SYNCOPATION ENGLISH MUSIC 1530 - 1630 'gentle daintie sweet accentings1 and 'unreasonable odd Cratchets' David McGuinness Ph.D. University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts April 1994 © David McGuinness 1994 ProQuest Number: 11007892 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11007892 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 10/ 0 1 0 C * p I GLASGOW UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ERRATA page/line 9/8 'prescriptive' for 'proscriptive' 29/29 'in mind' inserted after 'his own part' 38/17 'the first singing primer': Bathe's work was preceded by the short primers attached to some metrical psalters. 46/1 superfluous 'the' deleted 47/3,5 'he' inserted before 'had'; 'a' inserted before 'crotchet' 62/15-6 correction of number in translation of Calvisius 63/32-64/2 correction of sense of 'potestatis' and case of 'tactus' in translation of Calvisius 69/2 'signify' sp. 71/2 'hierarchy' sp. 71/41 'thesis' for 'arsis' as translation of 'depressio' 75/13ff. Calvisius' misprint noted: explanation of his alterations to original text clarified 77/18 superfluous 'themselves' deleted 80/15 'thesis' and 'arsis' reversed 81/11 'necessary' sp. 82/28 'others' for 'other' 85 'Compownd notes Sincopated': tail to final ligature 111/18 'hierarchy' sp. 119/31 'instrumentorum' for 'instrumentum' 122/24 'cogitanti' for 'cogitenti' 127/14 'microrhythms' for 'macrorhythms' 137/4-8 'Walther' ... 'syncopations' inserted 137/13 'ers' inserted after 'ernst' 147/18 'regardless' 244/3 'syncopations' for 'synopations' 338/8 'Beechey' for 'Beechley' 2 Abstract: This study is concerned with the concepts and uses of syncopation prevalent in England from the sixteenth century into the seventeenth. The treatment of syncopation in contemporary writings on music is discussed in depth through all the known English sources and a cross-section of Continental works. The purely theoretical definitions are joined by advice to composers, relating syncopation to dissonance treatment, and to performers, pointing out the need to persist against the movement of the tactus. English discant on a plainsong, however, has its own tradition of rhythmic vocabulary, based on repeated formulae of various lengths which are played against the tactus, and these remained a part of compositional training long after the practice itself had fallen from fashion. The remainder of the study develops an analytical technique for the repertory of the period with respect to syncopation, beginning with metrical psalm and hymn tunes from Coverdale through the 'Old Version' psalters of the 1550s and 60s, to the psalters of East and Alison. In this context, the rhythmic structure of the tunes of Tallis and Gibbons, misrepresented throughout the twentieth century, becomes clear. The analysis of consort songs, including Byrd's 1588 collection and the solo songs in Gibbons's 1612 set, yields a technique to help identify the instrumental interludes in some of Gibbons's songs. Also discussed are Morley's two-part canzonets (with a new edition of the instrumental fantasias), Tye's English anthems, and the Fantasies of Three Parts by Gibbons. 3 Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 7 1.2 Secondary literature 12 2. CONTEMPORARY THEORY 2.1.1 Practice and Speculation 30 2.1.2 The sources 35 2.2 Theory and composition 56 2.3 Instructions for performers 81 2.4 Discant and composition 95 2.5 Charles Butler on barring 106 2.6 Summary 110 3. MUSIC AND WORDS 3.1 Rhythmic parallels in contemporary poetry 113 3.2 Text setting 3.2.1 Expression 118 3.2.2 Rhythm 124 3.2.3 The repertory in secondary literature 130 4. ANALYSIS 4.1 Metrical psalm and hymn tunes 135 4.1.1 Miles Coverdale's Goostly psalmes 135 4.1.2 The metrical psalter in English to 1564 149 4.1.3 The psalters of East 1592 and Alison 1599 166 4.1.4 The psalm and hymn tunes of Tallis and Gibbons 180 4.1.5 Summary 194 4 4.2 Consort songs 196 4.3 Thomas Morley's Canzonets to Two Voyces 230 4.4 Tye: 'Blessed are all they that fear the Lord' and 253 'Christ rising again from the dead' 4.5 Gibbons's Fantasies of Three Parts 267 5. CONCLUSION 289 Tables 292 Appendix 1: Nine instrumental fantasies from Thomas 315 Morley's Canzonets to Two Voyces 1595 Appendix 2: Extracts from printed editions 325 John Tomkins: '0 thrice blessed earthbed' 326 Christopher Tye: 'Blessed are all they that fear 328 the Lord' 'Christ rising again from the dead' 333 (first part) Bibliography 337 5 Tables 1. Errors in Goostly psalmes as given in Frost (1953) 292 2. Instances of syncopation in Goostly psalmes 293 3. Syncopations in the metrical psalter in English 294 to 1564 4. Psalm tunes containing non-triple syncopations 294 5. Psalm tunes containing syncopations at divisions 294 6. Psalm tunes containing extended triple figures 295 7. Psalm tunes employing continued syncopation 295 8. Psalm tunes involving other irregularities of metre 296 9. Syncopations in East's Whole Booke of Psalmes (1592) 297 10. Tunes in East 1592 without syncopation 297 11. Canticles in East's Whole Booke of Psalmes and 298 Alison's Psalmes of David in Meter 12. Tunes in East's psalter containing single syncopations 299 only at divisions or beginnings of lines 13. Tunes in East's psalter containing single syncopations 299 elsewhere 14. Tunes in East's psalter containing extended triple 300 patterns 15. Syncopations in Alison’s Psalmes of David in Meter 301 16. Tunes in Alison (1599) without syncopation 301 17. Tunes in Alison (1599) containing single syncopations 302 at divisions or beginnings of lines 18. Tunes in Alison (1599) containing single syncopations 302 elsewhere 19. Tunes in Alison (1599) containing extended triple 303 patterns 20. Tunes appearing in Alison alone 303 21. Tunes appearing in East and Alison set to different 303 texts 22. Syncopations in Tallis's psalm tunes 304 23. Syncopations in Gibbons's hymn tunes 304 24. Syncopations in MB22 consort songs 305 25. Dissonant and consonant syncopations in MB22 307 26. Syncopations in Byrd's Psalmes, Sonets and Songs 1588 307 27. Dissonant and consonant syncopations in PSS 1588 308 28. Syncopations in Gibbons's First Set of Madrigals 309 and Mottets (1612) 29. Overall frequency of syncopation in works discussed 309 30. Syncopation in Morley's Canzonets to Two Voyces 1595 310 31. Contents of Morley's Canzonets to Two Voyces 311 32. Continued syncopations in Morley's two-part canzonets 311 33. Syncopations in Morley's fantasies, 1595 311 34. Syncopation in Tye's English anthems 312 35. Syncopations in Gibbons's Fantasies of Three Parts 313 36. Frequency of syncopations in Gibbons's Fantasies of 314 Three Parts 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to express my particular thanks and gratitude to Dr Kenneth Elliott for his admirably detailed supervision and assistance in the final year of study. I am also indebted to Professor Philip Brett for his abundant advice and encouragement in the early stages, and to Dr Warwick Edwards, whose suggestions determined the overall shape of the thesis. Thanks are due for their correspondence, discussion, or practical help to Mr Oliver Neighbour, Professor Joseph Kerman and Dr John Purser, and to the staff of the following libraries: the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh; the British Library; the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama; Christ Church, Oxford; and the Scottish Music Information Centre. Finally, a heartfelt thank you to the many musicians who ensured that, while this study was in progress, I continued to 1joine practise with my speculation'. DEFINITIONS Bibliographical abbreviations used are listed in the bibliography under 'Printed Editions'. Where a name is given in a variety of spellings or forms in the literature (Coprario/Coperario, East/Est/Este etc.), the text uses the form given in Grove (1980), and bibliographical references use the form given in the cited work. Pitches given in italics are in Helmholtz notation: middle C = c'. Note-names in Roman type are not octave-specific. Original note-values and pitches are given, even when the cited edition uses a transposition or reduction of these. Polyphonic musical examples are generally given in Mensurstriche, in which accidentals are assumed to hold throughout the measure unless cancelled. Monodic examples are given unbarred or in modern barlines. 7 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction The present study was initially prompted by a growing dissatisfaction on my part with many performances and recordings of Renaissance music, and of English choral music in particular: the further I explored the music, the greater was the gulf between the compositions and their translation into sound in the twentieth century. Increasingly, I found that works from this 'Golden age', which on paper were dazzling in the ingenuity of their construction, were often realised in sound as an ethereal kind of ambient mood music, or as a vehicle for the trademark sound of a particular choir or conductor, often very beautiful but just as often failing to hold the attention for any length of time or to reveal any of the intricacies of the composer's work. Would a composer of the stature of Byrd or Tallis have been content to spend much of his life hearing his work being presented in this way, as a harmonic wash sweetened by the reverberations of a Gothic building? Certainly, some aspects of composition were never intended to be evident in performance.