ELIZABETHAN and JACOBEAN LUTE MUSIC
ELIZABETHAN and JACOBEAN LUTE MUSIC
1. John Dowland: Earl of Essex Galliard (Folger Lute Ms.)
2. Anonymous: Lord Souch's March (Folger Lute Ms.)
3. John Johnson: Flatt Pavin (Folger)
4. Francis Cutting:e Greensleeves (British Museum Add. 31392)
5. Francis Cuttinge: Cuttinge's Galliard (William Barley, New Booke of Tabliture, 1596)
6. John Dowland: Frog Galliard (Folger)
7. John Johnson: Delight Pavin (Folger)
8,9. Robert Johnson: 2 Almaines (John Sturt Ms.)
10. Anonymous: Tom 0' Bedlam (John Sturt Ms.)
11. Anonymous: The Cobler (Folger)
12. John Dowland: Lachrimae Pavin (Folger)
13. John Dowland: John Smith's Almaine (Variete of Lute Lessons, 1610; Robert and John Dowland)
14. John Dowland: Lady Rich's Galliard (Variete of Lute Lessons)
15. John Johnson: Levecho Pavin (Folger)
16. Anonymous: Go From My Window (Folger)
17. Anonymous: French Coranto (Folger)
18. Thomas Robinson: Spanish Pavin (Thomas Robinson, The Schoole of Musicke, 1603) * *Jacobean
Stanley BUETENS, Lute
The Elizabethan-Jacobean School of lute composers was the culmination of one hundred years of lute playing in Europe. The lute came late to England; although printed lute books appeared on the Continent as early as 1507, the first English lute book, William Barley's New Booke of Tabliture, was not published until 1596. In two decades the lute was already on its way out, as new French ideas began to dominate English music. But within these twenty years some of the greatest English music of all time Was composed. The virtuoso lutenists such as Dowland, Cuttinge, Batchelor, Holborne, and the Johnsons were only part of a larger English musical renaissance that in turn was only part of a great upsurge of artistic outpouring within England.
Although the lute had been known and played in England by a scant few since
the early years of the sixteenth century, it was not until after the two instruction books of Adrian LeRoy were translated into English in 1568 and 1574 that we can notice stirrings, isolated efforts at first, of a movement or school in formation. Another great influence on the English lutenists was the 1588 publication of Musica Transalpina, a collection of Italian madrigals with English texts. The tech nique of the English lutenists was based entirely on LeRoy's instructions, but the clarity, airiness, and charm of their music is in part a result of their familiarity with the Italian madri gal style. Indeed, French and Italian infuences run deep in this music, but many of its traits are also uniquely English, with the overall effect being pure Elizabethan. It became such a well-defined and compelling idiom that it soon crossed back to the Continent where it exerted influence on
composers in countries long after it was out of fashion in England.
All the pieces in this album are either dances, songs set for solo lute, or both. The “Earl of Essex Galliard' is also the song "Can she excuse my wrongs" from Dowland's First Book of Ayres. The Frog Galliard'" is also Now, oh now, I needs must part" from the same collection. Lachrimae Pavin" is an instrumental version of "Flow my tears" from the Second Book of Ayres by Dowland. This is, of course, very possible when we realize that the songs were set to dance rhythms, a very fashionable and very Italian device. Often we can only speculate whether a poem was written to a wellknown dance tune or whether a dance arrangement was made of a wellknown air.
The popular dances such as the
galliard, pavin, and almaine were wellrepresented in Elizabethan lute music. The galliard as a dance was famous for its high jumps and general jocularity in performance. The basic rhythm consisted of two groups of three beats, but the dance had only five steps, the sixth being a recovery beat. The high leap took place on the fourth count. The steps could be quite sophisticated, especially when executed by profession als. The pavin was a stately dance in duple meter where the music often moved quickly but the steps always moved slowly. The basic level of meter was rather slow, over which there could often be a display of virtuosity in ornamentation. Instrumentally it was considered by composers an important form and they reserved some of their most intense musical thoughts for it. The pavin is divided into three sections, each section
repeated, often with lorid ornamentation. The almaine was a happy walking dance ; even when in a minor mode, it had a driving, busy movement to which the simple and repetitive steps could easily be danced. There were, of course, other dances on the scene. Two late arrivals were the coranto and the volt, both fashionable French dances that signaled the beginning of French infuence on English lute music.
Starting from about 1610 English sources are full of corantos and volts until the time when English lute music is almost entirely imported from France. After about 1620, no English lutenist of importance is known until 1676, when Thomas Mace's Musicke's Monument was published, and even this book is devoted to the French lute. Popular ballad or maske tunes (such as Lord Souch's March") were favorite subjects for the English lutenists.
These tunes were loved on the Continent where publications for many instruments contain them. The series of diminutions (variations) written on them with their ever growing com plexity is typically English. Another typically English form, rarely heard these days on records or in performance, is the single-line variation technique for lute. This is evidenced in the Flatt Pavin" and "Lavecho Pavin" where the lute is treated in the diminution sections like any other single-line instrument, such as the viol or recorder. These are probably the lute part to Consort Lessons but they work welI alone also. Two of the pieces are based on short repeated melodies or "grounds." "Greensleeves" by Cuttinge is composed on a famous bass ground, the "Romanesca." The familiar tune we know as "Greensleeves," also
written on the same ground, is completely absent, except in spirit, from this version. The "Spanish Pavin" is one of those melodies that had been known for many years and for which many composers wrote variations. Undoubtedly the familiarity of such tunes to the general public led to their popularity as the basis of extended, compli cated variations. Thomnas Robinson, who is known only by his book The Schoole of Music, 1603, has probably the most in ventive setting: Each section is a complete new musical idea although still linked to the tune and to the other sections. His writing is very original and he employs a very clever use of the lute.
Most of the English lutenist composers were highly sought after by the court musical establishment except one, the best of them, John Dowland (pronounced Doland). Dowland, in letters to friends, blamed his lack of
favor on his Roman Catholic faith; however, his explanation is questionable. The answer for his poor success in finding employment at home lies more likely in the fact that he had an unpleasant disposition and melancholy personality. Some of his pieces have telltale titles such as Forlorn Hope," Melancholy Galliard" (only Dowland could make a galliard melancholy), and Semper Dowland, “semper Dolens" with the famous pun on his own name. He was, however, well-known and sought after on the Continent where he traveled for several years in the employment of the King of Denmark and two German princes. His music was published in many many European collections, often in faulty versions. Dowland promised to correct these errors and partially did so in the great volume The Variete of Lute Lessons, 1610, coauthored by his son
Robert. Finally, when he was in his fifties, Dowland won a part-time court appointment in the Court of James I –a late and inadequate honor paid to him by his own country. The lute music of Elizabeth and England, forgotten for almost 350 years, is today experiencing a great revival among lutenists, guitarists, and general audiences. Its basic language has a strong relevance to today's world and stands in extreme contrast to the thick-textured, complex music of the Romantic Era. Many listeners today prefer this and modern music, because of the stress on rhythm, contrapuntal movement, and clarity.
Elizabethan lute music also boasts tuneful nelodies, a rich texture, a directness of approach, and short pieces. With all these assets, it appears that this music has come back to stay.
STANLEY BUETENS
The lute used by Mr. Buetens on this recording was made in 1958 by Raymond Passauro in Brussels, Belgium, It is an eight-course tenor lute with a string length of 61 cm a4 variable tuned 7th course.
