The Queen’s Masque
A female representation of power in English 16th century consort music
Carine Maree Tinney (soprano)
ensemble feuervogel
Ziv Braha (lute)
rec. 2023, Andreaskirche, Berlin, Germany
Texts included
Reviewed as a stereo 16/44 download from Proper
Coviello Classics COV92309 [61]

The Triumphs of Oriana is a collection of 25 madrigals on English texts by composers of the second half of the 16th century. It was compiled by Thomas Morley, as a way of thanking Queen Elizabeth for granting him the monopoly to print music. All 25 madrigals end with the same line: “Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana: Long live fair Oriana”. ‘Oriana’ was the heroine of the chivalric romance Amadis de Gaul, with whom Elizabeth had been equated. It was appropriate that the nymphs and shepherds of Diana – goddess of chastity – were singing the praise of the unmarried Elizabeth, the ‘Virgin Queen’. The disc under review includes three of the madrigals in this collection. They are part of a programme which focuses on the Queen, in her position as monarch, but also on her personality.

“”The most important fact about Elizabeth I. was her sex,” writes Jean Wilson, author and expert in early modern English history. Female rulers appeared in history from time to time, but they were not part of the established structures. The concept of a king was inherently masculine and did not align with the 16th-century societal view of women, which assigned virtues such as passivity, obedience, and silence to women. Queen Elizabeth I employed the power of the arts to present and legitimize herself as a female ruler. The genre of the English masque, a spectacle of the arts and praise for rulers, was perfectly suited for this purpose. Ensemble feuervogel presents the musical traces of this political and societal emancipation and transforms the masque’s form as the structure of this performance into modernity.” Thus open the liner-notes, and that explains the framework of this recording.

It is a mixture of instrumental and vocal pieces. In the latter, Elizabeth takes a central role, but the connection is not always as obvious as in the madrigals from The Triumphs of Oriana. It is explicit in the last item, Edward Johnson’s Eliza is the fairest Queen. There is a good chance that John Bennet’s Eliza, her name gives honour refers to the Queen, but there is no specific reason to think that Byrd’s The fair young virgin has anything to do with her. In this case, the connection is rather loose and a product of the imagination of the performers. The same goes for the anonymous My mind to me a kingdom is and John Mundy’s Were I a king. To what extent the connection to the Virgin Queen convinces, is up to the listener to decide. I am not impressed.

As far as the instrumental music is concerned, the performers focus on the genre of the masque. This was an important part of musical life at the court. It was a combination of dance, music, scenery and acting. This indicates that it is impossible to reconstruct. Even the musical part causes problems: it is not known exactly which music was performed, and little of the repertoire has been preserved. It is rightly stated that most of it was probably improvised “based on known templates”. Therefore the performers have turned to consort music, which was one of the most revered genres at the time. The repertoire is large and varied, and could be performed by different combinations of instruments: viols, recorders or a mixture of instruments of different families (the so-called ‘broken consort’). In order to recreate the atmosphere of a masque, the consort music has been treated as such, which means that in almost every piece percussion is added. It seems very likely that percussion participated  in performances of masques at the time but there is always the danger of overstating its role, and that is exactly the case here. In some pieces, such as Richard Nichsolson’s The Jew’s Dance, it is appropriate, but there are also pieces where its participation is unnatural. That is certainly the case in the last piece of the programme,. Johnson’s song Eliza is the fairest Queen. I can’t imagine it was ever performed this way. The late James Bowman’s performance in his debut recording was much more convincing.

As far as I am concerned, the role of the percussion partly spoils my enjoyment of this disc, which includes music that I really like, but would prefer to be performed differently. The playing of the fine ensemble, which I did not know, makes a good impression and leaves nothing to be desired; it is just that I have problems with the conceptual framework and the obtrusive role of the percussion.

The vocal items are sung by Carine Maree Tinney, whom I can’t remember having heard before. She has a nice voice, and sings the songs rather well, but I regret that she is not free of vibrato – it is mostly not wide, but it is not appropriate here. The balance between the voice and the recorders is satisfying; in this repertoire the singer is not the soloist, but part of the ensemble. The pronunciation is modern, and that causes problems, as some words which are supposed to rhyme do not. Not all the songs are performed complete, which unfortunately is the rule in recordings rather than the exception.

In sum: this is a nice programme of music that cannot fail to entertain, but the way it is performed is not really satisfying.

Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen

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Contents
[The Queen’s Court]
Robert Parsons (1535-1572)
De la court
John Bennet (1575-1614)
Eliza, her name gives honour
Daniel Norcombe (1576-1626)
With Angel’s face and brightness
[The Queen’s Masque: Fairy Queen, Virgin Queen and Unattainable Mistress]
Peter Philips (1560-1628)
Pavan – Galliard
anon
Galliard
Daniel Bacheler (1572-1619)
Daniel’s Almain*
Thomas Morley (1557-1602)
The Frog Galliard*
John Hilton (1599-1657)
Fair Oriana, Beauty’s Queen
Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623)
Hark, I hear some dancing
Richard Nicholson (1563-1638)
The Jew’s Dance*
William Byrd (1543-1623)
The fair young virgin
anon
The kyngs pawvyon*
John Wilbye (1574-1638)
Lady when I behold
John Dowland (1563-1623)
Sir John Souches Galliard/My thoughts are winged with hope
Thomas Morley
Hard by a crystal fountain
[The Queen’s Dream]
Richard Dering (c1580-1630)
Pavan in Four Parts
anon
Gallyard
Thomas Morley
La Coranto*
Hugh Ashton (1485-1558)
Hugh Ashton’s Maske
John Mundy (1555-1630)
Were I a king
[The Queen’s Dance]
anon
Pavana
Gallyard
William Byrd
My Lord of Oxenfords Maske*
Mounsiers Almaine**
Thomas Morley
The Lord Souches Maske*
anon
My mind to me a kingdom is
Edward Johnson (1572-1601)
Eliza is the fairest Queen
* arr ensemble feuervogel
** arr Ziv Braha