John Bull’s “Walsingham”

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


https://youtu.be/QfcvlnDBX7k


John Bull (1562/1563–1628) was known particularly for his music for the virginals, a small type of harpsichord common in England during the 16th and 17th centuries. He was known for his skill as a keyboard performer as well as a composer, but also for his less-than-abstemious lifestyle. Apparently, the then Archbishop of Canterbury said of Bull, “the man hath more music than honesty and is as famous for marring of virginity as he is for fingering of organs and virginals.” That pretty much says it all.


Although according to contemporary accounts Bull was prolific as a composer, a good deal of his music was lost when he left England. He most likely left before being charged with adultery, although he later claimed that he was trying to avoid religious persecution. David Schulenberg says, “In the case of Bull we have a composer whose biography is marked by one particularly momentous event—his flight from England and consequent shift from Protestant to Roman Catholic patronage—which has been used to explain some of the anomalies of style and transmission in the repertory under review. Yet there are serious questions as to how much of that repertory is actually his, let alone how it relates to his Continental exodus.”


In the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, Bull is called “Doctor John Bull” and is represented by more than 35 pieces. His variations on the popular Elizabethan tune “Walsingham” is quite a showpiece. William Byrd also composed a set of variations on this tune. Wilfrid Mellers says, “It is typical of the two men that whereas Byrd in his Walsingham variations ignores the harmonic potentialities . . . Bull seizes on them and, indeed, makes his ravishing harmonizations of the cadence a means of achieving a cumulative sense of growth.” Mellers also calls Bull’s “Walsingham” “one of the great keyboard pieces of all time.” After you listen to today’s post, I think you’ll think so as well.


My classical music post for today is John Bull’s “Walsingham.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

William Byrd's "The Battell"

Image
Throughout September, the Daily Classical Music Post celebrates the music of 15th-, 16th-, and 17th-century England. https://youtu.be/jomZcpqkfUI The great English composer William Byrd (1543–1623) wrote his wonderfully descriptive virginals piece "The Battell" after the great Armada victory of 1588, although most musicologists believe that it is more likely to have been inspired by a smaller skirmish, perhaps an uprising of some sort. Sally Mosher has said of "The Battell": "By the 17th century, battle pieces had become a popular genre, so Byrd can be said to have launched a new keyboard genre in addition to composing the first English keyboard suite. All in C major, sections of ‘The Battle’ are harmonically very simple; for the most part they alternate between the tonic and the dominant, using no more than a handful of chords. Like the march, they often suggest trumpets and drums, but they also quite successfully suggest the sounds of soldiers marching, of ho
Read more

Edmond Dédé’s Chicago, grand valse à l'américaine

Image
This February, the Daily Classical Music Post celebrates Black composers and musicians whose music has been suppressed and ignored. All of these musicians should be added to the music history and music theory curriculum. https://youtu.be/gBeigjxviQc Edmond Dédé (1827–1901) was born in New Orleans. Following childhood studies on the clarinet and violin, he went to Paris and studied at the Conservatoire. He then became a conductor, mostly for ballet companies and also at the Folies Bordelaises. He continued composing and his works all met with success. Many of his scores can be found in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Lester Sullivan says, “In 1852 Dédé's melody Mon pauvre coeur appeared. It is the oldest surviving piece of sheet music by a New Orleans Creole of color. He supplemented his income from music with what today would be characterized as his day job: he was a cigar maker, as were a number of other local musicians.” Dédé’s Chicago, grand valse à l'américaine was p
Read more

Lili Boulanger’s Vieille Prière Bouddhique

Image
This March, the Daily Classical Music Post will introduce you to some of the most wonderful music ever composed—and, yes, it will all be by women composers! https://youtu.be/xF9SltYJAT8   The French composer Lili Boulanger (born 1893, died 1918) was the younger sister of Nadia Boulanger. Lili’s talent was obvious from the age of two, and her parents (both of whom were musicians) took her to all the best people for instruction, including Louis Vierne, Paul Vidal, Georges Caussade, and Gabriel Fauré. When Lili was 19, she won the Prix de Rome for her Faust et Hélène; she was the first woman composer to win. Lili had been chronically ill almost from birth, and she died from what is now known as Crohn’s disease at the age of 24. Adrian Corleonis says, "Artists who die young leave behind such an aura of promise that one examines their musical remains with divinatory care, for glimpses of what might have been. Lili Boulanger . . . tantalizes in this way. . . . [W]hat strikes one about L
Read more