1 We're Grounded! : Works with Basses & Other Favorites

Early Music Ensemble | November 14, 2020 | 2:00pm | https://music.utah.edu/libby-live/index.php

Notes & Texts

Welcome to our fall semester concert—our celebration of some early music favorites as well as pieces that feature an ostinato (or "ground") bass. The concert today spans the 13th through the 18th centuries and a fair amount of geography. While remaining mostly in place through the pandemic, EME has explored a variety of ground bass works that we offer for our semester-ending concert. To round out the romanesca, passamezzo, and descending tetrachords, we'll play a selection of pieces from Spain, England, Italy, and France that reaffirms the triumph of music and the cosmic travel it affords to all of us even if we must remain in one place.

“Rosa das rosas” from the Cantigas de Santa María The Cantigas, dating from the mid-13th century, are 420 poems with music that are attributed to Alfonso X, “el Sabio,” (“the Learned”), King of Castile, León, and Galicia from 1252 to 1284. It is possible that contemporary poets could also have written some of the song texts. The cantigas are written in the medieval Galician-Portuguese language that developed from both Latin and the spoken language of the local geographic area. "Rosa das rosas" is a song of praise for the Virgin Mary. All of the cantigas are monophonic (one melodic line with no written accompaniment or other parts). Our version of this cantiga’s monophonic has been arranged for three voices, hurdy gurdy, viol, and percussion by Haruhito Miyagi.

Rosa das rosas e Fror das frores, Rose of roses and flower of flowers, Dona das donas, Sennor das sennores. Woman of Women, Lady of ladies.

1. 1. Rosa de beldad' e de parecer Rose of beauty and fine appearance e Fror d'alegria e de prazer, And flower of happiness and pleasure, Dona en mui piadosa ser lady of most merciful bearing, Sennor en toller coitas e doores. And Lord for relieving all woes and cares; Rosa das rosas e Fror das frores, Rose of roses and flower of flowers, Dona das donas, Sennor das sennores. Woman of women, Lady of ladies.

2. 2. Atal Sennor dev' ome muit' amar, Such a Mistress everybody should love, que de todo mal o pode guardar; For she can ward away any evil e pode-ll' os peccados perdõar, And she can pardon any sinner que faz no mundo per maos sabores. To create a better savor in this world. Rosa das rosas e Fror das frores, Rose of roses and flower of flowers, Dona das donas, Sennor das sennores. Woman of women, Lady of ladies.

2 3. 3. Devemo-la muit' amar e servir, We should love and serve her loyally, ca punna de nos guardar de falir; For she can guard us from falling; des i dos erros nos faz repentir, She makes us repent the errors que nos fazemos come pecadores. That we have committed as sinners: Rosa das rosas e Fror das frores, Rose of roses and flower of flowers Dona das donas, Sennor das sennores. Woman of women, Lady of ladies.

4. 4. Esta dona que tenno por Sennore de que quero This lady whom I acknowledge as my Master seer trobador, And whose troubadour I'd gladly be, se eu per ren poss' aver seu amor, If I could in any way possess her love, dou ao demo os outros amores. I'd give up all my other lovers. Rosa das rosas e Fror das frores, Rose of roses and flower of flowers, Dona das donas, Sennor das sennores. Woman of women, Lady of ladies

Translation from Lyrics of the Middle Ages, ed. James J. Wilhelm. NY: Garland Publ., 1990, 244. (Additional translation support for “Sennor das sennores,” correctly as “Lady of ladies” rather than “Lord of lords,” from Andrew Casson, “Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers.”)

Diferencias sobre las Vacas (selections) from Obras de musica para tecla, arpa y vihuela Antonio de Cabezón (1510–1566)

Cabezón’s set of diferencias (variations) is one in a long line of many variation sets on the same harmonic progression, which became known as the Romanesca. “Vacas” refers to the tune that began it all: “Guárdame las vacas,” or “Look out for the cows.” The Romanesca progression is very similar to that of the (which we’ll hear in the Mainerio dances later in the program). A combination of both the Romanesca and Passamezzo antico bass progressions is the source of one tune that has become very familiar to us in many guises: .

Green-Sleeves and Pudding-Pies The Old Mole John Playford (1623–1686/7)

John Playford’s The Dancing Master, a very popular compilation of English country dances, was published in England in several volumes and numerous editions from 1651 through to 1728. Playford’s dances provided music and dance for many dance parties and social occasions. Many young people in the eighteenth century would have been taught to dance because it was a very vital skill to learn to assist one to negotiate the world and find a romantic partner, for example. The most popular dances were called “longways” dances because they allowed for as many couples to line up to dance as wanted. Playford’s book includes only the melody—which would usually have been played by a single fiddle—and the dance steps. Our performance of Playford’s Green-Sleeves and Pudding-Pies includes an added bass line and inner voices to support and fill out the original melody. Similarly, The Old Mole is also enhanced with other parts, and will serve the purpose to demonstrate the krumhorns in 3 the ensemble. We begin with a tuning chord, before playing the piece with the two upper parts only, and then finishing with a repeat of the piece with the entire krumhorn consort.

“Next, Winter, comes slowly,” from The Fairy-Queen Henry Purcell (1563-1626)

This moment occurs in Purcell’s semi-opera, the The Fairy-Queen (an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), during the masque of the Four Seasons ending Act IV. Each season sings and Winter is the final one, before an ending chorus and a dance of all of the seasons together. Winter’s song opens with a descending chromatic line that echoes the piece’s opening by the instrumental ensemble. Purcell emphasizes certain aspects of the text throughout: the musical lines descend slowly as Winter descends, “pale” and “old.” Dotted passages accompany the “quiv’ring” cold. There is a dramatic change, however, as the final vocal phrase begins: Winter prays to be restored by the sun as the vocal line begins to rise chromatically, triumphantly, even as the instrumental parts, in contrast, descend chromatically. It is quite striking.

Winter sings: Next, Winter, comes slowly, pale, meager and old, First trembling with age, and then quiv’ring with cold; Benumb’d with hard frosts and with snow cover’d o’er, Prays the Sun to restore him, and sings as before.

Passe’mezzo antico & Saltarello Giorgio Mainerio (c. 1530-1540–1582)

These are just two of the dances from a popular collection published by Mainerio in Venice in 1578. We have scored them for the entire instrumental ensemble with doublings on some parts. As with most Renaissance and some , the instrumental forces are not specified in the notated score: only range is given; in this case, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.

The Passe’mezzo antico is a duple dance of a processional nature and contains six sections that repeat the Passe’mezzo antico harmonic progression. While the harmonic progression remains a solid constant, the upper three voices vary the melodic gestures, rhythms and motifs. Our recorded performance of the Passe’mezzo includes a surprise!

The Saltarello also uses the same harmonic progression, but it is a quicker dance in triple time; it’s a fitting end to our concert.

“Che si può fare” Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)

“Che si può fare,” a lament, is from Strozzi’s last book of songs, her eighth, published in 1664. Laments were all the rage at this time in Italy. They were often the centerpiece in an operatic scene where the heroine took time to reflect on her sorrow or loss. As such a Lament offered an opportunity to the composer to create a very dramatic moment through the representation of the feelings and psychological journey of the heroine, as she processes wide-ranging emotions like desperation, anger, and self-pity; often ending quietly with a recognition of the futility of her own emotion. Laments achieved their own formal identity; and while musical history has lost entire operas, we know the operas existed because the lament was preserved.

4 Composers often selected classical subjects or characters from epic romances as inspiration for operatic laments: Dido, abandoned by the Trojan Aeneas; Ariadne, of Crete, who—upon awaking from a nap—discovers that Thesus (whom she helped to slay the Minotaur, I might add) has left her. Through time laments were taken out of the context of opera entirely. Barbara Strozzi published a number of laments in her eight books of song. Without any preceding actions or interactions with characters to tell us the story, we (and audiences before us) must deduce what has befallen the heroine prior to the lament.

What sets the scene in this case is the descending bassline that opens the aria. You’ll hear this repeated many times, 34 to be exact. It’s the stable foundation over which the heroine can express herself very freely, making for a very powerful musical moment.

The descending four notes (called a tetrachord), became, in the words of the scholar Ellen Rosand, the “emblem of lament.”

For this lament, which is the first part of an extended work, Barbara set only the first two 8-line sections of the poem. She set them in two fairly equal parts wherein the heroine poses two questions. Artfully set by Strozzi, the questions frame the heroine’s thoughts as a rising melodic gesture (Che si puo fare? What can one do?) is transformed into a falling melodic gesture (Che si puo dire? What can one say?) to bring the vocal part quietly to an end.

Originally for only soprano and bass, our version, arranged by Miyo Aoki, includes two treble instrumental lines for recorders.

Che si può fare? What can I do? Le stelle ribelle non hanno pietà; The stars have no pity and work against me; se ‘l cielo non dà un influsso If heaven will give me no gesture di pace al mio penare, Of peace for my pain, che si può fare? What can I do?

Che si può dire? What can I say? Dagl’astri disastri mi piovano ognor; The heavens are raining disasters on me; se perfido amor un respiro diniega If Love will not grant me a moment of breath, al mio martire, to relieve all my suffering, che si può dire? What can I say?

Les Sauvages Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

Les barricades mysterieuses François Couperin (1668-1733)

Last spring, the Early Music Ensemble was preparing a concert of French music when the pandemic changed everyone’s plans. We’ve included two harpsichord pieces in this concert from that program. Both pieces, by two of the greatest French Baroque composers for the instrument, employ the rondeau form. While they are not ground bass pieces, they do feature another type of repetition with their alternation of refrain and couplet (similar to a verse). The school’s French double-manual harpsichord—thankfully donated for our use through the efforts of Barbara Scowcroft—is ideal for this repertoire where the couplet and refrain can be distinguished through the alternation of one or two manuals. 5

Sonata No. I in G Major for two bassoons Gravement | Courante | Lentement—Légèrement Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689-1755)

Boismortier is well-known for his flute sonatas as well as his prolific writing for multiple groups of flutes, and other groups of similar and diverse instruments. Because he had an engraving priviledge from the French king, he was able to make a living by publishing and selling his many works—heralding a new model of survival for a composer who did not need wealthy patrons. There was also a public demand for music that could be played in the home or the salon. The Boismortier sonata played today is for two bass instruments: bassoons, violas da gamba, or cellos. You will notice that the movements include various techniques that highlight each part’s equal role: one bassoon will begin a phrase and the other will answer in kind; each takes turns harmonically reinforcing the melody; and, in quicker sections the two often pair up in flurries of scalar passages (usually a third apart).

The Early Music Ensemble (MUSC 4437/6437) is an ensemble open to all undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Utah. Community members can also join by audition. The ensemble meets on Mondays from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. Ensemble members sing, or play period instruments such as the recorder, flute, viola da gamba, and harpsichord. Modern string instrumentalists can join the group and borrow a period bow for use during the class. We engage with historical sources and performance practice to present historically-informed performances. If you are interested in learning more about the ensemble, or donating to our instrument fund, please contact the group’s director, Lisa Chaufty at 801-587-9786, or at [email protected]