Thesis submission ID 320 | created
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John Cunningham, Music for the Privy Chamber: Studies in the Consort Music of William Lawes (1602-45)
Volumes, pp.: 2 Vols. (xxv + 757; 428 pp of music) Wordcount: 110,000
Supervisor(s): Professor Peter Holman
Repository (hard copy): University of Leeds
General specialism: Musicology
Key terms, concepts: source studies; William Lawes
Key terms, persons: William Lawes; John Coprario; Alfonso Ferrabosco II; Simon Ives;
Key terms, genres, instruments: Early 17th century English Consort Music
Abstract:
The first half of the seventeenth century was one of the most vibrant periods in English music. William Lawes is arguably one of the finest English composers of the period, and indeed, ranks with the best of his Continental contemporaries. He gained a post among the private musicians of Charles I in 1635, a group known as the Lutes, Viols and Voices (LVV). Much of his surviving consort music appears to have been written for performance by members of LVV; nevertheless, little is known of the internal workings of this elite group. Thus, this dissertation first considers the evidence available from court records in attempting to understand the structure and activities of the LVV.
The remainder of the dissertation primarily deals with William Lawes the composer. First, a detailed survey is provided of the autograph sources of Lawes’s music. This provides an analysis of the sources and their functions, and offers evidence for their chronology; the development of Lawes’s hand throughout the sources is also considered. Second, several studies of Lawes’s consort music are presented. The studies generally focus on areas of Lawes’s consort music that have received the least scholarly attention: the lyra viol trio, the Royall Consort, the harp consorts, and the pieces for two bass viols and organ. A common theme throughout these studies is Lawes’s revision of existing pieces and collections of pieces in order to incorporate elaborate divisions, suggesting that this was a growing consideration for Lawes in the mid- to late 1630s.
The main aim of this dissertation is to understand better William Lawes as a composer, and to understand the court environment in which he composed during an increasingly turbulent political time.
Related publications:
‘A Tale of Two Harps: Issues Arising from Recordings of William Lawes’s Harp Consorts’, Early Music Performer 21 (November 2007), 13-24
‘“Let Them be Lusty, Smart-Speaking Viols”: William Lawes and the Lyra-Viol Trio’, Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of America 43 (2006 [published 2008]), 32-68
‘“Some Consorts of Instruments are sweeter than others”: Further Light on the Harp of William Lawes’s Harp Consorts’, Galpin Society Journal 61 (2008), 147-76
John Cunningham, Music for the Privy Chamber: Studies in the Consort Music of William Lawes (1602-45)
PhD, University of Leeds, 2007
Volumes, pp.: 2 Vols. (xxv + 757; 428 pp of music) Wordcount: 110,000
Supervisor(s): Professor Peter Holman
Repository (hard copy): University of Leeds
General specialism: Musicology
Key terms, concepts: source studies; William Lawes
Key terms, persons: William Lawes; John Coprario; Alfonso Ferrabosco II; Simon Ives;
Key terms, genres, instruments: Early 17th century English Consort Music
Abstract:
The first half of the seventeenth century was one of the most vibrant periods in English music. William Lawes is arguably one of the finest English composers of the period, and indeed, ranks with the best of his Continental contemporaries. He gained a post among the private musicians of Charles I in 1635, a group known as the Lutes, Viols and Voices (LVV). Much of his surviving consort music appears to have been written for performance by members of LVV; nevertheless, little is known of the internal workings of this elite group. Thus, this dissertation first considers the evidence available from court records in attempting to understand the structure and activities of the LVV.
The remainder of the dissertation primarily deals with William Lawes the composer. First, a detailed survey is provided of the autograph sources of Lawes’s music. This provides an analysis of the sources and their functions, and offers evidence for their chronology; the development of Lawes’s hand throughout the sources is also considered. Second, several studies of Lawes’s consort music are presented. The studies generally focus on areas of Lawes’s consort music that have received the least scholarly attention: the lyra viol trio, the Royall Consort, the harp consorts, and the pieces for two bass viols and organ. A common theme throughout these studies is Lawes’s revision of existing pieces and collections of pieces in order to incorporate elaborate divisions, suggesting that this was a growing consideration for Lawes in the mid- to late 1630s.
The main aim of this dissertation is to understand better William Lawes as a composer, and to understand the court environment in which he composed during an increasingly turbulent political time.
Related publications:
‘A Tale of Two Harps: Issues Arising from Recordings of William Lawes’s Harp Consorts’, Early Music Performer 21 (November 2007), 13-24
‘“Let Them be Lusty, Smart-Speaking Viols”: William Lawes and the Lyra-Viol Trio’, Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of America 43 (2006 [published 2008]), 32-68
‘“Some Consorts of Instruments are sweeter than others”: Further Light on the Harp of William Lawes’s Harp Consorts’, Galpin Society Journal 61 (2008), 147-76
Thesis submission ID 320