ANONYMOUS PIECES - Sources B - C
The Ballet Loot Book
Queen Mary’s Dump [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 05
---------------------------------------------------------
The Board Lute Book
The Eglantine Branch, the Wood Bynde and the first version of Joan to the Maypole are easier to play by retuning the third string to F#, though they can be played in normal tuning. Sellinger’s round is presented in D as an alternative to the more usually found transcriptions in G or A.
Bell Almayne [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 07
Possibly by Robert Johnson. Written originally for a 10 course lute so the arrangement required octave transposition of some bass notes and some phrases in the top voice.
Delacourt Pavan [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06
Coranto [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06
The Gillyflower [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 04
The Eglantine Branch [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 05
The Wood Bynde [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 05
Joan to the Maypole
- in D: [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 04
- in E: [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06
Sellingers Round [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06 *
*See below for another version of this tune; this version is found quite widely, including in Playford’s collections and a version by William Byrd in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book.
---------------------------------------------------------
British Library Manuscripts
The Duke of Somerset’s Reverie (Dompe)
- in D [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 07
- in E [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 08
This piece appears in a manuscript known as BL Royal Appendix 58 with the title "The Duke of Somersettes Dump" (see: "The Dump" in Music Topics). The Duke of Somerset referred to in the title was Edward Seymour (brother of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife) who was executed in the Tower of London in 1552. The piece is very similar to, and presumably based on an Italian Padouana that appears in the Capirola Lute Book (c.1517) and is available in a guitar arrangement by John Duarte (Duarte 1976). The present arrangement is based on a grand staff transcription by John M Ward (Ward 1992 vol 2 ) with modifications suggested by the lute playing of Paul Odette on the CD "The Royal Lewters" (Harmonia Mundi HMU 9073130) especially in relation to the rhythm of the bars 36 through 39 and the repeated section. The version in D requires retuning the 6th string to D and the third to F# and, to my mind sounds better with a capo at fret 2 or 3. The version in E needed some chords reorganised and is a little more difficult to play.
My Lady Carey’s Dompe [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 08
This piece is from BL Royal Appendis 58. It possibly by Hugh Aston (c1485 - 1558). It may have been written following the death of William Carey, a courtier of Henry VIII, in which case Lady Carey would have been Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife. There is a duet arrangement of this piece (much easier to play) here.
Pastyme [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 05
Alternative version [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 05
This setting of the song tune Pastyme with Good Company is from BL Royal Appendix 58, republished by the Lute Society in the June 1996 edition of Lute News music supplement. I’ve also added an alternative version derived from a version published by the Lute Society of America (LSA Quarterly 51;2;2016) that comes from combined sources. The song itself is attributed to King Henry VIII as it appears in the Henry VIII manuscript containing 14 of the king’s works held in the British Library. The present arrangements are taken from the tablature, though the key is changed from G minor to E minor to suit the guitar and I have changed the octave of some bass notes.
---------------------------------------------------------
The Cherbury Lute Book
Chacogne [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 08
--------------------------------------------------------
The Cosens Lute Book
(Pieces are listed in the order they appear in the source.)
Prelude [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 07
Cosens f.10v
Pavane [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06
Cosens f.19v
Galliard [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06
Cosens f.33
Untitled Piece [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Anon Grade 06
Cosens f.35v
Lachrimae [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 07
Cosens f.36v
This version of Dowland’s Lachrimae Pavan has the initials CK attached. These initials occur several times throughout the MS and it has been suggested may represent the initials of the book’s compiler, though his identity is unknown. Other versions of Lachrimae can be found here, here and here.
Fantasy [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 08
Cosens f.39
Another piece with the initials CK attached.
Lady North’s Galliard [PDF] [MXL] [MIDI] Grade 06
Cosens f.46v
