Early on I elected to divide the files into two broad categories: music written for Viola da Gamba and that written for Recorder. I ran into trouble with the music that was not specific about the instrumentation (Gabrieli and Holborne, for examples). It seemed like a reasonable choice to put those works in the Recorder catagory, at least for now.
Georg Philip Telemann is something of a speical case, as he wrote a lot of music for both instruments, sometimes together! Due his stature (at least in my eyes) I have decided to have two pages for the music of Telemann, one in each catagory. For the most part the works listed on each of these pages are unique, but there will necessarily be a few that appear on both pages. This was done intentionally, as I wanted to insure that they would be found no matter which catagory a visitor was interested in.
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The Pavans, Galliards, Almains and other short Aeirs, both grave and light, in five parts, for Viols, Violins, or other Musicall Winde Instruments was published in 1599 and consisted of 65 of his own compositions. It is the largest surviving collection of its kind. Most are pavan-galliard pairs, with the other pieces being of the allemande style.
This collection constitutes the only known dance ensemble music by Holborne. For the most part all his other works are for solo lute, cittern and bandora. The size of the collection and the quality of the part-writing makes this publication a milestone in the development of English chamber music. The only other publication of the period that can be compared with it is John Dowland's Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares published in 1604 and consisting of 21 pieces (the MIDI files for all of them are also available on this site). Dowland's musical debt to Holborne may be heard in the frequent echoes of musical motifs throughout his collection, and also in his style of five-part writing, but most obviously in his funeral pavan, Sir Henry Umpton's Funeral which is entirely based on the Holborne Funerals. Both composers enjoyed close contacts with literary circles at court--Dowland via Lucie Russell, Countess of Bedford, and Holborne via Mary Sidney, a leading intellectual, poetess, and patroness of Edmund Spenser. These literary connections can easily be discerned in Dowland's work -- after all his 88 songs use some of the finest lyric poetry of the period -- but Holborne's connections are less obvious, for only one song of his survives (My heavie sprite, oppress'd with sorrow's might, No. 1 of A Musicall Banquet, 1610). Holborne's literary interests are hidden in his instrumental works, and specifically in their epigrammatic and mystifying titles. Little by little it is being discovered that each fanciful title connects with specific poetry or prose. Some of the titles that are known to link with literature in this way include Paradizo, which refers to Mary Sidney's publication of her brother Philip's Arcadia in 1593; and The Sighes to the same lady's anguish on the untimely death of her brother. The Funerals, written for the Countess of Pembroke (Mary Sidney), is an instrumental elegy on the deaths of her father, mother and brother, all in the year 1586. It may be that Pavana Ploravit also refers to Mary's weeping over the same tragedy, or the title may refer to the use in this pavan of the opening four-note motif, the tear-motif, linked indissolubly with Dowland's Lachrimae. Even the lighter works, the, two corantos that conclude Holbome's publication, belong to the August eclogue of Edmund Spenser's The Shepheardes Calendar,1579. The shepherds, Perigot and Willye meet and decide to have a singing match (a rustic game immortalized in the Idylls of Theocritus). Each shepherd sings a line, answered by the other. One begins 'As it fell on a holie eve', and the other replies 'Heigh Ho Holiday' and so their contest proceeds. Perhaps Holborne's rustic jigs embody the tunes that Spenser's shepherds sang. Not all of these enigmatic titles have yet revealed their specific meaning; some may refer to such private exchanges that their meanings are lost forever. This material was taken from the article about Holborne on the Here Of A Sunday Morning website. I am very happy to tell you that links to the sheet music (parts and scores) are being added! It is almost all housed on International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), although some are to be found elsewhere. The links appear as underlined boldface.
If you do not see a link to the sheet music of a piece you are interested in, Please leave me a message and I will see if I can track it down. Don't forget, though, you can easily print the sheet music directly from the MIDI file using MuseScore. See the blog entry on 7/6/2020 for the simple steps to do it. I have rarely had the opportunity to play six-part viol music. The only time I can think of was at a workshop or two where there happened to be six players left over after everyone else had been assigned to a session. I do remember it was glorious!
Lately I have been playing through some of the six-part music because I know that even if we were not sheltering in place I would still not get many chances to read it. I have been finding it some of the most satisfying music, partly because of the inspired writing and partly because a large ensemble sounds so "orchestral"! Some of the composers that MIDI files of six-part fantasias and pavans can be downloaded here are: William Byrd Charles Coleman John Coprario Alfonso Ferrabosco II Orlando Gibbons John Jenkins Thomas Lupo Thomas Tomkins John Ward William White I have just posted the eight fantasias of 5 parts by Michael East. An interesting note about East, besides his individual style and ability to get his music into print, is that he named all his works! Because if this, the Viola da Gamba Society elected to not assign numbers to his works. The Roman numerals are those found in the printed editions.
If all works of a specific type by a composer have been posted, I have added the annotation (complete). For example, there are twelve known Fantasias à 6 by John Jenkins, so that is marked as (complete).
If you do not see this, you will know that other works of that type exist by that composer. For example, there are six duets for two alto recorders by Georg Philipp Telemann available here, but it is not marked as (complete), as there are at least twelve other duets that I know of. I would especially value hearing from you if you know of some additional works that I am unaware of! The practice of composing canzoni intended for instrumental ensembles began around 1570. The earliest instrumental canzoni were usually for four voices and typically consisted of clearly defined sections, organized in some repetitive pattern, such as ABCA or ABCDD. Imitative counterpoint was the order of the day, although chordal sections were occasionally used. I have posted several of these works for you to explore, namely the
As I noted in an earlier post, I have listed these as recorder music, but as with much of the music of this period, any quartet of instruments with suitable ranges will enjoy playing this lively music. After learning of Floriano Canale (1550-1603) I came across Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634). His “Canzoni alla francese a quattro voci” remind me a LOT of Gabrieli’s canzons. They are light-hearted and fun for everyone to play, as the parts are equally interesting.
Many of these pieces begin with the trademark of a canzona, namely a long-short-short motif on a single note. I present all eleven of his four-part canzons as recorder music, but as with much of the music of this period, any quartet of instruments with suitable ranges will enjoy playing this lively music. As it turns out, Adriano Banchieri was one of the most important and prolific musical figures in the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque periods. He came into contact with Gioseffo Guami during his stay at the monastery in Lucca in 1592. Guami had been a colleague of Giovanni Gabrielli at San Marco in Venice. The titles of some of these canzonas likely refer to surnames of individuals or families to whom Banchieri wanted to pay his respects. I have often wondered about the titles of some works I have encountered because they didn't translate into words of the language of the composer. Another mystery solved! The scoring of music in the Baroque period was rather fluid. Composers would often designate the instrumentation with weak nominations such as "two violins or the like". Anthony Rowland-Jones said it very well In the article "The baroque chamber-music repertoire" in The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder: "Playing the music well, in a lively, committed and persuasive manner, was more important than what instrument it was played on..."
In the early 17th century Venice was the center of the development of the canzona francese, so-called because its form was derived from the French chanson. In his Primo Libro delle Canzoni (1628), Frescobaldi said that his canzoni were "to be played by all sorts of musical instruments". The 17 Canzoni of Canale that I posted today are fine examples of this form and work well on recorders, so I present them as music for recroders, although a quartet of any instruments with suitable ranges will also enjoy exploring these works. Today I posted a Telemann trio sonata for alto recorder, oboe and B.C. (Basso Continuo) which is a favorite of mine (TWV42:c2). It occurred to me to say something about what Basso Continuo means, as it was certainly a new concept to me not all that long ago.
If you watch a video of this or any other trio sonata on YouTube you will see 4 players, but it is a trio, so what is that about? Well, Telemann wrote out 3 parts, one for recorder, oboe and a bass line; hence it is a trio. However, the bass line is what is called a "figured bass" (also a thoroughbass); there are figures under some of the bass notes that indicate the chord that is in effect at that moment. There must be an instrument capable of playing chords to "realize" the figured bass; that is, to play the music as conceived by the composer. The bass line is often played by a bass viola da gamba or sometimes a bassoon. The fourth instrument (usually a harpsichord, but any instrument that can play chords will work), reads the figured bass line and fills in the chords extemporaneously according to the rules for a figured bass. This skill is not common today and so contemporary music will include a keyboard part, called a "realization of the figured bass", written by someone for the publication. If you look for a piece on IMSLP that has a Basso Continuo part, it will not include a realization of the figured bass. This is because the composer did not provide one; it was expected that the keyboard player would improvise it, very much like a contemporary jazz musician! |
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Formerly a successful software engineer and then Mathematics instructor, I am now retired and keep busy as an amateur musician of early music. Archives
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