The Triumphs of Oriana
The Triumphs of Oriana is a book of English madrigals, compiled and published in 1601 by Thomas Morley, which first edition[1] has 25 pieces by 23 composers (Thomas Morley and Ellis Gibbons have two madrigals). It was said to have been made in the honour of Queen Elizabeth I. Every madrigal in the collection contains the following couplet at the end: “Thus sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana: long live fair Oriana” (the word "Oriana" often being used to refer to Queen Elizabeth).
Recently, the attribution of "Oriana" to Elizabeth has come into question. Evidence has been presented that "Oriana" actually refers to Anne of Denmark, who would become Queen of England alongside James VI of Scotland (later James I of England) in an apparently failed early attempt to remove Elizabeth in order to restore England to Catholicism.[2] In his book 'The English Madrigalists', Edmund Fellowes, one of the leading madrigal scholars of the 1940s declared this theory to be false.
Contents
| order | composer | piece |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael East | Hence Stars |
| 2 | Daniel Norcome | With Angel's Face |
| 3 | John Mundy | Lightly she whipped o'er the dales |
| 4 | Ellis Gibbons | Long live fair Oriana |
| 5 | John Bennet | All Creatures now are Merry‐minded |
| 6 | John Hilton | Fair Oriana, beauty's Queen |
| 7 | George Marson | The Nymphs and Shepherds danced |
| 8 | Richard Carlton | Calm was the Air |
| 9 | John Holmes | Thus Bonnyboots |
| 10 | Richard Nicholson | Sing shepherds all |
| 11 | Thomas Tomkins | The Fauns and Satyrs |
| 12 | Michael Cavendish | Come gentle Swains |
| 13 | William Cobbold | With Wreaths of Rose and Laurel |
| 14 | Thomas Morley | Arise, awake |
| 15 | John Farmer | Fair Nymphs |
| 16 | John Wilbye | The Lady Oriana |
| 17 | Thomas Hunt | Hark, did ye ever Hear so Sweet a Singing? |
| 18 | Thomas Weelkes | As Vesta was from Latmos Hill descending |
| 19 | John Milton | Fair Orian |
| 20 | Ellis Gibbons | Round about her Chariot |
| 21 | George Kirbye | With Angel's Face |
| 22 | Robert Jones | Fair Oriana |
| 23 | John Lisley | Fair Cytherea |
| 24 | Thomas Morley | Hard by a Crystal Fountain |
| 25 | Edward Johnson | Come blessed Bird |
Choral Songs in Honour of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (1899)
In 1899, at the instigation of Master of the Queen's Music Sir Walter Parratt, 13 British composers submitted a limited edition (100 copies) collection of choral songs entitled Choral Songs in Honour of Her Majesty Queen Victoria on the occasion of her 80th birthday.[3]
See also
Free scores of The Triumphs of Oriana in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
- The Oxford Book of English Madrigals which reproduces several of the pieces from Morley's collection.
- List of Renaissance composers
References
- ↑ http://eebo.chadwyck.com/search/full_rec?SOURCE=pgimages.cfg&ACTION=ByID&ID=V173820&PAGENO=2
- ↑ Jeremy L. Smith, "Music and Late Elizabethan Politics: The Identities of Oriana and Diana." Journal of the American Musicological Society, vol. 58, pp 508-558 (Fall, 2005).
- ↑ Jeffrey Richards Imperialism and music: Britain, 1876-1953 2001 p359