Taco Tuesday #107: Fish and Chips Tacos
Danny Johnson
Welp, I was gonna remark about how great Fall is, but since we are currently in 4th Summer, I might want to wait a bit longer, lest I jinx the onset of true Fall. If you’re like me, and I know I am, I know you wouldn’t want that to happen. Nevertheless, we will endure the heat and start making this musical Taco that’s a little bit overdue, sorry.
Since we just finished a quite fun season-opening Paris City Limits concert, let’s go back to last year’s season opener, which was, appropriately enough, London City Limits! It was great fun, too! We will re-visit this concert for this Taco and the next one, as well.
London City Limits: Town & Country
October 7 & 8, 2023
We began our 2023-2024 season of concerts with this lively celebration of music in England during the time frame of about 1580–1680; this is music of the people, a little bit from the courts and cathedrals, and definitely music of the pubs. We will begin this Taco with two ballads and will end with a light-hearted canzonette for 2 voices. (This last piece has personal significance: I remember singing it as a Junior in the Texas Tech U. Collegium Musicum and for a long time after that!)
Our two ballads reveal both the musical humor and the political life of the times. Early ballads were dramatic or humorous narrative songs derived from folk culture that predated printing. Originally spread via oral tradition, many ballads survive because they were printed on broadsides. (A broadside or broadsheet is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often including a ballad, rhyme, news, and sometimes woodcut illustrations.) Musical notation was rarely printed, since tunes were usually established favorites, such as Greensleeves or Packington’s Pound. The term ballad eventually applied more broadly to any kind of topical or popular verse.
A SATYR on the Times: Fools and Mad-men 🙞 Anonymous, based on Greensleeves,
arr. D. Johnson
Wit and Mirth: or Pills to Purge Melancholy, ed. Thomas d’Urfey
London: W. Pearson for J. Tonson, 1719/1720, vol. VI, p. 229
Cristian Cantu & Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, soloists
Our first offering is a satire on various figures of the English populace; there are many, many verses, so I picked some of the ones most relatable to current audiences. You might recognize the basic melody (The Praise of HULL Ale) as being a variant of Greensleeves, and I added two more levels of Greensleeves-love in our instrumental sections. I created variations on dances by John Playford (1623–c. 1687) and William Cobbold (1560–1639).
A World that’s full of Fools and Mad-men,
Of over-glad, and over-sad Men,
With a few good, but many bad Men,
Which no Body can deny.
Many Lawyers that undo ye,
But few Friends who will stick to ye,
And other Ills that do pursue ye,
Which no Body can deny.
So many of Religious Sect,
Who quite do mis-expound the Text,
About ye know not what perplext,
Which no Body can deny.
Many Diseases that do fill ye,
Many Doctors that do kill ye,
Few Physicians that do heal ye,
Which no Body can deny.
And if they will not take Offence,
Many great Men of little Sense,
Who yet to Politicks make Pretence,
Which no Body can deny.
A World compos’d, ’tis strange to tell,
Of seeming Paradise, yet real Hell,
Yet all agree to lov’t too well,
Which no Body can deny.
The Cloak’s Knavery. To the Tune of Packington’s Pound. 🙞 Roxburghe Collection of Ballads, 1660?; arr. D. Johnson;
British Library, EBBA 30194, C.20.f.9.394, p. 3.394
Ryland Angel & Jenifer Thyssen, soloists
The second ballad is a little trickier. The melody, Packington’s Pound, was already in vogue during the reign of Elizabeth, and it was applied to countless other ballads with myriad themes. The Cloak’s Knavery is thought to be an attack on the Covenant Movement and the Protestant Succession, written by someone with strong Catholic sympathies. The image of the black cloak that dominates the ballad most likely symbolizes religious ritual and there are also references to the ending of Common Prayers, which Charles I had introduced in 1637. The references to the plundering of churches also supports the interpretation that the ballad is a protest against the dominance of Protestantism and was written sometime around 1650. Again, there are many verses in the original; I moved some around and picked several of the verses that would be most easily relatable.
Come buy my new Ballad, I have’t in my Wallet,
But ’twill not, I fear, please every Palate:
Then mark what ensu’th, for I swear by my Youth,
That every Line in my Ballad is Truth:
A Ballad of Wit, a brave Ballad of Worth,
’Tis newly Printed and newly come Forth.
’Twas made of a Cloak that fell out with the Gown,
That cramp’d all the Kingdom, and crippl’d the Crown.
I’ll tell you in Brief a Story of Grief,
That happen’d when Cloak was Commander in Chief:
It tore Common-Pray’rs, imprison’d Lord Mayors,
In one Day it voted down Prelates and Play’rs:
It brought in lay Elders could not Write nor Read,
It set publick Faith up, but pull’d down the Creed;
Then let us endeavour to pull the Cloak down,
That cramp’d all the Kingdom, and crippl’d the Crown.
This Pious Imposter such Fury did Foster,
It left us no Penny nor no Pater Noster;
To Father and Mother, to Sister and Brother,
It gave a Commission to Kill one another:
It routed the King and Villains Elected,
To plunder all those whom they thought Disaffected:
Then let us endeavour to pull the Cloak down,
That cramp’d all the Kingdom, and crippl’d the Crown.
This Cloak did proceed to a Damnable Deed,
It made the best Mirrour of Majesty bleed:
Tho’ Cloak did not do’t, It set it on Foot,
By rallying and calling his Journey Men to’t:
For never had come such a bloody Disaster,
If Cloak had not first drawn a Sword at his Master:
Then let us endeavour to pull the Cloak down,
That cramp’d all the Kingdom, and crippl’d the Crown.
Though some of ’em went hence, by sorrowful Sentence,
This lofty long Cloak is not mov’d to Repentance;
But he and his Men, Twenty Thousand times Ten,
Are Plotting to do their Tricks over again:
But let this proud Cloak to Authority stoop,
Or Catch will provide him a Button and Loop,
hen let us endeavour to pull the Cloak down,
That cramp’d all the Kingdom, and crippl’d the Crown.
For we’ll ever endeavour to pull the Cloak down,
That cramp’d all the Kingdom, and crippl’d the Crown.
I Goe before, my darling 🙞 Thomas Morley; The First Booke of Canzonets to Two Voyces, No. 5
London: Thomas Este, 1595
Jenny Houghton & Jenifer Thyssen
Thomas Morley was a driving force in Elizabethan-era music, though often behind the scenes. His arrangements, editing, and promotion of pieces in the Italian style (occurring at the same time as the maturing of his English training) had the utmost influence on the development of the madrigal and created the standard for the other madrigalists. Although he generally eschewed the chromaticism and dramatic word-paintings of other madrigal composers, the beauty, grace, and poetic balance of his madrigals ensure their popularity for audiences and for singers, both professional and amateur. The easy lightness and humor combined with his skillful imitative writing of this duet are prime components of his canzonet style.
I Goe before, my darling,
Follow thou to the bowre in the close alley,
Ther wee will together,
Sweetly kisse each eyther,
And, lyke two wantons,
Dally, dally, dally…
Ah, yes, I remember ‘dallying’ with as much ‘ham’ as I could muster back in the old days; we were trying to convince people that early music wasn’t cold and book’ish. The struggle continues!
How about you? Might you fancy some ‘dallying’? Join us for our Fall TEMP-Oh on Monday, Nov. 11? We’re putting some pumpkin spice on our madrigals and inviting everyone, from lowly peasants to experienced madrigalians to come to this fun community sing! This time, we’ll be joined by Guest Conductor Cina Crisara, a longtime friend of TEMP and the Conductor of the Austin Opera Chorus! We’re so excited! Suggested $20 donation to attend. RSVP today to reserve your spot!
TEMP-Oh Community Madrigal Sing
Fall Edition
Monday, November 11, 2024
7:00pm
First English Lutheran Church
We will be back in approximately exactly two weeks with a bright, shiny new Taco for you featuring more hits from this very concert! Stay safe, stay sane!
Danny