Danses et Chansons du XVIe siècle
Released 1980 by Erato (RCA) Editions Costallat STU 71279
Recorded March 1979 in the Salon Honnorat, (Cité Universitaire) .in Paris, France.
Italian harpsichord by W. Dowd
Flemish harpsichord by W. Dowd
Virginal after Couchet by M. Stevenson
Spinet after Hitchcock by M. Stevenson
Cover: France XVIe siècle, bords de Loire – tenture de la vie seigneuriale: scène galante (détail) . Paris, musée de Cluny, photo Lauros·Giraudori maquette de Jacques Vatoux

Face 1
ITALIE
ANONYMES
00:00 Passo e mezo –
00:54 Saltarelle
01:58 Passomezo antico 1 et 2
02:53 Saltarello dei Re
03:35 Fusi Pavana piana
04:43 Gagliarda “Cathaccio”
05:42 Marco FACOLI – Padoana prima dita la Proficia
07:37 08:46 ANONYME – Gagliarda “Fornerina”
10:48 Antonio VALENTE – La Romanesca
12:42 Girolamo CAVAZZONI – Canzone sopra il e bel e bon
14:40 Andrea GABRIELI – Canzon arioza
17:09 Claudio MERULO – Canzon a 4 dita “La Rolanda”
ESPAGNE
Antonio DE CABEZON
19:22 Diferencia sobre la pavana italiana
22:57 Diferencia sobre la Gaillarda milanesa
25:33 Diferencia sobre il canto ilano dei Caballero
Laurence BOULAY, clavecin italien (W. Dowd)

Face 2
ANGLETERRE
28:35 ANONYME – My Lady Careys Dompe
30:50 NEWMANN – A Pavyon
33:48 ANONYME – Gaillard
Laurence BOULAY, virginal de Couchet (M. Stevenson)

William BYRD
36:36 The Second French Coranto
37:52 The Soldier’s Delight
38:59 Pavana and 41:03 Galiard
42:38 Callino Casturame
Laurence BOULAY, épinette de Hitchcock (M. Stevenson)

ALLEMAGNE
45:07 ANONYME – Almande prynce
46:58 Elias Nikolaus AMMERBACH “Wer das Tochterlein haben wil”
Jakopo PAIX
48:19 “Ist mir ein fein braun Meg”
49:53 Nachtanz Padoana venitlana
51:28 Branle gay
52:50 Bernard SCHMIDT – Passomezo ungaro e ‘saltarello suo
Laurence BOULAY, clavecin de type flamand (W. Dowd)

Apart from the well-known works of the English
Virginalists, the harpsichord and spinet music of the
sixteenth century is still largely undiscovered territory.
That century of course marked the apogee of vocal
polyphony in Europe: but it should not be forgotten that it
was then that there also came into being for the first time a
body of music intended specifically for the keyboard (the
organ and the harpsichord).
No French school of harpsichord writing had yet emerged,
for the lute was still the favourite instrument in that country;
but far too little is known about the Italian, Spanish and German
schools. There were in fact close musical links between
these countries, with their different cultures, thanks to the
many individual contacts between their peoples, the frequency
and importance of artistic cross-fertilization (ltaly-Spain,
Spain-England, England-Flanders, etc.), and that
extraordinary ‘propensity to travel which kept musicians on
the move, wh ether accompanying their royal masters (e.g.
Antonio de Cabezon and Philip Il) or, in quest of a larger
musical culture, sitting at the feet of distinguished foreign teachers
(as Ammerbach, among many others, did). The links
are evident in the very titles of many of the pieces on this
record. Italy is everywhere, for dances of ltalian origin (such
as the passomezo) spread ail through Europe and served as
vehicles for the musical thought of the Mediterranean region,
thus fertilizing the whole of European music in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries.
The earliest harpsichord music was dance music. But
although harpsichordists loved tourdions and pavanes they
also played song-tunes. Keyboard arrangements of polyphonic
vocal pieces were made, together with harmonizations of
popular themes and variations on tunes that everybody was
humming (e.g. the Romanesca, and the Ruggiero). And gradually
the music became richer and livelier, and keyboard
technique advanced and became better-adapted to the instrument,
under the stimulus of composers of talent. It is no
mere coincidence that ail the composers represented here
were organists. ln the sixteenth century there was still no
clear distinction between organ music and harpsichord
music. No doubt these composers and players, like their
seventeenth:century successors, played both instruments.
Seven different dances are represented on this record. The
Pavane, a slow, majestic dance played during solemn processions
or at the start of a bail, when the dancers would
move slowly round the room immediately before the saltarello
or galliard. ln fact it is this combination of pavane and
galliard that occurs mos! frequently in music of the sixteenth
cent ury but pavanes are also found separately, in English
music for viol, in ,Gennan music for several instruments,
and in seventeenth-century English ‘ and French keyboard
music (by such composers as Tomkins, Gibbons, Dowland,
Chambonnières and Louis Couperin,)

#Virginal #MarkStevenson #WilliamDowd #LaurenceBoulay