An English Medieval and Renaissance Song Book: Part Songs and Sacred Music for One to Six Voices

By Dover Publications

"An elegant anthology. The specialist will not miss the quiet sophistication with which the music has been selected and prepared. Some of it is printed here for the first time, and much of it has been edited anew." — Notes
This treasury of 47 vocal works — edited by Noah Greenberg, founder and former director of the New York Pro Musica Antiqua — will delight all lovers of medieval and Renaissance music. Containing a wealth of both religious and secular music from the 12th to the 17th centuries, the collection covers a broad range of moods, from the hearty "Blow Thy Horne Thou Jolly Hunter" by William Cornysh to the reflective and elegiac "Cease Mine Eyes" by Thomas Morley.
Of the religious works, nine were written for church services, including "Sanctus" by Henry IV and "Angús Dei" from a beautiful four-part mass by Thomas Tallis. Other religious songs in the collection come from England's rich tradition of popular religious lyric poetry, and include William Byrd's "Susanna Farye," the anonymously written "Deo Gracias Anglia" (The Agincort Carol), and Thomas Ravenscroft's "O Lord, Turne Now Away Thy Face" and "Remember O Thou Man."
Approximately half of the songs are secular, some from the popular tradition and others from the courtly poets and musicians surrounding such musically inclined monarchs as Henry VIII — who himself is represented in this collection with two charming songs, "With Owt Dyscorde" and "O My Hart." Among the notable composers of Tudor and Elizabethan England represented here are Orlando Gibbons, John Dowland, and Thomas Weelkes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Apr 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9780486171555

Book preview

The Agincourt Carol (Deo Gracias Anglia) (Bodleian Ms. Arch. Selden B. 26). By permission of the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

Copyright

Copyright © 1961 by Noah Greenberg

Copyright © renewed 1989 by Toni Greenberg

All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2000, is a republication of An English Songbook: Part songs and Sacred music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance for one to six voices l Edited by Noah Greenberg, with an Introduction by Joel Newman, originally published by Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, 1961.

The book is complete and unabridged except for the omission of decorative (non-musical) illustrations scattered throughout the original edition, and a slight reordering of its prefatory pages.

International Standard Book Number

9780486171555

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation

41374804

www.doverpublications.com

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Acknowledgment is hereby gratefully made to the following publishers and copyright holders for permission to reprint the selections listed below:

The American Institute of Musicology for Alleluia psallat from Worcester Fragments, published by the American Institute of Musicology, by permission of Dr. Armen Carapetyan.

Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., for Angelus ad Virginem from Examples of Music before 1400, edited by Harold Gleason. Copyright 1942 by F. S. Crofts & Co., Inc.

The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust for the Gloria from Westron Wynde Mass, O Lord, increase my faith, Agnus Dei, Salvator mundi, Nunc dimittis, and Emendemus in melius from Tudor Church Music, published by the Oxford University Press.

The Clarendon Press, Oxford, for Worldes blis ne last, Edi Beo, Jesu Cristes milde moder from English Lyrics of the Thirteenth Century, ed. Carleton Brown.

Galaxy Music Corporation for Deo Gracias Anglia, Nowel sing we bothe at and some, and Nova, Nova from Musica Britannica, Vol. IV–Mediaeval Carols, copyright 1958 by The Royal Musical Association, printed by permission of The Royal Musical Association and Stainer and Bell, Ltd.

Music and Letters for Edi beo from Vol. XVI (1935) transcribed by Manfred Bukofzer.

The Musical Quarterly for Alas departynge is ground of woo from The Musical Quarterly for January 1942. Copyright 1942 by G. Schirmer, Inc.

W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., for Jesu Cristes milde moder, Beata progenies, Crist and Sainte Marie, and Man mei longe from Music in the Middle Ages, by Gustave Reese.

The Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society for Sanctus by Roy Henry from The Old Hall Manuscript, Vol. III.

University of California Press for Sumer Is Icumen In from Sumer Is Icumen In: A Revision, by Manfred Bukofzer.

TO TONI

EDITOR’S NOTE

I would like to thank Joel Newman for a considerable share in making this book; he was particularly useful in locating materials and in editorial tasks. May I also thank Walter R. Davis of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Jean Misrahi of Fordham, and Dr. David Goldstein for their helpful assistance.

I am grateful to the following libraries for the use of source material from their collections: The British Museum for the Henry VIII, Cornysh, and Pygott works in Add. Ms. 31922 and for original editions of Morley, Wilbye, and Weelkes; The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D. C., for Byrd’s Songs of Sundrie Natures.

Noah Greenberg

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Dedication

EDITOR’S NOTE

INTRODUCTION

SOME SUGGESTED READING

NOTE ON EDITORIAL POLICY

CRIST AND SAINTE MARIE

MAN MEI LONGE

WORLDES BLIS NE LAST

JESU CRISTES MILDE MODER

EDI BEO THU HEVENE QUENE

SUMER IS ICUMEN IN

ALLELUYA PSALLAT

ANGELUS AD VIRGINEM

BEATA PROGENIES

ALAS DEPARTYNGE IS GROUND OF WOO

SANCTA MARIA

SANCTUS

DEO GRACIAS ANGLIA - The Agincouit Carol

NOVA, NOVA.

NOWEL SYNG