Marchant: Galliard on Walsingham (Holmes Dd.2.11 29/2)

Yet another lute arrangement of Walsingham (see here for an introduction) and the first of three by John Marchant. This one is in the first Matthew Holmes Lute Book (Dd.2.11) in Cambridge University Library.

Facsimile of John Marchant: Galliard on Walsingham in Matthew Holmes Lute Book Dd.2.11 29/2

A clean legible MS with no infelicities.

Incidentally, if you are interested in Holmes' calligraphy, most of the letters used in the MS tabs are clear here. The notes on the first string from bar 1 are:  d f h f  | d d d | d f h i f h  | d c d f h | d | c d f h | and so on. The first a is in bar 5 string 4. The first b is in bar 9, string 4, beat 3. The first e is in bar 1, string 4, beat 3. The i looks to me rather like a fancy y, so that is how I recognise it. The c looks more like an r, and the f often tends towards the German ß or Greek β. The d is always in the Greek-ish form ∂, like a partial differential. Often a note is written on rather than between the lines, but it's normally easy enough to work out what is meant.

There are three variations, of 8, 8 and 10 bars; the longer final one seems to have been a popular device. It starts in the relative major (C), but the 2nd and 3rd variations are in Am. As is to be expected, all three end on the major. Because of the chordal construction, I have felt free to suggest modern chord symbols, but have not indicated passing tones.

It feels quite vigorous and martial to me, and I think that I have managed to pick out the voices, which are much easier to spot in the lute version. You may, of course, disagree with my analysis, which is more obvious in the notation than in the tabs.

Good fun to play, particularly the third variation, where the repeated motifs remind me of Dowland’s work.

Available to download in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit

The Composer

“John Marchant (fl 1588–1611). English composer or composers. A ‘John Marchant’ was admitted Gentleman in Ordinary of the Chapel Royal on 14 April 1593, but is not mentioned in chapel records thereafter. A letter endorsed 8 December 1611 from William Frost to Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, states that ‘Mr Marchant is latelie deceased who taught the princes [Elizabeth] to play uppon the virginalles’.” (Grove Music Online. )

A John Markant, mentioned in Diane Poulton’s biography of John Dowland, was responsible for liturgical music, and could be the same man.

Anon: Six variations on Walsingham (Holmes Nn.6.36 19r)

Another in the series of transcriptions of lute versions of As I went to Walsingham: see introductory post here. Apologies for the strange title: the code refers to the first of two sets of variations in the 4th Matthew Holmes Lute Book (MS Nn.6.36) in Cambridge University Library.

Bars 41 – 51 of this Anonymous piece in the 4th Matthew Holmes Lute Book.
The full image can be seen at https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-NN-00006-00036/39

I find this piece difficult to get to terms with. How much is due to the anonymous composer, and how much to copying mistakes by an ageing Mathew Holmes, I am not qualified to judge. As explained below, I have done some recasting, which may or may not be appropriate.

After a fairly orthodox first variation, the work becomes quite jumpy: sequences of 1 to 3 bars concluded by a bar with a single block chord.

You will detect my lack of enthusiasm, but I've spent a day on the transcription, so I thought I'd give the piece an airing, albeit as an example of an oddity (or of my ignorance).

Notes on transcriptions

Since bar 21 has only 2 beats scored, I have shortened the single chord in bar 20 to one beat, and concatenated the two bars. In bar 20 perhaps Holmes’ time mark ꜏ (note 3 beats long) was a misprint for ꜓(1 beat). This assumption makes the score look more symmetrical.
Similarly, I have joined bars 29 and 30.
Bar 48 in the original has 5 beats, so I have split it into 2 bars.
It’s all a bit of a mess, and I am not wholly convinced by my tinkerings. Please regard this as a first attempt, which I include in the interests of completeness. I will have to think about it some more.

Downloads

Available to download in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit

Collard: Variations on Walsingham

Another post on the many late Tudor variations on Walsingham, as advertised and described here.

According to Diana Poulton, Edward Collard (fl c1595–1599) was an

English lutenist and composer. He was appointed one of the musicians for the lute, in place of John Johnson, on 4 June 1598, four years after Johnson's death. He appears to have received no salary until a warrant was issued on 7 June 1599 for 15 months' payment. No further entries appear in the Audit Office Declared Accounts, but whether Collard died or retired is not known. 

The top 3 lines of Collard's Variations on Walsingham.
The full image can me seen at https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DD-00002-00011/188

 This piece takes our now familiar air, and presents it in 8 variations: six of 8 bars, and the final two of 12 bars - well, that's how it sounds to me. It is as well to start to play it at a slow speed, as later variations, especially the last two, become increasingly challenging (for me, impossible). (I have set the midi version to 60 bpm.) Even in the earlier (easier) variations there are some fine and unexpected harmonies, and the piece as a whole is rhythmic and lively.

Transcription notes.

Bars 9 (top right in the image above) and 67 have partly disappeared over the centuries, so I have had a go at reconstructing them. A number of bars begin with the chord of F (on the ukulele), with a low root, which would be on our 5th string if we had one, so I have substituted a low A to maintain the rhythmic pattern of a held low note under higher lines. A number of bars, e.g. bar 3, can be played from a 3 barré on the lute, but because our tuning is slightly different on the 3rd string, we have to be a bit more nimble.


Downloads.

You can download this arrangement in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• Midi 

Dowland: A galliard on Walsingham (P 31)

And now a version of Walsingham by the greatest of the Elizabethan composers for the lute, John Dowland.  It has been arranged for the ukulele (in A minor) after Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London. There is a post about the song As I went to Walsingham and the arrangements of it by various of his contemporaries here.

Facsimile of the piece in one of Matthew Holmes' Lute Books.
This is a very clear image, and comparing it with the published transcriptions helped me to understand the calligraphy.

There are 3 variations. The first keeps fairly closely to the melody, whilst the second and third deviate considerably. Indeed, since the second ends on the dominant chord (E major), numbers 2 & 3 could be regarded as parts of one variation.

Even in strain 1 the melody is sometimes buried in the lower voices. Variation 3 contains a number of descending scale fragments, as was Dowland’s wont. The “Solus cum sola” motif appears in bar 15.

Available for download in the following formats:

pdf
TablEdit

Anon (Wickhambrook): As I went to Walsingham

And now a version of Walsingham arranged for ukulele in Am. (The previous 3 postings have been in  Gm: see this introductory post.) It is based on a transcription by Sarge Gerbode from the Wickhambrook Lute Book (1592), f 17. (US-NH Ma.21.W.632), “ a large folio-sized manuscript compiled in the 1590s, perhaps to collect and preserve lute music by John Johnson, who died in 1594, and whose works predominate in this source”, according to an account by The Lute Society. There is full information on the book here.

There are 3 variations, the first keeping closely to the melody. The second and third are tuneful and enjoyable to play. I hope that you agree.

The following features seem quite Dowlandian to me: the scales in bars 13  – 14; the motif in bar 17, and its repeat an octave lower in bar 18; and the ascending scale in the upper voice in bars 20 – 23, with its  acccompanying motifs in the lower voices. Possibly, though, these are just common features of late 1500s music.

Available to download in the following formats:

pdf
Download

Cutting: Walsingham variations

Francis Cutting (c 1550 – 1595/6) was one of the many excellent lutenists and composers who flourished in the late 1500s. He was not associated with court, and may have had independent means. You can read a brief biography of him here. His variations on Greensleves are incorporated in an earlier post here.

The first three lines of Cutting's Walsingham on a rather dog-eared page from the Matthew Holmes Lute Book. The full MS can be seen here. All respect to the transcribers.

The popular air As I went to Walsingham was the subject of many 16th century lute arrangements, as described in an earlier post here.

There are 7 variations, most of which stick keep closely to the melody. Variation 4 is a set of divisions in traditional format that feel like a sort of exercise in left-hand fingering, the kind of music that if you do make a mistake it may well not be important so long as you are in scale and keep the rhythm going.

Bars 33 – 40 (variation 5) are in syncopated triplet format: I have notated them in 9/8 time.

I am perplexed by the last note in bar 50. It is shown as an ‘i’ in the lute transcription, and looking at the facsimile of the original there is a squiggle which does seem to mean ‘i’ (= fret 8 = F5 or f’’ on the ukulele). Dowland did this too, with an unexpected note high in the 1st string in his Farwell (P3), bar 30, last note. Come to think of it, Bix Beiderbecke used to do a similar thing in the 1920s.

The phrases in bar 40 are reminiscent of Dowland’s Go from my window (P64), bar 47.

You can hear Cutting’s piece, complete with the funny note, very nicely played on lute here.

Available to download in the following formats. The melody is appended to help in interpretation of the variations.

pdf
TablEdit

Holborne: Walsingham

Anthony Holborne (c 1545 – 1602) was a prolific and respected composer of, according to one of his titles: Pavans, Galliards, Almains, and other short Aeirs both grave, and light, in five parts, for Viols, Violins or other Musicall Winde Instruments. You can read his biography here.

Facsimile of the original, showing the compressed format used by Holmes in the days when paper was an expensive commodity. You can see the whole page here.

A short piece of 12 bars. The original Walsingham air (see blog page for more info) is of 8 bars. The first four bars of Holborne’s version follow the melody quite closely, the second four rather less so, and the final four are a variation on the second four.

A number of harmonies are unexpected (to me, at least). Although the piece is set approximately in G minor, the Gm chord occurs only twice, and the piece starts in the relative major (Bb). There is a strange transition (in bars 7 and 11) from Bb via D (possibly, or B) to C. All in all, an intriguing little piece, which is not that easy to get to grips with. As it wanders so far off-piste so soon, I wonder if it is merely a segment of a longer composition.

I know it's anachronistic, but here is an approximate chord sequence:
Bb /  A   | Bb  C  D   | Eb   Bb   Am   | Bb /   /  |
F  /  Dm  | Gm  /  /   | Bb ?D  C  G D  | G  /  Eb  |

F  /  Dm  | Gm  /  /   | Bb ?D  C  G D  | G  /  /   ||

Available to download as 
pdf
TablEdit

John Johnson: Variations on Walsingham

A facsimile of the first three lines from a Matthew Holmes Lute Book published by the Cambridge University Digital Library here: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DD-00002-00011/188.

John Johnson (c. 1545 – 1594) was a lutenist and composer in the court of Elizabeth I. He was the father of Robert (1583 – 1663) who followed the same trade and may have been the author of some lute pieces attributed to John Dowland.

This is perhaps the simplest setting of “Walsingham” (see blog page on the song for more info) that I have found so far: good fun to play and a good one to start with. It has six variations of 8 bars, and a seventh and final one of 12 bars. The earlier variations keep quite closely to the melody (appended), and the 5th and 6th are particularly jaunty.

I couldn’t find a trancription easily, so I had to try to make one myself from the published facsimile, which you can see above. It is unfortunate that although Matthew Holmes wrote text in a version of the chancery hand, his music setting is in what looks to my inexperienced eye as the secretary hand, and written quickly. Also, mice had eaten some of the first two bars, so I had to rely on my imagination in places. One good thing is that the composer did not make too much use of the lower strings, which we lack on the ukulele. Apologies for any errors or infelicities.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

You can download a pdf file of the transcription for ukulele here... and the TablEdit file here.

As I went to Walsingham: introduction and index to arrangements for lute by various composers

A few days ago I was transcribing John Dowland's lute piece A galliard on Walsingham and found that a number of his contemporaries had also arranged this piece for lute. This blog page will serve as an introduction and index to the transcriptions I have subsequently made.

The remains of Walsingham Abbey
(Photo from Visit Norfolk)

The song

The melody, in Am.

As I went to Walsingham was a simple 8-bar ballad referring to a popular pilgrimage site at Walsingham Abbey. The Abbey was destroyed in 1538 during the Reformation, so the song must have been composed well before then.

I have lifted the following brief quotation from Diana Poulton's biography of Dowland:

The pilgrimages undertaken on pretence of religion, were often productive of affairs of gallantry, and led the votaries to no other shrine than that of Venus.

(Bishop Percy, 1765).

It is ostensibly a love song, in the spirit of the above quotation, but may also have had a hidden political meaning for recusant Catholics, who had to be very careful at this time.

The words (cut and pasted from www.canfolkmusic.ca):

As I went to Walsingham, to the shrine with speed,
Met I with a jolly palmer there, in a pilgrim's weed.

"As you came from the holy-land of Walsingham,
Met you not with my true love by the way as you came?"

"How should I know your true love, that have met many a one,
As I came from the holy-land, that have come, that have gone?"

"She is neither white nor brown, but as the heavens fair;
There is none hath a form so divine, on the earth, in the air."

"Such a one did I meet, good sir, with angel-like face,
Who like a queen did appear in her gait, in her grace."

"She hath left me here all alone, all alone and unknown,
Who sometimes lov'd me as her life, and call'd me her own."

"What's the cause she hath left thee alone, and a new way doth take,
That sometime did love thee as her life, and her joy did thee make?"

"I loved her all my youth, but now am old, as you see;
Love liketh not the fallen fruit, nor the withered tree.

“For love is a careless child, and forgets promise past;
He is blind, he is deaf, when he list, and in faith never fast.

“For love is a great delight, and yet a trustless joy;
He is won with a word of despair, and is lost with a toy.

“Such is the love of womankind, or the word abus'd,
Under which many childish desires and conceits are excus'd.

“But love is a durable fire, in the mind ever burning;
Never sick, never dead, never cold, from itself never turning."

(Diana Poulton wrote that the exact text of the song is uncertain, but that there were derived versions by Sir Walter Ralegh, and printed by Thomas Deloney. I have done no further "research" than what you see here.)

You can download a pdf of the air in Gm and Am here... and the TablEdit file is here.

Arrangements for lute

The tune was adapted most famously by William Byrd for keyboard, but as stated above a number of other composers made arrangements, for lute, in the late 1500s. They often adhered closely to the melody at the beginning of their pieces, although notes 2 & 3 of the second and similar bars were frequently buried in the harmonies. They did not keep to the strict Aeolian mode of the melody, but sharpened the 7th of the scale in places, and ended on a chord of the tonic major – the tierce de Picardie. They would also modulate, for example into the relative major and into the tonic major too. They might also increase the length of all variations, or of the the final variation, from 8 to 12 bars.
At the end of each 4-bar line they often just wrote a single chord, which can sound a bit abrupt, and particularly on the ukulele which does sustain as long as the lute. Lute players seemed capable of extensive improvisation, and I imagine that they would play fill-ins wherever appropriate - we could try the same.

I will post the transcriptions over the coming days, and more if I find them. There are five alone in the Mathew Holmes Lute Book Dd.2.11. You can see high quality facsimilies of the Lute Books at the website of the Cambridge University Library. I found more information in English Lute Manuscripts and Scribes 1530-1630: book version of a doctoral dissertation by Julia Craig-McFeely, awarded by Oxford in 1993, available online here. As usual, I am grateful to individuals and organisations who make their work so accessible.


I think that you will find that the pieces are of varying quality and playability, but I will blog all the transcriptions that I make without fear or favour, but with a degree of ignorance. 

Click the active links below to go to the appropriate blog page. The codes for the Holmes MSS refer to the shelf numbers at Cambridge, and to the page numbers:

r = recto (front),
v = verso (back),
/number = item no. on page.

We need these to avoid confusion, with so many pieces having similar names (or no name), and with several versions by some composers.



Arrangements in Gm on the ukulele:

John Johnson (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Dd.2.11 98r)
Francis Cutting (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Dd.2.11 96r)
Francis Cutting (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Dd.5.78.3 50v, 51r/1) [Having just transcribed this piece, without checking first, I find that it is almost identical to the previous version, and there is little point in posting it. Grrrrr!]
Anthony Holborne (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Dd.5.78.3 12r)
Edward Collard  (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Dd.5.78.3 96v, 97r/1)


Arrangements in Am on the ukulele:

Anonymous (from the Wickhambrook Lute Book (1592))
John Dowland (short) (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Dd.2.11 82v/1)
John Dowland (short) (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Dd.5.78.3 37r)
    (I have used the transcription by Poulton and Lamb made from the above two MS versions)
John Dowland (long) (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Dd.9.33 67v, 68r)
John Marchant (short) (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Dd.9.33 21r)
John Marchant (long) (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Dd.9.33 26v – 28r/1)

Arrangements in Dm on the ukulele

Anon (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Nn.6.36 19r)
Anon (Matthew Holmes Lute Books Nn.6.36 20v, 21r/1)

The is a whole book on the subject of Walsingham, should you want to follow it up:
Walsingham in Literature and Culture from the Middle Ages to Modernity.