Category: Cantabile

We played:

• Billings, Lamentation over Boston
• Lots of Susato
• Rore, Signor mio caro and Caritá di signore
• Gibbons, The Silver Swan
• Guidiccione, Il bianco e dolce cigno
• Arcadelt, Il bianco e dolce cigno
• Ravenscroft, As I me walked

Schedule

As far as I know, we’ll be having dropin meetings on Tuesdays
as usual (7:45 PM, my place) until the week of BEMF (June 14), when we will not be
meeting.

Plans for next week

Curt Hoffman is writing a cantata for unaccompanied chorus
based on The Epic of Gilgamesh. We’ve agreed to sing a movement of
it next Tuesday, for an informal recording to be played at a
conference next month. This means that if you don’t like singing,
you’ll have to sit out the actual recording, although we may as
usual use instruments while we’re sightreading the piece.

If you think you’d enjoy this more if you had a chance to look
at the piece beforehand, I have parts I can send you by email in
PDF form.

Holborne Orgy

I have so far been unable to convince 5 people who are solid
enough readers to hold down a part to commit to a party on
Memorial Day weekend. I don’t know what they think could possibly
be more exciting than a Holborne party, but they are clearly
waiting for a better offer.

So unless this situation changes, I will attempt to finish the
proofreading of the Holborne book over the course of the next four
Tuesdays. I’d appreciate it if the people who can sightread
Holborne would make an extra effort to attend these meetings, and
to arrive at something like the scheduled start time (7:45
pm).

Walk for Hunger

I think we all had fun. All the Ravenscroft rehearsing we
did for NEFFA made it a lot more relaxed than usual, even though
we were also playing difficult Holborne on difficult
instruments.

The new venue for afterwards, the Deluxe Town
Diner in Watertown was good, too.

May 3 meeting

We played:

• Morley,
  Miraculous
  love’s wounding
• Gervaise
  ,
  Huict
  Bransles de Poictou
• Weelkes, As Vesta was, from Latmos hill descending
• Rore, Signor
  mio caro
• Wilbye,
  Draw
  on sweet Night

Schedule

As far as I know, we’ll be having dropin meetings on Tuesdays
as usual (7:45 PM, my place) until the week of BEMF, when we will not be
meeting.

Social events

Holborne Orgy

I’d like to get the complete Holborne book up for sale before
BEMF, and I’d like to get it all well proofread before I do
that. I was thinking one way to do this would be to throw a
party with lots of people, some of whom could play from
facsimile and some from the Serpent Publications Edition.

It would be like the Christmas party, except with Holborne
instead of Christmas music. And if the weather were to get good
between now and then,
we could do some of the eating and drinking outside.

The
only obvious time before BEMF to schedule this party would be
Memorial Day weekend (May 28, 29, or 30). Of course, this won’t
work if everybody who would want to come will be out of town.
So if this sounds like fun, let me know whether you could come
that weekend, and which days are better for you.

Post-BEMF party

Two years ago, we included a party invitation on the back of
the flyers we passed out at BEMF. We didn’t actually get anyone
we didn’t already know to come to that party, but I think it did
cause the flyer to give a better idea of what kind of group we
are, and a couple of people did join on the basis of that
flyer. So if you’d like to come to a Cantabile party after BEMF, please
let me know which weekend days in late June and early July would
be best for you.

1. If you’re at NEFFA this
   evening (Saturday, April 16, 2011), you should come to the Ravenscroft
   Workshop in the Middle School Room 108 at 9 PM. If you
   weren’t planning to go, you should think about coming
   anyway.
2. This Tuesday, April 19, and the following Tuesday, April 26,
   the meeting is limited to people who are going to be performing
   at the Walk for
   Hunger. If you’re a dropin member of the group, we look
   forward to seeing you again in May.

Meeting report

We played:

• Charlton, A bouquet of Inventions
• lots of Ravenscroft

Schedule

• Dropin meetings on Tuesday at 7:45 PM at my place
  until:
• NEFFA worshop, 9 PM, Saturday, April 16
• Tuesday, April 19 and 26, rehearsals for Walk for Hunger
  program
• May 1, Walk for Hunger performance
• After that, return to dropin meetings on Tuesdays.

Performing

I can’t get anyone in for free any more, but if you’re at NEFFA on Saturday, please come
play and sing Ravenscroft with us, and bring all your friends.

We have six people signed up for the Walk for Hunger — we
could do with one or two more, especially if they sing bass and/or
play a bass instrument, including recorder. We’ll be doing mostly
Ravenscroft
and Holborne,
with a few of our favorite May or Spring songs. I’m only
requiring two rehearsals this year, but if you want to play with
us, you should let me know, and start coming on Tuesdays when you
can make it.

Meeting report

We played:

• Charlton, Suite Canadiana
• Sermisy, J’ayme le cueur
• Holborne,

  13. Pavane
  14. Galliard

15. Pavane
16. Galliard

• Arcadelt,
  Il
  bianco e dolce cigno
• Vecchi, Il bianco e dolce cigno
• Ravenscroft:
  • Now
    God be with old Simeon
  • Jolly
    Shepheard
  • Oaken
    Leaves
  • Hey
    ho, to the greenwood
• Stefanov, Laura’s
  Band

Schedule

Because the Walk for Hunger program will be piggybacking on the
NEFFA workshop (which has to be accessible to dropins), we can be more liberal about when we turn from a
dropin group into a performing group this year than we have been in the recent past.

We will be spending March and the first part of April largely
working on the repertoire for those two events, but you are
welcome to drop in on Tuesdays at 7:45 PM at my place if you’re interested in that repertoire, even
if you think you won’t be able to make either event.

However, see below.

The last two Tuesdays in April will be rehearsals for the Walk
for Hunger, and restricted to performers in that event.

However, see below.

Walk for Hunger

In order to plan the repertoire for the Walk for Hunger, I do
need to know who is planning to come. Here are the
requirements:

• You should be available for the performance, from roughly
  noon to 3 PM on Sunday, May 1.
• You should be able to make a substantial number of the
  Tuesday rehearsals in March and April, and both the April 19 and
  the April 26 rehearsals. I’d also really like to schedule an
  outdoor, daylight rehearsal, but that’s been difficult in the
  past, and will probably continue to be so.

So let me know if you’re interested in playing. It’s probably
the only chance you get to play for an audience in the 10’s of thousands.

We played:

• Eustachius, #1 from Musica Duorum
• Gervaise, XIV Bransles de Champagne
• Tmeiskin
• Obrecht,
  Tsat
  een Meskin
• Sermisy,
  Martin menait son pourceau au marché
• Sermisy, Sur
  le pont d’Avignon
• Morley,
  Hard by a crystal fountain
• Ravenscroft:
  
  • Jolly
    Shepherd
  • Miserere nostri Domine
  • Now God be with old Simeon
  • He
    that will an alehouse keep

Schedule

For the month of February, we will be having dropin meetings as
usual, at 7:45PM on Tuesdays at my place.

We have again been asked to play at the Walk for Hunger this
year, and I have said we will.

In March and April, the meetings will be limited to people who
want to perform with us, at either or both of our NEFFA workshop on Saturday April
16 or the Walk for
Hunger on May 1.

Sunny

For those of you who were worried about him on Tuesday, he is
indeed quite sick. Yesterday, he was refusing both food and
water, and needing major assistance to get up stairs, and I was
sure this was the end.

He isn’t out of the woods yet, but he’s been getting up more,
and drinking water and chicken broth and at least smelling regular
food. He walked up the stairs to the front door, and needed only
a little help with the stairs up to the first floor.

In any case, we are all mortal, and Sunny looks like he will
demonstrate this before most of the rest of us do, so if anyone
feels the need to say, “Goodbye,” I’m sure he’ll be glad to see you.

I won’t clutter up this list with more reports on Sunny’s
condition, but if you’re interested in hearing regularly, let me
know.

Note new format of the subject/title. Someone said it was stupid
to call something a report on the meeting and then include other
things besides what happened at the meeting. So you are warned
that there may be other things at the bottom of the email besides
what happened at the meeting. Most of you probably already knew
that.

Report on the meeting

We played:

• Mendelssohn, Nocturne from A Midsummer Night’s
  Dream
• Pieces from Susato
  Danserie
• Holborne:
  Last will and testament
  and 54. Galliard
• Entre
  vous qui Aymés
• Ravenscroft,
  Of all the birds.

Schedule

We will meet as usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 PM at my place.

Starting in March, the meetings will be limited to people who
want to perform with us, but until then they will be open to
people who want to drop in.

Other events

There are several concerts this weekend which include “our”
repertoire.

Saturday I’ll be going to the Viols and
Friends Dowland concert at 8 PM in Lindsey Chapel, First
Church in Cambridge, Congregational.

Exultemus
is doing a program of Music for Voices and Viols by Byrd, Gibbons,
and Tomkins on both Saturday and Sunday.

We played:

• Campian,
  Now
  winter nights enlarge,
• Wilbye,
  Adieu,
  sweet Amaryllis
• Campian,
  Never
  weather-beaten Saile,
• Pilkington,
  Rest
  sweet nymphs
• Wilbye,
  Sweet
  honey-sucking bees
• Wilbye,
  Weep,
  weep mine eyes
• Byrd,
  Come
  to me grief forever
• White,
  Great
  Tom is Cast,
• Purcell,
  Five
  Reasons

Schedule

We will meet as usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 PM at my place.

Starting in March, the meetings will be limited to people who
want to perform with us, but until then they will be open to
people who want to drop in.

NEFFA

We have been scheduled to lead a workshop at NEFFA (New England
Folk Festival of the Arts) on the music of Thomas
Ravenscroft. The description says:

Thomas Ravenscroft was one of the first people to
collect and publish English Folk Music, including rounds and
ballads. This workshop will be a chance for participants to sing
(or play) some of this music.

We’re tentatively scheduled for Middle School Rm. 108 on
Saturday April 16th, 9:00pm to 9:50pm.

What this means is that between now and April 16 we need to put
together a booklet of Ravenscroft tunes, with 50 minutes of easy
stuff and maybe half an hour of harder stuff. We’ll also need
several people to commit to coming and helping pass out booklets
and set up sections and sit next to people who might be insecure
without someone who knows the music to sit next to.

One implication of this work is that the Walk for Hunger program will
probably have lots of Ravenscroft on it. This means we can have the
rehearsals in March and the beginning of April open to people who
want to play with us at either or both of NEFFA and the Walk for
Hunger.

We played:

• Praetorius, In Dulci Jubilo
• Billings,
  Africa,
  Chester, and David’s Lamentation
• Ravenscroft,
  We
  be souldiers three,
• Holborne,
  55. The
  Night Watch, 56. Almaine,
  60. The
  Honeysuckle
• Wilbye,
  Sweet
  honey-sucking bees, Weep, weep mine eyes
• Farmer,
  Fair
  Phyllis
• Ravenscroft,
  O
  my fearful dreams,

Schedule

We will meet as usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 PM at my place.

We played:

• Praetorius, In Dulci Jubilo
• pieces from Eric Katz’ Christmas songs from many
  lands
• Praetorius,
  Psallite
• Tchaikowsky-Ward, Dance of the Sugar-plum Fairy
• Pieces from Carols for parties
• Second movement from Festgesang,
  Mendelssohn’s cantata celebrating the 400th anniversary of the
  Gutenberg Bible, with the tune later used for Hark the
  Herald Angels Sing
• Great
  Tom is Cast

Schedule

There will be a regular dropin meeting next week, and every
Tuesday for the next couple of months, starting at 7:45 PM at my place.

Everyone have a merry, joyous, happy, peaceful Christmas, New
Year, and whatever else you celebrate.