Zsuzsa Pertis harpsichord / csembaló
Harpsichord of Dowd, Meantone temperament A-4 cps 115 Dowd csembalo, “Mittelltönig” hangolas A 415
Released 1982 by Hungaroton SLPX12345
Zenei rendezo I Recording producer: Ibolya Tóth
Hangmernok I Balance engineer: Endre Radanyi
Kotta I Scores: J. A. Fuller Maitland· and W. Barc1ay Squire
Dover Publications, Inc. New York
Photo: Janos Fabian
Grafika I Design: Anna Kecskemeti
Hungaroton felvetel I Hungaroton recording
Thanks to Daniël, who let me browse the famous Daniël Beuman harpsichord collection (purchase former V&D Amsterdam)

Face A
00:00 1. William Byrd: Jhon come kisse me now (X.) 4’48”
04:49 2. John Dowland, set by William Byrd: Pavana Lachrymae (CXXI.) 4’40”
09:30 3. William Byrd: The Maydens Song (CXXVI.) 4’40”
14:12 4. William Byrd: Fantasia (CCLXI.) 7′ 23″
21:33 5. William Byrd: Sellinger’s Round (LXIV.) 6′ 21″

Face B
27:55 1. John Bull: The King’s Hunt (CXXXV.) 3’47”
31:39 2. Thomas Tomkins: A Grounde (CXXX.) 6’41”
38:20 3. John Munday: Goe from my window (XLII.) 5’04”
43:24 4. Thomas Morley: Fantasia (CXXIV.) 5’28”
48:50 5. Giles Farnaby: Wooddy-Cock (CXLI.) 5′ 52″

The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book is the most representative
collection of Elizabethan keyboard instrument music in
England. The quantity and make up of the vast manuscript,
containing almost 300 pieces, provides what amounts to a
cross~section of the first golden age of keyboard music; the
earliest dated composition is marked 1562, the latest 1612 and
all the important composers of the period are present. The
manuscript is the work of an unfortunate gentleman Frands
Tregian, who suffered many trials and tribulations because
vf his adherence to Rome. His father, also Francis Tregian
spent for almost thirty years in prison and later his son also
was caught by the wheels of the church establishment: in
J 609 he was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. It is
probable that he copied the complete material of the Fitzwilliam
Virginal Book at this time. Later the valuable manuscript
changed hands several times; it came into the POS4
session of the last owner, Viscount Fitzwilliam in the second
half of the 18th century; today it is in the Cambridge Museum
founded by him and bearing his name.
The English keyboard instrument music of the 16-17th
centuries is often called “virginal music”. At this time, of
the various kinds of harpsichords, it was this rectangular
small instrument, which c:ould be placed on the table and
often had no legs, which was the most popular in England.
All sorts of instruments plucked with a plectrum and keyboard-
equipped instruments were called “virginals”, whether
they were real virginals or spinets or of wing-shaped harpsichords.
The title·,page of the first printed virginal book,
Parthenia shows a virginal indeed, whereas that of the
Parthenia in4 violata, written for viola da gamba and keyboardequipped
instrument and published as a continuation of
Parthenia, already illustrates a c1avicembalo-in both case
the instruments bear the name Uvirginal~” . .. (The play on
words refers to one of the possible etymologies of the word
Hvirginal”, i.e. that mostly young girls of quality played on
this instrument of intimate tone, suitable for playing at home;
virgo in Latin and parthenos in Greek both mean vi~gin1
Whatever the name was, one thing is certain : at the time of
their writing English “virginal pieces” were played on . the
most diverse instruments plucked with a plectrum and
equipped with keyboards; the interpretation of some of the
compositions moreover does not exclude the use of a small
organ.

#WilliamDowd #ZsuzsaPertis