The Fantastic Chamber Music of William Lawes

William Lawes

Source: Wikipedia

Born in April 1602 in Salisbury, England, about the time that baroque emerged in Italy, in William Lawes one finds baroque in its migration to the northern Europe, in Lawes' case the island 21 miles across the Channel from Calais to Dover, a ferry ride of some four hours. William was younger brother by five or six years to composer, Henry Lawes. Their father, Thomas Lawes, was a vicar choral (professional singer) at the Anglican Salisbury Cathedral. Unlike Henry, William owns the distinction of not having published any works during his lifetime, though numerous, to speak the least, appeared in manuscript, as well as a setting for James Shirley in 1634. Both were tutored by John Cooper (aka Giovanni Coprario) who acquainted them with early Italian baroque method such as the use of basso continuo (figured bass) Both Henry and William wrote instrumental and vocal works, Henry more noted for his songs, William for instrumentals, particularly for fantasy suites and consorts in which he brought forth early chamber music. Works by both Henry and William appear together in various manuscripts and books.

There is no directory proper for William Lawes whose works are scattered in infinite manuscripts consisting of whole scores as well as parts for individual instruments. Not a few of Lawes' MSS are additions adding to the difficulty of conglomerating Lowes into a verseichnis of works, particularly with a chronological scheme, as just when many of his works were composed is estimated at best while there has been considerable industry in revisions in recent times. The fullest breakdowns of William's corpus online are by Father Martini and David Pinto. In gazing over Lawes, most manuscripts referenced concern songs, consorts and pieces for instruments, particularly organ and viol. Find an incomplete list of MSS in refs below.

The spiritual climate into which the Lawes brothers were born included the Puritan, that is, Anglican with purification from Roman Catholicism put to purpose, more conservative than what was already a competition, as it were, between Catholics and Protestants as to which could compose the least offensive music to God's senses. Atmosphere of conservative piety also raised its head in the secular sphere upon a return to Greek monody at the origin of baroque. The basso continuo which came with it was a steady disciplining measure placed to rhythm or tempo much like bass or double bass in modern music. In sacred music the organ had been getting scored alongside voice for centuries. Instruments in secular scores, however, were neglected until continuo became fundamental to baroque and common in notation alongside voice. Continuo could be performed by any number of instruments from harpsichord to organ to viol, and commonly left to performers to decide. The quality of sincerity in vocal music which all agreed that baroque counterpoint enhanced was not the only test of what was genuine or not in Europe at the time. Passion Catholic, Protestant or in the name of a Greek god were the scene of sundry mixtures, counterpoint between various commonly an outright violent dialogue between arrow and spear.

The spiritual zeitgeist of continental Europe was such that the Dominican friar, Bruno, had been executed in Rome only two years before Lawes' birth for believing in the possibility of multiple worlds in an infinite cosmos. It didn't require the Church a mathematical grasp of infinity, concerning which there is no center, to recognize that the Church wasn't the center of Bruno's reality, though it became such soon upon his conviction of heresy, thereupon stripped and hung upside-down on a stake for burning alive, his ashes tossed into the Tiber. The Church might have ceased to be the center of Bruno's reality at that time, but there were multiple realities far and wide the globe during Lawes' era. Egypt was approaching a millennium of Muslim Ottoman rule by the time of Lawes' birth, not many there for whom Rome was at the center of things.

The major trouble of the Church, of course, had been the emergence of Protestantism via Martin Luther in 1517, resulting in the sobering Counter-reformation which found the Church growing increasingly rigid in music as the next century approached. Papal Rome was meanwhile in a flux, dwarfing as other European powers increased, but as those included fundamental alliances with the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and Venice its grip on Europe increased. A little farther off, the Polish–Swedish War of 1600-1611 was fought during Lawes' childhood. Poles and Swedes once allied against Russian threat now had the concerns of two opposing faiths mixed into their helter-skelter on Earth. Lawes, too, would arrive to a reality centered in war.

Lawes was yet a teenager when 102 Puritans took separation from the Catholic Church in geographical terms. Also called Pilgrims, they distanced themselves from Europe via the 'Mayflower' to arrive at the Colony of Virginia in 1620. There had been prior aborted attempts to colonize America. Virginia had been chartered and settled earlier in 1606 and 1607, but they are the passengers of the 'Mayflower' credited with making Virginia America's first permanent colony.

Returning to Lawes' planet back in England, he had early acquired patronage from Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, who found a teacher for him in composer, John Cooper (above) circa 1619, composition no doubt among his studies. He may have begun writing fantasias and the 'Royell Consort' about 1630, beginning with six dance suites. His masque, 'The triumph of peace', set for playwright, James Shirley, premiered on 3 February 1634 and was published that year.

'Why doe you dwell soe longe in clouds'   Passamezzo for 3 voices by William Lawes

From setting for James Shirley's 'The Triumph of Peace'   Masque premiering 3 Feb 1634

Soprano: Emily Atkinson   Tenor: Richard de Winter   Bass: Peter Willcock

Lute: Richard Mackenzie   Bass viol: Alison Kinder

In 1635 Lawes was appointed a lute player and singer to the court of King Charles I, there to remain until his death. Among the numerous musical forms employed by Lawes was the air (ayre in French, aria in Italian), a relatively new development which enjoyed a brief period of great popularity for a few decades while Lawes was young. John Dowland had published 'First Booke of Songs or Ayres' in 1597, followed by Thomas Morley's 'The First Booke of Ayres' in 1600.

The fantasia had been around for three quarters of a century by the time Lawes was born. It was originally composed to accommodate improvisation, a fantasy what one called a piece that had no particular form, but developed various forms over time. The pavan (pavane) was a stately slow-tempo dance which had originated in Venice about a decade before the fantasy. Instruments unique to Lawes' period include the division viol (type of bass viol) and theorbo (kind of lute). Amidst the explosion of instrumental works which attended the birth of baroque, the violin (viola da braccio) began to receive attention as never before. I've not discovered dates of composition, MS inclusion or publication for titles below, so stacking is not chronological. All were likely authored within a fifteen to twenty-year spread sometime circa 1630 to 1645.

'Consort No. 8 in G major'   Consort by William Lawes

For violin, division viol, theorbo, harp and organ continuo

Elizabethan Consort of Viols directed by Thurston Dart

'Consort Set No.8 for 6 viols in F major'   Consort fantasy by William Lawes

'The Sunrise'   VdGS 90-93

Ensemble: Fretwork

'Fantasia-Suite' No.8 in D' appears in two Fantasia-Suites. Nos.114–37 are for violin, bass viol and organ. Nos.138-61 are for 2 violins, bass viol and organ with No.8 being Nos.159-61.

'Fantasia-Suite No.8 in D major'   Consort fantasy by William Lawes

Prob Nos. 159-161

Elizabethan Consort of Viols directed by Thurston Dart

'Royal Consort in D minor (for two theorbos)'   Consort by William Lawes

Lute: Jacob Heringman   Theorbo: David Miller   Rose Consort of Viols

Album on Naxos

Of three manuscript sources for the song, 'Gather ye rosebuds while ye may', two are for one voice with cittern (16527, 16664) and one for three voices (16528).

'Gather ye rosebuds while ye may'   Song by William Lawes

Prob MS 16527 of 1648 or MS 16664   Published posthumously in 1648

Text from Robert Herrick's 'To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time' of 1648

Soprano: Gwendolen Martin   Baroque guitar: Din Ghani   1 Nov 2020

Throughout the history of music in Europe, for a musician to acquire some position at some royal court was to arrive to the peak, there nowhere higher to go. In Lawes' case, however, the chariot swung low before returning higher than an earthly court. This was during the English Civil War between Charles I, et al, and Parliament from 1642 to 1651. Having joined the Royalist cause as among the king's Guard, Lawes was taken home during the Battle of Rowton Heath, shot to death on 24 September 1645. Monarchial England would be the loser of the English Civil War following Charles' death in 1649. William's older brother, Henry, died in 1662.