Welcome to Harmonia…I’m Angela Mariani. Music teachers show us more than how to improve our instrumental or vocal technique—how to hold the bow, or how to ornament a melody. The best mentors challenge and inspire us in personal, meaningful ways. This hour, we’ll explore music that arose from, or at least was influenced by, some famous teacher-student relationships among Renaissance and Baroque composers. Plus, our featured release is Himmelsmusik, with ensemble L'Arpeggiata, led by Christina Pluhar.
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MUSIC TRACK
Virginals and Consorts
Skip Sempé, harpsichord
Paradizo 2007 / B074V9LKGR
William Byrd
Tr. 15 Pavan No. 4 in A Minor (4:50)
Pavan No. 4 in A Minor by William Byrd, student of Thomas Tallis and teacher to a generation of English composers.
At age 19, Heinrich Schütz must have missed his days as a choir boy. He was meant to practice law following his studies in the Hessian capital of Marburg. Instead, Schütz headed to Venice to study music with Giovanni Gabrieli. A champion of the Venetian school, Gabrieli was best known for his sacred music written for St. Mark’s Basilica. We’ll hear Gabrieli’s Magnificat for 14 voices, performed by I Fagiolini and The 24 with instrumentalists from the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble.
MUSIC TRACK
Monteverdi: The Other Vespers
I Fagiolini and The 24 with English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble / cond. Robert Hollingworth
Decca 2017 / B01MRAC0T4
Giovanni Gabrieli
Tr. 20 Magnificat a 14 (7:24)
Giovanni Gabrieli’s Magnificat for 14 voices. Robert Hollingworth led I Fagiolini and The 24, along with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble.
Gabrieli and his student Schütz were close. Schütz identified only Gabrieli as his teacher. On his deathbed, Gabrieli gave Schütz a special ring. One result of their relationship was Schütz’spus 1, his first book of five-voiced madrigals published in 1611. Other books of madrigals would follow, in addition to a lifetime’s wealth of both sacred and secular music. From that first book, here is Vasto mar, nel cui seno.
MUSIC TRACK
Il Primo libro de madrigali
Sette Voci / dir. Peter Kooij
CPO 2013 / B00EF172VA
Heinrich Schütz
Tr. 19 No. 19. First book of Madrigals: Vasto mar, nel cui seno, SWV 19 (03:49)
Sette Voci was directed by Peter Kooij in Vasto mar, nel cui seno from Heinrich Schütz’s first book of madrigals.
William Byrd and his teacher Thomas Tallis were so close that Tallis was godfather of Byrd’s son. Byrd, in turn, was a witness for the wills of both Tallis and his wife. We’ll hear music by teacher first, “Loquebantur variis linguis” by Thomas Tallis.
MUSIC TRACK
English Motets
The Gesualdo Six / dir. Owain Park
Hyperion 2018 / B078X98G4B
Thomas Tallis
Tr. 3 Loquebantur variis linguis (4:16)
“Loquebantur variis linguis” by Thomas Tallis. Owain Park led The Gesualdo Six in their 2018 Hyperion recording English Motets.
You can hear highlights from recent and archival concert recordings of early music on Harmonia Uncut -- our biweekly podcast, curated and hosted by Wendy Gillespie. Listen online at harmonia early music dot org and through iTunes.
You’re listening to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.
Theme Music Bed: Ensemble Alcatraz, Danse Royale, Elektra Nonesuch 79240-2 / B000005J0B, T.12: La Prime Estampie Royal
:59 Midpoint Break Music Bed:
Himmelsmusik
L'Arpeggiata / dir. Christina Pluhar
Warner Classics / Parlophone 2018 / B07FJKT4N6
Antonio Bertoli
Excerpt of Tr. 11 Sonata a 6 in E Minor ( excerpt of 5:13)
Welcome back. We’re exploring close student-teacher relationships among composers of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and a particularly famous relationship – that of Thomas Tallis and William Byrd. Both Tallis and his pupil Byrd were favorites of Queen Elizabeth the first. She issued them printing rights and marketing tools—rare at the time—to issue a joint publication. They soon came out with a collection of motets, Cantiones, quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur. Here is “O lux beata Trinitas” from that collection.
MUSIC TRACK
Byrd: Motets
The Choir of Kings College, Cambridge / Stephen Cleobury, dir.
Kings College Cambridge 2017 / B07FRMKVNZ
William Byrd
Tr. 13 O lux beata Trinitas (4:32)
“O lux beata Trinitas” by William Byrd. Stephen Cleobury directed The Choir of Kings College, Cambridge.
When it was Byrd’s time to turn to teaching, he could likely count among his pupils Thomas Tomkins, Peter Philips, John Bull, Thomas Weelkes, and Thomas Morley—an entire generation of English composers. Beyond his large footprints in pedagogy and sacred music, Byrd wrote several collections of dance music and fantasias. Here is "Kinborough Good,” Pavan and Galliard by William Byrd.
MUSIC TRACK
Virginals and Consorts
Skip Sempé, harpsichord
Paradizo 2007 / B074V9LKGR
William Byrd
Tr. 2 Pavan and Galliard No. 2 in C Major, “Kinborough Good”: Pavan (4:19)
Tr. 3 Pavan and Galliard No. 2 in C Major, “Kinborough Good”: Galliard (1:17)
“Kinborough Good”-- Pavan and Galliard by William Byrd performed by harpsichordist Skip Sempé.
Among Byrd’s many students, Thomas Morley probably had the most varied career—writing for church, theater, and broken consort. Many of Morley’s early compositions emulate his teacher, including two motets—Domine, Dominus noster and Domine, non exaltatum cor meum. Morley even dedicated one of his publications to Byrd: A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke, which came out in 1597. We’ll hear “Aria a 3” from that collection performed by the Leonhardt Consort.
MUSIC TRACK
Music of Handel and Bach - The English Renaissance
Leonhardt Consort
Musical Concepts 2009 / B001Q89F9W
Thomas Morley
Tr. 10 A Plaine and Easie Introduction: Aria a 3 (1:30)
The Leonhardt Consort performed “Aria a 3” from A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke by Thomas Morley.
Five centuries after Martin Luther’s ideas first took hold in Germanic lands, music remains central to Lutheran liturgical practice. In the seventeenth century, biblical texts—both in Latin and German—and newly-composed hymns inspired composers to write works of beauty, torment, and reflection. Our featured release is Himmelsmusik—Heavenly Music—which presents nuanced performances of seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Lutheran music, performed by L’Arpeggiata. We’ll begin with music of Johann Theile, a student of Schütz. This is Daughter of Zion’s Lullaby: “Now I sing, God, I kneel.”
MUSIC TRACK
Himmelsmusik
L'Arpeggiata / dir. Christina Pluhar
Warner Classics / Parlophone 2018 / B07FJKT4N6
Johann Theile
Tr. 1 Der Sionitin Wiegenlied: Nun, ich singe, Gott, ich knie (7:19)
Daughter of Zion’s Lullaby: “Now I sing, God, I kneel” by German baroque composer Johann Theile , performed by the ensemble L’Arpeggiata, from their CD Himmelsmusik.
Another Lutheran devotional piece comes from Christian Ritter. His “amantissime sponse” presents the soul, portrayed as a woman, singing to her loving husband, Jesus. The poem begins, “O most loving Spouse, Jesus, my heart and my portion, Jesus for evermore!”
MUSIC TRACK
Himmelsmusik
L'Arpeggiata / dir. Christina Pluhar
Warner Classics / Parlophone 2018 / B07FJKT4N6
Christian Ritter
Tr. 5 O amantissime sponse (10:24)
“O amantissime sponse” by Christian Ritter featuring soprano Céline Scheen. L’Arpeggiata was directed by Christina Pluhar, and our featured release this week has been L’Arpeggiata’s 2018 CD “Himmelsmusik.”
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Harmonia is a production of WFIU. Support comes from Early Music America, which strengthens and celebrates early music by supporting the people and organizations that perform, study, and find joy in 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. And, you can follow our Facebook page and our updates on Twitter by searching for Harmonia Early Music.
The writer for this edition of Harmonia was Sarah Huebsch Schilling.
Thanks to our studio engineer Michael Paskash, and our production team: Aaron Cain, Wendy Gillespie, LuAnn Johnson and John Bailey. I’m Angela Mariani, inviting you to join us again for the next edition of Harmonia.
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