Catalogue

Summary:

When Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729) wrote Céphale et Procris, a five-act tragédie en musique, she may have predicted that the work would have a short run. Jean-Baptiste Lully’s stronghold on French opera loomed large and the establishment of a national taste was partial to the continuation of his style. Although Jacquet had the support of Louis XIV early in her career, her move to the operatic stage challenged social expectations of the female musician, typically the opera diva, and not holder of the quill. Despite these challenges, Céphale et Procris continued to be heard in the salon while Jacquet sustained her income by writing keyboard pieces, as well as sonatas and cantatas—our rendition of her overture pays heed to her ear for these other genres. Leonora Duarte (1610–78), by contrast, never wrote an opera, but was heralded by many as a brilliant singer. Duarte hailed from a Judeo-Portuguese family that had emigrated from Lisbon to Antwerp in the sixteenth century and were forced, like many during and after the Inquisition, to live as conversos, or New Christians. Duarte composed for the salon and Kunstkammer; her family’s art and instrument collection served as inspiration for the wealth of influence—both Continental and English—we see in her Sinfonias. We have chosen to record Nos. 4 and 5 with colla parte harpsichord, and No. 7 in a new keyboard transcription by James Kennerley. In so doing we pay homage to the influence of the Ruckers and Coucher keyboards with which her family was intimately familiar, developments of which they helped encourage.

Much of Duarte’s music comes out of the English consort tradition of the late sixteenth century, shaped by the contributions of composers such as Alfonso Ferrabosco I (1543–1588) and William Byrd (1543–1623). Though Ferrabosco I was born in Bologna, Italy, he became associated with the court of Queen Elizabeth I after his move to England in the 1560s. Like other Italian emigrees to England, he brought with him the madrigal and influenced later English composers of part song, chief among them Byrd, who, despite being a Catholic in Protestant England, maintained favor at court due to his talent and influence, even as he continued to compose Catholic liturgical music. My Lady Nevell’s Ground, one of Byrd’s many secular works, reveals the composer at the heights of his mastery of intricate polyphony, expressive melodies, and masterful use of counterpoint.

Richard Dering (1580–1630) spent much of his career in Catholic Europe, particularly in the Spanish Netherlands, due to his Catholic faith, which made it difficult for him to thrive in Protestant England after the death of the more sympathetic Elizabeth I. Despite his exile, his textless Fancies passed muster: they were not only known, but performed in England during the reign of Charles I (1625–49). One reason is likely their emotional intensity, conceived in a new, thoroughly baroque, idiom—a new language required to make sense of the social upheavals of the English Civil War. The works feature text-inspired construction and expressive harmonies, devices that are straight out of the Italian seconda pratica. Like Dering, Salomone Rossi (1570–1630) also wrote concerted music that reflected emerging expressive needs and styles. Rossi, however, brings something else to the fore: he is the first known composer to set Hebrew liturgical texts to Western polyphonic music, and Elohim Hashivenu, his setting of Psalm 80, thus merges Jewish tradition with the European musical world. History has a tendency to lament him as the one Jewish composer in the early modern world, though we note that, unlike Duarte, Rossi was living in slightly more tolerant conditions in Mantua, whereas it was illegal to be openly Jewish in Duarte’s Antwerp.

Enric de Paris (“Enrrique”) (fl. 1460s) was a French composer and singer active in Spain during the 15th century, also possibly having converted from Judaism for political reasons, or for mere survival. “Mi querer tanto vos quiere” appears in El Cancionero de Palacio (Madrid, Biblioteca Real, MS II–1335), a manuscript of Spanish Renaissance music from around 1470 until the beginning of the sixteenth century. is one of two secular songs that can be attributed to Enrrique, and in it we see evidence of the courtly love tradition traceable to his troubadour ancestors. In the Spanish idiom, he employs a song form with verse refrains, binary rhythm, and melismatic, contrapuntal language typical of early polyphonic songs from the Iberian Peninsula.

Tracklist:

PASSING FANCY
Beauty in a Moment of Chaos

ÉLISABETH JACQUET DE LA GUERRE (1665–1729)
1. Overture to Céphale et Procris (1694) 4.07

RICHARD DERING (c.1580–1630)
2. Fantasia No.6 (a 5) VdGS No.2 5.08

SALOMONE ROSSI (c.1570–1630)
3. Gagliarda detta La Norsina from Il primo libro delle sinfonie et gagliarde (1607) 1.19

LEONORA DUARTE (1610–1678)
4. Sinfonia No.5 2.29

ALFONSO FERRABOSCO I (1543–1588)
5. In Nomine a 5 VdGS No.1 3.42

SALOMONE ROSSI
6. Sinfonia grave a 5 from Il primo libro delle sinfonie et gagliarde 2.23

WILLIAM BYRD (c.1540–1623)
7. The Bells BK 38 6.19

SALOMONE ROSSI
8. Elohim Hashivenu (Psalm 80) 3.02

NORA DUARTE
9. Sinfonia No.4 2.31

WILLIAM BYRD
10. My Lady Nevell’s Ground BK 57 from My Lady Nevell’s Book of Virginal Music (c.1591) 5.48

RICHARD DERING
11. Fantasia No.4 (a 5) VdGS No.1 5.12

LEONORA DUARTE
transcr. keyboard James Kennerley b.1984
12. Sinfonia No.7 4.16

SALOMONE ROSSI
13. Sonata undecima detta La Scatola from Il quarto libro de varie sonate, sinfonie, gagliarde, brandi, e correnteper sonar due violini et un chitarrone o altro stromento (1622) 3.39

ENRIC DE PARIS (‘ENRRIQUE’) (fl. 1460s)
14. Mi querer tanto vos quiere 3.09

Total Duration: 53.35

VdGS: Viola da Gamba Society. Thematic Index of Music for Viols.
BK: Musica Britannica. William Byrd Keyboard Music.

Recorded: 17 & 18 November 2023, The Concert Hall at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey

Recording Producer: Marlan Barry
Digital Editing Engineer: Ian Striedter
Mastering: Marlan Barry