There is a song I’d like to perform with 2 singers and 4 instrumentalists, “Who made thee, Hob, forsake thy plow?” by William Byrd. My setting is here.
Listening to Medieval and Renaissance Music
Ever wondered where to start with early music? I have taught music appreciation classes several times called Listening to Renaissance Music and Listening to Medieval Music. These songs will give you a quick overview into the types of early music recordings available. It is more available today than ever before.
The Spotify playlists are Medieval and Renaissance.
Medieval Christmas 2018
This is the plan for the Medieval Christmas 2018, which I’m calling Christmas Through the Centuries.
11th Century: Ut Queant Laxis
12th Century: Orientis Partibus
13th Century: Rosa das Rosas
14th Century: In Dulci Jubilo , and Adam Lay Ybounden
15th Century: What Tidings Bringest Thou , and Ther is no Rose of Swych Vertu
16th Century: Gaudete, and Psallite Unigenito
A Spotify playlist including these songs can be found at: https://open.spotify.com/user/c9zywtmekfv23q12mchvnllxy/playlist/5vXJcw3k2v9uV0JsaWLY6z?si=L3Y_tcKmQ7KNWTgSjU0wCA
Rosa das Rosas
There are many good recordings of the cantiga Rosa das Rosas (CSM 10). For example, Kings & Beggars has a good one. Emilio Villalba has a great video.
The non-mensural notation setting is available, as are the Cantigas de Santa Maria manuscripts. I couldn’t find any modern setting that I really liked, so I did my own.
Archbishop Parker’s Psalter
In 1567, Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker published a translation of the Psalms in verse. You can read more about it at http://www0.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/The_Whole_Psalter_Translated_(1567) . Thomas Tallis wrote a collection of 9 tunes using the meters found in Parker’s verse, so that any psalm in the collection may be sung to one or more of the melodies.
I reset Tune 8 with Psalm 67 to better fit a modern choir.
The third tune was used by Ralph Vaughn Williams in his “Fantasy of a theme by Thomas Tallis”. Tallis used Psalm 2 as his example for that melody, but Psalm 23 would work with it also.
Loud Band
I’m planning the first rehearsal of a loud band with shawm and sackbuts (otherwise known as trombone). We’ll start with this piece by Susato.
The second piece will be Cantigas de Santa Maria #1
The third piece is Una Sanosa Porfia by Juan del Encina
Where can I find early music to get started?
The biggest collection is https://pennsicdance.aands.org/pennsic47/Pile2018.pdf
Another large collection that is free for SCA musicians is at http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/sca/Hendricks/
If you want to play in Ansteorran dance bands, buy Al Cofrin’s book at https://www.istanpitta.com/…/book-early-period-popular…/
Other music to start with: http://www.twmarsh.net/music/2015/09/dance-consort-music/ and http://www.twmarsh.net/…/09/instrumental-consort-music/
Una sañosa porfía
I have used two different arrangements of Una sañosa porfía. This is the better one.
Modes
I can’t keep track of the names of musical modes, so I put this Modes summary together from several sources.
Medieval Christmas 2017
The final Medieval Christmas 2017 Program is ready. This document will be the handout. This year we will present a mixture of 11th to 16th century music.
The songs will be: