Description
John Dowland’s song Now, O now I needs must part, first appeared in his 1597 collection The First Book of Songes or Ayres. It quickly became very popular, with the melody borrowed and re-used in many guises (sometimes under the name The Frog Galliard) including several instrumental settings for lute and for consorts.
This setting for recorder quintet takes Dowland’s four-part vocal version, as well as Van Eyck’s variations, as a starting point for a set of ensemble divisions. The arrangement has been made in the spirit of performance practices of the seventeenth century and editorial suggestions for interpretation are minimal.
Renaissance consorts using G altos on the two upper parts may find the supplied transposed parts (an octave lower) useful, in line with customary Renaissance notation for consort music. Otherwise the arrangement fits a modern consort with standard F and C instruments.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.