Post Description

Ewald Demeyere - Tears - Harpsichord laments from the 17th-Century

 William Byrd (ca. 1540-1623)
Lachrimae Pavan (V)
Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-1667)
Fantasia VI FbWV 206 (from Libro Secondo, 1649) (H)
Partita VI FbWV 612 (from Libro Quarto, 1656) (H)
Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656)
A Sad Pavan for these Distracted Tymes (V)
Louis Couperin (ca. 1626-1661)
Suite in F Major (H)
Melchior Schild t (1592/3-1667)
Paduana Lagrima (V)

Amongst the seventeenth-century harpsichord repertoire, the genre of pieces referring to a loss, whether or not the death of a person, takes a special place, and forms the leitmotif of this disc. These introspective pieces, actually being meditations or contemplations, achieve in a uniquely profound way an almost spiritual level. John Downland’s Lachrimae Pavan, initially a lute piece which the composer reworked as a lute song to the words Flow my Tears and as a consort piece, enjoyed great popularity in the seventeenth century. In fact, it occurs in more than one hundred manuscripts or prints in a variety of arrangements. For this CD I have included two of the finest of those transcriptions, by William Byrd and by Melchior Schildt. Byrd was one of the most influential composers of his generation, in his time called a Father of Musick and Brittanicae Musicae Parens.