Chapter 6 - The Fantasia-Suites

Summary

‘FANTASIA-SUITE’ is a relatively modern term, first brought into common currency by Helen Joy Sleeper in the 1930s to describe a somewhat hybrid genre first developed at the English court by John Coprario. The model established by Coprario consisted of three movements: a fantasia, an alman and a galliard (usually ending with a common-time ‘close’), scored for one or two violins, bass viol and organ. Twenty-three fantasia-suites by Coprario survive complete: fifteen for one violin, eight for two. They appear to have been composed in the household of Prince Charles (later Charles I) in the early 1620s, and represent several important developments in the history of English consort music. First, the grouping together of the movements was new, and influenced the development of the dance suite. Second, they are the first English contrapuntal pieces to specify the violin, expanding the traditional use of the instrument beyond dance music. Third, they are among the first English consort pieces to include independent parts for organ: especially in the fantasias for one violin, the organ goes beyond the traditional role of doubling the strings by containing extra melodic and harmonic material; indeed, each fantasia begins with the organ, and many have solo interludes. Despite their historical importance, however, Coprario’s fantasia-suites are somewhat uneven in quality, a fact reflected by the lack of a complete modern recording.

No autographs are known for Coprario’s suites. The sources suggest that he composed the one-violin suites with a fully written-out organ part. GB-Lbl, MS R.M.24.k.3, an organbook of court provenance copied c. 1625, contains such an organ part; in Coprario’s suites the bass viol mostly doubles the organ bass and may not have been given a separate stave in his original score. The organ parts for the two-violin suites are more problematic. The sources suggest that Coprario wrote the suites in a three-stave string score, with essential material for organ given in cues: the manner in which the first suite is preserved in R.M.24.k.3. This was practical because in the two-violin suites the organ doubles the strings to a greater extent.