Dale Carr | Pavan of 3 pts by Thomas Tomkins performed by Dale Carr on a harpsichord by Hendrik Broekman @dalecarr6361 | Uploaded September 2023 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
Pavan of 3 pts by Thomas Tomkins {1572 - 1656}
performed by Dale Carr on a harpsichord made in 1975 by Hendrik Broekman
based on an instrument by Michel Richard, 1688
with chinoiserie and soundboard painting by Sheridan Germann
Tomkins's Pavan of 3 parts has the mood and tempo of a pavan, but misses other customary characteristics of the genre. The restriction to 3 voices contrasts with the normally dense texture of the English keyboard pavan; and the usual meter, slow duple, is contradicted by the 1st bass/harmony movement, which occurs after the 3rd ½-note beat. The MS containing the piece has been dated to the period 1646-1654, which is later than the heyday of English virginal music.
Counterpoint is certainly common in the pavans of Byrd, who was Tomkins's teacher; but the counterpoint was not normally strict and there were usually more than 3 {informal} voices; the texture was usually comprised of 4 or more informal voices.
Although keyboard pavans of 16th-century England were not intended primarily for dauncing, they nevertheless generally had a clear {stately duple} meter; this later example however begins with 3 ½-note beats centering around a G-major harmony, followed {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=26} by 3 ½-notes centering around C major. In addition, the opening melodic gesture, which is also comprised of 3 ½-note beats, is followed in the next "measure" by a similar gesture that is delayed by half a beat. A daring dauncer would soon be tripped up. The 1st section contains 17 ½-note beats, not reducible to either triple or duple meter.
The voices in the 2nd section {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=70} are more clearly imitative than in the 1st section: the opening motive in the top voice is heard again 4 times {both on and off the beat} before giving way {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=98} to a new motive, a lengthy descending scale of more than an 8ve. The meter {slow triple} is also more consistent in this section.
The 3rd section {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=129} appears to be metrically even more regular, with just an occasional ½-note extra inserted - still not daunceable. This extra beat isn't heard as an interruption, but more as an extension. Toward the end {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=148} the previously strict 3-part writing expands to less-strict 3-part writing leading to a climax in C major {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=158}. The cadence that follows is harmonically quite remarkable: a descent by 3rds in the bass {c-a-f-d} arrives at the dominant D.
A descent by 3rds is not unknown in music of other composers: listen for example to the end of a Præludium by Heinrich Sscheidemann @ youtu.be/Z_H7XuHELLY?t=190. Here we hear f-d-b𝄬-g leading to a long dominant A before the cadence on D.
Another example is found toward the end of Contrapunctus 1 from Bach's "Kunst der Fuge", youtu.be/TQ2oVZgq_dM?t=169. Here again we hear f-d-b𝄬-g leading to a long dominant A, followed this time by an ascent in 3rds d-f-a-c, which c moves to c#. This c# contradicts, finally, the sticky persistent c𝄮 of the answer in m.6 {youtu.be/TQ2oVZgq_dM?t=26} and makes possible the final cadence. For a more extensive discussion of the importance of this c𝄮, see youtube.com/watch?v=TQ2oVZgq_dM
Of these 3 final cadences I think that Tomkins’s is the most striking.
.
Pavan of 3 pts by Thomas Tomkins {1572 - 1656}
performed by Dale Carr on a harpsichord made in 1975 by Hendrik Broekman
based on an instrument by Michel Richard, 1688
with chinoiserie and soundboard painting by Sheridan Germann
Tomkins's Pavan of 3 parts has the mood and tempo of a pavan, but misses other customary characteristics of the genre. The restriction to 3 voices contrasts with the normally dense texture of the English keyboard pavan; and the usual meter, slow duple, is contradicted by the 1st bass/harmony movement, which occurs after the 3rd ½-note beat. The MS containing the piece has been dated to the period 1646-1654, which is later than the heyday of English virginal music.
Counterpoint is certainly common in the pavans of Byrd, who was Tomkins's teacher; but the counterpoint was not normally strict and there were usually more than 3 {informal} voices; the texture was usually comprised of 4 or more informal voices.
Although keyboard pavans of 16th-century England were not intended primarily for dauncing, they nevertheless generally had a clear {stately duple} meter; this later example however begins with 3 ½-note beats centering around a G-major harmony, followed {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=26} by 3 ½-notes centering around C major. In addition, the opening melodic gesture, which is also comprised of 3 ½-note beats, is followed in the next "measure" by a similar gesture that is delayed by half a beat. A daring dauncer would soon be tripped up. The 1st section contains 17 ½-note beats, not reducible to either triple or duple meter.
The voices in the 2nd section {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=70} are more clearly imitative than in the 1st section: the opening motive in the top voice is heard again 4 times {both on and off the beat} before giving way {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=98} to a new motive, a lengthy descending scale of more than an 8ve. The meter {slow triple} is also more consistent in this section.
The 3rd section {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=129} appears to be metrically even more regular, with just an occasional ½-note extra inserted - still not daunceable. This extra beat isn't heard as an interruption, but more as an extension. Toward the end {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=148} the previously strict 3-part writing expands to less-strict 3-part writing leading to a climax in C major {youtu.be/A_KJbrUW29M?t=158}. The cadence that follows is harmonically quite remarkable: a descent by 3rds in the bass {c-a-f-d} arrives at the dominant D.
A descent by 3rds is not unknown in music of other composers: listen for example to the end of a Præludium by Heinrich Sscheidemann @ youtu.be/Z_H7XuHELLY?t=190. Here we hear f-d-b𝄬-g leading to a long dominant A before the cadence on D.
Another example is found toward the end of Contrapunctus 1 from Bach's "Kunst der Fuge", youtu.be/TQ2oVZgq_dM?t=169. Here again we hear f-d-b𝄬-g leading to a long dominant A, followed this time by an ascent in 3rds d-f-a-c, which c moves to c#. This c# contradicts, finally, the sticky persistent c𝄮 of the answer in m.6 {youtu.be/TQ2oVZgq_dM?t=26} and makes possible the final cadence. For a more extensive discussion of the importance of this c𝄮, see youtube.com/watch?v=TQ2oVZgq_dM
Of these 3 final cadences I think that Tomkins’s is the most striking.
.