Pastyme With Good Companye: Music at the Court of Henry VIII

 
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ANONYMOUS / CORNYSHE / HENRY VIII / etc
Pastyme With Good Companye: Music at the Court of Henry VIII
Ensemble Dreiklang Berlin

[ Chandos Chaconne / CD ]

Release Date: Monday 9 August 2004

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When Henry VIII was crowned king in 1509, aged seventeen, he was the youngest king in Europe. He spent the first decade of his reign predominantly on chivalrous self-display. This was his most productive period as a composer. Pastyme with good companye gives an illustration of Henry's efforts to fashion himself as a young king. The first two strophes celebrate stylised courtly amusements such as hunting, singing and dancing for the diversion of aristocratic youth. Only in the third strophe is there talk of the attempt to seek virtue and avoid sin. This song is Henry's only composition to become known beyond his private domain during his lifetime; it is furthermore the oldest and most frequently preserved song from the early Tudor period.

Only a fraction of the musical repertoire from Henry VIII's reign survives. The most important source of information about the state of secular composition in sixteenth-century England, 'Henry VIII's Manuscript', is now preserved in the British Library. In spite of the title it was not written by the king himself but rather compiled and recorded by someone else at a later time. The manuscript contains 109 pieces, including thirty-three of the thirty-four compositions that are known to be definitely the king's. In addition, there are fifteen anonymous works, some of which may also be Henry's, as well as pieces by Dutch, French and English composers. William Cornysh, who is represented on this CD by four song arrangements, was active as a poet, composer, playwright and actor at Henry's court. Eleven pieces in all by Cornysh have been transmitted to us through Henry VIII's Manuscript. As an English composer he therefore occupies a special position in this collection which, with the exception of the king's own pieces, predominantly contains Franco-Flemish music.

Tracks:

King Henry VIII (1491-1547)
1 Wherto shuld I expresse 3:33
2 Taunder naken 2:00

Hayne van Ghizeghem (c. 1445-c. 1472/1497)
3 De tous biens plaine 3:30

King Henry VIII
4 Consort VIII 1:11
5 Withowt discord and bothe accorde 2:11
6 If love now reynyd 2:07
7 Pastyme with good companye 2:37

William Cornyshe (c. 1465-1523)
8 Adew, adew, my heartis lust 1:30
9 Blow thi horne hunter 1:30
10 A robyn, gentyl robyn 3:19

King Henry VIII
11 Consort XV 2:26
12 Consort XIV 0:55

William Cornyshe
13 My love sche morneth 2:53

Anonymous
14 J'ay pryse amours 2:53

Anonymous
Arranged by Martin Ripper
15 Consort IX 2:16

Anonymous
16 Dindiridin 1:25

King Henry VIII
17 Consort XII 1:07
18 Consort XIII 0:59

Anonymous
19 Si fortune 2:28

King Henry VIII
20 Whoso that wyll for grace sew 1:02
21 Consort XVI 2:18
22 Consort IV 1:16

Anonymous
23 Consort XIX 2:40

King Henry VIII
24 Consort V 1:33

King Henry VIII [attributed]
Arranged by Irmhild Beutler
25 Greensleeves 2:25

Pierre Attaingnant (c. 1494-1551/52)
Arranged by Sylvia C. Rosin
26 Tourdion 3:38

Ensemble Dreiklang Berlin
Irmhild Beutler recorder
Martin Ripper recorder
Sylvia C. Rosin recorder

with

Michael Metzler percussion

Recorded in Hochmeister-Saal, Berlin, October 2002 and February 2003