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CD reviews
Thomas WEELKES (1576 - 1623): "What joy so true"
Choir of Chichester Cathedrala; The Rose Consort of Violsb; Thomas Howellc, Timothy Ravalded, organ
Dir: Charles Harrison
rec: May 2022, Chichester Cathedral
Regent Records - REGCD571 (© 2023) (77'12")
Liner-notes: E; lyrics - no translations
Cover, track-list & booklet
Scores
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All people, clap your handsa;
Christ rising againab;
Deliver us, O Lordad;
Evening Service (The Sixth Service)ab;
Hosanna to the Son of Davida;
In nomine a 5 No. 1b;
In nomine a 5 No. 2b;
Lord, to thee I make my moana;
Morning Service (The Short Service)ad;
Most mighty and all-knowing Lordab;
O happy hea;
O how amiablea;
O Jonathana;
O Lord, grant the King a long lifead;
O mortal manab;
Pavane No. 3b;
Pavane No. 2b;
Rejoice in the Lorda;
Voluntary 1c;
Voluntary 2c;
What joy so trueab;
When David hearda
Ibrahim Aziz, John Bryan, Alison Crum, Andrew Kerr, Roy Marks, viola da gamba
Thomas Weelkes died in 1623 - this year exactly four hundred years ago. One would expect that fact to be given some attention through recordings. However, as far as I know only a few have been released. One of them is the subject of this review. It offers a survey of his sacred oeuvre, to which some instrumental pieces are added. However, he was especially famous for his madrigals: between 1597 and 1608 four books were printed. This part of his oeuvre has not received the attention it deserves; it is to be hoped that the commemoration of his death will bring us some recordings of that part of his oeuvre.
Little is known about his formative years. In 1598 he was appointed organist of Winchester College; there he stayed for about four years, and in this time he composed most of his madrigals. One of his compositions was included in the collection The Triumphes of Oriana (1601), which was put together by Thomas Morley in honour of Queen Elizabeth I. At some time between October 1601 and October 1602 Weelkes moved to Chichester where he became organist and informator choristarum. There he remained until 1617, when he was dismissed from his posts because of frequent unauthorised absence and public drunkenness. The year before he had been reported to the bishop as being "noted and famed for a comon drunckard and notorious swearer & blasphemer". He continued to play the organ in the cathedral on an irregular basis. After the death of his wife in 1622 he seems to have spent much time at the house of a friend in London where he died the following year.
There has been much discussion about Weelkes's tragic fate. There are reasons to believe that he wanted to improve his career, and probably had set his eyes on a post at the Chapel Royal. The fact that he dedicated his four madrigal books to different patrons may point in that direction. Unfortunately he was rather unlucky in his choice of patrons, as all of them "seem to have fallen from grace or had 'unsavoury connections', so dashing his hopes", as John Lees puts it in his liner-notes. The title-page of his Ayres of 1608 mentions Weelkes as 'Gentleman of His Majestie's Chappell'. However, there is no documentary evidence that he was ever in the service of the Chapel Royal. Could there be an unofficial connection with the Chapel Royal or was this a ploy to increase sales? "[Or], sadly, a last grasp at unfulfilled ambition? Did all these varied setbacks, confining Weelkes to provincial isolation and lower musical standards, and depriving him of national and international standing, simply drive him to drink?"
The image rising from this discussion of his life and career is that of a man who was not appreciated according to his skills. If one listens to the music on this disc, there is no reason to neglect him. That is certainly not the case: some of his works are frequently performed, such as When David heard and Hosanna to the Son of David. There are also some recordings entirely devoted to his oeuvre, and pieces by him are included in anthologies. Although Weelkes' contributions to the genre of the madrigal are especially noteworthy, he is first and foremost considered one of the main composers of sacred music. His oeuvre includes a substantial number of Services. According to New Grove these have all been preserved incomplete, although the liner-notes don't mention this in the case of the Morning Service. That is especially regrettable as they are rated very highly with regard to musical quality. His full and verse anthems have fared better, but here again many pieces have not survived intact. For this recording several of them were reconstructed. Weelkes also composed some instrumental music, especially for viol consort. Although he was educated and active as an organist, his oeuvre includes only a couple of keyboard works.
The programme performed on this disc makes clear that Weelkes's oeuvre is very differentiated. Some pieces are written in pretty strict counterpoint, such as O how amiable and Lord, to thee I make my moan. Others are built from a mixture of homophony and polyphony. An example is O Lord, grant the King a long life, whose opening is written in chordal style. The King is here undoubtedly James I, which is an indication of the time it was written. Several anthems are of the verse type, meaning that some passages are scored for one or several solo voices. These are often repeated - entirely or partly - by the choir. What joy so true is one of them; it has three solo parts, two for trebles and one for alto. From the verse anthem to the consort song is a small step, especially as in some of the former the choir is accompanied by a consort of viols. Most mighty and all-knowing Lord is a consort song: each of the four stanzas is allocated to a treble or an alto.
Several pieces which are often ranked among the church music, are in fact sacred madrigals, as the pieces don't appear in sources of church music. One of them is O mortal man, as well as the two pieces written at the occasion of the death of Henry, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of James I: When David heard that Absalom was slain and O Jonathan, woe is me for thee. It is understandable that they are often treated as anthems, because of their content, but also because in the 'real' anthems one can find passages of text illustration that show Weelkes's skills in the madrigal department. They can be found, for instance, in What joy so true. As one may expect, Christ rising again includes rising figures; it needs to be added that this piece had to be reconstructed on the basis of the organ part, the only material that has been preserved. No reconstruction was needed for All people, clap your hands, in which the text, including verses from Psalm 47, connected to the Ascension, is illustrated by rising figures and fanfare motifs. The latter also appear in Hosanna to the Son of David, another piece that may not have been intended for ecclesiastical use.
It was a splendid idea to include some of Weelkes's instrumental works, which may well be the least-known part of his oeuvre. Only two Voluntaries have been preserved, and both are played here. New Grove lists only eight pieces for viol consort, among them two Pavans and three In nomines; the two In nomines in five parts are included here. Notable is that the Pavane No. 2 is a tribute to Dowland's Pavana lachrimae.
Most recordings of music by Weelkes come from vocal ensembles of mixed voices (female and male) or from cathedral choirs of boys and men. The Choir of Chichester Cathedral falls more or less between those two categories. It consists of boys and men, but is considerably smaller than most British cathedral choirs. This seems well in line with the situation in Weelkes's time in Chichester, when the choir was typified as 'half choir'. It lends this recording a kind of intimacy, which seems also due to the cathedral's "warm acoustics", as it is described in the booklet. This means that the burden on the individual singers is heavier than in larger choirs. The singers of this choir deal with their task admirably. I am a great advocate of performances of early music by vocal ensembles of boys and men, and I am really impressed by what we get here. I can't remember having heard this choir before; I like its sound, and the trebles do an admirable job, both in ensemble and individually. The accompaniment of some of the items by viols was a good idea, as this was a practice that was known - although apparently not very common - in Weelkes's time. The Rose Consort of Viols gives a good account of itself here, and especially in the consort pieces. Thomas Howell delivers fine performances of the two voluntaries.
In short, this is a splendid contribution to what should have been a Weelkes commemoration.
Johan van Veen (© 2023)
Relevant links:
Chichester Cathedral Choir
Rose Consort of Viols