SOPHIE YATES IL CEMBALO TRANSALPINO from the FITZWILLIAM COLLECTION CHANDOS early music Richard, Seventh Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion, 1764 Fitzwilliam ofMerrion, Viscount Seventh Richard, Painting by Joseph Wright (of Derby) (1734 – 1797) © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Il cembalo transalpino: Music from the Fitzwilliam Collection Galeazzo [Sabbatini] (1597 – 1662) 1 Prelude* 2:26 from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book Luca Marenzio (1553 / 54 – 1599) Set by Peter Philips (c. 1560 – 1628) 2 Tirsi morir volea* 2:50 from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book Anonymous Passamezzo Pavan and Galliard* 4:25 from Tisdale’s Virginal Book 3 Passamezzo Pavan 2:22 4 Passamezzo Galliard 2:02 3 Giulio Cesare Arresti (1619 – 1701) 5 Sonata* 1:57 in A major • in A-Dur • en la majeur from XVII Sonates da Organo o Cimbalo del Sig. Ziani, Pollaroli, Bassani e altri famosi autori (Amsterdam, c. 1705) Performing edition (unpublished) prepared by Rory Wainwright Johnston Mus M [ ] – Allegro Luca Marenzio Set by Peter Philips 6 Frenò Tirsi il desio* 3:07 from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book Giovanni Paolo Colonna (1637 – 1695) 7 Sonata* 2:57 in D minor • in d-Moll • en ré mineur from XVII Sonates da Organo o Cimbalo del Sig. Ziani, Pollaroli, Bassani e altri famosi autori (Amsterdam, c. 1705) Performing edition (unpublished) prepared by Rory Wainwright Johnston Mus M 4 Giulio Caccini (1551 – 1618) Set by Peter Philips 8 Amarilli, mia Bella* 4:07 from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi (1583 – 1643) 9 Toccata settima 3:04 from Toccate e partite d’intavolatura. Libro secondo (Rome, 1627) Peter Philips (c. 1560 – 1628) Passamezzo Pavan and Galliard (1592)* 12:41 from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book 10 Passamezzo Pavan 7:53 11 Passamezzo Galliard 4:44 Alessandro Striggio (c. 1536 / 37 – 1592) Set by Peter Philips 12 Chi farà fede al cielo* 5:23 from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book 5 Carlo Francesco Pollarolo (c. 1653 – 1723) 13 Sonata* 2:51 in D minor • in d-Moll • en ré mineur from XVII Sonates da Organo o Cimbalo del Sig. Ziani, Pollaroli, Bassani e altri famosi autori (Amsterdam, c. 1705) Performing edition (unpublished) prepared by Rory Wainwright Johnston Mus M Luca Marenzio Set by Peter Philips 14 Così morirò* 1:47 from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book Giovanni Picchi (c. 1571 – 1643) 15 Toccata* 3:54 from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book Domenico Zipoli (1688 – 1726) 16 Canzona 3:05 in G minor • in g-Moll • en sol mineur from Sonate d’intavolatura per organo e cimbalo (?Rome, 1716) 6 Arcangelo Corelli (1653 – 1713) Probably arranged for harpsichord by Thomas Roseingrave (1690 / 91 – 1766) Sonata, Op. 5 No. 7* 9:57 in D minor • in d-Moll • en ré mineur from Sonate (Rome, 1700) Performing edition (unpublished) prepared by Gerald Gifford, Honorary Keeper of Music, The Fitzwilliam Museum 17 Preludio. Vivace 2:18 18 Corrente. Allegro 3:26 19 Sarabanda. Largo 1:35 20 Giga. Allegro 2:35 TT 65:16 Sophie Yates harpsichord *premiere recording in this edition Single-manual harpsichord (M / F.1-1933) by Giovanni Battista Boni (d. 1641), restored by Huw Saunders and Ferguson Hooey Harpsichord tuned and maintained by Andrew Garlick Tuning: quarter comma mean-tone temperament Pitch: A = 415 Hz 7 Il cembalo transalpino The Fitzwilliam Collection Queen Elizabeth’s Virginal Book at the time, All the music in this programme comes despite containing several pieces composed from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, after the Queen’s death. This rich source and most of it was collected by its founder, of varied keyboard repertoire – from short Richard, Seventh Viscount Fitzwilliam of teaching pieces to complex sets of variations, Merrion (1745 – 1816). A polymath, lover of In Nomine settings, and popular songs and music, amateur composer and harpsichordist, dances – paints a fascinating picture of musically active from about 1760 until musical life in early-seventeenth-century his death, Fitzwilliam created a legacy of England. Most of the pieces are by English exceptional importance to English musical composers, for example William Byrd, John culture. He travelled around Europe in pursuit Bull, and Thomas Morley, but Flemish and of music, buying wisely and often being given Italian works are also included. manuscripts, which were preserved in his library and sometimes published subsequently. Galeazzo: Prelude His tastes were broad and, as well as seeking The opening piece on my recording is an new repertoire, he was keen to revive ‘antient’ unusual Prelude by Galeazzo [Sabbatini] music, such as that of Purcell, Handel, and (1597 – 1662). Although he was best known English composers of the sixteenth and for his vocal music, this composer also seventeenth centuries. In a way, we can think understood how to write in a virtuoso style for of him as one of the founding fathers of our the keyboard. After a declamatory opening, period performance movement. brilliant, scalic decoration creates a typically This enthusiasm for earlier repertoire Italian, dazzling effect throughout the piece. led to what is arguably his most famous acquisition, The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Picchi: Toccata A large collection of early-seventeenth- Galeazzo’s Prelude has much in common century keyboard music, it was known as with the Toccata by Giovanni Picchi 8 (c. 1571 – 1643), to be heard towards the to Rome and then widely around Europe, end of the recording. That also starts with thus gaining first-hand experience of a broad a dramatic chord – this time a descending range of musical styles. Whilst his keyboard arpeggio – before fast figuration over a large compositions were English in character his compass adds to the exciting effect. The vocal pieces were much more Italianate, and Toccata falls into several sections, whereas this flexibility suited him perfectly to the art the shorter Prelude has a more improvised of intabulation. character. Both pieces modulate in such a way that the drama of the mean-tone temperament Marenzio / Philips: Tirsi morir volea; Frenò current at the time (and employed here) can be Tirsi il desio; Così morirò appreciated to the full. Luca Marenzio (1553 / 54 – 1599) was one of the most influential composers of madrigals Musica Transalpina in Europe at the time and very popular The title of this recording refers toMusica in the Spanish Netherlands, as well as in Transalpina, a highly influential collection England. Many of his works had appeared of Italian madrigals, published in England in Musica Transalpina and Henry Peacham in 1588 with the words translated into commented, in The Complete Gentleman, of English. They became so popular that an 1622, ‘for delicious aires and sweet invention English ‘golden age’ of madrigals developed in madrigals, Luca Marenzio excelleth all in response. Music that becomes very others’. In his settings of Tirsi morir volea, popular always evolves and in the following Frenò Tirsi il desio, and Così morirò, Philips decades many composers made settings – exploits Marenzio’s expressive chromaticism called intabulations, as they were written in to the full, expertly decorating the extended tablature – of these part-songs for lutes and vocal lines to maintain them, despite the keyboard instruments. Peter Philips was a relatively quick decay intrinsic to a plucked leading exponent of this art and some fine keyboard instrument. examples of his intabulations are included in this programme. Anonymous: Passamezzo Pavan; Philips, a Catholic, left England in 1582 to Passamezzo Galliard escape religious persecution. He first travelled The programme continues with a contrasting, 9 anonymous English Passamezzo Pavan and Pollarolo; Arresti; Colonna: Sonatas Galliard from the other virginal book in Amongst the lesser-known works on this Lord Fitzwilliam’s collection, often known as recording are three short sonatas by Carlo Tisdale’s Virginal Book. The passamezzo was Francesco Pollarolo (c. 1653 – 1723), Giulio one of a number of popular bass patterns – Cesare Arresti (1619 – 1701), and Giovanni originally Italian but known throughout Paolo Colonna (1637 – 1695). These Europe – that appeared in all sorts of musical wonderful little pieces come from a volume contexts in the sixteenth and seventeenth entitled XVII Sonates da Organo o Cimbalo centuries. A main theme running through my del Sig. Ziani, Pollaroli, Bassani e altri famosi programme is that of the musical relationship autori, published by Roger in Amsterdam between England and Italy, which was so in about 1705. Helpfully for us, Fitzwilliam vibrantly in evidence during the period. These was in the habit of inscribing music volumes dances demonstrate the connection perfectly, in his collection with his name and the date their syncopated rhythms, so characteristic of acquisition, in this case ‘R Fitzwilliam of a robust, English style, applied to a piece of 1771’. The sonatas by Pollarolo and Arresti Italian origin. are characterised by repeated notes and crisp rhythms, while the sonata by Colonna Philips: Passamezzo Pavan; Passamezzo displays greater freedom, especially in its Galliard improvisatory beginning. Owing to the The second Passamezzo Pavan and Galliard long, held bass note which underpins the on the disc, by Peter Philips, makes an right hand’s figuration, this sonata would interesting comparison. It is a much more sound equally well on the composer’s own extended example, the Pavan containing instrument, the organ. seven sections, including a substantial tripla, and ending with a grand, quasi-antiphonal Caccini / Philips: Amarilli, mia Bella variation which employs repeated chords The next Italian madrigalist represented reminiscent of Italian choral writing. The on the disc is Giulio Caccini (1551 – 1618), Galliard is similar to the anonymous one author of Le Nuove Musiche, a collection from the Tisdale book, but it is much longer of madrigals published in 1602. Owing and Philips adds a concluding saltarello. perhaps to its simplicity and the elegance of 10 its melodic line, Amarilli, mia Bella soon Striggio / Philips: Chi farà fede al cielo became Caccini’s ‘signature’ work.