Master of the Lute

Virtuoso lutenists enjoyed privileged positions in Renaissance Europe. They were held in high esteem, were well-paid by princes and kings, and often had magical effects ascribed to their performances. Contemporary lutenists don’t enjoy the patronage of presidents, but Hopkinson Smith, one of the instrument’s finest performers, did give a magically beautiful recital of works by Renaissance composers Francesco da Milano and John Dowland on Sunday at Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in San Francisco, in a concert presented by the San Francisco Early Music Society. Francesco Canova da Milano wrote fantasias for solo lute in two styles. First, there were pieces characterized by the manipulation and development of short melodic motives within elaborate polyphonic frameworks. Hopkinson Smith skillfully made each musical line sing independently while giving each a unique emotional intensity. Second were pieces based on a rhapsodic, improvisatory style, and here Smith’s sense of capricious whimsy and virtuosic flair made for excellent listening.

Photo by Naoya Ikegami

Francesco’s improvisations were written about extensively during his lifetime. One famous account says he played "with such ravishing skill that little by little, making the strings languish under his fingers in his sublime way, he transported all those who were listening into so pleasurable a melancholy that they remained deprived of all senses save that of hearing, as if the spirit, having abandoned all the seats of the senses had retired to the ears, in order to enjoy more at its ease so ravishing a harmony.” Although none of these improvisations survive, Smith attempted to re-create their effect in pieces he referred to as “my own concoctions — composition is too good a word.” In perfect Renaissance style and using motives from Francesco’s own compositions, these were delightful.

Portraits in Melancholy

John Dowland, known for his songs, consort music, and solo lute pieces, was one of the finest composers of the period. His works for lute include two dances, which served as portraits of potential patrons and more abstract fantasies similar in impulse to Francesco’s fantasias. The Most Honorable Lady Rich, Her Galliard was composed for a woman of a noble family without financial resources who, as a result, married a wealthy gentleman many years her elder when she was just 18. An accomplished poet, Lady Rich died at age 43 after bearing 10 children. Although the piece is in a major key, it has an undercurrent of melancholy that Smith articulated with a skillful use of rhythmic freedom. About The Right Honorable Robert Earle of Essex, His Galliard, Smith told us that the daring and impetuous Essex courted both opportunity and danger when he became Queen Elizabeth’s lover. Dowland quotes a popular song of the day, The Woods So Wild, as a marker of Essex’s character. The galliard also shares its themes with the Dowland song Can She Excuse My Wrongs. Elizabeth apparently could not forgive Essex, as she eventually had him beheaded. The recital concluded with the performance of two of Dowland’s masterpieces. The Lachrimae Pavan takes as its motive a four-note descending figure that the composer also used in his song Flow My Tears and which became well-known throughout Europe. The pavan form was used for high ceremony. It’s fixed, three-part structure, with each section repeated in decorated form, would seem to be a recipe for rigidity, but the slow pulse, long phrase lengths, deliberate harmonic rhythm, and freedom of decoration give ample opportunity to transcend the form. Smith’s elegant phrasing, rhythmic freedom, tasteful ornamentation, and wonderful sense of drama made for a riveting performance of this profound Dowland piece. Dowland wrote 10 fantasies for solo lute and they all exhibit a creative, free-flowing inspiration, as well as a profound sense of architectural form. Smith ended his recital with an exuberant performance of the Fantasie in G Major (P1), which combined Francesco da Milano’s mastery of Renaissance counterpoint with an English tunefulness and a flair for virtuosic display.