Anthony Holborne (c.1545-1602) is a shadowy figure as far as music history is concerned, yet he’s almost certainly a composer whose music you’ve encountered from time to time. This is largely down to a collection of music we’re going to explore together today.
Our knowledge of Holborne’s life is a patchwork of ‘perhaps’ and ‘maybes’. The University of Cambridge alumni database shows an Anthony Holborne enrolled at Christ’s College in 1562 and speculates that it may well be our composer. Three years later, a man of the same name was admitted to the Inner Temple Court, but again the details are sketchy. However, we do know he had a (probably younger) brother, William, as Anthony included several of his sibling’s madrigals in his first publication - the Cittharn Schoole in 1597. We also know that on 14th June 1584 Anthony married Elisabeth Marten at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster - now the parish church of the House of Commons. A posthumous publication describes him as a ‘Gentleman usher’ to Queen Elizabeth I, but once again, it’s not clear quite what the job entailed - he certainly doesn’t appear in any records relating to musical life at the Chapel Royal.
During his latter years he worked in the service of Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and also enjoyed the patronage of Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke. We’ll encounter her again later, as we explore Holborne’s music. He was evidently well respected by his peers and the first song from John Dowland’s Second Booke, I saw my lady weepe, is dedicated to Holborne.
Pavans, Galliards, Almains and other short Aeirs, both grave and light, in five parts, for Viols, Violins, or other Musicall Winde Instruments
This is the collection for which Anthony Holborne is best known today. Published in 1599, it contains no fewer than 65 dances and is the the largest published collection of English music to survive from this period.
It’s not clear when Holborne composed these dances, but it’s likely to have happened over a period of several years. Some of the music appears in his Cittharn Schoole, published two years earlier, and several dances also exist in lute tablature. Which version came first is something we can only guess at.
The collection is dedicated to Sir Richard Champernowne (c.1558-1622), who was Member of Parliament for West Looe in Cornwall. Judging by the dedication found in the part books, Holborne was evidently appreciative of his patronage, opening with the following words:
“In a continued observation of your virtuous constancy in the love of Music, I have long and with great increase of reason honoured you most gentle Sir: for, even but part of my poor labours speaking in their kindly voice, from the experience of many years can feelingly witness and sing with what graceful favours they have been nourished at your hands. With this regard, I have distinctively bundled them up into a catalogue volume, accompanied with a more liberal and enlarged choice than hath at any time as yet come to your refined ears: and withal, have now made bold to present them as things not altogether unnecessary to do you pleasing service, but also to live and dwell with you under the protection of your good allowance, and the testimony of my ever-bounden thankfulness.”
Three different types of dance
Holborne’s 1599 collection contains three different types of dance - pavans, galliards and almains. Rather than simply naming the movements by dance type, he gives over half of them more creative names, although it’s clear enough which is which from their time signature. The pavans and galliards tend to appear in pairs, while the almains are grouped together towards the end of the volume, along with some other independent pieces in three-time which may be corantos.
Some of the dances are fairly straightforward examples, suitable for dancing, while others enjoy much more complex rhythms. The galliards can be particularly unpredictable, with never-ending shifts between duple and triple time, sometimes without even any consistency between individual parts. Ask anyone who’s wrestled with the complexities of The Fairie-round and they’ll almost certainly have come adrift at one time or another when rehearsing or performing this music!
Which instruments to choose?
Title page of this collection describes them for ‘viols, violins or other musical wind instruments’, which offers up a huge range of possibilities. Publishers of this period often suggested multiple instruments on title pages as an easy way to make the music appeal to a greater range of buyers. You may wish to play these dances with a recorder consort, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t also join together with friends who play the viol to create a ‘broken’ consort, mixing different instrument families.
While researching this subject I’ve discovered a myriad of recordings. There are performances which stick to one type of instrument, as well as those who mix wind and strings. Some combine bowed string instruments (viols and/or violins) with plucked instruments such as the lute or theorbo. But I’ve also encountered performances on recorders, sackbuts and cornetts, modern brass quintet and even tuba ensemble! If you really want to explore the rhythmic possibilities of this music there’s no reason why you couldn’t add a little percussion too, as you’ll hear in one of two of the recordings below. One thing’s for sure - you can play Holborne’s dances with a recorder consort with a clear conscience!
When it comes to selecting your recorders, the usual instrumentation for these dances is SATTB. However, if you’re short of tenor players, the Quintus line (the middle line of the score) will often fit the treble recorder too, albeit lying rather low in its range. The majority of the Bassus part fits perfectly on a bass recorder, and when the odd note disappears off the bottom of the instrument you can easily hop up to the octave above.
Holborne’s score writing
Partbooks published during Holborne’s life throw up one or two curiosities which are worth noting. The most significant is the way the Altus and Quintus parts of the first eight dances are inverted. As the higher voice, the Altus is the second line for the remainder of the collection, while Quintus occupies line three. All three modern editions I’ve mentioned below rectify this error so the Altus part book is always the second highest and the Quintus the line below. Quite why this quirk exists is unknown. Was it an intentional decision by Holborne, or an error by the typesetter? I doubt we’ll ever know!
Another oddity which always tickles me is Holborne’s selective use of a key signature in No.7 - a Pavan. Curiously, the B flat is only applied to the Quintus and Bassus lines in the 1599 partbooks. Looking through the Pavan, B flats only appear in these parts, so maybe this was the typesetter’s way of conserving time and ink? Once again, we have to fill in the blanks for ourselves in this story as there’s no recorded reason for this particular quirk!
Choosing an edition to play from
There are plenty of editions to be found of individual dances but I’m going to concentrate here on complete editions. There are two complete printed editions I think are worth seeking out, one more recent than the other.
Bernard Thomas’s London Pro Musica edition, LPM AH1
For a long while this was the go-to edition for Holborne, published by Bernard Thomas in 1980. I invested in this hefty box set when I was at music college and we often used it in consort rehearsals. Bernard added time signatures and bar lines, but interestingly chose to keep many of the Galliards in 6/2 rather than writing them in a more familiar 3/2 time signature. This makes hemiolas easier to spot as one voice often has three semibreves together, avoiding the need for tied notes across barlines - as you can see in the example below. It’s a clear edition with lots of detailed background notes.
Using a 6/2 time signature (in No.38 - Galliard) helps make it clearer where the hemiolas occur, as you can see from the three semibreves in the cantus and bassus parts.
Peacock Press Edition, edited by George Simmons and Virginia VanPoole, 2011. Peacock Press PEMS014
A more recent addition to the available modern editions is this one from Peacock Press. You can buy it as a box set, but if you need extra parts in different clefs they’re available individually too. Like the previous edition, this is beautifully clear and well laid out and this is the version I use most often.
These two printed editions aren’t cheap, but there’s a pleasure to be had playing from a well thought out and clear bound copy. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure my set of the Bernard Thomas edition cost me about £30 when I bought it thirty years ago, so the current £40 price tag of either edition makes them look like inflation beaters in today’s financial climate!
Free editions:
If you’re still getting to know Holborne’s music and haven’t decided whether to splash out on a printed edition yet there are also some free download editions you can try.
New unbarred edition: I recently discovered this newish edition, edited by Ben Maloney as part of his degree at the University of York in 2019. Ben went back to the set of partbooks held at Christ Church, Oxford, which have some interesting annotations from the original publisher, to start from scratch. He’s chosen to retain Holborne’s mensuration signs (the predecessor to modern time signatures) and has left the music unbarred. This results in clearer rhythmic patterns, removing the need for ties across barlines. If you’re someone who really finds barlines helpful, Ben has added small dashes to show the start of each ‘bar’ - a handy halfway house to going fully unbarred. You’ll find the score for Ben’s edition here and the parts here.
IMSLP: If you’ve never tried any of Holborne’s music a good place to begin is IMSLP, where both Ulrich Alpers and Daniel Van Gilst have generously made all the dances available in score format. These are a good way to explore and see which ones you like - you can find them here.
Holborne’s 1599 Edition: If you want to go right back to source material, scans of the 1599 partbooks are even available. Reading from original notation isn’t for everyone, but if you enjoy the challenge, or perhaps you’re just curious, I’ve collected the five part books together in one PDF file here.
My Holborne highlights
To complete my look at Holborne’s dances I’ve spent lots of time listening to the many recordings on YouTube. I’ve picked out a selection of my favourite Holborne dances for you to explore, along with a wide variety of different recordings. These include performances on recorders, but you’ll discover some less predictable instrumentation along the way too.
The Marie-golde - No.8
I’m going to begin my selection with one of Holborne’s simplest galliards, The Marie-Golde. He takes a very chordal approach with this one, avoiding too many complex syncopations, and you can imagine this being danced to. Among the more traditional performances I found this very sonorous recording by the Chromos Tuba Quartet - a combination of instruments even Holborne wouldn’t have expected when he gave such a generously broad range of options on the front cover!
Infernum - No.21
This beautiful Pavan is a fascinating mix of styles. The first two sections feature plenty of counterpoint between the parts, while the final section returns to a more chordal approach, with all five voices moving in parallel. I’ve chosen two contrasting performances, the first of which features Hesperion XXI directed by Jordi Savall. In keeping with the rather dour title, he goes for sombre viols and lute, with the addition of bass drum at key moments.
In contrast, Capella de la Torre go for a largely wind based consort featuring shawms and sackbuts, with lute and drums. The result is fabulously sonorous and I can’t wait to explore more from this ensmeble.
My Selfe - No.36
Here we have another Galliard and, one presumes, a self portrait of the composer. This is another number where you feel you could actually dance along. The tone of The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble is gentler than modern brass, but you’d still be able to hear them clearly over the sound of dancing shoes on a wooden floor.
The Image of Melancholy - No.27
If ever you need something mellow and harmonious to relax to after a busy day I can’t recommend this Pavan enough. The music begins with a steady, contemplative feel, gradually becoming more conversational as the piece draws on.
With this performance by Consort Brouillamini you get four Holborne dances for the price of one, recorded at a concert in 2019. Played on wide bore Renaissance recorders, their tone is glorious and it’s great to see this wonderful music being played before an audience.
I also discovered another performance on recorders, this time by The Royal Wind Music, directed by Paul Leenhouts. This uses a broader palette of tones, with each line doubled at the octave.
The Night Watch - No.55
Now we come to an almain, a somewhat livelier dance than the preceding pavan. This is one of Holborne’s best known dances and is sure to get your feet tapping. The Academy of Ancient Music take a relatively leisurely approach, so perhaps the watchman in question was reaching the end of his night on duty…
Wanton - No.61
Holborne doesn’t specify the type of dance here, but it’s generally assumed the triple time movements towards the end of the collection are Corantos. I love the perpetually shifting rhythmic patterns and it can be tricky to grasp where the beat is moving to next.
Bjarte Eike’s recording with the Barokksolistene takes a relaxed approach which I really enjoy.
In contrast Les Sacquboutiers chose a livelier tempo, playing cornetts and sackbuts, with some delicate percussion to emphasise the perpetually shifting meter.
The Funerals - No.31
This beautiful Pavan was inspired by a heartbreaking story, which just makes it even more moving. Holborne’s patron, the Countess of Pembroke, tragically lost her father, mother and brother in the same year, 1586, and he wrote this as a lament for their loss. The opening is section is gorgeously sonorous, with a very static bass line. Gradually the music encompasses more movement and in the final section the Bassus line takes centre stage. Les Voix Baroques and Matthew White create a heart rending sense of melancholy with a broken consort. They use a combination of instruments I would never have considered but it’s so effective and beautifully played.
Muy Linda - No.34) Galliard
Whoever Linda was, she evidently had a sense of humour if Holborne’s music is anything to go by! The music bops along, switching endlessly between simple and compound time and Holborne really has some fun in the final section. Here the Cantus, Quintus, Tenor and Bassus lines play quite happily together in 3/2, while the Altus part stubbornly sticks with a 6/4 meter. I’ve had some fun working on this with several groups recently and there’s always a degree of mirth as we wrestle with Holborne’s cross-rhythms!
The first of my chosen recordings features Les Sacqboutiers once again, with their wonderfully delicate sackbut and cornett combination, accompanied by a sparkling tambourine.
In contrast L'Achéron go for a string based approach, combining viols, cittern, bandora and ottavino, creating masses of energy but occupying a totally different tonal world.
The Fruit of Love - No.58
The Fruit of Love is another Almain, and a good place to begin if you’re new to Holborne. I featured the B-Five Recorder Consort in one of my Sounding Pipes playlists a while ago and was delighted to find more of their mellow recorder tones here.
We’ve met L'Achéron already, but here we have another video, featuring The Fruit of Love, in the trailer for their album of Holborne, as well as an introduction by their director, François Joubert-Caillet, explaining more about their approach to this music. You also get a second helping of Muy Linda at the end!
The Fairie-Round - No.63
I couldn’t complete my list of Holborne hits without including The Fairie-Round - a truly interstellar piece! As well as being littered with brain jingling cross-rhythms, this is one of the pieces NASA chose to include on the golden records they sent into space on the Voyager 1 and 2 probes in 1977. These discs were designed as a representation of human culture and achievement, should the probes ever be intercepted by extra-terrestrial life. They’re currently heading out of our panetary system, beyond Pluto, but given the vastness of space it may be some time before any aliens get to hear David Munrow’s take on this particular dance!
If that performance wasn’t energetic enough for you, do take a listen to this interpretation by Consort Brouillamini from their album The Woods so Wild. It’s played at a lower pitch than the Early Music Consort of London, but that doesn’t stop it sparkling like the sun!
Heigh Ho Holiday - No.65
My final selection just had to be Holborne’s final dance, Heigh Ho Holiday, which is full of joy. The Royal Wind Music bring buckets of energy to their performance. They begin with a sparkling four foot consort, before adding the deepest tones of the recorder world without diminishing the sense of drive by one iota.
Which is your favourite Holborne?
Perhaps you’re already a Holborne convert, playing them regularly with a consort. Or maybe you’ve made some new discoveries today and are raring to give them a try? Either way, I’d love to hear which of his dances you love the most. I’m sure you’ll agree there’s something in the collection to be enjoyed whatever mood you’re in, be it melancholic or bursting with energy. Please do drop a comment below to share your favourites and I’d love to know if anyone has played all of them!