Author: Laura Conrad

We had a new dying swan song, so we did that whole group, and worked
on the “normal repertoire” stuff that we’re planning for the gigs.

• Dying Swan songs
  • Guidiccioni, Il Bianco e dolce Cigno, 2 parts
  • Arcadelt, Il Bianco e dolce Cigno, 4 parts
  • Vecchi, Il Bianco e dolce Cigno, 5 parts
  • Gibbons, The Silver Swan
  • Dowland, Me, me and none but me
• Gabrielli, Canzon Terza
• Fair Phyllis
• Dowland, It was a time when Silly Bees could speak
• Dowland, A Shepherd in a shade
• Drinking Songs
  • Vive la serpe
  • Quand je Bois
  • Vignons, vignons
  • Slaves are they that heap up mountains
  • He that will an alehouse keep

Schedule

I’m expecting the next seven rehearsals to be people who are
playing one or more of the gigs on October 15 and November 11, 12, 13,
17, 18, and 19. Please let me know as soon as possible if you’re
planning on making any of these, and if so which one(s).

We will be meeting every week. I haven’t yet heard about whether
I’m working on election day; if I am, we may want to reschedule that
week rather than skipping it as we’ve done in the past.

The next rehearsal of the Cantabile Renaissance band will be on
Tuesday, September 20 at 7:45 PM at my place.

We’ll probably be spending the bulk of most rehearsals between now
and mid-November on the stuff for the gigs, but feel free to request
anything else you really want to play.

Below is a start on a playlist for November. I’m thinking that for the
Cider picnic we can add a few of the drinking songs that are too late
for Shakespeare, and subtract any of the more complicated pieces that
aren’t yet ready.

Of course this whole scheme is subject to getting a reasonable
number of people to sign up for the gigs. Otherwise, I’ll have to
just find solo music. If you are signing up, let me know if I’m leaving anything off that you really want
to do, or including anything that you’re really not interested in.

Schedule

Please note that now that we’re basically meeting every week, I’m
no longer sending announcements to the whole list about every
meeting. If you aren’t sure about a given date, either check the blog, or
ask me.

Next Tuesday, September 27, will be a regular drop-ins welcome
meeting. However, the meetings in October and the first half of
November will be limited to the people who have committed to
performing one of our gigs. Please let me know if you want to play
any of these dates, and if you haven’t been coming regularly and want
to play, please start coming.

The dates are:

• Saturday, October 15, mid-afternoon ciderfest in Ipswich.
• Theatre@first Merry
  Wives of Windsor wallpaper music in Davis Square, Somerville
  • Friday November 11th 8:00 pm
  • Saturday November 12th 8:00 pm
  • Sunday November 13th 3:00 pm
  • Thursday November 17th 8:00 pm
  • Friday November 18th 8:00 pm
  • Saturday November 19th 8:00 pm

  Note that these are the performance start times; we’ll be playing for 20
  minutes before the performance and about 20 minutes at intermission.
  So count on a call time 30-60 minutes before this time.

You don’t have to be able to play all of them to play some of
them, but please let me know as soon as possible if you want to play
any of them.

Preliminary playlist for Merry Wives of Windsor

Before the play

• Daphne
• He that will an Alehouse Keep
• O Portsmouth
• Quand je Bois
• All in a Garden Green
• Vignons, vignons
• Bransle set
• Fanfare, TBD

Intermission

• Greensleeves (Does anyone have an arrangement they especially like?)
• Fair Phyllis
• Silly Bees
• Shepherd in a shade
• Changeons propos
• Vive la Serpe
• Estans Assis
• Another dance set, either Playford, Gervaise, Holborne or Susato, suggestions welcome.

We played:

• Greensleeves to a ground
• Drinking songs
  • Quand je Bois
  • Changeons propos
  • Vignons vignons
  • Vive la serpe
  • Slaves are they that heap up mountains
  • Cakes and ale
• Daphne
• Fair Phyllis
• There was a time when silly bees could speak
• He that will an alehouse keep

Schedule

Next week (September 27) will still be a dropin meeting; after that
it will be performers only until after November 18.

Playlist

We’re committed to doing Greensleeves; I thought the Greensleeves
to a ground sounded pretty good; maybe we could mix it with Anne
singing a verse or two to the ground, and with the Charleton duet
arrangement for two recorders.

The consensus was that we should look for some more Playford, not
necessarily vocal. Newcastle and “A maid peeped out of her window”
were mentioned.

People have reservations about a Babylon set in this context.

The next rehearsal of the Cantabile Renaissance band will be on
Tuesday, September 13 at 7:45 PM at my place.

We need to start getting a playlist (and group list) for the October
and November gigs, so we’ll run some drinking songs, pastoral songs,
Playford and Babylon. We will consider whether we can use the same
play list for both gigs.

We played:

• Gervaise, selections from 12 Bransle de Champaigne, Sixiesme Livre
  de Danceries
• Drinking songs
  • He that will an Alehouse Keep
  • O Portsmouth
  • Cakes and Ale
  • Slaves are they that heap up mountains
  • Vive la serpe
  • Quand je Bois
  • Vignons, vignons
• Fair Phyllis
• Shepherd in a Shade
• Clear or Cloudie

I didn’t write this down the next morning as I often do, so if
someone remembers anything I’m missing, I’ll add it.

The next rehearsal of the Cantabile Renaissance band will be on
Tuesday, September 6 at 7:45 PM at my place.

We need to start getting a playlist (and group list) for the
October and November gigs, so we’ll run some drinking songs, pastoral
songs, Playford and Babylon. We said last week that we’d run the last
two Dowland’s which are sort of a group, but we may postpone that
depending on who shows up.

Parking

The whole block is posted with emergency parking bans because the
water department is digging up the street. These only
last until 3 PM today and tomorrow, so if they haven’t left the whole
street dug up, you should find it easier to park than usual.

We played:

• Playford Group
  1. Daphne
  2. The Bonnie, Bonnie Broome
  3. All in a garden green
• Drinking songs
  • O Portsmouth
  • Vive la Serpe
  • Vignons, vignons
• Gabrielli, Canzon á 4
• Holborne, Muy Linda
• He that will an alehouse keep

We still need to get more commitments from performers before we can
set up playlists for either the October 15 or the
November 11-13 and 17-19 gigs. But I’ll do my best to set up
tentative ones next week after I’ve talked to the Theatre First people.

We played:

• Dowland group:
  • Flow my tears
  • A shepherd in a shade
  • Cease these false sports
  • Burst forth my tears
  • It was a time when silly bees could speake
• Fair Phyllis
• Drinking songs:
  • Vive la serpe
  • Vignons vignons
  • Let us drink and be merry

The Wort Processor’s Ciderfest will be on October 15 at Russell
Orchards in Ipswich. We will be deciding what to play over the next
couple of weeks, and to do that we need to know who will be playing.
Let me know as soon as you can if you’d like to play. There will be
at least one and possibly as many as three compulsory rehearsals for
this performance.

There is also a strong possibility of a gig in November playing in
conjunction with a production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at Theatre First in Davis
Square. I’ll be talking to them about repertoire, etc. next week.
The easy thing would be some drinking songs and Playford dances, but
if we wanted to get fancy, there’d be a possibility of a “rivers of
Babylon” and/or a Susannah group, since both of those are referred to
in the play. In any case, start thinking about whether you would want
to do a gig on November 11-13 and 17-19.

The next rehearsal of the Cantabile Renaissance band will be on
Tuesday, August 30 at 7:45 PM at my place.

Last week Hope found us a Rameau drinking song that looks fun to
learn. It should help bridge the Purcell drinking songs into the 16th
century French ones, as well as giving us some practice on chromatic
harmonies that will help with the later Dowlands.

We also have postponed the last “Pilgrim’s Solace” piece for long
enough, so we’ll do it, regardless.

Requests are welcome. I’m thinking of a drinking group and a
shepherd/pastoral group for the Ciderfest performance, but we may want
to work in some dance music as well.