"The Silver Swan" is the most famous

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance music, Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque music, Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The Polyphony, polyphoni ...

Orlando Gibbons Orlando Gibbons ( bapt. 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English composer and keyboard player who was one of the last masters of the English Virginalist School and English Madrigal School. The best known member of a musical fami ...

. It is scored for 5 voices (in most sources, soprano (S), alto (A),

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

(T), baritone (Bar) and bass (B), although some specify SSATB instead) and presents the legend that swans are largely silent in life (or at least unmusical), and sing beautifully only just before their deaths (see swan song).

History and text

The song was first published in Gibbons's ''First Set of Madrigals and Motets of 5 parts'' (

1612 Events January–June * January 6 – Axel Oxenstierna becomes Lord High Chancellor of Sweden. He persuades the Riksdag of the Estates to grant the Swedish nobility the right and privilege to hold all higher offices of govern ...

). Gibbons dedicated this collection to his patron, Sir

Christopher Hatton Sir Christopher Hatton KG (1540 – 20 November 1591) was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England. He was one of the judges who found Mary, Queen of Scots guilty of treason. Early years Sir ...

(1581–1619). It was normal at this time for composers to seek aristocratic patronage, and for example Hatton's brother-in-law Henry Fanshawe had a set of madrigals dedicated to him the following year by his composer in residence John Ward. By Gibbons' own account, he used Hatton's London house as a place to compose. Hatton appears to have selected the texts used in the collection: the authors of only some of the songs have been identified. The anonymous lyrics of "The Silver Swan" are as follows: : The silver Swan, who, living, had no Note, : when Death approached, unlocked her silent throat. : Leaning her breast against the reedy shore, : thus sang her first and last, and sang no more: : "Farewell, all joys! O Death, come close mine eyes! : More Geese than Swans now live, more Fools than Wise." The last line may be a comment on the demise of the English madrigal form or, more generally, on the loss of the late Elizabethan musical tradition. The English madrigal school flourished from the late 1580s and lasted into the 1620s, long after it had become unfashionable in the rest of Europe. But things were already in decline by the time ''The Silver Swan'' was published in 1612. The last line could be taken as a biting condemnation of contemporary madrigal composers – though Gibbons himself was only in his thirties.

Music

Commenting on the musical form,

Philip Ledger Sir Philip Stevens Ledger, CBE, FRSE (12 December 1937 – 18 November 2012) was an English classical musician, choirmaster and academic, best remembered as Director of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge in 1974–1982 and of the Royal Scot ...

notes that "in common with the lute-song, and unlike any true madrigal, it has two musical sections, the second one repeated, and new words are provided for this repeat". Though composed as a madrigal, "The Silver Swan" is, in modern times, often performed as a song for

chamber choir A chamber choir is a small or medium-sized choir of roughly 8 to 40 singers (occasionally called 'chamber singers'), typically singing classical or religious music in a concert setting. (This is distinct from e.g. a church choir, which sings in rel ...

. It is also performed as a song for soprano and

viol consort The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch ...

Other settings of the poem

The words to this madrigal have been set to music by the following composers and groups: * Gary Bachlund (1966), for '' a cappella'' SATB chorus. * Garth Baxter, from ''Three Madrigals'' (for voice and piano, voice and guitar, or SATB). *

John Musto John Musto (born 1954) is an American composer and pianist. As a composer, he is active in opera, orchestral and chamber music, song, vocal ensemble, and solo piano works. As a pianist, he performs frequently as a soloist, alone and with orch ...

(1987), from ''Canzonettas'' for high voice or medium voice and piano. *

Ned Rorem Ned Rorem (October 23, 1923 – November 18, 2022) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and writer. Best known for his art songs, which number over 500, Rorem was the leading American of his time writing in the genre. Althoug ...

(1949), for high voice and piano. *

Qntal Qntal is a German "electro-medieval" band founded in 1991 by Michael Popp and Ernst Horn. They later added vocalist Syrah (Sigrid Hausen) to complete the band. It has roots in Estampie, an acoustic band based on "authentic" Early music, wherea ...

(2006), on their album ''Qntal V: Silver Swan''. * Lori Laitman (2007), for voice and piano, or voice, flute and piano. Recordings available on ''Within These Spaces'' and ''Living in the Body''. *Oliver Tarney (2018), for SSA and piano from the secular upper-voices anthology ''As you sing''.

Notes

References

*Philip Ledger (editor), ''

The Oxford Book of English Madrigals ''The Oxford Book of English Madrigals'' was edited by Philip Ledger, and published in 1978 by the Oxford University Press. It contains words and full music for some 60 of the madrigals and songs of the English Madrigal School. When selecting ...

'', Oxford University Press: 1978, with co-issued recording by

Pro Cantione Antiqua Pro Cantione Antiqua of London (PCA) is a British choral group which was founded in 1968 by tenor James Griffett, counter-tenor Paul Esswood, and conductor and producer Mark Brown. Their first concert was at St Bartholomew's, Smithfield with Bri ...

External links