Music divine
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THOMAS TOMKINS
Music divine
I Fagiolini
[ Chandos Chaconne / CD ]
Release Date: Tuesday 5 November 2002
This item is currently out of stock. It may take 6 or more weeks to obtain from when you place your order as this is a specialist product.
'...of the 26 madrigals and anthems here, 16 are not otherwise available on disc - reason alone to welcome this delightful recording.'
BBC Music Magazine
I Fagiolini perform Tomkins's Songs of 3, 4, 5 & 6 parts, a collection which forms one of the highlights of the English song before the age of Purcell.
Thomas Tomkins was a fine composer during the Elizabethan/Jacobean age whose music is still surprisingly underrated. Best known for his church music, he produced secular work which is equally melodic and inventive.
I Fagiolini have received much critical acclaim for their Chaconne recordings. Their enthusiastic and earthy approach to early baroque repertoire brings this music fully alive to a modern audience.
In 1622, aged 50, Thomas Tomkins became the organist of His Majesty's Chapel Royal in London. Prior to that he had worked in provincial Worcester. Almost certainly the songbook, published in the same year he was appointed, arose from his new-found link with London. Each piece in the book was individually dedicated to a different person. Some of the recipients are members of Tomkins's family; others are musicians in royal service, including John Dowland, William Byrd, John Coprario, Orlando Gibbons and various singers in the Chapel Royal choir. In short, the songbook appears to have been a thanksgiving gift to family, friends and colleagues, occasioned by Tomkins's prestigious appointment.
CHAN 0680
It is significant that the word 'Songs' is in the publication's title. In Tudor parlance that word had the broadest of meanings, signifying pieces of music of any kind, not necessarily ones with English words on secular subjects. Evidently the title was chosen with care, for Tomkins's 1622 book is extremely miscellaneous. Some of the contents are madrigals, canzonets and balletts (or 'fa-las'), Italianate forms made popular in England by Thomas Morley and Thomas Weelkes. Others are more solemn (and more traditionally English) polyphonic pieces, written in the manner of Byrd and Gibbons. Three works are actually anthems, setting Biblical texts; another uses a metrical paraphrase of verses from the Song of Songs.
Tracks:
To Mr. Doctor Heather
1 Music divine, proceeding from above 3:52
Carys Lane, Rachel Elliott, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook, Giles Underwood
To Mr. Robert Chetwode
2 To the shady woods now wend we 1:27
Rachel Elliott, Carys Lane, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook
To Doctor Dowland [The First Part]
To Master John Daniell [The Second Part]
3 O let me live for true love 5:34
Rachel Elliott, Robert Hollingworth, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook
To Mr. John Steevens
4 See, see the shepherds' Queen 2:09
Rachel Elliott, Anna Crookes, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook
To Mr. Nicholas Carlton
5 Phyllis, yet see him dying 2:13
Carys Lane, Rachel Elliott, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook
To Mr. Thomas Warwicke
6 When I observe those beauty's wonderments 2:48
Rachel Elliott, Carys Lane, Robert Hollingworth, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook, Giles Underwood
To my ancient, & much reverenced Master, William Byrd
7 Too much I once lamented 6:27
Rachel Elliott, Carys Lane, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Giles Underwood
To my Brother Mr. Nicholas Tomkins
8 Fond men that do so highly prize 1:50
Rachel Elliott, Carys Lane, Matthew Brook
To Master John Coprario
9 Oyez! Has any found a lad 1:39
Rachel Elliott, William Purefoy, Nicholas Hurndall Smith, Matthew Brook
To my Brother Peregrine Tomkins [The First Part]
To My Brother Robert Tomkins [The Second Part]
10 Weep no more, thou sorry Boy 5:27
Rachel Elliott, Richard Wyn Roberts, Robert Hollingworth, Matthew Brook
To Master John Ward
11 Oft did I marle how in thine eyes 2:30
Anna Crookes, Rachel Elliott, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook, Giles Underwood
To Mr. William White
12 Adieu, ye city-prisoning towers! 1:54
Rachel Elliott, Anna Crookes, William Purefoy, Nicholas Hurndall Smith, Matthew Brook
To my deare Father Mr. Thomas Tomkins
13 Our hasty life away doth post 2:03
Rachel Elliott, Robert Hollingworth, Matthew Brook
To Mr. Nathaniel Giles
14 Come, shepherds, sing with me 2:01
Carys Lane, Rachel Elliott, William Purefoy, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook
To Master William Crosse
15 How great delight from those sweet lips I taste 1:50
Rachel Elliott, Carys Lane, Matthew Brook
To Mr. William Walker
16 No more I will thy love importune 1:47
Rachell Elliott, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson
To Mr. Henry Molle
17 Phyllis, now cease to move me 2:08
Carys Lane, Rachel Elliott, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook
To Mr. Humfrey Withy
18 Sure, there is no god of Love! 1:39
Carys Lane, Rachel Elliott, Nicholas Hurndall Smith
To Mr. Phinees Fletcher
19 Fusca, in thy starry eyes 2:33
Anna Crookes, Rachell Elliott, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook
To Mr. Orlando Gibbons
20 Cloris, when as I woo 2:19
Carys Lane, Rachel Elliott, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook
To my Brother Mr. John Tomkins
21 Woe is me! that I am constrained 4:14
Rachel Elliott, Carys Lane, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Giles Underwood, Matthew Brook
To my sonne Nathanael Tomkins
22 Turn unto the Lord our God 2:24
Carys Lane, Rachel Elliott, Richard Wyn Roberts, Nicholas Hurndall Smith, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook
To Mr. Doctor Ailmer
23 It is my well-beloved's voice 2:19
Carys Lane, Rachel Elliott, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Nicholas Hurndall Smith, Matthew Brook
To Mr. Thomas Myriell
24 When David heard that Absalom was slain 4:40
Carys Lane, William Purefoy, Richard Wyn Roberts, Hugh Wilson, Matthew Brook
To Master Thomas Day
25 Love, cease tormenting 2:57
Richard Wyn Roberts, William Purefoy, Matthew Brook
To my Brother Giles Tomkins
26 Was ever wretch tormented 4:20
Rachel Elliott, Robert Hollingworth, Matthew Brook, Giles Underwood
