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.
Mein Schifflein by Johann Hermann Schein
Now, on to 'Mein Schifflein', by Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630). It's from his 'Diletti pastorali', or 'Hirtenlust', published in 1624. Schein loved both secular and sacred music, and in fact his publications altered between the two genres.
As I've mentioned before, Schein--one of Bach's predecessors as Thomascantor at Leipzig--was not one of the many musicians who went south in the late 16th- and early 17th-centuries to absorb the rising style of the 'seconda prattica'. But he followed the new developments very closely through music publications and treatises, and he is very much a part of the picture of early Baroque music in Germany.
With regard to Schein's publications of secular music, these usually featured German poetry. But the poems themselves (many penned by the composer himself), and certainly the music owed a lot to Italian style, both in terms of the lighter genres such as the canzonetta and in terms of the more substantial: the madrigal.
In this sense, although all the texts are in German, the 'Diletti pastorali' are indeed madrigals. They are of course imbued with Schein's own personality--his manner, or maniera--but this after all was a chief desideratum for Italian composers
as well. The idea was to find an intensely personal mode of expression upon which the thoughts and sentiments
of the text could ride.
When speaking about a personal mode of expression and its effects, the qualities of the person in question obviously matter. And in fact I believe it is possible in some cases to sort of reverse-engineer from works of art to obtain a pretty good idea of the artist's personality. Through surviving accounts and documents and his own writings, we know a fair amount about who Schein was as a person: Warm, generous, friendly, optimistic even in the face of great personal hardship; talented and hard-working; clever and funny:
in short, a person who would make an excellent acquaintance and a truly great friend.
Can we verify this estimation through his music? I say yes; I'll use 'Mein Schifflein' as exhibit A. Take a look at the text-translation. The first seven lines are about a life gone awry--tossing on a stormy sea, no control, no sign of hope. The nautical images are vivid when applied to an actual crisis at sea; perhaps even more so when describing a crisis of the amorous sort. We are entertained, but we also become empathetic. In the next three lines, hope is sighted: A harbor! (A beloved one!) And the entire third part of the poem is devoted rendering heartfelt thanks for this loving deliverance.
Now take a listen. You'll identify the madrigalian style right away, with its pervasive imitation, vivid word-painting and varying textures. Each line of text receives its own expressive motive, and each builds to its cadence, followed (or bridged) by the successive idea. Homophony is used at special moments, such as to express the idea of fervent prayer ('Wie bett', wie gab ich gute Wort'). Finally, as the harbor is reached, Schein launches into his celebration, first a hat-tossing triple time, and then an extended contrapuntal paean to prayers heard, prayers answered, joy attained. This last section is in fact so fulfilling that, in Schein's enthusiasm, he indicates that it must be repeated.
What could be more touching? What kind of person but a real mensch could put this down? I'd say that the piece somehow conveys a sense of maximum goodwill, and for this (lo! these many years after his time) I give a nod and render thanks to Johann Hermann Schein.
Now, on to 'Mein Schifflein', by Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630). It's from his 'Diletti pastorali', or 'Hirtenlust', published in 1624. Schein loved both secular and sacred music, and in fact his publications altered between the two genres.
As I've mentioned before, Schein--one of Bach's predecessors as Thomascantor at Leipzig--was not one of the many musicians who went south in the late 16th- and early 17th-centuries to absorb the rising style of the 'seconda prattica'. But he followed the new developments very closely through music publications and treatises, and he is very much a part of the picture of early Baroque music in Germany.
With regard to Schein's publications of secular music, these usually featured German poetry. But the poems themselves (many penned by the composer himself), and certainly the music owed a lot to Italian style, both in terms of the lighter genres such as the canzonetta and in terms of the more substantial: the madrigal.
In this sense, although all the texts are in German, the 'Diletti pastorali' are indeed madrigals. They are of course imbued with Schein's own personality--his manner, or maniera--but this after all was a chief desideratum for Italian composers
as well. The idea was to find an intensely personal mode of expression upon which the thoughts and sentiments
of the text could ride.
When speaking about a personal mode of expression and its effects, the qualities of the person in question obviously matter. And in fact I believe it is possible in some cases to sort of reverse-engineer from works of art to obtain a pretty good idea of the artist's personality. Through surviving accounts and documents and his own writings, we know a fair amount about who Schein was as a person: Warm, generous, friendly, optimistic even in the face of great personal hardship; talented and hard-working; clever and funny:
in short, a person who would make an excellent acquaintance and a truly great friend.
Can we verify this estimation through his music? I say yes; I'll use 'Mein Schifflein' as exhibit A. Take a look at the text-translation. The first seven lines are about a life gone awry--tossing on a stormy sea, no control, no sign of hope. The nautical images are vivid when applied to an actual crisis at sea; perhaps even more so when describing a crisis of the amorous sort. We are entertained, but we also become empathetic. In the next three lines, hope is sighted: A harbor! (A beloved one!) And the entire third part of the poem is devoted rendering heartfelt thanks for this loving deliverance.
Now take a listen. You'll identify the madrigalian style right away, with its pervasive imitation, vivid word-painting and varying textures. Each line of text receives its own expressive motive, and each builds to its cadence, followed (or bridged) by the successive idea. Homophony is used at special moments, such as to express the idea of fervent prayer ('Wie bett', wie gab ich gute Wort'). Finally, as the harbor is reached, Schein launches into his celebration, first a hat-tossing triple time, and then an extended contrapuntal paean to prayers heard, prayers answered, joy attained. This last section is in fact so fulfilling that, in Schein's enthusiasm, he indicates that it must be repeated.
What could be more touching? What kind of person but a real mensch could put this down? I'd say that the piece somehow conveys a sense of maximum goodwill, and for this (lo! these many years after his time) I give a nod and render thanks to Johann Hermann Schein.
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