The English Madrigal Composers

The English Madrigal Composers BY EDMUND HORACE FELLOWES C. H., M. V. O., M. A., Mus. Doc. Alinor Canon of Windsor Hon. Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford SECOND EDITION GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS London New York Toronto 1948 Oxford University Press, Amen House, London E. G. 4 GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS CAPETOWN Geoffrey Cumberlege, Publisher to the University FIRST EDITION 1921 SECOND EDITION 1948 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, OXFORD BY CHARLES BATEY, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY PREFACE THERE appears to be no published work dealing exclusively with the subject of the English Madrigal. It is hoped, therefore, that this volume may supply a want, and may prove of interest to many among that large body of singers who are constantly engaged in the practice and study of madrigals, either as members of choral societies or in the privacy of their homes. It may also be found to have some value as a book of reference, as it contains a complete index of the first lines of the whole series of English madrigals, and also separate lists of works of this class at the conclusion of the biographical and critical notice of each composer. The vast number of organizations which serve to encourage part-singing of all kinds in this country bear testimony to the inherent love of vocal music which has been characteristic of the British race unintermittently for the past 500 years and more and there must be many choral singers who would care to know something further about the famous Tudor School of Music which is one of the proud heritages of our race. Possibly this latter consideration will cause the present volume to make a widerappeal to the interest of that large circle of English people who, although they may not engage in the active pursuit of any particular art, nevertheless value highly all the great national achievements of their race, not confining their interests alone to glorious feats of arms or triumphs of statesmanship, but extending them to the realms of Literature and Art in its many branches. For it is utterly deplorable that so few Englishmen should even be aware of the bare fact that at the dose of the sixteenth century a school of composers flourished in this country who held the first place in European music. The book has been designed primarily for the amateur and the student rather than for the expert musician, although it deals with certain facts and subjects which may be new to all classes of musicians. For example, the outline of the life of John Wilbye has not hitherto been printed elsewhere except in the preface to the present authors edition of Wilbyes works and in his paper in the Proceedings of the Musical Association for 1914-15 and new biographical details are also given concerning Weelkes, Farnaby, Tomkins, Cavendish, and other composers of this School. The volume is divided into two parts, the first of which deals with the history and meaning of the Madrigal with special reference to its position in English musical history, and, further, with a general explanation of the technicalities connected with the text of the original editions of the English madrigals, together with some important features bearing on the proper method of singing madrigals. The second part treats briefly of the life and works of the individual composers of the School. The original spelling has beenretained when passages are quoted from early authors, but in all other cases modern spelling has been adopted. This course is rendered desirable by the variety and inconsistency of Elizabethan spelling. Nor has any exception been made in the case of the word Air, although most modern writers, in dealing with the compositions of the lutenists, have preferred to retain the spelling Ayre, which was usually, but not invariably, the form in which it was spelt on the original title-pages...