When I was a teenager I was given a lovely book – a Christmas present I think – and I have treasured it all my life. Beautifully bound, with a lute and a flute embossed on the cover, and a sumptuously designed dust-jacket – well worn now – this book, ‘An Elizabethan Song Book’ is a treasure trove of songs for voice and lute from the sixteenth and early seventeenth century. The lute parts are arranged for piano – but instead of filling them out and making them ‘pianistic’, as many such editions did, these piano parts seem to be a straightforward transcription of the lute parts, with their characteristic use of counterpoint and imitation, but only as far as the technique of the lute would allow.
Published by Faber and Faber in 1957 – before the days of ‘Faber Music’, but foreshadowing some of the same excellent design features, the music was edited by Noah Greenberg (1919-66) an influential musician in the early music movement and the founder of the New York Pro Musica Antiqua – and the words were edited by Chester Kallman (1921-75) – poet and librettist for Stravinsky’s ‘Rake’s Progress’ and Henze’s ‘Elegy for Young Lovers’ – and his one-time partner, W. H. Auden (1907-73), who needs no introduction.
So it was these renowned creatives who brought to my attention (and to many others) the wonderful flowering of creative work in Britain at the turn of the seventeenth century – songs by Campian, Dowland, Morley, and many more – which have lived with me for many years. And the very first piece in the book has stuck in my mind – ‘Sweet was the Song’ by John Attey, published in 1622, and I’ve twice found myself setting these words to my own music, using the slightly different version to be found in William Ballet’s Lute Book of the same period:
Sweet was the song the Virgin sang, When she to Bethlem Judah came;
And was delivered of a son That blessed Jesus had to name.
I first set them as a round, in The Oxford Book of Flexible Carols, and then, more recently, as a carol for mixed voice choir, with the title ‘Sweet babe, sang she’ to avoid confusion.
‘Sweet babe, sang she’ came about during the Covid lockdown, and, as often at that time, with no particular performance in mind. But I made a recording of it with some friends, each recording their own part individually, and this then came to the attention of The Houston Chamber Choir (director Robert Simpson), who sung it and recorded it at one of their Christmas concerts. It was then subsequently performed, last Christmas, by the Phoenix Consort (director Adam Whitmore), and this Christmas performances are scheduled with St. Martin’s Voices (director Andrew Earis – St Martins-in-the-Fields, 11 December, lunchtime) and with The Sixteen (director Harry Christophers – Cadogan Hall, 17 and 18 December). St. Martin’s Voices have also recorded it on their new CD, ‘A babe is born’. It’s always lovely when a piece gets performances by different groups and it’s fascinating to compare the different approaches and angles taken by each choir.
My approach to the music is to imagine Mary singing as she rocks the baby Jesus to sleep, and a soprano solo is supported by a background of lullabies from the choir. In between the verses the choir sings gentle ‘alleluias’, and the piece ends as it began, with the gently rocking lullabies. The metre of the music changes frequently, but there is always a sense of flow and shape.
Here are some different performances:
St Martin’s Voices CD ‘A Babe is born’
Houston Chamber Choir (with scrolling score)
Houston Chamber choir (with images)
Phoenix Consort (live performance)
Please visit this page to read more and to obtain the music
