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Chelys 7 (1977), article 4
[54]
THE SIX-PART CONSORT MUSIC OF
JOHN JENKINS
ANDREW ASHBEE
The following article is extracted from notes prepared for the Viola da
Gamba Society meeting held in the Art Workers Guild on 25th June, 1977.
It is not strictly an account of Jenkins’s six-part music, but rather a look at
some of the points which arose when preparing the Society’s edition of this
music: John Jenkins : Consort Music for Viols in Six Parts, ed. Richard
Nicholson and Andrew Ashbee, Faber Music Ltd., London 1976. All
references in the text are to this edition. Those present at the meeting will
realize that much is omitted here (though the omissions, essentially a review
of our introductory material, are easily accessible). More important, the
most eloquent part of the afternoon was, of course, the music itself and my
text is naturally geared to the pieces that were played—including complete
performances of Fantasias nos. 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12 and the Bell Pavan. I am
deeply indebted to the consort who so willingly rehearsed and performed all
the music: Roderick Skeaping and Richard Nicholson (treble viols), Ian
Gammie and Sheila Marshall (tenor viols), Ian Graham-Jones and Jane
Ryan (bass viols). My special thanks go to Richard Nicholson, my co-editor,
not only for organizing and preparing the consort and for the loan of the
organ (which I played), but for his help and advice freely given over many
years. In the context of the present article, `we’ signifies that the opinion has
been arrived at by joint discussion, but I must be held responsible for
everything else.
* * *
`The most principall and chiefest kind of musicke which is made without a
dittie is the fantasia, that is, when a musician taketh a point at his pleasure,
and wresteth and turneth it as he list, making either much or litte of it
according as shall seem best in his own conceit. In this may more arte be
showne than in any other musicke, because the composer is tide nothing but
that he may adde, deminish and alter at his pleasure. . . .’ 1
There is no ‘standard’ fantasia, no blue-print from which composers may
work. Morley’s famous description draws attention to the freedom available
to the composer of fantasias, his inspiration unconditioned by the shape and
content of a text, the structure of a cantus [55] firmus, or the traditions of
the dance. Certainly one of the great strengths of the fantasia is its
flexibility as a form, and, as Richard Nicholson so rightly remarks in our
preface, `the all essential factor o£ unity depends on a right balance of
1 Thomas Morley: A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (London 1597),
ed.: R. Alec Harman (London & New York, 1952), p. 180f.