William Byrd: Fantasia a 4 No. 1, The Voice of the Viol renaissance viola da gamba consort 8K
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- The Fantasia No. 1 by William Byrd, in honor of his 400th anniversary, performed on Elizabethan viols by The Voice of the Viol viola da gamba consort.
Wendy Gillespie, Elisabeth Reed, Farley Pearce and William Skeen, viols.
The Voice of the Viol, a program of Voices of Music, is directed by Elisabeth Reed.
In his Fantasia, Byrd demonstrates his extraordinary command of counterpoint and texture. The initial countersubject, sounded only once in the piece, is a simple, bell-like four note pattern which was also used for Anne Boleyn's lament "O Death, rock me asleep." A lively and engaging musical conversation based on points of imitation resonates throughout.
William Byrd was one of the most important composers at the English court, writing in a wide variety of sacred and secular styles during his long career from the 1560's until his death in 1623.
The Fantasia was published in Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets … fit for Voyces or Viols (London, 1611), presumably composed earlier. This work is presented here for the first time in 8K video.
Elizabethan viols
Voices of Music is developing programs for two consorts of viols, one from the Elizabethan period (which you will hear tonight) and an early renaissance consort from around the year 1500 to perform works published by Petrucci, the first music publisher, and his contemporaries.
The late renaissance Elizabethan viols are primarily based on the work of John Rose, who was famous by the 1550s for his “vyalls” and other instruments. Although these instruments were from the middle of the century, only the later instruments survive, and it is not known if Rose’s style changed over the years, so these instruments either reflect the practice as early as the 1550s or, more likely, as late as the 1590s, although the changes may have been minor over the years. Notably, the design of the Amati violins from roughly the same time period changed very little. The Rose workshop parallels Elizabeth’s reign as queen, and so these instruments are an excellent choice for this repertory. The English court imported a great many Italian instruments beginning with the reign of Henry VIII, but the Rose instruments were considered preeminent for the viols, even as the lutes and recorders were mainly sourced from Italy and Germany.
For the renaissance ideal, the consort was conceived of as a matched set, and all the instruments played tonight were made by one builder, Wesley Brandt, using similar patterns, techniques and timbers based closely on historical models. The close matching gives the ensemble a unique sound and is essential for consort music.
Another major difference to the baroque instruments is the strings: wire-wound strings emerged circa 1660 and were unknown to the musicians of the renaissance and early 17th century. Without the “overspun” strings the sound of the instrument and its overtones are markedly different, especially in terms of greater transparency, and this enables each individual part in the early English viols to be heard clearly. Importantly, with wire wound strings, bowed instruments are louder in the bass register, but unwound strings have the opposite, softer sound. In addition, there is no register change as the player crosses strings with the bow: all the strings are the same. Lastly, the early English viols had soundboards that were made of very thin, parallel strips of wood that were heated and bent under tension, so they are similar to a drum: this process of tempering and tensioning the soundboard changes the harmonics of the viol.
Fun fact: Voices of Music's CoDirector David Tayler's Ph.D. advisor in musicology was Philip Brett, the editor of the Byrd edition, and author of "William Byrd and his Contemporaries," and David also studied with Joe Kerman, who wrote the Byrd article in the Grove dictionary of music and the book "The Masses and Motets of William Byrd."
#Byrd
Producer: Hanneke van Proosdij
Audio engineer: David Tayler
8K Video: Lloyd Hryciw and Rob Clevenger
Post Production: David Tayler and Andrew Levy
Special thanks to Margaret Cohen.
![State of Play | September 24, 2024 [ENGLISH]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fVs0suPHAX8/mqdefault.jpg)
The early stringed instruments have such a rawness to their sound.
Sophisticated, yet earthy.
What a spectacular era for music.
No sabía de la existencia de este instrumento, pero, ahora se convirtió en uno de mis favoritos... es muy sublime
gracias
@@VoicesofMusic Ustedes se merecen mucho más que las palabras de un random como yo
@@VoicesofMusic1qq
Best RUclipsr ever 🎉 you guys are the best!
One of my favourite pieces to play... if only we played it this well! Gorgeous.
Many thanks!
Beautiful thank you so much. Best wishes. Gérard. X.
You are very welcome.
You've lately had a penchant for taking on some of my specially favourite pieces. Many thanks!
Our favorites, too :)
Another great job by voice of music
Thanks! It was fun to play renaissance music.
Wendy is just wonderful and a great teacher too!
Agree!
Wonderful stuff. Thanks for posting.
Thank you !
I didn't know this composer at all! I am currently introducing myself to renaissance and early baroque music. This was wonderful. Noted "William Byrd"
Just beautiful! Cheers from Australia.
Thank you! Cheers!
Lindo !!!
:)
Absolutely gorgeous. These early instruments have a lovely sound. Thankyou.
You are very welcome.
THanks from Brasil São Paulo The biggest City in South America !
:)
João Guilherme, lembro de tê-lo visto tocando na peça Actéon de Charpentier! Sou muito amigo dos Kanji! Um abraço, Luca Guarnieri
👏
😮
I am still undecided on who was the greater composer- Byrd or Tallis. Did the student better his teacher? 🤔
Well, that's a tough one. On the one hand, there are a couple, a very few of Tallys works that are maybe beyond Byrd's best works, but Byrd has so many great works in so many styles and genres. I guess Lassus is slightly better than both. But hey, we get to listen to everything!
Please God, can we all just go back to this glorious music and just forget about the meaningless noise produced after 1650?
The viola da gamba has some of the most marvellous sound of all instruments. What a wonderful piece 🥰
Благодарю за чудесное исполнение старинной музыки на старинных инструментах,божественно!
пожалуйста
A wonderful performance! Love all the little imitations - works well on recorders too :)
Bravo! VoM is setting the bar oh so high both in performance and recording!
Thank you--there are many great Early Music groups, just happy to be able to film our work.
No sé porque, pero está canción me produce nostalgia😢😢...es muy bello
No es una canción mas una obra instrumental; por la ausencia de voces o palabras cantadas.
@@sacredkinetics.lns.8352 Yo les llamo canciones, cada instrumento representa una voz (unas voces muy buenas por cierto), y estás voces, me encantan...
More viol consorts, please! 😍
On the way!
Superb. I've played this on recorders but nowhere near as well as this.
I appreciate the Icon of Christ in the back.
LOS AMO!!!!
:)
Fantastic, thanks!
Our pleasure.
Fantastic as always!🤗👍👏👏👏
Thanks again!
You're so welcome!🤗
Awe inspiring 🎉
Nice.
I see RUclips has put a symbol on this video that categorizes it as "Mesmerizing moments: From squishing objects to symmetrical movements, explore the relaxing world of oddly satisfying videos." Lovely!
Right? They are trying new stuff I can't even keep track of it :)
It's been great living in viol land for a while. Those lowest strings were a challenge.
@@VoicesofMusicI can imagine! I long ago went to a talk at the Boston Early Music Festival in which the speaker said that a consort of viols was about the hardest thing to record that he'd ever encountered. Interesting!
@@eshaneogy We used ruler flat frequency mics to let the natural colors come through. Still learning.... So sorry I never got to meet Wes Brandt in person.
👍 Hanneke and David ❤
:)