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From text to sound: the consort music of Philips and Dering in performance

1. Summary of the impact

Smith’s scholarly edition of consort music by Philips and Dering has drawn attention to music which is little-known and unfamiliar, making it accessible to audiences ranging from professional players and reviewers to amateur viol players and the general public listening to the radio whilst driving home from work. Through the creation of a record label, a reach is achieved that extends throughout the UK and internationally, not least through broadcast of tracks, which date from the release of the CD recording 2017. This work has spurred study and performance of a repertoire that was little known previously, inspired composition for viols as a consequence of attending live performances and brought inaccessible consort music to the attention of the wider public through CD sales and radio broadcasts.

2. Underpinning research

The production of scholarly editions of music involves the critical use of primary sources of music, in the creation of an edition, which makes this music accessible to performers and scholars today. Recognised for his expertise in early English instrumental music, Smith was invited to edit the consort music by two English exiled Catholic composers, Peter Philips (1560/61–1628) and Richard Dering ( *c.*1580–1630), for the scholarly series Musica Britannica, an authoritative collection of British music, found in library collections worldwide. The research underpinning this scholarly edition involved 36 sources (one of which is known as ‘Le Strange’) containing texts with multiple variants of 49 pieces. A first-hand study was conducted of all the sources, most of which are manuscript part-books. Each text was transcribed as it occurred in each source, and a detailed study was made of textual variants. Smith’s edition [1] was based on both the manuscript and textual studies, which included the provision of an intricate, extensive critical commentary which has been praised in unsolicited emails and in reviews, as well as part books to be used by performers (which are often lacking in critical editions reducing their usefulness to performers) [2-4].

The edition also includes reconstructions of works by both composers, enabling access to compositions that had previously been lost. For example, it includes a four-part reconstruction of a pavan by Philips for which the original version for viol consort does not survive. This reconstruction is based upon the earliest surviving arrangements of it for other instrumental combinations, a process of considerable detective work.

While Dering is best known for his fantasias, his dances have fared less well and occur in relatively few sources, with some incomplete. Smith composed outer parts (the ‘tune’ and the bass) for a number of dances by Dering for which only the inner parts have survived.

The process was an intellectual as well as a creative one: an analysis of Dering’s style was necessary in order to determine the likelihood of several possible ‘solutions’ in technical terms (e.g. the number of consecutive fifths and/or octaves that might be expected). One reviewer comments that ‘the recomposed parts are exemplary and reveal [Smith’s] deep understanding of the style’.

The edition includes an extensive introduction, in which Smith provides research about the composers; a critical assessment of the sources; an account of centres of viol playing in 17th-century England; changing fashions in genre; new insights on mode, mensuration and barring, and temperament. In another example, the Le Strange manuscript’s scribe recorded differences between his texts and the versions found in manuscripts owned by his friends, none of which have survived; Smith includes these ‘lost’ sources in his edition.

The quality of the research is reflected in unsolicited emails received by the editor, and in reviews: ‘there was no better-qualified editor than David Smith to undertake the complex task of assessing the sources of Philips’ and Dering’s consort music … Smith usefully records the variant readings in his critical commentary in order that each can be considered a source in its own right. This attention to details is typical of the volume’ [S4].

3. References to the research

[1] Smith, David J. (ed.), Philips and Dering: Consort Music, Musica Britannica, vol. 101 (London: Stainer & Bell, 2016). xlvi, 216 pages.

[2] Smith, David J. (ed.), Philips and Dering: Consort Music of Five Parts for Five Viols (London: Stainer & Bell, 2017). Set of parts corresponding to Musica Britannica, vol. 101.

[3] Smith, David J. (ed.), Philips and Dering: Consort Music of Six Parts for Five Viols (London: Stainer & Bell, 2017). Set of parts corresponding to Musica Britannica, vol. 101.

[4] Smith, David J. (ed.), Philips and Dering: Consort Music of Three and Four Parts for Five Viols (London: Stainer & Bell, 2017). Set of parts corresponding to Musica Britannica, vol. 101.

4. Details of the impact

Smith’s research has had an impact on professional performers, and through them has reached amateur viol players and a more general audience. His work has brought the consort music of Dering to the attention of players and music teachers, influencing their repertoire and understanding of consort music, and audiences, through CD sales and multiple radio broadcasts.

Impact on Performers

Smith’s research generated impact amongst professional viol players even prior to the publication of his edition. Smith provided specially prepared sets of parts to accompany the scores by Philips and Dering for use in concert by the viol consort, Phantasm, at the Utrecht Early Music Festival (2012). Although this festival was prior to the impact period under consideration, this performance is relevant because it led to pre-publication copies also being used by The Rose Consort of Viols in their 2014 recording, Adoramus Te, [S1] which was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in the Early Music category [S2].

In 2016, the University of Aberdeen established a record label, Vox Regis. Exiled, the fourth release [S3], was of consort and keyboard music by Philips and Dering taken from Smith’s Musica Britannica volumes (75 and 101), performed by the Rose Consort and Smith, and framed by two eight-part motets by Philips featuring the Choir of King’s College, Aberdeen.

The edition opened up possibilities for the professional performance of little-known repertoire. For example, John Bryan writes on the inside cover of the Exiled that the Rose Consort ‘ had played very little music by Richard Dering before this project came about, but thoroughly enjoyed the process of choosing which pieces to record’ [S3].

Smith’s scholarly edition of consort music is available in sets of parts published by Stainer & Bell, which make the music accessible to a wider audience of viol players, including the amateur market. The Viola da Gamba Society Journal review of the edition states:

this is excellent music and well worth performing – it is good to have it in a scholarly edition together with easily-available performing parts… David Smith is to be congratulated by scholars and performers alike for presenting us with consort music of such quality’ [S4].

The inclusion of performer’s parts allowed the Rose Consort to incorporate Dering’s music into workshops and summer courses for amateur viol players, such as the North East Early Music Forum (2018, approximately 50 people) and the Southern Early Music Forum (2019, approximately 60 people), introducing them to this previously-unknown music [S5]. For context, the Viola da Gamba Society has approximately 500 members world-wide, meaning that these workshops were attended by a significant proportion of UK viol players.

Impact on Audiences

Exiled was recorded after performances by the Rose Consort, as part of the University of Aberdeen’s May Festival in 2016. The performance had a marked effect on a composer who wrote:

I am an Aberdeen-based composer who has just had his piece In nomine for a Consort of Viols published … I wanted to let you know that writing this piece was partly thanks to you, as in a way your curating/publishing of the Philips and Dering works helped bringing about the Rose Consort concert on the 28th May [pre-recording sessions concert] … My piece was first played in this summer workshop by participants and received good feedback … I am very pleased that my only piece in this genre has been well received [S6].

Exiled has been glowingly reviewed, such as in The Consort [S7]. The author of a 5* review in Early Music Review writes: ‘ This outstanding disc derives from David Smith’s edition of the consort music of Peter Philips and Richard Dering (2016) … The consort works by Dering are particularly striking, not only for their unfamiliarity, but also for their sheer quality’ [S7].

Johan van Veen, reviewing Exiled for Music Web International writes: ‘… this is a quite important disc and a substantial addition to the discography. Add to that the high quality of the performances and one will understand that this disc deserves the attention of all lovers of English renaissance music’ [S7]. As of February 2020, Exiled had achieved over 2000 sales [S8].

Exiled also achieved a wider reach through broadcasts: BBC Radio Scotland’s Classics Unwrapped on Sunday 5 August 2018 (Scottish national/regional reach), on Radio 3’s In Tune Mixtape on Tuesday 26 February 2019 (UK reach, and international via online listening). All the examples of consort music broadcast on BBC Radio 3 Composers of the Week: English Tudor and early Jacobean composers between 3 and 7 June 2019 were taken from Exiled. Composer of the Week has an audience reach of around 2 million [S9]. The impact on the broadcasting media has thus extended from immediately after release to the present.

5. Sources to corroborate the impact

[S1] (CD) Adoramus Te: Motets, Songs and Consort Music [ by] William Byrd and Peter Philips. Rose Consort of Viols; Clare Wilkinson. Deux-Elles DXL 1155. Released 2014.

[S2] Gramophone Award Shortlist 2015, Early Music Category

[S3] (CD) Exiled: Music by Philips and Dering. Rose Consort of Viols; Choir of King’s College, Aberdeen, David J. Smith, Director and Harpsichord. Vox Regis VXR0004. Released 11 December 2017. Performances of music from Musica Britannica volumes.

[S4] Review, Viola da Gamba Society Journal (2017)

[S5] Rose Consort email, corroborates inclusion of Dering’s music in workshops and summer courses for amateur viol players

[S6] Email correspondence from Aberdeen-based composer

[S7 (group)] Review, The Consort (2019) (pdf); Review, Early Music (2018); Review, ‘Music Web International’ (https://bit.ly/3pYfVz3\)

[S8] CD and digital sales of Exiled, Odradek email, 26.2.2020

[S9] Average listening figures for Radio 3 (https://bit.ly/3kvqubL\)

Additional contextual information