Robinson's version of a popular Renaissance melody
Thomas Robinson (c 1560 – c 1610) was a lutenist who published a tutor for lute (The Schoole of Musicke) in 1603. This piece is the fourth of a number of his works that I have transcribed for low-G ukulele, and will be posting over the next few weeks.
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| Ornamental capital from the original score |
The “Spanish Pavin” was a popular tune in Tudor England. Before I transcribed it I had expected it to have (in the words of Jelly Roll Morton) a “Spanish tinge”. It doesn’t. At the time this slow, stately dance was popular in Spain and therefore associated with that country, but scholarly analysis I have read seems to show that it originated in Padua. The strongest accent was on the third beat, with a lesser accent on the first.
In performance, the pavan was often followed by the livelier galliard, often based on the same tune, but it isn’t in Robinson’s book.
Whenever an instrumental piece is based on a melody or song I search out the original, and I find that it helps with the interpretation. Ian Pittaway has written a fascinating article on Richard Tarleton and his use of this tune here: https://earlymusicmuse.com/category/spanish-pavin/. I have taken the melody from his article and, having transposed it, have appended it to this arrangement.
You will see that Robinson’s first statement keeps closely to the melody, but ends on the tonic (A) rather than the major 3rd (C#) as in the melody – the Tierce de Picardie, with echoes of the Coventry Carol. It is a tuneful entabulation, with simple counterpoint, and a pleasure to play. Alone, this makes a perfectly acceptable piece.
Subsequent variations are increasingly complex – Robinson obviously expected a lot of the students in his “Schoole”. Variation 4 begins in triple time, but I have not modified the beaming of the notes to show the irregular phrasing. It includes what sounds to me like a bugle call. The piece ends back in duple time.
You can download a free pdf file of the transcription HERE.
Happy plucking!
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SOURCE: Thomas Robinson, 1603, The Schoole of Musike (f. L2v).
Facsimile at: https://ks4.imslp.net/files/imglnks/usimg/9/9a/IMSLP247275-PMLP401021-Thomas_Robinson_School.pdf
