English music for viol consort from Elizabeth I to Charles I

Let’s start with the latter:

The viol family, which was developed in the Renaissance era, has a similar appearance to the violin family. In size the bass viol is similar to a cello, the tenor viol to a viola and the treble viol to a violin. However, viols have more strings (between five and seven), giving a wide register and greater opportunity for playing chords. Additionally, viols have frets as guitars do, which removes some of the effort of playing. The instrument is held in contact with the legs (the smaller viols resting on the lap; the larger ones held between the legs), which is the origin of the name viola da gamba, where gamba means leg. Consort was the English name for an instrumental ensemble. From the mid-sixteenth century the viol family was an essential feature of English music, and the viol consort remained the predominant ensemble for one and a half centuries.

Without personal experience of English instrumental music from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it is difficult to know what to expect from titles such as Fantasy, Air, Pavan and Galliard, or Consort Set. The last of these is a collection of several pieces in dance movement form. Today the word suite is often used, but set was the title in use until the mid-seventeenth century. A set may contain all of the pieces named above. The sets by Lawes in this evening’s programme consist of fantasies, airs and compositions on cantus firmus tunes.

According to the composer Thomas Morley (1557–1602), a pupil of William Byrd, the fantasy was the most important instrumental musical form. The composer had more freedom than in any other form to use the devices of his choice. The result was often intricate compositions developing one or more themes through widespread use of imitation and counterpoint.

A cantus firmus is a pre-existent melody, often sacred, used as the basis for a polyphonic composition. It is usually played slowly in one of the parts, and the composer uses his inventiveness freely in the other parts. In English consort music the tendency was towards intricate pieces with much imitation, not unlike the fantasy. There is a large group of English consort compositions in this category named In nomine (Lawes’s is in B flat major), all based on the antiphon Gloria tibi Trinitas from Salisbury. The current writer is unaware of the origin of the cantus firmus tune in the composition On the Playnesong (in G minor in Lawes’s case).

An Air is in a lighter mood. It is usually faster and although not a dance movement, it may sound like one.

The Pavan and Galliard are however originally dances, and often occur together. The name Pavan probably refers to Padova as its place of origin. Its proud, formal character has given rise to speculations as to whether the word is related to the Spanish pavón meaning peacock. Morley says that after the Fantasy the Pavan is the weightiest form. It is in slow duple time in three sections. The Galliard, also in three sections, is faster and in triple time. The name, from the Old French gaillard, meaning bold, suits the dance steps well, with springy leaps and virtuoso footwork.

The four composers represented in the programme were in vogue throughout the reigns of Elizabeth I, James VI and Charles I. All but John Ward were court musicians. A large number of copies of his music witness however to its widespread use. Ward worked for the Fanshawe family (a family of statesmen) as both musician and lawyer, a combination which was by no means uncommon, either by choice or by compulsion. Many composers were clergymen, deacons, secretaries, diplomats or, like William Lawes, soldiers. When the Civil War broke out in 1642, Lawes was conscripted to the army. Despite efforts to keep him from active service, he lost his life in a brutal battle, to the great sorrow of King Charles I. According to the historian Thomas Fuller 1608–1661), the king immediately held a memorial service to his court composer, a sign of their close relationship. Similarly the attention paid to Orlando Gibbons in the final stages of his terminal illness, when the royal physicians attending him regularly informed the king of his condition, illustrates the regard in which he was held in the court.

The devout Catholic William Byrd must have held the monarch in similar esteem. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I Catholics were subjected to considerable persecution. Those unwilling to acknowledge the Anglican Church risked their lives. Byrd did little to conceal his faith. Some of his works are openly Catholic in their choice of form and text. He even set to music a protest poem written after the execution of a Jesuit, Edmund Campion in 1581, apparently without adverse consequences for the composer. Some years later he composed music to a poem of gratitude written by Queen Elizabeth to celebrate the victory over the Spanish Armada at her behest.

The music itself is the best proof of the consummate skill of these four composers. These introductory comments will hopefully contribute to an understanding of the central position held by the viol consort and its composers in Renaissance England.

Text: Jostein Gundersen
English version: Roger Martin