dimecres, 30 de novembre del 2016

WEELKES, Thomas (1576-1623) - Anthems and Ninth Service

Giovanni Lanfranco - Saint Praxedis
Obra de Giovanni Lanfranco (1587-1647), pintor italià (1)


- Recordatori de Thomas Weelkes -
En el dia de la commemoració del seu 393è aniversari de decés



Parlem de Pintura...

Giovanni Lanfranco (Parma, 26 de gener de 1582 - Roma, 30 de novembre de 1647) va ser un pintor italià. Es va iniciar com a aprenent del bolonyès Agostino Carracci a la seva ciutat natal. Va destacar en la decoració de cúpules que semblaven obrir-se cap al cel. Durant les primeres dècades del segle XVII va rivalitzar a Roma amb Domenichino pels encàrrecs de pintures al fresc. Una mesura de la competició es pot veure en l'acusació de plagi que públicament va llançar contra Domenichino, en motiu de la seva pintura de la Confessió de Sant Jeroni, avui al Vaticà. També va mostrar la influència del valencià Josep de Ribera, establert des de jove a Nàpols. A l'entorn del 1635 va aportar diverses pintures a un extens cicle sobre gladiadors romans i altres escenes de l'Antiguitat per al Palacio del Buen Retiro a Madrid. El seu estil es pot considerar resultat d'un compromís entre el classicisme i el caravaggisme, encara que pesi més la influència bolonyesa, potser com a conseqüència que moltes de les obres que se li van encarregar van tenir com a temàtica l'al·legoria o la mitologia clàssica. Com a pintor va ser un excel·lent colorista i les seves composicions van destacar per la seva solidesa, sense abandonar l'energia i el moviment típics del Barroc decoratiu. Va morir a Roma el novembre de 1647.




Parlem de Música...

Thomas Weelkes (Elsted?, bap. 25 d'octubre de 1576 - London, bur. 1 de desembre de 1623) va ser un compositor anglès, considerat un dels més importants d'Anglaterra. Es creu va ser el fill de John Weeke, rector d'Elsted si bé la primera referència del seu nom va datar del 1597, any de publicació del seu primer volum de Madrigals. Es creu que en aquells anys va treballar al servei de George Phillpot a Compton. A finals del 1598 va ser nomenat organista del Winchester College on hi va treballar 3 o 4 anys sent un dels períodes de més creativitat com a compositor. A partir del 1602 va entrar com a organista del cor de la Catedral de Chichester. El 1603 es va casar amb Elizabeth Sandham, la filla d'un mercant de Chichester, i amb qui va tenir tres fills. Més tard, en el quart i darrer volum de Madrigals que va publicar el 1608, es va descriure a sí mateix com a cavaller de la Capella Reial, fet que no s'ha pogut demostrar. A partir del 1611, el seu comportament inadequat i la seva demostrada afició a l'alcohol van motivar el seu acomiadament definitiu del seu càrrec el 1617. El 1622 va morir la seva dona en un temps en què Weelkes constava com a organista "esporàdic" de la catedral. També va viatjar sovint a Londres, on va visitar el seu amic Henry Drinkwater, i on va morir el desembre de 1623.

OBRA:

Vocal secular:

Madrigals:
Madrigals to 3. 4. 5. & 6. Voyces (London, 1597); ed. in EM, ix (1916, 2/1967) [1597]
Balletts and Madrigals to Five Voyces, with One to 6. Voyces (London, 1598); ed. in EM, x (1921, 2/1968) [1598]
Madrigals of 5. and 6. Parts, apt for the Viols and Voices (London, 1600); ed. in EM, xi, xii (1913, 2/1968) [1600]
Ayeres or Phantasticke Spirites for Three Voices (London, 1608); ed. in EM, xiii (1916, 2/1965) [1608]
A cuntrie paire, 3vv, 1597;
Alas O tarry but one halfe houre, 3vv, 1608;
All at once well met faire ladies, 5vv, 1598;
As deadly serpents lurking, 3vv, 1608;
A sparow-hauck proud, 6vv, 1600;
As Vesta was, from Latmos hill descending, 6vv, 1601;
As wanton birds, 5vv, 1600;
Aye me alas hey hoe, 3vv, 1608;
Aye mee my wonted joyes, 4vv, 1597 (reprinted in 160516);
Cease now delight (An elogie, in remembrance of the Hon: the Lord Borough), 6vv, 1598;
Cease sorrowes now, 3vv, 1597;
Cold winters ice is fled, 5vv, 1600;
Come clap thy hands (2p. Phyllis hath sworn), 5vv, 1598;
Come, lets begin to revel’t out, 3vv, 1608;
Come sirrah Jacke hoe, 3vv, 1608;
Death hath deprived me (A remembrance of my friend M. Thomas Morley) (John Davies of Hereford), 6vv, 1608;
Donna il vostro bel viso, 3vv, 1608;
Fa la la, O now weepe, 3vv, 1608;
Farewell my joy adue my love, 5vv, 1598;
Fowre armes two neckes, 3vv, 1608
Give me my hart, 5vv, 1598;
Grace my lovely one, 5vv, GB-Lbl Add.17786–9, 17791, ed. D. Brown (Reigate, 1969);
Ha ha this world doth passe, 3vv, 1608;
Harke all ye lovely saints above (?Barnabe Barnes), 5vv, 1598;
I bei ligustri e rose, 3vv, 1608;
If beautie bee a treasure, 6vv, 1597;
If thy deceitfull lookes, 5vv, 1597;
I love, and have my love regarded, 5vv, 1598;
In pride of May, 5vv, 1598;
Jockey thine horne pipes dull, 3vv, 1608;
Ladie, your eye my love enforced, 5vv, 1598;
Lady the birds right fairely, 5vv, 1600;
Lady, your spotlesse feature, 5vv, 1597;
Late in my rash accounting, 3vv, 1608;
Like two proud armies, 6vv, 1600;
Loe cuntrie sports, 4vv, 1597;
Lord when I thinke, 3vv, 1608;
Make hast yee lovers, 5vv, 1597;
Mars in a furie, 6vv, 1600;
My flocks feede not (2p. In black mourn I, Clear wells spring not), 3vv, 1597;
My Phillis bids mee pack, 6vv, 1597;
My teares doe not availe mee, 6vv, 1597;
No, no though I shrinke still, 3vv, 1608;
Noell, adew thou courts delight, 6vv, 1600;
Now everie tree renewes, 4vv, 1597;
Now is my Cloris fresh as May, 5vv, 1598;
Now is the bridalls of faire Choralis, 5vv, 1598;
Now let us make a merry greeting, 5vv, 1600
O care thou wilt dispatch mee (2p. Hence, Care, thou art too cruel), 5vv, 1600;
On the plaines Fairie traines (Barnabe Barnes), 5vv, 1598;
Our cuntrie swaines, 4vv, 1597;
Phillis goe take thy pleasure, 5vv, 1598;
Retire my thoughts, 6vv, 1597;
Say daintie dames shall wee goe play, 5vv, 1598;
Say deere, when will your frowning, 6vv, 1597;
Say wanton will you love me, 3vv, 1608;
See where the maides are singing, 5vv, 1600;
Since Robin Hood, 3vv, 1608;
Sing sheperds after mee, 5vv, 1598;
Sing wee at pleasure, 5vv, 1598;
Sit downe and sing, 3vv, 1597;
Some men desire spouses, 3vv, 1608;
Strike it up tabor, 3vv, 1608;
Sweet hart arise, 5vv, 1598;
Sweete love, I will no more abuse thee, 5vv, 1598
Take heere my heart, 5vv, 1600;
Tan ta ra ran tan tant, cryes Mars, 3vv, 1608;
The ape, the monkey, 3vv, 1608;
The gods have heard my vowes, 3vv, 1608;
The nightingale the organ of delight, 3vv, 1608;
Those spots upon my ladies face, 6vv, 1597;
Those sweet delightfull lillies, 5vv, 1597;
Though my carriage be but carelesse, 3vv, 1608;
Three times a day, 6vv, 1600;
Three virgin nimphes, 4vv, 1597;
Thule the period of cosmographie (2p. The Andalusian merchant), 6vv, 1600;
Thus sings my dearest jewell, 3vv, GB-Lbl Add.18936–7, 18939, ed. in Monson;
To shorten winters sadnesse, 5vv, 1598;
To morrow is the marriage day, 3vv, 1608;
Unto our flocks sweet Corolus, 5vv, 1598;
Upon a hill, the bonny boy, 3vv, 1608;
Wee shepherds sing, 5vv, 1598;
Welcome sweet pleasure, 5vv, 1598;
What hast faire lady, 5vv, 1597;
What have the gods (2p. Me thinks I hear), 6vv, 1600;
When Thoralis delights to walke, 6vv, 1600;
Whilst youthfull sports, 5vv, 1598;
Why are you ladyes staying (2p. Harke, I hear some dancing), 5vv, 1600;
Yong Cupid hath proclaim’d, 4vv, 1597;
Your beautie it alureth, 5vv, 1597

Other vocal:
The Cries of London, 5vv; ed. in MB, xxii (1967, 2/1974)
I cannot eat my meat (a round), 3vv, ed. in Monson, 361, is not by Weelkes

Vocal religiosa:

Services:
all incomplete
The First Service to the Organs in Gamut (TeD, Jub, Off, Ky, Cr, Mag, Nunc), ?/4vv, org, GB-Ob, Och, WB; Mag, Nunc ed. D. Brown (London, 1974)
The Second Service to the Organs in D-sol-re (TeD, Jub, Off, Ky, Cr, Mag, Nunc), ?/4vv, org, Ob (Tenbury)
Service to the Organs in F-fa-ut (Mag, Nunc), ?/?vv, org, Ob (Tenbury)
Service for Trebles (TeD, Mag, Nunc), 5/5vv, org, Cp, DRc, Ob (Tenbury); ed. E.H. Fellowes (London, 1931), P. le Huray (London, 1962)
Service in medio chori (Mag, Nunc), ?/3/5vv, org, Ob (Tenbury); ed D. Brown (Borough Green, 1973)
Service in Verse for Two Counter-tenors (Mag, Nunc), ?/4vv, org, WB, US-NYp; ed. M Walsh (Oxford, 1990)
Short Service (Ven, TeD, Jub, Mag, Nunc), 4vv, GB-Cp, DRc, Lbl, Och, Ojc; Ven, TeD, Jub ed. D. Brown (London, 1969)
Service for Five Voices (TeD, Jub, Mag, Nunc), 5vv, Ob (Tenbury); ed. E.H. Fellowes (London, 1937, 2/1965 by D. Wulstan)
Service for Seven Voices (Mag, Nunc), 7vv, Cp, DRc
Jubilate, ?vv, Ob
Responses to the Commandments, 5vv, lost: see The Choir and Musical Record (1864), nos.47–8 [incl. musical examples]

Other sacred:
anthems unless otherwise stated
Edition: Thomas Weelkes: Collected Anthems, ed. D. Brown, W. Collins and P. le Huray, MB, xxiii (1966, rev. 2/1975) [incl. incipits of lost and doubtful works, list of sources]
Alleluia. I heard a voice, 5/5vv, org, MB 1
All laud and praise, 4/4vv, org, MB 17
All people clap your hands, 5vv, MB 2
An earthly tree (inc.), ?/?vv, org, MB App.II
Behold how good and joyful (inc.), ?/?vv, org, MB App.II
Behold, O Israel (inc.), ?/?vv, org., MB App.II
Blessed be the Man (inc.), ?/?vv, org., MB App.II
Blessed is he (inc.), ?/?vv, org., MB App.II
Christ is risen: see Christ rising
Christ rising (2p. Christ is risen) (inc.), ?4/?6vv, org, MB App.II; ed. D. Brown (Borough Green, 1973)
Deal bountifully (inc.), ?/?vv, org, MB App.II
Deliver us, O Lord (inc.), ?5vv, MB 3; authenticity doubtful
Give ear, O Lord, 6/5vv, org, MB 18
Give the king thy judgements, 3/6vv, org, MB 19
Gloria in excelsis Deo. Sing, my soul, to God, 6vv, MB 4
Hosanna to the Son of David, 6vv, MB 5
If King Manasses, 6/6vv, org, MB 20
If ye be risen again with Christ (inc.), ?/?.vv, org, MB App.II
I lift my heart to thee (inc.), ?/?vv, org, MB App.II
I love the Lord (2p. The Lord preserveth) (inc.), ?/?vv, org, MB App.II
In thee, O Lord (Ps xxxi; inc.), 1/?4vv, org, MB 21
In thee, O Lord (Ps lxxi; inc.), 6/6vv, org; spurious version of If King Manasses
Laboravi in gemitu meo (inc.), ?6vv, MB 6
Let us lift up, ?/?vv, org; only text survives
Lord, to thee I make my moan, 5vv, MB 7
Most mighty and all-knowing Lord, consort song, 4vv, MB 25
O happy he, 5vv, MB 8
O how amiable, 5vv, MB 9
O Jonathan, woe is me, sacred madrigal, 6vv, MB 10
O Lord, arise, 7vv, MB 11
O Lord God almighty (inc.), ?5vv, MB 12
O Lord, grant the king a long life, 7vv, MB 13
O Lord, how joyful is the king (inc.), ?4/?5vv, org, MB 22
O Lord, preserve thee; only title survives
O Lord, rebuke me not, 5vv; authenticity doubtful, MB App.I
O Lord, turn not away thy face (inc.), ?/?vv, org, MB App.II
O mortal man, 5vv, MB 14
O my son Absalom (i): see When David heard
O my son Absalom (ii), 4vv; authenticity doubtful, MB App.I
Plead thou my cause (inc.), ?5/5vv, org, MB 23
Rejoice in the Lord (inc.), ?4vv, MB 15
Sing unto the Lord, O ye princes, full anthem; only text survives
Successive course (inc.), ?/?vv, org; 1st chorus begins ‘That mighty God that humble spirits raises’, MB App.II
Teach me, O Lord, full anthem (inc.), MB App.II
The Lord is my shepherd (inc.), ?/?vv, org, MB App.II
The Lord preserveth: see I love the Lord
Thy mercies great, full anthem; only text survives
What joy so true, 4/5vv, org, MB 24
When David heard (2p. O my son Absalom), sacred madrigal, 6vv, MB 16
Why art thou so sad (inc.), ?/?vv, org, MB App.II
Ye people all (inc.), ?/?vv, org, MB App.II

Instrumental:

For keyboard:
2 voluntaries, GB-Lcm, US-NYp;
Pavane, NYp;
Galliard, GB-Lbl;
facs. and ed., D. Hunter: Thomas Weelkes: Keyboard Music (Clarabricken, 1984)

For viols:
[Fantasia] for 2 basses, a 6, Lbl (ed. in ReeseMR);
In Nomine [no.1], a 4, Ob;
2 In Nomines [nos.2 and 3], a 5, Ob;
Lachrimae, a 5, Lbl;
Pavane [no. 1], a 5, Lbl, Lcm;
Pavane [no.2], a 5, Lbl;
[?Pavane], (inc.), Lcm (In Nomine no.2, a 5, Pavane no.2 ed. in MB, ix, 1955, 2/1962;
In Nomine nos.1 and 3 ed. in MB xlv, 1988)

Font: En català: Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623) En castellano: Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623) In english: Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623) - Altres: Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623)



Parlem en veu pròpia o en veu d'altri...

Poor old Thomas Weelkes does not even rate a separate entry in the current Penguin Guide or Gramophone Guide. Nor do any Nimbus recordings feature in either publication, though the company has now been back on its feet for several years. Does this mean that the present recording is not worth hearing? Not a bit of it – Weelkes is rather an under-rated composer but his music is well worth hearing – it’s more a sad reflection of the fact that neither of these guides is as useful as they used to be. If you look up Weelkes in the musical textbooks, you will find a variety of opinions – ranging from the common view that his madrigals are well worth hearing but his church music is too conventionally Anglican to be of any value, to that expressed in the notes to this Nimbus CD, that the thrilling textures, ravishing sonorities, exhilarating rhythms and marvellously spicy harmonies have won his music a secure place in the cathedral repertory. He was a controversial figure in his own day, dismissed by the authorities at Chichester Cathedral for drunkenness, swearing and blasphemy, and the value of his music continues to be questioned. Perhaps the problem for us as listeners and for Weelkes himself is that the Anglican choral tradition had already become too secure and comfortable by his time. Maybe he threw over the traces because he was bored. Several of the cadences on this recording sound rather routine, as if concocted from ingredients which Byrd and others had already prepared. While Weelkes may not be my desert-island choice among Tudor and Jacobean composers – Tallis and Byrd would, of course head that list and Weelkes’s contemporary Orlando Gibbons would be on it – I certainly would not wish to be without him. 

Certainly, if I went to Choral Evensong in Christ Church and heard one of these anthems sung as well as they are on this recording, occasional fluffs apart, which did not worry me, I should think the journey had been well worth making. There are two budget-price competitors. A recording from the Oxford Camerata directed by Jeremy Summerly (Naxos 8.553209) contains six of the anthems on the present recording. Honours overall are about even between Darlington and Summerly, bearing in mind the usual swings-and-roundabouts distinction between boy trebles as against experienced adult professional singers and the difference in sizes between the two ensembles – there are more boy choristers in the Christ Church Choir than the total membership of the Oxford Camerata on this recording. A recent reissue on the Hyperion Helios label (CDH55259) offers the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis from Weelkes’s Evening Service for trebles, coupled with twelve anthems, six of them in common with those on the Nimbus recording. This recording has recently been well received on Musicweb (see review); the combination of Winchester Cathedral Choir and David Hill is almost a guarantee of its quality. As Weelkes held an appointment at Winchester College, though not at the Cathedral so far as is known, a Winchester recording of his music is especially appropriate. Five anthems occur on all three recordings. Those who want the Ninth Service canticles (Nimbus only) the Evening Service for trebles (Hyperion only) and A remembrance of my friend Thomas Morley, a most strikingly original piece (Naxos only) – all well worth hearing – will, therefore, find themselves with a considerable number of duplications. 

The first two anthems on this Nimbus CD neatly juxtapose the two sides of Weelkes’s music, the lively and the meditative, the latter usually less conventional and more interesting than the former. In Alleluia, I heard a voice, though the Winchester choristers take the work at a faster speed, which might seem more appropriate, the Christ Church version is all that one could wish for. Summerly takes it a good deal more slowly than either, stressing the majestic and declamatory aspect of the words and music rather than their sheer joyfulness of this Eastertide or Ascensiontide work. (One manuscript ascribes it to All Saints Day, which also seems possible.) In Give ear, O Lord, Darlington is again slower than Hill, thereby achieving a fine, affective performance of this plea for God’s mercy. The Oxford Camerata are again slower than either: I should prefer their version were it not for the fact that the Christ Church soloists sing so beautifully yet blend so harmoniously with the rest of the choir. In Hosanna to the Son of David, the three versions adopt a very similar tempo. Here I do have a definite preference for Summerly – more sprightly yet not lacking in dignity. When David Heard and Give the King thy Judgements see fairly extreme disagreements over tempo, with Darlington the slowest in both. Summerly, though considerably faster, still manages to capture the affective quality of David’s lament for his son Absalom in this piece probably composed to mark the death of King James’s son Henry. Free from comparison, however, Darlington’s versions of both pieces stand up well, the soloists in Give the King as effective and well integrated with the rest of the choir as was the case in Give Ear. 

It is not at all clear why Weelkes wrote Gloria in Excelsis Deo, since this bilingual piece duplicates much of the Gloria sung at the end of Holy Communion in the 1559 rite, but could not properly be substituted for it owing to variations in the text. Presumably it was a Christmas anthem, which is how it is performed on An Elizabethan Chorus, music for various occasions in the church’s year sung by St Paul’s Cathedral Choristers directed by Grayston Burgess, with a youthful Andrew Davis at the organ. This very interesting anthology of music by Byrd and Weelkes, with readings from the Elizabethan Bishops’ Bible, which last surfaced on a budget-price recording (Belart 450 141-2), though apparently no longer available, is well worth searching out. Perhaps Arkiv would like to add it to their catalogue? If nothing else, that Grayston Burgess recording demonstrated that the Weelkes pieces included there, Hosanna to the Son of David, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, O Lord Arise and Alleluia, I heard a voice, can hold their heads up in the company of Byrd’s music. Darlington’s lively performance of Gloria in Excelsis, slightly faster than Hill’s, would have made a good conclusion to the recording, though the programme has a logic of its own, ending as it does with Nunc Dimittis, the last canticle of the final office of the day. O Lord Grant the King sounds rather uninspired by comparison with Byrd’s O Lord Make Thy Servant Elizabeth and the five-part Evening Service is also mainly unadventurous, though it contains some unconventional moments. The Ninth Service, a large-scale setting probably composed for the Chapel Royal, in the tradition of Byrd’s Great Service, is a worthy successor to that great predecessor. These two canticles form a fitting conclusion to the CD and serve as a foil to the simpler settings of the same canticles from the five-part Evening Service earlier on the disc. 

The Ninth Service Nunc Dimittis is unusually lengthy and elaborate – even longer than Byrd’s in the Great Service – with some adventurous harmonies. Both services had to be edited, as the surviving parts are highly defective; David Wulstan’s editions are employed here. Notwithstanding my slight preference for the Oxford Camerata versions of some pieces, for these four works alone the Christ Church recording is well worth having. As far as I am aware, it is the only available recording to contain them and the performances are all good. The Nimbus recording is somewhat less immediate than that on their Taverner CD which I recently reviewed (NI5360 – see review) and even less immediate than that on their Sheppard recording (NI5480 – see review). For the current recording the volume needed a 4 or 5 dB boost before it began to sound natural, and even then the sound was rather more recessed than I should have liked. Perhaps the Ambisonic UHJ encoding is part of the problem. The separation between the two sides of the choir, Decani and Cantoris, is well conveyed. Anthony Rooley, with the Consort of Musicke (Gaudeamus CDGAU195 - see review) offers a wholly recommendable selection of Weelkes’s Madrigals and Anthems. This CD, though apparently no longer available, is worth looking out for – some dealers may still have a copy. Hosanna to the Son of David and Gloria in Excelsis are included on a recent mid-price set of hearteningly committed performances of Great Tudor Anthems. A CD of Verse Anthems from Bull to Boyce (Deux-Elles DXL853 - see review), containing Weelkes’s Give ear) is also well worth investigating. The scores of several of Weelkes’s anthems may be found online.

Brian Wilson (source/font: aquí)

Gaudiu i compartiu! 



Informació addicional... 

INTERPRETS: Christ Church Cathedral Choir; Stephen Darlington
AMAZON: WEELKES, T. - Ninth Service and Anthems
SPOTIFY: WEELKES, T. - Ninth Service and Anthems



Tant si us ha agradat, com si no, opineu, és lliure i fàcil!

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