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William Lawes (April 1602 – 24 September 1645) was an English composer and musician.

For the missionary 1839–1907, see William George Lawes.

William Lawes
BornApril 1602
Salisbury, Wiltshire
Died(1645-09-24)24 September 1645
Rowton Heath, near Chester
She Weepeth Sore in the Night, four voice round Play (help·info)
"She Weepeth Sore in the Night", four voice round She Weepeth Sore in the Night, four voice round Play (help·info)Play (help·info)

Life and career


Lawes was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and was baptised on 1 May 1602. He was the son of Thomas Lawes, a vicar choral at Salisbury Cathedral, and brother to Henry Lawes, a very successful composer in his own right. It is possible the young William was a member of the cathedral choir there.[1]

His patron, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, apprenticed him to the composer John Coprario, which probably brought Lawes into contact with Charles, Prince of Wales at an early age. Both William and his elder brother Henry received court appointments after Charles succeeded to the British throne as Charles I. William was appointed as "musician in ordinary for lutes and voices" in 1635 but had been writing music for the court prior to this.

Lawes spent all his adult life in Charles's employ. He composed secular music and songs for court masques (and doubtless played in them), as well as sacred anthems and motets for Charles's private worship. He is most remembered today for his sublime viol consort suites for between three and six players and his lyra viol music. His use of counterpoint and fugue and his tendency to juxtapose bizarre, spine-tingling themes next to pastoral ones in these works made them disfavoured in the centuries after his death; they have only become widely available in recent years.

When Charles's dispute with Parliament led to the outbreak of the Civil War, Lawes joined the Royalist army. During the Siege of York, Lawes was living in the city and wrote at least one piece of music as a direct result of the military situation – the round See how Cawood's dragon looks, a vivid and defiant response to the Parliamentarian capture of Cawood Castle, about ten miles from York.[2] He was given a post in the King's Life Guards, which was intended to keep him out of danger. Despite this, he was "casually shot" by a Parliamentarian in the rout of the Royalists at Rowton Heath, near Chester, on 24 September 1645. Although the King was in mourning for his kinsman Bernard Stuart (killed in the same defeat), he instituted a special mourning for Lawes, apparently honouring him with the title of "Father of Musick."[3] The author of his epitaph, Thomas Jordan, closed it with a lachrymose pun on the fact that Lawes had died at the hands of those who denied the divine right of kings:

Will. Lawes was slain by such whose wills were laws.[3]

Lawes' body was lost or destroyed and his burial site is unknown.[4]


Musical style


Lawes' instrumental music is typical of the 17th-century genre in England. Intense rhythmical gestures and dissonant harmonies stand in stark contrast with the traditional rules of counterpoint such as practiced by previous composers which were known to Lawes, like William Byrd. His writing style is highly mannered, oft experimental and virtuosic; melodies may be fragmented and altered with varied articulation and accentuation. Lawes was known to be a virtuoso on the lyra viol. There as well his music features chromatic extremes which are not normally encountered in works of the early Baroque. Nevertheless, his works, including two compositions on the cantus firmus In nomine, show that he was aware of the theoretical practices of his day.

He is particularly known for his ensemble dance music, which takes the form of suites called "consort sets," well appreciated by his contemporaries and successors.[1] Ten of these sets form a fine and varied collection called the Royal Consort, completed in 1635 for Charles I of England. This was issued in two versions: for two treble viols, tenor viol, bass viol and theorbo continuo; and, later, for two violins, two bass viols and two theorbos. Until recently the violin version was the better known, thanks to editing work done in the 1960s, but scholarship has revealed the four-viol version to be of much better quality, having been the original setting. Many of Lawes' consort sets seem to have been composed as functional music or pedagogical pieces.


Works



for Voice



for Solo instrument



for Instrumental ensemble


Note that the Royal Consort sets below exist in a primary scoring of 2 Treble Viols, Tenor Viol, Bass Viol and Theorbo (as thorough-bass, or continuo) as well as in an alternative, but recently discredited, scoring of 2 Treble Viols, 2 Bass Viols and 2 Theorbos (with the option of violins replacing the treble viols). Sources with the two-theorbo scoring show extra movements, notably a Fantasy and an Ecco each to open and close Sets 1 and 6, and adjustments to the sequence of movements.


for the Church



for the Stage



Discography


Aire à 4, VdGS No.112, Oxford. Bodleian Library, Mus.Sch.b.2, p.33 (ca.1638-45)
Performed by Phillip W. Serna, Treble & Bass Viols
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Fretwork & Paul Nicholson; Virgin Classics 91187-2; 1991
London Baroque; Harmonia Mundi HMA 1901493; 1994
The Purcell Quartet; Chandos CHAN0552, 1994
The Purcell Quartet with Nigel North & Paul O'Dette; Chandos CHAN0584/5, 1995
the Rose Consort of Viols, Timothy Roberts, Jacob Heringman & David Miller; Naxos 8.550601; 1995
The Greate Consort; Gaudeamus CD GAU146, 1995
Fretwork, Catherine Bott, Richard Boothby & Paul Nicholson; Virgin Classics 5451472; 1995
The Greate Consort; CD GAU147, 1997
René Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken, Lucy van Dael, Wieland Kuijken, Toyohiko Satoh, Edward Witsenbug, Gustav Leonhardt; Sony Classical 1997
Music's Re-creation; Centaur CRC 2385; 1998
Jonathan Dunford, Sylvia Abramowicz & Sylvia Moquet; Adès 465 607–2; 1998
Phantasm & Sarah Cunningham; Channel Classics CCS 15698; 2000
Phantasm, Susanne Braumann & Varpu Haavisto; Channel Classics CCS 17498; 2002
Hespèrion XXI, Alia Vox AV9823A, AV9823B; 2002
Concordia, Metronome MET CD 1045; 2002
Maxine Eilander et Les Voix Humaines; ATMA Classique ACD22372; 2008
Les Voix Humaines; ATMA Classique ACD22373; 2012
Phantasm & Laurence Dreyfus; Linn CKD470; 2015
Latitude 37; ABC Classics 4812100; 2015

Further reading



See also



Notes


  1. Hansell, Sven (2001). "William Lawes". In Allihn, Ingeborg (ed.). Barockmusikführer : Instrumentalmusik 1550-1770 (in German). Stuttgart: Metzler. pp. 256–259. ISBN 3476009793.
  2. Gameson, Paul (2017). Notes to Music for Troubled Times: The English Civil War and Siege of York, Resonus Classics RES10194.
  3. Pinto, David (2001). "Lawes, William, §1: Life". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5. ‎
  4. "Why is Chester the English Omphalos?".

References





На других языках

[de] William Lawes

William Lawes (* Ende April 1602 in Salisbury, Wiltshire; † 24. September 1645) war ein englischer Komponist und Musiker.
- [en] William Lawes

[es] William Lawes

William Lawes (1 de mayo de 1602 en Wiltshire, Inglaterra- ? de 1645), fue un compositor barroco.

[ru] Лоуз, Уильям

Уильям Лоус или Лоуз (William Lawes, апрель 1602 — 24 сентября 1645) — английский композитор и музыкант эпохи барокко.


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