- Roger Lewis, Syd Alexander, Sanford Walker, and Peter Warms
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Catches and Glees of the English Restoration
- Adam Catch'd Eve By The Furbelow Time: 1:13
- My Dame Hath A Lame, Tame Crane Time: 0:49
- Here Dwells A Pretty Maid, Whose Name Is Sis Time: 1:10
- From Twenty To Thirty, Good Night Or Good Morrow Time: 1:24
- 'Tis Woman Makes Us Love Time: 0:53
- Come, Come Pretty Wenches More Nimbler Than Eels Time: 1:47
- Here On His Back Doth Lie Time: 2:32
- To Thee, And To A Maid Time: 1:33
- When A Woman That's Buxom To A Dotard Is Wed Time: 1:42
- Once In Our Lives Let Us Drink To Our Wives Time: 1:18
- Have You Not A Chimney Seen Time: 2:12
- Mark How These Knavish Rests Time: 2:09
- Man's Life Is But Vain Time: 1:08
- Hodge Told Sue He Loved Her As His Life Time: 2:06
- Drink On 'till Night Be Spent And Sun Do Shine Time: 1:49
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She That Will Ear Her Breakfast In Bed Time: 1:39
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alg 107 (3008) • CATCHES AND GLEES: Purcell and others CATCHES AND GLEES
CATCHES, CANONS, ROUNDS and GLEES were a specifically English form of vocal music. They developed in the 17th Century out of the older Madrigal. The Madrigal was polyphonic, but not necessarily or even usually canonic in form. The Madrigal was an art form which, while used by the greatest composers of Elizabethan times, was of necessity performed usually in the home or elsewhere by cultivated amateurs, since in Tudor and Elizabethan times the only professional ensemble singers were members of church choirs or court chapels and the Madrigal was a secular form.
The CATCHES, CANONS and ROUNDS which were offsprings of the Madrigal were strictly canonic in form and usually of a more popular nature both as to music and texts; they are sometimes associated with the popular song of the day—-joyous and spontaneous. However, in our time it is hard to conceive of a group of untutored amateurs being able to cope with even the simplest of their canonic complexities.
The "GLEE" is a slightly later development, being not strictly canonic in form though there are, of course, canonic passages in it. The greatest composers of the Restoration Period (1659-1695) notably HENRY PURCELL, the giant of them all, did not disdain this medium. Their inherent musical interest proves that in all epochs, the genius of the composer can make the most "popular" of forms into works of high art. Playford's "A Musical Companion" in two books, the first book containing Catches and Rounds for three voices, the second book containing Dialogues Glees, Ayres, and Songs for two, three, and four voices, were collected and published by John Playford, London, printed by W. Godbid in 1672-3. His first musical publication was "The English Dancing Master," which appeared in 1650. He later published many collections of his own and other contemporary works.
Roger Lewis, tenor. Syd Alexander, tenor. Sanford Walker, baritone. Peter Warms, bass.
The four singers who perform the CATCHES and GLEES with such zest, are all professional soloists who have formed themselves into a quartet for the pleasure of performing infrequently sung early music.