Piece of the Month - December 2001

Carman's Whistle

A popular tune from the early Elizabethan period through to the 17th century. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time, Vol. 1, pp.137-140) discusses the use of the tune for ballads, one of which includes the verse:

When he had played unto her /One merry note or two /Then was she so rejoiced /She knew not what to do /O God-a-mercy, carman, /Thou art a lively lad /Thou hast as rare a whistle /As ever carman had.

There are only two known lute versions of this piece, one attributed to John(?) Johnson in Jane Pickeringe's Lute Book (BM MS Egerton 2046) f. 32v. and an anonymous setting in CUL Dd.5.78.3, f. 48v.. There is a keyboard setting by William Byrd in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (no.58) and My Lady Nevill's Book (???) which is distinct from these lute settings.

The structure of each variation is ABB(8+8+8 bars). Pickeringe has five variations, Dd.5.78.3 has four. I have halved the bar length in the Dd.5.78.3 version so that references to bar numbers apply to both versions.

The Pickeringe version looks to me very much like a lute version of a keyboard piece. Active lower parts (bars 28-31, 53-56, 73-80 and all of variation 4), arpeggio accompaniments (85-87) and harmonic excursions (67-68, 73) point in this direction. Another feature is the "grand" final variation (thicker chords, deep bass, etc.) which is often found in keyboard music (see Giles Farnaby's Loth to Depart, Fizwilliam Virginal Book, no. 230).

The Holmes version is very close for the first two variations, then diverges. In this case the final two variations, with their rapid linear divisions, seem much more like lute music, though perhaps not as musically satisfying as those of the Pickeringe version.

 

Downloads:

Pickeringe: carman1.ft2; carman1.tab

 Dd.5.78.3: carman2.ft2; carman2.tab

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