5047 Capriol Suite

Peter Warlock (1894-1930)

arranged for Brass Quintet

by Roger Harvey

Price: £30.00

Difficulty: Medium

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Programme note:

1. Basse-Danse

2. Pavane

3. Tordion

4 Bransles

5. Pieds-en-l'air

6. Mattachins (Sword Dance)

The music of the Capriol Suite was selected from a book of about 50 French dance tunes published in1589 as Orchésographie. The author, Jehan Tabourot, used the pseudonym Thoinot Arbeau for the publication. In it he dicusses the various dance steps and the manner of playing them with a lawyer named Capriol. The English translation was punlished in 1929. Philip Heseltine, who also worked under a pseudonym, Peter Warlock, made his set in 1923 originally for piano duet but later scored for string orchestra. Although the tunes and much of the harmonic basis are from the original, Warlock imbues his versions with a typically rich early 20th English harmony.

Performance note:

1. Play lightly and rhythmically observing the articulations carefully. The style should remain stately though.

2. The Pavan is also a dignified dance. However, make sure that the phrases of the melody are carefully shaped. The 'drum beat' in various parts can be slightly marked to maintain the rhythm but while remaining subsidiary to the melodic music.

3. The Tordian was originally a more animated coda to a Basse Danse. It should be very rhythmic but also lightly articulated. Use th dynamic changes well to give variety to the repetitions.

4. The Bransle is a very animated round dance of rustic origin. This needs to be quick and very precise. Again, show the dynamics clearly for varity in the repetitions.

5. Pieds-en-l'air was a term for a particular movement of the stately Galliard. Play this expressively but without too much rhythmic indulgence. Keep the line flowing.

6. Mattachins was a dance for men dressed in guilded card performing a sword dance and was also known as Bouffons. It needs, then, an almost extrovert manner but keep it rhtymic and use the dynamics to mark the sections.