Holborne: Ploravit Pavan (Pauana Plorauit)

Another delving into the Holborne archives. A transcription and arrangement from the digital facsimile of Matthew Holmes' Lute Book Dd.2.11 f. 10/1 at Cambridge University Library. The MS was completed about 1600.

"Ploravit" in the Matthew Holmes Lute Book Dd.2.11

Little is known about the composer, but I have found an online account here: http://www.hoasm.org/IVM/Holborne.html

This lachrymose pavane (ploravit means "he has wept") was considered by Diana Poluton to have been written by Holborne as a tribute to the younger John Dowland's "Lachrimae Pavane". You can find my version of "Lachrimae" here. The first few notes did seem to ring a bell, and as you can see from the opening bars of both versions below there is a close similarity. After this, however, Holborne goes off in his own direction. 

The first bars of pieces by Holborne anad Dowland

When transcribed for ukulele, Pluravit is in the unusual key (for the instrument) of B minor, which is a good way of getting into a new key, and in some places unexpected fingerings. Also, I have transposed it into the more usual key of C minor, which allowed me to fit in the roots of the tonic chord (Cm) and the fifth (G) on the open lower strings. You can access both pieces in the links below and see which you prefer.

Holborne also published a consort version of the pavane, in 1599, but whether it or the lute MS version came first I do not know. In the first two sections the upper voices of both versions are very close, but part of the way through the third sections they diverge.

It is quite unlike "Lachrimae" and doesn't really have a catchy tune. The harmonies are engrossing and, to me, unexpected, but rather than being a lament it seems more suitable for a funeral procession. There are some consort performances online, and they certainly emphasise this impression. I have made MIDI versions so that you can hear the piece in simulations for ukulele and recorder consort.

I have worked out the approximate harmonies in terms of modern chord symbols, and there is no discernible pattern, but for the record here they are given below. It's all a bit rough and ready, and with loads of passing tones and suspensions that I haven't attempted to indicate. (/ = 1 beat of the previous chord.)

A reminder: Bm is the tonic (I), F# the dominant (V), Em the sub-dominant (IV) and A the flattened 7th. In lines 3 and 6 the harmonic centre seems to move from Bm to A. Section 2 ends in F#, but then section 3 begins with F#m. As was traditional, each section ends with a major cadence.

Bm  / / A    | D / G / D    | F# Bm / C#  | F#  ?  Em  D |
F# A F# /    | Bm / / A, Bm | E Bm F# /   | Bmaj / / /   ||

A / / /      | D / / /      | E D A E D A | D Bm A E A   |
D E F# A     | Bm / / F#    | Bm F# Bm /  | F# / / /     ||

F#m / D A    | Bm / / /     | Bm Em Bmaj  | E D A /      |
E / / /      | A / / /      | E / / /     | A / / /      |
Em Bm F#m Em | F#m D / Bmaj | F# / Bmaj   | Bmaj / / /   || 

The arrangements are available to download freely in the following formats:

• pdf (Bm)
• pdf (Cm)
• TablEdit (Bm)
• TablEdit (Cm)
• MIDI (Bm, "ukulele")
• MIDI (Bm, "recorders") 

Holborne: Heartsease

Another lute piece by Anthony Holborne, who had a strong influence on his younger contemporary John Dowland.

Heart’s ease, or The Honesuckle, was a lively Elizabethan almain that Holborne also arranged for a consort. You can hear a lively concert performance here. I have just found that the cantus part of the song is practically identical to the upper voice of this arrangement (phew!). You can tell the melody in the score because all the stems point up.

The only significant divergence is in bar 20, where the lute version shows a C in the top voice whilst there is a C# in the cantus; I have gone with the C# here, though I know that Holborne did like to sneak unexpected notes in.

Arranged from the digital facsimile of Matthew Holmes Lute Book  Dd.2.11 f. 44/2  at Cambridge University Library.

A heartsease or wild pansy (Viola tricolor).
They appear spontaneously in my veg garden, and are probably a hybrid swarm of the native plant with cultivated pansies, of which they are an ancestor. Culpepper reckoned it was a powerful anti-venereal , but in A Midsummer Night's Dream it's used as a love potion.

Hearts ease receives a mention, either as a song or as a flower, in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew (under its alias "love-in-idleness") and Romeo and Juliet:

Peter: Musicians! O! musicians, ‘Heart’s ease, Heart’s ease:’ O! an ye will have me live, play ‘Heart’s ease.’

First Musician: Why ‘Heart’s ease?’

Peter: O! musicians, because my heart itself plays ‘My heart is full of woe;’ O! play me some merry dump, to comfort me. 

[A dump was a dirge, so what is a merry dirge? The humour escapes me.]

According to abcnotation there are two tunes under this name. They give these words, but I can’t make them fit to the present piece, though they can be stretched to fit the first section if it’s repeated:

1. Singe care away with sport & playe,
Pasttime is all our pleasure.
Yf well we fare, for nought we care,
In mearth our constant treasure.

2. A cooper I am, and have been long, 
And hooping is my trade.
And married man am I to as pretty a wench
As ever God hath made.

Fit or not, they do summarize the feeling of the piece.

Available for free download in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI (with a "flute" playing the melody)

Holborne: Pavane The Countess of Pembroke's Paradise

Following the previous post of Holborne's "Countess of Ormonde's Galliard", here's another of his pieces dedicated to the nobility. I imagine that the Countess of Pembroke in the title was Mary Herbert (neé Sydney) (1561 – 1621) who was active in the world of letters at about the time this piece was written (v approx 1600), and in whose circles he was known and respected.

The Countess of Pembroke, painted by Nicholas Hilliard.
From Wikipedia.

This arrangement is made from the digital facsimile of Matthew Holmes Lute Book Dd.9.33 f. 70 at Cambridge University Library. Sarge Gerbode (the Indefatigable) has published a transcription from the Welde Lute Book which is almost identical to this one, but with slightly fewer notes in the lower voice, and with ornaments indicated (which I have shamelessly copied from, using the symbol ⨳). Why these particular notes were chosen for decoration I couldn’t imagine. Perhaps they were used whilst playing the repeats.

This is quite a chirpy little piece, divided into three sections, with the penultimate bar in each using variations of the “riff” that I have associated in this blog with Dowland’s “Solus cum sola”, but which appeared in Le Roy about 50 years earlier. The third section is quite entertainingly syncopated, with the short scale-fragment D-C♯-B-A appearing three times, but not symmetrically.

Available to download free in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI

Enjoy!

Holborne: The Countess of Ormond's Galliard

This is a not-too-difficult pavane written by Anthony Holborne (c 1545 –1602). Very little is known of him apart from a few publications. He was about 20 years older than John Dowland, and highly regarded by him.

There are two versions in the Matthew Holmes Lute Books at Cambridge University Library.
Facsimiles of the originals can be seen here: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DD-00002-00011/148 and …/170

For the second version I was aided by a transcription by Sarge Gerbode.

The two versions are similar, and in parts of my arrangements the variations reflect not differences in the score but different decisions I made in trying to fit the music to the smaller instrument.

The dots under or over some notes in the second version indicate a lesser emphasis, possibly the use of the index finger. The # mark indicates an ornament of some sort.

Available for download in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit
• MIDI (I have made an effort to make this a little more musical than usual)

Dowland: Fantasie (P7)

A drawing of Puck, Titania and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream from Act III, Scene II; by Charles Buchel, 1905.
I wasn't sure how to illustrate Dowland's Fantasie, and then I thought of this play: it's rather jolly, like the Fantasie, and almost contemporary (even if the image isn't).

For several years Dowland's Fantasie (P7) seemed to have passed me by. Then, a couple of months ago, an anonymous reader asked if I'd ever transcribed and arranged it. At first glance I thought "no way": it's 75 bars long and covers the full gamut of the lute (including a diapaison on the 7th course): far in excess of what the poor little uke can achieve.

But, today, it's too hot for gardening, so I've had a go at arranging the piece it for the uke from the transcription by Poulton and Lam in The collected lute music of John Dowland, Faber & Faber, pp 31–36. I have followed it as closely as I can, but have had to omit some less important voices, and juggle with the octaves. Bars 42–43 were most challenging to manipulate.

Diana Poulton points out that this is the longest of Dowland’s fantasies, but not the most complex musically, and (to my ears) it's less discursive, melancholy and meditative. She refers to the “decorative melodic patterns” which are quite traditional in structure, often being based on scale fragments, rather like divisions but without the original theme.

On MIDI it doesn’t sound exceptional, but when you hear Nigel North play it on his lute it’s wonderful. It's good fun to play, and not quite so challenging as the chromatic fantasies.

I would not normally divide a fantasie into sections, but this one seems to be constructed largely in 8-bar units or a combination of them. In many cases the arrival of a new section is heralded by the “solus cum sola motif” indicating the arrival of the ultimate or penultimate bar. This occurs in bars 7, 15, 23–24, 35 and 56. There is a brief incursion of 12/8 time at bar 61.

The final bars are militaristic, with a trumpet fanfare, and the whole piece is quite sprightly.


ORIGINAL MS SOURCE
Facsimile: GB-Cu:Cambridge University Library Dd.9.33(c) (1600), ff. 6v–7v.

The piece is available to download for free by clicking the links below:

• pdf
• TablEdit 3.0
• MIDI

Le Roy: Tourdion

‘The tourdion (or tordion) (from the French verb tordre, to twist) is a lively dance, similar in nature to the galliard, and popular from the mid-15th to the late-16th centuries, first in the Burgundian court and then all over the French Kingdom.’ Wikipedia

I'm not really sure that this is a tourdion, but it does look good fun.

It was usually preceded by the much slower basse-dance, such at the "Semie basse-dance" that I blogged a few days ago. I was stimulated to examine the tourdion following a suggestion by correspondent Aaron who sent me this link of a fine performance on tenor performance  by Daniel Estrem:

https://youtu.be/l4Q4i8U1280

Structure

“Tourdion” is based on two Renaissance grounds (chord sequences).

Passamezzo antico
i       |VII    |i       |V         |
III     |VII    |i,V     |i         ||

Romanesca
III     |VII    |i       |V         |
III     |VII    |i,V     |I         ||

In “Tourdion” these become, in the same format:

i       |VII      |i            |V        |
i       |VII      |III ,VII,i,V |I        |
(Divisions)
III     |VII      |III          |V        |
i       |†VII,III |III, V       |I    ?   || 

We do seem, however, to be half a bar short.  The piece as published is only 31 bars long, equivalent to 15 and a half bars in the format in which the grounds are formally laid out above. My guess is that, in the bar marked † above, one bar of Le Roy’s tabs (i.e. half a bar in the format above) is missing; one would expect it to be be VII (the chord of G) throughout, if it followed the Romanesca model. Calmes ignores this defect; EGA1 extends the last note to fill out the final bar, which sounds a bit empty when played. I have taken the liberty of adding a new bar (28) to tidy things up in the last few bars – surely necessary in a dance. If you don’t like bar 28, just ignore it.

Here is my revised last line:

i       |VII      |III, V       |I        ||


The variations regard i (Am) as almost synonymous with its relative major III (C).

Fingering

I have included all of Le Roy’s fingering indications, along the lines described here. He used the simple but elegant system of inserting dots under a single unaccented note to indicate plucking with a finger (preferably the index), and under 2 or 3 notes to indicate the use of the fingers only (no thumbs). I have spelled these out using the p-i-m-a system.

Sources

Guitar arrangements have been published in
Calmes, Guitar Music of the 16th century, page 94. Time 3/8.
Wolzein & Bliven, EGA1, page 89. Time 6/4.
(Just to be different I have set the piece in 3/4 time, which might be incorrect.)

A facsimile can be seen here:

Tiers livre de tabulature de guiterre, contenant plusieurs préludes, chansons, basse-dances, tourdions, pavanes, gaillardes, almandes, bransles, tant doubles que simples le tout composé par Adrian Le Roy, Paris, 1552.
Royal Holloway Digital Repository, permanent url: http://purl.org/rism/AI/L2045

The transcriptions are available to download freely in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit 3.0
• MIDI

Hope you enjoy playing it!

Le Roy: Semi Basse-dance

A stately dance written specifically for the Renaissance guitar (an early ancestor of the ukulele). It is translated from a facsimile of the piece in:
Tiers livre de tabulature de guiterre, contenant plusieurs préludes, chansons, basse-dances, tourdions, pavanes, gaillardes, almandes, bransles, tant doubles que simples le tout composé par Adrian Le Roy, Paris, 1552.
Royal Holloway Digital Repository, permanent url: http://purl.org/rism/AI/L2045

A couple performing the basse danse. [Wikipedia]

It's quite a simple piece, and fun to play, helped by the slow tempo. I have included all of Le Roy’s fingering indications, along the lines described in the article here. He used the simple but elegant system of inserting dots under a single unaccented note to indicate plucking with a finger (preferably the index), and under 2 or 3 notes to indicate the use of the fingers only (no thumbs). I have spelled these out using the p-i-m-a system. Thus in “duet “ sections (e.g. bars 21 – 23), the melody is played with a finger and the bass line with the thumb. This gives a different sound to using the two first fingers. The main decision you have to make about left-hand fingering is whether to play the G chord using the fingers o -1-2-1 or o -1-3-2, depending on context. (o = open string.)

The basse-danse or basse-dance was a slow, gliding dance set in triple time (6/6, 3/2) which evolved into the pavane (2/2 or 4/4). This piece is, however, in 2/4 time. According to Wolzein & Bliven, in EGA1, writing of a similar piece:

“LeRoy wrote his basse dance in duple meter, following the rhythm of the chanson; but this is problematic indeed, considering the fact that the basse dance was danced in triple, not duple time. Since the basse dance was archaic by this time, perhaps Le Roy conceived this piece as a pavan instead.”

I do not know the significance of “demie” (half): perhaps it is a diminutive.

The basse-dance would have been followed by a tourdion, such as the one in the next post in this blog.

A guitar arrangement has been published in Calmes, “Guitar Music of the 16th century”, page 93. The interpretation of voices here largely follows Calmes’.

Available to download for free in the following formats:

• pdf
• TablEdit 3
• MIDI