Lodge & Le Roy: Three Passamezzos

 Three more easy ones 

It was common practice in the Renaissance for musicians to make compositions based on the grounds (or more, accurately, harmonic sequence) of the Passamezzo Antico. I have discussed these grounds in an earlier post, with examples. Various dance vrhythms could be used, such as the galliard and pavane.

In England they would be called various forms of the word "passamezzo".  

Here we have three easy versions which I have garnered from the excellent 58 Very Easy Pieces for Renaissance Lute, pub. The Lute Society, 1999. 

• Pasa Mesure Galiarde (the Lodge Lute Book)
• The Pass a Measures Pavion (Lodge)
• Passamezze (Le Roy)

A typical Passamezzo Antiqua would be a version of the following ground (chord sequence):

i       | VII    | i      | V     |

III     | VII    | i, V   | I     ||

 Each bar may be represented by several bars, or just part of a bar.

The three examples here follow the pattern quite closely, but with the III replaced by i. All the originals are set in C-minor which, when transcribed for the ukulele with fingerings as close as possible to the lute original, results in D-minor. This rather restricts the options for including the bass line. Therefore, I have also included versions in Gm, so that we can use the low bass string; this gives a setting closer to the original, but with a few small challenges.

Sources

1 & 2. The original pieces can be seen here in a facsimile of the Lodge MS at the Folgar Library, Washington.  https://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/view/search?search=SUBMIT&q=v.a.159&dateRangeStart=&dateRangeEnd=&sort=call_number%2Cmpsortorder1%2Ccd_title%2Cimprint&QuickSearchA=QuickSearchA

3. Original in Adrian Le Roy’s (1568) Lute tutor:  A briefe and easye instruction … The original French edition can be seen here https://stimmbuecher.digitale-sammlungen.de//view?id=bsb00072004, but does not incluse this piece.

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Trad (Dallis): Canson Englesa, or The Lusty Gallant

  A really easy one  

A very simple piece, strongly rooted in the key of D-minor. It has an insistent drone, which is emphasised in this arrangement as I have added a low A-natural to the Dm chord. This is the approach adopted fro tablature of similar pieces for the ukulele's ancestor, the Renaissance guitar.

It has the feel of an abandoned rustic dance, and quite unlike the more “cultured” pieces of Dowland, Le Roy and their contemporaries. 

There is a strong temptation when playing to fill in many of the chords and strum them. There’s also space to add ornaments if you wish.

Adapted for low-G ukulele from 58 Very Easy Pieces for Renaissance Lute. The Lute Society, 1999. The original is in the Dallis Lute Book, MS 410/1, at Trinity College, Dublin. The online facsimile is, unfortunately, not currently available.

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Lusty Gallant lyrics

Fain would I have a pretty thing, 

To give unto my lady;

I name no thing,

And mean no thing

But as pretty a thing as may be.

Twenty journeys would I make,

And twenty days would hie me;

To make adventure for her sake,

To set some matter by me.

Some do long for pretty knacks,

And some for strange devices;

God send me what my lady lacks,

I care not what the price is.

Ballet (Trad): Lost is my Lyberty

 At last, an easy piece ...

My recent posts have been of John Dowland's lute solos, which can be quite challenging. In a search for easier pieces I have been mining the entertaining 58 Very Easy Pieces for Renaissance Lute (1999) published by The Lute Society, from which I made this adaptation. 

I imagine that the lost "lyberty" of the song was not so extreme as this poor bloke's.

The original is in the William Ballet Lute Book, 1595 – 1610, in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, MS 408/2. Ballet was an amateur player, and his lute book was written by several hands. It is the second most searched for item in Trinity College Library, after the Book of Kells! (I have not been able to find a facsimile of the original, as the digital library is under reorganisation.)

This simple piece consists of one strain of 15 bars, repeated in variation. Although largely, an exercise on the chord of D major, it takes some unexpected turns in melody, harmony and rhythm. It is fascinating to see what can be done with such simple materials.

The (unusual) chord sequence is:

I       | I      | I      |

I       | I      | I      |

II      | II     | I      |

bIV     | bIV    | bIV    |

I       | V      | I      || × 2

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Good fun!

Dowland: A galliard without name (P 35)

A jaunty galliard

A galliard in three strains, each repeated, the first two with variations. The third strain has some echoes of the third strain in Dowland’s “Lachrimae”. Nigel North plays it on lute at a brisk 75 bpm.

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

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Dowland: Mignarda

 A galliard

“Mignarda” translates, in modern French, as “cute”, which Diana Poulton thinks refers to a particular way of dancing a galliard, as it is certainly not a cute piece. Nigel North gives the alternative title “Henry Noel’s Galliard”.

It comprises three strains of 8, 16, and 8 bars, each repeated in variation.  The piece seems to be a homage to the cadence motif, first appearing in bar 7, that I think of as “diddle-iddle-iddle-oodle thud”, followed by (quite pedestrian) conclusions. Not a piece I would put in Dowland’s top ten.

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

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Dowland: Semper Dowland semper dolens

  Ever Dowland, ever sorrowing: a lamentation 

Cheer up, the worst is yet to come!

Arranged from the transcription in Poulton D & Lam B. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland. Faber Music, London.  The beaming of the notes follows P&L closely.

[Note on 6 Nov 2020: bars 33 – 35 revised.]

I normally transcribe from the lute tablature, rather than from the notation, as the fingering on the upper strings is quite similar to that of the ukulele. This meant that, for this piece, the arrangement was in E, and entailed some awkward fingering. However, once I transposed to D, the actual key of the original, all fell into place.

The pavan comprises three strains. Bars 17 – 18 are strongly reminiscent of bar 45 in Dowland's "Farwell" (P 3), but which is the earlier I don't know. Diana Poulton describes the passage in bars 22 – 25 thus: "... its broken and repeated falling phrases ... is a particularly moving expression of a poignant and deeply felt emotion." I think, though, that from bar 27 I can detect a certain optimism.

The lute part in a consort version by Dowland has a much sparer ending, which is appended. Since it ends on an F#, I have done the same with the main piece here. You might want to use the alternative ending anyway, as it is more desolate, and possibly more suitable to the ukulele’s limited range.

In the MIDI file I have taken the stately tempo of 35 bpm from Nigel North’s performance on the more sonorous lute. The sprightliness of the uke does, however, make it difficult to sustain the lines and suggest an appropriate melancholy. A good test of your playing! (It sounds more melancholy on the Renaissance guitar.)

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Dowland: Dr Case's Pavan (P 12)

Let the voices sing!

A subtle pavan that looks quite easy at first glance, but is a challenge to play musically and sustain the voices. At least we have only two musical lines to follow: the lutenist has three, but I have simplified the lower voices without, I hope, losing the spirit of the piece. 

I have followed closely the musical format in the transcript (Poulton D, Lam B. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland. Faber Music, London), which does help to bring out the musical lines. Setting the temporary change of tempo to triple time in the second half of bars 12 and 13 was a bit of a challenge, so I hope it makes sense to you.

If I were a better sight reader I would be able to anticipate the fingerings well in advance, and use the most efficient ones – but as I'm not, I have pencilled notes on my printout. I have not included them here as you may well have your own solutions. At least a pavane is played at a slow tempo, which does help.

You will probably find that the motif in bars 2, 3 and 11 is the cadence that occurs in Le Roy's "Fantasia" (a generation earlier) and in many Dowland pieces, including "Solus cum sola". 

It's one of those pieces where the more you play, the more you hear.

Dr John Case, surrounded by mementi mori.
(Apologies to Latinists for converting "memento" into a noun.)
You don't often get a child's skeleton in a portrait – all a bit creepy.

The eponymous Dr John Case (c 1540 – 1600) was a Tudor polymath who wrote on Aristotelean logic, ethics, sociology and physics, as well as on music, praising Dowland. He was qualified as a medical doctor (hence, presumably, the bones). He was suspected of RC sympathies, which may have adversely affected his career, as it did Dowland’s. (Biography here.)

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