The Arbor Consort

Il bianco e dolce cigno by Arcadelt

sung beautifully by the Hilliard Ensemble:

Il bianco e dolce cigno is in the Arbor Consort’s repertoire for the 2012 season, and is a perennial favorite of our group.

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El Grillo by Josquin des Prez

Natalie gave a nice presentation on Josquin last week at rehearsal, so I went hunting for one of his pieces in our repertoire to post here.  I found this awesomely fun version of El Grillo by the Hilliard Ensemble.  I also giggled at the picture in the background!

Italian Text:

El grillo è buon cantore
Che tiene longo verso.
Dalle beve grillo canta.
Ma non fa come gli altri uccelli
Come li han cantato un poco,
Van de fatto in altro loco
Sempre el grillo sta pur saldo,
Quando la maggior el caldo
Alhor canta sol per amore.

English Translation (from cpdl)

The cricket is a good singer
He can sing very long
He sings all the time.
But he isn’t like the other birds.
If they’ve sung a little bit
They go somewhere else
The cricket remains where he is
When the heat is very fierce
Then he sings only for love.

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All Creatures Now are Merry-Minded

(Note: Video length is 10 minutes, but the song ends between the 2 and 3 minute mark. I do not know why they left the extra time up there)  Though the video maker does not list the ensemble singing, I’m sure it’s the Tallis Scholars from their English Madrigals (plus 7 English Anthems) CD.

The madrigal is Bennet’s contribution to The Triumphs of Oriana.  As per wikipedia

Every madrigal in the collection contains the following couplet at the end: “Thus sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana: long live fair Oriana” (the word “Oriana” often being used to refer to Queen Elizabeth).

 

The Arbor Consort has “All Creatures Now” in our repertoire, along with another of Bennet’s pieces, “Weep, O Mine Eyes”.

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I love, alas, I love thee

More Morley.

Sung so very, very well by the King’s Singers here.

Lyrics from CPDL:

I love, alas, I love thee, my dainty darling.
Come kiss me then, Amaryllis,
More lovely than sweet Phyllis.

Poor Phyllis. Of course, we all know she gets hers, eventually.

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A favorite among a few of our members (though never a huge favorite of mine!) Matona Mia Cara by Orlando de Lassus is definitely fun to sing. It’s the song sung by a German mercenary, serenading an Italian woman. He gets his words all jumbled up, but in the end he is able to make his intentions perfectly clear… read the English translation, provided here. It’s not as crude as the one we’ve got in our books. If you’re curious, we’ll be happy to share the more vulgar version with you at Blackrock Medieval Summer Fest in July!

Italian text from CPDL 
Matona, mia cara, Mi follere canzon,
Cantar sotto finestra, Lantze bon compagnon.
Don don don, diri diri, don don don don.
Ti prego m’ascoltare, che mi cantar de bon,
E mi ti foller bene, come greco e capon.
Don don don, diri diri, don don don don.
Comandar alle cacce, cacciar, cacciar con le falcon,
Mi ti portar becacce, grasse come rognon.
Don don don, diri diri, don don don don.
Se mi non saper dire, tante belle razon,
Petrarcha mi non saper, Ne fonte d’Helicon.
Don don don, diri diri, don don don don.
Se ti mi foller bene, mi non esser poltron,
Mi ficcar tutta notte urtar, urtar, urtar come monton,
Don don don, diri diri, don don don don.

English Translation from Lasksongsings.com (an excellent source for further reading):

“My dear Lady, I’d love to sing a song below your window.

I’m a lancer, and a good lad. Please listen to me, for I sing well, and I love you greatly, as a Greek does his capon.

When I go hunting, hunting with a falcon, I’ll bring you woodcocks as fat as a kidney.

Though I do not know so many elegant phases, and know nothing of Petrarch, or the fountain of Helicon, if you’ll have me, I’m no laggard, I’ll make love to you all night long, thrusting like a ram.”

A properly irreverant performance by the Hilliard ensemble follows:

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Dindirin (anonymous)

The King’s Singers will explain some more of what the song is about, and where it comes from.  Enjoy!

Lyrics from (cpdl)

Dindirin danya, dindirindin.

Je me levé un bel maitin,

Matineta per la prata;

encontré le ruyseñor,

que cantaba so la rama, dindirindin.

Dindirin danya, dindirindin.

Encontré le ruyseñor,

que cantaba so la rama,

“Ruyseñor, le ruyseñor,

facteme aquesta embaxata,

dindirin din.”

Dindirin danya, dindirindin.

“Ruyseñor, le ruyseñor,

facteme aquesta embaxata,

Y digalo a mon ami:

que je ya só maritata, dindirindin.”

Dindirin danya, dindirindin.

Translation (from cpdl)

Dindirin danya, dindirindin.

I arose one fine day

and spent the morning in the meadow;

I heard the nightengale

singing on the bough, din-di-rin-din.

Dindirin danya, dindirindin.

I heard the nightengale

singing on the bough,

Nightengale, oh nightengale,

do this errand for me,

din-di-rin-din.

Dindirin danya, dindirindin.

Nightengale, oh nightengale,

do this errand for me,

tell my lover

that I am already married! Din-di-rin-din.

Dindirin danya, dindirindin.

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“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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Faulte d’argent, Josquin Des Prez.

We’re very much immersed in songs from our repertoire right now, what with having 3 days of madrigals a week (2 in performance and 1 at rehearsal), but there’s always interest in other music as well.

The Arbor Consort has two songs in our repertoire by Josquin Des Prez (El Grillo and Mille Regretz), that you can hear us sing at Michigan Renaissance Festival this season.

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