As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending - Thomas Weelkes

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As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending - Thomas Weelkes
Sung by ‘Viva la Musica’, East Midlands Chamber Choir
📶https://www.vivalamusica.org.uk/
Conducted by Simon Lumby📶https://www.simonlumby.co.uk/

Recorded live in Bishop Street Methodist Church – Saturday 18th March 2023

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The Triumphs of Oriana is a collection of twenty- five madrigals by twenty-three composers published by Thomas Morley in 1601 (Morley and Ellis Gibbons have two each). Each composer could set any poem they liked, but were required to conclude with the following salutation:
“Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana: Long live fair Oriana.”

In ‘As Vesta was from Latmos Hill descending’, we find the most interesting text painting, ranging from the obvious on words like “ascending” and “descending,” to the more virtuosic, such as the complex counterpoint on “come running down amain,” which is followed by solo voices two by two, three by three, and all six parts saved for the word “together.”

It is fascinating to compare the way each composer featured in ‘The Triumphs of Oriana’ sets the salutation, and here again, Weelkes is the clear winner. He sets the last line “long live fair Oriana,” with a motive that enters forty-eight times, in all transpositions possible, underpinned by extremely long notes in the bass voice. Ironically, Thomas Weelkes was the least well-known, and least successful of the composers represented in this set. He made his living as a humble church musician, and there is evidence that he suffered from alcoholism.

Nevertheless, his church music is as impressive as his madrigals, with the anthem ‘When David heard that Absalom was slain’ serving as a prime example.

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Text:

As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending,
She spied a maiden Queen the same ascending,
Attended on by all the shepherds' swain,
To whom Diana's darlings came running down amain,
First two by two, then three by three together,
Leaving their goddess all alone hasted thither;
And mingling with the shepherds of her train,
With mirthful tunes her presence entertain.

Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana,
Long live fair Oriana!