X 23/1/194 Belfast Music Society Celebrity Concerts

FRETWORK~ consort of viols Julia Hodgson, Susanna Pell William Hunt, Richard Boothby PROGRAMME with ROBIN BLAZE~ countertenor Rejoice unto the Lord Pavan and Galliard O that most Rare Breast Fantazia in 4 parts, No. 12 in D minor Fantazia in 4 parts, No. 5 in B flat Come tread the Paths In Nomine in 4 parts Ye Sacred Muses The Entrance of Night (from The Faery Queen) Fantazia in 4 parts, No. 11 in G Fantasia in 4 parts in F Gather ye Rosebuds Fantasia in 4 parts in F Farewell False Love Browning in 3 parts Put Away Forbidden Playthings Saturday, 23rd November 1996 Elmwood Hall at 7.30pm Byrd Holborne Byrd Purcell In association with the Belfast Festival at Queen's Anon Gibbons Byrd Purcell Jenkins W. Lawes Jenkins Byrd Bevin Elvis Costello

When WILLIAM BYRD (1543-1623) died, the event was entered in the register of musicians in the employment of James I, with the description 'Father of Music', revealing just how highly he was thought of. Little is known of his early life (not even his date or place of birth), but we know that in April 1563 he was appointed 'Master of the chorister boys' and 'Player at the organs' at Lincoln Cathedral - for each post he was to receive the princely sum of 'six pounds, thirteen shillings and fourpence of legal English money'. In 1572 he moved to London as organist of the Chapel Royal, a post he shared with Thomas Tallis. Three years later they jointly produced an important volume of Latin motets, 'Cantiones Sacrae', and Byrd wrote much music for church use, both in Latin and English. He also composed a number of songs for voice and viols, notably the collections 'Psalms, Sonnets and Songs', and 'Songs of Sundry Natures' (1588 and 1589). One of his songs is particularly poignant - 'Ye Sacred Muses' was written as an elegy to his friend Thomas Tallis, when he died in 1585. In 1599, ANTONY HOLBORNE (died 1602) published a collection of his own Pavans, Galliards and Almains, in five parts, 65 in all. By this time his reputation was very high; Dowland, dedicating his famous song 'I saw my lady weep' to him, described him as 'the most famous Antony Holborne,' whom he also described as 'a Gentleman Usher' to Queen Elizabeth. His music appears in many early 17th century collections in England and abroad. He composed some 150 pieces, mostly in dance form, many of them appearing in several different instrumental versions. By the time of HENRY PURCELL (1659-1695), the greatest English composer of the next generation, the fantasia, fantazia, fancy - it went under various names - was thoroughly obsolete (it had flourished right through the 16th and early 17th centu- ries). But it was not the first, nor by any means the last, occasion when English composers lagged a generation behind their continental counterparts; in 1680, Purcell suddenly turned to this genre and composed, in quick succession, 12 fantazias in 3 or 4 parts. There was no set form to a fantasia - it was just a work for instruments, without voices, employing much imitation between the parts (i.e. one instrument copying what another has just played. either exactly, or in different note lengths, even upside down). These imitative sections were contrasted with more straightforward material. Purcell's are masterpieces of contrapuntal writing, but the result, far from being academic is 'appealing, even romantic in expression ... (they are) passionate revelations of the composer's most secret thoughts' (Jack Westrup). Listeners will be familiar with the way certain pieces of music have inspired large numbers of composers to base works on them - the Paganini Caprice theme or the medieval Dies Irae melody are well-known examples.

In the 16th century a very large number of pieces (over 150 in total) were based on the music of the 'In Nomine Domini' section of the Benedictus of a mass setting by John Taverner (died 1545), itself based on the melody of a plain-song antiphon, 'Gloria tibi trinitas'. Such an instrumental piece, very similar to the fantasia, was called an In Nomine. ORLANDO GIBBONS (1583-1625), one of the great masters of the fantasia in England, composed a large number of instrumental works, several making use of the In Nomine theme. PURCELL composed music in many forms; his stage works are particularly impor- tant. These include, apart from incidental music to various plays, one opera (Dido and Aeneas), and several hybrid works - masques (with emphasis on dancing) and 'semi- operas', where speech and singing are of equal importance. In this latter category was 'The Faery Queen', based on Shakespeare, and staged in London in 1692. Over 800 instrumental works by JOHN JENKINS (1592-1678) survive; his 4 part viol consorts, including fantasias (some 17 in all) come from earlier in his career. As that form began to give way to the more modern trio sonata, Jenkins responded by producing collections of works in the new manner. In his lifetime, his instrumental pieces were very popular among amateur musicians. WILLIAM LAWES (1602-45), younger brother of the composer Henry Lawes, was the leading English composer of dramatic music before Purcell, as well as a fine composer of consort music. A staunch Royalist, in 1642 he enlisted in Charles's army, and as a 'valuable item' was appointed to the King's personal life guards. Unfortunate- ly this didn't help him at Chester three years later when, tricked by enemy troops, the King's forces were over-run, and Lawes was shot and killed. The poet Robert Herrick, a close friend and collaborator, from whose pen the familiar 'Gather ye Rosebuds' comes, mourned him in verse, and his music appeared in print for the first time in a memorial edition edited by his brother. Another melody that inspired a number of 16th and 17th century composers was that of a song, 'Browning Madame' (which continues, 'the fayrest flower in garden greene, is in love's breast full comely seene ..). One fantasia based on this was by ELWAY BEVIN (c1554-1638), the least familiar of the names represented in this concert. Of Welsh ancestry, and possibly a pupil of Tallis, Bevin was appointed a vicar choral at Wells in 1579. Six years later he was Master of the Choristers at Bristol Cathedral, and was subsequently appointed organist there. In 1605 he was made a Gentleman Extraordinary of the Chapel Royal. In 1637 it was reported that Bevin had been 'expelled and dismissed from his office'. Details of his misdeeds are not recorded, but when he died the following year he was buried not in the Cathedral, but in the local Parish church.

He composed some attractive music for the church, and a number of instrumental works, including a number of canons, for which he won a considerable reputation. A pop musician in a concert of classical music?! Well, (ignoring the total misuse of the term 'classical'), there's nothing particularly unusual about that. 'Cross-overs', in both directions, are almost commonplace nowadays. And since the highly-thought- of composition, The Juliet Letters, written with, and for, the Brodsky Quartet in 1992, DECLAN MACMANUS (aka ELVIS COSTELLO) has been involved in a wide range of musical activities. "Put Away Forbidden Playthings" was commissioned by the South Bank Centre in 1995 as one of a series of reflections of Purcell's Fantazias by living composers. Alec MacDonald TONIGHT'S ARTISTS Since its London debut in 1986, FRETWORK has given concerts and broadcast round the world, made numerous highly successful recordings, set new standards in the performance of the great English music for viol consort and generated a living repertory for the medium. While many of Fretwork's audiences are already familiar with its series of Virgin Classics recordings of works by the great English composers, its repertory includes not only works from 16th and 17th century Flanders, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, but also entirely new music. Music especially written for Fretwork has come from composers such as George Benjamin, Michael Nyman, Simon Bainbridge and Thea Musgrave. ROBIN BLAZE joins Fretwork for this evening's recital. Educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Royal College of Music, his particular expertise in the field of early music has resulted in appearances with such specialist consorts as the Tallis Scholars, I Fagiolini and the Dufay Consort. Future engagements include "The Messiah" with the Ulster Orchestra. NEXT CONCERT Saturday, 11th January 1997 JULIAN BREAM - guitar The Studio, Waterfront Hall - 7.30pm