Thomas Morley's "Now Is the Month of Maying"

Throughout September, the Daily Classical Music Post celebrates the music of 15th-, 16th-, and 17th-century England.


https://youtu.be/4bZ2CfB8iDw

The great English Renaissance composer Thomas Morley (1557/8–1602) composed his Ballett "Now Is the Month of Maying" in 1595, and it is one of the most famous choral works of the time.

A ballett was a vocal work based on Italian 16th-century song, and was a peculiarly English form. Lionel Pike describes a ballett as "strophic, binary with repeats, using nonsense syllables, with light-hearted texts set syllabically, and in a major tonality." The masters of this form were Thomas Weelkes, Thomas Tomkins, and Morley -- and also some other guys who were not named Thomas. Balletts, madrigals, and ayres were all different types of what we now group together as madrigals.

This seemingly innocuous song is, as were many of the secular songs of 16th- and 17th-century England, all about sex. Just as an example, "barley-break" was an old English country game that generally resulted in a lot of physical contact between men and women, and often meant something similar to today's "roll in the hay."

By the way, the link in today’s post will take you to a recording of the Deller Consort’s recording of “Now Is the Month of Maying.” I think that it is very important to recognize the contributions and discoveries made by extraordinary people like Alfred Deller, Thurston Dart, Boris Ord, Murray Lefkowitz, and many others. We’ve now had years of performance practice studies, so the recordings that these people made are often laughed at by those “in the know.” But it is impossible to ignore the enthusiasm displayed and the joy expressed at sharing this incredible music, vocal and instrumental. And certainly with the secular music, this was meant to be a group event, people just hanging out and having fun.

My classical music post for today is Thomas Morley's "Now Is the Month of Maying."

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