A Quartet for King Charles

After my recent tribute to Queen Elizabeth, I thought it only right to  post something associated with King Charles. There's nothing yet for the newly crowned Charles III, so I chose music associated with his namesake Charles II (1630-85).

The composition is by Matthew Locke (c1621-77), a court composer for Charles II. He is said to have presented the subject of today's post, the Consort of ffowre Parts, Suite VI in G, along with its companion suites to Charles sometime after 1660.

But before I go any further, please let me acknowledge the generosity of blog follower Steve Banks, who sent me this and several other interesting recordings, which I will post periodically. I also want to mention the expertise of another friend, Nick Morgan, who is an expert on the National Gramophonic Society, which recorded this disc in 1929. Nick's NGS discography can be found here.

You will note that the label above presents the work as Locke's String Quartet No. 6 rather than a Consort of ffowre Parts. That is because Locke's music had been transcribed for modern string quartet in 1927 by composer Peter Warlock (Philip Heseltine) and edited for performance by André Mangeot, the first violin of the International String Quartet, which performs on the recording at hand.

Matthew Locke

The world of Locke's "String Quartet" is far away from the quartets that would be most familiar to us today. His work is actually a brief suite for four viols, with an opening Fantasia followed by a Courante, Aire and Saraband, all 17th century dances. When Heseltine worked on his transcription, the music of the Restoration was in general little known and played. So he reworked the Locke work for the performers of the time.

At that point, Heseltine had already developed a reputation as a composer and especially as a combative critic. It was during this period that he in his "Warlock" guise wrote his masterpiece, The Curlew, a song cycle to Yeats' poetry. Alexander Young's performance with the Sebastian String Quartet can be found here.

André Mangeot

As I mentioned, Heseltine's Locke transcription was prepared for performance by André Mangeot in 1927. The two had hoped to have it published at that time, but Nick Morgan notes that it was not issued until 1932, after Heseltine's early death.

Mangeot and his quartet were mainstays of the National Gramophonic Society, an important early classical music label that was in effect an offshoot of The Gramophone magazine, which author Compton Mackenzie founded in 1923. Mackenzie soon thereafter began the National Gramophonic Society, which was to issue 166 discs from 1924-31, per Nick.

NGS's final release was a memorial version of The Curlew with artists including Mangeot's string quartet and tenor John Armstrong, as conducted by Heseltine's close friend Constant Lambert.

Peter Warlock, inscribed to André Mangeot, 1927

The personnel of the International String Quartet varied over time; for the Locke recording the group included Mangeot and Albert Voorsanger, violins, Eric Bray, viola, and John Shinebourne, cello.

The download includes several contemporary reviews; thanks to Nick for the citations. And special thanks again to Steve Banks for making this fascinating recording available to us.

FYI - if you would like to hear what a more modern early-music ensemble has made of Locke's consorts, Hespèrion XX's set can be found on YouTube.