Program Notes

 

We generally think of art song and folk song as independent musical styles performed by different people, but a closer look at the history of these styles shows that they have been shared and utilized by the same people for centuries. Art song was a highly intellectualized music composed and performed for Kings, Queens, and other members of the aristocracy in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Folk songs were the songs of the common man, passed down through the centuries orally, like stories of long ago - subject to change with every generation of storyteller. Every so often, a folk tune would find its way to the ear of a court composer, and if it got lucky, it would be the catalyst for his next composition, creating the perfect combination of soul and intellect.

Three Ravens is one such tune, having roots in Medieval Scotland as Twa Corbies, while much of the symbology can be traced back to the Scandinavian ancestors of Albion. The song grew to be so popular in England by the 17th century that Thomas Ravescroft composed upon the melody and text a four-part song in the courtly style of the time. Flow My Tears is a rare example of an art song that became so popular it grew to be known in the oral tradition. It was the musical embodiment of melancholy, a specialty of the composer John Dowland. Older examples of courtly songs turned folk can be found in Ddoi Di Dai and In A Garden So Green. Both of these songs come to us by way of the oral tradition, but they were once written for someone of noble birth. A Toye is a scottish folk tune set to solo lute in the c. 1616 manuscript that belonged to noble woman Jane Pickering. Each song has its own history and is led by the musician into the future. This is, and always has been a common ground between folk and art song. Three Ravens is a meeting place for both styles and an exploration of the music that came from combining them.