The Art of the Bawdy Song

Henry Aldrich (Composer), Anonymous (Composer), Straloch Lute Book Anonymous (Composer), John Blow (Composer), John Church (Composer), Vladimir Cosma (Composer), The Baltimore Consort & Merry Companions (Performer), James F. Weaver (Performer), Peter Becker (Performer), Paul Shipper (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: The Baltimore Consort & Merry Companions, James F. Weaver, Peter Becker, Paul Shipper
• Composer: Henry Aldrich, Anonymous, Straloch Lute Book Anonymous, John Blow, John Church, et al.
• Audio CD (February 11, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Dorian Recordings
• ASIN: B000001Q93
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,550 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and awful in equal parts, December 18, 2001

By 

J. Faraco (Menlo Park, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of the Bawdy Song (Audio CD)

This is a great collection of songs,mostly taken from d'Urfey's "Pills to purge melancholy", along with some catches from Purcell etc included. It's hard to find the ideal recording of this sort of ribald stuff- it seems each recording has some flaws.

The Baltimore consort, with Custer La Rue as chief vocal have done an incredible job with this music. I never get tired of her lovely voice, and the life she brings to these songs. The instrumentals are fabulous (mixed consort settings on period instruments). Two of the best numbers are "cold and raw the wind did blow"...and "my thing is my own"- these typify the wonderful momentum and gorgeous musical phrasing they bring to the music- five stars for them.

Unfortunately, the album includes songs from a group of male vocalists who gathered together as "the merry companions". What a huge mistake. The inside of the program notes shows them gathered around some tankards of ale. I think they must have spent too much time drinking and no time at all thinking (or rehearsing). The vocals are brash and not well-tuned and for such lively content, they are sometimes sluggish too. They went for the "rugged tavern" sound at the expense of the music. If I were at a tavern or renaissance faire, and heard some drunken louts singing these catches, I'd love it- what wonderful fun! But this is a CD that I paid to listen to, and they should have rehearsed. I don't like to pay for this kind of impromptu junk- if D'Urfey and Purcell bothered to write it down and set it to notes, the performers should get it right and it should sound like music. Often they have chosen to set these in too low a register, or without instrumentals that might help lift up the sluggish character.

In the end, this is a great car CD- where I can easily forward past the bad songs and repeat the good ones, and of course I can make sure not to offend anybody....

By the way, for those interested in more songs like these,get "The Catch Book : 153 Catches Including the Complete: Catches of Henry Purcell, edited by Paul Hillier. Then the only problem is finding the other people to sing them with you!

A hard to find, but infinitely enjoyable alternative recording is "Pills to purge melancholy: Low & Lusty-Songs From 17th C" recorded by the city waites. The instrumentals are more a little rough, but very well done -just completely different from baltimore consort. On this album, the male vocals are best, while the soprano is sometimes is a bit harsh. The merry companions would have done well to listen to this before making their recording.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prelewd to Postlewd, September 27, 2005

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Art of the Bawdy Song (Audio CD)

The Baltimore Consort, an ensemble of six players, was founded in 1980 with the purpose of performing 'broken consort' pieces of Elizabethan origin. 'Broken' here refers to the instrumentation - treble viol/violin, flue/recorder, lute, cittern, bandore and bass viol. Their repertoire expanded beyond these beginnings to include broader British fare, as well as French and Italian music of the time. This is a happy expansion, as it made this disc of older, bawdy (for its time) music possible.

The Baltimore Consort play with life and vigour, with a good deal of improvisational flair, not being bound to texts and going through the production of notes as if mechanically. This is true to the spirit and nature of the early music, in which performers often had to 'play by ear', neither being able to read music nor having printed music even if they could. This is particularly true of the songs on this disc, where many are derivative of anonymous jokes and stories, and much of the music is likewise folk-tune and anonymously composed.

Some of the songs can be rather shocking. As Mary Anne Ballard writes in the accompanying notes, 'We must remember that in the days before indoor plumbing and pooper-scooper laws, everyday life was of an earthier flavour than it is today.... The men of the singing clubs and the ladies of stage poked fun at themselves and their companions with wit, pleasantry and contrivance.'

The names of many of the composers of these pieces have been lost to history, particularly the more folk-song oriented ones. However, some well-known composers are represented among the pieces here - Purcell, D'Urfey, Aldridge, and others.

The regular players include Mary Anne Ballard (viols), Mark Cudek (cittern, guitar, recorder and bass viol), Custer LaRue (vocalist/soprano), Larry Lipkis (recorder, viols), Ronn McFarlane (lute), Chris Norman (flutes), Webb Wiggins (tambourine and 'virginals'). Some artists are known from other Dorian productions, such as Ronn McFarlane on the lute in the collection 'Greensleeves'.

Added to the regular consort players are the Merry Companions, including Peter Becker (baritone), Alexander Blachly (baritone), Paul Shipper (bass, belch-canto), and James Weaver (baritone).

One more addition includes a guest artist, Lorenzo Labbrobacio, playing of all things, the 'fartophone', a rather mysterious instrument indeed. Labbrobacio defies identification on the internet other than references to this disc, and so the mystery deepens.

This is music that is interesting, truly fun to listen to, entertaining and has a quality about it that makes it a joy both in musical and humourous tones.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A sly and rollicksome good time!, November 29, 2002

By 

Brianna Neal (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of the Bawdy Song (Audio CD)

On this recording, the Baltimore Consort and the Merry Companions are full of fun, both blatant and tongue-in-cheek. Soprano Custer La Rue and the instrumentalists of the Consort are joined by a quartet of classical male singers (Peter Becker, Alexander Blachly, Paul Shipper and James Weaver) with quite a theatrical sense of humor. The two groups take turns presenting ribald tavern songs of merry old England, interspersed by light, catchy instrumentals listed in the credits as the "Prelewd", the "Interlewd" and a "Fresh Ayre". Drinking, sex and other bodily functions are both celebrated and ridiculed in songs that are cleverly worded and enthusiastically sung, and in at least one case, accompanied by a mysterious instrument (reminiscent of P.D.Q. Bach) called a "fartophone". Especially amusing are the "catches" or rounds, and the new meanings that result from the staggering of words when several different verses are all sung together. It sounds silly, and is silly, but that's the point of it all--celebrating the "earthier flavor" of life 17th and 18th century England. My copy came with a parental advisory sticker stuck fast to the case, but my mother didn't seem overly concerned, and in fact enjoyed it too when I played it for her! For more fun Renaissance vocals, both salacious and serious, try "All At Once Well Met: English Madrigals" by the King's Singers, and "The King's Singers' Madrigal History Tour: Italy, England, France, Spain, Germany" by the King's Singers and the Consort of Musicke.