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Welcome to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.

Join us this hour for a musical celebration of the harvest season. From pumpkins, corn stalks, and cool breezes to the more spiritual aspects of remembrance and mortality, we’ve got bushels of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century tunes to put you in an autumn mood. We’ll explore folk songs, madrigals, and masses inspired by hunting, foliage, and cool weather and take in poignant psalm settings for All Souls’ Day, and hear from composers including William Byrd, Ippolito Baccusi, and John Taverner. On our featured recording, Baptiste Romain and Le Miroir de Musique introduce us to Antoine Gosswin, singer, violinist, and composer extraordinaire at the court of Emperor Maximilian the Second in Bavaria.

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MUSIC TRACK
Tom & Will: Weelkes & Byrd 400 Years
The King’s Singers, Fretwork
Signum Classics | SIGCD731 (2023)
Thomas Weelkes
Tr. 7 What joy so true (4:46)

The King’s Singers and Fretwork with “What joy so true,” by Thomas Weelkes. English verse anthems like this one feature an alternation between soloists and choir, often augmented with viol consort in both church and domestic settings.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t begin our musical harvest celebration with one of today’s most ubiquitous symbols of the season, the pumpkin. Beyond lending a festive air to doorsteps and pies, this humble gourd provided crucial sustenance to some of the first famously unprepared Europeans to arrive on North America’s east coast. “We have a Pumpkin at morning and Pumpkin at noon, if it was not for Pumpkins we should be undone.” So, reads one of the more sarcastic verses in one of the first documented folk songs from the American colonies, Edward Johnson’s 1643 enumeration of “New England’s Annoyances.”

MUSIC TRACK
More Songs of the Revolution
Diane Taraz
Raisin Pie Music (BMI) 2023
Edward Johnson
Tr. 2. New England’s Annoyances (5:38)

Diane Taraz, voice and English guitar, with a 1643 ballad by Edward Johnson, “New England’s Annoyances.”

Tree nuts are another classic fruit of the season, maturing as foliage begins to fade for the year. We’ll hear William Byrd’s setting of a popular tune with a refrain on this subject.

MUSIC TRACK
Tom & Will: Weelkes & Byrd 400 Years
The King’s Singers, Fretwork
Signum Classics | SIGCD731 (2023)
William Byrd
Tr. 18 The leaves be green (4:36)

The King’s Singers and Fretwork performing “The leaves be green” by William Byrd, based on the refrain to a popular tune known as “Browning.”

For many of us, harvest time brings to mind a welcome respite from the heat of summer, as the nights grow cooler and the days more temperate. This was certainly the case for madrigalist Ippolito Baccusi, who in 1601 wrote what we might call a love letter to “sweater weather.”

MUSIC TRACK
The Pastimes of the Villa in Each Season
Gruppo Vocale Àrsi and Tèsi, Tony Corradini
Tactus | TC590005 (2021)
Ippolito Baccusi
Tr. 12 Poi 'l dolce e bell’autunno (1:52)

Tony Corradini led the Gruppo Vocale Àrsi [e] Tèsi on Ippolito Baccusi’s “Poi 'l dolce e bell’autunno; how sweet is beautiful Autumn.”

The flip side of fall’s relief from a sweltering summer is, of course, the dreariness that it can bring. Next up, a sixteenth-century tune with a Middle English text recalling the chilling wind and rains of autumn.

MUSIC TRACK
Winter is Coming
English Consort of Viols, Forbury Consort, Musica Reservata of London, Sirinu, Cohen, Crumpler
Menuetto Classics | 0848033099741 (2020)
Anonymous
Tr. 7 Westron Wynde (3:42)

The sixteenth-century English song “Westron wynde” performed by Sara Stowe and (the ensemble) Sirinu.

The “Western wind” tune was popular enough in the early sixteenth century that composer John Taverner used it as the basis for a mass cycle. Let’s hear the Taverner Consort with the Gloria from this mass.

MUSIC TRACK
Western Wind
The Taverner Consort and Players, Andrew Parrott
Avie Records | AV2352 (2016)
John Taverner
Tr. 3 Mass, “The Western Wind,” Gloria (6:32)

Andrew Parrott led The Taverner Consort with the Gloria from John Taverner’s mass (based) on (the popular tune) “The Western Wind.”

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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.

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Mid Break Music Bed:

MUSIC TRACK
The Queen’s Goodnight
Chiarivari Agréable
Signum Classics | SIGCD020 (2005)
Anonymous
Tr. 18 The Scottish Huntsupe and Jigg (excerpt of 3:35)

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Welcome back … we’re continuing this hour’s celebration of the harvest season. In parts of the world with cold winters, harvest and autumn have also historically been associated with hunting seasons, as animals fatten up in preparation for the sparse times ahead. We’ll start with a suite of traditional English hunting tunes from The Playfords.

MUSIC TRACK
The Hunt Is Up
The Playfords
Raumklang | RK3404D (2015)
Anonymous
Tr. 1 Hunting the hare (:50)
Tr. 2 The English Hunt's Up - The Hunt Is Up - O Sweet Oliver - An Old Hare Hoar - Wilson's Wilde (3:31)

We heard The Playfords with “Hunting the Hare” followed by a medley, including “The English Hunt's Up / The Hunt Is Up, O Sweet Oliver (might be a Cromwellian reference there), “An Old Hare” and “Wilson’s Wilde.”

Next, we’ll enjoy a vintage recording of another English hunting song by John Bennet.

MUSIC TRACK
The Tudors: Lo, Country Sports
Purcell Consort of Voices, Grayston Burgess
Decca | 00028948225637 (2017 rerelease of 1970)
John Bennet
Tr. 19 A Hunts up (1:28)

Grayston Burgess led the Purcell Consort of Voices on “A Hunts up” by John Bennet, on the vintage 1970 recording The Tudors: Lo, Country Sports.

We’ll wrap up our musical hunt with William Cornysh’s raucous “Blow thy horn, hunter,” although the double-entendre in this one suggests that the chase is about something other than hunting.

MUSIC TRACK
Court Jesters
Sirinu
Griffin Records | GRF-ED-4013 (2016)
William Cornysh II
Tr. 23 Blow thy horn, hunter (2:08)

Sirinu performing “Blow thy horn, hunter” by William Cornysh the 2nd.

We’ll shift now to music for the season’s more reflective aspects, as nature’s transitions remind us of our mortality, which we embrace in Autumn rituals from Samhain to Halloween and the feast of All Souls.

MUSIC TRACK
Madrigals of Madness
Calmus Ensemble
Carus | 04009350933873 (2014)
Orlando Gibbons
Tr. 1 What is our life? (4:31)

“What is our life?”, a uniquely pensive madrigal from Orlando Gibbons’ First Set of Madrigals and Motetts, performed by the Calmus Ensemble.

Now, a motet setting of a psalm traditionally prayed for departed loved ones on All Souls’ Day.

MUSIC TRACK
Orlando di Lasso: Psalms
Die Singphoniker
CPO | 555264-2 (2019)
Orlando di Lasso
D 2, Tr. 8 De profundis clamavo ad te, Domine (2:56)

Die Singphoniker with Orlando di Lasso’s setting of Psalm 130, “De profundis clamavo ad te, Domine; Out of the depths I cried to thee, O Lord.”

Our featured recording this hour is Le Miroir de Musique’s 2023 album Antoine Gosswin: Selected Works, a cornucopia of lush Italian madrigals, sacred works, and German songs for voices and violins.

MUSIC TRACK
Antoine Gosswin: Selected Works
Le Miroir de Musique, Baptiste Romain
Ricercar | RIC450 (2023)
Antoine Gosswin
Tr. 2 Eolo crudel come turbasti l'onde (4:06)

Baptiste Romain led Le Miroir de Musique on Antoine Gosswin’s madrigal “Eolo crudel come turbasti l'onde; Cruel Aeoleus, how you have disturbed the waves,” from their 2023 Ricercar release, Antoine Gosswin: Selected Works.

Born (around 1546) in Liège in modern-day Belgium, Gosswin was hired to the musical chapel of Maximilian the Second as a singer and violinist, where he studied with court composer Orlando di Lasso. Next, we’ll hear from his German song collection, the Newe teutsche Lieder of 1581.

MUSIC TRACK
Antoine Gosswin: Selected Works
Le Miroir de Musique, Baptiste Romain
Ricercar | RIC450 (2023)
Antoine Gosswin
Tr. 5 Der Wein, der schmeckt mir also wohl (1:55)

Antoine Gosswin’s setting of “Der Wein, der schmeckt mir also wohl; How I love wine,” featuring Baptiste Romain and Le Miroir de Musique. We’ll close with a violin band piece from Gosswin’s Newe teutsche Lieder.

MUSIC TRACK
Antoine Gosswin: Selected Works
Le Miroir de Musique, Baptiste Romain
Ricercar | RIC450 (2023)
Antoine Gosswin
Tr.1 Ist keiner hie, der spricht zu mir” (1:16)

The violin band of Le Miroir de Musique, led by Baptiste Romain, performing Antoine Gosswin’s “Ist keiner hie, der spricht zu mir, Does anyone here speak to me?” on this hour’s featured recording, Antoine Gosswin: Selected Works.

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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. (1:00)

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