Volume 4: Music of Handel, Bach and the English Renaissance

CD 5: Thomas Tallis: The Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet, Part I / William Byrd and His Age

Thomas Tallis: The Lamentations of Jeremiah – Part I

1

Incipit Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae.

Here begins the Lamentation of Jeremiah the Prophet.

2

Aleph

 

Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo: facta est quasi vidua domina Gentium: princeps provinciarum facta est sub tributo.

How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become a tributary!

3

Beth.

 

4

Plorans ploravit in nocte, et lacrimae ejus in maxillis ejus: non est qui consoleteur eam ex omnibus caris ejus: omnes amici ejus spreverunt eam, et facti sunt et inimici.


She weepeth sore in the night and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.

5

De Lamentatione Jeremiae Prophetae.

From the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah.

6

Ghimel.

 

7

Migravit Judas propter afflictionem, et multitudinem servitutis: habitavit inter Gentes, nec invenit requiem.


Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest.

8

Daleth.

 

9

Omnes persecutores ejus apprehenderunt earn inter angustias. Viae Sion lugent eo quod non sint qui veniant ad solemnitatem: omnes portae ejus destructae: sacerdotes ejus gementes: virgines ejus squalidae, et ipsa oppressa amaritudine.


All her persecutors overtook her between the straits. The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

10

Heth.

 

11

Facti sunt hostes ejus in capite, inimici ejus locupletati sunt: quia Dominus locutus est super earn propter multitudinem iniquitatum ejus: parvuli ejus ducti sunt in captivatem, ante faciem tribulantis.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum.


Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper: for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
Jerusalem, return thee to the Lord, thy God.

 

12

Thomas Tallis: Jesu salvator saeculi – Part I

Jesu salvator saeculi
verbum Patris altissimi
lux lucis invisibilis
custos tuorum pervigis.

Tu fabricator omnium
discretor atque temporum
fessa labore corpora
noctis quiete recrea

Ut dum gravi in corpore
brevi manemus tempore
sic caro nostra dormiat
ut mens in Christo vigilet.

Te deprecamur supplices
ut nos ab hoste liberes
ne valeat seducere
tuo redemptos sanguine.

Quaesumus auctor omnium
in hoc paschali gaudio
ab omni mortis impetu
tuum defende populi.

Gloria tibi Domine
qui surrexisti a mortuis
cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu
in sempiterna saecula.
Jesus, Saviour of the world,
most exalted word of the Father,
light of light invisible,
guardian of your sheep.

You, the creator of all
and shaper of the seasons,
restore our bodies worn with toil
with the peacefulness of night,

So that while our bodies
lie heavily for a short time,
our flesh may sleep in such a way
that the soul may stay awake in Christ.

As suppliants we pray to you
that you may free us from the enemy
lest he be allowed to seduce
those who were redeemed by your blood.

Author of all things, we beseech you,
in this joyful Eastertide,
defend your people from all the assaults of death.

Glory be to you, Lord,
who rose from the dead,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
for ever and ever.

 

13

John Sheppard (attrib., originally attrib. Tallis): Deus tuorum militum II

O God, the lot, reward, and prize that crowns Thy Martyr's victories, grant, while we sing this Martyr's praise, we may renounce our sinful ways.O God, the lot, reward, and prize that crowns Thy Martyr's victories, grant, while we sing this Martyr's praise, we may renounce our sinful ways.
He soon discovered and despised the world with specious cheats disguised and laboured for a nobler gain than palling pleasures mixed with pain.He soon discovered and despised the world with specious cheats disguised and laboured for a nobler gain than palling pleasures mixed with pain.
Nor force could make his mind relent, no racks his resolution bent, fearless of death, he sheds his blood and wades to heaven through the flood.Nor force could make his mind relent, no racks his resolution bent, fearless of death, he sheds his blood and wades to heaven through the flood.

 

14

Thomas Tallis: O nata lux de lumine

O nata lux de lumine
Iesu redemptor saeculi
Digrnare clemens supplicum
Laudes precesque sumere
Qui carne quondam contegi
Dignatus es pro perditis
Nos membra confer effici
Tui beati corporis.
O arise, light of light,
Jesus, sacred redeemer,
Deserving, merciful, begging,
Singing, we praise
What body formerly entombed
Deem it to destroy
Nor limb convey
Your sacred body.

 

15

Thomas Tallis: Jam Christus astra ascenderat

Jam Christus astra ascenderat
egressus unde venerat
promisso patris munere
sanctam daturus spiritum.
Now Christ had ascended to the stars, returning whence he came, having promised the Father's gift that he would grant them the Holy Spirit.
Solemnis urgebat dies
quo mystico septemplici
orbis volutus septies
signat beata tempora.
The solemn day was approaching which blessed time is marked by the mystical seven-times-seven rotation of the world.
Dum hora cunctis tertia
repente mundus intonat
orantibus apostolis
deum venisse nuntiat.
During the third hour, suddenly the whole world resounds, and as the apostles pray, announces the coming of the Lord.
De patris ergo lumine
decorus ignis almus est
qui fida Christi pectora
calore verbi compleat.
Therefore from the light of the Father there comes a beautiful and loving fire which infuses the hearts of the faithful in Christ with warmth of his word.
Dudum sacrata pectora
tua replesti gratia
dimitte nunc peccamina
et da quieta tempora.
These consecrated hearts you thus replenished with your grace,forgive now our sins and give us peaceful times.
Sit laus Patri cum Filio
sancto simul paraclyto
nobisque mittat filius
charisima sancti spiritus.
Praise be to the Father with the Son, together with the Holy Paraclete, and may the son send to us the grace of the Holy Spirit.

 

16

Thomas Tallis: Salvator mundi Domine

Salvator mundi domine
qui nos salvasti hodie
in hac nocte nos protege
et salva omni tempore.

Adesto nunc propitius
et parce supplicantibus
tu dele nostra crimina
tu tenebras illumina.

Ne mentem somnus opprimat
nec hostis nos surripiat
nec ullis caro petimus
commaculetur sordibus.

Te reformator sensuum
votis precamur cordium
ut puri castis mentibus
surgamus a cubilibus.

Deo Patri sit gloria
eiusque soli Filio
cum Spiritu Paraclyto
et nunc et in perpetuum. Amen.
O Lord, saviour of the world,
who has saved us this day,
protect us through this night
and save us in all times.

Be present to us now in your kindness
and spare your suppliants:
blot out our sins
and illuminate the shadows.

Let not sleep oppress the mind,
nor the enemy steal us away:
let not our bodies be stained, we pray,
with any foulness.

To you who reshape the senses,
we implore with the prayers of the hearts,
that we may arise from our beds
pure and chaste in mind.

To God the Father be the glory,
and to his only Son,
with the Spirit, the Paraclete,
now and forever. Amen.

 

17

Anon., arr. Edmund Fellowes: My Sweet Little Darling
(From an early 17th-c. set of viol partbooks in the British Museum, Add. MSS 17786-91)

My sweet little darling, my comfort and joy (sing lullaby, lully)
In beauty surpassing the princes of Troy (ref.)

Now hush, child, and sleep, child, thy mother's sweet boy (ref.)
The gods bless and keep the e from cruel annoy (ref.)

 

18

Anon., arr. Peter Warlock: Guichardo
(MSS 984-8, Christ Church, Oxford )

Come tread the paths of pensive pangs, with me, ye lovers true,
Bewail with me your luckless lots, with tears your eyes bedew.

Aid me, you ghosts who loathed life, your lovers being slain,
With sighs and sobs and notes of dole, my hard hap to complain.

Farewell my lords and friends, farewell all princely state,
Let father rue his rigour shown in slaying of my mate.

Guichardo, Guichardo, ah, Guichardo, if thy sprite do walk, come down they lover nigh,
Behold, behold, I yield to thee my ghost, ah see, I die, I die, I die,
Ah, ah, alas, I die, I die.

 

19

William Corkine, arr. Thurston Dart: What Booteth Love?

What booteth love that liking, what's his joy?
Grievous that joy which lacks his heart's content.

The sight of sweet in tasting of an eye,
Adds but more grief to former heart's torment.

And tongue may sing a Heigh ho for my heart,
That tho' mine eyes Both find both joy and smart.

What's sweet in love to leave thee, balm of love?
Sour is that sweet as honey mixed with gall,

Love with unrest a heart to passions move,
That sighing sing and singing sigh withal.

And tongue may sing …

While eyes behold the pleasure of my heart,
Heart joins with eyes in gaining on that sight,

But while that pleasure from mine eyes doth part,
Then doth my heart quick lose its former light.

And tongue may sing …

 

20

Anon., arr. Peter Warlock: Ah, Silly Poor Joas
(MMS 984-88, Christ Church, Oxford)

Ah, silly poor Joas, what fortune hast thou (Sing lully, lully, lully)
To live in this time of cruelty now (Lully, lully, lully, lully)
Wherein thy poor brethren and sisters slain (Ah, lully, lully, lully)
And thou, little fool, dost only remain (Ah lullaby, baby, sweet baby lullaby).

 

21

Thomas Whythorne, arr. Peter Warlock: Buy New Broom
(Songes for tree, fower, and five voyces composed and made by Thomas Whythorne, publ. 1571)

Buy new broom! Buy new broom!
Ye may be sure, store is good, for they will not long endure.

The new broom sweepeth clean, a proverb old,
That applied is to such as hereafter shall be told.

The double diligent, the servant new,
And the hot lover that dieth at first view.

The hot love is soon cold, as oft is seen,
And the temp'rate fire doth make the seet'st malt, as wish do weep.

The friend a first that seems he will not change,
Inconstant yet to prove, it is not strange.

Thus my song for to end, in plain words few,
'Tis not good to these three overmuch at the first shew.

 

22

William Byrd, arr. Fellowes: Elegy on the death of Thomas Tallis "Ye Sacred Muses"
(Collected Works of William Byrd, Vol. XV, Ed. E. Fellowes, 1585)

Ye sacred muses, race of Jove, whom Music's love delighteth,
Come down, come down from crystal heavens above,
To earth, where Sorrow dwelleth.

In mourning weeds, in mourning weeds, with tears in eyes,
Tallis is dead, Tallis is dead, and Music dies, and Music dies.

 

23

William Byrd, arr. Fellowes: Lullaby, My Sweet Little Baby
(Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety, made into Music of Five Parts, publ. by Byrd in 1588)

Lulla la lulla lulla lullaby
My sweet little Baby, what meanest thou to cry,
Be still my blessed Babe, though cause thou hast to mourn,
Whose blood most innocent to shed, the cruel king hath sworn,
And lo, alas, behold what slaughter he doth make,
Shedding the blood of infants all, sweet Saviour, for thy sake.

A King is born, they say, which King this king would kill.
O woe, and woeful heavy day, when wretches have their will!

 

24

Richard Nicholson, arr. Peter Warlock: In a Merry May Morn
(
British Museum Add. MS 17797 )

In a merry May morn, when the fields the flow'rs adorn,
The cuckoo chants it cheerfully, the cuckoo chants it cheerfully,
And every bird doth sing for joy of such a pleasant Spring,
For joy of such a pleasant Spring.

Then said the good man to his wire, "The cuckoo lives a pleasant life,
The cuckoo lives a pleasant life, Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo."

 

25

Robert Parsons, arr. Peter Warlock: Pandolpho

Pour down, pour down you powers divine, on me, poor wretch and silly maid,
Some hope, some hope, of him to have, my heavy heart to aid.

Pandolpho, Pandolpho, some pity, Pandolpho, some pity, Pandolpho.

Frame else with fiery flames your force on me, you furious fates,
Unless my hated heart have help, my hopes are but my hates.

Pandolpho, Pandolpho, some pity, Pandolpho, some pity, Pandolpho.

Thus restless will I rest, in ruth expecting what remains,
If pitiless, then pleasureless, if pity feel no pain.

Pandolpho, Pandolpho, some pity, Pandolpho, some pity, Pandolpho, some pity, Pandolpho.

 

26

William Byrd, arr. Peter le Huray and Thurston Dart: Come, Pretty Babe

Come pretty babe, come pretty babe,
Thy father's shame, thy mother's grief,
But as I dance to all adore.

And to thyself, unhappy waif,
Come lullaby, come lullaby, come lullaby,
Come lullaby, come lullaby,
Come lullaby, and rock thee warm,
O soul thou thinks no creature harm,
O soul thou thinks no creature harm.

 

27

Anon., arr. Peter Warlock: O death, rock me asleep
(Add. MSS 18936-9, British Museum)

O death, O death, rock me asleep, bring me to quiet rest;
Let pass my weary, guiltless ghost out of my careful breast.

Toll on the passing bell, ring out the doleful knell;
Let the sound my death tell, death doth draw nigh;
Sound my death dolefully, for now I die,
For now I die, for now I die, for now I die.