Micrologus; Hilliard Ensemble

81-09 HILLIARD ENSEMBLE

Today on Micrologus, we're going to be listening to recorded selections by the Hilliard Ensemble, a group consisting of four male singers formed in London in 1974 and becoming increasingly prominent on both sides of the Atlantic through concert tours and recordings, especially of early English music.

The name the Hilliard Ensemble is rather an unusual one. Most early music groups nowadays seem to be taking Latin names, and I had a chance recently to ask the director of the Hilliard Ensemble, Paul Hillier, how the name was chosen.

HILLIER: Well, because we do essentially virtual miniatures, we decided that perhaps we could use the name of a miniaturist painter from the Elizabethan period, which is one of the finest periods of English music, as well as these peculiar little paintings to be our name. At the same time, I suppose that's rather a roundabout way of reasoning. It's just that we've been thrashing about, trying to think of a name and everything we thought of just fell by the wayside. And then for some reason I thought of this name and we decided it sounded right. So I suppose we cooked up the answer afterwards.

I asked him how the Hilliard Ensemble differs from such English groups as the Deller Consort and the King’s Singers.

HILLIER: From the Deller Consort in that we use almost exclusively only male voices and the King’s Singers mainly in repertoire. I mean, their repertoire is essentially in lighter music. They do do some of the things that we do, but it's in a much, much more different approach. I suppose you could say that vocally we sing out more and use our individual voices, whereas the King's Singers, for example, work for a total blend so that it sounds like one voice that happens to be in different parts. And that's a slightly different approach from us.

The group has a few records out now, one record each from the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII, a record which is really outside of the scope of this program called the Romantic Englishman—partsongs from the 19th century. And two forthcoming records, one of partsongs and catches from the 17th and 18th centuries, and one on the music of Leonel Power, which is forthcoming on the EMI Reflexe label.

We're going to listen first to a carol performed by this group. The carol received its first flowering in the early 15th century in England. And it wasn't necessarily a Christmas song, although many of the early ones were, and presumably that's how the word came to be associated with Christmas music. The characteristic feature of the carol at that time was a refrain or burden, as they called it, which was sung at the beginning and then again after each verse. The texts really could be on anything from the fear of death to the hazards of love. The carol we're going to listen to is entitled “This day, day daws.” It was written in praise of Henry VII’s queen, Elizabeth of York. Henry, you may recall, was of the House of Lancaster, which had a red rose as its symbol after the War of the Roses, in which he defeated the rival House of York. He took Elizabeth of York as his bride in a shrewd conciliatory move. Since the symbol of the Yorkists was a white rose, the queen is referred to metaphorically in this song as a white rose. Metaphor, allegory, and the early form of the language make most of the text obscure to us now, although the burden seems pretty straightforward:

[MUSIC: “This day, day daws, this gentle day daws, and I must home gone.” Performance by the Hilliard Ensemble]

Next, we listen to a selection in which the Hilliard Ensemble, at least three of the four members, are joined by a soprano, Judith Nelson. It's a devotional piece in a modified carol form, “Woefully arrayed,” by William Cornish the Younger. Cornish was a master of many musical styles. In this piece, there are elements which remind the listener of the so-called mainstream of music around 1500, the polyphony of Franco-Flemish composers, and in particular that of Josquin Desprez. Imitative sections alternate with declamatory passages and pairs of voices, answering one another with the same material. But there are also unique features. Nowhere in Franco-Flemish polyphony, to my knowledge, is there such a bold rhetorical flourish as the long solo introduction to this piece. And this is, no doubt, partly due to the fact that Cornish was working with a highly emotional, sacred text—in fact, a text on the Passion in English. While his continental friends were working in the confines of more convention-bound Latin settings for their sacred music.

This piece ranks, in my opinion, as one of the most amazing vocal performances on record. And this is primarily due to the precision of the ensemble and the incredible tuning, especially at the ends of the sections. But don't take my word for it. Here is the Hilliard Ensemble with soprano Judith Nelson singing “Woefully Arrayed” by William Cornish the Younger.

[MUSIC]

Next, we listen to yet another Passion carol, or Easter carol, a piece entitled “Ah, Gentle Jesu” by the composer, Sheryngam. Both of the works we've heard so far, and this next piece, are from a single manuscript source, the Fayrfax Manuscript, which dates from around 1500 for most of the composers. In this source, we have some knowledge of at least the landmarks in their lives, the kind of information that can be found in court, church and school archives, letters and so on. William Cornish, for example, we know was in prison for a time in 1504, but regained enough royal favor to become master of the children— choirboys, that is— of the Chapel Royal in 1509, a post he retained until his death in 1523. But Sheryngam? Sheryngam is just a name to us. Two compositions in this Fairfax manuscript are all that's left of him. The burden of “Ah, Gentle Jesu” contains the most beautiful music in the piece, while the verses are exclusively the sayings of Jesus. The burden contains a dialog between Jesus, portrayed by the bottom two parts, and a troubled sinner portrayed by the top two parts. The interchange culminates in Jesus admonishment to the sinner to give up sinful ways, and the reply to this, “I will, I will, gentle Jesu,” as the texture expands first to three and then four voices. “I will, I will,” is set in a breathless declamation, perfectly capturing the earnestness and yet the nervousness of the oath. Then the words “Gentle Jesu” follow in what's called Fauxbourdon. In modern terms, this is a succession of parallel first-inversion chords, which sounds very clinical, but the effect is really ethereal. Fauxbourdon as a compositional technique was already about 75 years old when this piece was written, and its use at this time is unusual and archaic. I'm sure that this venerable quality would not have been lost on a listener of the year 1500, and it certainly strikes us now.

[MUSIC]

The Passion carol “Ah, Gentle Jesu” by the composer Sheryngam, performed by the Hilliard Ensemble. The final selection on today's Micrologus is the trio “We be three poor mariners.” It comes from a collection published in the early 17th century, Deuteromelia, published by Thomas Ravenscroft as one of three collections, the others being Pammelia and Melismata. It's a very wide ranging collection containing mostly popular music in arrangements aimed at amateurs. For example, in Deuteromelia, along with “We be three poor mariners,” is one of the earliest known versions of the round “Three Blind Mice.”

Ravenscroft described his purpose this way: “The only intent is to give general content, composed by art to make thee disposed to mirth. Accept therefore kindly what is done willingly, and published only to please good company.”

[MUSIC: The charming “We be three poor mariners,” by Thomas Ravenscroft, performed by the Hilliard Ensemble from their forthcoming record, Catches and Partsongs]

You've been listening to a program featuring recorded performances by the Hilliard Ensemble.