English Baroque Songs - III
Ten English songs for Medium voice
Editor: Edited by Timothy Roberts
Medium voice (a-g'') and continuo
Ref. no EBS 3 M (in 'cantatas') sample page cover page To order: ☞
All the songs in this anthology were published in the treble clef, but given England's enduring legacy of cross-dressing, all may be considered fair game for singers of either sex, and of any vocal range. The convention was to publish in a high-voice key, though in the absence of the relevant manuscripts we cannot know if that was the composer's original intention. Sometimes works were transposed up a perfect fourth for publication, Purcell's \"Sound the trumpet" and\"Ye twice ten hundred deities" being two well-known examples; song No. 2 likewise may originally have been an alto or baritone song, considering its very high tessitura as published. Each volume of the present anthology is available in High and Medium Voice versions, and performers should transpose further as may seem necessary in finding a comfortable key. With piano accompaniment any of the 24 keys can be used, but with period instruments in an unequal temperament, extreme keys should be avoided. Composers of the time rarely used keys with more than three or four sharps or flats.
