Giles Farnaby - His Humour

Today I had another go at trying to play harpsichord. This little piece is "His Humour" by the English composer and virginalist Giles Farnaby (c.1565-1640). It is number 196 of the famous Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, the leading anthology of English virginal music. The title is probably a whimsical allusion to the composer's own temperament and character.
Unfortunately the choice of harpsichord sounds on my Kawai Novus 10S is very limited, only three models which sound rather basic and not all that much different. To add some character I lowered the pitch a little. Also I tried some different temperaments like meantone but I found the sound of them off-putting so I opted for equal temperament. In hindsight think lowering the pitch in combination with non-equal temperament is probably not a good idea.
Having far too little experience with harpsichord playing I hope I did ok on this one, and that it can be enjoyed. If nothing else it is a good exercise in playing without dynamics and pedal.
Chris Breemer, piano
buymeacoffee.c...
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Recording date: Friday January 26, 2024
Piano: Kawai Novus NV10S
Setting: Harpsichord 2
Temperament: Equal
Postprocessing: Concert Hall Light reverb
Art work: Detail of "Girl at the Virginal" by Catharina van Hemessen (1548)

[@pianothingsmusic]

Sounds like a nice piece, I like all those ornaments 🎶

[@ChrisBreemer]

I only play nice pieces ☺

[@pianothingsmusic]

@@ChrisBreemer 😁

[@RileyTuckerMusic]

A delectable piece, and the harpsichord makes this music sound all the better. Reminds me a lot of William Byrd, and Farnaby lived in that period of the 16th and 17th century if I have that right, so the similarity would be apt.

[@ChrisBreemer]

Yes, there were quite a number of good keyboard composers in England at that time. More so, I think, than in the Baroque period and the 18th-19th century. I just wish I had more choice of harpsichord sounds on my piano, it's really not all that impressive. I'll need to find out if I can use external sounds like PianoTeq. I'd like to record more from the Fitzwilliam book.

[@justinhenryhaynes]

@@ChrisBreemercan you do just tunings too? If you can push a button somewhere that shifts the intonation to whichever key you want and out of equal temperament, it might be fun. Easier than retuning a period instrument potentially!

[@ChrisBreemer]

@@justinhenryhaynes Yes, there is a variety of tunings to choose from, and the pitch can be arbitrarily changed. I am really not sure what the effect of pitch changing is on non-equal tunings though. I did not like what I tried with meantone. Probably have to be a musicologist to understand the intricacies of that.

[@justinhenryhaynes]

@@ChrisBreemer I understand it well enough to know what I'd be looking for, but I don't know your keyboard! I'd expect to be able to leave the pitch in the same place for convenience but to tell it what key I wanted to play in. I"m assuming those are two separate settings? It would need to know what key you intend to play in before it would know how to space the intervals. Since the intervals aren't evenly spaced in non-equal temperments it has to know what key you want to play in.. If it's easy to set, then it's worth playing with, but if it's a pain you're probably better off playing as you are. It is beautiful after all. It's subtle to play in a just temperment or pythegorean or whatever word it is I'm looking for. but it's so delicious. I think we're used to hearing it in choral works because vocalists can just put the pitch wherever they want. The temperment is what gives those harmonies that amazing clarity. I'll stop writing now. :-) It's a topic I enjoy so I can ramble on.

[@ChrisBreemer]

@@justinhenryhaynes I guess there is much more to this subject than I know about. But I don't play enough early music to really get into that in depth. I will continue to experiment whenever I'll record a pre-Bach piece again.

[@grahamtwist]

I think your (sampled?) harpsichord sound on the Kawai Novus 10S is rather splendid and your performance of this work by Farnaby captures perfectly the mood of the music - an Englishman's composure! The tuning in equal temperament certainly accords with modern taste, but I would have been interested to hear a contrasting performance in the original key in a meantone temperament (assuming no more than two sharps or two flats - unless you like the 'wolf'!)

[@ChrisBreemer]

Thank you Graham ! I'm not altogether happy with the choice of equal temperament here. It sounds good of course but misses that 'twang' which we like to hear in Renaissance music. It is a good idea to record a version in meantone (without changing pitch) and see how that sounds. I'll do so and would like your opinion on that. I can't however replace the audio in a YT video without deleting the video and losing all the comments.