Richard Mico

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Richard Mico (also Micoe, Micho, Meco, Myco; 1590–1661) was an English composer. He was born in Taunton , Somerset , the eldest of three sons of Walter Mico .

Life

The family, originally called "Micault", had immigrated to England from France several generations earlier. It was a family of merchants: a cousin of the composer, Sir Samuel Mico (1610-65), settled in London around 1630, made his fortune in overseas trade and eventually became " Alderman " ( alderman ) of London and Master of the Mercers' Company . After the restoration , he was knighted.

Richard Mico was appointed service musician at Thorndon Hall in Ingrave , Essex , in 1608 . There he worked for William Petre , William Byrd's former employer , as a music teacher for the family's children and as a composer for the household. In a document that has been preserved, Mico acknowledges receipt of the house instruments: five viols , a lute , an organ and a large virginals . The fact that the family apparently did not have a second bass viol is held responsible for the composer's lack of six-part fantasies. During his employment with Petre, Mico took over his faith and converted to the Roman Catholic Church .

In 1630 he became the organist of Henrietta Maria of France , the wife of Charles I , and stayed there until the Queen's flight to Holland in 1642. Mico stayed in London; From December 1658 at the latest, an annual pension of £ 20 has been proven by William Petre .

Richard Mico was buried on April 10, 1661 in St. Paul's, Covent Garden . 39 works have been preserved, all for a gamba consort , and almost all of them in several manuscripts - none of them were printed during his lifetime. Christopher Simpson mentioned him as one of the best composers of fantasies six years after his death .

Works

It is assumed that the compositions that have survived were written before 1630 because they do not follow the general trend of combining fantasies with dances to form suites. Mico is considered to be rather conservative, also because he includes keyboard instruments in his consort works, but they only duplicate other instrumental parts. His harmony, however, is characterized by a free treatment of dissonances and a particular predilection for excessive triads , which he usually uses in cadences as a sixth chord .

The following complete list of works follows the numbering and title of Musica Britannica , Volume 65. "" VdGS ": Counting of the British Viola da Gamba Society . The key was determined on the basis of the preliminary drawing and the final chord. The distinction between alto and tenor viol was made with regard to the different tone ranges.

Four duos

(for treble and bass viol)

  • MB-1 (VdGS 1): Fantasia 1 in D minor
  • MB-2 (VdGS 2): Fantasia 2 g-Doric
  • MB-3 (VdGS 3): Fantasia 3 D minor
  • MB-4 (VdGS 4): Fantasia 4 g-Doric

Seven fantasies for three viols

(for treble and two bass viols)

  • MB-5 (VdGS 1): Fantasia 1 d-Doric
  • MB-6 (VdGS 2): Fantasia 2 g-Doric
  • MB-7 (VdGS 3): Fantasia 3 g-Doric
  • MB-8 (VdGS 4): Fantasia 4 G-mixolydian
  • MB-9 (VdGS 5): Fantasia 5 d-Doric
  • MB-10 (VdGS 6): Fantasia 6 d-Doric
  • MB-11 (VdGS 7): Fantasia 7 d-Doric

Four pavans for four viols

(for two treble, tenor and bass viol)

  • MB-12 (VdGS 1): Pavane 1 g-Doric
  • MB-13 (VdGS 2): Pavane 2 in D minor
  • MB-14 (VdGS 3): Pavane 3 in A minor
  • MB-15 (VdGS 4): Pavane 4 in F major

Fantasies for four viols

(with the exception of MB-16 and MB-20 for treble, alto, tenor and bass viol)

  • MB-16 (VdGS 14): Fantasia 1 g-Doric (2 treble, tenor, bass viol)
  • MB-17 (VdGS 13): Fantasia 2 in G minor
  • MB-18 (VdGS 15): Fantasia 3 D minor
  • MB-19 (VdGS 17): Fantasia 4 D-Doric (an early version exists)
  • MB-20 (VdGS 16): Fantasia 5 g-Doric (2 treble, tenor, bass viol)
  • MB-21 (VdGS 1): Fantasia 6 in F major
  • MB-22 (VdGS 2): Fantasia 7 in F major
  • MB-23 (VdGS 3): Fantasia 8 in F major
  • MB-24 (VdGS 4): Fantasia 9 in C major
  • MB-25 (VdGS 5): Fantasia 10 in C major over the hexachord
  • MB-26 (VdGS 6): Fantasia 11 in A minor
  • MB-27 (VdGS 7): Fantasia 12 in A minor
  • MB-28 (VdGS 8): Fantasia 13 d-Doric
  • MB-29 (VdGS 9): Fantasia 14 d-Doric
  • MB-30 (VdGS 10): Fantasia 15 in D major
  • MB-31 (VdGS 11): Fantasia 16 g-Doric
  • MB-32 (VdGS 12): Fantasia 17 c-Doric
  • Fantasia 18 in D major (attributed to Mico)
  • Fantasia 19 c-Doric (attributed to Mico)

Main source: Manuscript Mus. 517-20 from the library of Christ Church (Oxford) , four volumes with the individual parts of the 17 fantasies for four viols MB-16 to MB-32 (in addition to those by Alfonso Ferrabosco II , John Ward and John Jenkins ). An unknown English copyist made the copy between 1630 and 1650.

Works for five viols

(for two treble, alto, tenor and bass viol)

  • MB-33 (VdGS 1): Pavane 1 in F major
  • MB-34 (VdGS 2): Pavane 2 in D minor
  • MB-35 (VdGS 3): Pavane 3 in A minor
  • MB-36 (VdGS 1): Fantasia 1 c-Doric
  • MB-37 (VdGS 2): Fantasia 2 c-Doric
  • MB-38 (VdGS 3): Fantasia 3 in F major
  • MB-39 (VdGS 4): Fantasia 4 d-Doric
  • MB-40 : In Nomine , D-Doric
  • MB-41 : Latral , Part I and Part II, A minor

These last two works have non-cyclical forms of variation that are typical of English music in the Renaissance and early Baroque periods:

The in nomine is an exclusively British musical form that has been cultivated continuously for about 150 years, mainly in works for four or five-part viol consort . All compositions with this title use the same 55-note theme in long note values ​​in the manner of a cantus firmus , mostly (as with Mico) in the second upper part, and add the other parts freely in the imitative movement. This theme is based on the second voice of the mass Gloria tibi Trinitas by John Taverner and is texted there in Benediktus with “In nomine Domini”.

No other example is known of the style of the second work: the first movement is based on a madrigal by Claudio Monteverdi from Il terzo libro de Madrigal a cinque voci (1592). Its second movement, originally entitled “Là tra'l sangu'e le morti”, was arranged here by Mico for five viols. The music is characterized in the middle section by strong descending chromatics in all voices. The second movement represents a free replica of Micos on it, with corresponding ascending chromaticism.

Web link

bibliography

  • J. Bennett and P. Willetts: Richard Mico , Chelys 7 (1977) , pp. 24-46
  • J. Bennett: Byrd and Jacobean Consort Music: a Look at Richard Mico in: Byrd Studies , edited by A. Brown and R. Turbet (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 129-40
  • A. Hanley: Mico and Jenkins: 'Musitians of Fame under King Charles I' , in: John Jenkins and his Time , edited by A. Ashbee, Oxford 1996, pp. 161-169
  • R. Thompson: A Further Look at the Consort Music Manuscripts in Archbishop Marsh's Library, Dublin , Chelys 24 (1995) , pp. 3-18

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c John Bennett, Pamela Willetts: Richard Mico , Chelys , Vol. 7, 1977
  2. ↑ a b c d e J. S. Bennett and Andrew J. Hanley, Mico, Richard , in: Groves Dictionary of Music (online edition) , 2010
  3. ↑ a b c Meredith Tyler in the foreword of her edition Richard Mico: The Four-Part Consort Music , Fretwork Editions, London 1992, 1997, ISBN 0-9517524-4-8
  4. ↑ Andrew Hanley: Mico and Jenkins: Musitians of Fame under King Charles I , in: John Jenkins and his Time, edited by A. Ashbee, Oxford 1996, p. 162
  5. ↑ Andrew Hanley: Mico and Jenkins: Musitians of Fame under King Charles I , in: John Jenkins and his Time, edited by A. Ashbee, Oxford 1996, p. 162
  6. ↑ Andrew Hanley: Mico and Jenkins: Musitians of Fame under King Charles I , in: John Jenkins and his Time, edited by A. Ashbee, Oxford 1996, p. 168
  7. ^ Andrew Hanley (ed.): Richard Mico: Consort Music , 1994, Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, ISBN 978-0-85249-822-4
  8. ↑ a b 18 and 19 are only preserved in a single source, where they stand in the middle of Mico's works without a composer name. Since they do not differ stylistically from these, they are attributed to Richard Mico by Gordon J. Dodd and Meredith Tyler.
  9. ^ Christ church Music Library Catalog . Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  10. ^ Andrew Hanley, Musica Britannica 65 , foreword pp. Xxi, xxii.
personal data
SURNAME Mico, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Micoe, Richard; Micho, Richard; Meco, Richard; Myco, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English composer
DATE OF BIRTH 1590
PLACE OF BIRTH Taunton , Somerset
DATE OF DEATH 1661