Lute songs from an oxford manuscript of 1624.

Elizabeth Davenant, Oxford-based and flourishing in the mercurial 1620s, came from a most interesting family of merchant-class origins. Her father, John Davenant, rose to become not only chief vintner, but also Mayor of Oxford. Elizabeth’s brother was later to become the most famous family member as Sir William Davenant, a playwright of considerable reputation. Elizabeth Davenant’s music manuscript was compiled in Oxford around 1624. The Royal Court of Charles I had come to move its focus from London – with its plagues and fumes and noise and increasingly intense pressure from the religious – to Oxford, which became the focal point for leading artistic taste.

Elizabeth’s manuscript foreshadows all of that: what is now an obscure private collection, was then part of the avant-garde. It is an eclectic collection, representing an excellent overview of changing taste in the 1620s. It looks back to the ‘golden age’ of the lute-song, with works by Thomas Campion, to the generation that followed in songs by Robert Johnson that have a strong theatrical context, and forward to the new generation of Cavalier Poets such as Herrick, and their contemporary composers, John Wilson and Henry Lawes.

We cannot know the extent to which Elizabeth Davenant was involved with the choice: was it written by her music tutor, or written to order? However, it is clear that the songs were consciously intended for a talented young lady. Looking at some of the music a little more closely, one finds at times quite extraordinary complex ideas in the poetry, reflected potently in the settings. The high degree of vocal ornamentation of many of the items found in the collection suggests an advanced awareness of vocal performing styles of the 1620s. Indeed it suggests that Elizabeth Davenant was well capable of performing in this virtuoso manner (why otherwise would the scribe have included so much vocal ornamentation?), and it also suggests that the Oxford audience to whom she performed was sufficiently discriminating to appreciate such vocal dexterity.

Track Listing:
1. Anonymous: Heare my prayer O God   
2. Robert Johnson: Woodes, rocks & mountaines  
3. Robert Johnson: Galliard (My Lady Mildemays Delight)  
4. Anonymous: Cloris sighd and sang and wept  
5. Robert Johnson: Almain  
6. Mary Wroth: When nights black mantle  
7. John Wilson: Go happy hart   
8. Anonymous: Dropp drop goulden showrs  
9. Robert Johnson: Pavan   
10. Anonymous: If when I dye  
11. Anonymous: Cease o cease this hum of greeving    
12. Mary Wroth: How well poore hart  
13. Anonymous: Musicke thou soule of heaven  
14. Anonymous: I prithee leave love me no more  
15. Robert Johnson: Carman's Whistle   
16. Henry Lawes: Like to the damaske rose  
17. Anonymous: Sleepe sleep though greife torment thy body   
18. Thomas Campion: Come you prettie false eyd wanton   
19. Anonymous: Whether away my sweetest deerest    
20. Mary Wroth: Good now bee still   
21. Robert Johnson: Have you seene the white lilly grow  
22. Anonymous: Eyes gaze no more   
23. Anonymous: Shall I weepe or shall I singe?   
24. Robert Johnson: Galliard   
25. Robert Johnson: Care charming sleepe   
26. Anonymous: My strength hath faild