music

Posted by Vole

Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy with their version of Death and the Lady

As I walked out one day, one day
I met an aged man by the way.
His head was bald, his beard was grey,
His clothing made of the cold earthen clay,
His clothing made of the cold earthen clay.

I said, “Old man, what man are you?
What country do you belong unto?”
“My name is Death—have you not heard of me?
All kings and princes bow down unto me
And you fair maid must come along with me.”

“I’ll give you gold, I’ll give you pearl,
I’ll give you costly cheap cialis professional rich robes to wear,
If you will spare me a little while
And give me time my life to amend,
And give me time my life to amend”

“I’ll have no gold, I’ll have no pearl,
I want no costly rich robes to wear.
I cannot spare you a little while
Nor give you time your life to amend,
Nor give you time your life to amend”

In six months time this fair maid died;
“Let this be put on my tombstone,” she cried,
“Here lies a poor distressed maid.
Just in her bloom she was snatched away,
Her clothing made of the cold earthen clay.”

(Repeat first verse)

Posted by Richard Rawlinson

Posted by our Tudor music correspondent Richard Rawlinson

England’s finest early composer Thomas Tallis died in 1585, having served as court musician for Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary and Elizabeth I. Royal patronage then was the equivalent of being signed up to a major record label pre iTunes.

He also held posts at a Benedictine priory at Dover, the Augustinian abbey of Holy Cross at Waltham and Canterbury Cathedral, witnessing dissolution and the painful transition to Protestantism. Himself an unreformed Catholic, he somehow managed to avoid the religious controversies that raged around him. Despite his closeness to the Tudors, he kept his head, perhaps because he was a charming fellow as well as the fount of glorious polyphonic music.

He was buried at St Alfege Church in Greenwich but his remains appear to have been discarded by labourers when the church was rebuilt. It’s said a brass plaque by his tomb was engraved with this lovely poem:

Entered here doth ly a worthy wyght,
Who for long tyme in musick bore the bell:
His name to shew, was THOMAS TALLYS hyght,
In honest virtuous lyff he dyd excell.

He serv’d long tyme in chappel with grete prayse
Fower sovereigns reygnes (a thing not often seen);
I meane Kyng Henry and Prynce Edward’s dayes,
Quene Mary, and Elizabeth oure Quene.

He mary’d was, though children he had none,
And lyv’d in love full thre and thirty yeres
Wyth loyal spowse, whose name yclypt was JONE,
Who here entomb’d him company now beares.

As he dyd lyve, so also did he dy,
In myld and quyet sort (O happy man!)
To God ful oft for mercy did he cry,
Wherefore he lyves, let deth do what he can.

In 2009, at aged 14, Sobiech was diagnosed with the bone cancer Osteosarcoma. Several operations and bouts of chemotherapy have followed, but in May this year doctors told him that the cancer had spread and that he only had a few months to live.

Well I fell down, down, down
Into this dark and lonely hole
There was no one there to care about me anymore
And I needed a way to climb and grab a hold of the edge
You were sitting there holding a rope

And we’ll go up, up, up
But I’ll fly a little higher
We’ll go up in the clouds because the view is a little nicer
Up here my dear
It won’t be long now, it won’t be long now

When I get back on land
Well I’ll never get my chance
Be ready to live and it’ll be ripped right out of my hands
Maybe someday we’ll take a little ride
We’ll go up, up, up and everything will be just fine

And we’ll go up, up, up
But I’ll fly a little higher
We’ll go up in the clouds because the view is a little nicer
Up here my dear

It won’t be long now, it won’t be long now
If only I had a little bit more time
If only I had a little bit more time with you

We could go up, up, up
And take that little ride
And sit there holding hands
And everything would be just right
And maybe someday I’ll see you again
We’ll float up in the clouds and we’ll never see the end

And we’ll go up, up, up
But I’ll fly a little higher
We’ll go up in the clouds because the view is a little nicer
Up here my dear
It won’t be long now, it won’t be long now

Hat-tip to Connecting Directors

Posted by Richard Rawlinson

We sometimes differentiate between religious and secular music at funerals, hymns such as Abide with Me or popular hits such as Candle in the Wind. It was ever thus with music’s capacity to move, ranging, even in the Middle Ages, from sacred Gregorian Chant to itinerant troubadours with their songs about love in all its permutations of joy and pain.

Perhaps surprisingly, many early composers famous for sacred music also produced beautiful secular music. In the 14^th century, Guillaume de Machaut, a priest at Rheims Cathedral, was perhaps the first pop star of the Western world, celebrated for both his religious compositions and secular ballads about courtly romance. The Dylan of his day, his poetry was known throughout Europe, attracting fans including Geoffrey Chaucer.

Machaut was the first composer to create a polyphonic setting of the Ordinary of the Catholic Mass (the Ordinary being those parts of the liturgy that don’t change, including the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei). This new polyphonic style caught on, paving the way for the flowering of choral music in the Renaissance.

You can see (or hear) why. Compared with the earlier order cialis pills monophonic Gregorian Chant—which though sublime can get a bit samey with its single melody—polyphonic music offers multiple melodies and voices. They’re at odds and yet harmonious. The result is ego-free, the lack of standout solo adding to the celestial quality.

Fast forward to the 16^th century and the Renaissance genius who more than anyone established polyphonic choral music as fine art at its most glorious and spiritually inspiring: Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina, musical director at the Vatican who also leant his talent to secular madrigals.

Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass continues to inspire divine worship all around the world today. It irks me that so many music lovers talk as if polyphony began with 18^th century Baroque. Even if Bach is among my personal favourites, he’s certainly inspired by Palestrina, the Prince of Music.

Listen below to how different melodies and voices swirl around each other like playful-yet-pure angels before soaring heavenwards. Volume up, eyes closed, a trance-like state as close as it gets to any mortal’s understanding of being with God:

posted by Vale

Leave Your Body Behind You”

Child of Eden your time is short,
You can’t leave with more than you’ve brought.
Love given lightly can never be owned,
A thing we feel but can never hold.

You leave your body behind you,
When you leave this place,
You leave your body behind you,
And you make a space.

Kindness should be a way of life,
Not something you have to think about twice.
All you will be remembered for,
Is what folks say when you walk out the door.

You leave your body behind you,
When you leave this place,
You leave your body behind you,
And you make a space.

Is there anyone?
Is there anyone?
Is there anyone?
Is there anyone?

You leave your body behind you,
When you leave this place,
You leave your body behind you,
And you make a space.

Leave your body behind you,
Leave your body behind you,
Leave your body behind you,
Unchanged.

Is there anyone?
Is there anyone?
Is there anyone?
Is there anyone?

Leave your body behind you,
Leave your body behind you,
Leave your body behind you,
Leave your body behind you…

From Richard Hawley’s CD Standing at the Sky’s Edge. Well worth a listen. Find it on Spotify here.