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1 Dowland’s Galliard
John
Dowland (1563-1626)
This
piece by the leading lutenist-composer of Shakespeare’s age is perhaps
closer
to the lively spirit of the original Galliard dance than
many tunes that bear the name.
2
Pavan :The Countess of
Pembroke’s Paradise
Anthony
Holborne
A gentleman-usher
at Elizabeth’s court and a
prolific composer of
both solo and consort music,
Holborne (died 1602) was much admired by Dowland,
who often echoed him. This piece is
dedicated to
the writer and
artistic patron Mary
Sidney Herbert, Countess
of
Pembroke and sister
of Sir Philip Sidney.
3
Planxty Irwin/My lodging
is on the cold ground Turlough
O’Carolan/Anon.
The
first piece is a famous planxty or tribute-tune by the
great harp composer
Turlough O’Carolan
(1670-1738).
The
second is best known through Thomas Moore’s lyric “Believe me
if all those
endearing young
charms” (around 1800) but is much older, and may originally
have
been an English
or Scots dance tune.
4
Allemande from Cello Suite
No..1 (BWV 1007)
J.
S. Bach (1685-1750)
Bach’s
cello suites have been transcribed
for
many instruments, and
seem especially well suited to
the guitar. Bach himself did much
recasting of his own work.
5
Lament for Owen O’Rourke
Turlough
O’Carolan
One
of Carolan’s sparer and more mysterious tunes, although the
version we have is
perhaps
incomplete. Only the harper’s melody lines
survive, but he was a great admirer of Italian
composers such as
Geminiani (whom he
often met in Dublin) and Corelli,so that this
slightly
Baroque arrangement seems in order.
6 The
Blue-eyed
Stranger
English
Traditional
A
very old English reel that appears in several Morris traditions
7
Captain Digorie Piper’s
Galliard
John Dowland
A
fine example of the slower, thoughtful form that many of
Dowland’s
galliards took.
8
Squire Wood’s Lamentation on the Refusal of his Halfpence
Turlough
O’Carolan
The odd title
satirises an English minter of coins whose royal patent
outraged the Irish in the 1720s.
Despite
its origin in mockery, it
is a beautiful and haunting tune.
9
The Night Watch
Anthony
Holborn
Holborne
too wrote different versions of many tunes. This almain
(the
English form of allemande)
was arranged for lute, cittern and bandora as well
as for various consorts.
10
Three Minuets from
“Musick’s Handmaid”
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Pieces
originally written for the harpsichord by the major English
composer of the
Baroque period.
11
The Frog
Galliard
John Dowland
Despite
his characteristic melancholy (which
may have been partly a
fashionable affectation )
Dowland wrote many a
merry tune, none more inventive or more popular than this.
12
Greensleeves
Variations
Anon.(16th Century)
One
of the great tunes, sometimes attributed to Henry
V111 but
probably
Elizabethan.
13
Miss Hamilton
Cornelius
Lyons ( c.1670-1740
)
This
is the only surviving
original tune
by Lyons, Carolan’s
contemporary and
harper to the Earl
of Antrim. The second part may
include an imitation of wedding bells.
14
Mr Dowland’s
Midnight
John Dowland
A
melancholy almain, to match his “Melancholy Galliard.”
15
Gavotte en Rondeau from
Lute Suite No.3 (BWV 995 )
J.
S. Bach
This
began, like the earlier allemande, as a cello piece, but was arranged
for lute by the composer
himself.
16
Robin is to the Greenwood Gone
Thomas
Robinson (1550-1609)
One
of many versions of this popular Elizabethan song,
also known as
“Bonny Sweet Robin.”
17.
Come Heavy Sleep
John Dowland
One
of Dowland’s many great songs. This arrangement combines the
vocal and lute
parts.
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