The Cypress Curtain of the Night
from Unquiet Thoughts: English lute songs from the Golden Age by Mignarda
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The Sypres curten of the night, Thomas Campion (1567 –1620)
Thomas Campion is best remembered for his Observations in the Art of English Poesie (1602), but he also published masque music, a treatise on counterpoint, and four books of ayres for voice and lute. “The Sypres curten of the night” is from Campion’s A Booke of Ayres (1601), a collaborative publication that also includes twenty-one songs by Philip Rosseter, who very well may be the actual composer of Campion's lute accompaniments in the first section of the book. In a typical display of Elizabethan wit, Campion (or Rosseter) weaves a direct quotation of the cantus to Dowland’s song, “My thoughts are winged with hopes” (First Booke of Songs, 1597) into the lute accompaniment of the distinctly unhopeful and downright gloomy “Sypres curten of the night,” an amusingly ironic gesture that would not have passed unnoticed by Dowland himself.
Thomas Campion is best remembered for his Observations in the Art of English Poesie (1602), but he also published masque music, a treatise on counterpoint, and four books of ayres for voice and lute. “The Sypres curten of the night” is from Campion’s A Booke of Ayres (1601), a collaborative publication that also includes twenty-one songs by Philip Rosseter, who very well may be the actual composer of Campion's lute accompaniments in the first section of the book. In a typical display of Elizabethan wit, Campion (or Rosseter) weaves a direct quotation of the cantus to Dowland’s song, “My thoughts are winged with hopes” (First Booke of Songs, 1597) into the lute accompaniment of the distinctly unhopeful and downright gloomy “Sypres curten of the night,” an amusingly ironic gesture that would not have passed unnoticed by Dowland himself.
lyrics
The Sypres curten of the night is spread,
And ouer all a silent dewe is cast,
The weaker cares by sleepe are conquered,
But I alone with hidious griefe, agast.
In spite of Morpheus charmes a watch doe keepe
Ouer mine eies to banish carelesse sleepe.
Yet oft my trembling eyes through faintnes close,
And then the Mappe of hell before me stands,
Which Ghosts doe see, and I am one of those,
Ordain'd to pine in sorrowes endles bands,
Since from my wretched soule all hopes are reft,
And now no cause of life to me is left.
Griefe ceaze my soule, for that will still endure,
When my cras'd bodie is consum'd and gone,
Beare it to thy blacke denne, there keepe it sure,
Where thou ten thousand soules doest tyre vpon,
Yet all doe not affoord such foode to thee,
As this poore one, the worser part of mee.
And ouer all a silent dewe is cast,
The weaker cares by sleepe are conquered,
But I alone with hidious griefe, agast.
In spite of Morpheus charmes a watch doe keepe
Ouer mine eies to banish carelesse sleepe.
Yet oft my trembling eyes through faintnes close,
And then the Mappe of hell before me stands,
Which Ghosts doe see, and I am one of those,
Ordain'd to pine in sorrowes endles bands,
Since from my wretched soule all hopes are reft,
And now no cause of life to me is left.
Griefe ceaze my soule, for that will still endure,
When my cras'd bodie is consum'd and gone,
Beare it to thy blacke denne, there keepe it sure,
Where thou ten thousand soules doest tyre vpon,
Yet all doe not affoord such foode to thee,
As this poore one, the worser part of mee.
credits
from Unquiet Thoughts: English lute songs from the Golden Age,
released April 10, 2021
Donna Stewart, voice
Ron Andrico, lute
Donna Stewart, voice
Ron Andrico, lute
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about
Mignarda Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Mignarda specializes in thoughtful programming illuminating the vibrant mingling of renaissance music & poetry. Noted for awakening modern audiences to an appreciation for historical music, their work encompasses concertizing, teaching & recording, with 17 critically-acclaimed CDs, a series of 16 music editions, scholarly articles, reviews and the internationally-popular blog, Unquiet Thoughts. ... more
discography
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Jun 2022 -
Sep 2021 -
Apr 2021 -
Nov 2020
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