The Arbor Consort

“Donne, venete al ballo”

I know nothing about this song, save that it was composed byFrancesco Patavino, and it’s recorded by the Hilliard Ensemble.  I bought this mp3 on Amazon and just love it.   I’m glad I found it on youtube so I can share it here for Madrigal Monday!

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Madrigal Monday- Thule the Period of Cosmographie and The Andalusian Merchant
Thule the Period of Cosmographie

Lyrics:

Thule, the period of cosmography,
Doth vaunt of Hecla, whose sulphureous fire
Doth melt the frozen clime and thaw the sky;
Trinacrian Etna’s flames ascend not higher
These things seem wondrous, yet more wondrous I,
Whose heart with fear doth freeze, with love doth fry.

Thule is, in classical European literature and maps, a region in the far north. Wikipedia states that in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance Greenland and Iceland were referred to as Thule.  (source: Wikipedia)

Hekla is a volcano in Iceland.
Trinacria is the Latin name for Sicily, and Etna is a volcano in Sicily.

So Thule is a frozen place with an active volcano, both freezing and frying, like Weelke’s heart, I suppose.

The Andalusian Merchant (the second part)

The Andalusian merchant,
that returns laden with Cochineal and China dishes,
reports in Spain how strangely Fogo burns,
amidst an ocean full of flying fishes!
These things seem wond’rous, yet more wond’rous I,
whose heart with fear doth freeze, with love doth fry.

Fogo, is apparently Portuguese for fire, and also the name of a Volcanic island in the Atlantic Ocean.

And that, madrigal fans concludes our geography lesson for the day. ^_^

This two-part madrigal is sung by 6 voices. You can find the scores in The Oxford Book of English madrigals, and also on CPDL (Part 1, Part 2). Lots of cool word painting, with my personal favorite part being on the “how strangely Fogo burns” when it gets all chromatic to emphasize the strangeness.

I found this recording on youtube by an ensemble called Novem Altare:

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