I Fagiolini: the Ache, the Bite and the Banger
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I Fagiolini: The ache, the bite and the banger Live, Thursday 24 June, 7.00pm Recorded for broadcast on St Martin-in-the-Fields Trafalgar Square Wednesday 30 June, 7.30pm London WC2N 4JJ Available for online concert ticket holders to watch as many times 020 7766 1100 as you like and available for 30 days. www.smitf.org PROGRAMME Prologue to L’Orfeo — Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) T’amo mia vita — Monteverdi Ahi come a un vago sol cortese giro — Monteverdi See, see, the shepherd’s Queen — Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656) Weep, o mine eyes — John Bennett (c1575-after 1614) Noel, adieu, thou court’s delight — Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623) Light of my soul — Robert Lucas Pearsall (1795-1856) Rest — Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) Love is a babe — Adrian Williams (b. 1956) Stripsody — Cathy Berberian (1925-1983) The Sloth — Flanders & Swann (1922-1975 & 1923-1994) I love my love — Trad arr. Gustav Holst (1874-1934) PROGRAMME NOTES by Sarah Maxted I Fagiolini begin ‘The ache, the bite and the banger’ with three works by the Italian master of musical drama, Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). Working for the court at Mantua, Monteverdi was one of the pioneering composers who contributed to the genesis of the opera genre at the start of the seventeenth century. Following the innovations of fellow Italian composer Jacopo Peri, Monteverdi developed the era’s fashionable court entertainments into a format recognisable as opera with his 1607 work L’Orfeo. The opera is based on the mythological story of Orpheus and Eurydice, with a libretto by Mantuan court diplomat Alessandro Striggio. The plot is introduced with this Prologue sung by La Musica, the personification of music. Beyond his operatic fame, Monteverdi is known for his extraordinary output of Italian madrigals: secular songs for multiple voices, often with amorous or pastoral subject matter. From his First Book of Madrigals published in 1587 to the Ninth Book published posthumously, Monteverdi’s madrigals represent a remarkable stylistic journey of musical expression and textual interpretation. T’amo mia vita and Ahi come a un vago sol cortese giro are both continuo madrigals from his Fifth Book, published in 1605. The texts are from Rime by Italian poet Giovanni Battista Guarini and Monteverdi’s settings are theatrical in nature, with the lines of poetry shared in dialogue between the different vocal parts, foreshadowing the distinctive dramatic style and success of L’Orfeo two years later. The Italian madrigal style spread quickly across Europe and Elizabethan England soon found itself in the throes of madrigal fever. Inspired by the popularity of madrigals by Monteverdi and other composers including Luca Marenzio, the English poet Thomas Watson published The first set Of Italian madrigals Englished in 1590. This unleashed a brief but glorious age of English madrigals in the Italian style, with all the leading composers of the day trying their hand at the genre. Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656) was a prominent church musician and composer of keyboard and consort music. His madrigal collection Songs of 3, 4, 5 and 6 parts was published in 1922, including the five-part madrigal See, see, the shepherds’ Queen. The text celebrates the traditional pastoral figure of Phyllis with cascades of light-hearted ‘fa-la-la’s and merrily dancing shepherds. Weep, O mine eyes is a poignant lament by John Bennet (c.1575-c.1614) based on the ‘lachrimae’ (tears) motif. The motif is a descending scale, like a falling tear, which was widely used by Elizabethan composers and was immortalised by the composer-lutenist John Dowland in his song Flow my tears. An earlier Italian madrigal by Marenzio also used the motif in 1585, titled Parto da voi. Of Bennet’s life, little is known beyond his important contribution to English madrigal canon, preserved in collections including his 1599 publication of Madrigals for Four Voices. Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623) was a prolific composer of English madrigals, publishing four volumes of these secular vocal works between 1597 and 1608. Noel, adieu, thou court’s delight is from his 1600 collection of eight Madrigals to 5 and 6 parts. It is an elegy composed following the death of Elizabethan courtier and politician Henry Noel in 1597. There is perhaps some irony to be relished in Weelkes’ setting; the tragic text professes the end of joy and pleasure, but the music is undeniably enjoyable with its bittersweet and indulgently dissonant harmonies. Robert Lucas Pearsall (1795-1856) was an English composer primarily remembered for his vocal works reviving the Renaissance madrigal style. He was a founding member of the Bristol Madrigal Society, which began meeting in 1837. Pearsall’s arrangement of the carol In Dulci Jubilo and the richly emotive part-song Lay a Garland are enduringly popular standards of choral repertoire, but his six-part madrigal Light of my soul is now rarely performed. The text is a serenade from the historical romance novel Leila or The Siege of Granada by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, published in 1838. Pearsall’s setting showcases his Romantic sensibilities, layering the voices in a flowing texture of imitative entries and luxurious suspensions. Rest is an early choral work by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), written for performance by the Magpie Madrigal Society in 1902. Like his other early part-songs, this piece is strongly influenced by Vaughan Williams’ interest in Elizabethan poetry and madrigals. The text is by the nineteenth century poet Christina Rossetti but is written in the Renaissance form of a Petrarchan sonnet. Vaughan Williams’ use of triple time brings out the lullaby metre of the poetry and captures a sense of eternity through the effect of subtle hemiolas, stretching time languidly over the bar-lines. The music is articulated with expressive silences, illustrating Rossetti’s description of ‘silence more musical than any song’. Based on Sonnet 115 by William Shakespeare, Love is a babe was composed by Adrian Williams (b. 1956) for Robert Hollingworth’s 2012 album of Shakespearean sonnet settings. The title, which Williams uses as a refrain throughout the piece, is taken from the final couplet of the sonnet. Typically, these two lines follow the sonnet’s volta (thematic turn) and contain a concise kernel of truth, distilling the core meaning of Shakespeare’s verse. In this case, Shakespeare uses the metaphor of Cupid, the infant god of love, to assert that love always has scope for growth. Stripsody is an iconic work by American mezzo-soprano Cathy Berberian (1925-1983). Berberian’s performance repertoire ranged from Monteverdi madrigals to contemporary works by composers including Luciano Berio, her partner in both music and marriage. Having established her career as a fiercely witty and intelligent interpreter of avant-garde music, Berberian wrote her first composition Stripsody in 1966. It explores the onomatopoeic language and sound effects of comic strips, notated as a graphic score with illustrations by Roberto Zamarin. The Sloth is a charming song by the comedy duo Flanders & Swann. Michael Flanders (1922-1975) and Donald Swann (1923-1994) were classmates at both Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, but they didn’t fully develop their famous musical partnership until the late 1940s. Together, they cowrote a plethora of comic songs, monologues and revue shows and enjoyed performances and tours worldwide. Some of their most memorable ditties concern the animal kingdom, including this delightful commentary on the contentedly idle life of a sloth. Gustav Holst (1874-1934) arranged the Cornish folksong I love my love as part of his collection of Six Choral Folksongs in 1916. The song paints an evocative narrative of loss and madness which extends over six stanzas and – unlike so many folk tales – concludes with a rare happy ending! The upper voices repeat the words ‘I love my love’ in a lilting refrain, coloured by Holst with varying harmonies to represent the changing moods of drama, distress and devotion. I Fagiolini (c. Matthew Brodie) TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS Prologo to L’Orfeo La Musica Dal mio Permesso amato a voi ne vegno, From my beloved Permessus I come to you, incliti eroi, sangue gentil di Regi, illustrious heroes, noble race of Kings, di cui narra la Fama eccelsi pregi, whose glorious deeds Fame relates, nè giunge al ver perch’è tropp’alto il segno. but falls short of the truth, for the target is too high. Io la Musica son, ch’à i dolci accenti I am Music, who in sweet accents so far tranquillo ogni turbato core, can calm every troubled heart, et hor di nobil ira, et hor d’amore and now with noble anger, now with love, posso infiammar le più gelate menti. can inflame the coldest minds. Io sù cetera d’or cantando soglio With my golden lyre and my singing, I am used mortal orecchia lusingar talora, sometimes to delight mortal ears, e in guisa tal de l’armonia sonora thus to inspire souls with a longing de le rote del Ciel più l’alme invoglio. for the sonorous harmony of the heavenly lyre. Quinci à dirvi d’Orfeo desio mi sprona, From here, desire spurs me to tell you of Orpheus, d’Orfeo che trasse al suo cantar le fere, Orpheus who drew wild beasts by his songs, e servo fè l’Inferno à sue preghiere, and who subjugated Hades by his pleas, gloria immortal di Pindo e d’Elicona. the immortal glory of Pindus and Helicon. Hor mentre i canti alterno, hor lieti, Now while I sing, now of joy, hor mesti, now of sorrow, non si mova augellin fra queste piante, let no small bird stir among these trees, nè s’oda in queste rive onda sonante, no noisy wave be heard on these shores, et ogni Auretta in suo camin s’arresti.