I love to hear the harpsichord, and organ preforming early English music. The Thomas Goff harpsichord does have its own distinctive sound, one I do enjoy. 😊 Thank you again, Harpsichord Vinyl Gallery for uploading another relaxing album after another hard night at my workplace. 🤗
What a player Thurston Dart was. A pity it was a mono recording but for the history of recorded harpsichord music I could not ignore it since the vinyl wasn't damaged, so I guess it was not used for loud beer parties with flashing neon lights. Yes you are right a very distinctive sound of the Thomas Goff harpsichord.
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery It was wonderful since it wasn't scratched and you were able to upload. Even in mono the sound quality wasn't to bad at all. To hear this recorded with modern technology would be fascinating to hear.
*_Thurston Dart wrote for this recording about William Byrd and Thomas Tomkins 1/1_* THE COMPOSERS AND THE MUSIC WILLIAM BYRD was born about 1543 and became organist of Lincoln Cathedral early in 1562-3. Seven years later he was sworn a Gentleman, of the Chapel Royal, and soon afterwards he became Tallis's assistant as organist of the Chapel the friendship thus established with Tallis seems to have remained very close, and when Tallis died in 1585 Byrd composed a most eloquent commemorative elegy ending with the words Tallis is dead, and Music dies'. Byrd's later life was spent almost wholly in and around London, at Harlington in Middlesex, and lastly at Stondon Massey in Essex ; here he died on July 4, 1623. Skilled in every branch of music, a prolific composer, a notable performer, and a beloved teacher, William Byrd holds an assured place as one of the greatest European composers of his time. . The music on this disc is taken 'from three sources : the fine manuscript collection of Byrd's keyboard music copied for Lady Nevel by the famous musical calligrapher John Baldwin of Windsor, and completed in 1591; the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, copied by the recusant Francis Tregian during his long imprisonment in the Fleet (1609-19); and the printed collection Parthenia .first published in about 1612. 1. Lord Willoby's Welcome Home (Nevel, no. 33). A short set of variations on a favorite ballad tune, widely current in England and the Low Countries at this time; the tune Was also k,nown as 'Rowland" and 'Soet Robbertgen'. Many ballads were written to this tune, and, the best known of them was probably the one Byrd had in mind; it begins __''The fifteenth day of July, with glistering spear and shield __ A famous fight in Flanders was foughten in the fie ld; __ The most couragious officers was English Captains three __ But the bravest man in battell was brave Lord Willoughby.' 2. The First Pavan and Galliard (Nevel, nos. 10 and 11). Of all contemporary dance-forms, the pavan and galliard played the most decisive part in the development of early English keyboard music. Skilled use of elaborate counterpoint, effortless melodic creation and elaboration, and an unerring harmonic sense: these allowed Byrd to mould the rigid pattern of the dance-forms into music that seems inexhaustible in its rich variety and charm. ' The set of pavans and galliards in My Ladye Nevels Booke include some of Byrd's finest keyboard music; for the most part Byrd's pavans and galliards are cast in the classic form of A: A varied: B: B varied: C : C varied. According to a note in Tregian's hand in the margin of the' Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. this pavan is 'the' first that ever '[Byrd] made': it is also known in a version for solo lute. 3. The Queen's Alman (FWVB, no. 172). This was presumably composed for Queen Elizabeth I, to whose personal sympathy and love of music Byrd was greatly indebted. 4. The Fifth Pavan and Galliard (Nevel; nos. 18 and 19). Like the earlier pavan and galliard, these are in C minor-a key Which Byrd used for some of his most deeply felt music. The galliard is especially remarkable for the beauty of its tune and the variety of its rhythm. 5. The First French Coranto (FWVB, no. 218). During the earlier years of the seventeenth century, the newer dance-forms of the duple-time alman and triple-time coranto steadily displaced , the more old-fashioned pavan and galliard from the commanding position they had held. The harmonic structure of this coranto is closely related to the fine pavan 'Belle qui tient ma vie' found in Arbeau's Orchésographie (1588) and used by Peter Warlock in his Capriol Suite. 6. Pavan and two Galliards 'The Earl of Salisbury' (Parthenia, nos. 6-8). For more than fifty years after it was first published Parthenia remained virtually the only printed book of keyboard music obtainable in the British Isles. Its contents were by 'three famous Masters, William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons, Gentlemen of his Majesties most Illustrious Chappell', and Byrd's contribution to the volume was a notable one. This well-known pavan is doubly unusual: first, it consists of only two strains, and the customary varied repeats are missing; secondly, it is followed by two galliards, the second of them being dedicated to a Mrs. Mary Brownlo. She would seem to have been one of Byrd's many friends and patrons, some of them (like Lady Peneiope Rich) among the most important and influential persons in the country, many of them remaining like Byrd himself, loyal to the older faith of their ancestors. THOMAS TOMKINS was born at St. David's in 1572; his father was organist of St. David's Cathedral. Like many of the leading English composers of his .time, Tomkins was a pupil of William Byrd. In about 1596 , he was appointed organist of Worcester Cathedral, and he stayed there for the greater part .of his life, spending his last years in the house of his son Nalhamel; here he dIed in June 1656. In 1621 he was appointed one of the organists of the Chapel Royal but, lIke many such appointments its duties were mainly honorary and he continued to direct the services at the Cathedral until these were suspended during the Civil War. Thereafter Tomkins lived quietly at home, continuing to compose, keyboard music and probably assembling the material for his (posthumous) collection of Anglican Church music, Musica Deo Sacra. The anthems and services this contains are Jacobean in style and they contain little or no hint of the new devices, adopted by such men as Locke, that were to point the way to the church music of Blow and Purcell. It would seem that here, as in so much of his keyboard music, Tomkins felt that he had outlived the great age of music into which he was born; and towards the end of his lIfe his thoughts seem to have turned more and more towards the styles and forms he had known as a young man. His greatest contribution to English music of the seventeenth century probably lies in his church music and his compositions for keyboard. A fortunate chance has preserved a number of the manuscripts of keyboard music that were once in Tomkins' own library, and some of these are in his own hand - hIs working copIes, containing precious evidence of how he set about composing, of how he revised and added to earlier work, of his personal tastes, and even of his political opinions. The late Professor Tuttle of. Harvard University prepared a complete edition of all Tomkins' keyboard music (Musica Britannica, vol. V), and Dr. Tuttle's text has been used as a basis for this recording. 1. Worcester Brawls (MB V, no. 65). 'Brawls' was the English name for the' French 'bransle simple'; Morley says that it 'goeth somwhat rounder in time then [the alman], otherwise the measure is all one'. 2. Pavan and GalIiard Earl Strafford (nos. 41 and 42). The pavan is dated September 29, 1647. Tomkins also wrote a longer version of each of these dances, in which the repetitions were elaborately ornamented. Earl Stratford was the notorious'us Royalist politician. 3. Clarifica me Pater (no. 4). Dated September 1650. A settIng of one of the Sarum antiphons: the Mulliner Book contains three fine settings by Thomas Tallis. The choice of the canto fermo and the severely archaic style of the accompanying counterpoints may serve to illustrate how the aged Tomkins deliberately chose to recall a period that few save him can have remembered. 4. Pavan and Galliard in A Minor (nos. 41 and 48). Dated September 4 and 7, 1654: two of Tomkins' last works. The music seems to belie its date, for its rich texture and technical resource recall the pavans and galliards of Parthenia, first published more than forty years earlier. 5. Toy: made at Poole Court (no. 67). , Perhaps this is Poole Court in Dorset; Tomkins, like his contemporary John Jenkins, was a welcome guest in the houses of his friends and patrons, and both musicians seem on occasion to have composed a memento of their visit for their host. 6. Fancy: Voluntary (no. 30). Much of Tomkins' surviving organ music is excellent, but it is curious to note that unlike Gibbons, or Lugge of Exeter, he never seems to have composed expressly for the two-manual organ. Since he is known to have had a fine 2-manual instrument by Dallam at the Cathedtal, it seems probable that most of his more elaborate organ music must have been lost. This fancy is on a single point of imitation, most skillfully guided through a maze, of harmony. 7. Pavan and Galliard in G major (nos, 49 and 50). Tomkins wrote two versions of the first strain of the galliard; since he did not indicate which one he preferred both have been used in this recording. . ' 8. Variations on 'What it a day' (no. 64). The poem is by Campion (a setting - not this one - was included in Alison's collection An Houres Recreation in Musicke. Published In 1606), and the tune used by Tomkins seems to have been widely current during the earlier years of the seventeenth century. Its bitter-sweet words might well have appealed to TomkIns: 'What if a day or a month or a year Crown thy delights with a thousand sweet contentings; Cannot a chance of a night or art hour Cross thy desires with as many sad tormentings? Fortune, honour, beauty, youth Are but blossoms dying; Wanton pleasures, doting love Are but shadows flying. All our joys Are but toys, Idle thoughts deceiving. None have power Of an hour In their lives bereaving.' THURSTON DART
Old virtuosos are talented enough to transfer the soul of music to the instrument. They can reveal what the composers want to make you feel. But the new virtuosos play very nervously and flatly. I can't enjoy it at all and I'm not interested in any records made after 1990. The new generation virtuosos just shake physically, use the instrument as if beating, and destroy masterpiece compositions. Live in my heart Thurston Dart and other harpsichordists of his time.
thank you very much. Excellent.... Viva la modern harpsichord
Que maravilla poder oir y disfrutar estas hermosas obras ❤😮❤
Disfruta la música
I love the Goff harpsichord sound. Memories, memories . . . I'm grateful the recordings live on.
So nice hearing experience!Thank you very much!!
This is really quite lovely. Thank you.
Wonderful to hear ❤
I love to hear the harpsichord, and organ preforming early English music. The Thomas Goff harpsichord does have its own distinctive sound, one I do enjoy. 😊 Thank you again, Harpsichord Vinyl Gallery for uploading another relaxing album after another hard night at my workplace. 🤗
What a player Thurston Dart was. A pity it was a mono recording but for the history of recorded harpsichord music I could not ignore it since the vinyl wasn't damaged, so I guess it was not used for loud beer parties with flashing neon lights. Yes you are right a very distinctive sound of the Thomas Goff harpsichord.
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery It was wonderful since it wasn't scratched and you were able to upload. Even in mono the sound quality wasn't to bad at all. To hear this recorded with modern technology would be fascinating to hear.
@@HarpsichordVinylGallery I always play William Byrd at loud beer parties with fashing neon lights 🤪
@@clavichord🙂
Wonderful tunes💖
Very nice "crunchy" sounding harpsichord, great playing too. Thanks.
The sound of the instrument reminds me somehow of the timbre of a German or Hungarian citer. Lots of sustains and a sharp metallic tone.
*_Thurston Dart wrote for this recording about William Byrd and Thomas Tomkins 1/1_*
THE COMPOSERS AND THE MUSIC
WILLIAM BYRD was born about 1543 and became organist of Lincoln Cathedral
early in 1562-3. Seven years later he was sworn a Gentleman, of the Chapel Royal, and
soon afterwards he became Tallis's assistant as organist of the Chapel the friendship
thus established with Tallis seems to have remained very close, and when Tallis died
in 1585 Byrd composed a most eloquent commemorative elegy ending with the words
Tallis is dead, and Music dies'. Byrd's later life was spent almost wholly in and around
London, at Harlington in Middlesex, and lastly at Stondon Massey in Essex ; here he
died on July 4, 1623. Skilled in every branch of music, a prolific composer, a notable
performer, and a beloved teacher, William Byrd holds an assured place as one of the
greatest European composers of his time. .
The music on this disc is taken 'from three sources : the fine manuscript collection of
Byrd's keyboard music copied for Lady Nevel by the famous musical calligrapher
John Baldwin of Windsor, and completed in 1591; the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book,
copied by the recusant Francis Tregian during his long imprisonment in the Fleet
(1609-19); and the printed collection Parthenia .first published in about 1612.
1. Lord Willoby's Welcome Home (Nevel, no. 33). A short set of variations on a
favorite ballad tune, widely current in England and the Low Countries at this time;
the tune Was also k,nown as 'Rowland" and 'Soet Robbertgen'. Many ballads were
written to this tune, and, the best known of them was probably the one Byrd had in
mind; it begins
__''The fifteenth day of July, with glistering spear and shield
__ A famous fight in Flanders was foughten in the fie ld;
__ The most couragious officers was English Captains three
__ But the bravest man in battell was brave Lord Willoughby.'
2. The First Pavan and Galliard (Nevel, nos. 10 and 11). Of all contemporary
dance-forms, the pavan and galliard played the most decisive part in the development
of early English keyboard music. Skilled use of elaborate counterpoint, effortless
melodic creation and elaboration, and an unerring harmonic sense: these allowed
Byrd to mould the rigid pattern of the dance-forms into music that seems inexhaustible
in its rich variety and charm. ' The set of pavans and galliards in My Ladye Nevels
Booke include some of Byrd's finest keyboard music; for the most part Byrd's pavans
and galliards are cast in the classic form of A: A varied: B: B varied: C : C varied.
According to a note in Tregian's hand in the margin of the' Fitzwilliam Virginal Book.
this pavan is 'the' first that ever '[Byrd] made': it is also known in a version for solo
lute.
3. The Queen's Alman (FWVB, no. 172). This was presumably composed for Queen
Elizabeth I, to whose personal sympathy and love of music Byrd was greatly indebted.
4. The Fifth Pavan and Galliard (Nevel; nos. 18 and 19). Like the earlier pavan and
galliard, these are in C minor-a key Which Byrd used for some of his most deeply felt
music. The galliard is especially remarkable for the beauty of its tune and the
variety of its rhythm.
5. The First French Coranto (FWVB, no. 218). During the earlier years of the
seventeenth century, the newer dance-forms of the duple-time alman and triple-time
coranto steadily displaced , the more old-fashioned pavan and galliard from the commanding
position they had held. The harmonic structure of this coranto is closely
related to the fine pavan 'Belle qui tient ma vie' found in Arbeau's Orchésographie
(1588) and used by Peter Warlock in his Capriol Suite.
6. Pavan and two Galliards 'The Earl of Salisbury' (Parthenia, nos. 6-8). For more
than fifty years after it was first published Parthenia remained virtually the only
printed book of keyboard music obtainable in the British Isles. Its contents were by
'three famous Masters, William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons, Gentlemen
of his Majesties most Illustrious Chappell', and Byrd's contribution to the volume was
a notable one. This well-known pavan is doubly unusual: first, it consists of only two
strains, and the customary varied repeats are missing; secondly, it is followed by two
galliards, the second of them being dedicated to a Mrs. Mary Brownlo. She would seem
to have been one of Byrd's many friends and patrons, some of them (like Lady
Peneiope Rich) among the most important and influential persons in the country,
many of them remaining like Byrd himself, loyal to the older faith of their ancestors.
THOMAS TOMKINS was born at St. David's in 1572; his father was organist of
St. David's Cathedral. Like many of the leading English composers of his .time,
Tomkins was a pupil of William Byrd. In about 1596 , he was appointed organist of
Worcester Cathedral, and he stayed there for the greater part .of his life, spending his
last years in the house of his son Nalhamel; here he dIed in June 1656. In 1621
he was appointed one of the organists of the Chapel Royal but, lIke many such
appointments its duties were mainly honorary and he continued to direct the services
at the Cathedral until these were suspended during the Civil War. Thereafter Tomkins
lived quietly at home, continuing to compose, keyboard music and probably assembling
the material for his (posthumous) collection of Anglican Church music, Musica
Deo Sacra. The anthems and services this contains are Jacobean in style and they contain
little or no hint of the new devices, adopted by such men as Locke, that were to
point the way to the church music of Blow and Purcell. It would seem that here, as in
so much of his keyboard music, Tomkins felt that he had outlived the great age of
music into which he was born; and towards the end of his lIfe his thoughts seem to
have turned more and more towards the styles and forms he had known as a young
man. His greatest contribution to English music of the seventeenth century probably
lies in his church music and his compositions for keyboard. A fortunate chance has
preserved a number of the manuscripts of keyboard music that were once in Tomkins'
own library, and some of these are in his own hand - hIs working copIes, containing
precious evidence of how he set about composing, of how he revised and added to
earlier work, of his personal tastes, and even of his political opinions. The late Professor
Tuttle of. Harvard University prepared a complete edition of all Tomkins' keyboard
music (Musica Britannica, vol. V), and Dr. Tuttle's text has been used as a
basis for this recording.
1. Worcester Brawls (MB V, no. 65). 'Brawls' was the English name for the' French
'bransle simple'; Morley says that it 'goeth somwhat rounder in time then [the alman],
otherwise the measure is all one'.
2. Pavan and GalIiard Earl Strafford (nos. 41 and 42). The pavan is dated September
29, 1647. Tomkins also wrote a longer version of each of these dances, in which
the repetitions were elaborately ornamented. Earl Stratford was the notorious'us Royalist
politician.
3. Clarifica me Pater (no. 4). Dated September 1650. A settIng of one of the Sarum
antiphons: the Mulliner Book contains three fine settings by Thomas Tallis. The
choice of the canto fermo and the severely archaic style of the accompanying counterpoints
may serve to illustrate how the aged Tomkins deliberately chose to recall a
period that few save him can have remembered.
4. Pavan and Galliard in A Minor (nos. 41 and 48). Dated September 4 and 7,
1654: two of Tomkins' last works. The music seems to belie its date, for its rich
texture and technical resource recall the pavans and galliards of Parthenia, first published
more than forty years earlier.
5. Toy: made at Poole Court (no. 67). , Perhaps this is Poole Court in Dorset;
Tomkins, like his contemporary John Jenkins, was a welcome guest in the houses of
his friends and patrons, and both musicians seem on occasion to have composed a
memento of their visit for their host.
6. Fancy: Voluntary (no. 30). Much of Tomkins' surviving organ music is excellent,
but it is curious to note that unlike Gibbons, or Lugge of Exeter, he never seems
to have composed expressly for the two-manual organ. Since he is known to have had
a fine 2-manual instrument by Dallam at the Cathedtal, it seems probable that most of
his more elaborate organ music must have been lost. This fancy is on a single point
of imitation, most skillfully guided through a maze, of harmony.
7. Pavan and Galliard in G major (nos, 49 and 50). Tomkins wrote two versions
of the first strain of the galliard; since he did not indicate which one he preferred both
have been used in this recording. . '
8. Variations on 'What it a day' (no. 64). The poem is by Campion (a setting - not
this one - was included in Alison's collection An Houres Recreation in Musicke.
Published In 1606), and the tune used by Tomkins seems to have been widely current
during the earlier years of the seventeenth century. Its bitter-sweet words might well
have appealed to TomkIns:
'What if a day or a month or a year
Crown thy delights with a thousand sweet contentings;
Cannot a chance of a night or art hour
Cross thy desires with as many sad tormentings?
Fortune, honour, beauty, youth
Are but blossoms dying;
Wanton pleasures, doting love
Are but shadows flying.
All our joys
Are but toys,
Idle thoughts deceiving.
None have power
Of an hour
In their lives bereaving.'
THURSTON DART
💝💝💝 TY
I hope you will appreciate the performance of Thurston Dart
❤❤❤
Old virtuosos are talented enough to transfer the soul of music to the instrument. They can reveal what the composers want to make you feel. But the new virtuosos play very nervously and flatly. I can't enjoy it at all and I'm not interested in any records made after 1990. The new generation virtuosos just shake physically, use the instrument as if beating, and destroy masterpiece compositions. Live in my heart Thurston Dart and other harpsichordists of his time.