Emmanuel Adriaenssen: Renaissance Greatest Hits

Emmanuel Adriaenssen (1554(?)-1604 - also known as Hadrianius), Flemish composer and lutenist, was one of the most influential Renaissance musicians primarily because of the publication of his Pratum Musicum, (1584, rev. 1600), and Novum Pratum Musicum, 1592.  The contents include about 5 fantasies, 50 vocal compositions, for 1-4 lutes with 1-4 vocal parts, and about 30 dances (The Lute in Britain, p.223).

The lute was possibly the most popular instrument of the Renaissance, certainly the lute literature from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries is extensive (for a remarkable list of 16th century publications for the lute see the list published by Appalachian State). 

Lute music printing was centered in the Netherlands, especially Antwerp by the Phalese firm, and few pieces of printed music were more important than  Adriaenssen's Pratum Musicum, which amounted to nothing less than a Renaissance compendium of greatest hits written in lute tabulature, or "intabulation" as it is known (see Svsann'vn jour à 5 from the Novum, for example). In fact, the Pratum was a much studies source for Italian madrigals (which predominate), motets, chansons, canzonets, villanellas, galliards, corantos, preludes, fantasias, Neapolitan songs and German and English lute pieces by the best known composers of the late sixteenth century, "freely transcribed" by Adriaenssen.

Lutz Kirchhoff, Sabine Drieier and Petra Manz compose the Liuto Concertato, Maie-Claude Vallin, Claudio Cavina and Max van Egmond the voices on the wonderful Love Songs and Dances from Sony Classical (SK 66 263), which is a collection of some of the Adriaenssen compositions from the Pratum, and the most accessible I know.  This sparkling collection is a delight, particularly Dreier's strong, beautiful flute and Manz's virile viol.  The best tracks, in my opinion, are  the sets of Galliarda, but each has its strengths.  As a representative piece of Renaissance trans-national music it belongs in everyone's collection.

Interestingly, G. R. Hibbard, in his Oxford edition (p. 243) of Love's Labour's Lost suggests that the song sung by Moth, given at 3.1.3, "Concolinel", may have been to the tune of "Altra canzon englesa" found in the Pratum Musicum, (see the contents listed here, specifically the entry for 92v/2 attributed to John Johnson) via the 'Dallis' Lute Book.  Be that as it may, no one can doubt the influence of the Pratum Musicum, nor can they fail to be impressed by the cosmopolitan, interconnected influences of late Renaissance musical confluences contained therein.  Speaking specifically of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, there is no reason to doubt the lute music provided for the company by Augustine Phillips was any less ornate, complex and, yes, cosmopolitan, than the poetry provided by Shakespeare himself.

Comments

[Jack Morgan]

At the ( http://www.ascstaunton ) American Shakespeare Center, we use contemporary music in our productions. We use Renaissance staging practices at the Blackfriars Playhouse, but we are decidedly not museum theater. I always get a kick out of the songs, and I wonder what a lute would do for the production.

I mean to ask, do productions gain anything theatrically by using antique music? Would the inclusion of an instrument like the lute alone be enough to bring that theatricality or would ancient musical numbers be necessary? Will we enjoy Loves Labours Lost any more with "Altra Conzon Englesa" than we do otherwise?

P.S., There's a Facebook Cause for the American Shakespeare Center I hope you'll join.
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