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Home , Alfred Deller, Claude Le Jeune

TWENTY-FIRST SEASON SECOND CONCERT

]lpaston Friends of llusic, Inc. and 3hepherd School of l(lasic

PRESENT THE

Mark Deller, Director

Hamman Hall Wednesday, November 5, 1980 Rice University 8:00 P.M. PROGRAM

European c. 1600 Hark, all ye lovely saints Thomas Weelkes (1575-1623) Care for thy soul Francis Pilkington (1562-1638) Tanzen und springen Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) . Sfogava con le stelle (1567-1643) Leggiadretto Clorino Orazio Vecchi (1550-1605) Iteneo miei (1560-1613) Solos (l563-1626) The Earl of Essex Galliard Semper Dowland, semper do/ens Queen Elizabeth's Galliard Theatre Music of the Restoration When the cock begins to crow (1659-1695) Dialogue: Good neighbor, why? Tis wine was made to rule the day On , the sweet delights of love Tis women make us love

Intermission 16th Century French Mignonne al/on voir si la raze Guillaume Costeley (1531-1606) Objet dont /es charmes Antoine Boesset (1585-1643) Ce mois de May Clement Jannequin (1485-1558) Courante et Bran/es (lute solo) Robert Ballard (1575-.1640) Comment penses vous que je vive? Claude le Jeune (1528-1600) Dessus le marche d 'Arras Roland de Lassus (1530-1594) Folk-Songs of the British Isles Swansea town (Wales) arr . Gustav Holst Ca' the yowes (Scotland) arr . R Vaughan Williams The lark in the clear air (Ireland) arr . John Vine The Farmer's Daughters (Somerset) arr Gerrard Williams The Wraggle Taggle gypsies (Somerset) arr . Robert Spencer Just as the tide was flowing (Somerset) arr R Vaughan Williams J Represented by Mariedi Anders Artists Management Inc. I 535 El Camino Del Mar. San Francisco, California 94121 I Photographing and sound recording are prohibited. We further request that audible paging devices not be used during performaces. Paging arrangements may be made with ushers. -, If it is anticipated that tickets will not be used, subscribers t. are encouraged to turn them in for resale. l 1 ] HOUSTON FRIENDS OF MUSIC is a non-profit organization dedicated to the presentation of chamber ensembles with national and international reputations and the development of new audiences for chamber music through concerts available to everyone.

HOUSTON FRIENDS OF MUSIC TWENTY-FIRST SEASON HOUSTON FRIENDS OF MUSIC/ SHEPHERD SCHOOL OF MUSIC FOURTH SEASON October 23, 1980 ...... : ...... Prague String Quartet November 5, 1980.... .' ...... Deller Consort Jar:iuary 20, 1981 ...... Paillard Chamber Orchestra February 17, 1981...... Vermeer Quartet March 11, 1981...... Trio di Milano AprH 14, 1981...... Tokyo String Quartet PATRONS Cultural Arts Council Nancy & Harold Sternlicht Shell Companies Foundation of Houston BENEFACTORS Ervin Adam Alexander Goldstein, Jr. Franklyn K. Levin Anonymous Grady Hallman W. H. Mannheimer J . K. Arbenz William Ward Jones Julia Mazow Emory & Margaret E. Carl Barbara Kauffman Weinstein and Spira, C.P.A. Dennis & Susan Carlyle Harold P. Klebanoff Samuel & Angela Weiss George Coughlin Carl & Naomi Levinson S. C. Wexler Gulf Forge Tomas Klima Robert and Edith Zinn SPONSORS James & Carolyn Alexander Robert A. Hettig Bette T. Snyder Ralph A. Anderson R. Ilaria Tom & Barbara Solis Lutz & Mariel Birnbaumer Tom & Frances Leland Peter VanMeurs Chester & Jaimie Cochran Aaron & Helen Mintz Ronald & Margrit Young Norman & Hannah Decker Malcolm & Horty Sher CONTRIBUTORS Steven D. Baker Lila Gene George Howard & Carole Marmell Bernice L. Beckerman Fred & Eva Haufrecht Richard & Eva Rosencranz James & Barbara Butler Alfred J . Kahn Mark & Amanda Schnee Edward Doughtie Walter & Margaret Kaye Margaret Sinclair James H. Duffy Bill Landfield Doris F. Wechter Lloyd E. Elliott, Jr. Clifford & Bette Laurence Herbert H. Yuan Ann Fairbanks Patti Ruth Linbeck PAST PRESIDENTS John Hill ...... 1960-1967 Alf;ed Neuman·n ...... 1967-1968 Stratton Hill .. ·,: ...... 1968-1973 Harvey L. Gordon ...... 1973-1977 Nancy Sternlicht...... 1977-1979 1980 - 1981 OFFICERS President...... J. Kaspar Arbenz First Vice President (Program Chairman) ...... Jack B. Mazow Second Vice President (Subscriptions Manager) ...... Daniel Musher Third Vice President (Concert Arrangements Chairman) . . . .. James Alexander Fourth Vice President (Publicity Chairman) ...... Bette Snyder Secretary ...... :· ...... Peter van Meurs Treasurer ...... Edward Doughtie Community Relations Officer ...... Nancy Sternlicht DELLER CONSORT f, The Deller Consort was formed by the late , perhaps the world's best known , in 1950. His son Mark Deller, the current director, is also a countertenor. The group's concerts and recording of and music have met with critical acclaim around the world. PROGRAM NOTES Most madrigals are true chamber music in that they are conceived as much for the performers as for an audience; indeed, the relationship between word and music can usually be more fully understood by the singers. The and related lighter forms originated and flourished in Italy, but spread to England and Germany as well. Hassler' s peice is a balletto, which has a chordal texture and a "fa-la" refrain; Weelkes's is an adventuresome combination of balletto and madrigal characteristics. Pilkington's and Vecchi's madrigals share the in­ dependent voices of the true madrigal, but one is sober and spiritual, the other lighthearted. Vecchi, who wrote most of his own texts, was a merry and a pious priest," according to Alfred Einstein. Gesualdo was neither merry nor pious: he murdered his wife, her lover, and her child. His madrigal is typical in its con­ trapuntal texture and its illustration of the text (as in the caught breath on the word sospiri, "sighs"); but its startling harmonies are peculiar to this brilliant but sinister nobleman. Monteverdi's dramatic declamatory madrigal of 1603 show movement in the direction of opera, the new form he was soon to master. Although John Dowland had an international reputation as a lute virtuoso and was employed by the King of Denmark, he was not able to secure a court ~ appointment at home until 1612, near the end of his creative life. The galliard dedicated to Queen Elizabeth apparently did not result in a job. Perhaps his disappointments had something to do with his carefully cultivated image as a melancholy sufferer; the punning title of his pavan means "Always Dowland, always sorrowing." His most famous composition was another pavan, "Lachrymae" ("tears"). Besides music for lute and other instruments, Dowland composed a number of beautiful songs, one of which, "," has the same music as "The Earl of Essex Galliard." Henry Purcell, "Orpheus Britannicus" to his contemporaries, was for almost two hundred years considered England's greatest composer (especially since changes in muscial styles obscured the achievements of the Elizabethans). Purcell did manage to compose a quantity of excellent music in his short life. The son and nephew of musicians, Purcell's abilities won him regular employ­ ment from the time he was a boy chorister at the Chapel Royal to his appoint­ ment as organist at Westminster Abbey. By 1690, hs was much in demand as a composer of music for the theater. The soprano duet, "Oh, the sweet delights of love," was part of the music for , a strange hodge-podge made by Thomas Betterton from an old Fletcher and Massinger play, part native English masque, part French opera-ballet. That it was successful was largely due to Purcell's music. The dialogue, "Good neighbor," is also more memorable than the play it was composed for, Edward Ravenscroft's The Canterbury Guests. "When the cock begins 'to crow" may have been written for insertion into The Fairy Queen, but it may not even be by Purcell. "Tis wine was made to rule the day" is a drinking song of unusual magnitude; the concluding song is a witty

I catch or round. The French was the dominant part-song in Europe before the L spread of the madrigal, and continued to flourish alongside the Italian form. l Chanson comes in many varieties: Jannequin's is typical of lighter styles, with its homophonic texture and spritely rhythm. Costeley's setting of Ronsard's verse is slightly more complex. Antoine Boesset's song is an , a relative of the English lute song. Like Dowland and other instrumental composeres, Robert Ballard used dance forms for his pieces. Claude le Jeune worked with the Academie de poesie et musique, a group dedicated t imitating ancient Greek song. Fortunately the academic theories did not prevent the composer from pro­ ducing delightful music. Roland de Lassus had such a beautiful voice as a child that he was kidnapped three times. The last time, he was taken to Sicily where he acquired a knowledge of Italian music and an Italian name, Orlando de Lasso. This chanson is based on a popular tune. :~ Trained musicians have been arranging folksongs to good effect since the Middle Ages; Dowland use "The Woods so Wild" in the last part of his "Earl of f Essex Galliard." Two of the songs in this group are versions of ballads included in ·the monumental collection by F. J. Child: "The Farmer's Daughters" or "The Two Sisters" is about a fatal instance of sibling rivalry; "The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies" or "The Gypsy Laddie" is about ah upper-class wife who is charmed k away by a romantic gypsy. In "Ca' the yowes" ("Drive the ewes''), a suitor tricks l a girl's father into giving his consent to their marriage. The melodies of these songs mak~ it clear how they could have been preserved in the heart for years before anyone put them on paper.

Program Notes by Edward Doughtie

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