renaissance – Early Music Muse

The guitar: a brief history from the renaissance to the modern day

Ian Pittaway baroque, baroque guitar, citole, cittern, early instruments, early music, folk music, gittern, guitar, kithara, Latin guitar, Moorish guitar, renaissance, renaissance guitar 4th September 20203rd March 2024 2 Comments

The origins of the guitar are much-discussed and much-disputed, and some pretty wild and unsubstantiated claims are made for its heritage, based on vaguely guitary-looking instruments in medieval and even pre-medieval iconography, about which we often know little or nothing beyond an indistinguishable drawing, painting or carving; or based on instruments which have guitary-sounding names. This article is an attempt to slice through the fog with a brief history of the instrument, charting its development from the renaissance, through the baroque period to the modern day, based only on what can be claimed with evidence. The article is illustrated with pictures, videos and sound recordings, beginning with a short video of guitar history.

This is an expanded version of an article originally published in 2015, with a new video.

Coventry Carol: the power of a song

Ian Pittaway Coventry Carol, Edward VI, Henry VIII, Lully lulla thow littell tiné child, mediaeval, medieval, mystery plays, Rebourn John, renaissance, Soul Music (BBC Radio 4) 4th December 20193rd September 2022 10 Comments

Angelo Visconti, The Massacre of the Innocents, 1860-1861, Italy. — Angelo Visconti, *The Massacre of the Innocents*, 1860-1861, Italy.

Coventry Carol sings the loss of slaughtered infants in a play depicting Herod’s massacre of the innocents. These mystery plays were religious community events, telling Bible stories in the vernacular with humour and pathos, from the creation right through to judgement day. They were performed annually by the local trade or craft guilds, a tradition that began in the middle ages. The mystery plays were threatened in 1548, along with the banning of the Feast of Corpus Christi that was the occasion of their performance, in a royal and ecclesiastical bid to rid England of all vestiges of Catholicism.

The play that carried Coventry Carol has only been preserved through acts of good timing and good luck, surviving the general loss of many period artefacts, royal suppression of its staging, and a devastating fire that destroyed the original document.

My first hearing of it was an act of theatre that changed my life. This was way back in 1984, but even now a shiver runs down my spine each time I think of it. The experience showed me the door to early music, a door which John Renbourn later opened; and it taught me what, at its best, a song can be.

This article was first published on 19^th July 2015, now updated to include an interview with the author, Ian Pittaway, in an edition of BBC Radio 4’s Soul Music, and his performance of the song for the programme with Andy Casserley in the early music duo, The Night Watch. A video of the recording of the song for Soul Music is included in this article. The Coventry Carol edition of Soul Music was broadcast on Christmas Day 2019.

The first dancing master’s manual: Domenico da Piacenza and the art of dance

Ian Pittaway Ambrosio Giovanni, arte saltandi & choreas ducendi, Cornazano Antonio, Cornazzano Antonio, dance, dancing master, De arte saltandi & choreas ducendi, Domenico da Piacenza, Ebreo Guglielmo, gelosia (dance), giloxia (dance), mediaeval, medieval, medieval dance, renaissance, renaissance dance 26th October 201927th October 2023 2 Comments

Early music and dance enthusiasts will be familiar with the work of authors such as John Playford, who published the series of dance instruction books called The (English) Dancing Master from 1651 onwards, and with Jehan Tabourot, who in 1588 wrote instructions for the dances of his youth under the anagrammatic pen name, Thoinot Arbeau, published in France as Orchésographie in 1589. There is evidence of earlier dancing masters – dance instructors – from the medieval period, but the first to write surviving choreography were in the renaissance of 15^th century Italy, and the earliest of these was Domenico da Piacenza (c. 1390/1400–1476/7). This article briefly outlines Domenico’s dance manual of c. 1450, the social context of his dances, his wide influence, and some ways in which his choreography and music notation can be interpreted using one example, La giloxia (The jealousy), a video of which begins this article.

The medieval portative organ: an interview with Cristina Alís Raurich

Ian Pittaway clavicembalum, clavicimbalum, clavicytherium, Guido of Arezzo, harpsichord, historically informed performance, mediaeval, medieval, Medieval Music Besalú, medieval notation, organ, organetto, organino, portative organ, positive organ, Raurich Cristina Alís, renaissance 9th June 201811th December 2023 5 Comments

Cristina Alís Raurich is a historical musician and researcher who specialises in keyboards of the middle ages and early renaissance: portative organ, positive organ, clavicimbalum, and clavicytherium. Not only is Cristina a musician of consummate skill, her love for her instruments and specialism is obvious and infectious: rarely have I seen anyone play and talk about music with such transparent joy. This I discovered when we met at Bolton Castle, Wensleydale, England, in 2017, where she gave a presentation on the history of the portative organ; performed in the duo, Sonus Hyspaniae, on portative organ and percussion, with Raúl Lacilla on musa (medieval bagpipe) and frestel (medieval Pan pipe); and kindly agreed to the following interview for Early Music Muse.

Cristina performs internationally solo and with medieval music groups Magister Petrus, La Douce Semblance, Le Souvenir, Carmina Harmonica, Sonus Hyspaniae and Hamelin Consort; and gives courses and master classes on medieval music and medieval keyboards around Europe. She is assistant director and faculty member of Medieval Music Besalú, the international course on medieval music performance in Besalú, Catalonia, a teacher at the Centre International de Musiques Médiévales de Montpellier, France, and currently a doctoral student at the University of Würzburg, Germany.

In this interview, Cristina discusses how she discovered medieval keyboards; her research into the portative organ and her commissioning of the only 13^th century reconstruction; its playing techniques within the framework of medieval musical styles; its performance context in the middle ages; and performance presentation to a modern audience.

This article includes three videos of Cristina playing: table organ, clavicytherium, and portative organ.

Westron wynde: a beautiful fragment of longing

Ian Pittaway bray harp, Canterbury Tales, Chaucer Geoffrey, Cymbeline (play), Gothic harp, harp, Henry VIII, Lloyd A. L., medieval, renaissance, Royal Appendix 58, Shakespeare William, Western wind, Westron wynde 22nd June 201710th November 2023 0 Comment

The 16^th century song, Westron wynde, is an expression of longing to be with one’s love. It is just one verse and melody in a manuscript from the court of King Henry VIII. Much ink has been fancifully spilled over the meaning of its four lines. This article traces the history of its treatment through renaissance masses, folk music and 20^th century pop music; attempts to elucidate its meaning without fancy; and presents an arrangement to renaissance musical principles on bray harp.

Calen o Custure me: a Tudor love song with garbled Gaelic?

Ian Pittaway Cailín ó Chois tSiúre mé, Calen o Custure me, Caleno custure me, Callin o custure me, Callino Casturame, Callino Custurame, calmie custure me, Henry V (play), renaissance, Shakespeare William 14th April 201712th September 2023 5 Comments

Calen o Custure me was a popular 16^th century love song, published in a printed anthology two years after it was registered as a broadside, arranged multiple times for a range of instruments, and referenced by William Shakespeare in his play, Henry V. The song is something of a mystery: what does its repeated refrain mean, and what language is it? This article examines the claim that the mystery title originates in Irish Gaelic, then traces the use of the melody from the 16^th to the 19^th century; with a performance of the song by Alfred Deller and Desmond Dupré, and three other illustrative videos.

L’homme armé / The armed man: the remarkable life of a 15th century song and its contemporary resonance

Ian Pittaway armed man, Aron Pietro, Busnois Antoine, Busnoys Antoine, Dracula, Il sera pour vous, Jenkins Karl, L’homme armé, lute, renaissance, Vlad the Impaler 27th September 201624th February 2023 4 Comments

L’homme armé – The armed man – has but one verse and a fabulous melody. It is like a door ajar, inviting us into a menacing world: “Everywhere it has been proclaimed that each man shall arm himself with a coat of iron mail. The armed man should be feared.” We don’t know its origin or who composed it, only that it emerged in the middle of the 15^th century as a secular song in the French language. It enjoyed huge popularity across Europe among composers of masses, who incorporated its melody as a cantus firmus. Why did this single verse about fearing the armed man have such unprecedented resonance? The answer is in a disastrous military defeat in 1453 which cut to the very heart of renaissance cultural identity, a mirror to events and issues which strike at the core of our international identity today.

With a video of the melody arranged for lute, this article outlines the history and meaning of the song from the 15^th century until the present day, including the roles of Sultan Mehmet II, Pope Pius II, and the sadly all-too-real Dracula, Vlad the Impaler.

Playing Shakespeare: the music of the Bard

Ian Pittaway As You Like It, Hamlet, Hold thy peace, How should I your true love know, It was a lover and his lass, Morley Thomas, Ophelia, renaissance, Shakespeare William, Three merry men, Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day, Twelfth Night, Walsingham, When that I was and a little tiny boy 13th March 20167th August 2022 1 Comment

Surrounded by music, William Shakespeare used it to create moments of comedy and light relief; tension and menace; tragedy and tenderness. He incorporated songs about fortune and fairies, love and loss, going mad and growing up; together with jigs, masques and Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite dance. Yet in today’s productions, the songs he included, clearly indicated by “sing” in the script, are often said as if they were spoken verse, or set to a new tune when the historical melody is there to be sung. This short article gives a little background to a select few of Shakespeare’s songs and tunes to commemorate the 400^th anniversary of the Bard’s death in 1616, including videos of It was a lover and his lass; Holde thy peace / Three merry men; and When that I was and a little tiny boy.

The Lyke-Wake Dirge: the revival of an Elizabethan song of the afterlife

Ian Pittaway Aubrey John, Boulton Harold, Canterbury Tales, Chaucer Geoffrey, early music, folk music, harp, Lyke-Wake Dirge, mediaeval, medieval, medieval harp, renaissance, Ritson Joseph, Scott Walter, Sidgwick Frank, traditional music 3rd January 20164th November 2023 18 Comments

The Lyke-Wake Dirge, with its dark, mysterious imagery and its brooding melody, is known to singers of traditional songs through its resurrection in the repertoire of folk trio The Young Tradition in the 1960s, and its subsequent recording by The Pentangle and others. What many of its performers may not realise is that its history can be reliably traced to Elizabethan Yorkshire, with a hint from Geoffrey Chaucer that its origins may be earlier. This article uses direct testimony from the 16^th and 17^th century to explore its meaning, its perilous and punishing “Whinny-moor”, “Brig o’ Dread”, and “Purgatory fire”; and discovers the surprising origin of its doleful dorian melody.

The beautiful Boissart mandore, part 3 of 3: Creating a new mandore inspired by the ‘Boissart’ design

Ian Pittaway Baker Paul, baroque, Boissart, Boissart mandore, early instruments, early music, gittern, lute, lutherie, luthier, mandore, renaissance, V&A, Victoria & Albert Museum 23rd September 201511th July 2023 13 Comments

It is difficult to describe the joy of a private viewing of the beautiful and tiny mandore in the Victoria & Albert Museum. The instrument, repaired in 1640 by the mysterious Monsieur Boissart and probably dated to c. 1570, is exquisite. You can view photographs and read my observations about it in the second of these three articles. The first article traces the history and pre-history of the mandore, with its origins in the lute and gittern familes. This, the third and final article, is a record of the design and making of a new mandore based on, but not a replica of, the V&A’s instrument. The affable and ever-accommodating maker was Paul Baker; the delighted and very lucky player is Ian Pittaway, the author of this piece. This was to be a new journey for us both: me never having played a mandore, Paul never having made one. The article includes a video of the completed mandore playing 3 pieces from the John Skene mandore book of 1625-1635, accompanied by photographs of its construction.

The Psilvery Psound of the Psaltery: a brief history

Ian Pittaway Berkeley manuscript, bourdon, bowed psaltery, Canterbury Tales, Cantigas de Santa María, Chaucer Geoffrey, clavicembalum, dulcimer, early instruments, early music, Girolamo da Santacroce, hammer dulcimer, harpsichord, mediaeval, medieval, Memling Hans, Mersenne Marin, piano, psalterion, psaltery, renaissance, roof angels, There comes a ship a sailing 4th September 201526th September 2023 28 Comments

Psaltery played by a cat in a Belgian Book of Hours, c. 1470. — Psaltery played by a cat in a
Belgian Book of Hours, c. 1470.

There is something quite enchanting about the silvery sound of the psaltery. Its name probably originates in religious use, as an accompaniment to singing songs from the psalms, known as psalmody and sung from a psalter, thus the psaltery. The word is from the Old English psealm or salm and Old French psaume or saume, derived from Church Latin psalmus, which itself comes ultimately from the Greek psalmos, a song sung to a harp, and psallein, to pluck on a stringed instrument. Appearing in Europe from the 11^th century, the psaltery’s wire strings rang out in religious and secular contexts until around 1500, with a little evidence of a pocket of survival for a few decades after that. Its regular appearance in manuscript iconography, church iconography and in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are evidence of its wide use and appeal. Its influence and development is surprisingly widespread, giving rise to the hammer dulcimer, the harpsichord family and ultimately the piano.

The bray harp: getting a buzz from early music

Ian Pittaway arpichordium, baroque, begena, bèguèna, bray harp, Chaucer Geoffrey, Davidsharffe, early instruments, early music, Gothic harp, harp, harpichordium, hurdy gurdy, Lamento di Tristano, lyre, mediaeval, medieval, muselar, Praetorius Michael, renaissance, Robert ap Huw manuscript, rota, rote, rothe, rotta, Ur lyres, vielle à roue 24th July 201519th November 2023 16 Comments

A donkey plays bray harp while a goat sings, from the Hunterian or York Psalter, 1170. — Donkey harpist, goat singer: Hunterian/York Psalter.

The bray harp is not a sound modern ears are used to, and even most early music groups with harps don’t use the period instrument, yet it was the standard European harp of the late medieval, renaissance and early baroque periods, from the 15^th century to the 1630s, and still used until the late 18^th century in some places. The bray harp gets its name from the L shaped wooden pins at the base of the strings, positioned so the strings buzz against them as they vibrate: the effect was said to sound like a donkey’s bray. It’s an older idea than the bray harp, one shared by the oldest surviving stringed instruments, made four and a half thousand years ago.

This article traces the earliest evidence for the European harp, leading to the origins and popular rise of the bray harp specifically. We ask why there is so little surviving early harp music and try to come to a feasible historical answer; and along the way take in Pictish stones, illuminated Psalters, Geoffrey Chaucer, harp-playing angels and an ape playing a rota, with a video of the harp being brayed.

Music of the renaissance: a whistle-stop tour

Ian Pittaway baroque, broadside ballads, dance, Dowland John, Dunstaple John, early instruments, early music, lute, mediaeval, medieval, renaissance, renaissance dance 15th July 201525th July 2022 0 Comment

The renaissance marked a turning point for European culture. Beginning in Italy in the 14^th century, its influence spread across Europe, affecting all aspects of culture, including music. But it was in England that the sound of the renaissance first developed, spreading out to Burgundy, Italy, and then back to England in new forms. The invention of the printing press and the spread of literacy profoundly affected music-making, with musicians in households now able to write down music, use the new printed songbooks of composers such as John Dowland, and sing from broadside ballad sheets sold in the street. The spread of printing and literacy also affects our own knowledge of the period, with surviving instructions for dances and a wealth of music. Includes 15 active links in blue to videos of musical examples, illustrating the text.

The gemshorn: a (necessarily) short history

Ian Pittaway Agricola Martin, baroque, cornet, cornett, early instruments, early music, gemshorn, mediaeval, medieval, renaissance, Virdung Sebastian 14th July 201522nd February 2023 0 Comment

The haunting sound of the gemshorn has played a small part in the early music revival. Evidence for its historical use is sparse, scattered thinly from the late middle ages or early renaissance to the first days of the baroque period, and only within Germany. This ocarina made of goat horn was included in the completist musical lexicographies of Sebastian Virdung, 1511, and Michael Praetorius, 1618, and was deemed recognisable enough to be played by the figure of death in a series of woodcuts in 1488. This article traces what we know about the gemshorn, comparing the evidence with its use in the early music revival.

Greensleeves: Mythology, History and Music. Part 3 of 3: Music

Ian Pittaway baroque, broadside ballads, early music, Greensleeves, lute, lute manuscripts and books, morris dance, passamezzo antico, Playford John, renaissance, romanesca 8th July 201528th February 2024 8 Comments

The remarkable longevity of a 16^th century song and tune

Left to right: Adrien le Roy, French lutenist, one composer of passamezzo antico; William Kimber, English morris dancer and concertina player, one player of Bacca Pipes; Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer of Fantasia on Greensleeves; John Coltrane, jazz saxophonist, and Nomansland, trance dance band, both performers of Greensleeves. — **Left to right:** Adrien le Roy, French lutenist, one composer of a *passamezzo antico*;
William Kimber, English morris dancer and concertina player, one player of *Bacca Pipes*;
Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer of *Fantasia on Greensleeves*;
John Coltrane, jazz saxophonist, and Nomansland, trance dance band, performers of *Greensleeves*.

Greensleeves has captured the imagination of musicians for well over four centuries, testified by innumerous versions. This, the third of three articles about the mythology, history and music of Greensleeves, gives an audio flavour of the remarkable versatility and vitality of the melody and song, an à la carte menu to choose from. We begin with versions of the passamezzo antico and romanesca which are the foundation of Greensleeves; then advance to the song on period instruments; the Playford dance; two Greensleeves morris dances; the Christmas song; Ralph Vaughan Williams’ classical version; then a range of more modern interpretations: folk, blues, bluegrass, country, pop, rock, punk, black metal, jazz, flamenco, disco, trance, dubstep, Vietnamese ballet … and the ice cream van tune.

Greensleeves: Mythology, History and Music. Part 2 of 3: History

Ian Pittaway baroque, broadside ballads, early music, Greensleeves, lute, lute manuscripts and books, Merry Wives of Windsor, morris dance, passamezzo antico, Playford John, renaissance, romanesca, Shakespeare William, Sumer is icumen in 6th July 201512th March 2023 7 Comments

The remarkable longevity of a 16^th century song and tune

Greensleeves is well over four centuries old and is, even now, still going strong. This is a song first published in 1580, its tune used for a wide variety of other 16^th and 17^th century broadside ballads; used as the basis for virtuoso lute playing; that William Shakespeare used for a sophisticated joke; a tune that John Playford published for dancing to; that morris dancers still jig and kick bottoms to; that has become a Christmas favourite; and that pop singers continue to sing. This is the second of three articles, looking at the song’s mythology, its true history, and video examples of its musical transformations.

One of the first sources for the tune, in lute tablature as greene sleues in MS. 408/2, an anonymous amateur anthology dated c. 1592–1603. — One of the first sources for the tune, in lute tablature as *greene sleues* in MS. 408/2, an anonymous amateur anthology dated c. 1592–1603. (As with all images, click for higher resolution.)

Greensleeves: Mythology, History and Music. Part 1 of 3: Mythology

Ian Pittaway Boleyn Anne, broadside ballads, Chappell William, Dowland John, early music, Flood William H. G., Greensleeves, Henry V (play), Henry VIII, lute, lute manuscripts and books, Merry Wives of Windsor, myths, Poulton Diana, renaissance, Shakespeare William, Tudors (TV series), Twelfth Night 3rd July 201525th December 2023 23 Comments

The remarkable longevity of a 16^th century song and tune

Greensleeves, composed anonymously in 1580, is a song which has been a magnet for fanciful claims. This article examines the claims that Henry VIII wrote it for Anne Boleyn; that Lady Greensleeves was a loose woman or a prostitute; and that the song has Irish origins. This is the first of three articles, looking at the song’s mythology; its true history; and video examples of its musical transformations.

The beautiful Boissart mandore, part 2 of 3: Observations on the Boissart mandore

Ian Pittaway baroque, Boissart mandore, early instruments, early music, gittern, lute, mandore, renaissance, V&A, Victoria & Albert Museum 24th June 201525th July 2022

The history of a stunning 17^th(?) century instrument, observations on its lutherie, and questions over its dating.

In part 1 we looked at the pre-history of the renaissance mandore, tracing its family history in the mediaeval oud, lute and gittern. Now we examine one exquisite instrument, the Boissart mandore in the V&A, decoding its remarkable carvings and reconstructing its biography from the visible evidence of the changes it has been through. As far as I know, this is the first critical examination of the life of the Boissart mandore.

00_MandoreBoissart1640_Sideview02 — All photographs by Ian Pittaway, included courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
As with all pictures, click for higher resolution view.

The beautiful Boissart mandore, part 1 of 3: The pre-history of the mandore

Ian Pittaway Agricola Martin, baroque, Berkeley manuscript, Boissart mandore, early instruments, early music, gittern, lute, mandore, mediaeval, medieval, oud, renaissance, V&A, Victoria & Albert Museum, Virdung Sebastian 14th May 201522nd February 2023

The history of a stunning 17^th(?) century instrument, observations on its lutherie, and questions over its dating.

The Boissart mandore, dated by the V&A to 1640. (As with all pictures, click for higher resolution view.) — The Boissart mandore, dated by the V&A to 1640. Photograph by Ian Pittaway, included courtesy
of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. (As with all pictures, click for a larger view.)

In the family of renaissance plucked instruments, the mandore is the result of a union between two mediaeval string families: the oud and the lute on one side, and the gittern on the other. The resulting offspring is a small instrument with a musically significant (but alas now largely unplayed) surviving repertoire. Some actual instruments survive, and there is no doubt that the most exquisite of these is the beautiful Boissart mandore in the Victoria and Albert Museum. This article and two to follow will: (1) trace the pre-history of the mandore; (2) examine the V&A’s beautiful Boissart mandore and attempt to reconstruct its personal history for, as far as I know, the first time; (3) describe the making of a new mandore based on the Boissart model.