Ich stund an einem Morgen a 3 [3:44]
Ich stund an einem Morgen a 4 [1:42]
Fortuna ad voces musicales [2:44]
Orlandus LASSUS
O sacrum convivium [2:44]
Claude LE JEUNE (c1530-1600)
Premihre fantasie [6:41]
Tylman SUSATO (c1510-1570)
Doulce mimoire a 3 [2:35]
Diego ORTIZ (c1510-c1570)
Doulce mimoire (after Pierre Sandrin) [3:04]
Cipriano DE RORE (1516-1565)
Missa Doulce mimoire:
Kyrie [3:02]
Augustine BASSANO (c1526-1604)
Pavan and Galliard [3:09]
Osbert PARSLEY (1511-1585)
In Nomine a 4 No. 2 [2:54]
Christopher TYE (c1505-1572/73)
In Nomine 'Howld fast' [1:19]
Philip VAN WILDER (c1500-1553)
Fantasia con pause e senza pause [4:07]
anon (c1560)
Pavana [1:20]
Gallyard [1:11]
Ronda [0:33]
La Represa [0:50]
William BYRD (1539/40-1623)
Fantasia a 3 No. 2 [2:27]
Robert PARSONS (c1535-1572)
A Song of Mr Robert Parsons [2:06]
Antony HOLBORNE (c1545-1602)
Pavan and Galliard (41/42) [4:55]
