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Tag Archives: Heinrich Isaac

“Flow my tears,” by John Dowland

06 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Music

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Britten, chanson, Heinrich Isaac, John Dowland, Lied, Musica transalpina, pavane, Ravel, the consort song, the lute song

giulio-campi-2

Bildnis eines Laurenspielers by Giulio Campi

http://Bildnis eines Laurenspielers by Giulio Campi, 1502-1572

John Noel Dowland (1563 – buried 20 February 1626) was an English composer and lutenist.  However, he was trained in France and, between 1580 and 1584, he worked in Paris as secretary, first, to English ambassador Sir Henry Cobham and, second, as secretary to Sir Edward Stafford.  During that period, John Dowland converted to Catholicism.[i]

However, Dowland also studied under Luca Marenzio, a celebrated Italian composer of madrigals.  Dowland was therefore acquainted with the Italian madrigal.  Yet, he was mostly the composer of monophonic and melancholy lute songs.

He drew from sources such as the

  • pavane, a slow courtly dance.  His Pavana Lachrymæ and other works have inspired Fauré, Ravel, Debussy and Benjamin Britten;
  • the fifteenth-century French chanson; and
  • the Germanic Lied.

Yet, there is an intensity to his songs that suggests a more personal form of inspiration.

With respect to the French chanson, he can be associated with Claudin de Sermisy (remember Tant que vivray),  Clément Janequin, Pierre de la Rue, Roland de Lassus (or Orlando di Lasso).  Although chanson composers and interpreters had been influenced by madrigals, the fifteenth-century French chanson was homophonic and has endured.

Heinrich Isaac :  Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen (click on title to hear)

As for the Lied, Dowland may have been influenced by Heinrich Isaac (c.1445 – 1517), a Franco-Flemish composer, born in Bruges (where else?), the composer of the immensely popular Innsbruck, Ich muss dich lassen.  Isaac’s student, Ludwig Senfl, (c.1486 – 1542/3) published posthumously Isaac’s three-volume Choralis constantinus.[ii] The Choralis constantinus contains:

  • 50 motets;
  • nearly 100 secular songs, including French chansons;
  • Italian frottole (plural for frottola);
  • and a large number of German Tenorlieder.

Motets are refined, polyphonic and, often, liturgical vocal works, brought to Venice by Adriaan Willaert.  As for the frottola, it was a popular song and an ancestor to the Italian madrigal.

Dowland as Precursor

Personally I also look upon Dowland as a precursor,

  • to Henry Purcell (10 September 1659 – 21 November 1695) and
  • to Franz Schubert, who gave the Germanic Lied a beauty that has yet to be surpassed.

Here, the common denominator is expressiveness and the importance of the solo singer.  In this regard, Dowland is a representative of Renaissance humanism in general.  Dowland knew how to set a text to music in a manner that touched the listener profoundly and touched exceptional listeners: Fauré, Ravel, Debussy and Benjamin Britten.

His contemporaries

In England, his contemporaries were Thomas Morley (1557 or 1558 – October 1602) were Thomas Weelkes (baptised 25 October 1576 – 30 November 1623) and John Wilbye (baptised 7 March 1574 – September 1638), all of whom wrote madrigals, Wilbye in particular.  In 1588 Nicholas Yonge published the very successful Musica transalpina, a collection of Italian madrigals by Francesco Ferrabosco I and Marenzio.

From 1598 until 1606, Dowland worked for Christian IV of Denmark who paid a fortune to hear his music.  He was dismissed because of frequent absences.  Six years after his return to England, in early 1612, he became James I‘s lutenist, a position he held until his death.

Monophonic or Partsongs

Specifically, Dowland wrote through-composed[iii] monophonic songs to which he gave a relatively discreet lute accompaniment.  He is also the composer of partsongs, but to a lesser extent.  In the case of partsongs, singers were given their part and could sit around a small table and sight-read.

Dowland published his aptly-titled First Book of Songs in 1597.  His Second Booke of Ayres was published in 1600.  He also wrote consort songs.  These were songs written for solo singers accompanied by a consort of viols.

His Legacy

John Dowland’s Flow my tears and his Pavana Lachrymae, have long survived him.  As mentioned above, he has been a source of inspiration to Fauré, Ravel and Debussy, and his song Come Heavy Sleepe, the Image of True Death inspired Benjamin Britten‘s Nocturnal after John Dowland for guitar, 1964.

—ooo—

With my kindest regards to all of you. ♥

  • John Dowland: Flow my tears, a lute song;
  • John Dowland: Gaillarde, played by Julian Bream on the lute;
  • John Dowland: Lachrymæ antiquæ, played by Jordi Savall (embedded, below);
  • Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte (… for a Dead Princess), played by Sviatoslav Richter, piano; or by Laura Mikkola, piano.
Charles Mouton, the Lutenist by Francois de Troy, 1690 (Photo Credit: Google images

Charles Mouton, the Lutenist by Francois de Troy, Paris, 1690 (Photo Credit: Google images)


[i] In sixteenth-century France, Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) were persecuted. Remember the Massacre of the St. Bartholomew’s Day (1572).

[ii] The Choralis constantinus contained many liturgical chants, at times resembling Gregorian Chant.

[iii] Though-composed songs do not have stanzas and a refrain.

Flow my tears
Paul Agnew (Tenor)
Christopher Wilson (Lute)

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© Micheline Walker
29 November 2011
6 October 2015
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Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen: the Lyrics

01 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Songs

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

German, Heinrich Isaac, Ich muss dich lassen, Innsbruck, Lied, lyrics

maxresdefault

Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen (Photo credit: YouTube)

1. Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen,
ich fahr dahin mein Straßen
in fremde Land dahin.
Mein Freud ist mir genommen,
die ich nit weiss bekommen,
wo ich im eland bin. (repeated)

1. Innsbruck, I must leave you,
I will go my way
to foreign land(s).
My joy has been taken away from me,
that I cannot achieve
where I am in misery. (repeated)

2. Groß Leid muss ich nun tragen,
das ich allein tu klagen
dem liebsten Buhlen mein.
Ach Lieb, nun lass mich Armen
im Herzen dein erbarmen,
dass ich muss ferne dannen sein. (far; be) (2)

2. I must now bear great sorrow
that I can only share
with my dearest.
Oh love, hold poor me
(and) in your heart compassion
that I must part from you. (2)

3. Mein Trost ob allen Weiben,
dein tu ich ewig bleiben,
stet, treu, der Ehren fromm.
Nun muss dich Gott bewahren,
in aller Tugend sparen,
bis das ich wiederkomm. (2)

3. My consolation: above all other women,
I will forever be yours,
always faithful, in true honor.
And now, may God protect you,
keep you in perfect virtue,
until I shall return. (2).

Heinrich Isaac (c. 1450 – 26 March 1517) was a Netherlandish Renaissance composer of south Netherlandish origin. (See Heinrich Isaac, Wikipedia.)

Sources and Resources

  • Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen
    http://imslp.org/wiki/Innsbruck_ich_muss_dich_lassen_(Isaac,_Heinrich)
  • Heinrich Isaac, Wikipedia

The King’s Singers

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© Micheline Walker
1 December 2013
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The Netherlandish Renaissance: a Glimpse

01 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Music

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Adrian Willaert, Albrecht Dürer, Franco-Flemish school, Hare, Heinrich Isaac, mistakes, Netherlands, Renaissance

 hare-1528-1
Hare by Albrecht Dürer, 1528
 

Little Mistakes

Once my post on Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published, on 29 November 2013, I realized there were mistakes: typos and repetitions.  So I played editor and now fear that WordPress will fire me.  They should!

Typos and repetitions are the bane of people who suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome /Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.  We repeat  sentences, misspell words and get lost in mid-sentence.  Fortunately, we are perfectly lucid.  CFS/ME is a neurological illness for which there is no known cure.

CFS/ME may be triggered by the H1N1 virus (1976 epidemic), which is my case.  It is a debilitating condition, but it can be managed.  One must organize one’s daily activities.  Never go beyond your limits and ignore the people who think you are an imaginary invalid and tell you to go to a gym every day.  If you do, you may not have sufficient energy to lead a ‘normal’ life, i.e. to earn a living. Exercise in moderation.

About Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

In my post, I  stated that Harriet Beecher Stowe (14 June 1811 – 1 July 1896) was not an abolitionist, which seemed strange.  Sources differ.  According to Wikipedia, Stowe was an abolitionist, but not according to the Oxford Companion to American Literature.

I doubt that anyone made a mistake.  Beecher’s views may have changed.  For instance, she travelled to Kentucky to escape a cholera epidemic and was taken to a slave auction, which was a wake-up call.  Moreover, at some point in her life, she and her father, Lyman Beecher, an austere and controversial figure, parted ways.  Finally, she married Calvin Ellis Stowe (6 April 1802 – 22 August 1886), an active abolitionist and a member of the Underground Railroad.

My next post is almost ready, so this is an ‘in-between’ post.

imagesCARO0FZR

The Netherlandish & Northern Renaissance

The hare featured above is Albrecht Dürer‘s (21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528).  It must be one of Dürer’s last paintings.  It is a watercolour painting, but the white specks on the hare’s fur are little touches of gouache.  Gouache was also applied to the hare’s nose.

Dürer did not let his colours run.  He painted on dry paper (cotton), which has remained an acceptable practice.  He was a superb draftsman who often used ink and personalized his art using a logo (shown above).

Albrecht lived during the Northern Renaissance.  But, at that moment in history, the Netherlands was the cultural hub of Europe, especially in the area of music.  The Franco-Flemish style dominated Western music.  Adrian Willaert (ca 1490 – 7 December 1562) was asked to go to Venice, where he founded the Venetian School.  At that time, musicians were perfecting polyphony, combining voices.

Heinrich Isaac: Netherlandish Renaissance

The music is Heinrich Isaac‘s (c. 1450 – 26 March 1517) Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen, Innsbruck, I must leave you.  Isaac is associated with the Netherlandish Renaissance. Innsbruck, ich must dich lassen is one of the most famous compositions in Western music.  It was made into a Lutheran chorale entitled O Welt, ich muss dich lassen (O World, I must leave you).  It was also used by Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750) in In allen meinen Taten, a Church cantata, BMW 97.

446px-Innsbruck_castle_courtyardcourtyard-of-the-former-castle-in-innsbruck-with-clouds-1494
Courtyard of the Former Castle in Innsbruck without Clouds, by A. Dürer, c 1494
Courtyard of the Former Castle in Innsbruck with Clouds, by A. Dürer, c 1494
 
Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen (artwork by Pieter Bruegel the Elder)
 

Young Hare by Dürer, 1502

© Micheline Walker
30 November 2013
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