Sweet Was The Song

The New World Renaissance Band

 1. The Peacefull Westerne Winde    Thomas Campion        (2:47)  (A) (B)     (D)     (F)
 2. Se L'Aura Spira                 Girolamo Frescobaldi  (3:15)  (A) (B)     (D)     (F)         (I)  
 3. Cessés Mortels de Soupirer      Pierre Guedron        (5:21)  (A) (B)     (D)     (F)
 4. In Te, Domine, Speravi          Josquin des Pres      (1:17)              (D)
 5. Ma Belle Si Ton Ame             Gilles Durant         (3:43)  (A) (B)     (D)         (G)         (J)
 6. Joy To The Person Of My Love    Anon.                 (3:38)  (A)     (C) (D)     (F)
 7. Innsbruck, Ich Muss Dich Lassen Heinrich Isaac        (3:00)  (A) (B)     (D)     (F)
 8. Never Weather Beaten Sail       Thomas Campion        (2:38)              (D)     (F)     (H)
 9. Awake, Sweet Love               John Dowland          (2:23)  (A) (B)     (D)     (F)
10. The Nightwatch                  Anthony Holborne      (2:10)              (D)     (F)     (H) (I)
11. Can She Excuse My Wrongs        John Dowland          (2:38)  (A) (B)     (D)         (G)     (I)
12. Perdida Tenyo La Color /
      Toda Mi Vida Os Ame           Luis Milan            (4:53)  (A) (B)     (D) (E) (F)         (I)
13. Now, O Now I Needs Must Part    John Dowland          (2:23)  (A) (B)     (D)     (F)     (H)     (J)
14. Mille Regretz                   Josquin des Pres      (3:56)  (A)     (C) (D)     (F)                 (K)  solo: (D)


Players

Owain Phyfe         (A) Voice
                    (B) Chitarra Battente, 6 course, 6 string (1990, James North, Brighton, Michigan)
                    (C) Chitarra Battente, 6 course, 10 string (1993, James North, Brighton, Michigan)
Stefano Pando       (D) Renaissance Lute, 8 course (1983, Richard Fletcher)
                    (E) Oud, 5 course (1993, Edouard Rusnak)
Max Dyer            (F) Cello (1868, H. C. Sylvestre, gut strings by Eudoxa)
Isabelle Marchand   (G) Viola da Gamba, 7 string bass after Lewis (1981, Philipp Davis, Quebec)
                    (H) Treble Viol (1979, Philipp Davis, Quebec)
Mark Logsdon        (I) Percussion
Karen McConachie    (J) Harmony Voice
Douglas Kirk        (K) Cornetto, after Venetian originals (1992, John McCann, Salt Lake City, Utah)



Track: 1  

Title: The Peacefull Westerne Winde

by Thomas Campion

The peacefull westerne winde
The winter stromes hath tam'd,   
And nature in each kinde
The kinde heat hath inflam'd.
The forward buds so sweetly breathe
Out of their earthly bowers,
That heav'n which views their pompe beneath,
Would faine be deckt with flowers.

See how the morning smiles
From her bright eastern hill,
And with soft steps beguiles
Them that lie slumbring still.
The musicke-loving birds have come
from cliffes and rockes unknowne;
To see the trees and briers bloome,
That late were over-flowne.

What Saturne did destroy,
Loves Queen revives againe;
And now her naked boy
Doth in the fields remaine:
Where he such pleasing change doth view
In ev'ry living thing,
As if the world were born anew,
To gratifie the Spring.



Track: 2  

Title: Se L'Aura Spira

by Girolamo Frescobaldi

Se l'aura spira tutta vezzosa
La fresca rosa ridente sta,
La Siepe ombrosa di bei smeraldi
D'estivi caldi timor non ha.

A'balli, a'balli liete venite,
Ninfe gradite, fior di belta,
Or che si chiaro il vago fonte
Dall'alto monte al mar sen va.

suci dolci versi spiega l'augello,  
E l'arbuscello fiorito sta.
Un volto bello all'ombra accanto
Sol si dia vanto d'aver pieta.

Al canto, Ninfe ridenti,
Scacciate i venti di crudelta.


English translation:

When the graceful breeze blows,
The fresh rose laughs
And the shady hedge of emerald green
Has no fear of the summer heat.

Come delight in the dance,
Nature's fair maidens, flowers of beauty,
While the clear stream
Flows from the mountain to the sea.

Such sweet verses spread from bird to bird
Bringing the sappling to flower.   
A beautiful face in the nearby shade
Alone exalts in displaying compassion.

With your song, sweet maidens,
Drive away the winds of cruelty.



Track: 3  

Title: Cessés Mortels de Soupirer

by Pierre Guedron

Cessés mortels de soupirer,
Cette beauté n'est pas mortelle;
Il est permis de l'adorer,
Mais non pas d'estre amoureux d'elle.

Les Dieux tant seulement
Peuvent aymer si hautement.

Celuy seroit trop insencé
Quelque heur où son bonheur aspire,
Si ces beaux yeux l'avoyent blesse,
D'oser descouvrir son martire;

Car les dieux seulement
Peuvent aymer si hautement.

Sa grace, son oeil sans rigueurs
Fait san flater qu'on la peut dire.
Reyne des beautés et des coeurs,
Qu'elle entretient le sceptre et l'empire;

Mais les dieux seulement
Peuvent aymer si hautement.


English translation:

Sigh no more, mortals,
Her beauty is not of this world,
You may adore her,
But you may never love her.

The gods alone
May love so nobly.

That one will become quite mad,
Chancing to aspire to such happiness,
If those beautiful eyes have graced him
For daring to discover his own undoing;

For the gods alone
Mya love so nobly.

Her charm, her eye so gentle
remains unmoved by flattering words.
Queen of beauty and of hearts,
She maintains both the scepter and her realm.

But the gods alone
May love so nobly.



Track: 4

Title: In Te, Domine, Speravi

by Josquin des Pres

(Instrumental)



Track: 5  

Title: Ma Belle Si Ton Ame

by Gilles Durant

Ma belle si ton ame
Se sent or allumer
De cette douce flame
Qui nous force d'aymer,
Allons contans,
Allons sur la verdure,
Allons tandis que dure
Nostre jeune printemps.

Avant que la journee
De nostre age qui fuit
Se sent environee
Des ombres de la nuit,
Prenons loysir
De vivre nostre vie
Et sans craindre l'envie
Baisons nous a plaisir.

Du soleil la lumiere
Sur le soir se desteint,
Puis a l'aube premiere
Elle reprend son teint.
Mais nostre jour,
Quant une foys il tombe,
Demeure sous la tombe,
Y faisant long sejour.

Ca, finette affinee
Ca, rompons le destin,
Qui clot nostre journee
Souvent des le matin.


English translation:

My beautiful one, if your soul
now feels itself glowing
with this sweet flame
which compels us to love,
let us go happily,
let us go upon the greenery,
let us go while
our young springtime lasts.

Before the day
of our time passes,
feeling itself wrapped
in the shadows of night,
let us take leisure
in living our lives
and, without fear of rivalry,
let us kiss at our pleasure.

The sun's light
fades at eventide;
then, at daybreak,
its color is revived.
but our day,
when once it falls,
remains in the grave,
there to dwell for a long time.

Here then, my precious one,
here then, let us break from such a fate,
which would end our day
even before morning has passed.


Track: 6  

Title: Joy to the Person of My Love

Anon.

Joy to the person of my love
Although she me distain.
Fixt are my thoughts and may not move
And yet I love in vain.
Shall I lose the sight of my joy and heart's delight?
Or shall I cease my sute?
Shall I strive to touch?   
Oh, no, it were too much;
She is forbidden fruit.
Oh, woe is me, that ever I did see
The beauty that did me bewitch.
Yet, our alace!  I must forgo that face
The tresour I esteem'd so much.

A thousand good fortuns fall to her share
Although she hath rejected me
And fill'd my sad heart full of despaire
Yet ever shall I constant be.
For she is the Dame that my tongue shall ever name
Fair branch of modestie.
Choise of heart and mind,
Oh, were she half so kind
Then would she pitie me.
Sweet, turn at last, be kind as thou art chast
And let me in thy bosom dwell.
Then shall we gain the pleasur of love's pain.
Till then, my deirest deir, farewell.



Track: 7  

Title: Innsbruck, Ich Muss Dich Lassen

by Heinrich Isaac

Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen,
ich fahr dahin mein Strassen,
in fremde Land dahin.
Mein Freud is mir genommen,
die ich nit weiss bekommen,
wo ich im Elend bin.

Gross Leid muss ich jetzt tragen,
das ich allein tu klagen
dem liebsten Buhlen mein.
Ach Lieb, nun lass mich Armen
im Herzen dein erbarmen,
dass ich muss dannen sein.

Mein Trost ob allen Weiben,
dein tu ich ewig bleiben,
stet treu, der Ehren fromm.
Nun muss dich Gott bewahren,
in aller Tugend sparen,
bis dass ich wiederkomm.


English translation:

Innsbruck, I must leave you
For I am traveling the road
to a foreign land.
(There,) deprived of my joy
and knowing not how to get it back,
I will be in misery.

I am burdened with great sorrow
which I can shed only
through the one dearest to me.
O my love, leave me not bereft
of compassion in your heart
that I must part from you.

My comfort above all other women,
I remain yours forever,
always faithful, in true honor.
And now, may God protect you,
safe in virtue,
till I return.



Track: 8

Title: Never Weather Beaten Sail

by Thomas Campion

(Instrumental)



Track: 9  

Title: Awake, Sweet Love

by John Dowland

Awake, sweet love, thou art return'd
My heart, which long in absence mourn'd
Lives now in perfect joy.
Let love, which never absent dies,
Now live forever in her eyes,
Whence came my first annoy.
Only herself hath seemed fair;
She only I could love.
She only drave me to despair,
When she unkind did prove.
Despair did make me wish to die;
that I my joys might end;
She only, which did make me fly,
My state may now amend.

If she esteem thee now aught worth,
She will not grieve thy love henceforth,
Which so despair hath prov'd.
Despair hath proved now in me
That love will not unconstant be,  
Though long in vain I lov'd.
If she at last reward thy love
And all thy harms repair,
Thy happiness will sweeter prove,
Rais'd up from deep despair.
And if that now thou welcome be
When thou with her dost meet.
She all the while but play'd with thee
To make thy joys more sweet.



Track: 10

Title: The Nightwatch

by Anthony Holborne

(Instrumental)




Track: 11  

Title: Can She Excuse My Wrongs

by John Dowland

Can she excuse my wrongs with virtues cloak:
Shall I call her good when she proves unkind.
Are those cleere fiers which vannish into smoake:
Must I praise the leaves where no fruit I find.

No no shadows do for bodies stand,
Thou maist be abusde if thy sight be dim.
Cold love is like to words writ on sand,
Or to bubbles which upon the water swim.

Wilt thou be thus abused still,
Seeing that she will right thee never
If thou canst not orecome her will,
Thy love will thus be fruitless ever.

Was I so base that I might not aspire
Unto those high joyes which she houlds from me,
As they are high so high is my desire,
If she this deny what can granted be.

If she will yeeld to that which reason is,
It be reasons will that love should be just,
Love make me happy now by granting this,  
Or cut off delayes if that dye I must.

Better a thousand times to dye.
Than to live thus tormented,
But remember it was I
Who for thy sake did dye contented.



Track: 12  

Title: Perdida Tenyo La Color

by Luis Milan

Perdida Tenyo la color,
dize minya mayre que lo he d'amour.

La color tenyo perdida
por una desconocida.

Non tenyo color de vida,
dize minya mayre que lo he d'amour.


English translation:

I have lost my color,
my mother says that is because of love.

I have lost my color
over a girl who is still a stranger.

I no longer have the color of life,
my mother says that it is because of love.


Title: Toda Mi Vida Os Ame

by Luis Milan

Toda mi Vida os ame.
Si me amays yo no lo se.
Se que soy aborrecido
Ya que sabe el disfavor.
Y por siempre os amare.
Si me amays yo no lo se.


English translation:

All my life I have loved you.
If you love me, I don't know it.
I know that I am scorned by you
for I have felt your disfavor.

And forever I will love you.
If you love me, I don't know it.



Track: 13  

Title: Now, O Now I Needs Must Part

by John Dowland

Now, o now I needs must part,
Parting though I absent mourn.
Absence can no joy impart;
Joy once fled cannot return.

While I live I needs must love,
Love lives not when hope is gone.
Now at last despair doth prove
Love divided loveth none.

Sad despair doth drive me hence;
This despair unkindness sends.
If that parting be offence,
It is she which then offends.

Dear, when I from thee am gone,
Gone are all my joys at once.
I lov'd thee and thee alone,
In whole love I joyed once.



Track: 14  

Title: Mille Regretz

by Josquin des Pres

Mille regretz de vous habandonner
Et d'eslonger votre fache amoureuse;
J'ay si grand dueil et paine douloureuse,
Qu'on me verra brief mes jours deffiner.


English translation:

A thousand regrets for abandonning you  
And leaving your loving face.
I have such great sorrow and pain
That soon my days will be seen to be numbered.