Anon: Fair Ministers disdain me not (Margaret Board Lute Book, f23v/2)

 Short and sweet

One of the shortest pieces from the Margaret Board Lute Book, and good fun to play. I have had to take some liberties with the lower voice, but it sounds OK. There is a lot of space for you to add your own decorations (graces, divisions, etc).

"Fair ministers" as it appears in the MS

I have tried (not very diligently, I must admit) to trace the origin of the words, presumably a song or part of a masque: 

Fayre my[ni]sters disdayne me not though hard fauored I be 

For Venus did not w[i]th V[u]lcan match yet none so foule as he

In  [...] that text What [...] knowe

What if he were a cuckold made would be so served so 

That's the best my slight skills in palaeography can achieve. It does not appear to be a reference to the poem “Disdain me not without desert” by Sir Thomas Wyatt.

Nevertheless it's good fun to play.

You can download a pdf of the piece freely here.

John Dowland: A Dream (P 75)

Back to a piece by (probably) my hero

As promised in my previous post of "A Dreame" from the Margaret Board Lute Book, here is a piece of the same name by the Master.

I couldn't resist an image of Russel T Davis' wonderful version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, by you-know-who.

 I have transcribed directly and slavishly from: Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London

There are three strains of, unusualy, 7, 7 and 9 bars, each repeated. Some fingerings are a little tricky, because the ukulele is tuned slightly differently to the lute. I have suggested a few fingerings, which you may care to ignore.

Diana Poulton was of the opinion that this piece was most probably by John Dowland, although there was no written evidence. In my inexpert opinion she was correct for 3 reasons:

1. his favourite cadence occure in bars 14, 16 and 19;

2. the unheralded D on the first string in bar 18, as in "Far[e]well" (P3) where the same note occurs unexpectedly at the end of bar 30;

3. in general (eg. bar 10) the unexpected notes and harmonies – which are, of course, to be expected in a Dowland piece.

In his performance on lute, Nigel North plays this piece at 38 bpm, but I must admit that it sounds much more mournful than on the chirpy ukulele, and not much more sombre on the Renaissance guitar. He also plays some fancy divisions in the repeats, which I leave to your own invention and creativity.

A pdf of the arrangement is free to download here.

Anon: A Dreame (Margaret Board Lute Book, f. 20v)

 A lovely little tune, and my favourite (so far) from the Margaret Board MS

Transcribed from a facsimile of the original online here.

There are 3 strains of 16, 12 and 12 bars. The repeat pattern is 2 x (A, A’), 2 x (B, B’ C, C’). 

Transcription was relatively easy because the original made little use of strings 5 and below. The principal challenge was in bars 69 – 74, where the bass line uses notes on the 5th string, which we don’t have. I have therefore exchanged the voices, but appended a version of §C’ in whch the voices are as close to the original as possible. The choice is yours. 

Also, I have indicated barrés where you might find them convenient.

You can download the PDF file of "A Dreame" here.

I hope that you enjoy playing it as much as I do.

Btw, this is not the same as Dowland's "A Dreame", which I find that I haven't yet arranged it for the uke. I'm going to start now.

Anon: Delacourt Pavan (Margaret Board Lute Book, f. 1v/1)

The second piece in The Margaret Board Lute Book

Transcribed for low-G ukulele from a facsimile of the original (available online here),  

There are 3 strains of 8 bars, each followed by a variation ornamented with divisions. For a simpler and shorter piece one can ignore the variations. The arrangement is as near as possible to the lute fingering, although it is not always possible to represent the lower voice.

There are overwhelmingly many ornaments indicated on the MS: perhaps the player was just being shown what grace to play if they felt like it, possibly to elaborate the repeats. 

The harmonies are reminiscent of those in the Passamezzo Antico, but not in the same order.

V      | V     | i       | i   iv  | V  i    | V        | I      | I      |

V      | V     | i       | i   iv  | V       | iv   V  | I      | I      ||

i       | i      | ♭VII | ♭VII  | i        | i           | V     | V     |

i       | i      | ♭VII | ♭VII | i        | iv          | V     | V      ||

♭VII | ♭♭VII | i      | iv     | V   i   |  V        | I       | I      |

♭VII | ♭VII | i  ♭VII | i  iv  | V   iv  |  V     | I      | I     ||

You can freely download a pdf of this piece here.

Michael Praetorius: Branle de la Torche XV

As promised, another Branle de la torche 

Following on from my previous posting of an anonymous Branle de la torche, here is one by the German composer Michael Praetorius (1561 – 1621). I read somewhere that the piece has been referred to as "The dance of the candlestick".

The composer

The lute version that I found is a duet, so I have transcribed two versions for low-G ukulele:

1. A ukulele duet, which you can download here and

2. A ukulele solo, incorporating as much of the two parts as I can, available here.

Harmonic sequence:

 the first strain 

 i  | VII  |  i   | V  ||  i  | VII  | i V  | I  ||

is basically the passamezzo antico, 

and the second strain

 i  III | ii  | i  V  | V  ||  III  | VII | i  V  | I  || 

is a variation of it, with i replaced in places by its relative major (III.)

It's interesting to note that he accent of the heavier chord voicings does not always fall on the beat.

This branle has similarities with the one in my previous post, but I think that it is more a cousin than a sister.

Have fun!

Thinks: I wonder if there are 14 other Branles de la Torche to be found.

Anon: Branle de la Torche (Margaret Board Lute Book f. 23/3)

 A tuneful little piece and fun to play

The branle is in origin a C16 French dance involving swaying (branle = sway), but I do not know whether torche refers to a flaming torch or a tea-towel. Shakespeare refers to the dance as a 'brawl', which sounds quite robust.

Harmonies: The first strain follows the pattern of the passamezzo antico 

i    | VII    | i  V   | V    || i    | VII    | i  V   | I   ||

 and the second strain 

 V  v   | ii VII   | i  IV   | V    || V  v   |VII  V   | i  V   | I   ||

is a variation.

You can download the pdf for free HERE.

(Incidentally, there is a similar Branle by Michael Pretorius and I will post it soon so that you can see the similarities and differences.)

Anon: Two More Courants (Margaret Board Lute Book, f. 7 and f. 25/2)

 Following on from yesterday's post, two more accessible pieces for you to download and enjoy here and here.

The piece on f. 7 is interesting for its varied placing of emphasis within the bar, as shown by the dots under the notes that indicate weaker notes (played with the RH index finger).

Have fun!

Anon: Two Short Courants (Margaret Board Lute Book, f. 22v)

 Two little non-challenging pieces for the New Year.

A courant (also spelt courante, coranto, corant etc) was, in late Renaissance times, a fast running dance in triple time. The forms evolved and diverged in the baroque period, but since the MS is dated about 1620, I guess these pieces were of the original form. 

Not a lot more to say ...  just download here and enjoy.

I hope you have a happy and musical 2024.

Anon (Ambrose Lupo?): Ambrose's Pavane & Galliard (Margaret Board Lute Book)

 A matching pair

It was convention during the Renaissance to follow the stately pavane (pavin) dance with a livelier galliard on the same theme. Here we have such a pair from The Margaret Board Lute Book.

The first line of the "Pauin"

The last line of the "Gallyard"

There are 3 strains, of 8 bars each in the pavane, and of 8, 6 and 8 bars in the galliard, each followed by an ornamented variation. 

I wonder if the pieces could be by, or for, Ambrosio Lupo. His dates and location seem appropriate.

“Ambrose, Ambrosius or Ambrosio Lupo (died 10 February 1591) was a court musician and composer to the English court from the time of Henry VIII to that of Elizabeth I, and the first of a dynasty of such court musicians. He is thought to have been born in Milan, though he and his family lived in Venice for a while just before being called to England. He and five other viol players, including Alexandro and Romano Lupo, were summoned to England by Henry in November 1540, to bring English music up to speed with music on the continent. Ambrose, also known as 'Lupus Italus' and de Almaliach, was the longest-serving of the group.” From Wikipedia.

The pieces fit quite well on the ukulele, with the inevitable simplification, or even loss, of the lower voice. 

I have included the indications of RH fingering and ornaments (graces) in the tablature much as they appear in the MS, rather than showing modern symbols: the fingerings because of their economy and unobtrusiveness, and the ornaments as their meaning is open to interpretation. To be honest, I find the massive number of ornaments rather daunting: perhaps they were suggestions of the best places to play them if you felt like it.

You can freely download pdfs of

the pavane here,

and the galliard here.

Have fun!

Anon: The Eglantine Branche (Margaret Board Lute Book)

 Short and sweet

As I mentioned in my last post, in my attempts to find and post more accessible pieces, I have been trawling the Margaret Board Lute Book (c. 1620). This is the third piece that I have posted which is named after an ornamental wild plant.

'The Eglantine Branche' fits nicely under the fingers, and has a clear melody, but I cannot find out if it is a known (then) song or dance, or a one-off lute solo.

The eglantine is a simple wild rose, Rosa rubiginosa, also known as sweet briar (or brier). The name may also have been used for similar wild species such as the dog rose, and even (in Yorkshire) for honeysuckle. Picture from RHS.

You can download a pdf of the piece arranged for low-G ukulele for free here.

Anon: The Woodbind and The Gilliflower (Margaret Board Lute Book)

Two scented flowers 

As part of my attempts to find and post post more accessible pieces, I have been trawling the Margaret Board Lute Book (c. 1620).

Judging from the difficulty of the music, the original owner must have been a skilful player - indeed, she was taught by John Dowland. Fortunately, some pieces are relatively easy and I include arrangements of two short ones here. 

Facsimile of f. 25v in The Margaret Board Lute Book, published online here

It is difficult to find much information about the pieces, but you can find performances by excellent lutenists of the second ("The Gillyflower") on YouTube.

Botanical information: "Woodbind" = a climbing plant such as Honeysuckle, and "Gilliflower"  = a clove-scented flower such as Pink, Stock or Wallflower.

You can freely download two versions of the pieces:

1. A full version, as close as possible to the original, here:

2. An easier version transposed to G here.

I will be posting an arrangement of the third piece on the page, an Almain by Daniel Bacheler, soon.

Anon (compiled by Matthew Lodge): The Fairy's Dance

 At last! Something easy!

My finding of this charming piece was complete serendipity. A few days ago I heard on the radio Nigel North playing 'The Fairies' Dance' by Robert Johnson. I was searching for it online and found this piece of similar name in The Matthew Lodge Manuscript Nn.6.36 on the Cambridge University Library website.

Matthew Lodge MS Nn.6.36 f. 24v. Cambridge University Library

The only problem with the transcription was that much of the action is on the lower strings of the lute, so I moved everything up by one string. Many of the original harmonies are open, and I have tried to reproduce this in the arrangement.

You can download the pdf of the uke arrangement here.

Have fun!

John Dowland: Giles Hobie's Galliard, P29

 Not terribly complicated, but still a challenge

I always like to have the melody of a piece in my mind when playing it – otherwise I just get lost. On a lute played by an expert you have a lovely wall of sound, but on the ukulele any deficiencies in interpretation can be just a mass of plonks. 

There are three strains. I have not even attempted to transcribe Dowland's variations as they are heavily ornamented.

The upper voice of this galliard is not one you would find the under-butler whistling after hearing a performance in your salon. I have played a MIDI version of it over and over in a not wholly successful attempt to fix it in my head.

Don't let me put you off, though. You can download

1. The fullest transcription that I can make here,

2. A much simplified arrangement with an emphasis on the upper voice here.

SOURCE: Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London.  

Giles Hoby was a member of the landed gentry in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. I have no idea why the galliard received his name.

John Dowland: Galliard (Awake, sweet love) P24

 A blessedly simple galliard from JD... 

... but, even so, in my campaign to make my transcriptions more accessible, I have provided an even simpler version using JD’s first voice and harmonies, but reducing the complexity of the lower voices. It may seem a bit empty, but for a bit of fun one can add fill-ins using the chord shape one is already holding. I’ve also suggested some fingerings.

The following “proper” transcription after Dowland's MS tries to maintain his voicings as far as possible. The lute version is set in D, which equates to E on the ukulele, an unscooperative key, so I have raised it to F, which fits more easily under the fingers. It is tempting to make a version where the 4th string is tuned to F (temple viejo), giving a nice deep root, but that is perhaps a step too far.

The timing poses no great challenges, so I have not made a separate unvoiced version.

Adaped from Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London.

Title page of Dowland's The first booke of songes or ayres,
which includes  'Awake, sweet love'

The Dowland song that was derived from this piece is “Awake, sweet love, thou art returned”, published in The first booke of songes and ayres. The song melody is less syncopated, and doesn’t sound much like a galliard to me, but the accompaniment does. 

I have set it from Lute songs of John Dowland, I & II, transcribed by David Nadal, Dover, 1997.

You can download a pdf of the ukulele arrangement of the lute solo for free HERE...

... and a pdf of the song + accompaniment HERE.

John Dowland: Captain Digorie Piper's Galliard (P19)

 Extra value: a lute solo and a song.

Adaped from Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London.

Queen Elizabeth I's flagship, and definitely not a pirate ship.

A lively little galliard (Nigel North plays it at about 79 bpm) but quite melancholy too. Diana Poulton refers to it as “elegaic” and “beautiful” (when played on the lute).

In the original each of the three sections is repeated with decoration. I have included only the ornamented repeat to section C, which is not too difficult and is the part that mostly sticks in my mind. I have set it as a coda.

For those of us whose "loue of Musicke exceedes their skill" even a piece like this can sound like a formless mass of notes when first played. I find it helps to have the melody in my head, so I have included the melody of the associated song “If my complaints could passions move”, which may pre- or post-date the lute solo.

The words and melody of the song are taken from Lute songs of John Dowland, I & II, edited by David Nadal, Dover, NY, (1997). When played together (on MIDI –  I have voiced the melody as a flute) the uke and flute parts fit very well, although deviating a little in places. The lute accompaniment to the song is, of course, much simpler.

As a further step in getting to grips with this piece, I have made my own simple arrangement. I have taken the melody from the song, and then added Dowland’s harmonies, as closely as I can, to give a simple chordal melody arrangement. I have tried to make the harmonising notes follow a sympathetic line. 

The melody notes are shown by up-stems. I have unified the lower voices, with all notes on the same (down) stem having the same value – but it would generally improve ones performance to hold them for as long as feasible.

The arrangement is hardly as sophisticated a piece as Dowland’s original, but it’s a lot easier to play. By holding the chords and playing the notes ad lib one can make ones own simple decorations, particularly in bars 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24. 

This approach is reminiscent of popular tabs for the Renaissance guitar from the late 1500s - the strum-and-twiddle style of playing. See, e.g. the earlier post on the Osborn Commonplace Book.

You can download the following arrangements for free:

1. A voiced version for low-G uke of Dowland's lute solo, including the song HERE;

2. A MIDI file of the above HERE;

3. A simple chord-and-melody version HERE.

HISTORICAL NOTE

Captain Piper was a piratical Cornishman commissioned in 1585 to harry the enemy (Spanish) fleet, but instead chose the easier course of attacking the ships of friendly nations. He was made to pay compensation, and died 5 years later. 

My new transcription workflow

 I have recently been trying out a modification of the workflow described in an EARLIER POST, especially for the more complex pieces. This has the advantage of reducing confusion in my head, and also gives me a basic lute arrangement.

When a piece is simple, however, I find it just as easy to transcribe directly from the original tabs, as I used to. Horses for courses.

This post is also a bit of a plug for TablEdit, the setting software that I use, which is specifically designed for tablature.

First line of a transcription for lute

Procedure

1. Make a full transcription for lute – surprisingly easy in TablEdit. This means I always have a full copy to work with. When one has access to a published transcription with the tabs and notation in parallel it's pretty easy. And when the tabs reproduce the format used in Renaissance times, one can use them to get the notes in the right place, and then edit them according to the notation provided by ones learned predecessors.

2. Duplicate the lute version, and copy notes on the 4th to 7th strings an octave higher, on to normally the third and fourth strings. Play back each bar in MIDI, and listen for and correct any discords.

3. Eliminate the bottom strings, leaving just the top four strings. This gives a version playable on a ukulele with the 3rd string tuned down a semitone.

4. Make a copy of the above, adjust the tuning to that of a conventional low-G ukulele. All the notes on the third string will have to be dropped by one fret. Annoyingly, this means representing an open 3rd lute string at the 4th fret on the 4th string.

5. Now comes the refining stage: correcting the note lengths, and further modifying the fretting to fit more easily under the fingers. The upper voice will always be maintained, but the skill is in making the lower voice(s) comprehensible. Btw, lute music often uses open strings in the bass, but htat's an advantage that the ukulele lacks.

6. I have now started making two versions of the arrangements: 

(1) a fully-voiced version, to aid understanding of the musical lines, and 

(2) an unvoiced version with all the stems pointing up, and every note on the same stem of the same length. This sounds not too pleasant in MIDI playback, but it does help getting the timing right in more complex passages. And, of course, this is much as the Renaissance lute player would have dealt with - see the illustrations in THIS POST.

Why not have a go!

John Dowland: A Pavan, P16

 

The first line of Pavan P16 in the Matthew Holmes Lute Book in Cambridge University Library, Dd.5.78, f47v.
The presentation is not dissimilar to the unvoiced uke version below.

Unvoiced version of P16, arranged for ukulele.  The earlier format involved an extra beam to indicate duration. The lack of lower strings on the uke has meant that the occasional bass note has been omitted, whereas some have been included an octave higher where that does not disrupt the (implied) voices.

Yet another pavan that makes great use of JD’s favourite cadence-motif, in bars 5, 7, 10, 15, 22 and 23.

There are three sections, each of 8 bars. As usual I have not transcribed the challenging repeats. The third section is most inventive, and fun to play.

The arrangements are available to download for free:

A voiced version HERE

An unvoiced version HERE

I hope that you enjoy playing them.

____________________________

Adapted from the transcription in Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. ‘The collected lute music of John Dowland’, Edn 3. Faber Music, London.

John Dowland: Mr John Langton's Pavan, P14

 Quite lively for a pavan

The first few bars of the piece in the Matthew Holmes Lute Book, Cambridge University Library, Dd.5.78.3, f. 2v. Just looking at the complexity of bar 9, the first bar of the repeat of section A, you can see why I was content to just transcribe the initial statement only.

A surprisingly chirpy pavan, a version of which Nigel North plays at about 35 bpm. Diana Poulton describes it as a "fine, open-hearted piece". The variations to the three themes are finely wrought divisions which I have not transcribed – a challenge too far. The lower voices have necessarily had to be curtailed (Poulton & Lam detected up to four), and I have not included all the rests, just the ones needed for getting the timing right.

The piece can almost be regarded as a collection of variations on JD’s favourite cadence, touched on in my recent posts. One can detect it in bars (measures) 5, 7, 14, 21, 22 and 35. Bar 8 is particularly playful, and fun to play. Also, bars 19–20 seem to anticipate “Somewhere over the rainbow” by seversl centuries.

Two versions are free to download:

Fully voiced (as far as you can on the ukulele) HERE.

Unvoiced HERE.

Happy plucking!

_______________

Adaped from Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowlan’, Edn 3. Faber Music, London.

John Dowland: Resolution, P13

 Falls quite nicely under the fingers, phew!

The significance of the title “Resolution” is obscure. According to Diana Poulton’s biography of JD, a version of this piece arranged as a song is dedicated to Oliver Cromwell’s uncle, who wad knighted in 1603.

She describes the mood as “solemn”, but I can’t find a published performance on lute. I have played a MIDI version of the lute original, and it sounds not particularly sombre to me. And on the uke it’s quite spritely and tuneful, even at 35 bpm. You can find a MIDI lute version HERE and decide for yourself.

 Notes

The piece is in 3 sections, the statements of the first 2 followed by challenging divisions which I have not treated. The third section is shown in the original as repeated unchanged.

The cadences in bars 5 and 15 are found in many of Dowland’s pieces, and the earliest version I have found is in Le Roy, published about 1550.

Bar 17 is reminiscent of the beginning of “Greensleeves”.

Bars 6 and 13 look rather daunting, but they do fall under the fingers quite well. I find alternate thumb - index finger plucking helps me keep my place, and it is authentic to the style of the period too.

You can download two versions for the low-G ukulele:

1. A voiced version HERE.

2. An unvoiced version HERE. (In this file I have removed the voicings, so the note durations show you not how long the note sounds for but how long to wait before you pluck the next note. In general, let a note sound for a long as feasible.)

_____________________

Adapted from Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London.

Dowland: Mrs Brigide Fleetwood's Pavan (Solus Sine Sola), P11

 What's easier to play – the voiced or unvoiced version?

Some six years ago I posted an arrangement of "Solus cum sola, P10", a quite lively piece. You can read the original post here.

The present arrangement "Solus sine sola" ("A lone man without a woman") is much more serious and melancholic in tone, especially on the lute. It is quite a challenge to create melancholia on the chirpy ukulele.

I slavishly followed Poulton & Lam's transcription in making a copy of their lute transcription, the first time I have done this. 

My version, as close as I can get, to Poulton and Lam's transcription. They found 3, and occasionally 4, voices in the MS. Quite a challenge!

Then I edited it to transfer what notes I could from the lower 2 courses to the upper 4. This was then playable on a ukulele with the 3rd tuned down a semitone to B3. I had to reduce the number of voices to 2.

The next stage was to "correct" the fingering on the 3rd string to the standard uke tuning of C3. There seemed to be a lot of barrés in second position, so I dropped it a whole tone and everything fitted nicely (mostly) under the fingers.

In my new campaign to make my arrangements more accessible I have also prepared an unvoiced version. To look at the notation rather sets my teeth on edge, but I must admit that I find it easier to get the timing of the 2 voices right without voicings. It is after all, closer to what JD wrote. Perhaps we can say that the voiced version is for understanding, the unvoiced for playing. 

You can download the pdfs here:

Voiced

Unvoiced