Luogo e data di registrazione		Skowroneck Haus, Bremen (Germany) - 17/18 Febbraio 1966
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer		Wolf Erichson
	Prima Edizione LP		Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | SAWT 9491-A (Stereo) - AWT 9491-A (Mono) | 1 LP - durata 45' 24" | (p) 1967 | ANA
	Edizione CD		Warner Classics | LC 04281 | 2564-69765-4 | 2 CDs - durata 139' 32" | (c) 2007 | ADD
	Cover		G. Coques: "Der junge Gelehrte und seine Schwester".
	Note		-

Thomas Morley’s “Nancie” is a fine example of the unproblematical, playful aspects of virginal music. It is a loose set of variations on an easy-going folk song, the second being particularly richly embellished in the bass. Entirely different aspects of this music, however, are displayed by the Pavana Chromatica ascribed to William Tisdall. Its subtitle, “Mrs. Katherin Tregians Pavan”, suggests its dedication to a musical lady of society, probable a relative of Francis Tregian, who was imprisoned as a catholic and as son of a banished “enemy of the state” and compiled the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, the most comprehensive and important collection of virginal music, from which most of the pieces on this record have been taken. The only features that here still recall the pavan as a dance are the slow tempo, the 4/2 time and the ternary form which is exploited, as is usual with the virginalists, in variations over a constant bass when the sections are repeated (aa’ bb’ cc’ instead of aa bb cc). The rich and bold chromaticism of the work, already indicated by the title, is matched by its character, which is entirely serious, even melancholy, and thus in keeping with the spirit of the age which was particularly inclined towards the ‘humour’ of melancholy, pessimism and religious despondency. Such a basic mood also correspond to the style of writing, still strongly motetic, in four strict parts and rich in imitation, of this gloomy and splendidly sounding piece. “The Duchesse of Brunswick’s Toye” by John Bull, probably the greatest virginalist of the age, truly is a “toy” - a delicate musical plaything in two four-bar sections that are repeated with slight variations. It is in 6/4 time and has the genial character of a courante, evidently being based on a song melody, as the-title “Most sweet and fair”, found in some of the sources, would seem to suggest. The two Fantasias that follow illustrate the wide musical field that can be covered by the designation “fantasy”. Morley’s work is a genuine fantasia in the modern sense of the word, in the style of a free improvisation, very extensive and with changing figurations in all parts. John Bull’s Hexachord Fantasy, the most magnificent of three pieces written by the master on a six-note diatonic scale is, on the other hand, extremely strict and complex in its structure. The hexachord appears, continually repeated, in strict four-part writing, once rising then falling on the two series of six degrees of two whole, tone scales: first in the soprano and alto on G, A, B, C sharp (enharmonically changed to D flat), E flat and F, then in the bass on A flat, B flat, C, D, E and F sharp, finally in the bass again on G and, to strengthen the conclusion, four times on G in the soprano, twice in vigorous, dance-like 6/4 time and rhythm and twice in the even time of the main section. As the initial notes of the hexachord ‘cantus firmus’ there thus appear, before the final confirmation of the basic key of G major, all the degrees of the twelve-note octave chromatic scale in two hexachord-like groups of six in stepwise, progressive “modulation”. At the same time, the parts that are free weave a dense network of free motifs frequently treated in imitation - a magnificent technical ‘tour de force’ and an ingenious and bold experiment for “connoisseurs”. William Byrd’s Pavan and Galliard are, like the pavan by Tisdall, laid out in ternary form with varied repeats (aa’ bb’ cc’); the pavan is a melancholy, meditative “characteristic piece”, the galliard in energetic dance rhythm, enlivened by superimposed syncopations and fine rhythmic ramifications. The two pieces ascribed to Randall pay homage to that age’s greatest master of song - John Dowland. The “Lachrymae” Pavan is one of a group of works that paraphrases Dowland’s “Flow, my tears” and to which Byrd, Farnaby and Morley also contributed; “Can she excuse my wrongs” treats the song melody in variation, giving it the character of a galliard. The anonymous Toye is, like Bull’s piece of the same name, a very concise structure in two short sections which are repeated in variation over a constant bass. It is characterized by vigorous melody, almost in the style of a popular song, and tiny little flourishes and playful figures. Giles Farnaby’s Fantasy is similar in character, but incomparably more demanding in its virtuosity, pulling out all the stops of a highly developed and amazingly modern, harpsichord-like technique with splendid sounding, full and free chordal writing, turbulent broken chords, glittering passage work and a splendid final climax. The Pavan by Orlando Gibbons which concludes our selection is one of the rarer examples of a virginalistic dance-form without varied repetition of its sections - a magnificent piece of writing, over-abounding in hidden subtleties, which artfully rounds off its clear ternary form into self-contained cyclic character by joining the conclusion almost note for note to the conclusion of the first section. ···················· English music for the virginal of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras was, apart from the lutenist song which Bre feet at the same time, perhaps the most important product of the “Golden Age of English Music”. Unlike the lutenist song, however, which after a very brief though brilliant period disappeared as quickly as it had come, English virginal music continued to play a decisive role in the musical history of the Western world. The effects of its direct influence could be felt in its own country up till Purcell and Handel and on the Continent through Sweelinck and Frescobaldi up till Bach. Its main importance however lies in the part it played in creating a separate field of activity for a “secular” keyboard instrument quite apart from the organ and its repertoire, and in developing a technique of harpsichord playing which was to form the basis for all future piano music up till the present day. The “Virginal” was normally the name for a comparatively small type of harpsichord with one or two manuals and a compass of over 4 octaves stretching from F (one and a half octaves below Middle C) to A, and later from A (an octave and a quarter below Middle C) to C, mostly tuned in a mean-tone system. It had been a very popular instrument in England from the beginning of the 16th century; Henry VIII was well acquainted with it. It only really came into its own, however, in that heyday of music and music-making, which, encouraged by the sound economy and political security of an expanding Elizabethan England, was able to develop so astoundingly at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. Within the compass of a few decades the greatest composers of the time, most of them organists holding important positions, had created a repertoire of musical forms and techniques of playing whose wealth and diversity were unique in Europe. Although the harpsichord had then only just established itself as an instrument in its own right, independent of the organ, these composers succeeded in investigating and almost completely exhausting both its technical and expressive potentialities. The colourful variety of forms, the emphasis on technique and virtuosity characteristic of such a zealous exploration of new musical territory and the method of circulating the music, which was almost exclusively by using hand-written copies, (as was not the case with the lutenist song or the English madrigal) all clearly point to the social and intellectual circles in which this particular art was cultivated. Whereas the madrigal and even more so the lutenist song were part of contemporary social life, known to all levels of society from that of the courtier to that of the town-craftsman, virginal music was a matter for the expert and the connoisseur, for the musician and the aristocracy. The instrument itself was too costly to find widespread appeal; consequently, right from the start music written for it did not need to take ease of performance into consideration and scarcely attempted that which gave the lutenist song its special charm, namely, the transformation of simple things into something noble and profound. As a result we find the art of English virginal music to a great extent ruled by technical problems - by the enjoyment of sheer technical brilliance on the keys, by the pleasure taken in intricate formal detail, experiments in harmony and, again and again, in depicting in naively realistic programme-music things from daily life such as the peals of bells, the noises of battle, storms, even the four temperaments and human feelings and moods. In spite of this zest for experiment the music never degenerates into esoteric scholarship or mere uninhibited technical display. It is saved from this by the delightful naive enthusiasm over a new medium and the youthful spirit of conquest, and also by its continued close connection with popular contemporary folk music as is shown in the many variations on well-loved folk tunes and the numerous dance movements. From the vast number of compositions for the virginal that must have been produced, about 700 have been handed down to us today. Most of these are contained in the few large hand-written collections which were compiled when the epoch was coming to its close and the great period of English music was beginning to suffer under the strain of religious conflicts, economic crises and impending civil war. The earliest compositions in the collections still show obvious links with the organ music of the time in that their formal construction and performing technique are comparatively simple, in legato style and sometimes in strict counterpoint, and in that they use forms such as the prelude, fantasia and variations on a choral tune, scale pattern (hexachord) or ostinato bass. Gradually a new performing technique evolved and by the time of the later compositions a highly virtuoso art of figurative agility and ornament had been developed, and forms such as the dance (pavan, galliard, allemande, courante and gigue), song and variations and programme music prevailed. It is mainly these later works, written between about 1580 and 1620, which show the spirit and vitality of what we may call the first great age of “piano” music. Their appeal is as real, direct and enchanting today as it was in those days. We are just as fascinated by the wit, agility and graceas was the exclusive group of aristocratic connoisseurs and musical experts to whom it was all so new and exciting. Ludwig Finscher, English translation by D. G. Evans