The Oxford Book of English Madrigals

This book presents 60 of the very best madrigals for SATB, chosen from the many hundreds of possible candidates. The major composers of the genre are each represented by several madrigals and the lesser figures by one or more.

Bateson: Those Sweet Delightful Lilies; Bennet: All Creature Now; Bennet: Weep, O Mine Eyes; Byrd: Lullaby, My Sweet Little Baby; Byrd: This Sweet and Merry Month of May; Byrd: Though Amaryllis Dance; Cavendish: Come, Gentle Swains; East: Poor is the Life; East: Quick, Quick, Away, Dispatch!; East: No Haste But Good!; Farmer: Fair Nymphs, I Heard One Telling; Farmer: Fair Phyllis I Saw; Farnaby: Consture My Meaning; Gibbons: Ah, Dear Heart; Gibbons: Dainty Fine Bird; Gibbons: O That the Learned Poets; Gibbons: The Silver Swan; Gibbons: Trust Not Too Much, Fair Youth; Gibbons: What is our Life?; Greaves: Come Away, Sweet Love; Kirbye: See What a Maze of Error; Morley: April is in my Mistress' Face; Morley: Fyer, Fyer!; Morley: Hard by a Crystal Fountain; Morley: I Love, Alas, I Love Thee; Morley: Leave, Alas, This Tormenting; Morley: My Bonny Lass She Smileth; Morley: Now is the Month of Maying; Morley: Sing We and Chant It; Morley: Though Philomela Lost Her Love; Morley: Whither Away So Fast?; Ramsey: Sleep, Fleshly Birth; Tomkins: Adieu, Ye City-Prisoning Towers; Tomkins: Music Divine; Tomkins: O Yes! Has any Found a Lad?; Tomkins: See, See the Shepherds' Queen; Tomkins: Too Much I Once Lamented; Vautor: Mother, I Will Have a Husband; Vautor: Sweet Suffolk Owl; Ward: Come, Sable Night; Weelkes: As Vesta Was; Weelkes: Come, Sirrah Jack, Ho!; Weelkes: Hark, All Ye Lovely Saints; Weelkes: O Care, Thou Wilt Despatch Me; Weelkes: Hence, Care, Thou Art Too Cruel; Weelkes: Since Robin Hood; Weelkes: Sing We At Pleasure; Weelkes: Strike It Up, Tabor; Weelkes: Thule the Period of Cosmography; Weelkes: The Andalusian Merchant; Weelkes: Thus Sings My Dearest Jewel; Wilbye: Adieu Sweet Amaryllis; Wilbye: Draw On, Sweet Night; Wilbye: Flora Gave Me Fairest Flowers; Wilbye: Lady, When I Behold; Wilbye: O What Shall I Do?; Wilbye: Sweet Honey-Sucking Bees; Wilbye: Yet, Sweet, Take Heed; Wilbye: Weep, Weep, Mine Eyes

Educated at King's College, Cambridge, Sir Philip Ledger CBE was Director of Music at King's College, Cambridge from 1974-1982 and Conductor of the Cambridge University Musical Society from 1973-1982. During his years in Cambridge, he directed the Choir of King's College in the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, made an extensive range of recordings and took the Choir to the USA, Australia, and Japan for the first time. He was subsequently Principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1982-2001. Since that time Ledger has appeared as a conductor throughout the United Kingdom, North America, and Asia.