Where Beauty Moves and Wit Delights. Ancient Songs of Love and Adventure
The New World Renaissance Band

medieval.org
owainphyfe.com
Nightwatch NW 1002
1993

C











1. Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi da questo cielo  [4.04]  GIUSEPPINO, Italian circa 1600

2. In a garden so green  [5:08]  anonymous
pub. Forbes, Cantus, Songs, and Fancies, 1662, Scotland

3. Helas, madame  [3:55]  attributed to Henry VIII

4. Daphne  [4:42]  anonymous, 16th century England
The song text is the old mythological story of Daphne turned into a laurel

5. Cantiga 48  [1:16]  from the court of Alfonso X el Sabio   CSM 48

6. A la una y naci  [4:54]  anonymous, Sephardic, late 15th century

7. Staines Morris dance  [1:55]  anonymous

8. Douce Dame jolie  [3:33]  Guillaume de MACHAUT, 14th century, French

9. A lieta vita  [2:32]  Giovanni GASTOLDI (1595)

10. We be souldiers three  [4:15]  Thomas RAVENSCROFT, 16th century England

11. Maid in Bedlam  [5:21]  anonymous
In the 12th century, a hospital was founded in London called "Our Lady St. Mary of Bethelehem".
The name was eventually shortened to "Bedlam". In the 16th century, the hospital was converted into an asylum for the insane.
This ancient song from Cornwall is the story of one young lady who was imprisoned there.

12. Goddesses  [2:28]  John PLAYFORD

13. Since first I saw your face  [3:25]  Thomas FORD
from Musicke of Sundrie Kindes (London, 1607)

The New World Renaissance Band is the child of an unusual counter cultural phenomenon in North America known as the "Renaissance Festival". (There are over one hundred such festivals accros the continent). As a solo performer (voice and vihuela), I had long been a participant on the Michigan Renaissance Festival and had pursued the idea of an early music ensemble performing ancient repertoire in a cross-over or romanticized style. Through a friend, I heard a recording from Houston, Texas by an instrumental group calling themselves "Cantiga". It was remarkable. They were attempting to do the same thing with early music as I was, yet instrumentally. I made arrangements to visit the Texas Renaissance Festival to meet Martha Gay (harp), Malcolm Smith (fiddle), Bob Bielfeld (recorders) and Max Dyer (cello). So it was what the New World Renaissance Band came to be. — Owain Phyfe.

New World Renaissance

Owen Phyfe - voice, chitarra battente
Bob Bielefeld - recorders
Malcolm Smith - fiddle, rebec, mandoline
Martha Gay - harp
Max Dyer - cello, viola da braccio


Percussion by Ray Dillard.

Vihuela (wire strung, called a "Chitarra batente") made bay James North, Brighton, Michigan.
Viola da braccio courtesy of James Scoggan.

Arrangements by Mas Dyer and Owain Phyfe © & ℗ Copyright 1993
except "Douce Dame Jolie" arranged by Bob Bielefed and Max Dyer;
"Helas Madame" arranged by Max Dyer.

Second voice on "Maid in Bedlam", Paula Gilchrist.
Second and third voices on "Wee be soldiers three", Jim Perkins and Bob Bielefeld.

Recorded 1993 at Height Sound Studio, Houston, Texas.
Recording engineer, Karl Caillouet.
Pre-mastering pro-type, Doug Robertson.
Pre-mastering and assembly, Ed Wolfrum, Audio Graphics.

Package Design by O'Neill Associates, Designers, Houston
Cover painting: Pygmalion and Galatea, by Jean Leon Gerome,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Special thanks to
Karen McConachie, Grace Krag, Carlo Copola, Corky Watkins and Leslie Bielefeld