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• Senfl, Ludwig: 2 Lieder

Senfl, Ludwig: 2 Lieder

(Es taget vor dem Walde, Ich muss und soll ein Bulen haben) for 5 voices or instruments.

Ludwig Senfl (ca. 1486-1542), a pupil of the great Heinrich Isaac, was by far the most accomplished German song composer of his time. His real forte, like J. S. Bach 200 years later, was his exceptional ability at using contrapuntal skill to musical effect; many of his song settings, rather than simply having a single melody line in the tenor, have the tune in two parts in strict imitation or even canon. But the effect is always fresh and invigorating, never academic.
Ich soll und muss ein Bulen haben is printed here after Peter Schöffer, Fünf und sechzig deutsch Lieder, Mainz 1536; Es taget vor dem Walde from Johann Ott, Hundert und fünffzehen gueter neuer Liedlein, 1544. Both melodies were used by other composers: a 4-part setting of Ich soll by Caspar Othmayr is in the third of the Foster collections, and an anonymous one in the Ott book of 1544. Senfl used the Es taget melody in three of his quodlibets: (i) combined with Wiewohl viel herter Örden sind, (ii) with Fortuna desperata, (iii) with Kein Adler in der Welt so schön and Ich stund an einem Morgen; there is also a setting by Arnold von Bruck; the melody appears in one of the Schmeltzel quodlibets of 1544, and was used in a Hoftanz in the second of the Hessen dance books of 1555.
The original note values have been halved in Ich soll and quartered in Es taget. Editorial accidentals appear small above the stave, applying to the one note only.
The ideal way to perform these pieces is with two singers on the texted parts and three instruments (taking care to ensure there is an eight-foot instrument on the bass). In the absence of singers these songs can work perfectly as instrumental numbers, preferably with contrasting instruments on the two melody parts, e.g. two recorders with three viols.