The Medieval Lady / Elizabethan Conversation & Andrea Folan
Medieval Chant, Songs, & Dances · 16th & 17th Century Songs & Lute Duets

medieval.org
Leonarda LE 340
Recorded at Alice Barler Recital Hall, Wells College, Aurora, New York, September, 1994
released in 1997

Medieval Chant, Songs, Dances

Beatriz, Countess de Dia · 12th c., France
01 - A Chantar   [7:32]
soprano, medieval fiddle, lute

Maroie de Dregnau de Lille · 13th c., France
02 - Mout m'abelist quant je voir revenir   [1:37]
soprano, psaltery, medieval fiddle

Queen Blanche · 1188-1252, France, b. Castile
03 - Amours, u trop tart me suis pris   [4:26]
soprano, psaltery, medieval fiddle

anonymous · c.1400
04 - Trotto   [1:23]
recorder, nakers

anonymous · 13th c.
05 - Estampie   [1:25]
recorder, symphonia

Hildegard von Bingen · 1098-1170, Germany
06 - In Evangelium   [1:51]
soprano, organetto
07 - O viridissima virga   [4:32]
soprano, medieval fiddle, psaltery
08 - O Ierusalem, aurea civitas   [7:17]
soprano, medieval fiddle, symphonia

anonymous · c.1400
09 - Saltarello   [1:29]
recorder, lute
10 - Saltarello   [1:54]
recorder, tambourine aux cordes
11 - La Manfredina   [2:38]
medieval fiddle, lute


16th & 17th Century Songs & Lute Duets

Anne Boleyn · 1507-1536, England
12 - O Deathe, rock me asleepe   [7:08]
soprano, lute, bass viola da gamba

Lady Killigrew · 17th c., England / words, John Donne
13 - Sweetest love I do not goe   [3:40]
soprano, lute, bass viola da gamba

Giles Farnaby · c.1563-1640, England
14 - Tower Hill   [3:24]
two lutes

anonymous
15 - Green Sleeves   [2:51]
two lutes

Mary Harvey, Lady Dering · 1629-1704, England
16 - When first I saw Fair Dorris' eyes   [2:11]
17 - And is this all? What one poore kisse?   [0:55]
18 - In vain fair Chloris, you design (words by Sir Edward Dering)   [2:58]
soprano, lute, bass viola da gamba

anonymous
19 - La Rosignoll (The Nightingale)   [2:41]
two lutes

Richard Farnaby · b.1594, England
20 - Nobody's Gigge   [2:27]
two lutes





Andrea Folan, Susan Sandman, Derwood Crock

Manuscripts of medieval songs contain only melody, with no indication of instrumentation. The instruments chosen for this recording were common in the 12th and 13th centuries. In keeping with early practices in performance, the instrumentalists have added their own countermelodies, ornamentation, and, where manuscripts are ambiguous, rhythmic interpretation. The later songs are performed in the English lute song style with voice, lute and bass viola da gamba. Lute realizations for Lady Killigrew and the first two Harvey songs were supplied by Dr. Sandman.

History has been unkind to the female composer. Until more recent times, she seemed not to exist at all, as her compositions sometimes appear under masculine pseudonyms or are claimed by husbands, brothers, fathers, or other male contemporaries. The women represented here, spanning the 12th through the 17th centuries in Europe, are unique and lucky; their work has survived and is recognized.

Countess of Dia allows us a unique personal perspective of a world ruled by a rigid code of courtly love. The text for this song is outside the male, more formal, aesthetic of courtly love because of its directness, immediacy and personal viewpoint. The Countess, wife of Guilhèm de Poitiers, lived in southern France in the 12th century, a period favorable for the economic independence of aristocratic women. The legal system in southern France allowed women to inherit property; they often ruled their family estates while their husbands were away fighting in the crusades, freedoms that were gradually whittled away in later centuries.

Although this was an era when poetry and music by women flourished, there are only 23 surviving poems by women and only four melodies. We are fortunate to have both the melody and poetic text for the Countess of Dia's song, one of only two extant melodies of its kind surviving from the 12th century.

Maroie de Dregnau de Lille (13th C. France) is an otherwise unknown poet whose lovely little song presents us with a glimpse into the secular life of medieval women — the expectation that despite the chill of winter, a maid should remain joyful and thus increase her worth.

Queen Blanche (1188-1252) was born in Castile, then a kingdom in what is now central and northern Spain. Upon marriage, she became Queen of France, and governed France as regent during the minorship of her son Louis IX, and then again in his absence during the 7th crusade. Of noble birth, Blanche was in the position to benefit from an education otherwise unavailable to women, or to most men. Her nobility and its accompanying education and wealth probably helped ensure the survival of her song through the centuries.

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1170), a unique and extraordinary woman by any century's measure, wrote books on natural science, theology and medicine, as well as the first morality play set to music. She composed a large collection of religious music, Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (Symphony of the harmony of celestial revelation). Of noble birth, her resources probably helped her to found her own monastery in Germany, and she earned the respect of kings, emperors and churchmen. The title of her collection, "Symphonia," refers, in addition to its more general musical meaning, to the medieval style hurdy-gurdy called a symphonia used in this performance of O lerusalem. The songs in this collection are in Latin, and, as common with plainsong, were written as a single line of music. This performance includes echoes, counter-melodies and drones inspired by Hildegard's melodies and poetry.

Several centuries of social, political, and artistic change are reflected in the English compositions on this CD. Multi-part compositions replace single-line melodies, the number of surviving manuscripts increases, and a rising middle class encourages music-making in the home.

O Deathe, rock me asleepe is attributed to Anne Boleyn (1507-1536), the second wife of King Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I. Anne's father attained a high position under the young Henry VIII and spent several years as Ambassador to France. Anne lived at the French court from age 12-16. We know she was trained in music and dancing, owned a virginals (a keyboard instrument similar in sound to a harpsichord), and played the lute. She had an excellent reputation as a composer and performer. This song is said to have been written by her when she was in the Tower of London facing execution for treason, though her only crime was probably her failure to produce a male heir.

Lady Killigrew's lovely setting of this poem by John Donne appears in an English manuscript from the early years of the 17th century. Though her first name is not indicated and thus her exact identity difficult to ascertain, she may be related to Anne Killigrew, a poet and painter who lived just before the Restoration. The unclear identity of Lady Killegrew is a good example of the dilemmas music historians face when researching this material.

Giles Farnaby (c. 1563-1640) was a "joyner and musician" (a woodworker, composer and music teacher) who earned a Bachelor of Music from Oxford in 1592. More than fifty of his pieces are included in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, a major collection of English keyboard music. We included Farnaby's piece Tower Hill because it refers to the infamous prison where Anne Boleyn was held prisoner earlier. We perform it on two lutes instead of keyboard.

Richard Farnaby (b c. 1594-?), whose piece closes this recording, was Giles' Farnaby's son. Less is known about Richard, but four of his pieces are in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book.

Anonymous Lute Duets are taken from the Jane Pickering Lute Book (1615-1645), which contains music copied in three different hands. It was customary at the time, when printed music was not so readily available, to write down familiar tunes, one's own tunes, and tunes composed by others. The anonymous lute duets on this recording were copied in the same hand that wrote "Jane Pickeringe owe [sic] this Booke 1616," presumably by Jane Pickering herself. Both the main part of the Jane Pickering Lute Book and the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book were written in the 17th century during the "Golden Age" of Elizabethan and Jacobean lute music.

Mary Harvey, the Lady Dering (1629-1704) studied music at Mrs. Salmon's School, a fashionable English girls' school where she also learned Latin, French, "all manner of cookery," fancy needle work, and dancing. After her marriage at age nineteen, she began lute lessons with Henry Lawes, a composer at the court of Charles I. Three of Lady Dering's songs were included in Lawes' publications of Jacobean lute songs, and although the title page mentions only Lawes as composer, Lady Dering's name appears on the music itself. The text for the last song is by Sir Edward Dering.

—Susan G. Sandman

Elizabethan Corversation was founded in 1982 as a lute duet specializing in the music of Shakespeare's time. The ensemble now performs various repertoires.

Susan G. Sandman is an early music performer and musicologist who received her B.A. in music from Vassar College and a Ph.D in musicology from Stanford University. A Professor of Music at Wells College in New York's Finger Lakes region, she teaches music history courses and directs the Wells Consort, a student group that performs on period instruments. Dr. Sandman is published in journals in the areas of early music and women composers, and researches the music for ELIZABETHAN CONVERSATION.

Derwood Crocker began private music study in early childhood. His skills in design and traditional woodworking led to the making of musical instruments, and he has been a full-time craftsman/musician since 1965. The Crocker workshop has produced hundreds of instruments for performers and ensembles nationwide, many of them one of a kind. His instruments are in the collections of numerous colleges and at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He performs in ELIZABETHAN CONVERSATION and lectures on the history and making of early instruments at workshops and seminars.

Soprano Andrea Folan earned degrees in voice and German from the Oberlin Conservatory and College and did graduate work in performance practice at the Mannes College of Music in New York. Her special interest in the German Lied repertoire with fortepiano has led to extensive performances in the U.S. and abroad with acclaimed fortepianists, including Malcolm Bilson, in recital series and at festivals, including Festival Flanders (Brugge, Belgium) and the Boston Early Music Festival. Andrea recently released a solo CD of Haydn songs with fortepiano to critical acclaim. Her early music credentials include performances with the Folger Consort and Apollo's Fire, among others. She is a founding member of The Public Music and is also an active oratorio specialist. She maintains a private voice studio in addition to her duties as a vocal coach at Cornell University.

Pictured, bottom, then clockwise:
symphonia, medieval fiddle, recorders, organetto, bass viola da gamba, psaltery, lutes.
Not pictured: nakers (a hand drum from the Middle East), traditional.

Performances:
Susan Sandman: medieval fiddle, recorders, lute, bass viola da gamba.
Derwood Crocker: lute, psaltery, synnphonia, organetto, nakers.

Instrument makers:
Symphonia, medieval fiddle, organetto, and top lute made by Derwood Crocker.
Other lute by Middleton.
Recorders by Bob Marvin.
Bass viola da gamba by an anonymous Swiss maker, 1970.

Music Sources
Dia: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS Fr. 844, Fol. 204R.
de Lille: Le Manuscrit du Roi.
Queen Blanche: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS f.fr. 21677.
Hildegard: Dendermonde Codex. This recorded performance omits verses 4 and 6 in "O lerusalem."
Boleyn can be found in Briscoe, ed. Historical Anthology of Music by Women (1987).
Killigrew: Oxford Tenbury MS 1018; ornamented version from Bodelian Library. Add. 10337 fol. 55v.
Harvey: Henry Lawes' Second Book of Select Ayres and Dialogues (John Playford, 1655).
Anonymous lute duets: The Jane Pickering Lute Book (1615-1645) and Folger MS 1610.
Farnabys: Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Lute realizations for "Sweetest love I do not goe, When first I saw Fair Dorris' eyes," and "And is this all? What one poor Kisse?" were supplied by Dr. Sandman.
"In vain, fair Chloris" is published in "English Songs," Musica Britannica, Vol. 33, ed. Ian Spink (London. Stainer & Bell, Ltd. 1971).

Text Sources
Dia original text from Meg Bogin, The Women Troubadours (NY: Paddington Press/Two Continents Publishing Group, 1976). Translation: Women in Music: An Anthology of Source Readings from the Middle Ages to the Present, ed. Carol Neuls-Bates (NY: Harper & Row, 1982).
de Lille: "Mout m'abelist": Maria V. Coldwell, Jougleresses and Trobairitz: Secular Musicians in Medieval France, in Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150-1950, ed. Jane Bowers and Judith Tick. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986), p. 52.

Visual Representations of Women in the Middle Ages
Cover art: "Angel with Symphonia," c. 1360, possibly Pisan. Samuel H. Kress Collection, ©1966 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
A good source for pictures of 15th C. women musicians and artists is The Medieval Woman, An Illuminated Book of Days, ed. Sally Fox. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1985).