All posts by Todd

Arlington Shakespeare RenFest

RenFest | Downtown Arlington, TXhttps://downtownarlington.org/do/renfest

The first ever Shakespeare RenFest in downtown Arlington will be on Saturday, Oct 31, 2026  12pm – 6pm.

Enjoy an afternoon of live entertainment, artisan vendors full of handmade treasures, food trucks, performances, and Renaissance-inspired festivities. Then stay for Shakespeare LIVE’s production of Macbeth at 7:00 pm.

The Dallas Renaissance Consort plans a program of “Popular Music in the age of Shakespeare

Music Planned:

Broom of Cowdenknows

Canaries

Monsieur’s Almaine

A Northern Lasse’s Lamentation

Heart’s Ease

Jog On

Jouyssance vous donnerray

Innocenzio Alberti

Innocenzio Alberti did not publish much music. His Pavanne and Galliard set in the Lumley manuscript, British Library R. App. 74, f. 41 rev, are the only known instrumental pieces. His madrigals appear in three of his own books and at least one collection.

I was not able to find any transcription of the Pavanne and Galliard online. They are included in the Musica Britannica volume XLIV Elizabethan Consort Music I by Paul Doe.

My setting is based on the manuscript images and compared to the Doe version.

“John Lumley’s collection was one of the largest of the Elizabethan libraries. It comprised the collection of Lumley’s father-in-law, Henry Fitzalan (b. 1512, d. 1580), 19th Earl of Arundel, Chamberlain to Henry VIII and Edward VI and Lord High Stuart to Mary I. Arundel’s collection was composed mainly of manuscripts acquired during the dissolution of monasteries. It was augmented significantly by the library of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer’s manuscripts (c. 100 volumes), which were confiscated by the Crown after the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary Tudor, granted to the Earl, and housed in his residence at Nonsuch. These books typically bear the archbishop’s signature, ‘Thomas Cantuarensis’, written in black ink on their front pages.

In 1557, after the death of Arundel’s only son, Lumley moved to Nonsuch Palace. At that point Lumley’s own collection merged with that of his father-in-law’s and the names of both collectors were added into the volumes. At least 70 books and manuscripts also bear the name of Humphrey Lloyd (d. 1568), a physician whom Arundel brought from Oxford following his brief appointment as the Chancellor of the University. Lloyd advised Lumley on the composition of his library and married his sister. His manuscripts passed to Lumley after his death.” The British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts (bl.uk)

Dallas Public Library July 9th 4:30pm

The Dallas Public Library is planning a Shakespeare event on July 9th. Vicki and I will present a program on “Popular Music in the age of Shakespeare” at 4:30pm.

The great consort music from the court of Elizabeth Tudor is well known, but what did common people sing or hear? Tallis and Byrd wrote music for choirs, Dowland for the lute, and Holbourne for viols, but they all wrote for professional musicians. Common folk sang broadside ballads or danced to simple bransles (pronounced brawls).

This presentation will discuss ballads that are mentioned in Shakespeare plays, and dances that were popular outside to the court. The primary source for dances is Arbeau’s Orchesography. It describes dance steps and gives the melody. Few dances from this time had any harmony included. The best source for songs in the plays is Duffin’s Shakespeare’s Songbook.

We will perform the dances and ballads, and describe the instruments that would have been used then.

Bibliography

Anderson, Mark. “Shakespeare” by Another Name The Life of Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man Who Was Shakespeare. Gotham Books, 2006.

Arbeau, Thoinot, et al. Orchesography: 16th-Century Frence Dance from Court to Countryside. Dover Publications, 2011.

Cofrin, Albert. Early Period and Popular Dance Music. 1997.

Duffin, Ross W., and Stephen Orgel. Shakespeare’s Songbook. W.W. Norton & Co., 2004.

“English Broadside Ballad Archive.” UCSB Library, 4 Oct. 2021, https://www.library.ucsb.edu/research/db/123.

Hendricks, Steve. The Great Booke of English Ballads and Songs. Samuel Piper Press, 2015.

Picard, Liza. Elizabeth’s London: Everyday Life in Elizabethan London. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2005.

Simpson, Claude M. The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music. Rutgers University Press, 1966.

Wulstan, David. Tudor Music. University of Iowa Press, 1986.

Gruffydd Consort 2022

Sicut cervus by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/f/f1/Sicut_Cervus_three_page.pdf

Amours Partez by Claudin de Sermisy
https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/a/aa/Sermisy-Amours_partez.pdf

April is in my Mistress Face by Thomas Morley

https://stcpress.org/miscellaneous/april/april.pdf

Belle qui tiens ma vie by Thoinot Arbeau
http://stcpress.org/miscellaneous/belle_qui/belle_qui_tiens_ma_vie.pdf

Who made thee, Hob, forsake thy plow? by William Byrd http://www.twmarsh.net/music/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Who-made-thee-Hob.pdf

Elfsea Defender 2020 Playlist

SongTypeComposerArrangerURLRehearsal Status# PartsHas Words?LanguageSourceCentury
Ut Queant LaxisPlainchantAnonymousAndrew Hendersonhttp://www.twmarsh.net/music/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Ut_queant_laxis.pdfPast1YesLatinGuido d’ Arezzo11
CSM 10: Rosa das RosasCantigaAlphonso X El SabioTodd Marshhttp://www.twmarsh.net/music/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Rosa-das-Rosas.pdf Current1YesMediaval PortugeseCantigas de Santa Maria13
CSM 166: Como PodenCantigaAlphonso X El SabioAl CofrinCurrent2YesMediaval PortugeseCantigas de Santa Maria13
CSM 167: Quen quér que na Virgen fíaCantigaAlphonso X El SabioAl Cofrinhttp://www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/167#music/sCurrent2YesMediaval PortugeseCantigas de Santa Maria13
CSM 353: Quen a omagen da VirgenCantigaAlphonso X El SabioAl CofrinCurrent1YesMediaval PortugeseCantigas de Santa Maria13
Alle Psallite Cum LuyaMotetAnonymousTodd Marshhttp://www.twmarsh.net/music/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Alle-Psallite-Cum-Luya.pdfPast3YesLatinFrench 13
Quem pastores laudavereMotetAnonymousTodd Marshhttp://www.twmarsh.net/music/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Quem-pastores-laudavere.pdfPast2YesLatinHoenfurth Manuscript14
Cuncti SimusSongAnonymousTodd Marshhttp://www.twmarsh.net/music/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Cuncti-Simus.pdfPast1YesLatinLlibre Vermell de Montserrat 14
Laudemus Virginem and Splendens ceptigera PlainchantAnonymousSteve Hendrickshttp://www.twmarsh.net/music/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Cannons.pdfPast1YesLatinLlibre Vermell de Montserrat 14
Mariam MatremSongAnonymousTodd Marshhttp://www.twmarsh.net/music/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Mariam-Matrem.pdfPast2YesLatinLlibre Vermell de Montserrat 14
Stella SplendensSongAnonymousSteve Hendrickshttps://sca.uwaterloo.ca/sca/Hendricks/Llibre/stella.pdfPast2YesLatinLlibre Vermell de Montserrat 14
Douce dame jolieVinelaiGuillaume de Machaut Steve Hendrickshttps://sca.uwaterloo.ca/sca/Hendricks/Medieval/douce.pdfPast4YesFrench14