The Triumphs of Oriana
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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) for 5 and 6 voices. The first 14 madrigals are for 5vv, the last 11 for 6vv. It was said to have been made to honour Queen Elizabeth I. Every madrigal in the collection contains the following couplet at the end: “Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana: long live fair Oriana” (the word "Oriana" often being used to refer to Queen Elizabeth) though some of the composers wrote variants of this refrain.
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, the most prolific of madrigal editors of the earlier 20th century, disapproved of the theory.[citation needed]
Contents[edit]
| order | composer | piece |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael East | Hence Stars |
| 2 | Daniel Norcombe | 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)[edit]
In 1899, at the instigation of Sir Walter Parratt, Master of the Queen's Music, 13 British composers contributed songs to a collection modeled on The Triumphs of Oriana, entitled Choral Songs in Honour of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, published on the occasion of Victoria's 80th birthday.[3]
A Garland for the Queen (1953)[edit]
A Garland for the Queen, a compilation along similar lines, containing pieces by ten composers, was published to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Recordings[edit]
- The Triumphs of Oriana: Madrigals Pro Cantione Antiqua, Ian Partridge Archiv
- I Fagiolini
- The King's Singers
See also[edit]
- The Triumphs of Oriana: Free scores at 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[edit]
- ^ "ProQuest | Better research, better learning, better insights".
- ^ 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
Sources[edit]
- Books
- Fellowes, Edmund H. (1951). Orlando Gibbons and His Family: The Last of the Tudor School of Musicians (2nd ed.). United States: Archon Books. ISBN 978-0-208-00848-0.
- Harley, John (1999). Orlando Gibbons and the Gibbons Family of Musicians. London, England: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-1-840-14209-9.
- Kerman, Joseph (1962). The Elizabethan Madrigal: A Comparative Study. New York, New York: American Musicological Society. ISBN 978-1878528063.
- Journals and articles
- Brown, David (2015). "The Triumphes of Oriana, contributors to". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/93694. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- Harley, John (2008) [2004]. "Gibbons, Edward (bap. 1568, d. in or before 1650), musician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10594. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- "Triumphs of Oriana". Oxford Reference. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
