William Lawes
Encyclopedia
- For the missionary (1839–1907) see William George LawesWilliam George LawesWilliam George Lawes was an English-born Congregationalist minister, missionary and public lecturer. He was regarded as an expert on Papua....
William Lawes (April 1602 – 24 September 1645) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
.
Life and career
Lawes was born in SalisburySalisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
and was baptised on 1 May 1602. He was the son of Thomas Lawes, a vicar choral at Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, considered one of the leading examples of Early English architecture....
, and brother to Henry Lawes
Henry Lawes
Henry Lawes was an English musician and composer.He was born at Dinton in Wiltshire, and received his musical education from John Cooper, better known under his Italian pseudonym Giovanni Coperario, a famous composer of the day...
, a very successful composer in his own right.
His patron, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford
Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford
Sir Edward Seymour, 1st Baron Beauchamp of Hache and 1st Earl of Hertford, KG was the son of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, by his second wife Anne Stanhope....
, apprenticed him to the composer John Coprario, which probably brought Lawes into contact with Charles, Prince of Wales
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
at an early age. Both William and his elder brother Henry
Henry Lawes
Henry Lawes was an English musician and composer.He was born at Dinton in Wiltshire, and received his musical education from John Cooper, better known under his Italian pseudonym Giovanni Coperario, a famous composer of the day...
received court appointments after Charles succeeded to the British throne as Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. William was appointed as 'musician in ordinary for lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
s and voices' in 1635 but had been writing music for the court prior to this.
William 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
Sacred
Holiness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred...
anthems and motets for Charles's private worship. He is most remembered today for his sublime viol consort
Consort of instruments
A consort of instruments was a phrase used in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to indicate an instrumental ensemble. These could be of the same or a variety of instruments. Consort music enjoyed considerable popularity at court and in households of the wealthy in the...
suites for between three and six players and his lyra viol
Lyra viol
The lyra viol is a small bass viol, used primarily in England in the seventeenth century.While the instrument itself differs little physically from the standard consort viol, there is a large and important repertoire which was developed specifically for the 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
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, Lawes joined the Royalist
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
army and 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
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
in the rout of the Royalists at Rowton Heath
Battle of Rowton Heath
The Battle of Rowton Heath occurred on 24 September 1645 during the English Civil War between the Parliamentarians, commanded by Sydnam Poyntz, and the Royalists under the personal command of King Charles I...
, near Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
, 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'. The author of his epitaph, Thomas Jordan, closed it with a lachrymose pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
on the fact that Lawes had died at the hands of those who denied the divine right of kings
Divine Right of Kings
The divine right of kings or divine-right theory of kingship is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God...
:
- Will. Lawes was slain by such whose wills were laws.
Further reading
- Lefkowitz, M., William Lawes, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960
- William Lawes at goldbergweb.com
Discography
- For ye violls: Consort setts in 5 & 6 parts
- FretworkFretwork (music group)Fretwork is a consort of viols based in England, United Kingdom. Formed in 1986, the group consisted of six players, while it is currently five viols...
& Paul Nicholson; Virgin Classics 91187-2; 1991- Sonatas for violin, bass viol and organ
- London Baroque; Harmonia Mundi HMA 1901493; 1994
- Fantasia Suites for two violins, bass viol and organ
- The Purcell Quartet; Chandos CHAN0552, 1994
- Royall Consort Suites
- The Purcell Quartet with Nigel North & Paul O'Dette; Chandos CHAN0584/5, 1995
- Consort Music for Viols, Lutes and Theorbos
- The Rose Consort of Viols, Timothy Roberts, Jacob Heringman & David Miller; Naxos 8.550601; 1995
- Royall Consort Suites vol 1
- The Greate Consort; Gaudeamus CD GAU146, 1995
- Concord is conquer'd: Consort setts for 5 & 6 viols. 4 Herrick songs. Pieces for lyra viol
- Fretwork, Catherine Bott, Richard Boothby & Paul Nicholson; Virgin Classics 5451472; 1995
- Royall Consort Suites vol 2
- The Greate Consort; CD GAU147, 1997
- The Royal Consort & lute songs
- René Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken, Lucy van Dael, Wieland Kuijken, Toyohiko Satoh, Edward Witsenbug, Gustav Leonhardt; Sony Classical 1997
- Fantazia suites for violin, bass viol and organ
- Music's Re-creation; Centaur CRC 2385; 1998
- Suites pour une et trois lyra-violes
- Jonathan Dunford, Sylvia Abramowicz & Sylvia Moquet; Adès 465 607-2; 1998
- Consorts in four and five parts
- PhantasmPhantasm (music group)Phantasm is a viol consort based in England. It was founded in 1994 by Laurence Dreyfus.They have recorded on the Channel Classics Records, GMN, Simax, and Avie Records labels.-Members:*Laurence Dreyfus, treble viol and director...
& Sarah Cunningham; Channel ClassicsChannel Classics RecordsChannel Classics Records is a record label from the Netherlands, specializing in classical music. The managing director and producer is C. Jared Sacks, who grew up in Boston. Sacks was schooled as a professional horn player at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam...
CCS 15698; 2000- Consorts in six parts
- Phantasm, Susanne Braumann & Varpu Haavisto; Channel ClassicsChannel Classics RecordsChannel Classics Records is a record label from the Netherlands, specializing in classical music. The managing director and producer is C. Jared Sacks, who grew up in Boston. Sacks was schooled as a professional horn player at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam...
CCS 17498; 2002- Consort Sets in Five & Six Parts, Jordi Savall - Hespèrion XXI - Alia Vox 9823 A+B http://www.classicalacarte.net/Fiches/9823.htm
- Consort sets in five & six parts,
- Hespèrion XXIHespèrion XXIHespèrion XXI is an international early music ensemble. The group was formed in Basel, Switzerland in 1974 as Hespèrion XX by Spanish musical director Jordi Savall , Montserrat Figueras , Lorenzo Alpert , and Hopkinson Smith...
, Alia Vox AV9823A, AV9823B; 2002- Knock'd on the head: William Lawes, music for viols
- Concordia, Metronome MET CD 1045; 2002
- William Lawes: In loving memory. Musica Oscura 070972-2