Renaissance Music | Coursehero Helper
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As Vesta was from Latmos Hill Descending is an English Madrigal by the composer Thomas Weelkes. Define madrigal. Define and Discuss word painting and counterpoint in this piece, and discuss the growing humanism in the late Medieval and Renaissance periods with regard to music. Do a web-search for this piece of music. (You will not need a full page.)
Thomas Weelkes: As Vesta was from Latmos Hill Descending
As Vesta was from Latmos Hill descending,
She spied a maiden queen the same ascending,
Attended on by all the shepherds swain,
To whom Dianas darling came running down amain,
First two by two, then three by three together,
Leaving their goddess all alone, hasted thither;
And mingling with the shepherds of her train,
With mirthful tunes her presences entertain.
Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana
Long live fair Oriana
Among the finest English madrigal composers was Thomas Weelkes (about 1575-1623),
An organist and church composer. Weelkes As Versta Was Descending comes
From the Triumphes of Oriana (1601), an anthology of English madrigals written
to honor Queen Elizabeth, who was often called Oriana. The text of this sixteen
voice madrigal pictures Vesta (the Roman Goddess of the hearth) coming down
a hill with her attendants, Dianas darlings. (Diana was the Roman goddess
of chastity, hunting, and the moon.) At the same time, the maiden queen, Oriana
(Elizabeth), is climbing the hill with her shepherd gallants. Vestas attendants
Desert her and race down the hill to join Oriana.
Roger Kamien
