Farmer: Fair Phyllis

Author

John Farmer (1570-1601, English)
  • was active in the 1590s in Dublin, Ireland
  • organist and master of the choirboys at Christ Church
  • one of the less well-known composers of the English Madrigal School
  • Wikipedia Article

About the Piece

(much of thedescription comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)

  • Genre is English madrigal
  • 4 voices (SATB)
  • changing textures, but mostly homophonic
  • text is in English
  • word painting
  • lighthearted text

Purpose

  • entertainment, inspired by Italian madrigals

Reflections

Part of me is excited about finally hearing a piece in English (having an untrained musical ear, I thus far in my life have mostly enjoyed music for its text). But this text isn't very deep, and I actually think I prefer the counterpoint in the previous work to the homophony (mostly) in this work.