Album

The music on this two-disc set can fairly be said to represent the taste of the average London entertainment consumer in the middle of the eighteenth century. All of it is taken from a songbook called Calliope, published in 1739; English contralto Emma Curtis devised the whole concept, sings songs from both female and male perspectives, is shown in the 80-page booklet in an entertaining variety of period costumes, and wrote all the booklet notes herself. The song texts and the main body of the booklet are translated into French and German, but Curtis' individual notes to each song are not—and it's here that the real fun begins. Curtis is the type of presenter who overflows with both knowledge and enthusiasm for her subject, and she is extraordinarily successful here in taking the listener into the world she knows. These songs might be called semi-popular. Composers like Handel and Purcell share the book's pages with Henry Carey, John Frederick Lampe, and the famed Anonymous. Many of the pieces by the "name" composers are instrumental tunes to which someone later added words (an example is A Song to a Favorite Minuet of Geminiani, CD 1, track 9). Curiously the book seems not to have included anything from the top homegrown hit of the day, The Beggar's Opera, although several songs come from productions that gave it competition. Some of the songs were freestanding entities (or have come down to us as such), but most were part of stage entertainments—songs from plays, pastoral comedies, masques, or operas, all of which had both spoken and musical aspects. Many songs' comic and melancholy takes on love wouldn't be too far out of place on today's pop charts if you replaced the kisses with sexual encounters, but others comment on the entertainment scene itself. The triumph of English over Italian music forms the subject of several songs—the leading castrati, who fascinated female audiences, had left England by the late 1730s, and a few of these hit songs lamented their departure (The Lady's Lamentation for the Loss of Senesino, CD 2, track 3, is one). Other songs seem to adumbrate details of later popular song traditions: the country girl who puts on big-city styles in order to snag herself a prosperous husband makes several pert appearances, the Scotch songs that hit their peak a century later are already in abundance here, and even Corrina, the woman beloved of bluesmen, makes an offstage appearance. Many songs are flat-out funny; Maurice Greene's The Fly and The Flea just have to be heard to be believed. As for flies in the ointment, tracks 8 and 20 of CD 1, both called The Coquet (The Coquette) are reversed in the booklet. Other coquettes worthy of the Britney Spears of "Oops! I Did It Again" are delivered with maximum effectiveness by Curtis, who sings directly and clearly in a voice that one imagines was perfectly appropriate for the London drawing-rooms in which these songs would originally have been performed—the voice of a young and talented stage actress, perhaps, the equivalent of the musical-theater newcomer of our own time. This is apparently the first volume of an eventual set; one awaits subsequent releases as Phyllis awaits her handsome swain—with bated breath.

© James Manheim, All Music Guide

CD 1 of 2
Anonymous, English Composer Cupid and Venus One Day Strove, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
1	Cupid and Venus One Day Strove, song	2:36			$0.99
Henry Purcell Composer The Rival Sisters, or the Violence of Love, Z.609 Work The Frolick Ensemble
2	2.Song: Celia has a thousand charms	4:57			$0.99
Henry Carey Composer Divinest Fair, O Ease My Care, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
3	Divinest Fair, O Ease My Care, song	1:31			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer Too Lovely Fair One, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
4	Too Lovely Fair One, song	2:13			$0.99
George Frideric Handel Composer Rodelinda, regina de' Longobardi, HWV19 (opera)...Rodelinda, regina de' Longobardi, HWV19 (opera; in English) Work The Frolick Ensemble
5	O my pretty Punchinello	3:42			$0.99
George Frideric Handel Composer Arianna in Creta, HWV32 (opera) Work The Frolick Ensemble
6	5.How is it possible	6:49			$0.99
Henry Holcombe Composer Guardian Angels Now Protect Me, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
7	Guardian Angels Now Protect Me, song	2:20			$0.99
John Frederick Lampe Composer Crouds of Coxcombs Thus Deluding, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
8	Crouds of Coxcombs Thus Deluding, song	1:43			$0.99
Francesco Geminiani Composer A Song to a Favourite Minuet of Geminiani's (Know, Madam, I never was born; vocal arrangement) Work The Frolick Ensemble
9	A Song to a Favourite Minuet of Geminiani's (Know, Madam, I never was born; vocal arrangement)	1:07			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer Farewell, Ye Hills and Valleys, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
10	Farewell, Ye Hills and Valleys, song	3:06			$0.99
George Frideric Handel Composer Alcina, HWV34 (opera)...Alcina, HWV34 (opera; in English) Work The Frolick Ensemble
11	Bird of May	2:09			$0.99
Johann Ernest Galliard Composer With Early Horn Salute the Morn, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
12	With Early Horn Salute the Morn, song	4:59			$0.99
George Monro Composer 'Twas on a River's Verdant Side, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
13	'Twas on a River's Verdant Side, song	3:29			$0.99
Giovanni Battista Pescetti Composer Stella, Darling of the Muses, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
14	Stella, Darling of the Muses, song	2:20			$0.99
Henry Holcombe Composer Little Syren of the Stage, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
15	Little Syren of the Stage, song	2:40			$0.99
Henry Carey Composer Sad Musidora All in Woe, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
16	Sad Musidora All in Woe, song	1:55			$0.99
John Frederick Lampe Composer Whilst Endless Tears and Sighs Declare, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
17	Whilst Endless Tears and Sighs Declare, song	2:31			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer Down the Burn Davie ("When Trees Did Bud & Fields Were Green"), song Work The Frolick Ensemble
18	Down the Burn Davie ("When Trees Did Bud & Fields Were Green"), song	5:17			$0.99
Thomas Arne Composer The Miller of Mansfield, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
19	The Miller of Mansfield, song	2:41			$0.99
John Van Brugh Composer From White's and Will's, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
20	From White's and Will's, song	1:37			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer The Forsaken Maid ("Fond Echo"), song Work The Frolick Ensemble
21	The Forsaken Maid ("Fond Echo"), song	3:42			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer On Dear Zelinda's Charms I Gaze, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
22	On Dear Zelinda's Charms I Gaze, song	1:48			$0.99
Maurice Green Composer Busy Curious Thirsty Fly, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
23	Busy Curious Thirsty Fly, song	0:46			$0.99
David Digard Composer My Jolly Companion, Thou Hast a Good Face, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
24	My Jolly Companion, Thou Hast a Good Face, song	1:47			$0.99
John Frederick Lampe Composer Blow On, Ye Winds, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
25	Blow On, Ye Winds, song	5:25			$0.99
CD 2 of 2
Johann Ernest Galliard Composer Oft on Ye Troubled Ocean's Face, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
1	Oft on Ye Troubled Ocean's Face, song	2:09			$0.99
George Frideric Handel Composer English Songs, HWV228 Work The Frolick Ensemble
2	19.'Twas when the seas were roaring	3:32			$0.99
Henry Carey Composer As Musing I Rang'd in Ye Meads, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
3	As Musing I Rang'd in Ye Meads, song	6:08			$0.99
John Frederick Lampe Composer Pensive Alone the Desert Plains I Trace, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
4	Pensive Alone the Desert Plains I Trace, song	3:24			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer Linco Found Damon Lying, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
5	Linco Found Damon Lying, song	1:44			$0.99
Henry Carey Composer Love's a Gentle, Gen'rous Passion, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
6	Love's a Gentle, Gen'rous Passion, song	1:47			$0.99
Henry Carey Composer Waft Me Some Soft and Cooling Breeze, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
7	Waft Me Some Soft and Cooling Breeze, song	4:13			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer Whilst Strephon on Fair Cloe Hung, song (attrib. "Seignr. Anglosini") Work The Frolick Ensemble
8	Whilst Strephon on Fair Cloe Hung, song (attrib. "Seignr. Anglosini")	2:10			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer Frown Not, My Dear, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
9	Frown Not, My Dear, song	2:53			$0.99
Allan Ramsay Composer Corn Riggs Are Bonny ("My Patie is a Lover Gay"), song Work The Frolick Ensemble
10	Corn Riggs Are Bonny ("My Patie is a Lover Gay"), song	2:30			$0.99
Henry Carey Composer Flocks Are Sporting, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
11	Flocks Are Sporting, song	1:26			$0.99
Henry Carey Composer Genteel in Personage, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
12	Genteel in Personage, song	2:03			$0.99
John Frederick Lampe Composer Why Do You Fix Your Eyes on Mine, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
13	Why Do You Fix Your Eyes on Mine, song	2:33			$0.99
David Digard Composer Too Plain, Dear Youth, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
14	Too Plain, Dear Youth, song	4:18			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer A Swain of Love Despairing, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
15	A Swain of Love Despairing, song	2:19			$0.99
Henry Carey Composer What Tho' They Call Me Country Lass, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
16	What Tho' They Call Me Country Lass, song	1:38			$0.99
Maurice Green Composer Charming Chloe, Look with Pity, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
17	Charming Chloe, Look with Pity, song	3:30			$0.99
Jonathan Martin Composer To Thee, O Gentle Sleep, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
18	To Thee, O Gentle Sleep, song	2:19			$0.99
Henry Burgess, Jr. Composer What Dire Misfortune (England's Lamentation for the Loss of Farinelli), song Work The Frolick Ensemble
19	What Dire Misfortune (England's Lamentation for the Loss of Farinelli), song	3:39			$0.99
John Frederick Lampe Composer He's a Man Ev'ry Inch I Assure You (On Gallant Moor of Moorhall), song Work The Frolick Ensemble
20	He's a Man Ev'ry Inch I Assure You (On Gallant Moor of Moorhall), song	1:46			$0.99
Scottish Traditional Composer Dumbarton's Drums ("Dumbarton's Drums Beat Bonny-O"), song Work The Frolick Ensemble
21	Dumbarton's Drums ("Dumbarton's Drums Beat Bonny-O"), song	2:34			$0.99
Henry Carey Composer Cupid, God of Gay Desires, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
22	Cupid, God of Gay Desires, song	2:34			$0.99
John Frederick Lampe Composer Glide Swiftly On, Thou Silver Stream, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
23	Glide Swiftly On, Thou Silver Stream, song	1:57			$0.99
William Boyce Composer How wretched is a maiden's fate (song) Work The Frolick Ensemble
24	How wretched is a maiden's fate (song)	1:32			$0.99
Maurice Green Composer Little Flea, Why So Bloodthirsty, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
25	Little Flea, Why So Bloodthirsty, song	1:17			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer If the Glasses They Are Empty, song Work The Frolick Ensemble
26	If the Glasses They Are Empty, song	4:21			$0.99
Arcangelo Corelli Composer The Praise of Bacchus (concert aria), for 2 voices, flute, and continuo Work The Frolick Ensemble
27	The Praise of Bacchus (concert aria), for 2 voices, flute, and continuo	3:02			$0.99