The Keyboard Music of Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625)

Reviewed by: English Keyboard Music c. 1600–1625ed. by Alan Brown Candace Bailey English Keyboard Music c. 1600–1625. Edited by Alan Brown. ( Musica Britannica, 96.) London: Stainer & Bell, 2014. [Contents, p. xv–xviii; pref. in Eng., Fre., Ger., p. xix–xxi; introd. in Eng., p. xxiii–xxix; editorial notes, p. xxx–xxxi; instruments and performance, p. xxxii–xxxiv; acknowledgments, p. xxxv; plates, p. xxxvii–xli; score, p. 1–143; appendices, p. 144–69; list of sources and bibliography, p. 170–80; notes on the textual commentary, p. 181; textual commentary, p. 182–97. Cloth. ISMN 979-0-2202-2385-3, ISBN 978-0-85249-937-5. £93.] Anyone working in British music studies, particularly earlier repertories, approaches the series Musica Britannica with high expectations: beautifully engraved music, thorough textual commentaries, and well considered scholarly commentary—simply elegant books. Alan Brown’s newly published English Keyboard Music c. 1600–1625, volume 96 of the series, meets these expectations and more. One of the chief issues facing Brown with this edition was the selection of pieces to be included. Keyboard music has always been a part of this “national collection of music,” a fact made apparent with its inaugural volume, Denis Stevens’s edition of The Mulliner Book(London: Stainer & Bell, 1951), now available in a new, sixtieth-anniversary revision ( The Mulliner Book, newly transcribed and edited by John Caldwell, Musica Britannica, 1 [London: Stainer & Bell, 2011]). Few of the keyboard volumes published by Musica Britannica are devoted to a single source, although the forthcoming Keyboard Music from Fitzwilliam Manu scriptscontains music from the “Fitzwilliam” and “Tisdale” virginal books (both part of the Fitzwilliam collection in Cambridge). Brown mentions that Christ Church, Oxford, Mus. 89, has not been considered for this edition (it contains anonymous liturgical organ music, “possibly” by an English composer, p. xxiv), and it is hoped that in the future, Musica Britannica will see its way to a volume dedicated to this important source. More typical of Musica Britannica are the volumes that focus on the keyboard works of a single composer (Thomas Tomkins in vol. 5, John Bull in vols. 14 and 19, Orlando Gibbons in vol. 20, Giles and Richard Farnaby in vol. 24, William Byrd in vols. 27 and 28, Peter Philips in vol. 75, and later music by John Blow and Thomas Roseingrave in other volumes). A bit trickier to put together are those editions that cull pieces from several sources for a specific time period, such as Elizabethan Keyboard Music(vol. 55) and Tudor Keyboard Music(vol. 66). English Keyboard Music c. 1600–1625(vol. 96) follows these collections in that it presents keyboard compositions not included in previous volumes (especially those devoted to a single composer whose works fall within the periods indicated) thereby filling in gaps in the published repertory. Brown clearly lays out in the preface his criteria for inclusion (p. xix). In conjunction with the forthcoming Fitzwilliam volume, English Keyboard Music c. 1600–1625completes the task of making available all of the keyboard music from English composers of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries—the “virginalists.” (Brown is careful with that term, employing scare quotes in his rare usage.) Thus, once Keyboard Music from Fitzwilliam Manuscripts(edited by the late Christopher Hogwood) [End Page 607]becomes available, we should have access to scholarly editions of the entire keyboard output of English composers up to 1625. Brown notes that several pieces from the period have appeared in worthy editions elsewhere, and he explains that their quality and availability justifies excluding the same works here (pp. xxiii–xxiv). Also, a few pieces still in manuscript were omitted. His reasons for doing so are clear and practical. The definition of “keyboard source” necessarily plays into Brown’s choice of repertory. He delineates those works intended for ensemble that have sometimes been construed as keyboard works, such as Parthenia In-Violata, but chooses to include others that appear to be keyboard versions of consort works. Most intriguing among these are two works for which Brown also reconstructs consort versions in appendix III. The first, Nicholas Carleton’s “Verse of 4 parts” (no. 12 among the keyboard works), he recommends as...

Discriminate analysis has not been described as a procedure for musical style analysis, yet has great potential usefulness in authorship verification. Where bibliographic evidence cannot solve an authorship dispute, particularly among groups of pieces as similar as keyboard variations, discriminate analysis can demonstrate their degree of individuality, and can classify sample pieces into groups according to those groups’ resulting scores. The analysis was demonstrated using the collected Pavan variations of William Byrd, Giles Farnaby, Orlando Gibbons, Peter Philips, John Bull, and Thomas Morley. With the exception of Bull's, each composer's discriminate scores based on fourteen rhythmic and textural variables showed convincing internal stylistic consistency. Five disputed pieces were classified into the six composer groups using the fourteen variables, and an additional analysis using a subset of nine variables substantiated overall the original results.

Review: Parthenia, or The Maydenhead of the First Musicke That Ever Was Printed for the Virginalls by Kurt Stone, William Byrd, John Bull, Orlando Gibbons

Peter Maxwell Davies’s Orchestral piece «St. Thomas Wake» on a Pavan by John Bull was commissioned by the City of Dortmund in 1969 and premiered there by the City of Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra under the composer as a conductor. The piece is based on St. Thomas Pavan by an English composer John Bull (1562-1628) which is transformed in diverse and exciting ways using different genres, compositional techniques, experiments with sound even ethical approach. P.M. Davies used incredibly wide range of sources in his compositions (their genre range is not fewer): from medieval and Renaissance ideas though Indian music (the subject of the composer’s dissertation) to up-to-date calls. Foxtrot was one of memoirs from his childhood: little Max was listening to foxtrots on the gramophone while air raid on his native Manchester in 1940. We all know that childhood experiences are the most vivid ones. Suppose after the commission from a German city Max recalled that war time episode. «St. Thomas Wake» is just a parody, it is an important step in a process of searching new sound, style and technique All those is analyzed in the article from various points of view: what was the initial idea, how it is embodied, why the sound of the foxtrot makes listeners laugh or clamour, what is the meaning of this work in a vast composer’s heritage.

One of most idiosyncratic and charismatic musicians of twentieth century, pianist Glenn (1932-82) slouched at piano from a sawed-down wooden stool, interpreting Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart at hastened tempos with pristine clarity. A strange genius and true eccentric, was renowned not only for his musical gifts but also for his erratic behavior: he often hummed aloud during concerts and appeared in unpressed tails, fingerless gloves, and fur coats. In 1964, at height of his controversial career, he abandoned stage completely to focus instead on recording and writing. Jonathan Cott, a prolific author and poet praised by Larry McMurtry as the ideal interviewer, was one of very few people to whom ever granted an interview. Cott spoke with in 1974 for Rolling Stone and published transcripts in two long articles; after Gould's death, Cott gathered these interviews in with Glenn Gould, adding an introduction, a selection of photographs, a list of Gould's recorded repertoire, a filmography, and a listing of Gould's programs on radio and TV. A brilliant one-on-one in which discusses his dislike of Mozart's piano sonatas, his partiality for composers such as Orlando Gibbons and Richard Strauss, and his admiration for popular singer Petula Clark (and his dislike of Beatles), among other topics, Conversations with Glenn Gould is considered by many, including subject, to be best interview ever gave and one of his most remarkable performances.

Historians of the English court have become increasingly interested in the relationship between court ceremonial and the liturgy of the Chapel Royal. The Chapel Royal (which is capitalized in this article — as opposed to individual chapel buildings which are not) was the department of the royal household that attended to its spiritual needs. It is now accepted that the etiquette of the Tudor and Stuart court owed a great deal to the monarch’s public attendance at chapel, and its yearly pattern was heavily influenced by the church year. This recognition places the royal chapels in a central position in the choreography of the court. It also allows historians to view these important buildings in a new light as one of the most important ceremonial spaces in the royal houses, rather than merely an adjunct to the great outer rooms, the presence chamber and privy chamber.

The Italian Madrigal style adopted by English composers towards the close of the sixteenth century seems, on the face of it, to have almost eclipsed the native forms of secular vocal music. But although the madrigal and the lute-song account for much of the finest music of the time, the traditional style continued to exist and to develop in the songs of a number of composers who were not wholly committed to the new forms. Since these composers include William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons, we can be sure that the artistic achievements of the style are not negligible and that an understanding of their true nature is vital to our grasp of the period.

Tallis was the English composer and organist who composed for the Anglican liturgy. For 48 years he was the organist at the Chapel Royal, a position to which he was appointed in 1543. In 1575 he and William Byrd were granted a royal privilege to print music.

Four compositions in the first layer of the Old Hall Manuscript (GB-Lbl, Add. MS 57950) are attributed to R. Chirbury (or R. Chyrbury). This article argues that the Robert Chirbury who ended his days as Dean at the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick was this composer. His career included stints at the Chapel Royal and probably also earlier employment in the London diocese, as well as service in the household of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Moreover, this individual can be differentiated from similarly named men in the Register of the London St Nicholas Fraternity of Parish Clerks, and the assertion that the composer was employed at St George's, Windsor can be discounted.

When Handel arrived in London in the last weeks of 1710, Henry Purcell had been dead for just fifteen years. His younger brother Daniel, though still active as a professional organist, was no longer a productive composer, and much the same is true of the long-lived William Turner (1651–1740), who, with John Blow (d. 1708), had been the most distinguished of Purcell's colleagues and contemporaries in the Chapel Royal. Likewise John Eccles, the leading English theatrical composer at the turn of the century, and official court composer from 1700 until his death in 1735, had by this time retired from the hurly-burly of life in the city and gone to live in Hampton Wick where, according to Hawkins, he spent most of his time fishing. As for Jeremiah Clarke, one of the more impressive creative talents of the next generation, he had, seemingly for love, put a pistol to his head in late November 1707. Of those native composers still left and active on the London musical scene, much the most gifted were John Weldon (1676–1736) and William Croft (1678–1727), both of whom Handel must surely have encountered quite early on in his first visit.

Arthur Sullivan’s musical formation was effected during his teenage years in three institutions: the Chapel Royal, where he was a chorister between the ages of 12 and 15, the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied from 14 to 16 as the first Mendelssohn scholar, and the Conservatory of Music in Leipzig which he attended from the age of 16 until just before his 19th birthday. Each of these places had a considerable impact on him, deepening his childhood love of church music and laying the foundations of his later career as a composer and conductor of sacred works. His time at the Chapel Royal also played a significant role in his spiritual development, owing partly to the strong influence of Thomas Helmore, the master of the choristers. In his teens, Sullivan composed several anthems and got to know many of the leading church musicians of the day. His training in church music is compared to the similar grounding in church and religious music experienced by several of the most prominent Continental European composers of operetta in the mid-nineteenth century.

Foremost English composer of the Baroque period. A chorister in the Chapel Royal, he succeeded John Blow as organist of Westminster Abbey and served in the Chapel Royal from 1682.

One of the most versatile composers of his generation, Orlando Gibbons came from a family of organists. He was the first organist of the Chapel Royal, London and served as virginalist to the early Stuart kings and organist of Westminster Abbey.

Shall Nation Speak unto Nation? Grace Williams and the BBC in Wales, 1931–1950 Graeme Cotterill (bio) You know it was a marvellous sensation, simply being asked to write something; someone wanting your music. —Grace Williams to A. J. Heward Rees, 1976, referring to the commission of Four Illustrations for the Legend of Rhiannon The generation of British composers born during the first decade of the twentieth century were ideally and fortuitously positioned to benefit from the establishment of the British Broadcasting Company in October 1922. Indeed, this advent of national broadcasting brought considerable opportunities to societal groups that might once have considered themselves stuck in promotional backwaters whether because of their age, working location, or gender. Writing only two years earlier, Ethel Smyth had observed that “there cannot possibly be many women composers worth talking about” until women had immersed themselves in “the rough and tumble of musical life.”1 The bbc provided an ideal opportunity to continue the “gradual interpenetration of the life musical by women” already started by Smyth and her contemporaries, while its UK-wide remit theoretically further ensured that no region of the country could be systematically discriminated against.2 However, the bbc’s division into separate broadcasting and administrative centers ensured that composers working in varied geographical locations could report completely different experiences of the same institution via its staff and local decision making. This article [End Page 59] explores one such relationship: that between the composer Grace Williams (born in 1906) and the bbc in Wales, questioning whether regionalization could be said to have had a significant practical impact upon Williams’s career and assessing to what, if any, extent it influenced her compositional processes. This relationship has never previously been chronicled in any detail, and its somewhat tempestuous nature reveals much about the personality of the composer and a little about the priorities of her correspondents. While the bbc was beginning to establish itself as a true national institution in early 1923, Williams herself was still a sixth-form student with dreams only of heading to the local university in Cardiff and yet to embark upon her musical studies with such luminaries as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Egon Wellesz. Her first engagement with the bbc’s activities came relatively swiftly, listening in to its offerings on her family’s first crystal set within two months of its Cardiff station’s first broadcast in February 1923 and meeting the station’s first director, Maj. Arthur Corbett-Smith, later the same year.3 Indeed, less than twelve months later, her musical gifts allowed her to benefit directly from the bbc, winning second prize (one guinea) in a competition for new dance music compositions.4 At such an early stage in her musical development, however, she could not possibly have envisaged the extent of the relationship she was to establish with the fledgling outfit’s successor—the British Broadcasting Corporation—today outlined in more than eleven hundred letters between the two parties that survive in the bbc Written Archives Centre, Caversham.5 Some eight hundred of these cover a twenty-year period that might be considered to represent Williams’s formative years as a composer, bookended by her first known broadcast in 1931 and the premiere of her First Symphony in 1950. Although Williams was by no means a mere “broadcast composer,” this archive demonstrates that her relationship with the bbc in Wales was incomparable to that with any other Welsh institution, gradually developing a process of commissioning, performance, recording, and publicity that would persist for nearly fifty years. 1931–1939: First Contact In attempting to establish a detailed account of Grace Williams’s early career as a broadcast composer, the years preceding this period are the most difficult to [End Page 60] chronicle.6 It is almost certain that her music was not heard over the airwaves during her student days at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire (1923–26), though the possibility of broadcasts produced while studying at the Royal College of Music (rcm) in the later 1920s cannot be entirely discounted. Lack of documentary evidence to the contrary, therefore, suggests that the first opportunities wireless listeners had to experience Williams...

LAWE s’s metier may have been as a composer of secular love songs, yet he had been brought up against a background of cathedral music, and since 1626 had been a countertenor in the Chapel Royal. His appointment as ‘pistoler’ —the most junior position—dated from 1 January, and it would have been in that capacity that he sang at the coronation of Charles I on 2 February. Later the same year, on 3 November, he was advanced to Gentleman, for which the pay was £40 a year. The Master of the Chapel was then Nathaniel Giles, and the organists were Thomas Tomkins and Thomas Warwick, the latter in place of the recently deceased Orlando Gibbons. At the time the repertoire of the Chapel was rather conservative, consisting mainly of works by Byrd, Gibbons, Giles, and Tomkins, though by 1635 it included works by modernistically inclined composers such as Richard Portman and Walter Porter, as well as four verse anthems by Henry Lawes and two by his brother William. He was one of those who travelled north to Edinburgh in the summer of 1633 to assist the Scottish Chapel Royal at the Coronation of King Charles, and it seems likely that when the court went to Oxford soon after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642, he too went there with the Chapel.