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IN THE FIELDS IN FROST AND SNOW The Chris Norman Ensemble With Sources and Notes
NOTES Our program, In the fields in frost and snow is our musical celebration of the Winter season drawn from the roots of Canada's Maritime musical heritage. We aim to go exploring in these musical traditions with a keen eye to their European sources and roots in 16th -19th century Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, and France. Our music making is guided primarily by our enthusiasm, imagination, and a palpable sense of fun, leavened with our deep curiosity and respect for the music. We begin with two Winter-themed traditional polkas from Ireland and England. As I went out upon the ice (Ag Dul amach ar an Leac Oighir dom) is also known sometimes as The Glin Cottage Polka or Johnny O'Leary's, comes from the Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border in Ireland. There is likely a connection with the comic song “Taglioni” which goes:
John Playford (1623-1686) achieved his greatest notoriety as the publisher and author of The English Dancing Master. Our next set incorporates our program's namesake In the fields in frost and snow or The Kingdom of the birds”(Pills) from his 1713 edition of this tome, and concludes with Christmas Cheer, which can be found in his 1703 edition. We slip in another great old English dance tune from The Cambridge lute manuscript, Wanton Season. Noëls are of Medieval origin and are a specific kind of song, hymn, or tune composed in honor of the Nativity of Christ. One of the earliest collections to document this enormous and thriving tradition across Europe was Ballard's 1554 La Grande Bible des Noéls.We present three ancient carols from this great collection preceded by an 18th century setting of In those Twelve Days, which is sung to an old 16th century French Noel tune, with English words set in the 18th century “West Gallery” tradition.
Our Flagon set makes a musical connection with one of the extra-musical pursuits of the Chris Norman Ensemble. While ale has always been consumed year round, it is during the winter months that it most satisfies the palette accompanying rich stews and hearty fare. A flagon is the old style drinking vessel with a cover and sometimes a spout, used for ale, beer, and occasionally wine or other liquid intoxicants. All three of our ale tunes come from old Scottish collections. The Huron Carol, Valse de Crève de Faim, and Mon habit n'a qu'un Bouton are three traditional melodies associated with the roots of Canada's French and Acadian musical traditions. In the early 17th century a French missionary Jean de Brebeuf was living and working with the Huron Indians in a region between what is now Ontario and Quebec. He collected the melodic fragment that begins our set, and arranged it setting words in the Huron language describing the Christmas story. It has survived to this day sometimes sung as The Huron Carol. French Acadian settlers occupied Nova Scotia's verdant agricultural valley overlooking the Bay of Fundy in the 17th and 18th centuries until British troops expelled them in 1750. Longfellow's epic poem Evangeline romanticized their plight as they were removed and relocated to southern Louisiana and elsewhere along the East Coast. The Valse de Crève de Faim is a song describing their hardships and likely makes the link between the Acadians of Eastern Canada and the Cajuns of Louisiana. The arrangement concludes with an old dance tune from Normandy, Mon habit n'a qu'un Bouton , thought to be the ancestral home of many of the original Acadians.
Next we have three virtuoso hornpipes from the 1883 Ryan's Mammoth Collection, which later morphed into Cole's 1000 fiddle tunes. In Canada both of these publications served as a resource and inspiration for hundreds of aspiring competition and dance musicians. Notable Canadian fiddlers like the late Jean Carignan, Graham Townsend, and Winston “Scotty” Fitzgerald championed many of these old hornpipes and clogs, infusing them with a charm, humor and panache that inspires our winter themed set. We drew upon Ballard's 1553 compendium La Grande Bible des Noéls for the next set, as well as Or nous dîtes Marie which incorporate both instrumental and vocal Noéls:
Sound, Sound your instruments of Joy comes from the rich and still active “West Gallery” tradition of playing and singing carols developed in English parish churches and non-conformist chapels in the 200 years between 1650 and 1850. This movement was initiated by church authorities' desire to 'improve the quality of psalmody' in the late 17th century. The tradition took off with composers, arrangers, publishers, and teachers rushing in to fill the order, while churches and chapels hastily erected galleries to accommodate enthusiastic parish singers. The thriving tradition grew by leaps and bounds and was similarly called to a halt by those same church authorities in Victorian times seeking to restore order and authority by scrapping instruments and burning tune books. Village carols like this one survived either played instrumentally or sung in pubs, homes, and in the open air in local villages.
— Chris Norman, with acknowledgements to New York Public Library, George Peabody and Arthur Freidheim Library, Ian Russell, Andrew Kuntz and the Fiddler's Companion database |
© Boxwood, Ltd.
