[Theme music begins]
Welcome to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.
Now is the month of Maying, and English madrigalists weren’t the only ones singing about it! Springtime is one of the most common themes we encounter in music of the past, and it continues to incite artistic reflections on the beauty of the natural world, as well as rebirth and love more generally. The end of winter was certainly cause for celebration in historically agrarian communities, so join us this hour for music to mark that marvelous time when the snow is long gone but the hottest days have yet to chase us back indoors. We’ve got a wide range of May songs, tunes inspired by spring flowers and gentle breezes, and a seasonal feature from Fretwork and The Sixteen.
[Theme music fades]
MUSIC TRACK
Tarquinio Merula: Curtio Precipitato
Ensemble L’aura soave, Diego Cantalupi
Tactus | TC591302 (1999)
Tarquinio Merula
Tr. 3 Quando gli uccelli porteranno i zoccoli (4:31)
Ensemble L’aura soave and Diego Cantalupi with Tarquinio Merula’s Quando gli uccelli porteranno i zoccoli, “When birds have hooves.” This lighthearted canzonetta, [an enumeration of “when pigs fly”-type sayings,] is part of Merula’s 1638 collection of songs that follows the progress of the foolish title character, Curtio, who, after throwing himself into a vortex, performs a series of absurd and humorous texts with great virtuosity.
In the Northern Hemisphere, Spring lasts from its equinox around March 20th to the Summer solstice around June 21st, and in temperate regions of Europe, many springtime milestones like blooming, lambing, and planting happen during May. The month of May features in a wealth of songs across European cultures, many of which are connected to May Day, the ancient festival commemorating the halfway point between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice.
We’ll start with two settings of a late fifteenth-century ballata by Florentine poet and scholar Angelo Poliziano, “Ben venga Maggio” or “Welcome May.” The city of Florence, whose name in Italian Firenze and earlier Fiorenza comes from the Latin Florentia, “flowering,” has a rich tradition of May celebrations from elaborate processions sponsored by the Medici during Poliziano’s time to the Maggio Musicale of today, which includes a world-renowned opera festival.
MUSIC TRACK
Leonardo Da Vinci: Passeggiata Musicale
Alta Early Music Ensemble
Ayros | 5902768283136 (2021)
Anonymous
Tr. 10 Ben Venga Maggio (2:32)
MUSIC TRACK
Trionfo d’Amore e della Morte
Piffaro, The Concord Ensemble
Dorian Sono Luminus | DOR-90312 (2003)
Anonymous, arr. A. Gilbert
Tr. 2 Ben venga maggio (2:19)
Alta Early Music Ensemble with an anonymous setting of Poliziano’s ballata Ben venga Maggio, “Welcome May,” followed by Adam Gilbert’s arrangement of the same tune, performed by Piffaro and the Concord Ensemble.
May Day itself is celebrated in many parts of Italy with a festival known as Calendimaggio, from the Latin for the beginning of May, calenda maia. Depending on the region, Calendimaggio can involve street fairs, sporting contests, singing door-to-door in exchange for seasonal refreshments, and the crowning of a May Queen or Madonna Primavera.
MUSIC TRACK
Codex Manesse
I Ciarlatani
Christophorus | CHE0138-2 (1996)
Raimbaut de Vaqueras
Tr. 5 Kalenda maya (3:13)
The tune “Kalenda maya,” attributed to troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras in a manuscript from around 1300, performed by I Ciarlatani.
May celebrations in Italy and other historically Catholic regions are often paired with devotions to the Virgin Mary; along with the young ladies elected to preside over civic festivities, Mary herself could be honored as the Queen of May, with statues of her likeness ceremonially crowned with floral wreaths. We’ll hear a Marian antiphon by Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi. Then, a little earlier in time, we find a May song paired with a Kyrie in a motet from the Bamberg Codex.]
MUSIC TRACK
Splendours of the Gonzaga
Biscantores, Luca Colombo
Arcana | A545 (2023)
Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi
Tr. 14 Regina caeli (1:14)
Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi’s setting of the Marian antiphon Regina caeli, “Queen of Heaven.” The ensemble Biscantores was led by Luca Colombo.
May was just as much cause for celebration in Northern Europe, where winters could be more intense. In Germanic regions, May Day is often connected to the feast of St. Walpurga, with Walpurgis Night bonfires lit on the evening of April 30th. Since her canonization in the ninth century, St. Walpurga has been invoked for protection against disease, evil spirits, and witchcraft, and celebrations in her honor have syncretized with pre-Christian springtime rites.
MUSIC TRACK
Jan DeGaetani: Early Music Recital
Jan DeGaetani, Paul O’Dette, Judith Davidoff, Philip West
Bridge Records | BCD9087 (1999)
Oswald von Wolkenstein
Tr. 15 Der Mai mit lieber zal (2:49)
Der Mai mit lieber zal, Oswald von Wolkenstein’s adaptation of a bird-filled virelai by Jean Vaillant. Jan DeGaetani, voice, and Judith Davidoff, vielle.
[Theme music begins]
Early music can mean a lot of things. What does it mean to you? Let us know your thoughts and ideas. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org, where you’ll also find playlists and an archive of past shows.
You’re listening to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.
[Theme music fades]
MUSIC TRACK
Trionfo d’Amore e della Morte
Piffaro, The Concord Ensemble
Dorian Sono Luminus | DOR-90312 (2003)
Carpentras
Tr. 26 Nova belleza
(fades out at :59)
Welcome back! If you’re just joining us, we’ve been exploring music for the month of May. We’ll get back into it with a couple of springtime “hits” from the fertile pastures of Tudor England.
MUSIC TRACK
All at once well met
The King’s Singers
Warner Classics - Parlophone | 0077774926553 (2005)
Thomas Morley
Tr. 4 Now is the month of Maying (1:47)
MUSIC TRACK
Music for Tudor Kings
The Hilliard Ensemble
Musical Concepts | ALC1015 (2008)
Henry VIII
Tr. 7 O Lusty May (1:50)
The King’s Singers with Thomas Morley’s classic “Now is the month of Maying,” followed by the Hilliard Ensemble with “O Lusty May,” a traditional tune attributed to Henry the Eighth.
The personification of the seasons is a poetic device that unites spring and May songs across time and place, from Morley’s image of glad Springtime laughing at Winter’s sadness, to Poliziano welcoming May as a beloved guest. Next, we’ll hear about the enchanting character of May’s gentle breeze.
MUSIC TRACK
Il sesto libro dei madrigali, 1614
La Venexiana
Glossa | GCD920926 (2005)
Claudio Monteverdi
Tr. 5 Zefiro torna e’l bel tempo rimena (3:46)
“Zephyr returns and brings fair weather,” Claudio Monteverdi’s setting of Petrarch’s sonnet Zefiro torna e’l bel tempo rimena, performed by La Venexiana.
Next, we’ll hop back a couple of centuries for Francesco Landini’s ballata in honor of Spring’s arrival, and then forward again for an equally florid tribute by Luzzasco Luzzaschi.
MUSIC TRACK
The Second Circle: Francesco Landini
Anonymous 4
Harmonia Mundi | HMG507269DI (2013)
Francesco Landini
Tr. 1 Ecco la primavera (1:14)
MUSIC TRACK
The Secret Music of Luzzasco Luzzaschi
Musica Secreta
Amon Ra | CDSAR58 (1992)
Luzzasco Luzzaschi
Tr. 4 O primavera (2:55)
Francesco Landini’s Ecco la primavera, “Here is Springtime,” performed by Anonymous 4, followed by Musica Secreta with Luzzasco Luzzaschi’s O primavera, “O Springtime.”
Next, a cantata celebrating the miracles of Springtime by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: “Joy, you delight of Gods,” or Der Fruhling.
MUSIC TRACK
Pergolesi Stabat Mater
E. Scholl, M. Ullmann, A. Schneider, L’Arpa Festante, A. Eberle
Naxos | 8.551276 (2011)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Tr. 13 Freude, du Lust der Gotter (Der Fruhling), Wq. 237, H. 723 (8:14)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s cantata on the miracles of Springtime, “Joy, you delight of Gods,” or Der Fruhling. Marcus Ullmann with L’Arpa Festante.
On this hour’s featured release, Harry Christophers and The Sixteen collaborate with Fretwork on a double album devoted to William Byrd’s final publication. The Psalms, Songs, and Sonnets of 1611 is a monumental anthology of sacred and secular compositions, ranging from consort songs to anthems and instrumental fantasias. We’ll begin with one of Byrd’s own springtime odes.
MUSIC TRACK
William Byrd: Psalmes, Songs, and Sonnets 1611
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers, Fretwork
COR16193 (2022)
William Byrd
CD1, Tr. 9 This Sweet and Merry Month of May (3:07)
Harry Christophers led the Sixteen on “This Sweet and Merry Month of May” by William Byrd, on their 2022 Coro release of Byrd’s Psalms, Songs, and Sonnets of 1611.
Next, an anthem for voices and viols, one of the few in the collection not based on a psalm.
MUSIC TRACK
William Byrd: Psalmes, Songs, and Sonnets 1611
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers, Fretwork
COR16193 (2022)
William Byrd
CD2, Tr. 9 O God that guides the cheerful sun (5:58)
William Byrd’s anthem “O God that guides the cheerful sun,” performed by Fretwork and The Sixteen.
The texts in Byrd’s 1611 collection cover a wide range of poetic and liturgical subjects, but we’ll close with one more of his part songs fitting our celebration of May.
MUSIC TRACK
William Byrd: Psalmes, Songs, and Sonnets 1611
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers, Fretwork
COR16193 (2022)
William Byrd
CD2, Tr. 3 Crowned with flowers (2:29)
William Byrd’s five-part pastoral “Crowned with flowers.” Harry Christophers led the Sixteen on their 2022 album with (the viol ensemble) Fretwork, William Byrd: Psalms, Songs, and Sonnets of 1611.
[Fade in theme music]
Harmonia is a production of WFIU and part of the educational mission of Indiana University.
Support comes from Early Music America: a national organization that advocates and supports the historical performance of music of the past, the community of artists who create it, and the listeners whose lives are enriched by it. On the web at EarlyMusicAmerica-dot-org.
Additional resources come from the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
We welcome your thoughts about any part of this program, or about early music in general. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org. You can follow us on Facebook by searching for Harmonia Early Music.
The writer for this edition of Harmonia is Chelsey Belt.
Thanks to our studio engineer Michael Paskash, and our production team: LuAnn Johnson, Aaron Cain, and John Bailey. I’m Angela Mariani, inviting you to join us again for the next edition of Harmonia.
[Theme music concludes]
Now is the month of Maying, and English madrigalists weren’t the only ones singing about it! Springtime is one of the most common themes we encounter in music of the past, and it continues to incite artistic reflections on the beauty of the natural world, as well as rebirth and love more generally. The end of winter was certainly cause for celebration in historically agrarian communities, so join us this hour for music to mark that marvelous time when the snow is long gone but the hottest days have yet to chase us back indoors. We’ve got a wide range of May songs, tunes inspired by spring flowers and gentle breezes, and a seasonal feature from Fretwork and The Sixteen.
[Theme music fades]
MUSIC TRACK
Tarquinio Merula: Curtio Precipitato
Ensemble L’aura soave, Diego Cantalupi
Tactus | TC591302 (1999)
Tarquinio Merula
Tr. 3 Quando gli uccelli porteranno i zoccoli (4:31)
Ensemble L’aura soave and Diego Cantalupi with Tarquinio Merula’s Quando gli uccelli porteranno i zoccoli, “When birds have hooves.” This lighthearted canzonetta, [an enumeration of “when pigs fly”-type sayings,] is part of Merula’s 1638 collection of songs that follows the progress of the foolish title character, Curtio, who, after throwing himself into a vortex, performs a series of absurd and humorous texts with great virtuosity.
In the Northern Hemisphere, Spring lasts from its equinox around March 20th to the Summer solstice around June 21st, and in temperate regions of Europe, many springtime milestones like blooming, lambing, and planting happen during May. The month of May features in a wealth of songs across European cultures, many of which are connected to May Day, the ancient festival commemorating the halfway point between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice.
We’ll start with two settings of a late fifteenth-century ballata by Florentine poet and scholar Angelo Poliziano, “Ben venga Maggio” or “Welcome May.” The city of Florence, whose name in Italian Firenze and earlier Fiorenza comes from the Latin Florentia, “flowering,” has a rich tradition of May celebrations from elaborate processions sponsored by the Medici during Poliziano’s time to the Maggio Musicale of today, which includes a world-renowned opera festival.
MUSIC TRACK
Leonardo Da Vinci: Passeggiata Musicale
Alta Early Music Ensemble
Ayros | 5902768283136 (2021)
Anonymous
Tr. 10 Ben Venga Maggio (2:32)
MUSIC TRACK
Trionfo d’Amore e della Morte
Piffaro, The Concord Ensemble
Dorian Sono Luminus | DOR-90312 (2003)
Anonymous, arr. A. Gilbert
Tr. 2 Ben venga maggio (2:19)
Alta Early Music Ensemble with an anonymous setting of Poliziano’s ballata Ben venga Maggio, “Welcome May,” followed by Adam Gilbert’s arrangement of the same tune, performed by Piffaro and the Concord Ensemble.
May Day itself is celebrated in many parts of Italy with a festival known as Calendimaggio, from the Latin for the beginning of May, calenda maia. Depending on the region, Calendimaggio can involve street fairs, sporting contests, singing door-to-door in exchange for seasonal refreshments, and the crowning of a May Queen or Madonna Primavera.
MUSIC TRACK
Codex Manesse
I Ciarlatani
Christophorus | CHE0138-2 (1996)
Raimbaut de Vaqueras
Tr. 5 Kalenda maya (3:13)
The tune “Kalenda maya,” attributed to troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras in a manuscript from around 1300, performed by I Ciarlatani.
May celebrations in Italy and other historically Catholic regions are often paired with devotions to the Virgin Mary; along with the young ladies elected to preside over civic festivities, Mary herself could be honored as the Queen of May, with statues of her likeness ceremonially crowned with floral wreaths. We’ll hear a Marian antiphon by Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi. Then, a little earlier in time, we find a May song paired with a Kyrie in a motet from the Bamberg Codex.]
MUSIC TRACK
Splendours of the Gonzaga
Biscantores, Luca Colombo
Arcana | A545 (2023)
Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi
Tr. 14 Regina caeli (1:14)
Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi’s setting of the Marian antiphon Regina caeli, “Queen of Heaven.” The ensemble Biscantores was led by Luca Colombo.
May was just as much cause for celebration in Northern Europe, where winters could be more intense. In Germanic regions, May Day is often connected to the feast of St. Walpurga, with Walpurgis Night bonfires lit on the evening of April 30th. Since her canonization in the ninth century, St. Walpurga has been invoked for protection against disease, evil spirits, and witchcraft, and celebrations in her honor have syncretized with pre-Christian springtime rites.
MUSIC TRACK
Jan DeGaetani: Early Music Recital
Jan DeGaetani, Paul O’Dette, Judith Davidoff, Philip West
Bridge Records | BCD9087 (1999)
Oswald von Wolkenstein
Tr. 15 Der Mai mit lieber zal (2:49)
Der Mai mit lieber zal, Oswald von Wolkenstein’s adaptation of a bird-filled virelai by Jean Vaillant. Jan DeGaetani, voice, and Judith Davidoff, vielle.
[Theme music begins]
Early music can mean a lot of things. What does it mean to you? Let us know your thoughts and ideas. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org, where you’ll also find playlists and an archive of past shows.
You’re listening to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.
[Theme music fades]
MUSIC TRACK
Trionfo d’Amore e della Morte
Piffaro, The Concord Ensemble
Dorian Sono Luminus | DOR-90312 (2003)
Carpentras
Tr. 26 Nova belleza
(fades out at :59)
Welcome back! If you’re just joining us, we’ve been exploring music for the month of May. We’ll get back into it with a couple of springtime “hits” from the fertile pastures of Tudor England.
MUSIC TRACK
All at once well met
The King’s Singers
Warner Classics - Parlophone | 0077774926553 (2005)
Thomas Morley
Tr. 4 Now is the month of Maying (1:47)
MUSIC TRACK
Music for Tudor Kings
The Hilliard Ensemble
Musical Concepts | ALC1015 (2008)
Henry VIII
Tr. 7 O Lusty May (1:50)
The King’s Singers with Thomas Morley’s classic “Now is the month of Maying,” followed by the Hilliard Ensemble with “O Lusty May,” a traditional tune attributed to Henry the Eighth.
The personification of the seasons is a poetic device that unites spring and May songs across time and place, from Morley’s image of glad Springtime laughing at Winter’s sadness, to Poliziano welcoming May as a beloved guest. Next, we’ll hear about the enchanting character of May’s gentle breeze.
MUSIC TRACK
Il sesto libro dei madrigali, 1614
La Venexiana
Glossa | GCD920926 (2005)
Claudio Monteverdi
Tr. 5 Zefiro torna e’l bel tempo rimena (3:46)
“Zephyr returns and brings fair weather,” Claudio Monteverdi’s setting of Petrarch’s sonnet Zefiro torna e’l bel tempo rimena, performed by La Venexiana.
Next, we’ll hop back a couple of centuries for Francesco Landini’s ballata in honor of Spring’s arrival, and then forward again for an equally florid tribute by Luzzasco Luzzaschi.
MUSIC TRACK
The Second Circle: Francesco Landini
Anonymous 4
Harmonia Mundi | HMG507269DI (2013)
Francesco Landini
Tr. 1 Ecco la primavera (1:14)
MUSIC TRACK
The Secret Music of Luzzasco Luzzaschi
Musica Secreta
Amon Ra | CDSAR58 (1992)
Luzzasco Luzzaschi
Tr. 4 O primavera (2:55)
Francesco Landini’s Ecco la primavera, “Here is Springtime,” performed by Anonymous 4, followed by Musica Secreta with Luzzasco Luzzaschi’s O primavera, “O Springtime.”
Next, a cantata celebrating the miracles of Springtime by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: “Joy, you delight of Gods,” or Der Fruhling.
MUSIC TRACK
Pergolesi Stabat Mater
E. Scholl, M. Ullmann, A. Schneider, L’Arpa Festante, A. Eberle
Naxos | 8.551276 (2011)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Tr. 13 Freude, du Lust der Gotter (Der Fruhling), Wq. 237, H. 723 (8:14)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s cantata on the miracles of Springtime, “Joy, you delight of Gods,” or Der Fruhling. Marcus Ullmann with L’Arpa Festante.
On this hour’s featured release, Harry Christophers and The Sixteen collaborate with Fretwork on a double album devoted to William Byrd’s final publication. The Psalms, Songs, and Sonnets of 1611 is a monumental anthology of sacred and secular compositions, ranging from consort songs to anthems and instrumental fantasias. We’ll begin with one of Byrd’s own springtime odes.
MUSIC TRACK
William Byrd: Psalmes, Songs, and Sonnets 1611
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers, Fretwork
COR16193 (2022)
William Byrd
CD1, Tr. 9 This Sweet and Merry Month of May (3:07)
Harry Christophers led the Sixteen on “This Sweet and Merry Month of May” by William Byrd, on their 2022 Coro release of Byrd’s Psalms, Songs, and Sonnets of 1611.
Next, an anthem for voices and viols, one of the few in the collection not based on a psalm.
MUSIC TRACK
William Byrd: Psalmes, Songs, and Sonnets 1611
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers, Fretwork
COR16193 (2022)
William Byrd
CD2, Tr. 9 O God that guides the cheerful sun (5:58)
William Byrd’s anthem “O God that guides the cheerful sun,” performed by Fretwork and The Sixteen.
The texts in Byrd’s 1611 collection cover a wide range of poetic and liturgical subjects, but we’ll close with one more of his part songs fitting our celebration of May.
MUSIC TRACK
William Byrd: Psalmes, Songs, and Sonnets 1611
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers, Fretwork
COR16193 (2022)
William Byrd
CD2, Tr. 3 Crowned with flowers (2:29)
William Byrd’s five-part pastoral “Crowned with flowers.” Harry Christophers led the Sixteen on their 2022 album with (the viol ensemble) Fretwork, William Byrd: Psalms, Songs, and Sonnets of 1611.
[Fade in theme music]
Harmonia is a production of WFIU and part of the educational mission of Indiana University.
Support comes from Early Music America: a national organization that advocates and supports the historical performance of music of the past, the community of artists who create it, and the listeners whose lives are enriched by it. On the web at EarlyMusicAmerica-dot-org.
Additional resources come from the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
We welcome your thoughts about any part of this program, or about early music in general. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org. You can follow us on Facebook by searching for Harmonia Early Music.
The writer for this edition of Harmonia is Chelsey Belt.
Thanks to our studio engineer Michael Paskash, and our production team: LuAnn Johnson, Aaron Cain, and John Bailey. I’m Angela Mariani, inviting you to join us again for the next edition of Harmonia.
[Theme music concludes]
