Thomas Ford was a prominent composer and performer at the courts of Prince Henry and Prince Charles in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Some of his madrigals , for example There is a Ladie Sweet and Kind and Faire Sweet Cruell are still frequently performed. However his instrumental music is very rarely performed.
In view of his prominence it is surprising to note that, aside from two anthems in Sir William Leaighton's Tears or Lamentations of a Sorrowful Soul (London, 1614) his only publication was Musicke of Sundrie Kindes (London 1607).
A glance at Musicke of Sundrie Kindes gives us some insight into the paucity of his publication. Ford must have wept when he received the first copies from the printer (John Windet at the assignes of William Barley). There are many errors in the tablature - and these are of such a nature that the music is unplayable and difficult to reconstruct. There are bar lines - but their meaning is certainly not the contemporary meaning. When prima finds an error in, say bar five, then secunda must find the corresponding place in his music. In Southcote's Paven it will be in the middle of bar four.
We have inserted bar lines according to contemporary usage. There are several kinds of errors that we have corrected:
- Errors in the mensural symbols. These may be displaced, blotted half notes look like quarter notes.
- Smudged tails make quarter notes look like eighth notes.
- Errors in the position (fret) symbol.
- An entire measure had to be inserted in And if You do Touche Me Ile Crie.
In each case we have attempted to be as true to our understanding of Ford's intentions as we could. There is much room for the introduction of nuances and articulations but we have left this to the performer.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
- English Lute Songs, 1597-1632, A Collection of Facsimile Reprints, General Editor, F. W. Sternfeld, The Scolar Press Limited, Menston, England, 1971.
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- Thomas Ford, Musicke of Sundrie Kindes, 1607, (facsimile edition), David Greer (ed.), Scolar Press, Menston, England, 1971.
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- Thomas Mace, Musick's Monument, London, 1676, reprinted Paris, 1958. ƒditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
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- Robert Dowland, Varietie of Lute Lessons, 1610, reprinted by Schott & Co., London, 1958
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- John Playford, Musick's Recreation on the Viol, Lyra-Way, 1682, reprinted by Hinrichsen with an introduction by Nathalie Dolmetsch.
Secondary References
- Martha Bishop, Tablature for Two, Emory University, 1980.
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- Musica Britannica, ix: Jacobean Consort Music, 126 - 127. (Southcote's Paven & Galiard).
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- F. J. Giesbert, Schule fŸr die Barocklaute, B. Schott's Sohne, 1940.
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- Howard Kadis, A Guide to Reading Renaissance Lute Tablature, Musica Sacra et Profana, Berkeley, 1983.
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- F. M. Padelford, Old English Musical Terms, Bonn: P. Hanstein, 1899 (Marco 0026) (Duckles 74-296).
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- Diana Poulton, An Introduction to Lute Playing, Schott & Co., London, 1961.
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- Carolyn Rabson, "Lyra-Way on the viols and violins", A thesis submitted to the Crane School of Music, 1972.
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- John Sawyer, "Music for two and three lyra-viols", Journal of the Canadian Association of University Schools of Music, v1. #2, Fall 1971.
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- John Sawyer, "An Anthology of Lyra Viol Music in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Manuscripts Music School d245-7", Thesis, Ph. D. Musicology, University of Toronto, 1972.
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- Frank Traficante. , "Music for Lyra Viol, the Printed Sources", Lute Society Journal, vii (1966) 7 ; reprinted in Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of America, v, 1968, 16.
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- Frank. Traficante, "Lyra Viol Tunings: 'All Ways have been Tryed to do it'", Acta Musicologica, XLII (1970), 183-205.
Biographical References
- C. S. Emden, "Lives of Elizabethan Song Composers: some new Facts", Review of English Studies, ii (1926), 419.
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- E. H. Meyer, Early English Chamber Music, (London, 1946), 176 ff.
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- Ian Spink in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, v6. pp. 704-5, London, 1980.
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- E. L. Woodfill, Musicians in English Society from Elizabeth to Charles I (Princeton, 1953, reprinted 1969).
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- Discography
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- Altenglische Lautenlieder. Decca / Serenata 6.41648, 1960. Come Phyllis come. Peter Pears (tenor), Julian Bream (lute).
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- Ars Britannica: Old Hall Manuscript, madrigals, lute songs.[SALP 2320]. Since first I saw. There is a Lady. Pro Cantione Antiqua.
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- Elizabethan lute songs. RCA Red Seal LSC-3131 (1970) Come Phyllis. Fair Sweet Cruel. Peter Pears (tenor), Julian Bream (lute).
- [SLP 13084].
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- Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Angel SBZ 3810. Forget me not. Played by Oliver Brooks and James Tyler on Gambas.
