06: THE RAVENS: THE KEEPER IN SUMMER

(John Wilcox, violin / Walter Mony, viola) • These two pieces are part of a set of three violin/viola duos commissioned by Walter Mony. Greensleeves Variations, the first piece of the set was written for Susan Rollin the composer’s daughter, and is recorded by the Mony/Wilcox Duo on Dana Recording Project/Nemus Records CD 2001.

The Ravens, second in the set, is a theme and five variations on the sad and courtly love song, The Three Ravens, composed in the early 1600’s by Thomas Ravenscroft.

The Keeper in Summer employs two early English pieces, the folk song The Keeper and Sumer is Icumen In, a Thirteenth Century English Round. The setting consists of the following quodlibet form:
Keeper theme + var. 1; Sumer theme + var. 1; Keeper variations 2 & 3; Sumer variations 2 & 3; 2 bar interjected Schumann paraphrase; Keeper and Sumer in simultaneous counterpoint; 2 bar interjected Schumann paraphrase; Keeper and Sumer in simultaneous inverted counterpoint.

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