La Volta by William Byrd (Fitzwilliam Virginal Book)

[MIKEYPOOHBEARJACKSON]

its such a buetiful piano

[Polluxgeminae]

@MIKEYPOOHBEARJACKSON It's a virginal, not a piano!

[marsvltor2]

Call this sacrilege, but I'm sitting in a pub, watching this on an I-Phone, with the Dover Fitzwilliam in front of me. What a way to enjoy a drink!!! Lovely performance too:-)

[ernststolz]

Cheers

[bentrumpetmaker]

Your ornamentation is charming Ernst. I've listened to this recording countless times and I still enjoy it very much. Thanks for uploading this video,

Ben

[ernststolz]

Thanks Ben

[serassi614]

Fantastic piece.

Your virginal is very good

Corrado

[lilythepink123]

Beautifully played! So it's by Byrd? I uploaded my versionof the Volta too, having mentioned that it was arguably by Praetorius, but I wasn't too sure. There are so many different versions of the Volta and some claim it's by Praetorius. So if it's definitely by Byrd I'll correct my vid. Please let me know if you can.Thanks!

[ernststolz]

thank you! see the additional info about the la volta.

[allengarvin]

"Volta" is a general term for a 16c dance. I think the Byrd one (from the Fitzwilliam virginal book) is somewhat atypical in fact. Most of them move in triple time, with an occasional duple measure. The Byrd piece is predominantly duple.

[clementmatchett]

Very nice! I am sorry you are having difficulty with the weighting of the keys - when I have had similar problems, I have scrounged a bit of lead flashing from a builder and glued little strips under the keys with Rapid Araldite. The other thing I would say is that your instrument sounds low in pitch. Darryl Martin ( Curator at Edinburgh) has written extensively about virginal pitch: I could send you a bit of his PhD dissertation, much of which remains unpublished, if you are interested.

[ernststolz]

Yes thanks, I was thinking of just gluing something.

Please send some of the dissertation, please.

[Mr2Jmusic]

Beautiful; I like this composition and how you play it very much !

JJ

[AlainNaigeon]

Fine instrument!

[ernststolz]

thanks Alain!

[corpsevalentine]

lovely :)

[Luthval]

Very nice ! I play another version on uke at

video : ZmyInLuaHDw ;-)

Amitiés,

Valéry

[ernststolz]

Thanks Val, I am going to listen to your version later!

[bbbbmer]

very famous -- featured in the film ELIZABETH with Cate Blanchett.... not a great film, but it had a GREAT score...

[ernststolz]

Sure, but mostly they only take care of good costumes in those films and the music has often noting to do with the music from this time....

[bbbbmer]

i totally agree, except in rare films like 'tout les matins du monde', where the music itself is the star..

i wrote a SCATHING review of 'ELIZABETH' that's somewhere on the web, more critical of its ridiculous script and utterly excruciating performances (and to this day I cannot FATHOM why blanchett was nominated for an oscar!) rather than its musical layering.. it's a dreadful film -- but for me, it was a point of reference for your lovely piece, and byrd and tallis et al. are favs...ty!