The Journal of the Viola Da Gamba Society
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The Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society Text has been scanned with OCR and is therefore searchable. The format on screen does not conform with the printed Chelys. The original page numbers have been inserted within square brackets: e.g. [23]. Where necessary footnotes here run in sequence through the whole article rather than page by page and replace endnotes. The pages labelled ‘The Viola da Gamba Society Provisional Index of Viol Music’ in some early volumes are omitted here since they are up-dated as necessary as The Viola da Gamba Society Thematic Index of Music for Viols, ed. Gordon Dodd and Andrew Ashbee, 1982-, available on-line at www.vdgs.org.uk or on CD-ROM. Each item has been bookmarked: go to the ‘bookmark’ tab on the left. To avoid problems with copyright, some photographs have been omitted. Contents of Volume 12 (1983) Editorial Chelys, vol. 12 (1983), p. 2 John Harper article 1 The Distribution of the Consort Music of Orlando Gibbons in Seventeenth-Century Sources Chelys, vol. 12 (1983), pp. 5-18 John M. Jennings article 2 Thomas Lupo Revisited - Is Key the Key to hisLater Music Chelys, vol. 12 (1983), pp. 19-22 Lynn Hulse article 3 John Hingeston Chelys, vol. 12 (1983), pp. 23-42 Gordon Dodd article 4 Tablature Without Tears? Chelys, vol. 12 (1983), pp. 43-46 Hazelle Miloradovitch article 5 Eighteenth-Century Manuscript Transcriptions for Viols of Music by Corelli & Marais in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris: Sonatas and ‘Pièces de Viole’ Chelys, vol. 12 (1983), pp. 47-73 Reviews Clifford Bartlett Orlando Gibbons: new publications of the consort music review 1 Gordon Dodd John Coprario: ‘The Six-part Consorts and Madrigals review 2 Gordon Dodd Richard Charteris: ‘A Catalogue of the printed Book on Music, Printed Music and Music Manuscripts in Archbishop Marsh’s Library, Dublin’ review 3 [extract on] Thomas Gainsborough R.A. Letters to the editor: Michael Heale (with response from John Catch) EDITORIAL For members of the Viola da Gamba Society, 1983 must surely be the year of Orlando Gibbons; and this year's Chelys duly pays homage to the anniversary of the composer's birth with an article by John Harper (editor of the recent Musica Britannica volume of Gibbons's consort music) which concerns the distribution of this music in seventeenth- century sources. This article complements that by Oliver Neighbour in the July issue of Early Music (which presents a stylistic survey of the music) and it also maintains the Society's policy of reporting its London talks in the form of articles. The crop of editions of the consort music, which have appeared within a remarkably narrow time- span, are comprehensively reviewed by Clifford Bartlett. The year 1983 also marks the anniversary of the death of John Hingeston, a neglected composer who is chiefly remembered as musician to Oliver Cromwell. His revival by Lynn Hulse happily coincides with the Society's recent interest in music of the Common- wealth period. The perspective of the journal is broadened by the inclusion of a major article on foreign music. Hazelle Miloradovitch's survey of transcriptions for viols of music by Corelli and Marais not only en- compasses both Italian and French styles, but, further, extends the field of interest into the eighteenth century. Readers may notice various changes in the typography and layout of the journal this year, in particular the removal of footnotes to the end of each article. These result partly from a change of printer (to Peter Williamson), and partly from a continuing awareness of the need to review the state of the journal. Letters to the editor are welcome! WENDY HANCOCK Chelys, vol.12 (1983), article 1 [3] THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE CONSORT MUSIC OF ORLANDO GIBBONS IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY SOURCES JOHN HARPER As a whole, the corpus of Orlando Gibbons’s compositions reflects his spheres of employment in the Chapel Royal (1603), the King’s Private Music (1619), as organist of Westminster Abbey (1623), and (as is implied in the dedication of the Madrigals and Motets of 1612) in the Hatton household. Gibbons made substantial contributions in each of the following genres: sacred vocal music (full and verse), devotional music, secular music, keyboard music and consort music, and he is notable for his contributions to contemporary publications in all but the first of these fields. Equally apparent is the absence of a contribution to the repertories of lute music, solo (i.e. lute) song, and music for mixed consort, features which suggest his dissociation from the Jacobean theatre and the Court masque (though some of the keyboard music has associations with the masque). Nevertheless, he remains one of the most wide-ranging composers of his generation, if neither the most prolific nor the most progressive. Inevitably his continuing and unbroken reputation has rested on his church music, but in the reappraisal of his work in other genres his music for viol consort emerges as significant and substantial in both quantity and quality. The corpus is not so large as that of Coprario, Ferrabosco II, Lupo or Jenkins, but more extensive than that of fellow church musicians such as Byrd, Tomkins or Weelkes. A summary list (including less certain ascriptions), presented as Table 1, reveals that three quarters of the pieces are free fantasias, implying a conservative reliance on old-fashioned, single-movement, imitative works; but it belies the diversity of treatment from one fantasia to another, the range of scoring from two to six voices, and the varieties of texture, sectionalization, metre and tempo that exist within many of them. Chelys, vol.12 (1983), article 1 [4] The consort music is widely distributed in two printed sources and thirty-five manuscripts (listed in Table II below, with the abbreviations by which they are identified in this article). The manuscripts, all from the seventeenth century, are the primary consideration here. A number of them have been the subject of studies by scholars; some belonged to or emanated from collectors, compilers and copyists whose work has also received recent scrutiny;1 others remain problematical or await detailed individual study; but as a diverse group they present an insight into the distribution and selection of a major English composer’s work in this genre. A cursory examination of Table III suggests that many of them appear to have associations with London or Oxford: apart from George Loosemore’s manuscript,2 Gibbons’s consort music seems not to have attracted the attention of East-Anglian compilers. Nevertheless, a substantial body of pieces survives in sources owned or copied by (or closely associated with) Thomas Myriell, John Merro, John Browne, John Lilly and Narcissus Marsh, providing texts for thirty-four pieces in all. 3 (Table IV.) A group of six two-part fantasias is unique to Ckc; owned and written in part by John Browne, it is perhaps the most attractively presented source that includes consort music by Gibbons. 1 See the source bibliography above. 2 George Loosemore, organist of Jesus College, Cambridge (1635) and Trinity (1660), MusD (1665); d.1682. Like Henry his brother and John Lilly he was associated with the Norths at Kirtling. 3 Individual references to the work of A. Ashbee, R. Charteris, C. Monson and P. Willetts, so important to present knowledge, is presented compositely in the source bibliography. Chelys, vol.12 (1983), article 1 [5] Chelys, vol.12 (1983), article 1 [6] Chelys, vol.12 (1983), article 1 [7] [8] Chelys, vol.12 (1983), article 1 Table IV Distribution of consort music by Orlando Gibbons in MS collections of the seventeenth century Thomas Myriell (rector, St Stephen’s Walbrook 1616-25; d. 1625) Fantasias from the printed collection Och 61 - 7, 8, 10-15 Och 459 – 7, 8, 11, 12 John Merro (singing man of Gloucester from c.1609, d. 1639 Fantasias from the printed collection NYp 4183, Lbl 17793, Ob 245 – 7-15 John Browne (Clerk of the Parliaments from 1638; b. 1608, d. 1691) Fantasias from the printed collection Och 473 – 7-12 Two part fantasia (unique) Ckc 1-6 Och 423 – 28, 29 Copied by or associated with John Lilly4 (copyist, Cambridge music- master, theorbist in King’s music from 1660; d. 1678) Fantasias from the printed collection Och 2, 401, 417 – 7-15 In nomine Lbl 2485, Och 2, 403, 436 - 28 Six-part fantasias (5 unique) Och 2, 403, 436 – 31-36 Variations, pavan, galliard Och 2, 403 – 40-42 Narcissus Marsh (Oxford student and don 1655-78, then in Dublin; b. 1638, d. 1713) Double bass fantasias, three-part (3 unique) Dm 2 – 16-19, 20-22 Dm 3 – 16-19 Double bass galliard (unique) Dm 3 – 23 In nomine Dm 3 – 28 Pavan and galliard, six-part Dm 3 – 41-42 Not surprisingly it is the three-part fantasias from the printed collection that dominate the sources both of the collectors and overall, appearing in some guise in twenty-two manuscripts. Since none of these sources can be said certainly to ante-date the first edition of c. 1620,5 it would be reasonable to expect that they might derive from it. In most instances this is true, but there are important as well as misleading exceptions. By far the most misleading are two of the three copies made by John Merro. Though the text of the fantasias at the end of his large anthology NYp 4183 corresponds with the printed edition, both Lbl 17793 and Ob 245 include errors and inventions that may derive from an intermediate (and inaccurate) text that Merro has himself sought to 4 A. Ashbee (in his discussion of sources in the prefatory material of his edition John Jenkins.