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.