Composers
The Medieval Lady
Beatriz, Countess of Dia (12th C.) (France)
allows us a unique personal perspective of a world ruled by a rigid
code of courtly love. The text for this song is outside the male, more
formal, esthetic of courtly love because of its directness, immediacy
and personal viewpoint. The Countess, wife of Guilhèm de Poitiers,
lived in southern France in the 12th century, a period favorable for
the economic independence of aristocratic women. The legal system in
southern France allowed women to inherit property. They often ruled
their family estates while their husbands were away fighting in the
crusades, freedoms that were gradually whittled away in later centuries.
Although this was an era when poetry and music by women flourished,
there are only 23 surviving poems by women and only four melodies. We
are fortunate to have the both the melody and poetic text for the Countess
of Dia's song, one of only two extant melodies of its kind surviving
from the 12th century.
Maroie de Dregnau de Lille (13th C.) (France)
is an otherwise unknown poet whose lovely little song presents us with
a glimpse into the secular life of medieval women -- the expectation
that despite the chill of winter, a maid should remain joyful and thus
increase her worth.
Queen Blanche (1188-1252) was born in Castile,
then a kingdom in what is now central and northern Spain. Upon marriage,
she became Queen of France, and governed France as regent during the
minorship of her son Louis IX, and then again during his absence due
to the 7th crusade. Of noble birth, Blanche was in the position to benefit
from an education otherwise unavailable to women, or to most men. Her
nobility and its accompanying education and wealth probably helped ensure
the survival of her songs through the centuries.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1170) (Germany),
a unique and extraordinary woman by any century's measure, wrote books
on natural science, theology and medicine, as well as the first morality
play set to music. She composed a large collection of religious music,
Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (Symphony of the harmony
of celestial revelation). Of noble birth, her resources probably helped
her to found her own monastery in Germany, and she earned the respect
of kings, emperors and churchmen. The title of her collection, "Symphonia,"
refers, in addition to its more general musical meaning, to the medieval
style hurdy-gurdy called a symphonia, used in this performance of 0
Ierusalem. The songs in this collection are in Latin, and, as
common with plainsong, were written as a single line of music. This
performance includes echoes, counter-melodies and drones inspired by
Hildegard's melodies and poetry.
Anne Boleyn (1507-1536) was the second wife
of King Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I. Her father attained a
high position under the young Henry VIII and spent several years as
Ambassador to France. Anne lived at the French court from age 12-16.
We know she was trained in music and dancing, owned a virginals, (a
keyboard instrument similar in sound to a harpsichord), and played the
lute. She had an excellent reputation as a composer and performer. This
song is said to have been written by her when she was in the Tower of
London facing execution for treason, though her only crime was probably
her failure to produce a male heir.
Lady Killigrew's (17th C.) (England) lovely
setting of this John Donne poem appears in English manuscript from the
early years of the 17th century. Though her first name is not indicated
and thus her exact identity difficult to ascertain, she may be related
to Anne Killigrew, a poet and painter who lived just before the Restoration.
The unclear identity of Lady Killigrew is a good example of the dilemmas
music historians face when researching this material.
Mary Harvey (Lady Dering) (1629-1704) (England)
studied music at Mrs. Salmon's School, a fashionable English girls'
school called where she also learned Latin, French, "all manner
of cookery," fancy needle work and dancing. After her marriage
at age nineteen, she began lute lessons with Henry Lawes, a composer
at the court of Charles I. Three of Lady Dering's songs were included
in Lawes' publications of Jacobean lute songs, and although the title
page mentions only Henry Lawes as composer, the Lady Dering's name appears
on the music itself.
Giles Farnaby (c.1563-1640) was a "joyner
and musician" (a woodworker, composer and music teacher) who earned
a Bachelor of Music from Oxford in 1592. More than fifty of his pieces
are included in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, a major collection
of English keyboard music. Farnaby's piece Tower
Hill was included on this recording because it refers
to the infamous prison where Anne Boleyn was held prisoner earlier.
It is performed on two lutes instead of keyboard in this recording.
Richard Farnaby (b c.1594-?) was Giles Farnaby's
son. Less is known about Richard, but four of his pieces are in the
Fitzwilliam Virginal Book.
Anonymous Trotto (c.1400)
(recorder, nakers); Estampie (13th C.) (symphonia,
recorder); Saltarella (c.1400) (recorder,
lute) Saltarella (c.1400) (recorder, tambourine
aux cordes); La Manfredina (c.1400) (medieval
fiddle, lute)
Anonymous Lute Duets are taken from the Jane
Pickering Lute Book (1615-1645), which contains music copied in
three different hands. It was customary at the time, when printed music
was not so readily available, to write down familiar tunes, one's own
tunes, and tunes composed by others. The anonymous lute duets on this
recording were copied in the same hand that wrote "Jane Pickeringe
owe [sic] this Booke 1616," presumably by Jane Pickering
herself. Both the main part of the Jane Pickering Lute Book and
the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book were written in the 17th century
during the "Golden Age" of Elizabethan and Jacobean lute music.