In 1739 there was published
in London, by one "Henry Roberts,
engraver, printseller, and musick-seller",
a work called Calliope or English
Harmony, the full title of which
described it as ‘a collection of the
most celebrated English and Scots songs,
neatly engrav’d and embelish’d with
designs adapted to the subject of each
song taken from the compositions of
the best masters, in the most correct
manner with the thorough bass and transpositions
for the flute proper for all teachers,
scholars, and lovers of musick; printed
on a fine paper, on each side which
renders the undertaking more compleat
than any thing of the kind ever publish’d’.
Emma Curtis and The
Frolick here present the listener with
a substantial selection from Calliope.
The first volume of Calliope
contains some two hundred songs. Some
fit new English words to popular Italian
airs, or even to fashionable instrumental
melodies (as in ‘The Praise of Bacchus’,
in which words are fitted to the Minuet
from Corelli’s Concerto Grosso Opus
6 no. 10); quite a number are songs
for the theatre, either to be sung between
the acts or as part of the narrative
itself; some are traditional Scots songs.
Curtis has evidently taken the sensible
view that some of those ‘teachers, scholars,
and lovers of musick’ at whom Calliope
was aimed would be likely to perform
these songs in a domestic setting. As
she writes in her notes: "We play
instruments that would have then been
used in London, and have sought to re-create
the atmosphere of an evening entertainment
in a London home".
The results are hugely
enjoyable. Emma Curtis presently works
as a member of the solo opera ensemble
at the Staatstheater Stuttgart. Though
she specialises in the Baroque, her
repertoire also includes some Verdi,
Debussy and Schoenberg roles. Her theatrical
experience and her versatility serve
her well in this project. She characterises
the songs well, from the melodramatic
anguish of Lampe’s ‘The Wand’ring Lover’
to the raucous booziness of Digard’s
‘My Jolly Companion’, from the elegant
formality of Carey’s miniature epithalamion
‘A Song’ (‘Cupid god of Gay desires’)
to the melancholy of Holcombe’s ‘The
Forsaken Nymph’.
The Frolick offer fine,
sensitive accompaniment, not least in
the lute playing of the excellent Andrew
Maginley and Giovanna Pessi’s delicate
work at the harp. Indeed, given the
fact that so many of these songs are
inevitably in much the same musical
idiom, I did wonder whether the insertion
of the occasional purely instrumental
interlude might not have made for a
more balanced programme. It is probably
best to regard these two CDs as ones
to dip into now and then (I shall probably
do so quite often!) rather than as a
set to be listened to straight through.
Emma Curtis provides
a useful general introduction on Calliope,
and on the theatrical/musical context
of the songs. She also provides brief
– but interesting –notes on individual
songs and composers.
I can add a few details
to one or two of her notes, as regards
the sung texts. The words of ‘The Coquet’,
the setting of which is rather doubtfully
attributed to Sir John Vanbrugh, are
by Ambrose Philips (they are included
in The Poems, ed. M. C. Segan,
1937); the words of Greene’s popular
song ‘The Fly’ are probably by William
Oldys (1696-1761); the words of ‘The
Midsummer Wish’ were published in 1721
as the work of Samuel Croxall (d.1752),
appearing amongst the occasional poems
attached to his dramatic entertainment
The Fair Circassian in
1721; the words of ‘The Generous Confession’
are by Soame Jenyns (1704-1787), appearing
as ‘Chloe to Strephon’ in his Works
of 1790.
Full texts of all the
songs are provided (though a couple
are in the wrong order) in the handsome
booklet of over 80 pages.
One of the songs performed
here – and performed quite movingly
- is George Munro’s (or Monro’s ) ‘Dying
Swan’. In her notes to it, Emma Curtis
mentions some earlier English uses (Chaucer,
Shakespeare, Orlando Gibbons) of the
myth of the swan that sings only once,
just before its death. A later use of
the same idea might relevantly be mentioned.
Coleridge wrote an epigram on a performer
whose work he had not enjoyed (‘On a
Voluntary Singer’):
Swans sing before they die; - ’twere
no bad thing
Did certain persons die before they
sing.
I can assure readers
that they will not be moved to harbour
such wicked sentiments when they listen
to this selection from Calliope.
Emma Curtis sings with both appropriate
gusto and fitting delicacy, with both
humour and subtlety, as she explores
the range of attitudes and emotions
to be found amongst these songs. While
it would be wrong to claim that there
are great neglected masterpieces here,
it does need to be said that there is
much in the songs (and other music)
of eighteenth century London that is
of far greater interest than many conventional
accounts would suggest. If this repertoire
is new to you, I urge you to let Emma
Curtis and The Frolick effect an introduction.
If you know some of these songs, you
will surely want to possess so engaging
a recording of them.
Glyn Pursglove
Emma Curtis ((contralto), The Frolick:
