Madrigal Mondays
Some people claim that they don't like madrigals. I've found that in most instances, this is because they think of them as a light, fa-la-la kind of ditty. But these aren't really madrigals at all. They're fun, but not deep. The real thing started in Italy in the first quarter of the 16th-century, joining substantive poetry with serious music, a true art-form which blossomed over the course of the century to be an expressive language of incredible range and capacity to express human emotion on a variety of levels and subjects.
At the beginning of each week, we will update our website with a new madrigal and we will try to include a few notes about each piece and why we think it's great--worthy of study and listening and singing. Then (as with the Chorales and Motets) it'll be up to you to learn your part and sing along, thus absorbing and internalizing and--
in a sense--becoming part of each piece.
Some people claim that they don't like madrigals. I've found that in most instances, this is because they think of them as a light, fa-la-la kind of ditty. But these aren't really madrigals at all. They're fun, but not deep. The real thing started in Italy in the first quarter of the 16th-century, joining substantive poetry with serious music, a true art-form which blossomed over the course of the century to be an expressive language of incredible range and capacity to express human emotion on a variety of levels and subjects.
At the beginning of each week, we will update our website with a new madrigal and we will try to include a few notes about each piece and why we think it's great--worthy of study and listening and singing. Then (as with the Chorales and Motets) it'll be up to you to learn your part and sing along, thus absorbing and internalizing and--
in a sense--becoming part of each piece.
Ihr Brüder, lieben Brüder mein by Johann Hermann Schein
Well, here it is, in musical form. It's called 'Ihr Brüder, lieben Brüder mein', and it's from Johann Hermann Schein's 1626 publication, 'Studenten-Schmauß'. The volume contains all kinds of songs which might be sung at a festive gathering of students and perhaps some of their professors. This is not just an imaginary situation: Schein was known for his love of such events, many of which he hosted at his own home over the years.
Our song is what might be called a toasting-song (often sung by toasted people). It is strophic (that is to say, in multiple verses, with the same music applied to each verse), and it comes replete with an onomatopoetic refrain, the classic 'lirilirum', which is meant to simulate the strumming of a lute or similar instrument. At the end of each verse, there's a little extended faux-lute solo.
The piece is so fun to sing! Give it a try, even if the German seems daunting. Certainly you can manage the lirilirums; you can sing the rest on doo. Or if you don't feel up to singing out loud, sing inside yourself--almost as therapeutic as the real thing--see poem below.
The materials for a good time (you do have to supply your own libations) are attached herewith.
Lots of love and copious quantities of cracking good cheer,
BobFrom More Evidence—Mary Oliver (b. 1935)
Let laughter come to you now and again,
That sturdy friend.
The impulse to leap off the cliff,
When the body falsely imagines that it might fly,
May be restrained by reason,
Also by modesty.
Of the two possibilities,
Take your choice, and live.
Refuse all cooperation with the heart’s death.
Sing, if you can sing.
And if not,
Still be musical inside yourself.
Well, here it is, in musical form. It's called 'Ihr Brüder, lieben Brüder mein', and it's from Johann Hermann Schein's 1626 publication, 'Studenten-Schmauß'. The volume contains all kinds of songs which might be sung at a festive gathering of students and perhaps some of their professors. This is not just an imaginary situation: Schein was known for his love of such events, many of which he hosted at his own home over the years.
Our song is what might be called a toasting-song (often sung by toasted people). It is strophic (that is to say, in multiple verses, with the same music applied to each verse), and it comes replete with an onomatopoetic refrain, the classic 'lirilirum', which is meant to simulate the strumming of a lute or similar instrument. At the end of each verse, there's a little extended faux-lute solo.
The piece is so fun to sing! Give it a try, even if the German seems daunting. Certainly you can manage the lirilirums; you can sing the rest on doo. Or if you don't feel up to singing out loud, sing inside yourself--almost as therapeutic as the real thing--see poem below.
The materials for a good time (you do have to supply your own libations) are attached herewith.
Lots of love and copious quantities of cracking good cheer,
BobFrom More Evidence—Mary Oliver (b. 1935)
Let laughter come to you now and again,
That sturdy friend.
The impulse to leap off the cliff,
When the body falsely imagines that it might fly,
May be restrained by reason,
Also by modesty.
Of the two possibilities,
Take your choice, and live.
Refuse all cooperation with the heart’s death.
Sing, if you can sing.
And if not,
Still be musical inside yourself.
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