Fourth Entry in Their Majesties' Bardic Competition

Photo by David Gotlieb.

Their Majesties Ealdormere, Siegfried and Xristina, have challenged the people of Ealdormere to a bardic competition wherein they are to extol the virtues of a former Queen of the lupine lands.

The fourth entry was by Lady Inge of Sten Mark, who presented the following song for five voices at Kingdom A&S:







Inge's Notes:

[Come, Sweet Nymphs] is a canzonet (canzonetta) in the style of Thomas Morley (1558-1603). Morley also called his canzonets "little short aer"s. Essentially these canzonets are lighter, short madrigals.

They are frequently pastoral in subject matter, and in England, always secular. They also frequently have rude undertones: the words, are completely and innocently pastoral when read on a surface level, but usually imply rude activities between the shepherds and nymphs when analyzed on a deeper level.

Another feature of a number of canzonets/madrigals at the time was including tributes to Elizabeth I. Frequently, she was compared to Diana, and this was rhymed with Oriana, or Gloriana in the last verse of the canzonet. Often, her virtues are sung at the end of a pastoral piece eg. Long live fair Oriana. (from “Hard by a crystal fountain", by T. Morley.)

The lyrics to these pieces are often in tetrameter, with rhymed couplets.