Liner Notes (by Simon Van Damme/ translation: Peter Hannosset)

Lute, Love & Longbottom Leaf...

The long lasting reign of Elisabeth I (starting in 1558) for England meant the end of a century of turmoil in which the religious reforms set in motion by the illustrious Henry VIII, were consolidated. The relative prosperity realised during the policy of the last Tudor queen even lasted after her death in 1603, while Jacob I held the throne. The stable political regime, together with a certain economical prosperity, secured a climate for the arts to prosper. Together with most of the composers on this recording, also playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Ben Johnson find themselves on the bridge between the 16th and 17th century. As music is concerned, apart from the blossoming cathedral polyphony, also more intimate genres see the daylight such as the typical English lute song.

At the end of the 16th century, England finds itself under the spell of a musical genre that had developed some decades earlier in Italy: the madrigal. It concerns poetical texts (at the beginning mostly texts by Francesco Petrarca) that composers set to polyphonous music. Although the madrigal only reached the British Isles relatively late, almost nowhere else the reception was more influential. The original repertoire was added to by English texts, and composers tried to emulate the expressivity of their Italian examples. Thomas Morley for instance was the ambassador par excellence of the genre (as a translator and publisher), but he also made his own contributions with new compositions.

Even though the lute song could be considered a close relative of the madrigal as atmosphere is concerned, the roots of the genre lie elsewhere. The song for a single voice accompanied by a lute (plaid by the singer himself or not) is a typical English concept that in fact didn’t have an equivalent in other countries. The songs share a poetical inspiration with the madrigals, but they choose their own path by playing a style with big rhetorical gestures in small formations. By preferring the solo voice to vocal polyphony, the lute song joins an evolution that manifests itself simultaneously on the continent. But whereas the success of the solo vocalist in countries such as Italy and France leads to the rise of the opera, the soloist in England finds himself at the centre of the small-scale enterprise of the lute song. One of the most popular representatives of the genre was John Dowland.

The words of the first song “Shall I weep or shall I sing” reflect a general characteristic of English songs at the beginning of the 17th century. The singer expresses a personal sorrow, that most of the time is the result of an amorous entanglement, young love or painful rejection. Musically, the words keep playing a central role: the song follows the poetical form of the poem (be it strophic or containing other repetitions), and the textual content is musically translated with the appropriate means (matched rhythms, sustained tones, typical accompaniment patterns). The subgenre of the complaint song, with melodies that at some points almost realistically approach the sound of crying, is popular in the repertoire for solo with accompaniment. Next to melancholic love complaints also more joyful songs can be heard, with playful or even exuberant themes. Sometimes an ode addresses the female beauty (invariably sketched against the background of a warm summer’s day), but it can also tell the story of other delights such as the tobacco. While the latter songs find their roots amongst city artists on street corners and on squares, the more elevated love verses stem from the context of the theatre or even the courtly tradition.