As Well for the Poore as the Peere!

Notes from Thomas Lloyd, Artistic Director

The theme for this year’s Christmas Concert came when I was assembling the carols for a new cantata, As Well for the Poore as the Peere!  I came across several medieval carols related to the theme of Christmas being a time when rich and poor come together to celebrate the humble origins of Jesus. It then seemed only natural to close the work with the best known carol associated with this theme, “Good King Wenceslas.”

As I became more familiar with the melodic modes of the oldest carols such as “All hayle to the dayes” and “Swete was the song the Virgine song,” it occurred to me that a drone-like folk instrument might be a natural fit.  In this way the theme of rich and poor sitting down together could be further supported by contrasting the “regal” sound of the brass with the plainer sound of a stringed folk instrument.

This path led to the hurdy-gurdy, which most people, myself included, might associate with the organ-grinder of Schubert’s great song cyle Winterreise or with the streets of Paris. But in fact, the instrument most commonly referred to by historians as the hurdy-gurdy is a mechanical violin equipped with drone strings and melody strings, all bowed with a crank and rosined wheel, and with melodies played by manipulating wooden keys. 

The instrument goes back at least to the time of these medieval carols, and developed differently in different countries.  The English “wheel-fiddle” or Hungarian “tekerőlant” instruments for which this piece was written are mostly folk instruments by design, whereas more elaborately designed instruments, called “vielle à roué” were crafted for the French court. I am grateful to Timothy Urban for introducing me to the capabilities of this fascinating instrument.